Ibrahim Mammaga, of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) asks.

By most accounts, Nigeria had one of the most vibrant textile industries in the world in the early 1980s with about 250 functional factories.

These factories then provided direct employment to over 800,000 people and more than five million indirect jobs to the citizens.

By 2007, however, not more than 30 of the factories were still functioning with less than 30,000 workers.

For instance, in Kaduna, the location of the country’s first textile mill, all the nine textiles mills in the metropolis had been closed down by the end of 2007 and their employees thrown into the labour market.

According to available statistics, out of the more than 800,000 workers of the textile industry during its peak, only 100,000 were on its payroll by 1995. The number further dropped to 50,000 in 2004 and 30,000 in 2006.

Analysts argue that the gradual collapse of the textile sector was not unconnected to Nigeria’s endorsement of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement.

This, according to them, is because the pact allows member countries of the WTO to trade freely with one another, giving room to the influx of foreign fabrics into Nigeria.

With the signing of the agreement, Nigeria’s economic fortunes have also dwindled with the attendant job loses and worsening economic situation.

For instance, earnings from Nigeria’s textile nosedived from 44 million U.S. dollars (about N6.6 billion) to only 11 million U.S. dollars (about N1.65 billion) about six years ago.

Besides, the activities of textile smugglers have compounded the situation, as observers note that Nigeria loses about 325 million dollars (about N48.7 billion) annually due to the evasion of custom duties and VAT by the smugglers.

Alhaji Sa’idu Dattijo Adahama, the Chairman of Adahama Textiles Company in Kano, says that the collapse of the textile sector is not unconnected with the total liberalization of the Nigerian economy.

He blames the government for signing the WTO treaty without seeking the advice of Nigerian manufacturers.

“The result was the massive importation of all kinds of textile materials into the country and this has seriously affected local textile production, subsequently resulting in the collapse of the textile sector,’’ Adahama says.

Mr Issa Aremu, the Secretary-General of the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers Association of Nigeria, attributes the problem in the textile sector to poor governance.

“What led to the collapse of the industry is simply lack of good governance.

“This is because it was good governance that led to the development of the textile sector in the first instance and the bad governance we had in the last 20 years manifested in the country’s energy crisis.

“Don’t forget the fact that without electricity, no industry can survive,’’ he says.

Aremu also blames the collapse of the textile sector on inconsistent government policies and advised the government to strive to revive the sector so as to reduce the number of unemployed youths roaming the streets.

“Currently, we have just about 30 textile mills working, out of the 250 that are supposed to be functioning at full capacity.

“In those days, we had 250 mills that gave direct employment to 800,000 persons and indirect jobs to about five million people,’’ he says.

Aremu laments that all the 30 textile mills currently functioning can only provide 40,000 direct jobs and about 100,000 indirect jobs.

Sharing similar sentiments, Alhaji Nababa Badamasi, the Managing Director of Gaskiya Textiles, Kano, attributes the collapse of the textile sector to uncontrolled smuggling of textile materials into the country.

According to him, the illegal act destroyed the local demand for Nigerian fabrics.

Badamasi says that the scarcity of raw materials such as locally produced cotton also contributed to the collapse of the sector.

Similarly, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has, on many occasions, blamed the dismal situation in the textile sector on the government’s inability to revive the power sector.

“The fact remains that the power supply situation in the country is very poor and energy is very instrumental to the industrial growth of any country,’’ says Alhaji Hamman Kwajafa, MAN’s Industrial Relations Officer in Kaduna.

Kwajafa says that although the Federal Government had targeted the generation of about 6,000 megawatts of electricity by December last year, not more than 3,000 megawatts was attained.

“The failure to achieve the target has contributed to the inability of the factories to bounce back,’’ he adds.

Kwajafa says that the most worrisome aspect of the whole situation is the ownership structure of the textile factories, as none of them is owned by Nigerians.

“ They all belong to expatriates: Indians, Lebanese and Chinese, who have chains of factories all over the world. When one factory in a country is closed, they simply relocate to another country,’’ he says.

Kwajafa says that the only indigenous textile mills in the country are the Kaduna and Arewa textile mills.

Stakeholders unanimously agree that unless efforts are made to improve the electricity supply situation in Nigeria, while the price of diesel is reduced, there cannot be any meaningful change in the sector.

They also call on the Federal Government to release the N100 billion it earmarked for the revival of the textile sector to the Bank of Industries for distribution to qualified textile mills.

They are, however, quick to point out that efforts to revamp the textile sector will turn out to be a mirage unless corresponding efforts are directed at stamping out the nefarious activities of textile smugglers in the country.

I am tired of reading calamity reports from Nigerian newspapers. Why is it so difficult to fact check and edit stories before publishing it.

Haba! In the story below, an absolutely false statement was passed as fact by a journalist who practically dubbed a press release or whatever and thereafter worsened the situation by showing up his ignorance in an attempt to sound cool… He added his own uninformed and utterly rubbish opinions.

I mean the story below is so full of errors, I stopped reading after scanning through a few lines. How on earth does such stories get past the desk editors in the first place? There were so many factual errors in a simple short news report, it beggars belief. No prior research, no fact checking, nothing at all.

Take a look at these few quotes below:

In the triple jump, Tosin Oke will have to train hard to near 14.95 championships record set by Françoise Mbango Etone of Cameroun in Tunis 2002. Oke’s personal best record of 16.92 achieved in NNPC/Mobil meets may not be enough for the country to win a medal in Triple Jump.

Judging by her development, Abugan is likely to win 400m event since controversial world champion Caster Semanya has been left out of South Africa squad .

