Author: Hope Eghagha

What is new in the New Year? – By Hope O’Rukevbe Eghagha

It is New Year, that is, it is New Year’s Day, or, a day, a week after New Year’s Day. A new year it ought to be. But the New Year sometimes ominously carries the putrefaction of the old year, its entrails, its betrayals, its insecurities, and uncertainties, and the killing of innocent people. It has not emptied its belly of the aches and turbulence of the period before. It still carries the pains, trauma, and triumphs of the previous year. This is despite what we believe, which often is an illusion, that the old year always vanishes with its wahala into oblivion, never to return!

1st of January is first day of the calendar year. But 31st of December does not, cannot obliterate the angst of the dying year. These are just numbers. But there ought to be a break a severance from the past. In his wisdom, Man had always developed rituals – of atonement, restitution, purgation or purification – that will extricate him from the bondage and evils of the past. This we find in most societies that still harbour and practice respect for the sacred values of human existence, as in the crossover night services made popular by evangelicals and the Pentecostal Movement. At such times, we believe, as T.S. Eliot eloquently expresses in these poetic lines: For last years words belong to last year’s language/And next year’s words await another voice/And to make an end is to make a beginning!

The concept of a new beginning is essentially psychological. No? is there something tangible we witness clearing the way for a new season? No! it is perception, or faith anchored on the belief system of an individual or society. Time is cyclical. It is a concatenation of experiences. There is no stopping, no pause in physical terms except when the life of a man ceases. So, it is a frame of the mind, a perception that gives us some stability. Just as when we turn 50, or 60, or the magical, scripture-prescribed 70 years, and we believe that we have entered a new phase in our life’s journey. We look back and it is like yesterday. Seventy years are like yesterday, like a blink, and some experiences come blinding us with the power of infinite reality. We listen to some music and memories of our childhood come flooding us with part pleasure, part pain. So, we ask, where have those many years gone?

Yet we often enter the New Year with great hope, enthusiasm, and optimism. We embrace the New Year with the hope that the joy of entering a new chronological date would end the misery of the previous year. It is the way of human beings. Steven Spielberg says that ‘all of us every single year, we’re a different person. I don’t think we’re the same person all our lives! It is somewhat part of our fantastic imagination. It works for some people. For some it all evaporates by second week of the New Year when with a feeling of déjà vu, the past returns to haunt them in the form of a re-occurrence. A family that is bereaved on 25th, or 27th of 31st December cannot enter the New Year with any enthusiasm. In fact, for the rest of their lives, they are likely to have a scarred memory of the dying days of the year.

Perhaps it is trite to observe that we all have different degrees of threshold for pain, for trauma, and for the vicissitudes of life. Faith in existence in some people is higher than what dwells inside others. The good book says that ‘if you faint in times of adversity then your strength is small! We do not need to travel beyond our families, sometimes nuclear to form a conclusion about this. A philosopher once said that it is not what happens that really matters; what matters is HOW we take things that happen. Some advocate a stoic approach to disaster, to sad occurrences of any proportion. So while those around you physically lament, you are required to move on psychologically.

Does the New Year have a spirit because it is a New Year or it is invested with a spirit to bring in a new beginning? Who invests the New Year with the spirit of the new? Does it have the capacity to summon a spirit? Is it propelled by Forces Natural or Forces Spiritual? If it does, will the spirit of the New Year accommodate everybody, the good and the bad, the believer and unbeliever? What does it mean when a man says: this is my year?

As we enter 2023, the soaring cost of inflation is not left in the pit of the dying year. It has galloped into the New Year to wait for all wayfarers. As we enter 2023, insecurity is not going to lie prostrate in the dying year because the spirit of 2022 may never really die. Last Thursday, a man died while queuing for petrol in Oyo State. Can the family forget the pain because we are in 2023? The evil men who manipulate governance have not purged themselves so the spirit of exploitation and state robbery, lack of respect for the citizenry, and disregard for the rule of law. Even some of the noisy religious leaders have not purged themselves of the evils of the outgoing or outgone year. How will there be a new spirit? Therefore, I will judge you O ye House of Israel, says the Holy Book, everyone according to his ways!

The old year lives in the new year. But we must still rejuvenate ourselves, still psychologically prepare ourselves. The governors of the land should rejuvenate the land with welfare policies that can renew faith. Governments often do this through budgeting and special announcements given in the New Year Speech. The hunger that ravaged the stomachs of Nigerians will not simply go away because we have entered 2023. There must be concrete steps to make life bearable. University lecturers’ angst and disenchantment with the incumbent APC government will not go away because we are in 2023. Indeed, because it is 2023, academics cannot wait for an opportunity to get rid of a government that has been so anti-intellectual, insensitive, and unduly combative. “Two things are infinite”, writes a philosopher, “the universe and human stupidity: I’m not sure about the universe!

January 9, 2023
The killing of Citizen Bolanle Raheem- By Hope O’Rukevbe Eghagha

On Christmas Day in a most deja vu manner, the life of an innocent citizen Bolanle Raheem, a lawyer, wife, mother, mother-to-be, and real estate manager, was terminated by an officer of the law, ASP Drambi Vandi of Ajiwe Police Station Ajah in Lagos. It was a most bizarre experience, reminiscent of previous official murders which we have recorded in our chequered history of Police-Community relations. For, in the last forty odd years, too many innocent Nigerians have lost their lives in extra-judicial killings, through the notorious ‘accidental discharge’, drunkenness and simple disregard for the sanctity of human life. The Nigeria Police is notorious for its brutality, extrajudicial actions, arbitrary methods, impunity, and above-the-law mentality. This indeed gave rise to the 2020 anti-SARS Movement. Enough, Nigerians said, was enough! Sadly, the lesson has not been learnt!

One of the differences in the Raheem case is that the assailant is a senior police officer, an Assistant Superintendent of Police who by police standards is a well-trained and experienced officer, having served for thirty-three years. Lawyer Bolanle Raheem was a mother who went out that Christmas morning to enjoy one of the very simple things of life, with her family – shopping after a church service. There was no way she could have posed a threat to anybody least of all because of her pregnant state. Some policemen under the bridge at Ajah asked her husband to stop and before he could find a suitable place to park, a bullet was fired by the ASP into the pliant body of a pregnant, law abiding female lawyer in the presence of her husband, her sister and other kids. Where on earth does this happen without a serious repercussion on the rogue policeman? Can we ever assess the traumatic effect on husband and the kids in the vehicle? If he is not punished by the State, there will be a permanent curse on him and all the powerful forces that may want to shield him from the hands of the law.

