TheNewsGuru

Tag: Francis Ewherido

  • Kenneth Aguba – By Francis Ewherido

    Kenneth Aguba – By Francis Ewherido

    The sun shone recently on Kenneth Aguba, a Nollywood veteran and, in fact, one of the pioneers of Nollywood, according to online sources. He had been homeless for a while until recently when a generous man of God, Pastor Chibuzor Chinyere, heard his story. Aguba is going through a process of rehabilitation right now. A house, new clothing and other essentials of life have been given to him. His story is not surprising to me. Even in Hollywood, the biggest movie industry in the world, if you do not reinvent yourself, you fall by the wayside while the industry moves on. Some former Hollywood celebrities, who earned millions of dollars in their prime, are currently broke. Some have taken regular employments. Some were at some point homeless.

    You can blame their predicament on poor financial management and planning. Aguba’s case is different. He featured in over 80 movies, according to online sources and earned an average of N5,000 per movie where some fellow actors were probably paid millions. That is how the movie industry worldwide works. That is why movie actors work hard and hire agencies to package them and keep their stock high. But his other revelations revealed the beast in some of us. He said many producers did not even pay him the N5,000 stipend. One told him to come to Jos to collect his N5,000 stipend. Couldn’t that money have been transferred to him? The producer never intended to pay him and that was cruel.

    But my interest is not Nollywood. I am not even competent to write on it because I scarcely watch films, foreign or local. I spent my spare time abroad watching Nigerian movies on Neflix the last time I travelled and that was the first time in so many years I spent hours watching films. I was shocked by the quality of the films. The industry has grown and undoubtedly number one in Africa.

    Back to Aguba, as part of the rehabilitation, a wife is being organised for him and that is the reason he is the topic of today. I have always maintained two essential criteria before getting married: a roof over your head (rented or owned) and a regular source of income. His benefactor has already donated a house to him. He has also promised to set him up to give him financial stability. Both criteria will then be fulfilled. He is a low-earning actor. Five thousand naira per movie is not a sustainable and regular income. He could not feed himself when he was alone, so he certainly needs a good plan to be able to cater for his family.

    But I am not comfortable with choosing a wife for him. Ideally choosing a spouse is his prerogative. Someone of his age should know what he wants, but he certainly does not. He wants to marry a virgin. It is not just a virgin, but a virgin from Israel. Do you pick virgins from the streets of Israel? Who is going to foot the bill for the air ticket and marriage? The benefactor only promised to foot the bill if he marries one of the widows in his church and he has gone ahead to arrange some of them for him to choose from. He needs a matured woman whose libido is going downhill like his and can be a good companion

    Talking about virgins, it is the desire of every man to be the one that deflowered his wife. Unfortunately, the same men have deflowered most of these single girls. Consequently, I ask Aguba, in your active sexual years did you deflower any girl? If you did, you have no right to make virginity a criterion. I read that Aguba is in his 70s. Many women in their 30s upwards have lost their virginity; is Aguba targeting virgins who are in their 20s and below? Does he want to speed his journey to the grave? I am moving towards 60 and know where my power is now and where it was 30 years ago. I regularly with my peers. Some of these guys boasting exaggerate their sexual prowess. There was a man in his 50s, who always boasted about his sexual prowess. One crazy girl decided to investigate. She spent the night with the man. She said the man didn’t touch her throughout the night. By the time he hit the bed, he slept off and only woke up the next morning. He simply gave the girl money and dashed her hope of experiencing his sexual prowess. In his prime, it is the girl who would have begged him to allow her sleep a little. And he would kept vigil until she woke up for him to continue from where he stopped

    The many adverts you see in media are misleading. The sex enhancing drugs have adverse implications for men with certain health conditions.  What some men will take and go about their “work,” others will take and have heart attack or other complications. Man, know thyself and health conditions. As for Aguba, you are too old for the young girls who are still virgins. What your benefactor suggested is the best option for you. Get a woman in her 30s and above, of child bearing age. The primary reason for marriage is companionship, followed by procreation, not deflowering wives.

    Virginity is a virtue that should be promoted, but I do not consider virginity top criterion for choosing a wife. I used to know someone who told me proudly that he deflowered his wife. Consequently, he adored and respected the wife so much. But the wife was a terror and always made the man miserable. She also never failed to remind the husband that she is a virtuous woman.

    But what is virtue? Is virginity synonymous with virtue? Moreover, one of the things a man desires most in marriage is peace of mind. Once you have peace of mind, you have a home. Without peace of mind, what you have is a house. In addition, as fulfilling phychologically as being the one that deflowered your wife is, it is only momentary. For some, it took under an hour to deflower their wives. It took a day for others. I heard it took one man days and many trials. Whatever it is, the marriage will last much longer than the time it took to deflower your wife. Many factors are involved in the success of a marriage. Deflowering your wife is not at the top, but it is an honour.

  • Death – By Francis Ewherido

    Death – By Francis Ewherido

    By Francis Ewherido

    I know many people have a morbid fear of death. If you are one of such people, please skip the article because that is what I want to talk about.

    I have been listening to Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston music for the past two hours (at the time of writing). I never get tired or bored of listening to their music. As I listened, I began to wonder why God allowed them to die so prematurely, when the world was still savouring their music. Left with man, they would have lived until they were too old to sing and entertain. Then my mind drifted to my personal tragedies. My father gave his all for us. We were planning how we would graduate and reward him for his endless love and sacrifices. While writing my degree examinations, my father died. My elder brother, Senator Akpor Pius Ewherido was warming up for the 2015 general elections. He had teamed up with others to start a political party, which was later named All Progressive Congress. Yes, he actually wanted to contest 2015 governorship election.