Interestingly, Long Jumper Stanley Gbagbeke’s new record of 7.92m at NNPC/Mobil event has given strong indication that Nigeria may grab Long Jump gold medal in Kenya. The Middle Tennessee University, USA, jumper was able to beat African championships record of 8.34m set by Morocco’s Younes Moudrik in Alger 2000.

Now, Tosin Oke is a man with a personal best of 17.05 so he has no business with Francoise Mbango who is a women ‘s champion. Btw, a simple maths should have alerted this reporter to the fact that 16.92 is already more than the 14.95 record he was referring to.

In the 2nd quote, Semenya, even if she were to compete, would not race against Shade Abugan in the 400m, because Caster is an 800m runner.

3rd quote, how can Gbagbeke’s record of 7.92m beat the African record of 8.34m? how can that mark ‘give a ‘strong indication that Nigeria may grab Long Jump gold medal in Kenya’ when Senegal’s Ndiss Kaba Badji (8.27m), South Africa’s Godfrey Khotso Mokoena (8.15m) and Ghana’s Ignisious Gaisah (8.09m) have all jumped higher this year. Besides Stanley had jumped 7.96m in 2010 already.

Very lazy and poor reporting work I must say. A few mouse clicks and 5mins of internet research is all that’s needed to avoid these horrendous mistakes.

The full story as published in the NATIONAL DAILY two days ago

http://nationaldailyngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2328:countdown-to-african-athletics-champ&catid=145:athletics&Itemid=654

The media are divided, while some questioned the decision, others hailed it as a welcome relief and ‘good riddance’ to the NFF.

But, mostly Nigerians had little sympathy for the disgraced national soccer team, saying their two-year withdrawal from international competition was well-deserved punishment for their embarrassing showing at the World Cup.

Let me share a feedback by one of our readers below:

“ Well two years of exile? I strongly feel that there are other ways of stopping the current FA members from running the FA and bring the right set of people in, other than suspension, will self imposed exile stop corruption in the Nigerian League, what about the infrastructure what about the bribery and unprofessional atitute of Nigerian players, what about the people who takes over , the players discovered how do u expose them to international competitions.

The suspension means we will miss out of the 2014 World Cup because the qualifiers starts next year,no doubt the current FA are corrupt and inefficient but the FG was there when the court could only issue a fine to the officers who stole the money in the FA What is the ICPC and EFCC doing. Was there any Nigerian that courageously come out and formally petition the ICPC or EFCC.

What about the state FA what has being their contributions to Nigeria Football.

The moribound school sports where most of our past stars were discovered what is happening to them now? will suspension bring them back if something concrete is not done what about the private schools that against the rules do not even have sports grounds for talents to be discovered What about the infrastructure that are obviously missing.These are issues that required serious policy shift by government. It will surely take more than international exile to solve all these problems but serious government will power.

We all remembered what we missed missing 2006 FIFA world cup during the era of Galadima have u forgotten how so many of our colleague supported these people against Galadima when he told us world cup is not our birth right.

Again I strongly agreed that these are not the best set of administrators that we desire for our sport but are their no other way(s) to get rid of them other than killing the dream of some young Nigerian talents.

The question is how did these people got their in the first instance? were they not government nominees who got the support of people in government and and even the press. Let them face the consequences of drawing the game backward but not to draw us back again by banning us from international competitions

With this am sure die-hard Nigerians will be forced to look elsewhere and the likes of English Premier League will enjoy more follower ship.I don’t think any country has done that in the past although same solution may not be applicable to same problem

Why must it be the PTF taking charge now? Has it not justified the claim by those people that the PTF are after thier job May God help Nigeria,

Nigeria deserve the best and definitely the suspended FA member have not given us so they do not deserve to remain in that position but surely the big stick wielded by the FG is too much and may not bring the desire results “ Eniola Afolabi.

So do you think Mr President is right or wrong on this one? Have you say below:

Nigerian fans blow their Vuvuzela during the Nigeria vs Argentina match

The 2010 FIFA World Cup has started and it is supposed to be a great boost to Africa, it’s an African World cup. However having a World Cup at altitude and in cold winter in South Africa seems to favour the Europeans more and this is more evidenced by the performances of the African teams so far.

Charles Khamala, a Nairobi based Advocate, writing for African Executive has this view:

For thirty days, there shall be no war among our 5000 different ethnic groups. We shall all belong to the football tribe.

That incidentally is the real reason why the Kenyan Constitutional Review timetable cannot be altered or postponed. Kenya is free-riding upon the uniting effect from the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa to reconcile ODM, PNU and ODM-K political parties.

The two principals and the architects of the National Accord and Reconciliation Act realised that during the June-July 2010 period, the population, particularly the youth, would be too pre-occupied with sports to make any serious objection to the proposed constitution. The timely and convenient distraction would reduce the popularity of the “NO” proponents as attention shifts to significant regional and international sports role models.

After the glamorous event is over, there shall remain barely three weeks to the 4th August national referendum. The issues shall have become dull and minds shall be numb. No critical thinking shall be done. Courtesy of virtual images and audio effects, Kenyans will ratify their constitutional document against the artificial background of unity imported from a foreign source.

While ardent soccer supporters and the population-at-large (the masses) are focused on the TV, strategic business investors such as Coca Cola, Nokia and Sony are subtly advertising their commercial commodities. These consumer goods shall come onto our shelves to alter our consumption patterns and habits. Those who watch T.V are assisting in advertising as they communicate the promoted brand labels by word of mouth to others.

