Insecurity

Adamu Ibraheem Jimeta

The Adamawa State Governor, His Excellency, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri has declared the Association of Professional Hunters in Adamawa as illegal. In a statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary, Humwashi Wunisiko on Monday, December 6, 2021, stated that “The operations and activities of the hunters have become a source of concern and insecurity instead of the security it is fashioned to provide”.

He further said the hunters’ abuse of rules of engagement and lack of regard to the traditional institution and security agencies in the state, especially in the five local governments of Numan, Demsa, Lamurde, Guyuk and Shellenge have made the decision unavoidable.

The statement reads: “More worrisome is the fact that the association operates independent of any security organization in the 5 Local Government Areas, thereby giving room for suspicion of their motive and intentions especially that they operate in uniforms of our security agencies and at odd hours.”

While emphasizing that security is everyone’s business, Fintiri added, “No group or anybody will be allowed to take the Law into their hands, disrespect to security agencies and traditional institution.”

He finally directed security agencies and traditional institutions to collaborate and ensure that peace is maintained across the state before, during and after the Yuletide and new year festivities.

By Uzair Adam Imam

Kano State Governor Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has stated that his administration has deployed modern technology gadgets such as CCTV to tackle the challenges of insecurity and ensure safety of its citizens and their properties.

The governor made this disclosure in a release signed Monday, 15th November, 2021 by the Chief Press Secretary to the Deputy Governor of Kano State, Hassan Musa Fagge.

It was gathered that Ganduje, who was represented by his deputy, Dr. Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, was said to have stated this while receiving the General Officer Command of the one division of Nigerian Army Kaduna, Major General Kabiru Imam Muktar who paid him a visit at the Government House, Kano.

According to him, installation and deployment of modern technology has assisted greatly in curbing the criminal acts that before are bedevilling the state.

Ganduje also noted that, Kano is today one of the most peaceful states in the country due to prayers and synergy between the government and all the security agencies.

The statement read: “In Kano we hold regular security meetings so as to analyse our operations and chart ways foward, infact we have included paramilitary agencies into the state security council”.

“The Commander 3 Brigade, I am sure will brief you about our efforts in provision of adequate logistics,” Ganduje said.

He then assured of continued support and cooperation to the Nigerian Army towards ensuring peace and safety of Kano citizens.

Speaking, the General Officer Commanding of the One Division,Nigerian Army Kaduna, Major General Kabiru Imam Muktar said he is on a visit to the Army units and formations under his command in Kano State.

He explained that the first hand information they received from the citizens has assisted them alot in combating crimes.

“The cooperation and support given to us by Kano people has helped tremendously in our effort to contain criminality to the bearest minimum”.

“We are grateful to the traditional rulers and the citizens for their role in curtailing the farmers and herders conflict in the State”.

“I am indeed happy with the cordial relationship between the 3 Brigade and Kano people,” he said.

Major General Muktar while reiterating their commitment towards ensuring security of lives and properties of Kano people, commended the Governor for executing laudable projects in the State.

By Uzair Adam Imam

The Kaduna State Government has on weekend held a meeting with the stakeholders to brief them on the incessant security issues bedeviling the state for a very long time and other government policies.

The governor of the state, Malam Nasir El-Rufa’i, chaired the meeting which was held at the Murtala Square, Kaduna.

The purpose of the meeting, however, was to brief the stakeholders on security challenges, adding that the security operatives have been quite successful and security breaches have been reduced.

He added that: “We are not imposing hardship on certain people but they can see the benefits of the actions we have taken.

“We got good suggestions from stakeholders which would be used to modify some of our policies. It has been a very rich and engaging conversation,“ he disclosed.

The governor also promised of the other projects would be completed before he leaves the office, adding that: ” We are pleased with the support clerics were giving to the Religious Preaching Regulatory Council.”

Recalled that the council has been established to ensure that clerics are committed to peace in their preaching and sermons.

El-Rufa’i also assured the stakeholders that number of programmes would be introduced by federal and state governments to reduce the hardship faced by Nigerians.

By Hussaina Sufyan Ahmad

The former president of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo has called for the creation of state police while delivering his speech at a lecture titled, ‘Social responsibility in nation building,’ to mark the 78th anniversary of Island Club in Lagos, on Friday.