    He made it clear to me that law making was his primary turf and would have been contented in the senate, but the plans he had for Delta State could only be actualized as a governor. I put all personal plans aside and plunged into the project. Everything was going according to plan until that black day on June 30 2013, when he suddenly passed on. I remember that with great pains. My eldest brother, Fr. Tony was invited for a brief meeting at the National Hospital, Abuja. By the time he came back, his eyes were bloodshot. We were looking into his eyes waiting for update. After what seemed like an eternity, with shaky voice, he blurted out, “we lost him.” We were still contending with Pius’ death when we lost my eldest brother, Aloysius, 19 months later.

    As I thought of Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, my father and my late brothers I told myself that they did not deserve to die at the time they died. Then remembered Isaiah 55: 12-13: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. That is the only way these deaths and many others can make sense to me. But that does not make these deaths any less painful.

    As I said earlier, many people, including septuagenarians and octogenarians, are scared of death. Their relatives also do not want them to die. I too want to get to a ripe age, but since I realized that it is not within my power, I do not think of it anymore. Before, I could fly from Lagos to Houston in America (about a 14-hour journey on a straight flight) without dozing off because of fear crash when I am asleep, as if it makes a difference whether I am asleep or awake. Now, I sleep off on a one-hour Lagos-Abuja flight. One big brother of mine helped me overcome this fear. He is very rich, but once he gets into his first-class seat, the next assignment is to sleep. I once asked him that with all his wealth, how does he manages to do that. He responded: “Francis, forget. Once you dey up there, wetin you fit do?” Near death experiences have also helped me to realize the helplessness of man when it comes to death and our very mortal nature. It is appointed unto every man to die. What we do not know is when and how. My prayer is that God saves us from premature, sudden and unexpected death. 

    I have been unconscious before, which gave me an idea of what death looks like. You feel no pain and you are shut out from happenings around you. You feel no hurt, frustration, disappointment and bereavement. Another lot of everyman is bereavement. At some point in life, you lose loved ones. There are only two ways to avoid bereavement. The first is to die before all your loved ones, including your parents. The second is to stop loving. Bereavement is not just about losing a relative, it is about losing someone you loved. Why is it that you read that 1000 people perished in another part of the world and you do not wail? You read the story out of curiosity and move on. You have no bond with them.

    But living in a world without loving anyone is not living, that is, if it is even possible. It is difficult not to love. I remember 1988 after my father died. I was devastated. He was not just a father, he was one of the most selfless and caring men I ever knew. He broke my heart. I started looking at my mother with suspicion. I decided that I will not love her because I do not want my heart to be broken again. Then I realized that it was impossible not to love her. She had invested so much in my life and molded me. God used her to give me wisdom and she was beside my father in the trenches through thick and thin. I love my mother endlessly and I am not tired of saying it. She is 89 years now, but I still yearn for her company. I want her around much longer, especially since she is still strong and alert. But when God finally calls her, I will miss her dearly, but I will not be heartbroken, because that will be ingratitude to God. God has been faithful to her. My final thought

    “I hold it true, whate’er befall; 

    I feel it, when I sorrow most;
    ‘Tis better to have loved and lost
    Than never to have loved at all.”

    • Alfred Lord Tennyson
  • ASUU Strike Gangrene – By Francis Ewherido

    ASUU Strike Gangrene – By Francis Ewherido

    By Francis Ewherido

    This column has been on recess for over a year now; for reasons which are stories for another day, but the summary is “na God win.” We are in the season of politics and I was contemplating whether this is the right time to resume the column. Then I asked myself: Has family life stopped? Have couples stopped their conjugal lives and making babies? I beg? Let the eagles perch and let weaver birds also continue to perch.

    While I was on recess, something continued to torment me and I naturally want to start from there:  the ASUU ongoing strike. Nigerian-owned government universities have been closed since February 14 (Valentine’s Day of all days), 2021, when the Academic Staff Union of Universities started an indefinite strike. There was a prior warning strike. Cumulatively, almost two years of studies have been lost. Within this period, we saw some top government officials posting graduation photos of their children in foreign universities. Even a Nigerian University vice chancellor did too. That is daylight witchcraft. The politicians will meet the students and other youths at the polls very soon. Enough of this nonsense.

    I was in the university between 1984 and 1988. I graduated two months before the first major ASUU strike in August 1988, but I empathise with the students and their parents. I was in the university at the same time with two of my brothers. My father had passed on in May 1988, while I was writing my degree examination. Three of my youngest brothers were in secondary school then, preparing to get into the university. My father’s wish was a minimum of first degree for all his children. My father’s death had devastated my mother. Even without my father’s death, how was she going to cope with six children in the university? We needed to be out of school fast and join hands in training my youngest brothers, in order to carry out my father’s wish. And the three of us graduated on schedule and combined forces with my eldest brother to carry out my father’s wish. In this current scenario. What would have been the fate of my family?

    Right now, many families are in a mess. The older children that they hoped will graduate and help train the younger ones are the people whose graduation is being delayed by the ASUU strike. Meanwhile the younger ones are getting out secondary school. How will the parents cope?

    The only retirement plan some parents have are the children, who are stuck due to ASUU strike. By the time universities resume, the parents might not even have money to send them back to complete their studies because their entire financial plan has been disrupted. Mark you, I am not advocating that people plan their retirement on hand-outs from their children, but that is how it is with some people. Ordinarily, the day you start earning an income is the time you start planning for your retirement. But some people also plan for their retirement and debilitating and prolonged ailments occur, wipe out all their savings or investments, and, additionally, make them incapable of earning. The future can be unpredictable and mess you up, no matter how you plan. But plan, you must.

