Nigeria – Tuck Magazine

Administrator Kera: A solution to Nafada South Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

AFP photo

By

Adamu Usman Garko

Mr Dahiru Kera, Journalist and media consultant declared earnestly to contest the Nafada South State Assembly seat in the forthcoming general election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Nigeria’s Gombe state. Kera has been widely known with his optimistic role in distinct trajectory, however brisk in Gombe state, where I’m sure they will testify the gentleman is a pearl for the masses, most especially those who are going through a predicament and have scars.

To add to your knowledge of Kera, he didn’t just go forth declaring based on his own interest, instead he stood to the call of the youth and the masses who sought a reliable and sustainable rule. Kera didn’t cease in his determination but undertook a laborious solution to the constituency. Kera stated “I accept wholeheartedly the call from the able people of this proud constituency to join the race because I am eligible, experienced in politics and sufficiently educated. Let me assure us that this decision was not taken lightly, it was reached only after deep consultations with family, friends, political allies and associates who encouraged me to declare,” he said. The PDP ward chairmen in the constituency congratulated Kera for declaring to contest, saying the people at the grassroots deserved to be represented by only courageous, ambitious and determined fellow such as Kera.

In a collected gesture, the warm people and numerous groups who mustered their concern said “Today, we welcome you wholeheartedly because you are one of our most committed members whose dedication and contribution to the party survival and promotion of the viable programmes and policies of the administration of our leader, Governor Dankwambo while also defending the party in the media war is unequivocal.”

Kera has been a torchlight to the people of Gombe state, he promotes and mentors many social-media-activitists from Gombe state, he deserves this seat and has widely been acknowledged for his contributions to the state at large, not only by Nafada.

Conclusively, people beneath this parasol should consider looking at this man and retaliate even by casting their votes for him as whoever votes for him supports development and contributes to the good work he will undoubtedly offer if elected.

Adamu Usman Garko

Adamu Usman Garko is the author of the eBook Lonely Season, a student, he writes and lives in Gombe, Gombe state. Nigeria. Poet and Story writer: His poems have appeared in different magazines and journals, and some will be featured in an anthology out soon. Some of my poems have appeared in Tuck Magazine, The Art and Musefair, Praxis.

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Administrator Buhari versus Buhari: Them and Us Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

SD photo

By

Prince Charles Dickson

A puppy thinks: “Hey, these people I live with feed me, love me, provide me with a warm, dry home, pet me and take good care of me…

… THEY MUST BE GODS!”

Kitten and Pup love Getting Back to Happy

A kitten thinks: “Hey, these people I live with feed me, love me, provide me with a warm, dry home, pet me and take good care of me…

… I MUST BE A GOD!”

Same situation–different thinking.

To a great extent, we make our own life stories by our thoughts. The reality we ultimately create is a process of our daily thinking. And when our daily thinking is right, our daily actions can’t be wrong in the long run.

I have often opined…the easiest and most attractive national past time is buck-passing especially with the bunch of leaders that we have. Not many of us want to take responsibility for anything, from personal, to family or national life. The blame is on the system.

We do not need to create demons out of our leaders because they are specimen of demons, so we hang our sins on them appropriately and inappropriately too. And unfortunately their behavior has made it easy for the critic to descend on them.

We at most, talk, write and discuss the Nigerian myth, one which is leadership, with a sense of fatalism. If everyone thought as much as I did about justice and fairness, life would be better. I am critic, but I am also the critics’ critic, the unrepentant believer that the best way to keep government on its toes is to keep harping on their flaws so they can improve.

Often I say I believe the things I write on, are important for our nation as they are for other nations, but when it appears to me Nigerians especially those in authority do not react to these issues as people in other lands do, I repeat them in new essays to remind old readers and recruit new ones to participate in the continuing dialogue.

As a critic, even my bitterest opponents, those Buharists and apologists, politicians from all sides; North, South, Middle Belts, and all other belts have to read me personally or have someone read me and tell them what I said and did not say, so that their anger can be kept burning hot.

Sadly this is Nigeria where nothing works and no one cares, when it works, it is because someone’s interest is about to be served or being served not the people’s interest.

Government bashing is now a national past time and every drinking joint and free newspaper association has a sitting parliament with an expert on every issue, but we forget that no matter the input if the politicians have questionable lives both on personal and domestic level, nothing will change, the best government policy cannot change the individual.

Like I once said NITEL, NIPOST, NPA, NMA, everything and anything that has an N has been run down. Even Nigeria herself or is it himself. Despite my barrage on the leadership I believe we ourselves can do a lot in improving our lot, we do not need a decree or law that would ban urinating in public place because it is wrong.

We do not need government to teach us to stop treating ourselves like animals. Do we need government to teach us that we demand responsible leadership and representation? Certainly not, we should know that and act in a fashion that depicts that we demand more than what we are getting.

The critic’s anthem would be my end to this short essay, it is one that has always inspired me by H.G. Wells “we are going to write about it all. We are going to write about business and finance and politic and pretences and pretentiousness, and decorum and indecorum, until a thousand pretences and ten thousand impostor shrivel in the cold, …we are going to write about wasted opportunities and latent beauties, until a thousand new ways of life open to men and women. We are going to appeal to the young, and the hopeful, and the curious against —-the established, the dignified and the defensive. Before we are done we will have all life within this scope of the novel.

Our problems have been over-exaggerated, it is not that it cannot be solved, but really do we want it solved. He that is cheated twice by the same man is an accomplice with the cheater…Where do we stand as part of this enterprise of Nigeria, is it ours, or theirs or for all of us or for them. What we are afraid of doing is a clear indicator of what we need to do, our worries in the lack of leadership gradually is becoming a master to us.

We need the character to act, and those who will act with character. We need to a great extent; we make our own Nigerian narrative not just by our thoughts. The reality we ultimately create is a process of our daily thinking. And when our daily thinking is right, our daily actions can’t be wrong in the long run. In Nigeria a word is never enough for the wise, because he is really not wise in character, as the days in the run up to the next elections draw near, it is Buhari versus Buhari and who wins—Only time will tell.

Prince Charles Dickson

Currently Prince Charles, is based out of Jos, Plateau State, and conducts field research and investigations in the Middle Belt Region of Nigeria with an extensive reach out to the entire North and other parts. Prince Charles worked on projects for UN Women, Search for Common Ground, and International Crisis Group, among others. He is an alumnus of the University of Jos and the prestigious Humanitarian Academy at Harvard and Knight Center For Journalism, University of Texas at Austin. A doctoral candidate of Georgetown University

Born in Lagos State (South West Nigeria), Prince Charles is proud of his Nigerian roots. He is a Henry Luce Fellow, Ford Foundation grantee and is proficient in English, French, Yoruba Ibo and Hausa. Married with two boys, and a few dogs and birds.

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Administrator Nigeria 2019: Why the youths may not make an impact Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

Reuters photo

By

Jerome-Mario Utomi

Leadership is viewed as deformed when the leader assumes a self-sufficient attitude, despises others and views his/herself as the exclusive possessor of what he/she has, as well as claim excellence not possessed.

Unfortunately, such characterizes the leadership’s sphere, not just in Nigeria but Africa as a continent. A factor that’s largely responsible for the leader’s inability to provide direction, protection, orientation, shape norms or manage conflicts in their various places of authority, impeding the establishment of a people-centered leadership culture.

Irked by these worrying realities, Nigerian youths as observed, like their counterparts in other parts of the world, resolved to democratically redress the situation come the 2019 general election by actively participating in the electoral process; a move that has prompted many to angle for different political positions including that of the presidency.

However, despite the popularity of this opinion, it is of considerable significance to state that, apart from the youths’ non-possession of the financial strength to execute the electoral projects as being speculated in some quarters, there are of cause other probable factors that may render the move fruitless irrespective of the demographic advantage enjoyed or the glamour that graced their much celebrated not-too-young-to run campaign recently embarked on to press for a power shift.

Indeed, the need for a shift in the nation’s leadership structure has become inevitable and eminently desirable to accommodate young technocrats who can take responsibility for their actions and results, be accountable where previous administrations were not, and tell the truth about their failures without blame games.

But, one fundamental obstacle that will prevent this from coming to fruition is the subjective view of the electoral process/positions by the youths as a right which must be given, even in the face of obvious inabilities, and a gross absence of planned programs and pragmatic strategies to making a positive impact by the power-seeking youths.

To Nigerians with discerning minds, electoral exercise as practiced the world over is both programme and strategy based and a keen contest where the candidates with the best programme and realistic strategies for achieving that programme is given priority/favored by the electorates. The youths at the moment, have neither been programme specific nor strategy concerned.

Again, from investigations, seeking an elective position with the aim of effecting political and socioeconomic change is synonymous with fighting for emancipation from captivity which is never voluntarily given without personal sacrifice/ self-denials; as the beneficiaries of the old order will do everything to thwart the moves. Very objectively, Nigerians are yet to see such sacrifice, be it ideological or material from the youths.

The situation is even made worse as some of the youths for pecuniary benefits work across purpose while others have settled for political crumbs that fall from ‘the masters’ table.

Another contentious factor that is in the interim working against the youths is the lackluster performance by one of their very own, in one of the states of the federation. A personality that has become a negative emblem to the image of the Nigerian youths; promoting critical minds to believe that afterward there may not be any appreciable difference between the youths and the adults they accuse.

Aside from the below average performance of the ‘youthful governor’, another problem standing in the way of the youths is the mirrored opinion of the vast majority of Nigerians that the character hitherto exhibited by some of these power seeking youths have neither been impressive nor exemplary with many shedding their deep-seat fears about handing power over to them, as it could translate into a political mistake with a heavy price.

As an illustration, the political globe is presently dotted with young leaders in the likes of Emmanuel Macron of France, Saleh Ali al-Sammad of Yemen, Emil Dimitriev of Macedonia, Vanessa D’ Ambrosio, Kim Jong Un of North Korea, and Charles Michel of Belgium among others, that the world could without much labour say what they stood for before their emergence as leaders.

Certainly, the need to inject youths into positions of authority to ameliorate the present blow of inflation and recession, subsidize education, health, and create employment as well as guaranty security of lives and property has become unavoidable.

It will, however, be antithetical to support a movement based on sentiment or allow sentiment to determine our actions. What the youths currently projects in views is well-intentioned but pragmatically vague, variable and ungraspable to be taken seriously as their actions and strategies are masked in ambiguity with unclear vision and blurred goals.

For the youths to be taken seriously, therefore, what Nigerians expect is a development of potentials that are politically new, something that is not yet known and not in existence, which will establish new political configurations. This is an imperative demand as their political survival should not be left to chance just as anyone that fails to search for his potential leaves his survival to chance.

Very instructive also, the argument for a generational change from the head and the placement of our fate in our youths who had integrity, energy and the drive to recognize that extraordinary conditions call for extraordinary solutions is indispensable but must be accompanied by a reassurance from the youths.

Another contentious challenge that may in the estimation of the vast majority scuttle this ambition is the belief that electoral project in Nigeria is capital intensive while Nigerian youths are financially placed at the base of the pyramid.

The assertion about the huge financial involvement in my views is in order but may not be completely correct, as the argument was not only sophistry but antithetical to building a nation devoid of corruption and goes against the global warning on corruption as succulently pointed out.

‘A precondition for an honest government is that candidate must not need large sums to get elected, or it must trigger off the circle of corruption. Having spent a lot of money to get elected, winners must recover their costs and possibly accumulate funds for the next election as the system is self-perpetuating’.

To make an impact in the forthcoming 2019 general election, therefore, what the youths urgently need is the creation of innovative ideas that electorates can buy into, building of alliances/coalition with various pressure groups and being ecumenical in movement with already existing coalitions or political parties.

Jerome-Mario Utomi

Jerome-Mario is a Social Entrepreneur and an alumnus, School of media and communication, Pan Atlantic University, Lagos, Nigeria.

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Administrator Let’s dust off our Patriotism Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

AP photo

By

Abdulyassar Abdulhamid

When I first came across John F. Kennedy’s historic words, “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country”, I was dumbfounded, being familiar with how things are going here; and after I deeply meditated about the present day Nigeria many questions trailed my contemplation: how many daring Nigerians spare even a thought for their communities, let alone the country? Is this practicable in Nigeria? The questions are endless.

I often deliberately raise some arguments while discussing critical issues with my friends purposely to gauge how patriotic we are to our dear country, Nigeria; but unfortunately, nine out of ten of such occasions, the result is the same. I cannot help but conclude that, though it may sound abrupt, if we have love for this country it is a very faint or shallow one. It will never – so sad – shoot us to something great.

Unlike what many people mistake it to be, “Patriotism,” argued A. T. Jones in his What Is Patriotism in the United States, “is the spirit which prompts obedience to the laws of one’s country, and to the support and defense of its existence, rights, and institutions.” I argue: very few Nigerians will qualify as patriotic going by this holistic definition.

Although I have led a sedentary life as many other Kanawas for I had both my primary, secondary and undergraduate education in Kano – I could not stay at campus for one business or the other. Perhaps this is why I have chosen to explore other geographical locations via literary texts. How fake this may be? I am yet to know how it has got complete possession of me. I have seen how patriotic other nationals are through my reading, at least – in 2017 tired of my desk-bound life and armed with an opportunity given to me by the NYSC scheme, I visited Niger Republic. Before then I heard of many tales of how law abiding and patriotic Nigeriens are.