In a fair economy, viewers should be paid a salary or wage for working overtime for these multinationals. Instead, all we get is entertainment and perhaps learning “good” manners. In economic terms, because the Kamba kiondos are not advertised on TV; the Luhyia songs like Mwana wa Mbeli are not sung; legends like the Luo’s Lwanda Magere or Kikuyu’s Gikuyu and Mumbi are not told in movie scripts, the new generation may lack a national identity and end up imitating Western advertised values. If this hypothesis of social reproduction of collective identity is correct, then the tragedy of watching too much TV, whether World Cup or English Barclays Premier League on DSTV or Hollywood films is real.

Most African nations do not sufficiently support the fine arts, cultural heritage or sports. A majority of them lack a national cultural policy- leave alone a national broadcasting policy. Unlike in the West, African economies are too underdeveloped to sustain a leisure economy. Moreover, some of their broadcasting stations are prohibited from accessing UK airwaves unlike ABC, BBC or CNN in their respective countries.

Foreign values may cause intolerable psychological strain because local masses lack the means to attain their lofty goals. Since conformity is difficult and innovation is rare, it becomes easier to ritualize, retreat, or rebel. The result? Overzealous religious values; drug addiction; alcoholism and riots. Our challenge is to contain the future upsurge of these crimes after the footballers and other performers have packed and left.

If national identity or Africanness is important for African Unity, then one solution to the looming anti-climax in the post World Cup scenario is to remember to insist on buying African made products and promoting local over foreign produced commodities and services.

The World Trade Organization proponents obviously object to substandard and inferior quality arising from quotas or trade barriers. But global economic planners may emulate FIFA by imposing a duty upon foreign-based sportsmen to represent their national teams despite the prospects of losing out on potential earnings from their, mainly European, clubs.

Indeed, merit goods are not efficiently produced. Since the state supports sports, arts and culture and transmits them through electronic airwaves which have secondary effects, the impact of such merit goods too must be regulated to avoid “demerit” aspects such as dilution of national unity. In other words international sports has some negative aspects too such as hooliganism, consumerism and promotion of foreign ideologies which we must guard against.

What do you think! Have your say?

Minister of Information and Communication, Prof. Dora Akunyuli

Nigeria has in the past few months taken over by hoodlums and power crazies, the public have been treated like fools and hoodwinked with lies, until one woman broke rank and exposed all the lies. The Nigerian Vanguard Newspapers had an exclusive interview with the Minister of Information, Prof. Dora Akunyuli.

Prof. Dora Nkem Akunyili caught the nation’s attention with her unrelenting campaign against fake and adulterated drugs in the country in her immediate past employment as Director General of the National Agency for Foods, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC). Where many before her dreaded to dare, she simply plainly overwhelmed as her anti-counterfeit campaign literally uprooted the merchants of death from their fortresses. Her campaign came at a great cost including a miraculous escape from an assassination attempt. Her promotion as a Minister was generally applauded as a befitting reward for diligence in public service. Her efforts as Minister of Information and Communication have, however, not been the success many expected. Controversies with some subordinates and a determination to repaint the negative perception of Nigerians in the global community have been some of her major challenges. Buried in this imaginative campaign to re-brand the standing of Nigeria and Nigerians nothing exceptional was heard from Mrs. Akunyili until the controversy over the ill-health of President Umaru Yar‘Adua enraptured the polity. Her memo to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) seeking to empower Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as Acting President caused a tremor that shook the consciousness of many Nigerians. The National Assembly resolutions and the coherence of elder-statesmen for the empowerment of Dr. Jonathan as Acting President soon followed.
Following reports of the sneaky return of President Yar‘Adua to the country in the wee hours of last Wednesday, the emotions were again stirred in the Information Minister who was compelled to now inform a trio of inquisitive newsmen the truth of how a few have turned the ill-health of the President into a desperate game for political merchandise.

By Emmanuel  Aziken

How would you describe the state of affairs of the country with the President’s return to the country?
The President’s return in the early hours of Wednesday, February 24, 2010 has actually exaggerated uncertainty, confusion, anxiety, fear and concern, not just by Nigerians but by the international community. These are the very sentiments Nigeria cannot actually afford, if we really want to build a modern nation. We have had uncertainty, confusion, anxiety, fear and concern reverberating across the country and even beyond.

Why do you think this uncertainty is there?
Well, it is there because things have not been properly managed by some people around our dear President. We were not told officially that our president was coming back. It was even Al-Jazeera that broke the news, but I didn’t hear it because I had slept. They broke the news that he was leaving Saudi Arabia for Nigeria. They also broke the news of the arrival. But I heard it on CNN. For the fact that it was not officially announced that our dear President was coming back and the Acting President was not even aware, from his interaction with Ministers yesterday (Wednesday), we knew that he was not aware.

That created a lot of concern among the populace and the tension is so high that even United States of America made a comment today (Thursday), which I don’t need to repeat of how afraid they are about the situation in Nigeria. Our Council did not hold yesterday (Wednesday). We were there at 10.00 am and waited till 12 noon, and as we were waiting, there was tension.

Whatever the council members feared was exposed when we got the Press Release from the Presidency, referring to the Acting President twice as Vice President.

That heightened the tension in the system because what it actually means by referring to him as Vice President is that whatever he has done in the past few weeks to stabilize the sinking ship of the nation did not mean anything to the people around the President. Otherwise, why would they even release that kind of press statement? We have gone through a lot in the past few weeks, which actually culminated in the legislative resolution that pronounced Dr Goodluck Jonathan as the Acting President and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces. So, it was very inappropriate for the presidency, on return of our dear President, to refer to Dr Ebele Goodluck Jonathan as Vice President. Dr Jonathan should be addressed as Acting President. There was no need for that tension. It was unnecessarily generated.

After the National Assembly resolution the Federal Executive Council supported the resolution and this was widely publicized. Across the world, this was praised. Our ship was stabilized and was stopped from sinking. The ship of the nation was stopped from sinking.