Obasanjo said Nigeria needs state police to efficiently tackle the insecurity challenges of the country. He said only a safe environment can guarantee nation building.

According to Obasanjo:

“I have said it before and I will say it again. Nigeria should have state police all over the various states so that insecurity can be tackled efficiently. uaranteeing citizens a safe environment and round security is one thing a government must do.

No nation can be built where peace, security and stability are not guaranteed and with reasonable predictability of the President and the future not enthroned.”

By Lawi Auwal Yusuf

Leaders are preoccupied with self-centred political hustles, party meetings, extravagant banquets and flying their private or chartered jets over the country attending various lavish occasions. On the contrary, Nigerians turned wistful and sad about the terrible fate of the country and the gloomy future. As they get more concerned, their hope becomes less.

The country is endowed with efficacious potentials for its development to become a global power. It has a strategic location, sizable landmass, enormous young population, highly educated elites and abundant natural resources. In addition, favourable climate, fertile farmlands, and the shores that give it access to the Atlantic Ocean in the South are all added advantages.

In the last sixty-one years, Nigeria has reaped hundreds of billions of petrodollars in total revenues as one of the major producers and exporters of oil to the global market. It is the 12^th largest producer of oil in the global ranking, 8^th largest exporter and the 10^th largest proven reserves. According to the Department of Petroleum Resources, it has about 159 oil fields and 1481 wells in production.

Apart from petroleum resources, Nigeria has multiple precious mineral resources in massive deposits. Moreover, cocoa is the largest foreign exchange earner to Nigeria besides oil and rubber, the second largest.

Similarly, as the most populous state in Africa and the 7^th in the world with over 211 million people, Nigeria is a vast market. Its mixed economy is the largest on the continent. It is the 27^th largest economy in the world by nominal GDP as of 2021 estimate. By GDP per capita, it is the 137^th in the global ranking and the 25^th largest by PPP.

However, these unique and extraordinary endowments are rare for a country to possess. These are the best opportunities and possibilities for its advancement. Unfortunately, poor leadership, endemic corruption and mismanagement have been the greatest obstacles in realising the potential. These precious endowments were not genuinely and diligently used. Hence, it has not made appreciable progress in those years. Had they been utilised at the best and maximum capacity, the sky would have been the limit.

More than 40% of Nigerians are living below the poverty benchmark in May 2020 estimates. They are destitute and cannot afford the three daily meals. Today, pervasive poverty depicts the lives of most Nigerians. The life expectancy is as low as 54.7 years on average. Infant mortality reached 74.2 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2019, and maternal mortality was 814 per 100,000 live births in 2015.

Moreover, the stagnant economy, inflation and the perpetual falling value of the naira have aggravated the plight of the masses, making life worse, more challenging and more miserable for ordinary Nigerians. There has been a swift rise in the cost of living and a concurrent decline in the living standard. Therefore, poverty, inequality, mass idleness, underemployment and wretchedness are at the highest pinnacle. This made Nigeria always emerge winner of the global rankings of the poorest nations.

It is appalling that the masses are becoming poorer while the nobles are getting more affluent. There has been a persistent widening inequality between the rich and the poor. Transparency International ranked Nigeria 136^th out of 182 in the 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index. It was estimated that more than $400 billion were embezzled by corrupt leaders from independence to 1999. Nonetheless, President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 said that corrupt officials had squandered more than $150 billion in the last decade. As a result, the country is synonymous with corruption. And the most astonishing is that it is among the wealthiest countries and also the poorest simultaneously. This is because the state wealth is enjoyed only by the aristocrats while the commoners are destitute.

Rule by theft known as ‘kleptocracy’ has deteriorated into kleptomania. They are strongly obsessed with stealing to the level that they don’t even have a material need for it. It degenerated into highly competitive accumulation syndrome. The monies that are ideal for the development of Nigeria are stashed at its detriment in Western countries and therefore become beneficial to their contented economies.

On the other hand, in the early 1960s, Nigeria was self-sufficient in food. But after the Civil War in 1970, the government failed to reinvigorate agriculture, resulting in failure to meet the acute population growth. It had to depend primarily on importation to fill up the supply gap. Sadly, in the 21^st-century world, farmers are still tilling the ground with simple implements like hoes and cutlasses to feed a population of over 200 million. As of 2010, almost 30% of Nigerians are employed in agriculture and still have not met up the national demand.