While this ugly story was making the rounds, it was reported that another citizen, Gafaru Buraimoh had been killed on 7th of December 2022 by Inspector Imeh Johnson from that now notorious Ajiwe station. How many other killings have they carried out that never came to light? We may never know. This history of police killings is not new. The most dramatic was that of twenty-four old Dele Udoh an athlete who had come from the US in 1981 to represent Nigeria in a continental sporting event. He had chosen to represent Nigeria even though the U.S wanted him too, only to be killed by a policeman in Ojuelegba. The shooting was spuriously attributed to ‘accidental discharge! Of course, there have been many other deaths since then. Amnesty International says that in 2018 there were 841 of such deaths. The general feeling is that Nigerian policemen lack the discipline, civility and courtesy required of them while dealing with the public.

Nigerians who encounter policemen at check points across the country notice a high level of impunity, beggarliness, and recklessness all combined in different degrees. They lack self-dignity. In the past, they secretly collected money from commuting drivers and passengers. These days, it is open. They dare you to complain. As a rule, commuters are banned from making calls or using their mobile phones when they get to checkpoints. This is because they want to prevent a recording of their nefarious activities. Anyone who travels by road from Lagos to Benin can testify to the abuse which policemen inflict on travellers to the Deep South. After every kilometer there is a checkpoint where policemen do nothing but harass and extort hapless Nigerians.

Life has become too cheap in Nigeria. Policemen and some law enforcement officers violate lives at will. Apart from murders routinely occurring, there are acts of violence which are promoted on social media. The prominence given to one murder reinforces belief in the primacy of violence. ‘I will kill you and nothing will happen’ is common refrain among police officers. Achebe voices these words through a soldier in Anthills of the Savannah when the soldier says: if I kill you I kill dog!

Men of the Nigeria police need training and retraining. Civil society is not an enemy. Firing shots at citizens must be a last resort. The irony is that when they encounter criminals they are not as trigger happy. They argue that the criminals are better equipped and simply scamper for their lives. Yet when they encounter hapless Nigerians they become hyperactive and aggressive.

Nothing can restore the life of Bolanle Raheem. But we need a closure. There must be justice. The offending officer must be used as an example to others. No moron should put up an argument in defence of the officer on account of his long service to the nation. Indeed, his long years in service ought to be reason for caution and diligence. This tragedy could happen to anyone. Our kids and dependants who go out in Lagos often return home with stories about police misbehavior. How long shall we tolerate this insanity? How many lives more will be lost before we reform the police? I am almost sure that the murderous officer was under the influence of alcohol or hard drugs or both. I once had a police orderly who threatened to shoot my cook because the latter offered him eba instead of tuwo shinkafa Of course, he was promptly arrested after he fired a warning shot into the air! He was under the influence! There have been others who got so drunk that they killed guests at a wedding party they were meant to secure!

The time to reform the Nigeria Police is now. We need State Police and Local Government Police to complement the federal police. Nigeria society currently treats the police like scum. They are not given the tools to work. Police Stations are a dread. Their systems are not computerized. They are underfunded. Majority of them in turn behave like scum. The hierarchy is not disciplined. There is institutional indiscipline through dubious promotions, favoritism, and special postings. The junior officers know that their ‘ogas’ aren’t above board. The senior officers who want to do the right things are shoved aside. Incredibly, when our policemen are posted outside Nigeria, they excel and are highly recommended.

All the police officers at Ajiwe Police Station should be posted out immediately. A new DPO should be deployed to head that station. Bolanle Raheem deserves justice. Her unborn baby who died a tabooed death the mother’s womb deserves justice. To prove to the public that it is not complicit in the officer’s act, the Police High Command must bring the murderous officer before the law. Justice must not only be done; it must be seen to be done. It will serve as a deterrent to others who are potential killer-cops! We do not know how many lives the moronic officer had taken in the past. This may just be nemesis catching up with him. Else, how do we explain the cavalier manner an officer of 33 years standing shoot at an innocent passenger? Was he under the influence of Monkey Tail like most policemen who are deployed on patrol?

January 2, 2023
Letter from Chief Awolowo – By Hope O’Rukevbe Eghagha

It has been a while since I last wrote to you compatriots if I may still refer to you as such. Up here we are disturbed by the insane and criminal hustling that has become politics in the country.

We are also worried about the economy, (what is this story about the Central Bank Governor and the DSS?), insecurity, inflation, poverty, banditry, and hunger in the land.

We had a meeting last week; it was chaired by Zik. Ahmadu Bello, Balewa, Ojukwu were all present. Murtala came in late and sat quietly through the meeting, fuming over corruption and why his erstwhile colleagues had become so compromised that they looked the other way.

I saw a recently deceased Army Chief of Staff remonstrating with him over the outmoded violent way of changing governments. What about Mali and Burkina Faso the fiery General asked loudly. Zik advised him to give up such thoughts because their misadventure in 1966 did not save the country from anarchy. If civilians had been running the country in 1966, there would have been no war, he concluded.

Fela sent a message through the young Okposo that he wasn’t going to attend a meeting with the ‘politicians who destroyed the country’ and that he was still waiting for the militician who threw his mother out the window in Kalakuta. Madam Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti was in full attendance still spitting fire about the absence of women in the centre of power. What about Shehu Shagari and Umoru Yar ’Adua? They were present too, along with Tunji Brathwaite and Lateef Jakande. Tarka and Daboh sat in one corner throughout the meeting discussing Fulani incursion inro Tivland and how they must urge Ortom to stand firm against restoring grazing routes!

The ASUU strike occupied our attention here. Sadly, the government handled the situation poorly. How do you pay a professor four hundred thousand naira monthly? Why did they allow the strike to drag for eight long months? Yet we hear that trillions of naira from Stamp Duty have been cornered by a few powerful persons. Heaven will punish them with an ailment that nobody can cure for exploiting the poor and killing education. The government should pay the backlog of salaries due to ASUU. The spirit of teaching has been killed in many of them. This government will only kill the public university system if they continue this way.

