OUR VANISHING NORTHERN NIGERIA By Emmanuel Onwubiko

 

Memories! Memories are like soothing balms that heals an emotionally charged human mind and drives it to the blissful experiences of the past even as the troubled spirit begins a journey of recovery and psychological balance.

Fond memories are even more comforting and psychologically rich and have remained one of the best known panaceas to healing a human mind devastated by the existential realities of unprecedented scale of bloody violence and man’s inhumanity to man in our contemporary times.

In one of those sober moods of fond memories, my troubled mind travelled like an adventurous strange bird from the increasingly fearful vicinity of the nation’s capital city of Abuja to those violence ravaged Northern Nigerian towns, villages and hamlets that formed substantial parts of my childhood as a Nigerian of Igbo parentage who was born, bred and educated in Northern Nigeria of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.

Fond memories of Northern Nigeria came flashing and flooding down towards my sub-conscious as I reflected extensively on the imports of some weighty comments on the ongoing terror-related violence and bombardments in Northern Nigeria as made by the senate President David Mark, Alhaji Kashim Sheftima of Borno State and even President Goodluck Jonathan.

These prominent political office holders made their respective interventions on the terror-related mass killings in the North at the recent retreat of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which took place in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

Before proceeding to examine the statements made by the aforementioned political heavyweights in Nigeria, a reflection into what some knowledgeable persons wrote about the concept of memories are as important as they are relevant in Nigeria of today.

James M. Barrie said thus; “God gave us our memories so we might have roses in December”. Saul Bellow is of the considered opinion that; “everybody needs his/her memories. Memories keep the wolf of insignificance from the door”. Not wanting to be intellectually surpassed in his comprehension of the beautiful concept of memories, another thinker, Libbie Fuldim captured his thoughts on memories thus; “Recall it as often as you wish, a happy memory never wears out”.

I ask, how true is it that happy memories of the past regarding my childhood Northern Nigeria will not wear out even when the realization is true that I am no longer safe traversing those same memorable places in Northern Nigeria because of ongoing bloody violence unleashed intermittently in places of worship by armed Islamic insurgents in Northern Nigeria?

But from the same beautiful book titled “Quotes worth Repeating”, authored by Bob Kelly, I later learnt that Charles Kuralt said thus; “The good memories are all of stopping and staying a while. I realize I have always driven too fast through life, carrying in my baggage too much impatience and apprehension, missing too many chances, passing too many good people in the dust”.

In complete obedience to the above statement of universal truth by Charles Kuralt, I have therefore decided to suspend my overwhelming apprehension and impatience occasioned by the unprecedented state of insecurity in our once beautiful Northern Nigeria with the belief that the fond memories of some good experiences, people and places I encountered in my growing up years will serve as the healing tonic to encourage me to keep writing and working for lasting peace, religious freedoms and security of lives and property of citizens to be restored to our increasingly diminishing Northern Nigeria. Oh God may I be right.       

Memories drove me elegantly like a harmless Butterfly to Kafanchan in Kaduna state which is my place of birth and I recall going to Aduwan one primary school, formerly, Saint Peter Claver primary school with dozens of my childhood Hausa/Fulani, Berom, Bajju, and Kataf speaking Childhood friends whereby we will learn in convivial and happy serene environment with an expansive football pitch whereby some of us little boys back then would try our innocent footballing skills amid jeers and jubilations of childhood years.

Memories drove me to recollecting some friendly encounters I had as a child with some beautiful Hausa/Fulani girls who showed undying love to learn to speak my language of parentage – Igbo, since in their understanding I already know their first language which is Hausa that was widely spoken even in our class rooms.

Memories indeed! Fond memories took me to my secondary school days at the Teachers College Kafanchan whereby several of my bosom friends were Hausa/Fulani’s, indigenous people of Southern Kaduna, Yorubas, Gwaris, Idomas, Igalas, Igbos and a sprinkle of some few Ijaw speaking co-students who exhibited exceedingly good fraternal communion with all.

I do also remember going to Katsina, Daura, and Zaria all in the old Kaduna state as part of sporting teams from my secondary school to participate in the inter-school games which were beautiful memories.