At our arrival at the border, a friend Usman Usman and I cracked a joke with one important customs officer whose rank I could not guess for he was clad in mufti. My reply when he asked why we insisted on crossing the border was simple; it came in a matter-of fact-tone: having been thirsty for the unfamiliar I said, “We want go abroad.” Hearing this, he laughed his head off and told his officers to collect our documents and keep them for us.

The commercial motorcyclist who conveyed us to the border refused to cross the border conveying two passengers. “It is not possible,” I still remember his words. We had to flag down another one to take us there.

The story is the same when you cross the border. The police do not have to shout at or pursue a driver to enforce law. The first thing I asked Usman Usman was “Guess how patriotic this people are?” He was speechless. I know he was mirroring the happenings at home. “The country, although far behind ours in richness, will in a few years overtake ours by storm. The government does not have to replace streetlights, buildings, facilities after a riot or street protest. The people love their country so dearly as to destroy public properties or facilities,” he enthused at last.

We later noticed some changes in our complexions. So marvelous was the weather, although almost akin to what one has in Mai Gatari. The people, their world views and mode of dress are almost the same: two worlds apart.

When many Nigerians see patriotism in the subtle or superficial, as Lawrence W. Reed would say, I too “subscribe to a patriotism rooted in ideas that in turn gives birth to a country.” It is that idea that swells in my stomach when I feel patriotic – something much more than colouring my face in green-white-green or holding my breath when the national anthem is being recited and only perhaps to pensteal thereafter or wearing a wristband with Nigeria’s coat of arms cut on it and later vandalize public properties provided for our common good.

Another, a friend, Adamu Sulaiman, who did his master’s degree in India once told me that at the simple mentioning of Mother India an Indian will come to your aid, befriend you as one of his best. He in many instances claimed that their lecturers are not only there to lecture but also to polish the image of their country. Is this viable in Nigeria? Do Nigerians have that respect for their country?

On Saturday, 28^th April, 2018, I was with Professor Abdel Aziz A. Tantawny, Dean of the Institute of African and Nile States Research and Studies, Awan University, Egypt at the Tahir Guess Palace, Kano. We discussed a lot on postgraduate studies, admission and opportunities there. To my surprise, toward the end of the conference, Prof. Abdel Aziz turned out to be a hidden persuader, patriotic citizen and educationist all rolled into one.

Even before this meeting I have stayed long enough with Egyptians to learn this by heart. They have that undying love for their country. No wonder, a brother once told me, “By merely boarding a taxi in Egypt, the driver, before you know it, will up front sell the idea that his country is one of the best in the world to you”. And you have no option but to nod your head in acceptance.

Many of our founding fathers have risked their lives, fortunes, whatnot, on the line to build this nation as W. Reed said of America. But we are recklessly undoing their labour not knowing that it will one day backfire or boomerang. Not true? Sincerely answer this: for how many times have you posed as the worthy ambassador of this nation?

When American political scientist-cum-political economist Francis Fukuyama wrote his The End of History, it sold like hot cakes and many Americans devoured the book. Why? To him and many patriotic Americans what we are witnessing today is “The end point of mankind’s ideological evolution and universalization of western liberal democracy as the final form of human government”, exemplified by America today. Have they not love for their country?

Upon my insistence on this issue of dusting off our patriotism and my little but untiring efforts to draw references to furnish him with reasons, a friend argued the other day that disloyalty, which is arbitrarily antonymous to patriotism, “is a product of dislocated society.” This is maybe because the people have lived long enough in scabby poverty amidst gaudy luxury; they have no taste for the country at all. They see everyone that is well-off as a direct enemy. Even if this is the reason it is a lame one. But one has nothing to say but to ask for redemption of souls.

Abdulyassar Abdulhamid

Abdulyassar Abdulhamid, Kano based, is graduate of B.A English from Bayero University, Kano. He is a budding writer, social analyst, freelancer at Sunrise Language Practitioner (SLP) and regular contributor to Nigerian dailies.
His writings have appeared in The Communicator, a magazine published by Kano State Polytechnic and in Dailytrust, The Triumph and The cable newspapers. He has a strong interest in literary theory.

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Administrator Attacks on education worsening globally Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

AFP photo

Via

UNICEF

Deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on schools and universities, their students, and staff have become more widespread over the last five years, the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA) said in the 2018 edition of its flagship report released this week. The 300 page report, Education under Attack 2018, identifies more than 12,700 attacks from 2013 through 2017, harming more than 21,000 students and educators.

Over the last five years, 41 countries suffered at least five attacks on education, including at least one that was intentional or deadly. This marks a dramatic increase from the 2014 edition of the report, when GCPEA documented 30 countries experiencing this level of attacks on education between 2009-2013.

“Teaching and learning has become increasingly dangerous, with the lives of students, teachers, and academics frequently put at risk,” said Diya Nijhowne, Executive Director of GCPEA. “Schools and universities should be safe and protective spaces, but armed forces and armed groups continue to turn them into sites of intimidation and violence.”

The report includes profiles of 28 countries that experienced at least 20 attacks on education from 2013 through 2017. GCPEA found that nine countries either suffered more than 1,000 attacks on education, or suffered attacks that harmed more than 1,000 students, teachers, professors, or other education personnel. These include: the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Israel/Palestine, Nigeria, the Philippines, South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

For instance, more than 1,500 schools and universities in Yemen were damaged or destroyed by airstrikes and fighting, or used for military purposes. GCPEA found reports of at least 650 incidents of attacks on education, or military use of schools, in Syria. In the Philippines, armed parties reportedly harassed or intimidated at least 1,000 students and teachers.

In 18 of the profiled countries, attacks on education deliberately targeted female students and educators.

Some extremist groups bombed girls’ schools or set them on fire, or killed, injured, or threatened female students and teachers. For example, about one quarter of reported attacks on schools in Afghanistan targeted girls’ schools. Worldwide, armed parties also sexually abused or raped women and girls in or close to schools. In one example, armed militiamen in the DRC reportedly abducted eight girls from a primary school and raped them over the course of three months in 2017.

Schools and universities in 29 countries were used for military purposes between 2013 and 2017, including as bases, barracks, detention centers, or for other military purposes. These military uses increase the risk that affected schools and universities will be attacked by opposing forces, that children will be recruited into armed groups, or that students and educators will be targeted for sexual violence. For instance, a school in Ukraine used by various armed forces and armed groups for storing weapons was hit by artillery fire on six occasions in January and February 2015.

Armed forces and armed groups also recruited child soldiers at schools in 16 of the 28 profiled countries.

In one incident in December 2013, some 413 children from schools in the town of Rubkona in South Sudan were forcibly recruited and sent into combat. Attacks on higher education occurred in 52 countries globally, including all of the profiled countries. The attacks included violent repression of education-related protests that harmed students or education staff, or physical abuse or threats made because of the content of scholarship. Attacks on higher education buildings occurred in 20 profiled countries, including Kenya, where gunmen killed at least 142 students and injured another 79 on April 2, 2015, during an attack on Garissa University College.

“Several trends contributed to the abuses described in the report,” said Amy Kapit, GCPEA Research Director. “These include attacks by extremist armed groups, such as the ‘Islamic State’; the use of aerial bombardment to fight armed groups; and violence against students during protests at school or university.”

Amidst this violence there is an emerging global consensus that schools and universities must be protected as safe spaces in the middle of war. Over one third of UN member states, 74 countries, have endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration, a political commitment championed by Norway and Argentina. By endorsing the Declaration, states commit to take concrete steps to protect education, including by implementing the Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict. The number of states endorsing the Declaration has doubled in less than three years and GCPEA’s new report calls on all states to join and implement the Declaration as its key recommendation for protecting education in armed conflict.

In addition, Sustainable Development Goal 4, Quality Education, a global commitment to achieving universal and equitable quality education by 2030, includes an indicator measuring Number of attacks on students, personnel and institutions, recognizing the imperative to safeguard education in armed conflict.

The Education under Attack series has been selected as a source for measuring progress towards achieving this indicator.

“Education under Attack 2018 underscores the immense human suffering caused by attacks on education,” Nijhowne said. “By endorsing and implementing the Safe Schools Declaration, including tracking attacks on education to respond more effectively and enable accountability, countries can begin to secure safe education for all.”

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone.

Follow UNICEF on Twitter and Facebook.

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Administrator Nigeria: Her Women and Mothers (Proverbs) Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

Lisa Goldman photo

By

Prince Charles Dickson

Yet another Mothers’ Day celebration across various faiths in Nigerian Christendom. I love women, and graciously say that I am jealous of them; when it is not Mothers’ Day, they would have Mothering Sunday, and then how about that International Day of Women and that of the girl child. Well, there might be serious objections to the way and manner I would have used ‘women’ in this essay, so before I go further I humbly tender an unreserved apology to the women folk…this piece is not intended, however like it is said one girl misbehaves, all are insulted.

The objections to this piece may also stem from the fact that we live in a world with more exposure and enlightenment on gender sensitive issues but as the world seems to be heading forward, the nation Nigeria has had as usual a peculiar way of taking the proverbial ten steps back after making a miserable step forward.

The interpretation of proverbs is very complex, since they are said to come alive only in oral communication and acquire new connotations each time they are quoted. So in this essay I say Nigeria and indeed her leaders are ‘women’ and some bitter truth exists in the following lines that I have penned down.

A nice naval does not prevent a girl from suffering stomach upset, so also does our sleeping giant status in Africa make us different today from war and conflict ravaged Sudan or CAR, with the likes of Professor Wole Soyinka, Ola Rotimi, late Chinua Achebe, Zainab Alkali all beautiful and great writers, it is unfortunate that Nigeria today has lost it. All irreplaceable as we live in the shadow of past glory, not with the kind of educational sector where fine face now means empty head in the University and tertiary institutions. It may be difficult to attribute a proverb outside a live situation without any definite meaning, however I have chosen to give life to or make the Nigeria situation live…Despite our proverbial big opportunities tag, we remain with a nagging stomach upset.

If you marry the woman you met on the dance floor, she will someday go off with a drummer; in its raw Yoruba dialect this proverb is a delight. Its basis however is not far from my grief on Nigeria today because of her leaders that are behaving like a woman that was so picked by a man. It’s sad that Mr. Buhari and his APC cohorts almost 4 years into this misadventure have left their countrymen who gave them this change charge and away they are dancing to the drumbeat of doom.

The way Nigeria was married to her people without proper introduction rites is causing us problems because at every slightest opportunity there is a drummer for her to engage her fantasies on. She runs away…

Our leaders have turned us to women of loose morals, like the woman who decided to follow a band of musicians…They have succeeded in embarrassing us through their open display of foolishness, some doctor friend of mine said our leaders need psychiatric evaluation as they sure are examples of insanity. Wherever money is shared our leaders would be there, we have the misfortune of leaders who have picked their ideals and principles from the dance floor, and as 2019 approaches it remains bleak, because very little exists to show any change of direction.

Our leaders like women picked on the dance floor, no moral, direction, focus, or drive…as the music sounds they develop steps of crookedness and stealing, caring less about the governed.

A woman is like a rat, even if it grows up in your home it steals from you. I am sure someone is calling for my head…once more apologies, with the present change programme, we have witnessed more stealing from the same people that grew up in this mistake called Nigeria. The same people are stealing from the same people they are supposed to protect. Snakes and monkeys are swallowing and running away with monies. This is when we are not dissipating our population through very avoidable ailing sprees in various parts of the nation.

In our Northern parts we say he who listened to women suffered from famine at harvest time, when we were listening to the APC songstress and making deals we forgot that a woman’s advice ends up in “oh that I had known!” we do not believe a deceitful woman until a day after. Go ask Lai Mohammed, my friends Shehu Garba and Femi Adesina if in their heart this was what they bargained for?

Our leaders today are the same people that we cured their penis and they are on a rampage; our wives are now pregnant and like the Igbos say what a woman gets from prostitution, she calls it gift from her relatives; our government is looking us in the face and telling us that heaven is some miles away when indeed we are living in Hell. They are stealing us dry and are telling us it is our cause they are pursuing from Ijaw, Ogoni, Biafra, Arewa Odua, Middle and far Belts. Buying a life for themselves, making sure their children are no longer citizens of the soon to crumble nation. The same mandate we gave them, although I often say we did not give them they stole it…but if they stole it and we have refused to go get it back it simply means we have surrendered it to the rogues. This same mandate is our undoing, it has become our hardship, our cry, our hunger, tears, depravation, we asked for leadership they gave us slavery, for service they have made us servants…look after my wife has become marry her to them. Do we really blame them when all we do as a people is sit, watch and lackadaisically complain while our leaders shows us an illustrative definition of atrocity every day.

Whether the debate is of medical tourism, or how much the last administration stole, it only betrays the fact we agree that all women are unfaithful, it’s only the excessively unfaithful that people call harlots. Because Obasanjo is a thief so he should not talk, or the Jonathans of this world was irresponsible so spare us our irresponsibility.

Nigeria is a shame to any woman… No mother would want to have a child called Nigeria, when the child is good, he or she is papa’s boy/girl but when the contrary is the case the mother is asked where did you get this child from…where did we get the whores leading us from and were we under any compulsion to a bunch that has mortgaged the lives of fellow countrymen. Nigerians rise where ever we find ourselves, we need to talk, let’s stop the deceit called hope…hope is a coward’s replacement for action.