The debate centered on whether we should intervene in the hocus-pocus that has become politics in your world, and the level of looting of public funds. Gani Fawehinmi argued brilliantly for hours on why we should guide you all with knowledge from the other world. On the other side of the argument was Justice Oputa ably supported by Archbishop Idahosa. Their view was that if politicians do not listen to the preachers with them what would they make of a letter from an assembly of dead old People, asking whether a drop of water could quench the thirst of people in hell? I finally advised that there was no harm in trying to tactfully steer the affairs of our people and that things have degenerated so badly that even God Almighty was alarmed. It was for this reason I was mandated to write this letter.

It seems that the Man in Aso Rock is the only good main this government. Sadly, he does not seem to have enough information about the ongoings in his government. Old age debilitations and a mind that trusts people who pledge to be good seem to affect him. We are indeed worried about how loose his grip is over government officials. He seems to be surrounded by a brood of vipers, feeding fat on the integrity of the Aso Rock Man. I remember when he in 1983 his government claimed that Chief Bisi Onabanjo had been interrogated and I corrected them that at the time that pronouncement was made, Chief Onabanjo had not been interrogated at all. General Idiagbon was running the show and giving him feedback. Who is his point man in the scheme of things? Who are his genuine loyalists? Are they truly loyal? Are they managing the economy well? Is it a free for all government? He should remember that a government is not jugged by its intentions. A government is assessed both in the short and long terms by its actions. There is too much hunger and anger in the land.

As for those fellows jostling for the Presidency, we have decided not to endorse anyone of them. We would like Nigerians to make a sensible choice. INEC seems to be serious about conducting a free and fair competition. Politicians are still scheming anyway to scuttle things. This CBN policy that is designed to mop excess currency from private hands appears good on the surface. But we have no faith in it. The big men of the country have already done enough damage and made emergency plans to access cash. The time has come for revolutionary thinking. Do not elect a leader whose health is a challenge even before occupying the seat. The current experience is enough pointer to the danger of electing a sick leader. Indeed, we expected PDP like APC to zone power to the south after eight years of President Buhari. There is need for regional balancing. PDP should put its house in order. I wonder why Atiku has not been able to pacify Wike. That man is a one-man riot squad, and he seems to sway opinions against Atiku. With the dismal state of the national economy, APC should stand no chance in 2023. But voting patterns in Nigeria have never followed any logic. Indeed, Shagari has told me here that I should have been allowed to manage Nigeria in 1979.

As for Peter Obi he has gained popularity across the country. We do not endorse anybody because even here we have not reached a consensus. But we agreed to urge all Nigerians to vote according to their conscience. We commend President Buhari for saying that Nigerians should vote whoever they think can right the wrongs of the country. That is the spirit of a statesman.

Finally, the year is coming to an end. Let the government work on food security. Let the economy work. Let hope be restored to the people. The picture we see here is frightening. May God save the country that we so worked for.

December 26, 2022
Fighting Dirty in the master’s Name – By Hope O’Rukevbe Eghagha

Barsisa: Tension in the country over political issues has risen to burning levels. It is frightening. Only God can save us from a descent into anarchy.

Kalagbor: Aren’t we in an anarchic state already? Poverty. Hunger. Lack of trust. Shedding of innocent blood. These have become a refrain in our national discourse!

Majeed: How did we get it so wrong? What went wrong? This is not the Nigeria we grew up in.

Ejine: The one which baffles me is how erstwhile friends have become bitter foes, not greeting each other, not speaking to each other, ready to tear down the bridge of friendship built over time.

Okoli: Why do some people fight so dirty and viciously in the name of their master, for their master?

Ajunwa: It is a good question. It is funny that when some of those so-called masters meet privately on even in public places they hug and laugh off the joke that is politics.

Ngozi: Simple rules of etiquette have been discarded. One of our politicians, was it Adedibu once said that if you want to know who your mother dated before she married your father you should join politics!

Kola: Hahahahaha! Yes o! it was Adedibu, the strong man of Ibadan politics who said it, the man who played Amala politics.

Ngozi: Such bitterness and vile coming from the mouths and hearts of minions. Their principals are more civil when they meet as Ajunwa said.

Isi: Yet their followers will swear and curse at each other. Look at the fierce battle between Arise TV and the media men of Senator Bola Tinubu. How could they be so personal, so brutal?

Ejine: And washing their dirty linen in public.

Rukky: Let them wash their dirty linen in public jor; let them do. Our elders say that the anus of fowl is exposed anytime the wind blows!

Isi: You have come again o, you, and your proverbs!

Helen: Let him dish them out. Our proverbs are rich in thoughts and culture.

Isi: Which one is anus of fowl in this matter?

Elo: That is the koko of the matter. Exposing the rot hidden in the hearts and homes of those who claim to lead us.

Allwell: I am a politician, but I am worried about the savagery on the political scene. Even the two main political parties have not been ale to put their house in order.

Rukky: But politicians thrive when things are chaotic. They pretend to restore order after creating disorder!

Cyril: That na true o! That is how and when they spend security votes on their girlfriends.

Allwell: That is being sarcastic.

Udechukwu: Sarcastic sagacity! Na wa for grammar.

Isi: Can Arise TV ever be objective on any matter that concerns BAT?

Udechukwu: There is no objectivity anymore. I remember our Mass Communication classes in the university when American trained teachers taught us about objectivity and how we thought CNN and BBC were always objective. They are objective with a slant.

Barsisa: That is right. All media houses have their goals and objectives. Its like Fox News and CNN. They report the same event but with a different slant.

Ejine: Fox News is an entertainment channel; not a serious news channel.

Kalagbor: Some will not agree with you on this.

Isi: Did you guys read the savage attacks on both sides of the gladiators?

Kalagbor: I did. It is now clear that that TV station is pursuing an agenda. Is that what media houses should do?

Majeed: Good question; good question. But that one is hypothesis and hypothesis no be garri!

Udechukwu: That is true o; hypothesis no dey bring garri come table!

Isi: I still believe that reporting should be nuanced. There should be no persona acrimony.

Ngozi: I agree with you Isi. Do you recall how Dr. Walter Ofonagoro as Director-General used the NTA to fight the NPN battles in the Second Republic? How the station became an arm of Ministry of Information? That station subsequently lost its credibility. Who watches NTA these days?

Helen: Sad. NTA used to be great with fantastic programmes until the government decided that TV stations should become propaganda channels for their inanities.

Barsisa: In my view, TV and radio channels should report the news, not make the news. Some of those TV personalities have started creating news out of themselves. They are too partisan.

Majeed: True. If BAT says he doesn’t want to appear for a live debate in their station, they should let him be and let the public decide on what to do. Na by force?