The leaders had failed to provide the basic necessities of life to the citizens. As a result, after more than six decades of self-governance, there is no stable electricity supply, safe drinking water, standard healthcare, adequate and affordable food, qualitative education, social housing estates, infrastructures and social amenities. Nonetheless, the problems of the country in the1960s are yet to be resolved. Poverty, corruption, rule by theft, secessionism, tribal and religious antagonisms are lingering today. Regrettably, terrorism, kidnappings, cattle rustling, banditry and other current collective problems have deepened the crises.

Not being able to diversify the monocultural economy that largely depends on oil plays a significant role in the economy, accounting for 40% of GDP and 80% of the government earnings. Moreover, Nigeria does not adequately exploit the vast array of mineral resources in colossal deposits while the mining industry is still in its early stage of development. Moreover, other sectors of the economy that will help tremendously grow the economy and raise revenues are also underdeveloped. Contrarily, it has remained a perennial borrower of funds in the global capital market. Recently it emerged as the 5^th most debt-ridden country in the world. The World Bank in August 2021 said that it had accumulated $11.7 billion in debt.

There has been deficient human development, especially the youths folk. In 2019, it ranked 161^st in the world in the Human Development Index with a 0.539 score, which was very low. Millions of school-age children are out of school while some wander the streets freely with torn-out clothes and scavenging through rubbish looking for food. These miserable children are left on their own to live their entire unwholesome lives on the streets in search of a living. They have no qualifications or skills to make them employable in the labour market. Similarly, graduates searching for employment happened also to be idle many years after they had left school. Therefore, almost half of Nigerians are unemployed.

Furthermore, the emigration by professional Nigerian doctors to the diaspora known as the “brain drain” due to adverse working conditions in the country led to shortages of doctors in the healthcare system. It was estimated in 1995 that roughly 21,000 indigenous doctors were working in America alone, which was almost equal to those in the public health service then.

When you make a comparative analysis between Nigeria and its peers to assess its performance, you will realise that it had performed poorly. For example, look at the High Performing East Asian Economies (HPEAEs) that include Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan. They are the fastest-growing economies in the world after the first world countries. Some had launched rockets into space. They manufacture aircraft, ships, automobiles, computers and smartphones while Nigeria still imports razor blades, pencils, toothpicks, including its most abundant petroleum products. Singapore and Japan developed from the less developed countries and joined the first world nations.

Look at other countries like UAE, India, Brazil and South Africa that recently established a consociational democracy in 1994. Nigeria played a significant role in fighting the apartheid regime and helped in establishing the multiracial democracy in the country. South Africa is now regarded as a highly developed state and has become a better haven for Nigerian youths who emigrated there in search of greener pasture.

Finally, Nigeria still has the chance to do better and start developing once more to realise its long-lost potential.

Lawi Auwal Yusuf wrote from Kano. He can be reached via laymaikanawa@gmail.com.

By Abdurraman Muhammad

Following the sustained operations against the bandits in Kaduna State, in another success for the security forces, over 50 bandits have been neutralized during a combined ground and air assault in the Saulawa-Farin Ruwa axis of Birnin Gwari LGA.

In a press release on security updates signed by the Commissioner, Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs of Kaduna State, Samuel Aruwan who narrated how the operation was successful stated that, “the Command of the Joint Operations, a Nigerian Air Force helicopter gunship provided close air support to ground troops advancing from the Dogon Dawa-Damari-Saulawa axis.”

“Following extensive scans, bandits were spotted on five motorcycles, about 4km east of Saulawa, waiting to ambush the ground forces. They were engaged vigorously by the helicopter gunship, and were wiped out.”

Mr. Aruwan added that, “After armed bandits on about 50 motorcycles were sighted fleeing towards Farin Ruwa, and were struck effectively by the gunship. Fleeing remnants were mopped up by ground forces.”

“A second helicopter gunship joined the operations, and many more fleeing bandits were neutralized by precise strikes. Assessment revealed that more than 50 bandits were neutralized during the joint operation.”