Nigerian women should beyond celebrations, beyond the call for affirmative action, take the gauntlet as our men may have failed us, it’s bad enough the men have stolen our money now they are thieving your feminism…for how long—Only time will tell.

Prince Charles Dickson

%%AUTHORLINK% Nigeria: Her Women and Mothers (Proverbs) Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

Administrator Human capital development and its decline in Nigeria’s economy Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

Reuters photo

By

Ogunniyi Abayomi

Scarcity has not been erased in the narrative of how we manage the socio-economic environment, the business climate having endured several challenges and problems, creating a toxic and controversial relationship between management and staff. The economic potential of natural resources cannot proffer help, solutions and ideas to the economic rigors, industries owned by the federal government are being sold to a billionaire, and there is little or no chance of massive employment by a man who is more interested in making a profit, secluding the motive of economic development from his mind.

Politicians and economic delegates from Nigeria implore the lip service tactics, luring foreign investors to an economy that yields no return, exposing our deficiency rather than strength. Businesses are disrupted when the basic amenities required are not available, hence if they are available, are substandard and poorly maintained by the individual in charge of the equipment. Ade was newly employed into the company last month, a few months later he was sacked because he could not meet up with the standard of the company. The questions therefore remain on this same premise; what skill have you learned and what ideas do you want to offer?; he had no answer to the riddle, because he has no knowledge of corporate social responsibility, business and corporations, despite the educational qualification.

Ade’s situation of being sacked a few months after his appointment, raises the question of knowledge and awareness of working in a corporate environment, the necessary skills to attain and how effective we communicate our ideas. Human resources have been neglected; we have forsaken the need for human capital development which is an essential and important factor the economic societies thrive on.

Human capital developments are skills and awareness needed to be productive with the aim of attaining full business potential. The human traits and qualities require a total acquisition of social, mental and physical awareness necessary for productivity, harnessing their ability to attain a goal to maximize production. Human capital development is an indicator of economic growth, measuring the efficiency and productivity level via certain input; it is proof of a growing economy, investing in education and awareness, in addition to technological and social development across society. It is determined by certain factors which are skills and qualification, education level, social skills communication, intelligence, emotional intelligence, judgment, personality, habits and traits, creativity, brand image and geography. Human capital development can be attained via the development of the educational sector, industrial and vocational skills, provision of infrastructure, healthy competition and harnessing creative talent to enhance a productive society.

Nigeria, a state blessed with natural and human resources, performs below par regarding human capital development; it is sad and disheartening to discover the high rate of illiteracy within our society. Religious and ethnic violence secludes our awareness of human capacity and improvement within the country. Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate and former chief economist of the World Bank, once bemoaned Nigeria’s artificial oil revenues-led “growth without jobs,” a phrase that was reiterated by Bill Gates at the session of the National Economic Council in Abuja organized in April by the World Bank.

His words ‘’just as people without ports and factories can’t flourish, so also roads, ports and factories without skilled workers to build and manage them can’t sustain an economy,’’ reveal the potential lost if certain individuals do not acquire certain skills and awareness; there being low productivity and a decline in the economy. The sad story of Nigeria has been the poor and bleary ideologies and vision of primary, secondary and tertiary institutions towards educational development, the skill and awareness are not embedded, often many Nigeria graduates spending more outside the educational institution, regressing, asking questions over the knowledge he spent four years acquiring.

According to research by the World Economic Forum; over 130 million citizens estimated to be living in poverty to an acceptable level resonates across the international development community. Nigeria was ranked 122 in development according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Human Capital Index, a figure that raises concern over the country’s awareness to human capital development, raising our individual skills and awareness that implores economic development and efficiency, an attribute sometimes declined by corporate organizations and industries.

The business environment has suffered due to the lack of skills and knowledge that enact and enable the economy to thrive; do we lack innovation, are we implementing ideas and thinking critically to foster development? Nigeria has rather shifted its focus on oblivious matters, corporations more ready to invest in entertainment rather than train its staff to be productive in the economic society.

Human capital development is the backbone of a developed state, it is the necessary attribute of an effective economic society, the society cannot thrive if its individuals are not equipped mentally, socially, financially and economically, likewise technologically.

Ogunniyi Abayomi

Ogunniyi Abayomi was born July 11, 1991 in the city of Lagos, where he resides. A poet and essayist whose works have been published in various journals.

%%AUTHORLINK% Human capital development and its decline in Nigeria’s economy Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

Administrator Inadequate transmission of oil to pump Nigeria’s economy Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

Reuters photo

By

Prince Charles Dickson

In recent months and as the General Elections draw nigh, President Buhari and his team have insisted that economic growth under his presidency “is better than it has been in many decades.” it has equally stood by the old lines like Trump that “the Economy is raging at an all-time high, and is set to get even better,” and “it has been many years since we have seen these kind of (economic) numbers.” If not for the last reckless administration we would have been TRANSMITTING better.

While some hyperbole is a matter of opinion, my President and claims by his henchmen and woman, in the person of Kemi Adeosun, that his stewardship of the economy puts his predecessors to shame can be checked by public information that is readily available to all. In fact, the data shown by the National Bureau of Statistics compared to his predecessors, Buhari’s record so far falls somewhere between unremarkable and substandard. Moreover, other economic data suggests that the current expansion will likely wind down before his term ends, and his boasting will ring hollow once the economy slips from recession to depression because truth be told the situation at the TRANSMITTING tower is not good.

It is commonly said that a President deserves some credit or blame for the economy’s performance only after he’s been in office about six months. On those terms, let’s measure Buhari’s words against the record for real GDP growth over the last three quarters (July 2017 through March 2018). And those of the last twenty years and equally note that he is well into the final lap of his administration, the signal strength at the TRANSMISSION studio is at best poor.

Like all of Mr. Buahri’s predecessors, he promised to reform regulation and boost business investment, because such measures can stimulate faster growth. Moreover, if the new investments focus on productivity-boosting equipment, they also can help raise people’s incomes. Through all of last year, Buhari and his advisors insisted that business investment would soar once he cut corruption but like NaijaBet, the economic team has played a ‘Kalo-Kalo economy. We have TRANSMITTED false hopes.

So, Buhari devoted much of his first six months in office to rolling back time and castigating, and castrating the economy, and much of the next months on his single major legislative achievement; blaming the past and problems he inherited. Many economists (myself excluded) pointed out that APC had no economic blueprint and none of its changes altered reality in any meaningful way.

Now let me tell us a story and then I will round up this admonition…

A Professor started his class on a very serious topic. The moment he turned towards the blackboard, one of the students whistled. He turned, looked at the class and asked the whistler’s name. No one answered.

The Professor peacefully kept the pen in his pocket saying: “Lecture ends here. I’ll tell you a story to utilize the remaining time”.

Everyone became interested.

“Yesterday night I tried hard to sleep, but it was miles away from my eyes, so I thought I’d better get petrol in my car, which will save my time next morning and might induce sleep. After having my tank full, I started roaming in that area, enjoying the peace of a traffic free ride.

Suddenly, on the corner I saw a girl who was as young and beautiful as the clothes she was wearing. Must have been returning from a party. Out of courtesy, I turned my car towards her and asked if I may be of any help. She asked me if I could drop her to her home, she’ll be very obliged, to which I agreed.

She sat in the front seat with me. We started talking, and to my amazement she was very intelligent, had control on many topics which many youngsters don’t.

When we reached her address, she admitted my courteous nature and behavior and accepted that she had fallen in love with me. I also admitted her intelligence and beauty and that I’ve also started liking her. I told her about my job as a professor in the university.

The girl asked my number, which I gave her willingly. Then she asked me a favor, to which I couldn’t have denied naturally.

She said that her brother is a student in the same university, and asked me to take care of him, since we’ll be in a long relationship now.

I asked the name of the student. She said that I’ll recognize him with one of his very prominent quality, He whistles a lot!

All eyes in the classroom turned towards the boy who had whistled.

The professor said: *”I didn’t buy my Ph. D in Psychology I earned it”

No economist, much less any politician, has a test or technique to accurately predict the onset of a recession. One important reason is that a recession usually requires a shock that tips a weakening economy into a contraction. And for all the professors, the English accent-speaking minister, apex bank chief, economic team and experts. They all have not figured out, or at best do not agree whether it is inadequate or lack of, or the type transmission oyel (oil) is the problem besetting our never evolving economy.

So like I counted billboards, posters and signage all pointing towards 2019, we are nowhere like the professor in the story justifying why we or our economy has refused to show fluidity. We are harangued by poor transmitting transmission, promissory notes that cannot be ‘expended’ according to my friend Dalung, whithering way to economic independence and fulfilment that will transmit good governance—only time will tell.

Prince Charles Dickson

%%AUTHORLINK% Inadequate transmission of oil to pump Nigeria’s economy Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

Administrator Diary of a Disgruntled Arewanist Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

Reuters photo

By

Abdulyassar Abdulhamid

“Pardon me, Abdul, but it is through what should be termed as the triumphant moment in the history of our democracy, when an opposition party’s presidential candidate unseated a sitting president through ballot papers, that Buhari came into power. Now the Buhari-led administration has clocked three years. We have been with him through thick and thin moments, we have moved from slippery dales to steep hills and from debilitating recession to economic growth – first in Africa today with $47.37 billion net foreign reserves as at Match surpassing that of South Africa which has $43.15billion. It is great. It is true that our prayers have been answered; and now the year 2019 general elections are fast approaching. What the future has in store for us? Only God knows.”

“Abdul,” Dan Kano called.

“Yes, I can hear you, Dan Kano,” I answered.

“I am not trying to refute what you have said about the ubiquitous security upheavals in the country particularly in the northern states of Zamfara, Benue, Kaduna State and the north east where there are calamitous security challenges, the total number of 149,669 Nigerians graduate receiving their N30000 monthly stipends through Npower scheme or the recent N9 billion Hadejia Irrigation Valley Scheme (HVIS) rehabilitation project the president launched in Auyo Local Government Area of Jigawa State. Look, I say a big thanks for that. The credit goes to him. Of course, I have read of how more than 5,870 illegal arms and ammunitions have been destroyed by security agents this month in Zamfara State and many arrests made in Benue State, Taraba State and Birnin Gwari. I am in the know of Aminu Tashaku’s arrest.

“I have a question – just a question. This question is rooted in the belief that President Buhari has come into power purposely to fix the serious damage done to this country. I have invested all my hope – so also my kins – in this government from the very moment the president flagged off his campaign to date. I don’t have to tell you of the swarms of supporters I joined on Zangeru Road, Kano, to welcome Muhammadu Buhari’s campaign team to the state. So was with almost all the northern States. You can ask why. It is because the people have so much entrusted in him, knowing how in his short-lived administration he had fought indiscipline and corruption with the last ounce of his power that led to the overthrow of his government and earned him imprisonment. This is a clear sign of corruption fighting back. War between the forces of evil and that of good is as old as the world itself. Excuse me for a moment.

“Two years later malam, we are still waiting for the clouds to gather – clouds that will even the score of our investment in this government for it has rained in other regions, with the South West witnessing the highest number of downpours in the form of infrastructural projects, followed by the South East.

“Remember South West has got its recompense from its investment in bringing APC into power in 2015. Just take even a cursory glance at Lagos-Ota-Abeokuta N56.701 billion road project, the ongoing Oyo-Ogbomoso dual carriageway, and Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail. These projects once completed, no doubt, will transform south west political zone into a gigantic economic hub in recent future. This is perhaps because they have clear-cut agendas for their region, someone told me after listening to my unending complaints. Should this be the reason I should have written one for the north.

“Hold on. Albeit all this, on 6th December, 2017 – still waiting for the rain – I arrived at the two-carriage, mighty Hadejia Road, Kano, at 8:30am. I met a sea of heads there patiently waiting for the president’s arrival. To me, to them too, no amount of campaign of calumny will eclipse the president’s star in my heart and theirs too. As his motorcade poked its nose, people made hedges of themselves. Some were pushing through the hedges and the security agents were restraining them. The gathering was on a mission. The people wanted to say something – an idea. They could not let go of the urge. In unison they said, “Sai Baba“, raising their fists. Why? Because they so much believe he can do it – some have been nourishing this strong belief in him since 1985.

One year later – still waiting for the rain – the federal government is investing N16.6 billion out of N100 billion Sukuk proceeds in road rehabilitation in the south east. Perhaps you have not heard of Port Harcourt-Aba Road, Abriba-Arockuwu-Ohafia Road, Orji-Achi-Obeagu-Mbaku-Awgu-Ndeabor-Mpu-Okpanku Road, the Ikot Ekpene Border-Aba-Owerri Road or Second Niger Bridge projects. I hate that debate of their being anti-Buharists or that they had voted against him. I do not care whether they have cast their votes for him or not. As long as they are Nigerians they deserve much more than this; and remember his saying, “I belong to everybody, and I belong to nobody”. He is right as a true leader should feel duty-bound to serve everyone. All I care is I canvassed 1,903,999 votes for him in Kano, 885,988 in Jigawa State, 1,345,441 in Katsina State and 1,127,760 in Kaduna for instance. I think I deserve something in return.