Isi: But why should a politician who wants to govern a country avoid public debates?

Ngozi: That is another matter. But Atiku did not show up for the debate too. He sent his running mate to represent him.

Udechukwu: These are expired old men who cannot withstand a barrage of questions. Did you watch the charade at Chatham House?

Majeed: Disgraceful!

Allwell: I don’t know why Nigerian politicians should go to London to explain what they plan to do for Nigeria! Those people cannot vote.

Rukky: Colonial mentality is still very much in place. President macron will not go to America to woo people if he wants votes in France. We need a factory reset in the country! Period.

Elo: Hohohohoho! I laugh in Isoko!

Philo: It is not a laughing matter.

Cyril: It is not a laughing matter, yet I cannot cry for Nigeria.

Elo: Overtake don overtake overtake!

Kalagbor: What is our conclusion?

Ejine: Ajunwa can give us a summary.

Ajunwa: We have resolved that media houses should not be partisan and should not fight dirty. That they should not have paymasters whose views they push. That objectivity must be maintained to guarantee the integrity of news reporting. That news reporters are not, should be newsmakers while reporting society to the world. That once an umpire joins the game, he can no longer be a neutral person.

Isi: Great! Must politicians desecrate all public institutions?

Kalagbor: Must journalists allow themselves to be used to desecrate public institutions?

December 19, 2022
Monkey tail, government officials and policy implementation – By Hope Eghagha

The first time I heard the quaint expression ‘monkey tail’ some twenty odd years ago, I was genuinely puzzled about its meaning because of the prevailing circumstances and how one can innocently stumble into something that could be big. I had asked after a young man who used to be around the compound back in Warri, doing menial work and serving like a factotum in the compound and I was casually told that he had been taken to a mental home for treatment after he ran amok and threatened people with a cutlass.

When I asked how such a meek-looking fellow could break down so easily I got a ready answer ‘Oga, the guy dey take monkey tail like water! Monkey tail? What is monkey tail, I asked? Laughter followed. ‘Oga, no tell us say you no know monkey tail o! Monkey tail na! I wondered if someone had eaten the tail of a monkey and went crazy as a result. ‘You mean he cooked and ate the tail of a monkey? More laughter. No brother.

I soon found out the truth about Monkey tail. Monkey tail is a deadly concoction; it is a ‘locally brewed cannabis and ogogoro liquor, commonly sold by skilled herbal mixologists, usually female, who either have ‘Agbo’ stations by the roadside or are conveniently mobile! I even found a definition for it on Google! If you look carefully those traders are ubiquitous. They are found in motor parks, roadside kiosks, and anywhere there is a small band of traders. Okada and Keke riders patronize them too. This accounts for the crazy speeds at which those bats-from-hell fly their vehicles along our roads.

Monkey tail! How does it sound to you? This precious concoction came into focus recently as the striking ASUU had rambunctious negotiations with the federal government, which dragged on for some eight months and we witnessed some strange actions and words from one of the principal negotiators on the government side, so bad that the usually reticent Professor Attahiru Jega complained that the Minister was being personal about the official matter that was ASUU strike. Someone commented on a WhatsApp platform that this ‘man dey take too much Monkey tail naim make am dey take the matter like fight between him and the gods of Okija! Hahahahaha! Of course, Okija shrine has deep connotations with the cantankerous days of governance in Anambra State when a serving governor was abducted.

Some highly placed persons swim in stimulants to function properly. Alcohol for some is routine. There are some who must take shots of whiskey or brandy before heading out for any serious meeting especially if they are dealing with their superiors. Late Prime Minister Winston Churchill is on record in alcohol abuse, though it made him perform at optimum. Some step up the stimulant level by taking weeds or other hard drugs to be able to coordinate their thoughts. To be sure there are many of such substances in the market these days. The senses of such persons have become dependent on these substances. As we know, either in the short or long term, such substances affect one’s sense of judgment.

How does a man who has taken on the high responsibilities of State indulge in hard drugs, remain sane, and think that he can fool the public? I remember the lyrics of Peter Tosh’s Legalize it when he says ‘Doctors smoke it/Nurses smoke it/ Judges smoke it/ Even lawyer too! So, it is not strange to read that men in power, men of power routinely take monkey tail. Marijuana as medication has been legalized in America and to be sure access is better. Yet, if it were to come to the public that a sitting governor in America depends on marijuana to perform, there would be no end to the smell of the scandal! A high court judge who smokes weed before coming to court would have impaired judgment. A minister who takes drugs would be permanently impaired when dealing with affairs of State.

It is against this background that we must examine the actions of some government officials when they deal with the public. Some of them need to go for psychiatric evaluation. How can any sane human being occupying a government position treat university professors like daily paid workers by paying them on prorate basis? In all the years of military dictatorship, the government never did that. Now that we have pseudo-democrats in the temporary confines of the powerhouse in Abuja, the ridiculous has become the norm. Road traffic managers in Lagos once sent errant drivers to Yaba Left for mental evaluation. For example, a man who drove against traffic or om a one-way lane was sent for psychiatric evaluation. Those state officials who allowed the last ASUU strike to drag on for eight months and finally refused to pay salaries need to go for mental evaluation. It is an abnormal situation. It is digging the pit of the public university system. Such persons are dangerous to the survival of the Nigerian state.

Sadly, across the country state officials harass petty traders who have stations where they sell Monkey tail in motor parks. They often pounce on those hapless, poor women and seize their wares routinely, later collecting a bribe and returning the stuff to the owners. Their excuse is that such hard drugs endanger the lives of passengers. The truth is that one Minister or Governor or President who takes hard drugs before policy decision or implementation is more dangerous to the polity than all the drivers who consume weed before sitting behind the steering wheel. We should be more worried about them than danfo drivers! State House, Government House Monkey Tail is more dangerous to our national survival than Motor Park Monkey tail. And if we believe that power is an aphrodisiac that intoxicates, the amount of power exercised by the rulers of Nigeria over the citizenry is the equivalent of flying the national aircraft while under the influence. The time has come for non-Igbo smokers to take their destiny into their hands! The treatment meted out to ASUU by this government is the result of too much Monkey Tail!

December 12, 2022
We are Grandparents now! – By Hope O’Rukevbe Eghagha

These days it is boring to discuss the politics and social issues of the day in Nigeria. As a weekly writer you find yourself writing about the same issues – politicians, insecurity, education, the ruling party, the government of the day. It kills the spirit to do the same thing over and over and expect a different result. Today, I have decided to write about a very mundane and trivial topic- becoming a grandfather! Or a grandmother!