On his part, Governor Nasir El-Rufai expressed his satisfaction at the operational feedback, and congratulated the ground troops and gunship crews on the rout. He urged them to sustain the momentum and bring even more bandits to their bitter end.

By Mukhtar Ya’u Madobi

The right to sufficient food is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and subsequent international law. Food security is regarded as a situation whereby all people at all times have physical, social and economic access to sufficient food to meet their dietary needs for a productive and healthy life.  Food security is ensured when food becomes available, affordable and accessible.

However, it is good to note that food security is not simply having sufficient quantities of various staple foodstuffs. It also entails access to the entire citizenry to these food items at affordable prices. It further means that we must not only engage in mass food production but also ensure that Nigeria has sufficient purchasing power to acquire food items that guarantee good feeding and nutrition.
Food security has to do with the absence of threats of hunger or malnutrition people face in their lives. In a broad sense, it entails safety from basic physiological needs. The lack of safety will be manifested in chronic hunger or starvation and malnutrition.

The majority of the rural populace depends on Agricultural related activities for their livelihood. The appraisal in the past showed that successive administrations in Nigeria had initiated programs towards ensuring food availability and accessibility for the teeming population in the country.

These include; the National Accelerated Food Production Program (NAFPP) by Gen. Yakubu Gowon, Operation Feed the Nation (OFN) by Murtala/Obasanjo Administration; River Basin and Rural Development Authority (RBRDA), Green Revolution and World Bank-funded Agricultural Development Project (ADP) by Shehu Shagari and Babangida’s Directorate for Food, Road and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI) among others.

Despite these efforts, Agriculture has been constrained by numerous challenges such as rural-urban migration, insufficient infrastructure, poor agricultural inputs, reliance on oil economy, over-dependence on rain-fed farming, environmental degradation, inadequate funding, poor socio-economic status of farmers, poor mechanization, climate change, corruption and poor commitment to the implementation of agricultural policies.

Yet, the most grievous bottleneck facing the agricultural sector today in Nigeria is the mass abandoning of arable land by farmers due to security challenges. These security threats include but are not limited to insurgency, banditry and kidnappings, killings and farmers-herders’ clashes. Consequently, all these turmoils lead to a deficit in agricultural production.

Nigeria still has the potentials to be food-secure through the adoption and implementation of strategic measures for the peasant farmers to operate in their farming activities through ensuring rural development, provision of easy access to basic farm inputs, adequate budgetary allocations to agriculture, particularly to the food crop sub-sector, enunciation of appropriate policies for food crop sub-sector, political stability, reduction in rural poverty, and peasant farmers’ education among others.

In response to that, the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has initiated multiple agricultural programs aimed at ensuring food security in the country. Notable among them include the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) that commenced in 2015, which provides farm inputs both in kind and cash to smallholders farmers to boost the production of agricultural commodities. Tremendous success stories were achieved through this program, especially with breakthrough rice production in Kebbi State. The Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI) was launched in 2016, a partnership between Nigeria and Morocco to make fertilizer available to the farmers. In addition, farm Youth Lab (FYL) is another Initiative of the Federal Agricultural Ministry to train Nigerian youths on livestock production and sustainable urban agriculture.

Additionally, the Presidential Economic Diversification Initiative (PEDI) was also launched in 2017 to support the revival of moribund industries, especially agro-processing ones, through facilitating investment, reducing regulatory bottlenecks, and enabling access to credit.

Moreover, in March 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated the National Food Security Council (NFSC). The council was mandated to develop sustainable solutions to farmers and herders clashes, climate change, piracy and banditry, as well as desertification and their impacts on farmland, grazing areas, lakes and rivers. All these efforts are aimed towards increasing food production in the country.

The latest version of National Security Strategy 2019, a document released by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), Retired Major-General Babgana Monguno, noted that with the drastic reduction of food importation, the government would continue to develop agricultural potentials to attain self-sufficiency in food production as well as exportation. “The government will further consolidate investment in agricultural mechanization, irrigation and infrastructure to mitigate the risk and uncertainty occasioned by seasonal rainfall. In addition, modern techniques will be adopted to improve beef and dairy production and consolidate strategic food reserves to ensure that the nation is prepared for major emergencies and shortages”.