“With all that Jane B. Singer would call “agenda-setting mischief of both the mainstream and online media”, the ongoing slandering against the president aimed at giving his government a bad name in order to hang it, and mistrust of our security forces created by media-hype, I have seen how my kiths and kins in Jigawa State – on May 7, 2018 – came out in droves, during the president’s two-day working visit to the state, to welcome him and pay their allegiance. They were all smiling. They would not be cowed.

“Thousands of them left their businesses, farms whatnot, to entrust him once more with the resources and the future of this country. I could see ants of supporters – young and old, men and women – drawing nearer. They were mumbling something by the movements of their lips. You could see their upper and lower lips coming together and parting. As they came nearer in accord they uttered resonantly, “Sai Baba“. Why? Because they too believe he can do it.

“Back to my question; as Professor Abdussalam Umar Jibia would say ‘it is true the love Buhari enjoys amongst his people is still there’.. They have that unwavering loyalty for him. All I need – everyone too – is some explanation on why things are not going the way I expect them to be. Why other geo-political zones are benefitting much more than I do despite the incomparable number of votes I cast for him? For God’s sake when will the hour hand of the clock of national resources distribution point at the North? Answer me,” Dan Kano asked this impossible question at last.

“It is a pity, Dan Kano. I have listened to your clamouring; it is far better to be blunt than mealy-mouthed. No amount of words will aptly placate your saddened heart, but my fear is rash actions. Had you listened to the president’s speech during his working visit to Jigawa State you would have taken the same stand as I. After repositioning the economy, I envisage an entirely new system. I picture a secured and poverty-free north, network of roads dotting its expansive landscape, sustaining agricultural activities at their peak, the flag of jobs creation waving and educational opportunities flowing like water,” I replied.

Abdulyassar Abdulhamid

%%AUTHORLINK% Diary of a Disgruntled Arewanist Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

Administrator PIN (Poets in Nigeria) Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

Surian Soosay photo

By

Adamu Usman Garko

What would be your voice of devotion after you heard of a literary programme held in your school during lesson time? Would you think of how the waves of cloud chuckled or how the sky wind-hooked human thoughts as clouds rolled?

Would your teachers be flabbergasted to learn that some participants were actually your school students while others were renowned names in the field of creative writing?

You saw a post on Facebook and began to earnestly ask questions about it. You ran in haste to your classmates informing them how maximally your school premises would be filled with people. You asked unanswered questions that reminded you that tomorrow was Thursday, and the programme was slated for tomorrow. You tried to while away the time by biting the cover of your pen while visualising what the gathering would look like. Your heart was full of gratitude for your school’s press-club that was organising the event. You took your mobile and dialled one of your friends’ contacts to inform him about the programme, but his call came first, as sudden as lightning.

You wanted to intimate to him fast about the programme but he was ahead of you, already telling you what an awesome programme was coming up in your school the following day.

The following morning, you put on your blue and white uniform. You dashed perfume on it. The sweet fragrance assailed your nostrils. You knew today was going to cut a great impart in your life.

You stepped into the classroom, your left leg preceding the whole you inside the class. You heard the class humming delightedly like a bees in a busy beehive.

Students began to question you endlessly about the programme as if it was your sole affair. You answered those questions you could answer and ignored the rest. You approached your best friend and discussed excitedly your expectations from the programme. You were a great literary enthusiast and you regarded yourself a budding poet.

You already knew immediately that the short break was over and it would be club time, and that was when the programme began. You peeped through the blurry windows and saw the organisers, busy putting things together, about to begin. Visitors were also beginning to arrive, wearing different arrays of clothes.

The last bell before the commencement of the programme jingled.

The teacher in your class went out hurriedly to join the legion of others from within and outside school. Everyone began to carry his chair to the venue for the club’s meeting, but most of the students trooped to your event, even those who didn’t belong to the Press Club.

You also hurled your chair swiftly to the venue of the programme and sat down. The dignitaries had gathered on the podium. Then the secretary of the Press Club took a microphone and welcomed everyone who had come to witness the occasion taking place life in Gombe High School. You were staring at the faces of the visitors and it seemed as if flowers of happiness were blossoming over them. The secretary called on the chief organizer Najeebullah to continue dishing out the menu.

“Good afternoon everyone” he greeted, and apologized for the absence of some members who were not around due to one thing or another: people like: Muhammad Gaude, Joda, Dubagari, Goje and Amina, and then he zeroed-in on Usman Nurain; the lion of our literary hemisphere whose name rang resoundingly through our heads for one literary achievement of other. Apart from that, he was also the former head boy of the school and the first to be a published author with his debut collection of poetry. What did you imagine the place would look like – a motley of up and coming literary achievers and enthusiasts?

The master of ceremonies then called on Uzhairu Ubah to come forward and give a speech.

“What would you expect from this young man who spoke English as if he was a son of the Great Wole Soyinka. Everyone began to feel the power of his delivery immediately he started reciting his name. You wondered if he was a renowned British commentator.

“Who among you dares volunteer to come on stage for a poetry contest?” you heard him say.

Students began to stare at you signalling you to come out, knowing you for your poetry prowess. But before you decided what to do, three students from JSS1 stood up confidently and made their way to the front. Then you became jealous, the urge to showcase your god-given talent was now overwhelming. You stood up silently from where you were sitting directly facing the podium. The students applauded you rapturously for a very long time. They only stopped after an earnest appeal by Uzhairu.

Uzharu divided the four of you into two groups: two boys in group A including you were given a title “Health” and the remaining two girls were given the title “Rich”. You were asked to go back to your seats and compose a poem on the title given to each of you. You were given thirty minutes to do the assignment and requested to come back to the stage to recite your poems afterward.

And Najeeb stood up again to continue co-ordinating the programme. He calling on the invited guests to come forward and present their poems.

The first person to come out was Khadija. She began by raining encomium on PIN (Poets in Nigeria) and to Eriata for introducing it to Nigeria…then she presented her poem. Her presentation was given with gusto. She danced like wind-whirl, and her voice was song-like. But unfortunately many people didn’t get her messages. Poetry truly is not easy to understand at first reading, but the reason I thought people didn’t understand her might have to do with her vocabulary: the words were difficult. Perhaps it was because she was an English student.

After a well deserved applause, she went back to her seat, and the next presenter was Najeeb.

You remembered he was the first man you met in the world of poetry.

You bagan telling your friends he was your poetry tutor; his brother was your friend. Suleman, he was a silent poet too, but he seemed to have no inclination to exhibit his gift.

Najeeb said “I’m presenting a Hausa poem”. As simple as that, and everyone shouted delightedly.

What did you expect? He began pouring poetry into our ear-lobes in everyday language. People were truly thrilled for the first time and the applause seemed to go on and on forever.

Next came a man who recited a poem with rhymes. If you want to make people thrilled, tease their hearts with rhyming words.

“So thank you, Rabiu”, said Uzhairu after the display of the great rhymer. “Now the volunteers should humbly come-out”. He added raising his left hand up while spreading the mic.

The students came out one after the other. You were the only true poet among them. What the others had delivered in the good name of poetry were mere definitions of the topics they were given. But you gave us poetry, beautiful poetry clad in beautiful imageries and dribbling metaphors. You were amazing. You simply stole the day. You had composed a masterpiece within less than thirty minutes. Without a textbook or chalkboard you taught the other contestants that poetry was not prose, that poetry was not just putting words together but actually breathing life into words.

Because with you that day, words actually came alive, and people celebrated them.

Adamu Usman Garko

Adamu Usman Garko is a student (SS1) in Gombe, Gombe State, Nigeria. A poet and story writer. His work has previously appeared at The Arts-Muse Fair, Poetry planet, praxis magonline, daily trust. He authored an eBook “Lonely season”.

%%AUTHORLINK% PIN (Poets in Nigeria) Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

Administrator Thousands of women in Nigeria raped by soldiers and militia Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

AFP photo

By

Amnesty International

Thousands of women and girls who survived the brutal rule of the Boko Haram armed group have since been further abused by the Nigerian security forces who claim to be rescuing them, human rights NGO Amnesty International revealed in a new report released.

The report – “They betrayed us” – is the result of a two-year investigation and interviews with more than 250 people affected by the critical situation in north-east Nigeria. It examines what happened to the hundreds of thousands of people, especially women, who fled or were forced from areas controlled by Boko Haram, as the Nigerian military intensified its operations and ordered those it was ‘freeing’ to satellite camps.

Amnesty’s investigations reveal how the Nigerian military and Civilian Joint Task Force (Civilian JTF) – a militia who work alongside them – have carried out systematic patterns of violence and abuse against the population who fled Boko Haram’s rule, including war crimes and possible crimes against humanity. Women told Amnesty how they have been raped in exchange for food, and the report contains evidence that thousands of people, including children, have starved to death in the camps in Borno state since 2015.

In some cases, the abuse appears to be part of a pattern of persecution of anyone perceived to have a connection to Boko Haram. Women reported being beaten and called “Boko Haram wives” by the security officials when they complained about their treatment.

The military has also screened everyone arriving to the satellite camps, and in some locations detained most men and boys aged between 14 and 40 as well as women who travelled unaccompanied by their husbands. The detention of so many men has left women to care for their families alone.

Osai Ojigho, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, said: “It is absolutely shocking that people who had already suffered so much under Boko Haram have been condemned to further horrendous abuse by the Nigerian military.

“Instead of receiving protection from the authorities, women and girls have been forced to succumb to rape in order to avoid starvation or hunger.”

UK support to the Nigerian military

The UK government is supporting the Nigerian armed forces to counter the threat from Boko Haram through British military training and by providing operational guidance and advice. Just last month, Prime Minister Theresa May met with President Buhari of Nigeria at Downing Street, where she reiterated the two countries’ “close and longstanding” defence and security cooperation.

Nigeria has recently been added to the UK’s National Action Plan on Women Peace and Security, which recognises that the Nigerian security forces have been accused of sexual abuse.

Oliver Feeley-Sprague, Amnesty UK’s Military, Security and Policing Programme Director, said: “Amnesty’s investigations show that soldiers from the Nigerian military are abusing their position to sexually exploit women and girls – there can be no denying of this.

“This evidence must serve as an urgent warning to the UK government and the British forces currently training and supporting a military that is using its power to horrifically abuse the very people it’s meant to be protecting.

“The UK government must work with relevant women human rights defenders to review UK support to the Nigerian military, and ensure that any training it’s providing hasn’t contributed to the vile abuses currently taking place in north-east Nigeria.

“If it turns out that British troops have been training or supporting any of the units involved in these crimes, a UK investigation must immediately take place and British military training to those units should be suspended.”

Key findings in the report

Rape of starving women and sexual exploitation

Scores of women described how soldiers and Civilian JTF members have used force and threats to rape women in satellite camps, including by taking advantage of hunger to coerce women to become their “girlfriends”, which involved being available for sex on an ongoing basis.

Five women told Amnesty that they were raped in late 2015 and early 2016 in Bama Hospital camp as famine-like conditions prevailed.

Ama (not her real name), 20, said: “They will give you food but in the night they will come back around 5pm or 6pm and they will tell you to come with them… One [Civilian JTF] man came and brought food to me. The next day he said I should take water from his place [and I went]. He then closed the tent door behind me and raped me. He said I gave you these things, if you want them we have to be husband and wife”.

Ten others in the same camp said that they were also coerced into becoming ‘girlfriends’ of security officials to save themselves from starvation. Most of these women had already lost children or other relatives due to lack of food, water and healthcare in the camp. The sexual exploitation continues at an alarming level as women remain desperate to access sufficient food and livelihood opportunities.

Women said the sexual exploitation follows an organised system, with soldiers openly coming into the camp for sex and Civilian JTF members choosing the “very beautiful” women and girls to take to the soldiers outside. Women reported they were too afraid to refuse demands for sex.

Osai Ojigho said: “Sex in these highly coercive circumstances is always rape, even when physical force is not used, and Nigerian soldiers and Civilian JTF members have been getting away with it. They act like they don’t risk sanction, but the perpetrators and their superiors who have allowed this to go unchallenged have committed crimes under international law and must be held to account.”

Deaths as a result of hunger

People confined in the satellite camps faced an acute food shortage from early 2015 until mid-2016, when humanitarian assistance was increased.

At least hundreds – possibly thousands – died in Bama Hospital camp alone during this time. Those interviewed consistently reported that 15 to 30 people died each day from hunger and sickness during these months. Satellite images, showing how the graveyard inside the camp expanded quickly during this time, confirm their testimonies. There were also daily deaths in other satellite camps such as those in Banki and Dikwa.

From June 2016, the UN and other humanitarian agencies scaled up assistance in the satellite camps. Despite this, many women reported continued barriers to accessing adequate food, exacerbated by restrictions on their ability to leave the camps.

A number of women who arrived in satellite camps in Dikwa town in mid-2017 have not received any food assistance since they arrived, and described ongoing hunger, sickness and deaths within their camps.

Yanna (not her real name), who arrived in Dikwa in late-2017 and lived in Fulatari camp, told Amnesty: “People are dying, [always there is a] burial, burial, burial. I was thinking maybe one day it will be my own.”

Even where government and international NGOs distribute food, large-scale corruption has prevented many people from accessing it.

Osai Ojigho said: “Confining people to camps without enough food, despite the fact that those administering the camps knew the conditions were leading to deaths, violates human rights and international humanitarian law. Those who allowed this to happen may be guilty of murder.”