So it was that we sat down over a bottle of red wine two weeks ago, (not bottles of Rock or Star or Skol or Gulder beer like we used to do), three of us from my generation, early sexagenarians, smiling, laughing, looking on with great wisdom, as if we had no care in the world, content with a few intermittent words between us, no one attempting to impress or outdo the other, knowing that it was no longer time for intense drama or hustling or entertaining long term dreams and hopes, most of us having retired from service, with only the university people still working, saying to ourselves that these pains in the joints and waist were not familiar and that hopefully they would go away. Tall hope, this, because deep down in our hearts we know that we have entered the boat of the elderly in different degrees!

Of course, we had and have cares, very many, too many for us to bother about them, to avoid a spike in blood pressure levels, or headaches, or heart attacks and regrets. We had and still have cares about our children, and their children, that is, our grandchildren. We, grand parents already? How? When? How did things move so fast, like a blink? Where was that little boy who started off with so much hope, looking up to his father, hoping that a day would come when he would sit back and say, ‘well done’ and live happily ever after? It makes real sense to us now when the Bible says a thousand years is like a day in the sight of the Lord!

Our talk centered on the ordinary things, things that money cannot buy, children, grandchildren, their career paths, any forthcoming weddings. We talked about the children who have ‘japaed’, or those planning to japa, or those who married for the Green Card, those who had vowed never to return, always telling us about ‘that country’, and how ultimately, they would want us to join them in foreign lands where they had found happiness and want us to find happiness too in a strange land. No, we were not concerned with/about chasing contracts or joining a political party and changing the system of things, having given up on those idealistic thoughts after the ugly realities of our clime slapped us with a ferocious anger, some having retired from paid employment, contending with wives who happily jumped into the next plane to perform the popular ‘omugwo’, or ‘omiomo’ in Urhobo! The joy of being a grandparent! Did we know that such thoughts would preoccupy us so soon? No, we didn’t.

We were young men only yesterday, bubbling with the excitement of youth while in the university, after graduation, during national service, believing we would conquer and change the world, dissatisfied with our elders whose ways and style were slow, typical of the old school and decadent. We believed in hard work, believed that if we knocked hard enough the door of the world would open with a smile, and we would sit in triumph over enemy forces. Some forty odd years after, we got wiser, sober, and perhaps more realistic about life’s beauty, ugliness, sour and sweet moments, and uncertainties. We recalled with sadness colleagues who exited the world even before they establish a career, those who rose fast, perhaps too fast and dropped out of the sky of the world, those who became big boys early and could barely associate with us. Saka died during National Youths service in 1983. Paul died in a car crash while serving as a director in a Ministry. Ada disappeared into thin air. Austin died of leukemia before he turned 50. Joseph died five years after graduation. Peter lives in the US with his family. Bonson is now a big politician. Kola is a Professor in Ibadan.

With the new glasses of sexagenarians, we looked at the world anew. We were closer to where we were going than where we set out from. Not in the Departure lounge, age-wise, though in a sense everyone was in the Departure Lounge, anyone could go at any time. We did not discuss politics with passion anymore. We did not fight battles on behalf of our ethnic group. We returned to the comfort of the innocence that ruled our lives when we first met in the beauty of teenage life, in the sweetness of tabula rasa of sorts.

We know there are many things money cannot buy. That those things would remain with us eternally if we invested in them, that the beauty of life was in enjoying moments with an open heart and loving the persons around us, the persons we had invested in while we still had the strength to move from Lagos to Abuja to Port Harcourt to Kano by night travel without fear of kidnappers or bandits and violent men in uniform of brutality! That not all of us have become grandparents, especially some whose kids migrated early and have declared that marriage was not in their agenda, or that when they were ready, they would produce a child after reaching an agreement with some man and remain a single parent.

But the world remains hostile. Old age does not insulate one from the hostility of a political crisis. Old age is no guarantee against shenanigans of the world. If anything, old age makes one more vulnerable to wrongheaded policies, inefficient governments, and general insecurity. So, one must save up against the rainy day, the day when one may not be able to hold an umbrella against the rains from heaven. We are told that the new old age is 80 years. Yet the climate does not give room for good living in peace and security.

December 5, 2022
More Conversations Nigeriana – By Hope O’Rukevbe Eghagha

Professor: We lost a colleague yesterday!

Amina: My condolences! Was he ill?

Bankole: Is there anyone who is not ill in Nigeria?

Professor: He dropped dead at home after teaching for two hours earlier in the day. Gone!! Just like that. No warning. No preparation. No serious illness. Alive this minute, dead the next! He went behind his flat to pump water and collapsed. Died before help could reach him!

Amina: Definitely his death was caused by stress, stress caused by the prolonged strike and the government’s harsh response! Eight months without a salary after most of them had taken loans from friends and banks in the hope that they would repay the loans when salaries were paid. All that was shattered by a harsh no from the President!

Obukohwo: May his soul rest in peace!!

Professor: His soul will not rest in peace until Nigerian rulers are punished!

Egbule: Who will punish Nigerian rulers? Who? Even God seems to have given up on them!

Amina: God has not given up on them. He is preparing them for something drastic that could change the political landscape forever. What exactly it is I do not know! But this cannot go on forever.

Professor: The young man was a very passionate and committed teacher. There is a video in circulation in which he strapped the baby of a female student who was writing an examination to his back. What else do you need to demonstrate compassion? Now, he’s gone unfulfilled to the great beyond.

Bankole: There are too many sudden illnesses, deaths, and suicides these days. People can hardly feed. There is tension. School fees of children. Skyrocketing inflation and rents! As the bible says, ‘men’s hearts failing them for fear!

Professor: The public university system is in its last stages of credibility. Very soon, serious academics will take their exit because of the humiliation they suffered under Buhari, Adamu Adamu, and Ngige! I’m also thinking of an early exit, after all, I will continue to enjoy my pension. This is the time to look for something else to do.

Amina: If you quit because of three persons what will become of the system? We have to fight them.