    The ASUU strike stinks to high heavens. We are toiling with the future of a whole generation and by extension our whole future.  The purposeful few, among the students, are making themselves useful by engaging in economic activities. Others are taking certification courses and acquiring new competencies. But those are the lucky and smart few. Some others have taken to kidnapping, yahoo-yahoo, banditry and other vices.  Look at the crime rate? If schools were in session, it might not have been this bad. We have now exported our criminal behaviour to other countries. Go on line and read the nonsense they are writing about Nigeria and Nigerians. All our exploits in entertainment, scholarship, information technology, entrepreneurship, innovation and others have been interred by the criminality of a few bad eggs in our midst. Look at how the news of a Nigerian youth who stole a handset in Ghana trended. Why will you leave Nigeria and travel all the way to Ghana to engage in petty stealing? Meanwhile aging artisans in Nigeria are looking for youngsters to train and mentor. But they are not interested. They want the get rich (blow) without the grind

    Still on ASUU, government should look for money, just as it looked for money to execute elections, build bridges, rails, roads and other infrastructure, to sort out ASUU. Human development comes before infrastructural development. The youths are too critical to toil with. Look at Europe. Foreigners are taking over their countries due to the low birth rate. They do not have enough young people to take over from the aging population. In our case, we have an army of young people; why can’t our young population be turned into an asset?

    While government is trying to sort out ASUU, ASUU should sit up and clean its house. If you want equity, you must come with clean hands. We do not want to hear stories of sexual harassment of students and forcing students to buy hand-outs again. The annoying thing is that some of these lecturers took the materials from online sources word for word. Lecturers should sit up work hard and earn their salaries. Also, government university lecturers can go to private universities to teach, if their terms of engagement allow them, but they should not neglect their students and duties in the government-owned universities in the process.

    Looking at the history of ASUU strikes: I realised that many of them were as a result of government reneging on agreements. Who are these government officials who agree to terms government cannot keep? As both parties continue with the current negotiations, I plead with the federal government team to make only promises that government can fulfil. I also plead with ASUU for the sake of our children to be flexible. Incidentally, the children of ASUU members are also affected by the strike. I am sure they are not happy seeing their children idling away at home.

  • Children of Cain and Abel – Francis Ewherido

    Children of Cain and Abel – Francis Ewherido

    By Francis Ewherido

    Stories of rags to riches abound in our midst. For instance, a family is very poor, but God leaves no one empty handed, and so gives them a very brilliant eldest son.

    Even in the harshest conditions, the son strives academically.

    The family invests its non-existent resources in the son’s education. Mother luck smiles on him and at some point, he gets a scholarship to study in the university and comes out with an outstanding first degree. Luck smiles on him again and he gets another scholarship for his postgraduate studies.

    In his post graduate school in Europe, he meets Jane. Jane is a silver spoon daughter of a very rich Nigerian, who did her undergraduate studies and is doing her post graduate studies in the same university.

    As they say, when a young man washes his hands clean, he dines with kings. They fall in love and start dating. They get back to Nigeria and the young man gets a well-paying job. As a result of his brilliance and hard work, his rise is very fast…

    If you cannot spare N5,000 from your N50,000 salary for your parents and siblings, you will still not be able to spare a dime when you earn N1m per month.

    The young man represents the children of Abel, those with rags to riches story, while Jane represents the children of Cain, successful silver spoon kids, who never knew what it’s like to go to bed on an empty stomach, and not knowing when and where the next meal will come. I got the inspiration for the captions from the novel, Cain and Abel.

    As a result of the new status of Abel’s children, they inevitably meet, court and marry children of Cain. No problem, but there are things they must do if they want to enjoy a happy marriage. First, children of Abel must come to terms with their lowly backgrounds. There is no need running away from your shadows. Their background is part of their constitution; there is nothing to be ashamed of. But I have seen some children of Abel who live a lie. They run away from their lowly background, some even deny their poor parents and adopt some rich relatives as parents. When you see the CVs of some children of Abel, all you see under educational background are: Harvard, Cambridge and Oxford, where they did post graduate studies or attended some three-month courses. They never include the local universities where they got their first degrees.

    Also, if you are child of Abel and all the family resources were poured into giving you a sound education, you are under an obligation to join hands with your parents to also give your siblings a sound education. It is advisable you delay your gratification a little to help lift your family from poverty. But what we see with some children of Abel is that once they graduate, get a good job and achieve a little financial stability, the next thing on their mind is marriage. They want to marry and start their own family. In my opinion, that is selfish.

    But some of them feel they have their own lives to live. No problem, but now that you have decided to marry a daughter of Cain, remember that her background and life experiences are different from yours. You owe her a duty to let her know your background and circumstances; your responsibilities to your parents and younger siblings. It is a world she does not know and you must explain to her that whereas, her father is responsible for her siblings’ education, you will be responsible for your siblings’ education; whereas her parents still give her money, you have to send money to your parents. Someone broke the chain of poverty in every great family you see today; you must remember that, unless you want to be the only shining star in your family. As big as an iroko tree is, it cannot make a forest. A heavy storm will uproot it. You have a responsibility to help put your younger siblings on the path to greatness.