These fond memories were interjected by few sectarian skirmishes between followers of the two dominant organized religions of Islam and Christianity. But these disagreements were soon settled before much blood was spilled.

As children, then in Northern Nigeria, I remember invading some fresh fruit farms with my childhood friends mainly of Hausa/Fulani origin to pluck mangoes, oranges and cashew fruits to fill up our little hungry stomachs on our homeward journeys from our Teachers’ College Kafanchan that was like 30 minutes of hard trek to town where most residents stayed peacefully then. Today, Kafanchan is split into two equal segments with Christians and Moslems staying apart in distinct districts of the once lovely town. Today Kafanchan have three markets for Christians, Moslems and Igbo Women.

In the early 1980’s, I remember vividly when I first travelled to Maiduguri, Borno state in one of my early secondary school adventures to know some uncharted territories to meet new friends and know new places. Those days were very peaceful and people had great respect for the African cultural values of hospitality and respect for life as sacred gift from the Divine creator. Not anymore.

Those beautiful days are far gone now in Northern Nigeria with the large scale killings by armed religious rebels in most parts of Northern Nigeria which very recently sparked off retaliatory killings of Muslims by Christians in Kaduna, Northern Nigeria. The Christians for the better part of the last two years have faced a barrage of bombardments and terror-related targeted bomb attacks from professed armed Islamic insurgents.        

I indeed weep for our vanishing Northern Nigeria the same way that editors of the globally respected Newsmagazine-“The Economist” lamented the melting of the Arctic and extensively reflected on what this ugly phenomenal situation means for trade, energy and the World Environment in a special edition of June 16th-22nd 2012 which they aptly titled “The Vanishing North”. 

I am not alone in my lamentations of the quickly vanishing Northern Nigeria since even President Jonathan, Senate President David Mark and Governor of Borno state Mr. Shettima Keshim have also collectively joined the chorus although in different undulating tunes.

Ensconced in the serene and peaceful environment of the retreat center in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state, far away from the Northern states that have become war zones whereby Southerners and innocent Northerners have come under threat of bloody violence, theses politicians weighed in on the ongoing Northern violence and warned of imminent national disaster.

David Mark of the entire speakers at the Uyo, Akwa Ibom Senate retreat made the better intervention when he promptly warned that if the killings by armed Islamic insurgents in the North are not effectively checked and defeated, then Nigeria is on the speed lane of imminent break up just like the over speeding underground train that has failed break.

David Mark gave his verdict thus, “The way the exercise is going at the moment, if Boko Haram is not halted, it may result to the breakup of this country and God forbid, because people will not take it for too long.”

On his part, President Jonathan who recently fired his National Security Adviser General Owoaye Azazi and Defence minister Mr. Haliru Bello and hired a northerner, Retired Colonel Sambo Dasuki as Security advisor, blamed opposition politicians for playing politics with national security matter.

I think some politicians in Nigeria are mischievously celebrating the unprecedented state of insecurity in the North as the demonstration of People Democratic Party-led Federal government’s failure, I do also think that the Jonathan administration has so far not effectively implemented proactive security measures to stop the bloody violence which has shifted to churches with the attendant devastating consequences on the lives of innocent worshippers. This is a war crime and crime against humanity as was recently acknowledged by the United Nations Human Rights Council.

On June 26th 2012, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria met and issued detailed findings on the Northern Nigerian violence whereby they collectively called on government to arrest the widespread insecurity and mass killings.

Their words: “It is the primary duty of government to ensure security of lives and property of citizens all over the nation. There can be no excuse for failure in this primary duty. There is evidence that the state has been doing a lot to arrest the situation…much more need to be done in the area of intelligence gathering, analyzing, interpreting and security equipment procurement. The terrorist must be identified, engaged, and disarmed”.

Our worst fears of imminent break up of Nigeria would be arrested and our fond memories of a nation whereby all citizens will freely exercise all the fundamental freedoms including freedom to worship, movement and right to life would remain inviolable and sacrosanct only if Government takes the right steps to stop the mass killings.

*   Emmanuel Onwubiko, Head, HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA,   writes from www.huriwa.blogspot.com. 