We are not yet stable because we are still working towards stabilizing the system. And since President Yar’Adua came back, we were expecting that he would, in one way or the other – knowing the type of person he is because the President Yar’Adua I know is very peace loving. He preached the rule of law and I believe he preached it from his heart. I never saw him as somebody that will come back to bring instability.

So, it is not President Yar’Adua. I believe that it is people around him that are gaining from the confusion; people around him that are doing to him today what 100 million political enemies cannot do to him. If President Yar’Adua were to be my father or my brother, I would not allow anybody to do to him what they are doing to him today. This is the President of a country. This is a man so loved by Nigerians. At least, he is humble. He is from a rich family, but his humility is disarming. He is sincere. Look at what he did with Niger Delta. He has done a lot for this country and suddenly, a few people are rubbishing it. They stole him into this country in the night.

This is the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I think it’s something that is unnecessary and uncalled for and should be decried by all who sincerely love the President. When people now claim that they love President Yar’Adua, I laugh because very few of them actually love him and his family as much as I do. I remember when I worked for him with all my heart and I’m still working for him. He’s still our President. We have a President and we have an Acting President.

About four months or thereabout before he travelled, I went to the Publisher and Chief Executive of Leadership. After meeting him and his staff, he didn’t really know why I came. He thought it was just a courtesy visit because he’s my professional colleague. I said my brother, I beg you, the way you are bashing our President in your paper is too much.
How can we be re-branding when we are literally saying our President died or is a criminal. We cannot go on this way and I beg you in the name of God. I can’t remember exactly how I said it, but I really pleaded with them.

But it’s not good to discuss anything with journalists because he exposed it about two weeks ago. I guess he got angry when people were abusing me about memo and no memo. He got angry and said this woman is so misunderstood and this is how she came to my office. When people brought the paper to me, I said it’s not good to discuss secrets with journalists, because I went to him secretly and as soon as I finished with him, I was happy. I asked him if I could get audience for him to speak with Mr. President. I want you to become friends. Criticize him constructively, but manage the negative stories about Nigeria and about us. I went to one of the President’s close aides and told him that I want you to help fix a meeting for Nda Isaiah to see oga because there are misunderstandings here and there. He said he would but he never did.

Coming back to what you said about the way he was brought in, if he were brought in like a President and Nigerians had information that he was coming back, we would all go to receive him and he would be brought in as a President with honour and dignity and then when he comes in, prayers will continue. It doesn’t matter his state. He did not choose to be ill. There is no state of any human being that should call for anybody to feel happy or to gloat over. Anybody can be sick and people don’t even die because they are sick. We have an Igbo proverb that says people don’t die due to how long they are sick. You can be healthy today and tomorrow morning, you won’t wake up. You can go out and be shot. You just cannot hold life in your hand and boast of it. But what is important is the way we handle these issues. It has been so mishandled that it has made us a laughing stock and created all this confusion.

The international community is watching. They have started making statements and we don’t want it to degenerate. We have suffered too much in this country, right through the civil war and the various levels of political instability and I believe that it is time we settled down to nation building.

Here is a Minister of Information who will manage information in respect of the Presidency and the government of Nigeria and here you are saying certain things that may not go down well will them. What would you explain spurred you to be outspoken in this manner?
You manage information if you have information. We did not have information that our President was even traveling to Saudi Arabia until we saw it in the news, and when he was in Saudi Arabia, we hardly got information. I only got information once from Mr. Segun Adeniyi and that was what I reported in Council, that the doctors in Saudi Arabia said he was getting better and it’s only the doctors that would determine when he would come back and I reported it like that. That was the only information. When I asked him who told him, he said it was one of the aides of the President that gave him the information. Thereafter, it was they said, they said and they said. We never had a comprehensive channel of getting information that we are sure of and most of the information, sometimes, they don’t add up and it get’s very disturbing. When they don’t add up, you feel very awkward reporting such information. I believed the information, even though I kept wondering how things can be done better, until when I found that stories told by some of the presidential aides were not adding up, especially stories that are changed when they are told from one person to another. That was when I started feeling uncomfortable and that was when I now decided that I would go on holidays. People felt it was strange that I was going on holidays in the first week of January.

But I traveled because I needed to rest a little, have a retreat, pray and attend a two-day meeting in India. But I went out for about three weeks and I decided that by the time I return, I would never again report about Mr. President’s illness until I sit down with people that will tell me the truth and nothing but the truth, so that I will not be involved in deceiving Nigerians. I know that most Ministers are credible people. But some Ministers also complained openly that they had no information and that’s why they were handicapped. But I had a peculiar position of being Minister of Information to inform the people. So, I was even more handicapped than everybody.

When I came back from my holidays, I made up my mind, as I said earlier that I will not report about his health again and that was why the Executive Council meeting a day after my return, at the end of the meeting, I did not argue when the Attorney General came to brief. I did not say he should not brief because it’s the Minister of Information that should brief, because I had earlier made up my mind that I would not brief on our President’s health anymore. He came and did the briefing and I was stunned when he was talking.

He convinced everybody that the President was capable and I was getting worried. I was getting worried in that I asked myself that if he were capable, why could he not speak to Nigerians through our own channels. Why could he not speak to Nigeria through our NTA? Why speak to BBC? After that briefing, I really felt very miserable.

I got really very depressed and I asked myself: now that Chief Aondoakaa has briefed, what do I say about the President’s health next Wednesday? That depression went so deep that I used to take Lexotan twice at night to sleep and I would not sleep. I kept asking myself what I would say. How can I say I don’t want to say anything about the President’s health. Would it not look as if I’m disloyal to the President? Would it not look unfair to the Federal Executive Council? So, I was caught in a very bad situation.