    The issue of support for your family must be sorted out before marriage so that your wife will not be a stumbling block later. Supporting your family is for your good and everybody’s. If you do not support them, it will come back to haunt you in future. You might end up with siblings who are perpetual dependents, or siblings you are ashamed to be associated with, or siblings who will be of no help if there is external aggression and you need family support. You have to learn how to do the balancing act between your nuclear and extended families. This problem is self-inflicted. Marriage should not have been top priority in the first place. And there is nothing like I have my own life to live in this matter. You must support the extended family and your wife should understand that.

    Getting your wife to understand your background will also help to avoid unnecessary tension and conflicts later. Your family members will like to visit or stay with you at some points. Their ways might look crude by modern standards. Things you and your wife take for granted will be novel to them. For instance, your sibling visits you from the village; all he has used all his life is pit latrine, or open defecation in the bush. He needs to use the toilet on arrival and you direct him to a sparkling modern toilet. Trust me, he would not know where to start from. If he is the type who is too shy to ask and he is heavily pressed, he might even defecate on himself because he looks around the sparkling toilet and cannot imagine pooing anywhere. I have heard a story like that. Also, some relatives from the village pooh and they do not know how to flush or have not cultivated the habit of flushing the toilet after use.

    The mother of a son of Abel visits his son and is wondering why there is “harmattan” inside the house and in the car, but outside is hot. She wakes up in the morning and goes to sit in the balcony with her chewing stick to get some warmth because there is “harmattan” inside the house. You serve her tea and bread and she dips her bread in the teacup. She puts cutlery aside during lunch and eats her rice with her hands. She is an absolute nightmare at the dining table. Even her grandchildren, who are under 10, watch in absolute horror or amusement. How does a daughter of Cain cope with these experiences unless the husband prepared her mind for them ab initio? When her mind is prepared for them, she will laugh them off or tolerate them. If not, these are the scenarios that make daughters of Cain to call their in-laws, “barbarians,” “uncivilized,” “uncultured” among other hurting wordings. We all know the outcomes: divorce, separation, fights and sometimes homicides. All these are avoidable if sons of Abel do their homework well.

    All children of Abel must realize that they were like their parents and siblings until the world opened for them. They must now open the world for their parents and siblings. When should this start? From your early beginnings; the day you start earning an income. There is nothing like I want to get an accommodation first. From your first income, if it N5,000 or N10,000, start sending money home to your poor parents and siblings. Remember the bible says that he who is not faithful in little things will not be faithful when the stakes are high. If you cannot spare N5,000 from your N50,000 salary for your parents and siblings, you will still not be able to spare a dime when you earn N1m per month. Giving is a habit; it is either you have it or you don’t. Take care of your parents who gave their all for you.

    One more thing, when we were in school, a man rode on a bicycle to see his son. He brought garri and provisions. After the man left, the son told other students that the man who came was his father’s gardener he sent to bring the provisions because his father was very busy. We had quite a number of imposters in our time, some students were very ashamed of their antecedents.

     

  • TNG columnist, Francis Ewherido launches ‘Life Lessons from Mudipapa’ May 5

    TNG columnist, Francis Ewherido launches ‘Life Lessons from Mudipapa’ May 5

    Life Lessons from Mudipapa, a book written by Mr. Francis Ewherido, TheNewsGuru (TNG) columnist and Managing Director of Titan Insurance Brokers Limited, will be formally unveiled in Lagos on Sunday, May 5, 2019.

    Life Lessons from Mudipapa chronicles the life and times of a fictional character, Chief Julius Mudiaga Orien, Ph.D, a native of Effurun-Otor, Delta State. His childhood dream was to be a Catholic priest, but he chickened out because of the vow of celibacy. He was to find out that married life has its challenges.

    Life Lessons from Mudipapa deals with issues of courtship, marriage, family life, parenting, business startups, preparing for retirement and life after retirement, amongst others, presented in a unique and racy manner. It also contains traditional marriage ceremonies among the Urhobo, Itsekiris and Isokos.

    The event will take place under the distinguished chairmanship of Chief Johnson Modika Barovbe, Chairman, Board of Trustees, Urhobo Social Club, Lagos and Proprietor, Westminster College, Lagos; while the President General of Urhobo Progress Union, Olorogun Moses Taiga, is the Father of the Day. The Acting Rector, Seminary of SS. Peter and Paul, Bodija, Ibadan, Rev. Fr. Anthony Ewherido, Ph.D., is the chief host. The book presentation will attract prominent Urhobos, including members of Urhobo Social Club, as well as other prominent Nigerians in the Christian Community, media, insurance sector, business community and other areas of national life.

  • Killer domestic staff, By Francis Ewherido

    Killer domestic staff, By Francis Ewherido

    By Francis Ewherido

    I watch the television channel, Crime and Investigation, regularly for entertainment, but more for education. I have learnt quite a lot from the series. Listening to and reading the account of Sunday Afobale, the cook who allegedly murdered his master, Chief Ope Bademosi, the impression I got was that he knew too many details of how Bademosi was killed to be innocent of the cold-blooded murder. Some of those details can only be known by somebody who participated in the murder, not even a witness because he would be too shaken and traumatized to remember every little detail the way Sunday was recounting them.

    Recall that the cold-blooded murder of Chief Bademosi, the Chairman of Credit Switch Technology, at his upscale Parkview home in highbrow Ikoyi, last week Wednesday, sent shivers down the spine of Lagos residents.

    Sunday, a Togolese, who was recruited as a cook three days before the incident took place, was fingered as the principal suspect. He disappeared from the murder scene before Mrs. Ebun Bademosi, who claimed to have gone out that morning to do some banking transaction, got back home. I knew Sunday would be caught shortly if the police meant business and they did. This vast expanse of land called Nigeria is only big when you are a free person. Once you commit a crime, it can easily shrink to the size of a football field with
    nowhere to hide. Barely three days on the run, Sunday was arrested in Ondo State from where he was recruited two Sundays ago. That made sense. A criminal on the run would feel more comfortable in a familiar environment, but not necessarily with people he is familiar
    with.