27/6/2012

                      

EGYPT: A REVOLUTION COMPLETED OR A THROWBACK? By Emmanuel Onwubiko

Egypt and Israel are two nations that fascinate most creative writers and even observers of international affairs because of a variety of cogent and verifiable reasons. Israel is the homeland of the Jews who were mostly persecuted and were indeed almost annihilated during the Second World War in the early 1940's because of the ambition of one demonic mind-Adolphus Hitler who dreamt of establishing a World Order where freedom, justice, equity and respect for the fundamental human rights would be subjugated, suppressed and oppressed and the rule of the brutes, dictators and absolute tyrants would become the order of the day. Luckily for humanity, the civilized World rose in unison and dramatically defeated General Hitler of the then Eastern Germany. Egypt is known as the cradle of ancient civilization and for most practicing Christians, Egypt holds a special place in their hearts and minds because it was there that the little Jesus Christ, in his human form was taken by his Biblical Parents Joseph the worker and Virgin Mary, to shield him from imminent danger of death by the absolute monarch- King Herod who was frightened at the prospect of losing his authorities to the coming peoples' Messiah. Egypt is one place that most people in most parts of the World would ordinarily grow up to know in their formative educational years because of the many historical facts associated with that nation. I, for one would remember Egypt as one of the earliest places I ever learnt about and attached so much importance in history as a Child. Since the formation of modern State of Israel in 1948 and up until the late 1970's, the two neighbors -Egypt and Israel fought several wars over disagreements bordering on ownership rights over the River Niles and other adjourning border towns. The Egyptian administration are also known to have deep sympathy to the Palestinian Cause over the true owner of the most historically significant segments of Jerusalem. But the sporadic wars came to an end with a truce agreement entered into by the political and military leadership of both nations in 1978. The venue of this solemn peace accord was Camp David. Camp David is the Country retreat of the President of the United State of America and his guests. Located in Low wooded hills about 100 kilometers [62m1] North-North West of Washington DC on the property of Catoctin Mountain Park in unincorporated Fredrick County, Maryland, near Thurmount,, according to the writers of the wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. The natural beauty and scenery of this Camp David is underscored by the pristine fact that it is located at an elevation of approximately 560 meters [1,840 feets]. Camp David in officialdom, in the United States of America, the World's Super-power, is known as Naval Support facility Thurmont, and is technically a military installation, staffing is primarily provided by the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. America is a strong ally of the Israeli people and also maintains strong presence in Egypt which is a strategic segment of the Arab World because Egypt has the largest population of Arabs in the World. The symbolic importance of Egypt made it necessary for an American University to be built in Egypt which incidentally is the institution whereby the Wife of the deposed Egyptian strongman Mr. Hosni Mubarak [a retired Air Force General and the longest President of Egypt] Mrs. Suzzane, [a half United Kingdom citizen by virtue of a Welsh mother] attended. Suzzanne obtained both her first degree and post-graduate degree from the American University and the two sons of former President Mubarak also spent time at the American University. What I am driving at by mentioning the presence of the American University in Cairo, Egypt is to demonstrate the close affinity and diplomatic friendship of the United States and Egypt traditionally and by extension, the Government of the United States of America will be at the forefront of Global governments that would support continuous peace between the two nations of Egypt and Israel. President Barrack Obama, the first ever Black American President in the United States of America visited Egypt as part of the series of foreign trips to Islamic Arab Countries and nations considered Islamic in an effort to bridge the gap between the United States of America and the Moslem World following the perception that the war on terror launched by President George Bush following the September 2001 terrorist attack of the United States was targeted at the Moslems. But a big historical event happened on Sunday June 24th 2012 when the much awaited results from the re-run poll of the Presidential election was declared and the candidate of the Freedom and Justice party, the political wing of the formerly banned Moslem Brotherhood- Mohammed Morsi won by a slight margin thereby defeating the candidate that is closely affiliated with the military and the last Prime Minister under the popularly dethroned regime of Mr. Hosni Mubarak, Mr. Ahmed Shafik who retired as a military General. The general mood among the establishment in the state of Israel is that of 'wait -and- see' because of the earlier commitment made by the President -elect of Egypt of the Moslem Brotherhood in which he promised not to tamper with the existing peace accord with the state of Israel. Moreover, before the declaration of the results of the Presidential re-run poll, the powerful military hierarchy in Egypt succeeded in thwarting the powers of the now elected President by getting the highest court in the land- the constitutional court to invalidate the newly inaugurated Egyptian parliament made up mostly of parliamentarians affiliated to the Moslem Brotherhood and the nation has no valid constitution thereby making it possible for the military to manipulate the tenure of the now elected President. The Egyptian military did not stop at making sure that whomsoever emerged on Sunday June 24th 2012 did not only transmute into a sitting dock toothless President with little or no executive powers, but they also got two extra-constitutional decrees passed which grants them the total powers over foreign and defence affairs of Egypt meaning that though the elected civilian President of Egypt would preside over as the Chairman of the National Defence Council made up largely of several