Women detained in Giwa barracks

Amnesty’s research further reveals that hundreds of women along with their children have been held in the notorious Giwa Barracks detention centre since 2015. While most have been released, an unknown number remain in military detention.

Many of those detained since 2015 had been victims of abductions or forced marriages by Boko Haram and were detained by the military for being so-called “Boko Haram wives” instead of being rescued.

Amnesty received five reports about sexual violence in Giwa barracks, while seven women said they gave birth inside their dirty, overcrowded cells without any medical assistance. At least 32 babies and children, and five women, have died in detention since 2016.

Osai Ojigho said: “The detention of women and girls on the basis that they were allegedly married to Boko Haram members is unlawful under international human rights law and Nigerian law and is discriminatory.”

Boko Haram abuses

Women interviewed often spent months or years living under the repressive rule of Boko Haram. Some reported being forced into marriages with Boko Haram members or being flogged when caught breaking the armed group’s strict rules. Seven said they witnessed the executions of family members or neighbours after unsuccessful attempts to escape.

Time for action

Since 2015, various NGOs and humanitarian organisations have reported sexual violence and deaths in camps for internally displaced people in north-east Nigeria. While the authorities frequently promised to investigate such reports, there has been no tangible action to address the problem and no one appears to have been brought to justice. It is not always clear if these investigations were carried out as no reports have been made public.

In August 2017, the Acting President of Nigeria Yemi Osinbajo established the Presidential Investigation Panel to review the military’s compliance with its human rights obligations. Many women testified before the Panel, which submitted its report to President Muhammadu Buhari in February 2018.

Osai Ojigho said: “Now is the time for President Buhari to demonstrate his frequently expressed commitment to protect the human rights of displaced people in north-east Nigeria. The only way to end these horrific violations is by ending the climate of impunity in the region and ensuring that no one can get away with rape or murder.

“The Nigerian authorities must investigate – or make public their previous investigations – on war crimes and crimes against humanity in the north-east. They must also urgently ensure, with the support of donor governments, that people living in the satellite camps receive adequate food, and that those arbitrarily detained in military detention facilities are released.”

Background

Amnesty’s report is the result of an extensive investigation involving more than 250 interviews and covers satellite camps established by the military in seven towns in Borno state, including Bama, Banki, Rann and Dikwa. It also includes interviews with 48 women and girls released from detention and the review of video, photographic and satellite imagery.

Amnesty International shared its findings with the Nigerian authorities but, at time of publication, no response had been received.

Amnesty International is a non-governmental organisation focused on human rights with over 7 million members and supporters around the world. The stated objective of the organisation is “to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated.”

%%AUTHORLINK% Thousands of women in Nigeria raped by soldiers and militia Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

Administrator Democracy Day: X-raying the current dispensation Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

AFP photo

By

Jerome-Mario Utomi

From all indications, it appears Albert the Great had Nigeria in mind when he defined a miracle as ‘a wondrous fact or event beyond the power of any creature and produced by the Almighty with the purpose of proving the truth of his existence.’

Nigeria becomes a fitting example of the above definition looking at the legion of challenges it had survived within the last three years. Fresh in our memories is the harsh economic depression (or is it a recession) that was designed by yet to be established architects and its exit of the recession in a manner that analysts described as an unmerited success.

To provide some context to this discourse, it’s not as if the Government did not make any effort to move the nation forward within this space, as they were appreciably locked down by the hydra-headed challenge with the dwindled economic fortunes prompted by the drop in the price of crude oil in the world market as a major impediment.

It is, however, an unhappy truth that contrary to this belief, especially when viewed from a wider spectrum, the vast majority of Nigerians with discerning minds seem not to concur with this position as they are of the opinion that not too strong political will and unclear creative leadership strategy for tackling these problems on the part of the government remains the fundamental factors responsible for this challenge.

To support the above assertion, critical minds have pointed out that ‘if we look honestly at the realities of our national life,’ it is clear that we are not marching forward but groping and stumbling; we are divided and confused; our moral values and our spiritual confidence sinks, even as our material wealth ascends.

Obviously, a well-crafted argument that has as a consequence brought political, socio-cultural, security and economic difficulties while painting a picture of bleak future on our geography.

Without much labour, insecurity is identified as the most fundamental of these difficulties in the country, with the blood of innocent Nigerians used daily to irrigate our arid political land by the herdsmen, Boko-Haram and other ethnic militia.

And, standing as eloquent testimony of the masses’ displeasure over this current security challenge is the recent peaceful protest/procession by the catholic churches in Nigeria where the church among other things explained that ‘’the procession or the protest was necessitated by the inability of the government to act on the several verbal and written complaints by the church; with regards to insecurity and bad governance, with the likes of His Eminence, Anthony Cardinal Okogie asserting that the president’s silence towards the killings showed that a cow in the estimation of the president has become more valuable than human lives.

Miserable as it is, this security challenge is made worse by our nation’s inability to meet up with the United Nations’ prescribed one policeman to 400 people ratio, while the hired policemen remained ill-equipped and police as a body underfunded.

As if that is not enough woe for the country, this period of our existence as a nation is also reputed as an era when the nation became more divided, when tribal loyalty is viewed stronger than the sense of common nationhood with different tribes/ethnic groups jostling to be more Nigerian than the other.

But if you think this is the highest challenge currently confronting the country, wait until you cast a glance at this; the Joint Health Sector Unions, the body entrusted with the management of the nation’s health sector has been on a protracted industrial action over the failure of the government to meet their demands. Lamentable but expected, within this period of the industrial action, many innocent Nigerians have descended down the valleys of the shadow of death over minor sicknesses.

Arguably a disheartening development but it’s also of appreciable importance to this discussion to mention that within this period under review, strike actions in our educational and other sectors have become not just incessant but a regular trademark to the extent that before the dust raised by the ASUU strike will go down, that of the NASU is up.

Another contentious development that demands attention is the orchestrated corruption fight by the Federal government. Objectively, the Federal Government may have created a cloud of opinion that views corruption as the enemy of the state. But doubt remained as the real fight only exists superficially; this state of affairs, has precipitated knocks and lampooning from all quarters with that of the Transparency International (TI) as the strongest.

The Group had through a statement dated Monday 28^th May 2018 among other things complained that the Federal Government of Nigeria has in the run-up to elections expanded the use of opaque $670million a year – funds that fuel graft.

On the political sphere, a peep at the centre will reveal a not too impressive outing, with the squabble between the Executive and the Legislative arms which has refused to abate or wane as the most telling evidence that the centre cannot hold. In the same token, the just concluded Congresses by the ruling All Progressive Congress which was characterized by factions and parallel congresses is a pointer that nothing afterwards may have changed politically.

Meanwhile mixed reactions have continued to trail the management of the nation’s economic sector as many are of the opinion that the handling has not been too impressive. But as someone who cannot support an argument based on sentiment or allow sentiment to determine my actions, it is a barefaced truth that any nation faced with the above multi-faceted challenges, coupled with an epileptic electricity supply, non-functioning Refineries and unemployment situation will definitely not expect a robust economy.

Consequentially, therefore, it has become a common knowledge that the democracy practiced so far on our shores has neither underwritten social justice nor guaranteed social mobility.

Looking ahead, it is possible in my views, for this administration to achieve a people-purposed result. And doing that will necessitate the government developing the moral force to transcend from being self-centered to people focused.

Equally important, Nigerians on their part must develop the willingness to elect come 2019, leaders who can ‘demonstrate a passion for their purpose, practice their values consistently, and lead with their hearts as well as their heads; those that will establish long-term, meaningful relationships and have the self-discipline to get a result’.

Jerome-Mario Utomi

Jerome-Mario is a Social Entrepreneur and an alumnus, School of media and communication, Pan Atlantic University, Lagos, Nigeria.

%%AUTHORLINK% Democracy Day: X-raying the current dispensation Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

Administrator Kayode Fayemi: A Pioneer of Economic Development and Democratic Consolidation in Ekiti State Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

Reuters photo

By

Durodola Tosin

A comprehensive analysis on how Fayemi’s government addressed all the important issues of economic development and democratic consolidation in Nigeria’s Ekiti State between 2010 and 2014.

Ekiti has spent well over 18 years under a democracy which has created diverse facets. One constant facet is the nexus between democracy and economic development. It is the argument of some scholars and policy makers that while democracy can be conventional especially in terms of institutions and dealings, irrespective of the level of development, it is almost unfeasible to maintain or consolidate democracy without a logical level of economic development. The two are like the two sides of a coin and when Dr. Kayode Fayemi assumed office on October 16, 2010, he understood that plunging tents with one at the expense of the other will only give a partial representation of how great Ekiti could become.

The optimal use of the accessible human resources for the overall development of the society is the ultimate goal of democracy. In view of this, the existence of a buoyant economy is an important element of democratic consolidation to ensure that there is a strong motivation for democratic enterprise. The whole essence of democratisation in Nigeria should be its ability to transform the nation and states into a higher level of prosperity. Inability to accomplish this would make democracy lose its appeal.

A democracy can hardly consolidate when there is utter poverty, which will, in turn, promote the show of anti-democratic conduct. How can you teach a hungry man democratic values? Or a starving mother, the virtues of governance? The more the populace are worried about economic survival, the less concern they will show in the democratic enterprise. We must understand, at this point, that playing out the idea of good governance requires some measures of economic buoyancy and steadiness. It will be hard for people who are poor to fully recognize the significance of good governance.

Like Hassan A. Saliu pointed out in his book, ‘Democracy, Governance and International Relations’, he said, “The only threat to Nigeria’s democracy is the economy. Indeed, the threat facing democracy across the states in Nigeria is the slow response of national and state economies to the various economic reforms. The economy, therefore, represents the most fundamental sector on which success or failure of an administration can be conspicuously noticed.” It is the super structure which Dr. Kayode Fayemi’s government did not toy with.

Fayemi’s administration committed itself to modernizing agriculture, creating job opportunities, alleviating hunger and poverty in other to create a sustainable environment and economy for Ekiti people. To a large extent 2010-2014 could be described as the “Four years of good economic foundation” which comprehensively addressed the issues of economic development and democratic consolidation in Ekiti State. The reasons for this claim will be fully understood as this essay examines four principal sub-sectors in determining the success or failure of an administration as outlined by Prof. Hassan Saliu, namely, infrastructure, poverty level, production level and the employment level.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure is of great significance in the world today and its relevance to development can no longer be overlooked. It is a fact that the height of economic development in any state frankly lies on the development of infrastructure. Infrastructure means connectivity like road, water supply, electricity, security, and telecommunications, etc. With connectivity the economy will open to the outside world; trade and commerce will flourish. Infrastructure as one of the fundamental requirements of economic development does not directly generate goods and services but eases production in primary, secondary and tertiary economic activities by creating positive external economies.

The impact of these on democracy in Ekiti was at two levels. Internally, adequate infrastructural development relieved the difficulties in the way Ekiti people access the essential services they deliver. It was clear to Dr. Kayode Fayemi that when infrastructure amenities sub-sector is powerfully built, the interest and dedication of the citizens to democracy would be high, as these services provide the vital connection between the populace and the democratic order. Mobilisation thus becomes easier as dividends of democracy are most evident in the area of infrastructure.

Dr. Fayemi understood the importance of investing in infrastructure for job creation and economic growth. He knew how essential this was to achieving the SDGs of ending extreme poverty and increasing shared prosperity in Ekiti State. No state develops without investing in infrastructure and indeed, this was the reason why at the inauguration of his administration, he promised to massively invest in infrastructure. “We pledge to establish optimum communities that will improve citizens’ lives and attract investments by 2014, all parts of Ekiti to be accessible by major roads, make water dams in Ekiti function; to increase water supply by 80%; public private partnership for independent power projects.”

Fayemi’s government vigorously embarked on the construction of State roads. This well-defined initiative to an extent engendered accelerated growth in the State’s socio-economic activities, reduced travel time, impacted positively on commuters with the propensity to expand the life span of vehicles. This strengthened the State’s competitiveness to both domestic and foreign investors thereby improving Ekiti Doing Business ranking and citizens to access economic opportunities. His government rehabilitated a total of 950 kilometres of Federal and State roads and constructed a total of 81.2 kilometres of roads across all the Local Government Areas (LGAs) under the 5 kilometres Road-Per-Local Government scheme while another 82.3km was ongoing as at April 30, 2014. Dr. Fayemi, while he was governor, initiated and implemented an intensive urban renewal programme of major towns comprising of Ado, Ijero, Ikole and Ikere. This initiative delivered street lights and quality roads with walkways to Ado-Ekiti while the other towns were reconstructed. He also rehabilitated and constructed 829 kilometres of farm access roads.

To Dr. Fayemi, excellent roads are needed to transport goods and services or otherwise, they would be delayed, resulting to economic and reputational losses. Indeed, if a manufacturer or farmer produces goods quickly but is unable to transport them to the destination as fast as they can, then there is no point in making the goods in an efficient manner in the first place. It is an admitted fact that infrastructure like roads degrade over time which affects the efficiency of things and road travel, thus they need to always be maintained or repaired. Same goes for services like water and communication cables. With connectivity industries will be established as labour and capital will flow from surplus regions to connected and developing areas.