    Upon interrogation, Sunday had answers for every question the police threw at him. That was strange for somebody who did not kill the “master.” He alleged that an unspecified number of assailants invaded the house, robbed and killed Chief Bademosi. He could not give an accurate number of the assailants, yet he knew intimate details of how the assailants killed his master. Also, the assailants did not also kill him, even though they were not masked and he could identify them.

    They did not even tie him or lock him up in a room before leaving the crime scene to prevent him from escaping and informing the security at the gate and neighbours! Come on, Sunday, excuse my cliché; tell it to the marines.

    The assailants were also so comfortable and had so much presence of mind in a broad daylight attack that they quickly found, mastered the operation of the music system in the house, put it on and raised the volume very high to muffle any cry for help. Sunday! Sunday!
    Sunday! How many times did I call you? You are just an evil young man, who unfortunately was named after a holy day. You are one of those criminals from neighbouring ECOWAS countries, who take advantage of the free movement within the region, to wreak havoc on
    innocent citizens of your host countries. In the eyes of the law, you are innocent, until proven guilty, but in my very eyes, “guilty” is
    written all over you. Your story does not add up. You claimed that the assailants killed Chief Bademosi before leaving the crime scene, but the wife said he called, but he was not audible. Surely, he could not have been taking calls while the so called assailants were still around, unless the wife is lying. Sunday, I put it to you that you stabbed Bademosi and left him, thinking he was already dead. In addition, why where you in possession of his personal items? Meanwhile you left yours while fleeing? Why did you runaway, in the first place? Ab initio, your mission in Bademosi’s home was to steal and kill, not cook.

    Abroad, when alleged murder suspects are interrogated, they are usually tight-lipped and soon request for a lawyer if they feel caged. In your own case, you were singing like a canary during interrogation. You are just a dumb young man, driven by greed to make quick
    money. You might not have the opportunity to learn from your foolishness, but I hope other young men with your mindset will learn some valuable lessons from the fate that will likely befall you and retrace their steps. Unfortunately, in your blind pursuit of money, you wasted
    the life of a prominent Nigerian.

    My condolences to the family of the late Bademosi, but now, we must use him as a guinea pig to warn other Nigerians, who display shocking naivety in the recruitment of domestic staff. A cook, for instance, is a delicate position. Somebody, who prepares your meals, has the power of life and death over you, because he can easily send you to your grave by poisoning your food. So you cannot be perfunctory in your recruitment process. You must carry out due diligence.

    How do you source domestic staff? Is it through family, friends, or service providers? If the person is a stranger, you need to do a thorough background check with written (not oral) information. You must go the extra mile by tracing his/her roots to a permanent address, such as his/her village, not the temporary city address. The Bademosis could have afforded the cost of a private investigator to travel to Togo to do due diligence on Sunday Photographs should be taken and the photos must match the name during due diligence.

    Also, the police advise that you approach the divisional police officer (DPO) of the nearest police station to your home for data capture and background check of domestic staff. After the shocking news of the death of Chief Bademosi, the next shocking news was that all they
    knew about the suspected murderer were his first name and country of origin. Sunday seems to be a popular name in Togo and there are probably thousands of Togolese who bear Sunday, living in Nigeria. Luckily, they found a photo of him, which probably helped. It
    was after he was apprehended that we got to know his surname.

    A domestic employee must have a guarantor of fixed address and a permanent home address; somebody who can be held accountable when things go wrong. Domestic employees should also undergo a thorough medical check before moving into your house.
    Check for HIV/AIDS virus and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), hepatitis and other communicable and non-communicable diseases, especially if you have young children. Children are vulnerable, so they need all the protection. Beyond that, many parents might not know, but their children are being defiled and deflowered by their domestic staff. It is bad enough that a domestic help is introducing your under-aged children to sex, but to infect them with HIV/AIDS virus or other STDs is double tragedy. And you might not know
    until the STD has wrecked much havoc.

    Also, open an account for your domestic staff where their salaries are paid into. It helps you to keep records in the event of disputes. With BVN, the account adds up as another means of identification and deterrent. Take every measure that can serve as deterrence. Everybody is a combination of good and evil. Sometimes, in the fight between good and evil in people’s minds, what tips the scale are the consequences of the crime and that critical question: “will I be caught?” people are less likely to commit a crime if they know they can easily be caught and sanctioned