serving military Generals but the President does not have any commanding power or influence. The President of Egypt under the new arrangement will not have the unilateral power of revoking the Camp David peace accord with the State of Israel. I believe by so doing the American interest has being comfortably addressed and protected since the Egyptian military which controls several commercial ventures in Egypt including Tourism sector also enjoys unfettered access to several billions of United States Dollars of foreign technical assistance from the Government of the United States, would not ordinarily encourage any decision by the incoming administration in Egypt to roll out and implement any anti-American foreign policy and since the American interest seems inter-twined with the Israeli interest because of their long standing affinity, it stands to reason that for the foreseeable future, the Camp David accord between Egypt and Israel may remain sacrosanct. The concern of this writer with the emergence of the first Islamist elected leader in the entire Arab World in the person of the Moslem Brotherhood produced President -elect of Egypt- Mohammed Morsi, is whether the fundamental human/civil rights of minorities like Christians and Women of Egypt would be respected because looking at how these segments of the society are reduced into the ranks of second or even third class citizens in Islamist Theocratic and/or Monarchical regimes in the rest of the Arab World including Iran, one would be left wondering whether these new big boys of Egypt will not throw the hands of the clock back by several decades by establishing a dictatorship that would subjugate the rights of Women and minorities in the affairs of Egypt. The rights of women to property rights and other sexual rights must be protected. A friend who recently returned from Iran told me a story of how the Iranian Women are refused some basic rights which are freely given to their men counterparts like participation in sporting activities and even participating actively in partisan politics. It was not long ago that Women were allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia. With such basic rights like prohibition of Female genital Mutilation, prohibition of early or child marriage and the absolute prohibition of other serious sexual abuses of women that were in place during the Hosni Mubarak regime, it is feared that the coming of the Moslem Brotherhood on the political stage may demolish all these basic rights of women and even the right to freedom of worship enjoyed for ages under the Mubarak administration by the Christian minorities. It is noteworthy to remark here that people are already expressing fears that the new regime in Egypt may remove some of these fundamental human rights that are universally accepted as human rights for all humanity. Happily, Mohammed Morsi, who graduated with a prestigious doctorate degree in Engineering from one of the best Universities in the United States of American and has two daughters born in the United States with United States citizenship, has already assured the frightened observers around the World that his Government would respect the fundamental human rights of all persons including minorities and women. The World is watching to see whether the popular revolution which deposed the former dictator Hosni Mubarak has been further consolidated with the emergence of the first ever elected head of state in the Arab World or whether this is an unfortunate throwback to the primitive era whereby the rights of women and minorities would be abused with ignominy. Mohammed Morsi, the newly elected President of Egypt told Chirtien Amomphor of the Cable Network News of the United States of America that there is nothing like Islamic democracy but one universally recognized democracy which recognizes all the fundamental rights of all human beings as sacrosanct. It is hoped that the new President will respect this solemn social contract with the people of Egypt. But again, the fact that the winner of the hotly contested Presidential election in Egypt won with a very slim margin[Mohammed Morsi won with 13,230,131 to defeat Ahmed Shafik who scored 12, 347,380] shows how divided the Egyptian society is and it is left for the new Government to begin a transparent national process of reconciliation to bridge the gap between the supporters of the elected President and those of the other critical segments of the Egyptian society like the Secularists, the free thinkers, Women and religious minorities. Egypt cannot afford to retrogress because of the historical importance of that nation to almost all members of the human race and because of the singular fact that it was the bastion of ancient civilization. It is expected that the leadership will separate religion from politics and allow the basic fundamental freedoms to grow in view of the fact that the name of the political party that produced Mohammed Morsi is called Freedom and Justice party. Although it is yet to be known for how long Dr. Morsi will last as the President of Egypt because for now there is no constitution and the Military is expected to play a dominant role in the writing of the new constitution for Egypt following the annulment of the National Parliament, most people around the World and especially in Africa and the Arab World expect that the rights of all persons must and should be protected and guarded jealously because Africa and the Arab World cannot afford to have another nation like Iran or Syria under the current President Assad's murderous dictatorship who are unleashing divergent violence and muzzling of opposition voices in their respective countries. As I watched the international television live program whereby the Chairman of the Presidential Election Commission Justice Farouk Sultan announced the victory of the Moslem brotherhood, I saw a joyous crowds of people in Tariq Square in Cairo- Egypt who jubilated and also wished that the revolution which they started last year will not after all turn out as a big fluke. Revolution by the people should restore popular democracy whereby zero-tolerance to corruption and dictatorship would become the order of the day. That is my wish for the people of Egypt but the rights of all persons must be respected as sacrosanct and inviolable. +     Emmanuel Onwubiko, Head, Human Rights Writers' Association of Nigeria, writes            from www.huriwa.blogspot.com.