Before even I traveled, because some Ministers said why didn’t I even consult; I called three Ministers differently. I just called and said what do you feel about what is going on? Don’t you think that we need to tell the public the truth? How do we get the truth? The reaction I got from these three different Ministers, I will never forget. One of them said don’t you think he has a reason not to hand over to Dr Jonathan. I never said let him resign. I said it is better to find a way to encourage him to hand over to Dr Jonathan so that the system will be stabilized and our hard earned democracy will not be truncated. But for each of the Minister that I found a way of introducing it, so that we could hold a discussion for us to mobilize more Ministers, I did not get a single support from one of the three. In fact, the reaction of one of them, as I said earlier is that he had a reason not to hand over. You don’t even go there. I said which reason? He said he must have had a reason. I talked to the second one.

He said those people that were all around Yar’Adua are now going to Jonathan. I didn’t see logic. The third one said be very careful about the way you talk. This your big mouth will land you into trouble. Don’t you ever try it because if you talk to somebody that doesn’t like you, they will go and tell them. I just felt that this is getting ridiculous. I needed to bring this because some people have variously said why didn’t you consult. When you consult three people and you get deadlocked, how can you continue? There was no way I could continue, just before I traveled. When I came back and couldn’t really live with myself, on Monday before that meeting, I was in the church doing my usual morning mass. I took so many tough decisions during mass. I said I must talk on Wednesday.

But I will say my mind constructively. Then, from that morning, I started praying over it. But by that Tuesday evening by 6 pm, I decided to jot down what I wanted to say and as I was jotting down, I said if I use talking points, people will misquote me. Some people that don’t like me will even say that I want President Yar’Adua to die. Some will say I want him to resign. Why don’t I put it down as I did during Abdulmutallab; as Ojo Maduekwe did during Abdulmutallab.

We put down our discussions on paper and circulated to council. I said let me put it down so that as I talk, I will not be misquoted. I started writing and when I finished writing about quarter to seven, I called my PA and said let’s go. We came home and we started typing and correcting. At about 10 pm, I called my Special Assistant and said I want you to go through something that I have for Council. He came and read it and when he finished reading it, he said this is suicidal. I said if I die, I die. I can only die once. Don’t worry yourself. I just want you to cross the “t”s and dot the “i”s. Then he added that it’s not just about you. Our job is also on the line. I said then you go and look for another job because if the military comes in tomorrow, your job will still be on the line.

So, he felt very bad. He came back in the morning and said what of Goodluck Jonathan; is he not going to be embarrassed. I said if I tell him about this and he heard about it yesterday, he will discourage me. He said did you consult anybody and I said who else should I consult except my God, because I talked to three Ministers and they rebuffed me.

But I felt that if we cannot continue waiting for who will talk. I just felt at that point that I needed to submit it. The next day, I circulated it. But even that morning, I talked to a few people. I didn’t say I brought a memo. I said don’t you think that we have to do something about what is going on. They said no, leave it. So, I didn’t have support. I told a few Ministers in that hall that I wanted to talk, but again, I didn’t have any support. So, I stopped. You know you will continue talking about something if you have support and you will get to the extent of saying this is what I want to say. But I didn’t get to that level because I was not encouraged. So, when I circulated it, by the time I started reading, of course, people had all read it and there was crisis. It was clear that nobody wanted it to be discussed. I felt very bad, but I felt a bit comfortable that I had gotten relieved of a big burden that had been weighing me down and not allowing me to sleep.

I came back to the office. I called my media people and said read it. After reading it, keep it. I’m not giving it to anybody because since they said it was not properly tabled. But I’m happy that I reminded everybody in council that Abdulmutalab’s case was also not circulated and discussed and what they said that day was that Abdulmutallab’s case was urgent. But when I look back, I wish we discussed it because the Council might have taken a position that day. But everything happens as God wants it.

When my people finished reading it, they said so this is what you went to Council with today. What happened? I said I won’t give you this paper until after Council next week. That was what I did with all of them.

Then, at about 4.00 pm or 5.00pm, somebody called me and said one of the internet blogs had it. When we read it we saw the second to last draft. You remember the one that has 145. But my final memo didn’t have it. When I saw it, I was embarrassed. The only difference between that particular one and the final is the removal of a section, and it was actually my S.A. that said remove this section because you are getting too legal. You are not a lawyer. He told me that morning to remove that section so that lawyers will not abuse you that you don’t understand the law. But the only thing we can arrive at now is that my Council box was forgotten in that council hall. Maybe I was so harassed that I forgot my box. It was at about 4.00pm that my Chief Detail, noticed that I did not come back with my box and he went back to collect it. But I cannot say whether it was during those few hours that somebody took it because I had a draft and the final in that box.

When we saw it on the internet blog I now called all my media aides and said take copies. If it’s on the internet and I’m saying that you people should not have copies, then it doesn’t make sense. That was how it happened.

In your statement yesterday (Wednesday) you said the Acting President had only been briefed by the President’s aides. Then the second part of it said the Acting President is even hoping to see the First Lady, from whom he hopes to get briefing on the President’s health.
The Acting President said he had been briefed by the President’s aide. He also heard that the President returned as we heard. He had been briefed by the aides of the President. He would try and see the First Lady yesterday evening (Wednesday) and that on Wednesday next week during Council, the Ministers that went to Saudi will brief us. He also added that when he sees Mr. President and gets briefed, he would call us back.

As at now, has he seen the President?
As of 4.00pm today (Thursday), he had neither seen the President nor the First Lady. As the Information Minister, I called one of his aides and asked if oga had seen the First Lady and he said no. Has he seen the President? He said no and I was worried.