Furthermore, water which is a basic necessity of life could be a factor in creating political apathy among people if it is unavailable. While when it is continuously being made available, people would have no constant worry accessing it. This was why Dr. Fayemi’s government increased water supply from 25% to 57% and further reactivated all mini dams in Ekiti State between 2010 and 2014. Five mini-water treatment plants were commissioned and State-wide pipes were laid and completed to replace the dilapidated ones. It is imperative to note that the pragmatic and intensified efforts of his government towards eradicating scarcity and improving accessibility to hygienic water improved Ekiti State ranking as one of the best two in the water sector. His government constructed 167 modern water fetching points referred to as ‘Eyiyato Fetching Points’ across various communities in the 16 Local Government Areas of the State to cushion the hardship by acute water shortage.

Dr. Fayemi strategically redesigned, executed and commissioned all 2009 MDGs projects comprising water treatment plants at Oke Mesi, Efon Alaaye, Ido-Ile, Ipole-Iloro, Erijiyan and Ogotun. He erected one 500m3 water reservoir in Ilupeju-Ekiti. Between 2010 and 2014, N1.4b was released for the turn-around-maintenance (TAM) of Ero Dam.

Provisions of security and electricity were also significant alongside the background of Dr. Fayemi’s belief that democracy is a better guarantor of efficient and effectual infrastructure. As a progressive, he worked towards fixing the power sector to illuminate homes, streets and power farms, firms and industries. A good power generation system also boosts the feat of security agencies in granting security for the citizens as illumination usually reduces despicable deeds of the men in darkness. It was on this premise that his administration purchased and installed 125 transformers to boost power supply in several communities across the State and further intensified electrification of other numerous communities and further unlocked citizens’ access to diverse opportunities. Many communities that had no access to electricity in over 200 years of their existence (such as Oke-Ako town in Ikole Local Government Area) were connected and effectively linked to the national grid. He also procured one unit of 150 KVA and 6nos of 250KVA Generators for Existing Booster Stations.

More importantly, Dr. Fayemi procured and distributed 100 Suzuki cars and 40 Nissan Buses to the Transport Unions in Ekiti State, and purchased 6 Luxury buses, 26-seater coaster buses and 18-Seater coaster buses as palliatives in the wake of fuel subsidy removal. His government provided fire fighting trucks and equipments to the State Fire Service and also donated operational vehicles to both the Nigerian Police Force through its Swift Response outfit and the base of the Nigerian Army in Ekiti.

Nevertheless, Dr. Fayemi completed the rehabilitation of Oluyemi Kayode Stadium in Ado Ekiti, where many activities have been hosted. As at 2014, the Stadium complex was one of the finest in the country. He also initiated and completed the construction of a Mega Pavilion in the state. His administration established the Ekiti Home Agenda to deliver 5,000 decent and affordable homes across the 16 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in sustainable neighbourhoods for the good of Ekiti citizens. He initiated earth dredging of stream channels across Ado Ekiti metropolis: These efforts of his administration minimised flooding and erosion challenges in the State capital and also mitigated hazards associated with epidemics spread. Dr. Fayemi also launched the Operation Klean Ekiti (OKE) in May 2013, which fostered a green Ekiti, promoted State-wide sustainable development and reduced disaster and climate change effect.

It could, therefore, be seen that the state of infrastructure is a key hint of the robustness of a democracy and it signifies a sort of relationship that could make the public work for the sustenance of democracy. This belief was well entrenched in the ideology of Dr. Fayemi as his administration delivered varied projects to the 131 towns and villages in Ekiti State. As at April 30, 2014, a total of 1,906 vital community projects were completed and ongoing across all the 131 towns and villages in the state. He redoubled his commitment and delivered beyond the infrastructural Development promise he made on October 16, 2010.

Externally, the image of Dr. Fayemi’s democratic government was better projected with the constant advantages added to Ekiti State. Since infrastructure is decisive in assessing a state, an investor or visitor is prone to perceive Ekiti State based on its infrastructural condition. In the case where it is poorly developed or wrongly invested in, like under this present state government, the push of the state will be less effective and this will negatively impact on the state. For all these reasons, it is vital that the human and physical infrastructure need to be as efficient and as productive as possible.

Under the government of Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Ekiti undertook a drastic improvement in her hard and soft infrastructure so as to ensure that it “enables” faster economic growth, empowerment and development. Indeed, as I would further discuss in the next chapter of this essay, it is the enabling aspect which is important since infrastructure is supposed to facilitate and spur economic growth by providing better connectivity and enhancing productivity and efficiency.

Also, concerning human capital and in his efforts to bolster the skills, productivity and productive capacities of artisans, he disbursed soft loans through the Ekiti State Multipurpose Credit Agency totalling N265, 341,500. His government further empowered artisans through the provision of tools and equipments. Some of the beneficiaries were indeed traders, farmers, youths, the Hausa community and the Okada Riders Association (ACOMORAN).

Dr. Kayode Fayemi sees human capital development and infrastructure as extremely important to democracy and believes that their state of development should be appreciated for democracy to be consolidated. To him, there are no alternatives for human capital and infrastructural development and there are no shortcuts for rapid economic development. It is simply when these facets are addressed that states grow.

In the next chapter of this essay, I will discuss how Dr. Fayemi also addressed the issues of poverty, production and employment level between 2010 and 2014, to lay the foundation for economic development and democratic consolidation in Ekiti State.

Durodola Tosin

Tosin Durodola is the Editor-in-Chief of Core Magazine Africa and LJCMA.

He is the Convener of Kayode Fayemi Youth Support Movement (KAFYSM). He is a former Broadcast Journalist at the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) and Bloomshire Media Nigeria. He has written and published over 20 research papers on history, politics, foreign policy and international relations in National and International periodicals. He is currently writing a book on “Nigeria and the UN Security Council: A Critical Analysis of the Challenges in her Quest for Permanent seat”.

He holds a Bachelors degree in History and International Studies from Bowen University. He is a Masters candidate of Diaspora and Transnational Studies at the University of Ibadan.

Contact: tosin.durodola@thecoremagazine.org or oluwatosinduro@gmail.com

%%AUTHORLINK% Kayode Fayemi: A Pioneer of Economic Development and Democratic Consolidation in Ekiti State Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

Administrator Nigeria’s 16bn Power Saga Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

AFP photo

By

Prince Charles Dickson

Light no dey…the matter pass N16bn

The 16bn Power Saga; Obj, Buhari generate more heat than electricity, this headline by Blueprint Newspaper sums it all up, in the same week that we were told it would take 15 years to solve the nation’s metering problem.

Then I ask…who exactly did this to us, are our ancestors just collecting kola and aromatic schnapps and not doing anything about our situation.

So…

When question drop for mouth,

Question go start to run,

When answer drop for mouth,

Answer go run after am,

When answer jam question for road

Another thing go shele o, uh

Why you mash my leg for ground?

You no see my leg for road?

Question don drop for mouth,

Question don start to run,

Why you put your leg for road?

You no see say I dey come?

Answer don drop for mouth,

Answer don start to run,

Fela Anikulapo Kuti in Question Jam Answer

Ibrahim is the JEDC marketer allotted to me. He’s a good lad. JEDC stands for Jos Electricity Distribution Company but they largely distribute darkness and bills. Ibru brought this bill that had 12k and I went into a Nigerian frenzy…why, how, when, what, which and where; explain, was it the bill for the year or if we had stopped paying the bills.

I know that the consumption had decreased for a while, there were now fewer persons at home, less time spent, I could not understand the ‘astronomical’ increase for a service that hasn’t been there in the first instance or at best been dancing disco when available.

So, after both looking at the bill properly we saw the error and the bill was actually 5k and still at that, all I needed to do was a mental calculation to arrive at the fact that for an entire month I have seen barely cumulatively ten days of electricity.

It’s almost a year now, I have yet to see the analog prepaid meter that has if anything defaced many parts of Jos hanging dirty on poles.

All this Obj and Buhari amala talk could be classified as collateral pain if after all there is power, but instead we are fed with the political gimmick of “…there is power for an average of 16 hours across major Nigerian cities” by Fashola the power minister, just like the then Ngozi Iweala, Madam Minister for Finance.

While Nigerians pay for services not delivered, it is ironic that only both men, and other government officials experience uninterrupted electricity.

Most Nigerians applaud the fact that PHCN is dead, but many a Nigerian now craves for its resurrection, as the new DISCOS, at best have failed in the electric dance.

Whether it is $16bn or N1, we are still in the NNPC said “there is no gas, we have supplied, and they did not pay”, era. Despite the best of efforts, most Nigerians do not understand the whole privatization, unbundling or fondling of power by those concerned.

We are an impatient nation but is this electricity matter not one that should have been done and dusted, why is it we still suffer high current—electric gadgets bear the brunt, no one is held liable, and then low current—you can barely see, so there is electricity but it cannot power a bulb.

The Transmission company people are doing loads of hard work but truly it amounts to nothing when there are many questions and no answers, I agree that we are a difficult people, it is probably only in Nigeria that PHCN owes NNPC for fuel supplied, and NNPC has not paid for electricity supplied and state houses owe utility bills, while citizens that have not paid bills in years have power as long as there is power to spare.

I know it is the same nation that after the fatia, Lord’s prayer and phrases like Alhamdullilah, and Hallelujah, one must have under the breath said “Up NEPA” or muttered “Thank God there is light.” Especially coming back home and that house that serves as light post shows you a flicker of light, some of us even call home to ask if there is light, rather than ask if everyone is safe.

I do not need lecture us on, the benefits derivable to the Nigerian economy in the event we sort out our electricity palaver.

I must state solution does not lie in Chinese, World Bank loans or Private Partnership but upon a strong political will by both leadership and those governed.

Jibrin Ibrahim said, “Our political leaders make promises that they can’t keep, largely because we don’t have a culture of accountability”. And Chris Kwaja sums it up…The reality today is the both the country and its citizens suffer from an elite capture of the state and its institutions. For many of the institutions, they become weak because they are at the mercy of strong men and women. They are the centrifugal forces that sustain the sceptre of poverty, inequality and unemployment. For an average citizen that is a victim of these vices, the very notion of what and what is expected of such a state in the context of a “social compact” to provide and protect is a utopia. The collective will and action of the people in demanding for good government is the key…

Meanwhile, at the office, we had cumulatively two hours of electricity, and it came in a space of 8 occasions the light was DISCO light, off and on.

We may be on track, but really if this is the track, then, in Amauche Ude’s words we will keep making or recycling same mistakes. Will there truly be light soon–only time will tell.

Prince Charles Dickson

%%AUTHORLINK% Nigeria’s 16bn Power Saga Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

Administrator My Watch – My Foot Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

By

Abdulyassar Abdulhamid

I very much believe in what Lee Strobel said in that, “So much of the world’s suffering results from sinful action and inaction of ourselves and other (sic).” If not, why should someone who works until he drops, to win three loaves of bread for his family and himself, brag one of the most destructive corruption cases ever that almost crippled our economy? How on earth will someone who has but limited access to medical care celebrate impunity and hail its perpetrators? How will someone whom the system has never offered equality of education celebrate such a wastage of about N10 trillion that would have fixed the nation to a certain level? Although painful to bear, since “man is the greatest enemy to man” on the surface of the earth, anything is possible in Nigeria.

This comment followed mixtures of reactions that trailed what could be termed as a struggle for power, as Falana would say, between President Muhammadu Buhari and the former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, after the former accused the latter of wasting trillions of Naira on the power sector with nothing to show.

Whatever the case, it is surprising and very annoying that some deadwoods think they deserve a second chance or they know best how to walk Nigeria out of its present condition, simply because a larger percentage of Nigerians are suffering from acute dementia since they cannot remember the madness of the past.

On May 22, 2018, while receiving the Buhari Support Organization (BSO), led by the Controller-General of the Nigerian Customs Service, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd), President Buhari insinuated a whopping $16 billion was wasted by Obasanjo’s administration in the guise of improving the power supply in the country with nothing to show. The money if converted should amount to N10 trillion. According to the President the debt incurred by the $16 billion frittered by the Obasanjo administration on power without any tangible outcome is now haunting his administration, which is a serious problem facing Nigeria as a country today.

As a tactical rebuttal to the president’s accusation of Obasanjo’s wastage of $16 billion power funds during his eight years in office, Obasanjo directed his spokesman, Kahinde Akinyemi, to reply to Buhari, who insisted that the issue of the power fund has been addressed aptly in his principal’s “My Watch“. To him, Musa ‘Yar Adua’s government lied about the issue after the same administration had sacked one Engineer F. Somolu, the then secretary of NIPP, who vindicated the intent to frame up the Obasanjo administration of this grand corruption case in the power sector.

However, whether you or I have engaged in partisan politics or not, whether we will be called meddlers who cannot keep their fingers to themselves or not, I have found two things wanting in the behaviour of those hailers of Obasanjo’s wisdom: good understanding of how corruption has become a visible shame on the foreheads of Nigerians and the knowledge of this grand corruption case that provides the backdrop of our shaky economy.

What many people cannot infer from this political vendetta is that Obasanjo and some heartless cabals in the power sector then had nearly bled Nigeria to death. They have crippled the country’s economy particularly that of the North by raping the power sector which in turn milked our industries dry. No fool will dare invest in an electricity-bereft north; but still you will hear an irresponsible person who has no plan for today, much less tomorrow, saying, “We should just forge ahead. Let it be the way they did it. They deserve some applause because we could eat then,” not knowing that building the country on a quivering foundation of corruption is the bane of our existence as a people.