25/6/2012

ACRIMONIOUS RELOCATION OF UNIVERSITIES By Emmanuel Onwubiko

No doubt Nigeria is ranked among the developing Countries of the world pejoratively termed as third World Countries. An index of underdevelopment used as the international benchmark for arriving at the status whereby Nigeria is so ranked as belonging to the infamous club of third World Countries, is the literacy level of the populace which by all intents and purposes, is not salutary and promising.     

Although, Nigerians living and working in the developed societies such as the United States of America, United Kingdom and Canada are known as some of the finest academics in their areas of specialization but locally, the literacy level among the adult populace is disappointing.

Recently, report has it that Nigeria has the highest number of black medical Doctors practicing their profession in the United States of America.  But locally, the literacy level is not commendable. To add salt to injury, over 10 million Nigerian children of school ages are out of school because of widespread, pervasive and notorious poverty afflicting their parents and/or guardians.

With few years to 2015 deadline, Nigeria is unlikely to meet the eight goals in the millennium Development Goals including but not limited to eradication of poverty. Poverty is further reinforced among a good number of Nigerians by the high rate of illiteracy among the adult populace.

The World Bank, Nigerian office in a document published in April 2011, claimed that Nigeria’s literacy rate marginally improved by 25 percent through construction and provision of equipment to primary and secondary school class rooms in over 1,000 communities.

In the report titled; “Macroeconomic stability and delivering services to the poor”, the World Bank wrote thus; “Despite Nigeria’s strong economic track record, poverty is significant, and reducing it will require strong non-oil growth and a focus on human development. Barriers include the investment climate, infrastructure, incentives and policies affecting agricultural productivity, and the quality and relevance of tertiary education”.

The World Bank gave further scorecard of Nigeria as follows; “In spite of successful initiatives in human development, Nigeria may not be on track for meeting most of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. Underpinning these challenges is the core issue of governance, in particular at the state level. Fiscal decentralization provides Nigeria’s 36 states and 774 local governments considerable policy autonomy, control of 50 percent of government revenues, and responsibility for delivery of public services. Capacity is weak in most states, and improving governance will be a long term process”.

Statistics of education in Nigeria from 1999 to 2005 published by the Federal Ministry of education is loaded with frightening facts regarding the state of education and literacy in Nigeria. Vast as the country is, only a total of 299,386 qualified primary school teachers were recorded in 2005.

In that study, Oyo state, in South West Nigeria had the highest number of qualified teachers amongst the states with 24,679, representing 8.24 percent.

This was followed by Lagos state with 21,471 (7.17 percent), while Zamfara state in the North West Nigeria recorded the least with 1,249 qualified teachers only.

In an editorial published on Thursday, June 21st 2012, ThisDay newspaper revealed that about half the population of teachers in Sokoto state, North West Nigeria cannot read and write.