Have you seen the President yourself as the spokesman of the government?
Am I more important than the Acting President? I think it would be too forward of me and it would be wrong if as the spokesperson, I go to see the President before the Acting President. I don’t think it’s right. Even if he is my father or my brother, I will say please see the Acting President before briefing me.

Going to see Turai for instance, should that be the normal line of communication?
I think that going to see Turai is very informal and there’s nothing wrong with it. This is the wife of the President. No matter the mistakes and whatever the aides have done, we should still face the truth. This is the wife of Mr. President. If he is very ill, we don’t even know. If he is too ill to see him, at least the wife would see him and discuss with him. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. It’s not the normal channel, but the things that are happening these days are also not normal.

My problem is that there is no provision in the Constitution that talks about First Lady. Would you take directives from Turai if she instructs you to do something today?
The Acting President did not say he was going to get directive from her. Even if a husband is ill and people come to the hospital and the wife takes care of her husband, there’s nothing wrong in seeing the wife first. I think he said something informal that probably shouldn’t have been reported. But I think it’s also okay that it was reported. But he said when he sees the President, he would call us and brief us.

As the spokesperson of this government, what would be your reaction if journalists or a section of the media confront you and tell you that the President did not return, since nobody has seen him?
Actually, my mind skipped today when I read different people saying different things in the newspapers today. It all revolves around the people around the President who are doing to him what a million political enemies cannot do to him. The rumours around our President are very discomforting. One group said he never came back because they have shrouded everything in secrecy, and when there is a vacuum, rumours take over. Another group said that he came back and he’s still in the ambulance. Another group said that he had been carried into the house. There are three different stories and as at today, it is difficult to argue with anybody to say you are lying because I don’t know the truth. What I do when I hear these things is to keep quiet. When I read it, my heart really skipped a bit. I said God please, I hope this is not correct and I don’t want to believe it is correct because it’s not good for us and those people that are writing this story should still remember that no matter what mistake our President may have made, he still remains our President and a symbol of this country. So, there are certain things we should not even talk about, so as not to continue ridiculing ourselves before the international community.

If you as a Minister, you’ve lost certain aspects of your private life, it means that the President of a country has no private life, more so when he had been away for some days. The photographer who got the picture of the ambulance took the risk of his life because he was on top of a tree and the soldiers almost shot him dead and all this because you want to cover a President who had been away for over 90 days and…
(Cuts in) I don’t think they wanted to cover the President. They wanted to continue the too many lies they told in the past because the lies beget lies and this was done for personal gains and for people to gain fame, power and money.

We are talking about the journalists who came to cover the arrival of the President and the risk they took with their lives.

Journalists take risks all over the world. They are in war places all over the world and every job has it’s own risk. I believe that’s the risk of being a journalist and many of them succeed. A few lose their lives or get maimed, but that is the risk of the job and that is why some of us really appreciate the job they are doing for this country.

Have your recent steps and actions brought any consequences to you as a person?
I don’t want to indulge in self praise, but sometimes it’s good to say the truth. The steps I have taken in this matter is to relieve myself of a great burden. I was having a heavy load in my heart and in my brain. But I’m happy that I did because I believe, possibly, that the memo was a turning point in the politics of Yar’Adua’s illness, unfortunately. It was a turning for people to be sensitized and be goaded into action at various levels. I’m grateful to God about that. It’s not about me. How can it be about me? I don’t know any of the Ministers that is closer to President Yar’Adua and his wife as I am. I’m very close to them and it was not even easy for me to come out with that stand. It’s because I saw that we needed to do something I have been like that all my life, even as a child. If there was a problem between any two people, I would come out and say the truth.

Were they comfortable with that memo?
Very uncomfortable. My son called my P.A. from America and said I read mummy’s memo. What is wrong with mummy? Is she on drugs? My P.A. said she doesn’t even drink alcohol. So, how can somebody who doesn’t even drink alcohol think of being on drugs? The only drug that I take is Multivite.

But I want to ask what is it you want?
What I want is for us to stabilize this country because it is the only country we can call our own. I’m passionate about Nigeria and I didn’t start today. I literally took a bullet for this country when I was fighting drug counterfeiters for almost eight years. They nearly killed me in the village. I missed death by the whiskers. So, anybody who is saying why is she doing this, I say why are they saying this?

But why are you not discouraged because it appears not many people are following you?
It may not be as encouraging, but I will always remember what our Bishop said that somebody must speak up in the face of evil; that even if one of the Jews had shouted when they were saying crucify him, if somebody had said no, the person would have heard others saying no. After all, after the memo, did people not start talking? This time around, I feel like saying a few things to say let us do something. Those that are supposed to talk let them talk. Let those that are hearing what is wrong speak up because we have gotten to a point that if we all keep quiet, things will keep going down until we find ourselves in a situation that we may not feel comfortable about. There is need for Nigerians individually and collectively to come out in one way or the other to do the right thing, to tell people that are doing the wrong thing to right their wrongs and to find a way of stabilizing this ship that we have succeeded in keeping afloat because some five weeks ago, we were sinking. In fact, some people were even lobbying the army to take over.

Some army chiefs impressed everybody by coming out – I saw it on the pages of newspapers – and warning politicians to desist from lobbying them. It happened in this country in the last weeks. After our soldiers have shown us such level of professionalism, why can’t we do something as citizens of this country. It’s not about us. Your children will grow in this country. Even if they are abroad, they will still come back.