  • Mystery Solved, By Francis Ewherido

    Mystery Solved, By Francis Ewherido

    Have you ever been in a relationship, where you felt everything was going on fine and you were moving towards marriage, and all of a sudden your boyfriend/girlfriend pulls off the plug? Even worse, he/she does not give you any reason for ending the relationship. That was the situation John found himself in over 20 years ago. John and Joan were six and half-a-dozen; they were inseparable. There could not have been any more perfect couple-to-be. They were genuinely in love; they were great friends; they loved each other’s company; there was religious harmony; their families were aware of the relationship and knew it was headed for the altar.
    Then out of nowhere, Joan ended the relationship. She would not give anybody, including John, any reason for ending the relationship besides saying she loved John too much to hurt him forever. By ending the relationship then, she had already “killed” John, so which forever was she talking about? She would not elaborate. Stubborn Joan, her conscience was clear, and she would not be forced into talking. Both of them moved on with their lives, although after over 20 years, I cannot really say John has moved on. He still has not let go; he still bears grudges against Joan. It is not as if his marriage is miserable or his wife is a bad person. I guess the break-up was too sudden. He also loved Joan too much and just found it difficult to fill the void after over 20 years.
    Joan still loves John. She said John will always have a special place in her heart, but insists she took the right decision. She said John was everything, almost; great friend, companion, lover, brother and father-figure. So why did she end the relationship? After over 20 years, she let out the cat from the bag: John was too disorganized and it was something that drove her up the wall. Day and night, she agonized. She knew it was hopeless and unfair to try to change him. That was just the way he was. Reading this, you will think Joan is crazy or foolish, but she was and still is a Methodist (not denomination o). She is an extremely organized person and seeing John so disorganized alone disorganized her life. She said there was no way in this world she could have put up with it all her life. She would have committed suicide, killed him, or ended the marriage. She loved John too much to take any of these routes. So ending the relationship was the only available and practical option.
    Now I know. So John, I know you are far away. But just in case you are reading this, you now know why Joan dumped you. Not that it will make sense to you or change your stubborn mind, but at least you now know. I did ask her one more question, why did she not tell you? I did not see it as any big deal. But she said it would have been of no use because you were set in your ways. Doing things differently would have made you miserable. I still feel she should have left you to worry about the fallout of telling you. Anyway, I had to obtain Joan’s permission before sharing this publicly. She only requested that your real names should not be used.
    In life and in our relationships, we do have little things that are huge. They end up being the determinants. So, Joan’s case is not isolated. In the 90s also, I had another friend who was very close to his girlfriend. Let us just call them Peter and Pauline. Pauline was the quintessential marriage material. Im mama cook am don (the mother prepared her for marriage). She could cook, organize the house and even organize Peter’s scattered life. Everybody around Peter envied him. I am sure one or two even thought of the possibility of snatching Pauline from him. Everything was going on well. It was only a matter of time before they got married. Unknown to us, Peter was also agonising. He loved Pauline to bits no doubt, but Peter was a straight guy. Black was black, while white was white. Black could never look like… to Peter; it was simply black. But Pauline was something else. To put it nicely, she was dodgy. That was something Peter could not handle. It bothered on trust and credibility in their relationship. Then one weekend, when Peter was sufficiently sure he could not cope with Pauline’s lies all his life, he ended the relationship. I still cannot say who was more devastated, but Peter was unbelievably tortured mentally over the break-up, but it was a bitter pill that he had to swallow.
    Our last case is Dapo and Titi, another very close couple-to-be in the 90s. Titi was nice and amiable. Everybody who met her even for the first time naturally and effortlessly liked her. She was beautiful, but it was not just the beauty; she was just likeable. But Dapo never took the relationship serious. I found that a little upsetting. I felt he was just using Titi and wasting her time. When Dapo felt my wahala was too much, he told me he could never marry Titi. He also did not want to end the relationship. He just wanted it to fizzle out. Why would he not marry her? He said Titi’s “resistance level” was too low, that she would not be faithful.
    Which one is “resistance level” again? He said Titi “melts” if he held her hands just for one minute, no matter the initial resistance. He feared that she would also “melt” easily if put under little pressure by other men. He even told me to test her to verify his assertion. What kind of stupid experiment is that? What if she actually “melted” and I also “melted” and the environment was enabling? I just felt it was a dumb assignment to give to someone in his 20s with boiling blood running in his veins and did not bother to carry out the experiment. Looking back at Dapo’s strange request, we were very dumb in some aspects, even though we felt we were smart young men then. Anyway, we lost touch; there were no mobile phones then. When we met again some years later, Dapo was married, but not to Titi. I never bothered to ask him what happened between them.
    The essence of these stories is to open the eyes of young people. Sometimes relationships end abruptly and you begin to wonder where you went wrong. Sometimes you do not get the benefit of knowing where you went wrong. That is why I feel that communication, no matter how tough, should take place. After all, which relationship, including marriage, can thrive without communication? Anyway, if you get hit below the belt, just move on, it is not the end of the world. That pain too will subside and go away some day.
     

  • Deepening insurance penetration with compulsory insurances, by Francis Ewherido

    Deepening insurance penetration with compulsory insurances, by Francis Ewherido

    By Francis Ewherido

    One of the biggest challenges we have with deepening insurance penetration in Nigeria is the near absence of insurance culture. The insurance culture is either not there or not entrenched. We do not see insurance as a way of life that it is. But we live in a very uncertain socioeconomic and political clime, which makes insurances even more imperative. Insurance is life and ordinarily you cannot avoid insurance anymore than you can avoid living. But there are some classes of insurance that are even more important to life, especially lives of third parties. Consequently, government has made these classes of insurance compulsory. Perhaps we can start entrenching the insurance culture in Nigeria by strict enforcement of compulsory insurances. Ordinarily, you want people to take insurance out of conviction and on their own volition, but if third parties are involved and some classes of insurance have been made compulsory to protect them, then they should be enforced.

    Compulsory insurances are about third parties, who might die, suffer bodily injuries or property damage as a result of actions, inactions, negligence or carelessness of the insured. The insured, on his own, might not have the resources to indemnify (compensate) the affected third parties in the event of an incident likely to lead to legal liabilities, so these insurances are made compulsory to ensure that affected third parties get compensation.