Professor: Fight them you say? Fight who? Fight Nigeria? Fight the federal civil servants, or the cabal in government, the judiciary that was used to attack ASUU? I’m not in a fighting mood anymore. This morning, I chatted with a senior colleague who said that if as committed as he was to education was ready to retire at 65 rather than wait till 70. There are quite a number of academics who are thinking like this now. I mean, here is a guy who has spent his entire life in the system, sworn to making an impact and suddenly he feels that he has wasted his time in a system that never appreciated him. Not a good feeling.

Bankole: Who feels good about Nigeria right now? Is it the farmer or the banker or the student? May be politicians are happy with the mess we have found ourselves in because they thrive on confusion.

Egbule: We have a chance to create the Nigeria which we want in 2023. God has arranged it. Massive votes for the acceptable candidate and rejecting the others. That’s the way to go. Whether Nigerians will accept the offer is another matter entirely.

Amina: I’m not so optimistic. The old forces are ready for war!

Obukohwo: The situation is fluid. We are not sure about the plans of Bubu. Does he support any of the candidates? Does he want his party to continue at national level even though his performance has been abysmal? Does he want power to remain in the north?

Professor: It will be wishful thinking to believe that he does want his ruling APC to continue to rule. The only point to counter that is if he remains clannish and directs state machinery into retaining power in the north. This second point will simply strengthen our fault lines- two countries living in one geographical space. And now that oil has been found in commercial quantities in the north, the two countries may now emerge.

Bankole: Not so neat and proper. There are other variables to consider.

Professor: Such as…?

Bankole: Religion. The international community! Economic interests!!

Professor: The major determinant to current mutual existence is the oil. Once everyone is sure of their share, the tension will be reduced.

Amina: There are minorities in the north. In fact, once we break up, there will be no end to it. We could end up as six or more different nations.

Professor: What is wrong with that? I’d stay in a small country and have my peace and security guaranteed than stay in a big nation that cannot guarantee my life and prosperity because the state has failed in its duties.

Obukohwo: I agree with you. We in the Niger Delta can now control our resources. We have lived too long in poverty.

Egbule: We have also created problems for ourselves. What have leaders off the Niger Delta done with the resources allocated to them? See what Wike has done with infrastructure. Can we say the same for the other governors?

Professor: Let us not regionalize corruption and inefficiency. Corruption is well seated in all the states in the country. Resources are not being properly channeled into development. As it is in Kaduna, so it is in Rivers or Delta or Lagos. It is a class thing. It cuts across party or ethnic lines.

Amina: Who will save Nigeria?

Bankole: It is only God that can save us.

Professor: God will not come down to save us. We must save ourselves. We must put aside petty grievances and squabbles to bury the hatchet in the head of a common enemy!

Amina: And who is that common enemy?

Bankole: the devil!

Professor: The devil in our political class!

November 28, 2022
That Security Alert by America- By Hope O’Rukevbe Eghagha

The political landscape of Nigeria was shaken to its foundations last week of October when news about an evacuation order from home governments of citizens of America, Australia and Britain hit the airwaves. Social media raised the level of fear, anxiety and frenzy. In a statement, the US Mission in Nigeria stated that “the (State) Department ordered the departure of family members of US government employees from Abuja due to heightened risk of terrorist attacks, following on the October 25 authorization of departure of non-emergency US government employees and family members from Abuja due to heightened risk of terrorist attack”. There were pictures of stationary vans parked at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport Abuja which reportedly conveyed the departing diplomats to the border. More conspiracy theories, some shamelessly spurious and inflammatory, made the rounds on WhatsApp groups.

The situation appeared precarious, scary and even apocalyptic. Was another Afghanistan in the offing? If terrorists overran Abuja, what would become of Nigeria? How would the states in the south take a terrorist takeover of the seat of government? Break up into warlords-held territories like Libya? What did the Americans know that our intelligence agencies had missed or which the NIA and DSS had communicated to the Presidency but was ignored? Why did the Western nations dramatize the security situation? Was the US government overreacting because in Afghanistan ‘the collapse of the Afghan government occurred sooner than intelligence projections had estimated, and evacuation efforts became significantly more urgent? No one really stopped to think that it is inconceivable for a group of extremist to overthrow the federal government and expect the rest of the nation to smile and look on! It will be the outbreak of war or anarchy, or both!

The Nigerian government spoke through Minister of Information Lai Mohammed: “I want to reassure both citizens, non-Nigerians, Nigerians living in this country that security agencies are on top of this matter”, and that “there’s no cause for alarm”. He also blamed the Nigerian media for reporting the American advisory in a sensational manner ‘just for clickbait and the attendant monetary gain”. But on Tuesday the 25th October men of the DSS backed by security men from the US Army raided Trademore Estate Lugbe and reportedly arrested some terrorists. Explosives and other dangerous items were found. It confirmed the authenticity of the security alert. Security was beefed up in and around Abuja. The streets of Abuja and places that used to hold huge crowds were deserted. On Monday the 31st, Presidential spokesman Femi Adesina announced to the consternation of Nigerians that the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria was travelling to United Kingdom for a ‘routine medical checkup!

There had been this threat by terrorists to life and property in Nigeria. By kidnapping and collecting ransoms, it was believed that they had amassed enough wealth challenge the Nigerian State. Whereas Boko Haram had been limited to the northern fringes of the country, the entry of ISWAP into the terrorist ring in Nigeria seems to have introduced a new and more serious, dangerous dynamic. ISWAP is reputed for not taking prisoners. After the June 5th 2022 attack on a Catholic Church in Owo and the August arrest of ISWAP operatives from a Kogi State cell, the threat became more palpable. Before then Minister of the Interior Rauf Aregbesola had blamed the attack on ‘these animals, ISWAP”. Besides, bushes and forests across the country are occupied by armed Fulani men who from all accounts are not Nigerian Fulani. The narrative had always been there that they could launch a savage attack on Nigerians in order to create an Islamic Caliphate in Nigeria. True or false, there is extant literature on this subject. The Muslim-Muslim ticket of APC and PDP jettisoning its power rotation policy has inadvertently promoted the narrative of religious domination. Besides, one of the indices of a failed state – loss of control of some of its territory, or of the monopoly on the use of physical force – stares us in the face.

It is against this broad background of uncertainty, religious and ethnic tensions, herdsmen attacks, and state inefficiency that the American evacuations order to its citizens gained serious public attention and some credibility. Some netizens condemned America for issuing the advisory to its citizens because it created undue panic and that the FBI and sister agencies in America had never been able to predict of any of the mass shootings in God’s Own Country! Others countered that it was well within the right of America to warn its citizens in Nigeria if it perceived a threat to their lives. I look forward to the day the Nigerian Embassy in New York will issue an advisory to Nigerians in cities across America to avoid shopping malls on specific days of the week!