Nigeria is important in the comity of nations and therefore, we have a very important role to play. We cannot carry on as if we are an island because we are not.  Bilateral, multilateral international relationships are all critical to the survival of Nigeria as a nation. Our national integrity is of great importance and when we think of what happened in the past and what can happen in future that can severely damage; I’ve actually become a laughing stock around the world. It is very important that both the players in the unfolding confusion and the people in leadership who ought to speak up and boldly take a stand against the orchestrated confusion and anarchy, take the time to seriously think of the roles they are playing and the roles they ought to play because posterity will certainly judge us all. Whatever we do, we should think of Nigeria before our individual interests because what is happening now is that some people are thinking of their own interests. If we allow things to go on properly, we are no longer going to be in control. It’s not about President Yar’Adua. Presidency is an institution. The President is in the Presidency. Look at what Condoleezza Rice came to tell us here. I’m not angry with her. We made ourselves mouse for the cat to eat us. If you make yourself mouse, the cat will eat you; I know that she is fantastic but many Nigerians are fantastic too, if not better, for her come to tell us to our face that what Nigeria needs are strong institutions and not strong leaders. I think that what she said, the statement America had made and looking at the tension in the system, Nigerians should individually and collectively think of what to do for us to come out of this impasse.

Has the frustration around you reached the point where you can walk out on the job? If not, why?
I think that you should know that before anybody can bring up that type of memo, the person has weighed his or her risk. In fact, some Ministers asked me if I weighed my risk. I said yes I weighed my risk. Some even came out to support me privately. Some that came to abuse me, I said is there anything in that memo that is not in the public domain? They will say it’s true but for you to just come and say it like that. It’s only one of them that came and said yes, there is something in that memo that I didn’t know. He said that aspect you said that the Vice President cannot take documents to National Assembly. I said it means you know over 90 percent of what is in that memo.

Coming back to what you said about my job, that’s why my staff told me that it’s not just about me but that their job is also on the line. So, when they tell you their job is on the line, it means that you can lose your job. I was not born as Minister. My life is not tied to the job. Anybody whose life is tied to a job is under bondage.

So, I’m not desperate for any position. This is a very good position because my salary here is four times my salary in NAFDAC. My allowances are ten times my allowances in NAFDAC. But the money, the perk of office and everything is not enough to make you see evil and keep quiet because you will not be able to live with yourself. I am not so tied to this job as to keep quiet in the face of evil so that I will save my job. If my leaving this job will bring stability to Nigeria, then it’s the best thing that can happen to me.

Why don’t you throw in the towel now?
If it will be of the benefit of our fledgling democracy, if it will stabilize the system and you can rationalize it for me, I will. Tell me what good it will do to the system if I resign today and I want you to be honest.

You are a lone voice.
You are not a lone voice when you make statement and you have people that will support you. People may not support you openly out of fear. But you will still have supporters. By the time I came in to submit my memo the second time, if people were allowed to vote, most Ministers would have voted for me to present. I believe it’s better to work from inside. But if anybody comes up tomorrow to explain to me why it is necessary for me to resign so as to help stabilize the polity, I will not waste one minute.

People believe that your recent action is a kind of volte face; a kind of 360 degree turnaround because initially, you were for Yar’Adua and by extension, the whole FEC members. Suddenly that your memo was a turnaround. What do we expect now that Yar’Adua is back and why did it take you so long to do this memo?
I think I explained it. It would have been insensitive, wicked and disloyal of me to start saying it’s better to hand over to Jonathan three weeks after the travel of my boss. What does that mean? I saw things degenerating and I started noticing that there were lies.

In the first few weeks, I didn’t suspect there were lies and I had not seen that there were problems in the system because there was no President or Acting President. The problem started unfolding with time. I didn’t notice any vacuum in the first weeks until I started hearing stories of the Vice President cannot submit documents to National Assembly. In the case of Jos crisis, people came to say why did he send soldiers? Things were coming up one after the other. That statement about why he sent soldiers shocked me to my marrow. I said so this man cannot really do much for us. They queried why we were holding Federal Executive Council meetings and that it’s illegal. We were all reading the papers and listening to commentaries. It was the unfolding scenario that made me feel that we needed to encourage our President to hand over to Dr Jonathan as the Acting President. People didn’t even read that memo well. They just say crucify her. I didn’t say he should resign. I still love him as my President. I knew that man from the campaign period. He has a beautiful spirit. I’m telling you this from the bottom of my heart. What is happening cannot be from him because a sick person that God helped to recover cannot conceive plans to manoeuvre over a whole country because if you have serious malaria, you are only praying of how to get well, not how to remain or how to make sure that nobody is there to act fully for you. So this question of why did it take her so long, would you not check my mental balance if I came out two weeks after my President traveled, when we had not started seeing problems. We were not seeing problems in the first few weeks until the Jos crisis and when people started talking about FEC as illegal. MEND started making statements that they were going to attack facilities. If all these things had not happened, I believe we would have still all relaxed that the Vice President was doing very well. But I noticed that if he carried on without being Acting President, the system would collapse because people were even going to court. So it didn’t start degenerating from the day he left. It happened gradually and it came to a point where I felt that if nothing was said and done, we could find ourselves in a very ugly situation. That’s why I talked. And before I talked, I tried to consult some Ministers so that we could form a critical mass, but I did not succeed.