The latest Federal Government directives on the establishment of farm estates in 109 Senatorial districts across the nation deserves an accolade. This mandate is to be realized by the recently resuscitated National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA), which has already commissioned its first integrated farm estate in Katsina and other states. Across the country, each farm is expected to engage in the rearing of poultry, fish and livestock, apiculture, crop farming, packaging and processing, respectively.

With this development, it is hopeful that the country will achieve food security and self-sufficiency in food production within the near future.

Nonetheless, even if all the policies mentioned above are implemented unless strategic measures are put in place to curtail the rising security challenges bedevilling the country, otherwise, the wish of the country to become a food-secure nation will never be realized.

Thus, peaceful environments should be created for farmers to resettle and muster more strength towards cultivating the vast abandoned arable lands in order to boost agricultural production in the country.

Mukhtar Ya’u Madobi writes from Kano. He can be contacted via ymukhtar944@gmail.com.

By Muhammad Sabiu

Reports coming from northwestern Nigeria have stated that angry people in a Sokoto community, Tangaza, took the bull by the horns, traced suspected bandits in detention and subsequently lynched them.

This is coming barely 12 hours after the bandits launched an attack on the community, which left two persons killed and two others abducted.

Premium Times reports that, first, it was vigilante members armed with locally-made guns and cutlasses in conjunction with the police that went after the bandits, killed two and apprehended about four others.

After their arrest, they were put behind the police net.

The state’s police spokesperson, Sanusi Abubakar, confirmed that in an attack meant to cart away foodstuffs from the community, the bandits launched a raid Friday night.

They were also said to have kidnapped two persons, who were later killed.

Angered by this attack and kidnap, youths in the community planned to join the police in an effort to crush the suspected bandits.

They followed them and successfully killed two and the other four arrested, who were detained in a police station and killed by the angry youths.

The youths insisted that the bandits must be killed, otherwise they would torch the police station.

A resident said, “The youths were angry and despite pleas from the DPO and the local government chairman, they insisted that if the policemen did not kill the bandits in their presence, they would burn down the police station.”

Sokoto State is also one of the northwestern states badly hit by the activities of bandits.

By Tajuddeen Ahmad Tijjani

As long as ignorance becomes the norm, insecurity, instability, lawlessness, and all sorts of violence will continue to erode, escalate, and nibble in every nook and cranny of Nigeria. According to statistics, the country has spent 6 trillion Naira on defence over the last ten years, with no end in sight. 

If a small fraction of this enormous sum of money had been spent on training the young people in the forest, the result would have been positive, with greater output and revenue for the country. Likewise, if herders were taught to raise cattle like Brazilians, Americans, and the rest of the industrialised world, the result would have been productive enough to cover the country’s domestic demands while increasing our foreign reserve.

Multiple flaws in the country’s administrative system and social values appear to be the source of these archaic sorts of violence. The federal government seems to have lost effective control over the North-West, particularly in relation to bandits and cattle rustlers, who have become more militarised and destructive in their operations, which have destroyed a significant portion of the economy and resulted in the deaths of an untold number of people with impunity. Lack of knowledge and cultural orientation are the causes of many forms of violence and insecurity. Education is the key to showcasing the human psyche’s behaviour pattern.

In fact, the vicious cycle of violence perpetrated by these hoodlums, murderers, and godless animals stands condemned by all well-meaning Nigerians. However, this shouldn’t allow us to forget that they are Nigerians who deserve a better life with the expectation of contributing their quarter to the country’s development. Unfortunately, they are brainwashed to take up arms against the state. Positive outcomes would have been much more likely if they had received adequate education.

These pastoralists are within our communities. It baffles me that ballot boxes reach them during elections, but they are hardly seen where Western and Islamic education is being taught. Perhaps they are considered second class citizens, but their ignorance has affected everyone in Nigeria. Only when they are well-informed educationally they can rationalise reasonably and be softhearted people who find it hard to deny any boon, whether it be for a friend or stranger or just general feelings towards humanity. 

Lastly, I would like to appeal to the government to consider educating these folks to reintegrate them into society. Thus, the hostility they have towards the Nigerian populace would indeed vanish, and innovations would emerge that could be of immense benefit to not only our country but the ‘world’ in general.