If the Nigerian government was angry with the western powers – America, Australia and Britain – for issuing the ‘embarrassing’ security advisory, the immediate announcement and the President’s visit to London to receive medical attention indicated otherwise. For it was either the president did not consider the advisory an affront to national dignity because it was predicated on truth or the burdens of his health concern are bigger than any claim to national dignity. But his continuous treatment in a foreign hospital is a threat to national security. One Ahmad Salkida posted on social media: ‘The UK issued a travel advisory on your capital city and canceled flights leaving many of your citizens stranded. Your government called the advisory reckless. You did not summon or demand a retraction from US/UK ambassadors. Instead, you went on a medical trip to the UK days later”. If ordinary citizens can reason like this, what has happened to the nation’s rulers and their advisers? Does commonsense take leave of occupants of the federal seat of power? Is this why Reuben Abati one assured us that voodoo, magic and necromancy are well entrenched in the sociocultural world of Aso Rock?

National security is, should be everyone’s concern. But the managers of security have a fundamental role to play in protection of life and property. This is because the instruments of offence and defence are in their hands. If the government thinks that the security of the people is important, it has not demonstrated that concern in either utterances or actions. We know of families that have started standing on one foot in the country by securing visas with which they can evacuate at the drop of a hat. Parents are being invited by their diaspora children to relocate and spend their last years in peace and safety. The body language of Abuja does not suggest that the situation is grave; which is a contradiction of the daily experiences of Nigerians in the north and in the south, Christian or Muslim!

The security alert from the western nations was a nightmare. But it fed from and reinforced existing fears and uncertainties about the future of Nigeria, especially with how the federal government has handled the terrorists. No sane government releases over one hundred terrorists or tolerates a jail break that unleashes those sons of the devil into our geographical space. As long as we have this geographical space to call home, no efforts should be spared to guarantee safety of life and property. If by design or default Nigeria falls into the hands of extremists, be sure that none of the state actors who subtly encourage terrorism can pass the test of fundamental Islam. More importantly, an unstable Nigeria like current Libya would be disastrous to the whole of Africa and Europe! The American prediction that Nigeria will ultimately fail resides in the open minds and subconscious of most citizens. It is traumatic. Perhaps it accounts for the massive looting of state funds, the thinking that actors must grab a piece of the national cake before the state crumbles! How can we end this era of debilitating uncertainty?

November 7, 2022
The suspended ASUU Strike – By Hope O’Rukevbe Eghagha

The last ASUU strike which commenced February 14th was suspended October 14th following an Industrial Court order. Almost all affected universities have suspended the strike. Lectures and exam timetables have been released by the different universities. Lecturers have grudgingly gone back to the classroom. I taught a postgraduate class last Thursday. Morale was low both on the side of students and on my part. The students are back, yes. Some are yet to shake off the lethargy of eight idle months. Indeed, some are yet to return.

Generally, the campuses are busy. Food vendors are back. Resumption of academic activities has a multiplier effect on the economy of a university environment. It’s a chain. Government fails to recognize this or simply ignores the fact. Students bring, breathe life into the campus. A true teacher would let you know that he misses his students. We miss teaching. We miss the interactions. Also, most teachers would tell you that they do not miss grading 250 badly written exam scripts. It’s a mix, isn’t it as with everything in life? Conversely, students would say that ‘school is sweet, but exam the spoil am!

Resorting to the dubiety of judicial pronouncements to save its face and cover the federal government’s dirty backside was in bad taste. And bad faith too! For, as we all now know, the federal government has used the judiciary to arm-twist ASUU to return to the classroom. When an Appeal Court the federal government to set Nnamdi Kanu free, the latter did not comply with the ruling before going on appeal. But Nigeria is a place of double standards even in official and state matters. And the people are watching. The youths are watching. The people are on the side of ASUU.

The objectives of the strike have not been achieved. House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila’s late intervention seemed to have saved the day. He was the only one to keep a clear mind during the negotiations. It would seem that the President assured Mr. Speaker of a gentleman’s agreement. Two weeks after the suspension, there has been no concrete word from the federal government. Salary arrears have not been paid. Lecturers, the highest collection of brain power in the country have not been paid for eight months. No definite statement on UTAS. No definite statement on salary review. While this was on, a proposal was sent to Wages Commission that the sum of N63bn would be spent on disengagement services of outgoing members of the executive branch. The government set out to battle ASUU. In the process, the University is worse for it. The effects will show gradually. A tooth does not decay and fall off in a day.

There is a spirit of disappointment among academics. It shows in their faces. It shows in discussions. There is nothing that kills the spirit as much as public humiliation. Or attempt at public humiliation. Certainly, Ngige, Adamu Adamu and their gang in the government will sing the halleluiah chorus that ASUU has been defeated. The loquacious and obsequious Ms. Onochie has already boasted that the Buhari government has defeated ASUU, a feat which no other government had achieved. Well, ASUU has not been defeated. The Buhari administration has simply pulverized the university system.

Anybody who believes that academics are really teaching students the way they ought to is in self-deception. It follows naturally. Though not declared there is a form of work-to-rule or there will be a form of work-to-rule. A lecturer who lives in Iyana-Ipaja in Lagos State cannot travel to the office twice in a week to deliver lectures because the funds are not there to transport themselves. This will affect the quality of work. A lecturer who cannot feed his family or feed himself will lack the spirit to teach. On paper the strike has been suspended; but in the heart, the strike is ongoing. This is the greatest danger to the system. It will ultimately destroy public tertiary education as it has done to public secondary schools.

It is shocking that a political party that is canvasing for votes in February 2023 could afford to treat a critical section of the population in such a shoddy manner. No conscientious academic will vote for the APC next year. Or no conscientious academic should vote for APC in the presidential election. No professor should serve as Returning Officer in the 2023 elections. ASUU being a democratic body will not legislate on this subject. Individuals will be left to their own consciences. No undergraduate should vote APC next year. If all persons in these categories cast protest votes against APC, a strong statement would be made.

