Nigeria, at
independence, held a lot of promise. The world was watching and Nigerians
themselves were expectant, believing that in no time, their country would be a
super power and a gleaming example for other African countries to emulate. This
was however not to be; so bad that by 2013, it was named the worst country to
be born in by the Economist Intelligence Unit – made worse by the fact that the
country has continued to feature prominently on corruption lists, irrespective of
their source.
Although a lot of
reasons have been advanced for this state of affairs in the most populous black
nation in the world, Emmanuel Onwubiko, in his book, “Who Cares
About Human Rights?” blames it almost entirely on the government’s
flagrant disregard for constitutional provisions which ordinarily should
protect the rights of Nigerians.
The book – a
compilation of articles on the author’s perspective on various national and
international issues that were published in various local newspapers and online
platforms in the last nine years – brings to the fore, many ways through which
the government abuses the rights of the people. Interestingly, many of the
victims, that is, the Nigerian people, do not even know that their rights are
being or have been abused.
In this 1024-page book,
which is divided into 143 chapters, Onwubiko, a human rights activist, analyses
various socio-political, economic, and religious issues that have affected
Nigeria’s polity since independence, particularly since 2005. With catchy
titles, these issues range from the reasons for subsidy removal as told by
those who advocated for it; how as a result of poverty, many young girls have
now taken to the streets as prostitutes, encouraged or even forced by their
parents, corruption in the judiciary, the Nigerian Police Force, religious
extremism the Biafra War, and many others.
In Chapter One, for
instance, he talks about the fuel subsidy removal of January 1, 2011, which
resulted in a protest that almost crippled the country. He believes it was
completely insensitive and unnecessary for the government to have done so as it
was one of the very few ways through which the masses benefit from the
government. He suggests that the government, in trying to save money, could
increase its tax on the upper class which is the practice in most developed
countries anyway.
On the international
scale, he extensively quotes various international laws, declarations and
conventions all through the book. He also discusses pertinent issues like the
war in Sudan and Liberia’s new status as a country recovering from years of
civil war. In different chapters he talks about such personalities as President
Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Kofi Annan, erstwhile secretary-general of the
United Nations, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia and her predecessor,
Charles Taylor. Taylor is currently serving a 50 year jail term for fuelling
the civil war in Liberia and Sierra Leone and other war crimes.
In Chapter 16, he
compares and contrasts the personality of America’s First Lady, Michelle
Obama, and that of her Nigerian counterpart, Patience Jonathan, concluding
that while Mrs. Obama exudes sophistication and the perfect helpmate to her
husband and mother to the nation, Mrs. Jonathan has a lot to learn.
One cannot help but
wonder what has become of the pathetic Pfizer Trovan Antibiotic case of 1996 in
Kano as discussed in Chapter 20 of the book, titled Pfizer Victims and
the Monkey Story. Through this chapter, he is able to show how inept the
government is and has always been in protecting the lives of its vulnerable
citizens, even against exploitative foreign companies. Between 5 and 11
children died from the unauthorized trial of a drug while others suffered
various degrees of disabilities. How over $4.5million was used to purchase cars
and a well furnished office for the board and its members that were to monitor
the compensation of the victims is beyond imagination. This, to the
author, is made worse by the fact that, to this day, not a single victim
or their relative has received a dime in compensation.
Situations like this
have become the order of the day in Nigeria where boards and committees are set
up and equipped to the teeth but after several years the problem they were set
up to solve remains untouched.
In Chapter 106,
titled Pfizer: Never Again, he blames Nigerians for doing very
little to help themselves by continuing to patronize drug hawkers, despite
repeated warnings from the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NAFDAC).
Throughout the book, he
not only mentions the problem and analyzes them with the critical mind of a
journalist and activist but goes a step further to proffer solutions.
However, some articles,
due to no fault in them at the time they were written, have not aged well, with
hindsight correcting suppositions and expressions. Perhaps, articles such as
these may have benefited from being updated to include new facts and contexts
that have emerged.
The author who hails
from Arondizuogu in the South East of Nigeria essentially believed that even
while it doesn’t appear that way, the government can always do more to improve
the condition of the people. The government can always do better and Nigeria
can become great again. This is the dominating theme of the book.
His passion and concern
for the country and the issues he writes about are palpable, demanding the
immediate attention of those in a position to make change happen and this is by
no means limited to the government. He also sounds a rallying cry to all his
readers who feel similarly involved to be moved to action.
Of course, like any
enterprise of sincerely passionate origins, he sometimes goes overboard in his
criticism and positions like when in Chapter 133 he said the president,
Goodluck Jonathan, has “cleverly adopted” two Igbo names with reference to his
middle name Ebele and Azikiwe, as if he only got the names to appeal to the
Igbo people over the government’s repeated failure to rebuild the Niger Bridge
whereas they have been a part of him long before he became president. He had
also described former governor Murtala Nyako’s argument that accuses the
president of genocide with the military intervention against Boko Haram in
Adamawa State and the rest of the North East as “puerile”.
Although there must have
been a better way to say Nyako’s argument and attempt to incite other northern
governors against the president was aimed at sabotaging the fight against
terrorism without attacking, one can easily understand that it is his desire
for a better nation that also imbues the book with its strong
points.
Indeed, Who
Cares About Human Rights? By former Federal Commissioner of the
National Human Rights Commission and a member of the Presidential committee on
Continuous Dialogue in Northern Nigeria [PCCDR], Emmanuel Onwubiko is a
book everyone who wants to get an authoritative perspective and good history of
Nigeria must read.
It is a well-written,
passionate dissection of hot topics over the last decade filled with many
insights and factual revelation which is a must-read for everyone interested in
an authoritative perspective and good history of Nigeria and contemporary
Nigerian politics.
+
Miss IGBINEDION THE BOOK REVIEWER WORKS WITH THE EDITORIAL DESK
OF Government, an arm of
the LEADERSHIP NEWSPAPERS IN ABUJA.
16/12/2014.
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