This is how precarious the state of literacy in most part of Nigeria has nosedived. Interestingly, the Sokoto State Governor Mr. Magatakarda Wamako recently built a state of the art University in his state to try to bridge the wide gap in the training and qualification of teachers who would go on to impart knowledge on the younger population because of the realization that education holds the key to development.

Because poverty is high among the greatest percentage of Nigerians, most people on their own have realized that one sure way to escape the poverty vicious circle is to embrace capacity training/ building and advanced human development which is believed in authoritative quarters as a panacea to the poverty trap.

 Politicians have also cleverly cashed in on the mad rush by most people for education and especially tertiary education to gained some mileages and advantages against their rivals.

Aspirants to political offices such as the National Assembly all across the country have had to assemble media practitioners especially from the print and electronic media to cover ceremonies whereby some few educationally hungry teenagers are awarded some forms of scholarship including the purchase of pre-university matriculation examination forms.

 At the state level, those among the politicians who win election to become governors have also played politics with the all- important issue of education. Some of these governors have gone to the ridiculous level of relocating already existing state owned universities and other educational facilities to their place of birth to score cheap and senseless political mileage.

 The Nigerian state governors who have engaged in this drama of relocation of state tertiary institutions most times do not give priority to the all important need for such schools to receive the best of funding support to transform such institutions to become centers of academic excellence and research.

 Findings from those who should know said that location of tertiary institutions should not dominate the agenda of political office holders since what distinguishes a good academic institution from the bad one is the level and intensity of funding and research.

 Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia provides a good background to the aforementioned fact.

The writers of the reputable online free encyclopedia found out that; “Strong research and funding have helped make United States colleges and universities among the world’s most prestigious, making them  particularly attractive to international students, professors and researchers in the pursuit of academic excellence.”

According to the Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Academic Ranking of World Universities, more than 30 of the highest-ranked 45 institutions are in the United States (as measured by awards and research output).

 But in Nigeria of the twenty first century, what occupies the attention of local politicians who hold the juicy offices of state governors is to change the location of higher institutions to their geo-political domains.

 In Bayelsa, Imo and Ekiti states, Governors of those states are embroiled in the needless controversy of moving already existing state funded universities to their own local council areas for purely political reasons.        

 With less than 100 days in office, Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa state reportedly ordered the relocation of the Bayelsa State college of Education (BYCOE), Okpoama in Brass local government area to his own community, in Toru Orua in Sagbama local government area.

 Educational and political analysts in Bayelsa state said that the above move is meant to hurt the immediate past Governor of the state Chief Timipre Silva who established the school in 2009 and located it in his own community. Both Dickson and Sylva fought fierce political battle up to the Supreme Court of Nigeria before the former [Mr. Dickson] was declared the validly elected Governor of the oil-rich but heavily underdeveloped state.

 In Imo state, Governor Rochas Okorocha has reportedly relocated the Imo state university from Owerri Senatorial zone to his Orlu Senatorial zone.

 Emperor Iwuala, a public affairs commentator based in Owerri, Imo state criticized Governor Okorocha for moving the Imo state university from where it is now to his own community in Ideato South local government area.

 
He also traced the establishment of the Imo state university to a law of the state legislature passed in 1981 and submitted that the Governor is obliged to follow the law.

 Iwuala wrote thus; “Imo State University (IMSU) was originally modeled after the famous University of Nebraska in the United States of America. Accordingly, the Imo State Law No. 4 of 1981 provided for five temporary campuses for the university to be located at the existing five senatorial zones in the old Imo State.”

 Originally, the Imo state university was to operate campuses in all parts of the old Imo state but successive administrations in Imo State also played their own politics with the structure, location and funding of the Imo State University since the then Imo State University was ceded to Abia on creation of Abia from the old Imo State.

 For Nigeria to get it right, and for us to bridge the technology gap, state governors should not dabble into the needless politics of relocating already existing higher institutions to favour their immediate environment but must shift emphasis to improving better, transparent funding of these schools to create good learning environment for research and capacity development of Nigeria’s younger generation.

·        Emmanuel Onwubiko, head, HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA; writes from www.huriwa.blogspot.com.

21/6/2012