 Tajuddeen Ahmad Tijjani writes from Galadima Mahmud Street, kasuwar-Kaji Azare, Bauchi state.

By AF Sessay

The data you don’t talk about comes back to haunt you!  And when it does come, it comes violently. Many years of corruption, nepotism and neglect of the basic rights of citizens quickly metamorphose into all forms of crime. While government inaction is not and cannot always be the cause of citizen-on-citizen crime, yet research suggesting the correlation between corruption in public places and crimes on the streets should not be taken with a pinch of salt.  

This is also true for the failings in high places and the ugly effect this has on battlefields. Because beyond artillery and manpower, there is a great need for strategy, intelligence, consistent supply of food, effective and top-notch communication and above all, sincerity of purpose. Unfortunately, in the situation where the cankerworms of embezzlement latch and sucks blood out of any of these in the security value, the figurative blood usually becomes pools of real blood. So, when it lingers, question the data. Who does what, and where are the numbers to say they are really doing it? 

Nigeria currently stands on a tripod of corruption, injustice and hope (no matter the percentage of that hope). 

Corruption keeps the corrupt healthy and well-nourished to perpetrate more acts of corruption with hands, heads, tongues and minds.

Injustice keeps the people blind to the truth. It is an essential spear in the hands of many African leaders and former leaders to strike and blind the advocates for truth, make deaf the masses, and cripple the nation.

As for Hope, it is always a ‘good’ magic wand, or opium, or weapon (depending on who is defining it) to mobilize the people for elections, discourage them from revolting and contain them till the next election.

On top of this tripod rotates the head of change. In every season, every decade, every century, there is always one head dressed with a different colour to match the epoch and circumstance. The change of this era is the change from a corruption-ridden nation to a corruption-free state.

Now, how many people are not corrupt so that they can serve as models of integrity for the corrupt? It seems this is a difficult question; let’s turn it the other way round. How many people are corrupt and ready to serve as models of corruption to others? The statistics here are too terrifying to betray the calculus of any optimist on the future of Nigeria and the African continent.

While the masses shy away from their responsibility to come out and spearhead this journey to a reformed Nigeria, the corrupt are on the other side of the divide, ever determined to embolden their fingerprint on the face of civilization! No wonder they get most of the honours, most of the honorary degrees, most of the titles, most of the praises, most youths ready to die for the “good cause”, most of the best universities for their children…

Are you surprised? Why should they not be determined and willing to sacrifice their wealth and might to fight for the continuation of corruption? See! Listen! They were born in it, bred and nourished in it, educated in it, employed in it, voted in it and possibly wish to die in it.

They are not scared of sitting on the corpses of millions of their brothers if that is the only throne they can find to sustain their Kingdom of Corruption. They are very okay with the fact that the millions awaiting their grave permit languish and die in scarcity, adversity, poverty, obscurity – you name it. This is nothing compared to losing a single day in their lives to integrity and probity.

They will fight, hire the best lawyers, get the cruellest thugs, sponsor many false reports to raise public ire and angst against the people who seek to “unjustly” drive them from their ‘paradise.’ They will make many human sacrifices. They will even invent new smart devices of iniquity. Don’t underestimate their ingenuity when it comes to protecting corruption. Never underestimate them.

Alas, how long will they fight before they run out of vim? How long will they endure against the harsh winds of change? How long will they live to eat the billions they have amassed over seasons and seasons of rot, corruption and cruelty in this farmland of the world. How long will they procure mass graves for hundreds of citizens so as to exercise their will to power? They call our youths to their graves while their duplexes and children and girlfriends enjoy the loots of Nigeria in Dubai and London.

They will fight, but the people will also fight back. And as far as I know, no Empire or force or fight is powerful enough to stop the might of the people when they are determined for reform.

Do you want to join this fight? In which army will you prefer to fight? If you must join the side of those who want reform in the polity, then you must do so while you are well armed with patience and firm belief in God then the leader’s ability to bring change. Don’t be carried away by the plots and ploys of the corrupt. Correct when mistakes are made, tell the truth where and when needed, be just and bold in your assessment but never be a recruit (though subconsciously) in the army of the corrupt!

AF Sessay writes from Lagos. He can be reached via amarasesay.amir@gmail.com.