One, unlike many years back when this giant elephant called Nigeria commanded a great respect in the eyes of the world, maybe for its famed peacekeeping role in Africa and elsewhere; and or able leadership then, the stigma of corruption today follows even the ordinary Nigerian, home or abroad everywhere like a shell to a snail, as Akinokunbo A. Adejumo wrote in his Corruption and Nigerian Mentality; but, much to one’s chagrin, many people do not give a hoot about it, neither do they even smell it. Like the media today, they, too, “comfort the comfortable and afflict the afflicted”. They make heroes out of rogues. This simply reflects how corruption has eaten deep into our memory; but only people of conscience can infer this, for others are stone-blind to the truth. To them, corruption is synonymous to purity or truthfulness.

Two, a report by BBC’s Sesan Murray released on Monday 2 July 2007, about dying factories in Kano State can serve as a practical example to weigh the damage done by this grand corruption case. Some years back, according to the report, there were about 500 functional factories in Kano State. Some of them were able to employ from 800 to 1000 workers, but now less than 150 of them are in operation, and from all indication some more will be closed if the present government fails to resuscitate the power sector. The plight of these factories exemplifies the growing decline in economic activities in the city that once enjoyed the appellation of “Manchester of Africa, as a tribute to its textile industry”, claimed the report.

One of the interviewees featured in the report responded that the biggest reason for the decline and shut down of the factories in the state is epileptic power supply – a situation the factories could not bear – no more smoke is blowing from the chimneys of most of those factories and they are turbaned by cobwebs; and at last what one will picture is the teeming crowd of unemployed youth, who are victims of a dying power sector caused by this grand corruption.

There is no gainsaying the fact that from 2007 to date the subsequent governments have not been doing their best to bring the sector back to life, but the reality of the situation is that the problem has its birthplace in this $16 billion the Obasanjo administration in connivance with other contractors fleeced Nigeria of.

Imagine what these dying companies have thrown the state into. Isn’t it high rate of unemployment and increase in crime rates? This is in Kano alone. Make up the statistics of other states yourself to make further findings; and now the afflicted has summoned some courage to reward his afflicter. Perhaps, only in Nigeria is this possible.

Anyone familiar with the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee constituted to probe the power sector chaired by Godwin Elumelu, during the sixth National Assembly will find one mind-boggling discovery made by the said committee where 18 turbines were procured for $404 million. Then, when additional nine turbines were needed, they now spent $1.545 billion on them. Is that sensible for anybody to comprehend while the international standard of generating one megawatt of electricity is $1 million? The truth is when you are talking about huge amount of money like $16 billion, by dividing it by $1 million, it would have generated more than 10,000 megawatts.

In a recent interview, Godwin Elumelu disclosed that in the course of their investigation they went to Brazil. In Brazil, Geometric Power told him that they spent $12 billion to generate 12,000 megawatts and so shocking it is working very well. As at that time, Obasanjo’s government had already spent close to $16 billion generating between 2,500 to 3,000 megawatts of electricity which is indeed questionable.

It is so awful that one has taken Obasanjo as his moral compass despite the rot, the destruction he has caused to our national economy and his refusal to appear before the house panel led by Godwin Elumelu; and the saddest part of this all is his die-hard supporters have the gut to request for my reading his ‘My Watch” to hoodwink me. For this, for everything I say “My Watch” my foot!

Abdulyassar Abdulhamid

%%AUTHORLINK% My Watch – My Foot Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

Administrator I-C-I-Nigeria: Good deeds without politics Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

Kristian Buus photo

By

Prince Charles Dickson

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9 ESV

“On every person’s joints or small bones (i.e. fingers and toes), there is sadaqah (charity) every day the sun rises. (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

For a nation that prides itself as being secular and embittered by two faiths fighting a popularity war, one wonders where good deeds have travelled to.

And at a time when everything you read and see, the television, radio, the internet and all its social platforms have one thing and everything to do with politics and elections ala 2019. Nothing about governance begs for all the PR stunts, half-truths, misinformation and propaganda. The ordinary citizenry simply suffers the maladministration and system malfunction.

To busy my thoughts out of the polity I stumbled on this “World Cup PR Stunt Goes Wrong.”

The whole gist is captured in The Independent that “MasterCard has faced a backlash on social media over its “disgusting” campaign to donate 10,000 meals to starving children every time footballers Lionel Messi and Neymar Jr score.

The credit card company announced it would donate the equivalent value of the meals to the World Food Programme (WFP) for children in Latin America and the Caribbean each time the football stars net a goal between now and March 2020.

But, despite the campaign being backed by Messi and Neymar, it instantly sparked outrage on Twitter, with some likening the “horrible publicity stunt” to the fictitious Hunger Games, and many suggesting MasterCard should just hand over the money if it can afford to.

“If you’ve got the money @MasterCard, just give it away anyway,” one person said. “Don’t let the fate of starving children rest on multimillionaire footballers.”

“This is absolutely disgusting,” said another. “Give them the food anyway.”

Others also raised concerns that it would put a lot of pressure on the two forwards’ shoulders to score and also on the keepers, who would effectively be denying starving children free meals if they save potential goals. They only reminded me of the renewed vigour with which Nigerian politicians are in the business of good deeds towards 2019…shame on us.

For once I will delve into faith, dogma and doctrine. In Islam, speaking of having good character and performing good deeds is very important in the religion that every Muslim must perform for pleasing Almighty Allah. Allah says in the Holy Quran about righteous deeds: “Whoever works righteousness whether male or female while he (or she) is a true believer (of Islamic Monotheism) verily, to him We will give a good life (in this world with respect, contentment, and lawful provision), and We shall pay them certainly a reward in proportion to the best of what they used to do (i.e. Paradise in the Hereafter)” (Quran, 16:97).

From the above verse, we can say that when we perform good deeds for the sake of Almighty Allah then we will get Paradise as a reward. Therefore, the committing of good deeds actually stands for a person making his or her life better and it also helps Muslims to become closer to Allah. Islam is the religion of society it expects from its followers to develop a society where every individual work towards helping and taking care of each other and where everyone should do good deeds for the sake of Allah Almighty. Islam has given the instructions those have the objective that people could change their lives for better and continue living it in a better manner.

Doing a deed and doing the deed with good intention are separate things. The intention that doing this deed will reward a Muslim with virtues and help to attain the mercy of Allah in this world and afterward then this surely is a base that Allah will accept the deed and will reward accordingly. Holy Prophet (SAW) said about the intention of good deeds in a way: “The reward of deeds depends upon the intentions and every person will get the reward according to what he has intended.” (Sahih Bukhari)

So, a person who wants to get reward and blessings from Almighty Allah should perform good deeds with good intention.

In Christianity I recall telling someone that, “The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.” I liked it; it’s a great reminder. In the book of Acts, Luke summarized Jesus’ earthly ministry by saying that He “went about doing good” (10:38).

What does the Bible mean when it tells us to “do good”? Jesus did good by teaching, healing, feeding, and comforting people. Using Jesus as the perfect example, His followers are called to meet the needs of others, including those who hate them: “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you” (Matt. 5:44; see also Luke 6:27-35). They are to serve their enemies without expecting anything in return.

Moreover, as opportunity arises, His followers are to do good especially to fellow believers (Gal. 6:10). They are not to let persecution, selfishness, and busyness cause them to forget to do good and to share what they have with others (Heb. 13:16).

To be like our Savior and His early followers, we should ask ourselves each day: “What good thing can I do today in Jesus’ name?” When we do good, we will be offering a sacrifice that pleases God (Heb. 13:16) and that draws people to Him (Matt. 5:16).

So, should I start from the fact that there were no Nigerian players or even our rave of the moment Mo Salah in the MasterCard campaign? No, I won’t rave or rant on that. However follow me to a small village in Bassa or a community in Riyom, or another in Rikkos, or is it in Anglo Jos, all in Plateau state.

A small group of Nigerians and indeed non-Nigerians devoid of ethnic or faith colorations with help from amongst themselves decided to touch lives yet again, they have done it for almost ten years. Yes, the Islamic Counseling Initiative of Nigeria (ICIN) and NASCO did it, have been doing it.

The food basket did not need players to score goals or government feeding propaganda. The program exposes the need for government to pay attention to the needs of children with special needs in Bassa, it shows that government can do more than it mouths when as a result of Corporate Social Responsibility NASCO makes sure that malaria is curbed by providing mosquito treated nets and other allied health services free of cost to the community.

Using ICIN as a vehicle they continue to provide livelihood support to both men and women through trainings and take off grants.

At the School for the Deaf, it was sad to see that they lacked teachers for various subjects, amenities and infrastructure that would aid learning and sharing amongst this set of children in society. Very strong children despite the prevalence of hunger in the school. They still had graduates with courage making a difference. One recalls the beautiful damsel Juliana, only in J.S.S 3 who acted as interpreter, and the joy and dexterity with which she almost compeered the whole time

The friends of ICIN brought from cookies to rice, beef to noodles, biscuits just to be found worthy of good deeds. This wasn’t about IDPs and the cheap celebrity public stunt or Messi and Salah scoring a goal

It was about be part of an establishment that was helping in promoting education, adding its voice in the area of health and economic development through humanitarian services. This was about Moses a Corp Member; taking shots. It was Iliyazu and his Muryar Amurka, it was about Safiya, Aisha, Mairo, Fati, Amina Nana, Halima, Zubeida, the Nasredeens, and Tunde, Mohammed, Mallam Saeed and all the good hearts in Nigeria doing their good deeds.

When one thinks politics and there are no good deeds and intents, all APC, PDP and 2019, no good governance, no plans or systems put in place to tackle societal issues, one cannot but see why the road to nationhood seems long, how long though—Only time will tell.

Prince Charles Dickson

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Administrator Mr. President’s Democracy Day Broadcast Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

Reuters photo

By

Jerome-Mario Utomi

It is a familiar teaching among Christians that the fall of the first man, Adam was though plotted by the serpent but brought to fruition with the help of a woman, Eve. In the same span, the redemption of man was also facilitated by a woman (the blessed Mary) who by her fiat provided the first terrestrial abode for the God-man.

Similarly, Nigerians during the 2015 general elections politically replicated the above ideology by supporting President Muhammadu Buhari, a past Nigerian leader in his quest for the presidency. A state of affairs many mirrored as a redemptive mission to reposition the nation derailed by past leaders.

It is however not impossible that the effort by Mr President to achieve the above mandate may be in progress as recently, during his Democracy-Day broadcast. he promised to and subsequently signed the not-too-young-to-run bill into law; a development that has received praise from the vast majority of Nigerians.

But that notwithstanding, a key observation of the ripple reaction that later trailed the democracy day speech evidently points to the fact that the redemption mandate of the administration may have been deformed or lost vigor and candor.

Acting as a confirmation to this claim and contracting the President’s position on the state of corruption fight was his remark that the ‘corruption fight has resulted in recoveries of billions of Naira, as well as forfeiture of various forms of assets with the members of international bodies applauding the development.’

Obviously well stated but doubt remained; especially with the claim that the international community applauds the corruption fight in Nigeria.

Interpretatively, if this information provided is anything to go by, it will, however, necessitate the question as to how the international community is applauding our efforts and, less than 24 hours to that broadcast, Transparency International via a release bitterly complained that the Federal Government of Nigeria has in the run-up to elections expanded the use of opaque $670million a year fund that fuels graft?

Again, if accolades, as stated, are rolling in from the international community even in the face of this anti-corruption umpire’s declaration, Nigerians with critical minds may want to know the quarter from where such is coming since this same group had earlier in the year warned that corruption in the country was on the increase and may become worse if something dramatic is not done to arrest the situation.

This clarification became imperative to Nigerians as our dear President’s remark was not only incongruent and antithetical but laced with ambiguity.

Further painting the speech as vague, variable and ungraspable was Mr. President’s claim that Boko Haram’s capacity has been degraded even when it’s common knowledge that the nation is currently at the throes of insecurity, no thanks to the nefarious activities and mindless killing of innocent Nigerians by this same group and their now more dreaded herdsmen.

From observation, the activities of the groups have neither waned nor abated but had become incessant to the extent that before the dust raised by the Boko Haram attacks will settle, that of the Herdsmen will be up.

On the economy, Nigerians have since expressed their reservations with President Buhari’s claim that his administration has ‘focused on revamping the ailing economy it inherited in 2015 as well as executed an expansionary budget and developed the strategic implementation plan which he says is yielding a result.

Though eloquent as narrated but again, the most radical issue being contested on this topic by Nigerians is the barefaced gap in the facts presented by Mr President as economists have since disclosed that growth in the nation’s economy in 2015 was put at 4% but dwindled under this administration to a paltry 2%. This glaring discrepancy in my view informed why Nigerians listened to the speech without being attentive.

Very instructive also, the masses do not see the rationale behind the FG’s presentation of the nation’s economy on the Sunnyside as such effort will not in any appreciable way erase the fact that the standard of living in the country has fallen while the cost of living has astronomically gone up looking at the cost of goods and services.