A nation’s overall wellbeing depends on the strength and resilience of its institutions. The government has weakened the education sector. No public primary or secondary school is worth that name. The descent into anarchical neglect started decades ago. No government has tried to halt the decline either through policy implementation or budgetary allocation. The Buhari people want to weaken ASUU. It will fail. The Union will come out stronger and better. I can bet ASUU leaders are working out alternative strategies to guide the Union in the struggle ahead. But how long academics will remain in the struggle to improve education we are not prophets to tell. A time may come when academics would concentrate on their welfare and leave the question of infrastructure and equipment to the government. Once that happens, the university system will not be the same again.

As an insider, I know most very senior academics are disillusioned with the government’s approach to the universities and especially with the suspended strike. If ASUU summons academics to another strike next month because of failure of government to act the lecturers will drop their chalk without much ado. Too many lecturers are now searching for options abroad. The junior ones have no scruples about leaving. The mass exodus has started. Most of the bright graduates of University of Lagos who were retained on account of their distinctive performance which the university administration had developed as a channel of training junior academics have moved to universities in Canada and America. It is a sign of things to come. And it is not good for the Nigerian university system.

October 31, 2022
National Awards, National Scandal – By Hope O’Rukevbe Eghagha

It was with great incredulity and near hopelessness that patriotic Nigerians watched the greatest and most enduring and successful corruption-fighting President of Nigeria HE Muhammadu Buhari dish out national awards to some distinguished citizens and foreigners last week, as if all was well with the country and the men and women who had made it great needed to be congratulated and rewarded with garlands and words of appreciation in front of klieg lights as a parting gift in the last full year of the reign of the Grand Conqueror of Political Chicanery in Nigeria!

It was a wonderful assembly of the high and mighty in industry, politics, the arts, music, and administration in the ‘annals of our history’. I scanned the list for the small people of society such as Ejiro Otarigho, the man who drove a burning tanker away from Agbarho Delta State to save lives of hundreds of innocent people. Was there a name of a primary or secondary school teacher or nurse who had distinguished themselves on the list? Luckily, I found such names as Josephine Agu the Lagos Airport cleaner who found $12,000 in the toilet and returned it to the authorities. Also on the list was a security guard Mallam Musa Usman from Jigawa State and a bank security guard Muhammed Ibrahim. In my view such names ought to dominate the list!

The gaudy ceremony was too comic to be classified as comedy. Perhaps it was an absurd drama of a degenerate and perfidious type, a rabid denial of truth and objective reality. A nation in the throes of death, gasping for life with all the inherent contradictions, awarding national honours to the persons who have either collectively or individually brought the nation to a sorry pass. No nation which takes its affairs seriously meanders into such dirty waters in the name of recognition of national heroes. US-based Nigerian Chimamanda Adichie did not show up for the award though by any standard she deserved an award. But I could imagine her standing shoulder to shoulder with wreckers of the nation’s sociopolitical life receiving medals of honour? What honour? There is something like conscientious objection!

Where are the heroes of state? Where are the men of honour who have folded up their sleeves to deal with the frightening level of insecurity? Which sector of the economy, which aspect of our national life can we beat our chest and say has done well in the last seven years for managers to given honours? Are the rulers of Nigeria aware of the mass exodus of professionals from the country? Is this government aware of the ennui which has enveloped the nation in the last seven odd years? Has there been any real governance in the country? What has become of education under the current managers of the country both at state and national levels? Which country honours a Minister with a national award when universities under his watch had been on strike for eight months? The farce was complete with the award of a ‘Grand Commander of the Federal Republic! What has been grand about the managers of Nigeria and which Republic? The one that is tottering? Indeed, the national honours exercise ought to be permanently suspended until the nation finds itself!

To be sure, there are millions of people, especially ordinary Nigerians and private citizens who have heroically contributed their quota to national development. Such people have thrived despite government not because of government. Daily, government constitutes an impediment to personal growth. The same occurs at state and national levels. Daily, citizens do battle with government incompetence and ineptitude. Ineptitude in managing the economy. Ineptitude in security management. Ineptitude in managing ethnic relations. Ineptitude in building or maintaining state infrastructure. Ineptitude in the Army, Navy, Airforce, and Police. Yet some officials who represent all these institutions all lined up last week to receive garlands!

This is not an attempt to discredit all persons who showed up in Abuja last week to pick up laurels. Some hard working and sincere officials deserved their awards. So too artistes and businessmen. There are some government officials, elected and appointed, who work with sincerity and commitment. Most of them never come to the limelight. They work behind the scenes. Often, they do not get recognition. There are some exceptional civil servants in protocol, the intelligence services, the Armed forces, and the Police. Insiders know about outstanding Permanent Secretaries or directors and other cadres. Most of the statutory recipients of national awards in Nigeria are rewarded for the privilege of attaining the height either through clannish patronage or by the grace of politics.

A national honour is the highest form of honour which a country bestows on a citizen for their services to the country. It could also be awarded to foreigners who have distinguished themselves while residing in the awarding country. National honours are awarded for excellence, for patriotism, selfless and meritorious service, to reward hard work and to encourage people to work hard for the development of the country. The National Honours Awards was established by Act No 6 in 1964 and took retroactive effect from October 1, 1963. So far, 5341 persons have received Nigerian honours since its inception according to the Ministry of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs.

The honours in Nigeria are Member of the Order of the Niger, (MON), Member of the Order of the Federal Republic, (MFR), Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON), Commander of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFR), Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON), and Grand Commander of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (GCFR). Let is be said that it is not only people who are appointed or elected to political positions that deserve national honours. The rulers and leaders of this country have not discharged themselves in a fit and proper manner to the people of this country. Achebe states it clearly when he argued that the problem of this country is leadership. So, we are awarding National Honours to the problem makers of this country! What a contradiction!

If the country has so many excellent persons in office, why are we groping in the dark and groveling in the mud? It is my view that all national awards, especially the ones that are attached to offices, should be suspended for now. I am almost sure that a time will come when a radical government would emerge in Nigeria and would not only reform the National Honours criteria but may also annul some of the previously awarded ones. The future of Nigeria is uncertain.

Let honours return to the National Table of Nigeria. The National Awards should be suspended for now until we allow honour to return to the National Awards. The National Awards should not be tied to positions. They should be determined by merit and outstanding contribution. Buba Galadima, erstwhile close ally to President Buhari went the extreme when he released this thunderbolt on Arise TV The Morning Show: “Let me tell you, of the 447 people that were given these national awards, I think 440 of them need to be in prisons rather than parading themselves as people who deserved an honour. It is a reward for the boys!

Indeed, the last national award was a national scandal!

October 24, 2022