    The commonest of these classes of insurance is Motor (Third Party) Insurance. This insurance protects the insured against third party legal liabilities for death, bodily injuries and property damage whilst using his vehicle on the road. There is no limit of liability for third party death and bodily injuries because life is invaluable, but underwriters (insurance companies) have parameters for calculating the benefits. Relatives of a deceased third party, who earned N1m per annum, for instance, cannot get the same compensation as relatives of a third party, who earned N12m per annum, in the event of death. The limit of liability for third party property damage is N1m, but an insured can increase the limit with payment of additional premium.

    Motor (Third Party) Insurance premium is N5,000 for private vehicles and N7,500 for commercial vehicles. These sums should be within the reach of every vehicle owner. Unfortunately, it is alleged that only one in every eight motor insurance certificates in Nigeria is genuine. There were about 11.5 million vehicles on Nigerian roads as at 2017, according to the Federal Road Safety Commission. This means that if all motorists were to get genuine motor insurance, about 10 million additional Nigerians will automatically have genuine motor insurance and be added to the insuring pool. This automatically deepens insurance penetration.

    Beyond frustrating efforts to deepen insurance penetration and revenue losses to government and the insurance industry, fake motor insurances defeat the purpose of compulsory Motor (Third Party) Insurance because third parties who die, suffer bodily injuries or property damage might not get compensation from the liable motorist because he does not have genuine insurance. To ensure that your motor insurance is genuine, please go the Nigerian Insurance Industry Database (NIID), enter your insurance policy number or vehicle registration to verify your motor insurance status.

    The second class of compulsory insurance is Professional Indemnity Insurance. Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) is a form of liability insurance that helps protect a wide range of professionals and companies from bearing the full cost of defending themselves against a tort claim made by a client and damages awarded in such a civil lawsuit in the conduct their business. Usually, professional indemnity is compulsory for doctors and medical practitioners, medical establishments, insurance brokers, lawyers, chartered accountants and some other professionals, but many of these professionals do not have this compulsory insurance thereby reducing insurance penetration.

    In addition, Section 45 of the National Health Insurance Scheme Act of 1999 specifically requires all medical professionals, institutions and centres to have in place Professional Indemnity Insurance. The law makes provisions for compensation for the NHIS patients who suffer death, sickness, permanent disability, partial disability and injury from mistakes, negligence, errors of commission or omission of insured medical practitioners and institutions. Many medical personnel and establishment do not have this all-important compulsory insurance. And they get away with it because their patients have not held them accountable and nobody has made strenuous attempts to enforce it.

    The third of the compulsory insurances is Occupiers’ Liability Insurance. Section 65 of the Insurance Act of 2003 requires the owners or occupiers of every public building to be insured against liability for loss or damage to property of third parties, and death or bodily injury to third parties caused by collapse, fire, earthquake, storm or flood. The Act defines a public building as one to which members of the public have access for educational, recreational, medical and commercial purposes. You can imagine the level of insurance penetration if all government buildings at the three levels of government, shops, malls, restaurants, offices and other buildings where members of the public have access were to take an Occupiers’ Liability Insurance. Beyond the penetration, so much wealth and so many jobs will be created.

    The fourth compulsory insurance is Insurance of Buildings Under Construction. The Insurance Act of 2003, Section 64, requires every owner or contractor of any building under construction with more than two floors to take out an insurance policy to cover his liability arising from construction risks such as his negligence or that of his servants, agents or consultants, which may result in death, bodily injury or property damage of workers on site or members of the public. This insurance policy also covers liability for collapse of buildings under construction. A census of buildings of three floors and above under construction has shown that many owners and contractors of these buildings do not comply with this compulsory insurance. Meanwhile, some of such buildings have collapsed over time and third parties who suffered bodily injuries and families of those who lost their lives had minimal or no compensation. Enforcement this compulsory insurance will certainly deepen insurance penetration.

    The fifth compulsory insurance is the Group Life Insurance for company employees. Group Life Insurance gained traction since the PENCOM Act of 2004 as amended in 2014 made it compulsory for employers of labour in the private and public sector to provide a group life cover for their staff. Since then the number of companies with Group Life Insurance has quadrupled. Beyond being mandatory for companies under the PENCOM Act, you cannot bid for government businesses and those of some big companies without a Group Life Policy for your employees. This has really helped in deepening insurance penetration and growing the insurance industry in terms of premium income and creation of employment. It has also helped to drive the argument that other compulsory insurances will also gain traction if there are government policies to compel potential policy holders to have these compulsory insurances. But there is still a long way to go for even group life insurance because many companies still do not have Group Life Policy for their employees.

    Finally, though no longer under the purview of insurance companies, is the Employers Liability Insurance. Employers Liability Insurance, as stated by the Employee Compensation Act of 2010 (which repealed the Workmen Compensation Act of 1987), requires every employer, within the first two years of the commencement of the 2010 Act, to make a minimum monthly contribution of 1% of the total monthly payroll of employees to the Employee Compensation Fund. The fund is designated to pay adequate compensation to employees or their dependants for any death, injury, disease or disability arising out of or in the course of their employment. The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) is saddled with the power to implement this act.

    If all these compulsory insurances are strictly implemented, the insurance penetration in Nigeria will move from the current 0.7 per cent to over 1 per cent, while gross premium income of all Nigerian underwriters will cross the N1trillion line thereby contributing more to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product. According to National Pension Commission sources, there were 7,823,911 registered contributors to the pension scheme as at November 30, 2017. This represents 4.34 per cent of a population of 180 million Nigerians. Meanwhile only 0.7 per cent of Nigerians have insurance, of which pension used to be a part! Aggregate premium income of all insurance companies in Nigeria was N380b in 2016; meanwhile pension fund as at December 2016 was N6,164.76bn!