It is also obvious that the past administration may have performed below expectation but Nigerians are particularly pained that after three years of this administration, the FG is still pointing at the previous administration as the architects of their woes even when it has become tellingly glaring that the former was not as inept as it’s being painted. For many, the criticism is unbecoming of a responsive and responsible government.

Another curious portion of the speech that drew the irk of some Nigerians with critical interest is Mr President’s description of the Niger Delta as peaceful; an environment that is presently known and addressed at the global stage as ‘social dynamite’.

Even the development practitioners are shell-shocked that such a view is coming from the number one citizen despite high scale youth unemployment in the region, of which the threat has become more pronounced with the chunk of proponents spearheaded by the large army of professionally-trained ex-militants currently without a job.

Regardless of what others may say, to truly make the region peaceful as mooted by Mr President, I submit that the Federal Government needs to take responsibility and come up with steps that will aggressively address the issues of youth unemployment, weak regulation on the parts of its ministries and agencies, tackle the oil companies lackadaisical handling of the environment, and ensure compliance with the implementation of the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMOU) so entered with host communities.

On the general unemployment situation in the country, it is undeniable that the situation and its inherent challenge in the country in the past few years doubled and now posed a grave danger to the nation’s peaceful existence as recently observed.

‘We are in a dire state of strait because unemployment has diverse implications. Security wise, large unemployed youth population is a threat to the security of the few that are employed. Any transformation agenda that does not have job creation at the centre of its programme will take us nowhere.’

However, from what people are saying, these monsters can be tamed if the Federal Government can openly admit the existence of these challenges. Other initiatives in my view will include but are limited to adopting both structural and managerial changes that impose and accommodate leadership discipline than conventional, and creating government institutions that are less extractive but more innovative in operation.

Jerome-Mario Utomi

Jerome-Mario is a Social Entrepreneur and an alumnus, School of media and communication, Pan Atlantic University, Lagos, Nigeria.

%%AUTHORLINK% Mr. President’s Democracy Day Broadcast Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

Administrator Poetry Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

AFP photo

By

Adedayo Ademokoya

June 12

It’s neither here nor there

Not even you can see

The president that never ruled

Yet, impacted from the tip of my soul

Listen to the protest from the grave

The coin of honour minted

I can’t see it coming

Drain the gutters of corruption

Lick from the pipe of yesterday

Plush stories of tomorrow

Legends escape the shackles of Hades

To bring smiles to them that desire victory

Toss me from the ocean of doubt

My mind had wandered enough

For the love of humanity, my soul beamed

In the nick of time, freedom of hope given

The march of the heroes past engraved in the sky

In the end, my soul vindicated

Thunder Strike

Thunderstorm that never ceased

Striking hot than you can think

Civility bored out

The fight against words, ink and pen

The strike against the heaped debris

that needs to be washed out

The debts unpaid slitting the

throats of its creditors

Our caregivers jaded

splitting the threads of our lives

Their only weapon; the thunder strike

Menace to the terrestrial life of our tropics

A riddle that remains perennially unsolved

Dashing the hope on the train of life

Only for rights to be redeemed

Our strike more virulent than the thunder strike

Adedayo Ademokoya

Adedayo Ademokoya is a writer who believes that we are beings of emotions. Expression makes human free from the shackles of ignorance. He feels that words are just a combination of letters until passion is infused for the liberation of souls. He loves to motivate, open to learning new things and keenly interested in making the world a better place. Some of his works have appeared on BraveArts Africa, Thought Catalog, Praxis Magazine, Parousia Magazine, Indian Periodical, Kreative Diadem, PenAStory and elsewhere.

%%AUTHORLINK% Poetry Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

Administrator Not too young to rule, but… Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

cable photo

By

Prince Charles Dickson

You can’t stay young forever. But you can be immature for your entire life.

Life is tactfully in these four phases:

You believe in Santa Claus.

You don’t believe in Santa Claus.

You are Santa Claus.

You look like Santa Claus.

Let me start this admonition with the following story.

An elderly farmer in Florida had a large pond down by his fruit orchard. One evening he decided to go down to the pond and took a five-gallon bucket to pick some fruit.

As he neared the pond, he heard female voices shouting and laughing with glee. As he came closer he saw a bunch of young women skinny-dipping in the pond. He made the women aware of his presence and they all went to the deep end. One of the women shouted to him, ‘We’re not coming out until you leave!’

The old man thought for a second and said, ‘I didn’t come down here to watch you ladies swim or to make you get out of the pond naked.’

Holding the bucket up he said, ‘I’m here to feed the alligator!

Moral: Old men can still think fast.

Are the youths aware of what it takes to run for political office in Nigeria? Is the system and structure ready; are the youths themselves ready or are they pepper-souping, naija-betting and premier-leaguing?

A social media revolution is unfolding before our eyes, forever changing the way we connect. The young boys of Lagos preoccupied with their cell-phones; a young girl tweeting from a health-care clinic in Abakaliki; a young nurse taking notes on an iPad in Jos at the school of health. My 14-year-old son is on WhatsApp and chatted me the other day on Facebook Messenger.

Yet another story…

A couple in their nineties are both having problems remembering things. During a checkup, the doctor tells them that they’re physically okay, but they might want to start writing things down to help them remember.

Later that night, while watching TV, the old man gets up from his chair. ‘Want anything while I’m in the kitchen?’ he asks.

‘Will you get me a bowl of ice cream?’

‘Sure.’

‘Don’t you think you should write it down so you can remember it?’ she asks.

‘No, I can remember it.’

‘Well, I’d like some strawberries on top, too. Maybe you should write it down, so as not to forget it

He says, ‘I can remember that. You want a bowl of ice cream with strawberries.’

‘I’d also like whipped cream. I’m certain you’ll forget that, write it down.’ she says.

Irritated, he says, ‘I don’t need to write it down, I can remember it! Ice cream with strawberries and whipped cream – I got it, for goodness sake!’

Then he toddles into the kitchen. After about 20 minutes, the old man returns from the kitchen and hands his wife a plate of bacon and eggs. She stares at the plate for a moment.

‘Where’s my toast?’

Nothing enhances the good old days more than a poor memory.

When I X-ray the not-too-young to run bill that was recently passed into law and the politics of age there are several questions begging answers including this fact to the possibility that we are not even asking the right questions or have refused to provide the right answers. While I rejoice with our youths it is important to know if indeed this bill has asked the right question, does it solve the pertinent problems in our polity?

Our youths, do they have the financial muscle; can they wrestle the polity without an overhaul. Do they have the experience or they want to learn on the job?

Amidst these questions and fears I remain cautiously optimistic when I see the commitment of young people around the country. Over the next decade and beyond, if we are to solve the most pressing issues of our time, we need to tap into the dynamism of youth movements and young social entrepreneurs, for they have the potential to disrupt inertia and be the most creative forces for social change. We need to ask ourselves: if they are not too young to run are we not old to run, that being the case, how do we empower the youth to drive social progress in developing Nigeria through new and innovative projects?

Today’s youth sustain power in them to raise and cure the political, social and economic issues and bring the change they wish to see in the nation. The generations coming forth have the capabilities, ideas, strength, and knowledge to develop and implement innovations within all the sectors required for a balanced society. They are the roots of the economy on which a strong tree stands. An active and major participation could only unfold the hidden potential lying beneath the veils of stereotypes and prejudices.

At 25-35 the youths are all strong, free spirited and full of ideas, they believe in everything including Santa Claus…soon the same youthful persons are threading the lines of 35years-50 they start doubting all they once stood for, questioning the system and blaming everybody but themselves. They don’t believe in Santa Claus. As you celebrate your golden jubilee you are the problem, you the issue, you are Santa Claus; if the core of the young persons that have strived and believe that they deserve a chance in this dispensation don’t take charge, they soon will become Santa Claus.

Nigeria is currently governed by those that look like Santa Claus, they don’t know what they believe in, what the people believe and are incapable of any form of belief, they are…Not too young to rule, but…too old to say still. Is Nigeria ready…the youths are coming, are we prepared or is this another bill on a dust gathering journey—only time will tell.

Prince Charles Dickson

%%AUTHORLINK% Not too young to rule, but… Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

Administrator Governor Okowa as a Latter Day Saint Tuck Magazine Tuck Magazine - Online political, human rights and arts magazine

AM photo

By

Jerome-Mario Utomi

Recently, I listened avidly to various speakers at a function in Lagos, speak with great passion to underline the seriousness of their position and the depth of their conviction that the leadership challenge in Africa is fueled by our ‘leaders’ non-possession of authentic leadership culture; a challenge they argued stripped Africa as a continent the power for socio-economic transformation.

Indeed, the postulations got the vast majority of participants convinced as they listened with an endorsement.

However, contrary to the above teaching, the events that recently unfolded in Delta state reveal that the postulations may not be absolutely accurate as the state governor, Senator Dr Ifeanyi, like some other state governors has evidently demonstrated their possession of self-reinventing spirit, and their state, loaded with the power for both political and socioeconomic rejuvenation.

The well thought out plan, and coordinated human capital and infrastructural development in the state; from Warri to Asaba, Oleh to Agbor and Burutu to Ogwuashi-Uku, bears eloquent testimony to this assertion.

Adding context to this discourse, Delta state becomes the focal point of this conversation considering the shaky and windy situation that heralded the administration and the ripple reaction that greeted same; a state of affairs that was compounded by the Deltans unwillingness to allow the governor the space to unfold his game plan.

A fault that all must be absolved of wrong-doing as we dwell in an environment where doing is erroneously considered more important than planning, and where our thought system is programmed to view immediate execution as more important than spending the time to generate breakthrough ideas.

Unknown to Deltans, while this season of doubt was ongoing, the governor capped himself with a different leadership ideology that places a higher premium on thinking and planning that will ensure outstanding results.

In line with the above philosophy, analysts have since accentuated that Governor Okowa is currently succeeding on the job of infrastructural development in the state because of his perception of governance as a project which must be planned and executed in a certain sequence to create a unique result and meet the expectations of the people.

Meanwhile, as accolades continue to pour, critical minds are however worried that no matter how noble the projects may appear, it can never be devoid of political undertone considering the time and season; a feeling that mirrors the entire effort as a political gimmick/Greek Gift aimed at securing victory at the 2019 general election.

To such sad but envisaged voiced opinions, adequate replies have become inevitable.

Whether for good or for bad, even if the project executions are politically motivated, it will not in any appreciable way erase the fact that Deltans remain the beneficiaries of such projects when completed. After all, we are witnesses to past leaders that instead of executing people-purposed projects, decided to pocket the fund in order to buy the votes on the day of the election.

Correspondingly, not viewing this development from the Sunnyside is a sure proof that as human beings, we think of ourselves ‘as more generous, selfless, honest, kind, intelligent or good looking than in fact we are’. Such disposition, in all fairness, makes it extremely difficult for us to be honest with ourselves about our own limitations.

In reality, ascribing 2019 connotation to the ongoing infrastructural development in the state, in my views is a pragmatic admittance to being oblivious of the fact that globally, it requires prolonged effort to administer a state and change the backward habit of the people; that a certain amount of administrative pressure is necessary at the beginning, of which, if creative leadership is not applied, may mar the entire administration as previously witnessed.

Creative governance the world over has proved not to have a leftist or rightist time for delivering democracy dividends so far it will eventually be delivered with the projects enduring and built-in consonance with the needs of the people.

What the Governor is doing in the state in my understanding is a redefinition of power as embarking on such projects remains the most dynamic and cohesive action expected of a leader like him to earn a higher height of respect, second term or no second term. The Governor has used the projects to point out that the essence of power is no other but to effect social, economic and political changes in the state.

Looking at commentaries, Okowa by demonstrating leadership, has, become to the vast majority of Deltans a political later-day saint that can visualize the future that is different from the present and a man with extraordinary intellect who possesses the quality that is deeply important at this moment of our history.

Certainly, what is going on in the state has understandably raised a lot of expectation that afterwards there is hope for the future of this country.

Still on the positive side, deltans with discerning minds are unanimous that Governor Okowa is but using the power/position freely given to him by the people to end suffering in the state, that he is using the power/position to create employment for Deltans and transform the lives of the peasants in the state; that the governor is profusely using his position to tackle poverty and insecurity in state.

From what the people are saying, the government has initiated the fundamental changes that will lay the foundation for Delta state to catch up with the rest of the world.

But there are exceptions as there will always be an exception; with the most profound being the urgent need to reduce the peasant discontent in the state; especially between the blighted communities with that of the city dwellers which may cause serious tension and misgivings.

In the same fashion, the pockets of infrastructural complaints from some quarters need to be closely looked into. For instance, the students of the newly established Nigerian Maritime University, Okerenkoko, in Gbaramatu kingdom, Warri South Local Government Area’s desperate need for an access road to their school.

Likewise, the people of Ubulu-Okiti in Aniocha South Local Council are waiting patiently to have a feel of the Governor’s infrastructural crusade.

And above all, this time is auspicious for the governor to co-opt promising youths into his administration. Those he can hand-over the system to, those he can transfer knowledge of how to plan build and administer the state come 2023.

Luckily, the state is blessed with teaming youths full of integrity, intellect, energy and drive to build a modern state.

Jerome-Mario Utomi

Jerome-Mario is a Social Entrepreneur and an alumnus, School of media and communication, Pan Atlantic University, Lagos, Nigeria.

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