    Specific government action and support are needed. Until 2004, the pension fund of all underwriters put together was less than N1trilion. Then in 2004, government enacted the PENCOM Act. The act took pension away from underwriters, which was a heavy blow to the insurance industry, but that is not the point here. The point is, since 2004, pension fund has grown to N7.5t as at the fourth quarter of 2017. This could not have been possible without specific action from the government. These pension statistics bring to fore the inherent potentials of the Nigerian insurance industry even if only compulsory insurances are enforced.

    When specific actions are taken on compulsory insurances, it will be a win/win situation for everybody: government gets more revenue via company and other taxes, state government get more revenue via PAYE, the insurance industry grows in terms of premium income and number of employees, more Nigerians enjoy the benefits of insurance, while third parties who die, suffer bodily injuries or property damage get adequate compensation.

    The insurance industry also needs to do more; we need a multi-pronged approach to redress this appalling and embarrassing situation. The various professional bodies within the Nigerian insurance industry, especially the Nigeria Insurers Association and the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers, more than ever, need to pull human and material resources together. The regulatory body, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) also needs to be actively involved and, in fact, lead the charge in the enforcement of compulsory insurances.

    Mr. Francis Ewherido, the Managing Director of Titan Insurance Brokers Limited, wrote from Lagos.

  • Let your differences work for you By Francis Ewherido

    Let your differences work for you By Francis Ewherido

     

    By Francis Ewherido

    You must have heard or seen divorced or separated couples cite “irreconcilable differences.” But most times, differences are only irreconcilable because of ego, poor management of the differences and rigidity (in marriage there is nothing like it must be my way always. Sometimes you must shift ground, especially if your spouse’s position or line of thought is better). Ideally, irreconcilable differences should not arise after marriage because all such core issues should have been dealt with during courtship. But you find out that many courtships are poorly handled. Many people who are courting focus on ephemerals and the mundane, like sex, physical appearance, money, etc., instead of directing the courtship towards answering that fundamental question: am I ready to spend the rest of my life with this person, come rain, come sun? Some other time, courting pairs prefer to get married now and deal with their differences later, aka putting the cart before the horse. The outcome is that people who have no business being husband and wife to each other in the first place end up getting married. Divorce or separation becomes inevitable even before married life starts.

    But when courting pairs share common values, especially core values, and go into marriage, knowing full well what they are getting themselves into and much of what to expect, there is great understanding and compatibility. But no matter how compatible you are with your spouse, there must be areas of divergence. These areas of divergence can become huge advantages or gargantuan disadvantages; they can stabilize or destabilize your marriage; you can complement each other or become fierce competitors; your differences can strengthen or strain your marriage.

    For instance, one spouse easily trusts other people, while the other is very suspicious of strangers and other people’s intentions generally. For him/her, you are guilty until you prove yourself innocent, but the other spouse gives you the benefit of the doubt until you mess up yourself. These are two great qualities. In our society, people who trust others are usually taken advantage of. They fall victim to all kinds of scams. So a spouse who trusts others easily needs a suspicious spouse. Otherwise, his/her wholesale and non-discriminatory trust will put the whole family in a mess. In times of danger, the disposition of the spouse who suspects easily can save the family from danger. But the trusting spouse should know when to convince the suspicious spouse that his/her suspicion is misplaced. It takes a lot of experience and maturity to get to that stage, though.

    Two, one spouse believes in the strict application of the rod and discipline in the family. The other is permissive. Sometimes, some disciplinarians forget the thin dividing line between cruelty and discipline, especially when they are angry. At such times, the other spouse can come to ensure his/her other half does not go overboard and do something stupid. Extreme discipline or cruelty drives children to resentment and things can easily go awry. Beyond that, we need the balance of very strict parents and lenient parents for the balanced upbringing and development of the child. Both characters have an important and complementary role to play. When both parents are harsh, a child can become timid, hardened or resentful. Where both parents are permissive, the results are spoilt, and sometimes wayward, children.

    Third, one spouse is very rigid while the other is flexible. This can be dynamite if poorly handled. But if it is well handled, it brings a lot of stability and balance to the family, because sometimes firmness helps; at other times, you need to be flexible and dynamic.

    Four, one spouse is very generous with money and gifts; the other is very strict with finances. Money causes huge fights in marriages and money matters are thought to be responsible for half of the divorces in America. If being generous makes your spouse happy, by all means give him/her some breathing space. But the spouse who is strict with money must know when to put his/her foot down and the other spouse should defer at such times. Otherwise, he/she will either create problems in the marriage or the unbridled generosity will wreck the family finances. There is a popular cliché that “givers never lack,” but every giver, including Bill Gates, must watch his expenditure, if not he will go bankrupt.

    What should couples, especially young ones, do to ensure that their differences do not strain or wreck their marriages? What makes the critical difference is something I said some time ago: “there should be self-mastery and victory over self, because as Steven Covey rightly observed, ‘private victories must precede public victories,’ and only independent people (mature and secure) should go into marriage because ‘interdependence is a decision only independent people can make.’ The trouble with many marriages today is that dependent (immature and insecure) people went into an interdependent relationship that marriage is” (https://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/04/marriage-not-bed-roses/). Immature spouses simply need to grow up instead of engaging in blame game. The other important issue is marital communication. Once couples talk empathically, there is virtually nothing that cannot be resolved to move the marriage forward and better.

    These done, it becomes easy to come up with modalities on which spouse should have his/her way at any particular time. It helps when couples are sincere and know their limitations. Having been together for a while, couples ought to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Once strengths are identified, the issues or projects should be discussed and agreed on and the spouse who is good in that area can go on and implement.