You also said why sudden. How can you say sudden? Did I not stake my life for almost eight years in this country? And if you say sudden, when I came to the Ministry of Information and Communication, it was a different job all together. I started rebranding. What is evil about saying that we are basically good people and that this is a great nation; for those of us that are not doing well, let us change the way we behave, so that we can live up to that good name as good people and great nation. What is wrong with it? Is it deceit? Is it a lie? Did I ever say Nigeria doesn’t have criminals? Let us project our country positively and responsibly manage our negatives. So, where is it that people can look at and say volte face, as if I started deceiving people at any point in time? Which deceit? People have so abused me. When people were saying look at what they are writing in the internet, I said if not for the fact that Nigerian journalists are very understanding, we would have had more because the level of money that some of these people that are orchestrating this evil have, they can put in any amount just to be abusing me everywhere. Some people have even said in the internet that I should go and handle Halliburton and Ekiti. What is this? I’m not from Ekiti. I didn’t go for campaign in Ekiti. I didn’t vote in Ekiti. I’m not in INEC. So, where is my own? As the Minister of Information, I remember you people abused me so much after the Ekiti elections and your reason of abusing me is because I announced government’s position. There was nothing I didn’t hear and it’s been repeated these days on the internet through various sources. When you report government’s decision, it is not support for government. It’s a report. I want to also tell you that I will have to believe in a report for me to report it. That’s why when I stopped being in the story of our President, I decided to stop. The report of Ekiti, I believed in it and the report was that Mrs. Ajoke should come out and conclude the election she started. There is no Minister of Information in this world that would say that statement is bad. They are just looking for anything to malign me and to rebrand my name. What is important is for me to do something that will make me to be able to live with my conscience, to work from morning till night and lie down and be able to sleep, and to know that I have done my best. That’s it.

How do you respond to suggestions that you could be affected in a possible cabinet shake-up?
Quite frankly I will if given the opportunity like to remain in the Ministry of Information and not to just go anywhere else with just about one year to the end of the life of the administration. What can anybody seriously achieve in one year? Even if I can, it will be too stressful and I am already used to where I am.
The rebranding project has suffered a serious setback because of the Abdulmuttalab fiasco and the politicization of the health of the President and other things, but then I can still pick the bits and pieces and move on to consolidate the programme if it is the will of God.

Some Nigerian political watchers say you are being teleguided by Obasanjo.
Do I look like somebody that anybody in this world can teleguide? Some people said Obasanjo and others said Ojo Maduekwe. I found it funny because it all boils down to the fact that people don’t know me. As a regulator under President Obasanjo, I never referred to him for any case. I know that regulators refer to the President on cases. But I never referred to him on any case, and because I believe he also knows my character, he never interfered. When I closed down Dangote’s factory, have you forgotten that Dangote was one of his close friends. I didn’t even remember President Obasanjo when I was doing what I did. I didn’t talk with him before the memo. I did not talk with him after the memo and he did not ask me.

Has anybody commended you after the memo for being courageous?
People have commended me variously but Obasanjo didn’t commend me. But many leaders have commended me. Many people you cannot expect have commended me. Even people around the Presidency have commended me to say God bless you when you are saying the right thing.

In the circumstance, what would you offer as an advice to stabilize the polity?
My advice to stabilize the polity is for people that are raising this unnecessary dust around our dear President to cease fire, to know that this country is bigger than all of us and to know that if we destroy the system, we will all lose, and for people to advise them and people that can help in one way or the other to come out and help. If you can talk, you should come out and talk. If you can write, then write, so that people that are not doing the right thing will stop because our dear President may not be in a position to control what they are doing. That is the situation on ground now. They are being very unfair to Nigerians and utterly unfair to him and his family and they are not in line with what he stands for because he has always stood on the rule of law.

Madam, who do you take instructions from now?
It depends on what I want to do. I take instructions from the Acting President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan and I will revert to taking instructions from the President when he recovers and comes back to work.

If you are given instructions allegedly from the President and you have not seen the President, will you oblige?
I will not oblige.

In South Africa, six South African airlines – Comair (a British Airways franchise), South African Airways (SAA), 1time, Airlink, SA Express and Mango are being investigated for allegedly colluding to hike fares for local flights during the football World Cup in June.

Two years ago BA was fined £270 million by the British and American authorities after it admitted “anti-competitive activity” involving fuel surcharges on long-haul flights.

And In 2006, SAA was slapped with a R55-million fine after it was found guilty on three charges of anti-competitive behaviour, including one of price-fixing with German carrier Lufthansa.

Well all these are not new…Africans in Diaspora, especially Nigerians, are always being ripped off by BA, Virgin, SAA and other European Airlines when travelling home to visit families in Africa. Aside the inconvenience of having to pay for your tickets at some Airline offices under the guise that some countries in Africa are “fraud prone”etc.

The lowest economy return fare for direct flights to Africa between the 1st and 22nd March this year costs £ 519.00 by BA and £755.40 by Virgin for a six-hour flight to Lagos. At the same period, a nine- hour flight to New York, will only cost you £ 329.50 on BA and £313.50 on Virgin Atlantic.

Also the cost of an economy return for an eleven-hour flight to Cape Town, BA cost £ 769.40, Virgin cost £755.40, and SAA  costs £683.70.

Now some England fans are moaning that they will have to splash out about £6,399 each if they follow the team through to the World Cup final in South Africa this summer. 

NewsPulse says live with it, cos we Africans have been putting up with it for a long time. Whatever is good for the goose should also good for the gander, innit?

Do you have plans to travel to SA for the World Cup?  what do you think now of the flight prices?

Maryam Babangida

Happy New Year all.  Nigeria’s former first Lady Maryam Babangida passed on last week and since then I have read so many articles about the former ‘Queen of Aso Rock’.

As usual on NewsPulse, I went searching  for the views of fellow Nigerians on her passage and curiously on my alma mata’s forum i saw the post by Flabo. As we normally do when we mourn the dead in Nigeria, we say one does not speak ill of the dead and so we go overboard praise-singing even when we know the individual in question does not deserve such honour but it’s was refreshing to see another point of view.

One line that struck me in the piece “Prior to her death, she enjoyed the very best of healthcare in the world in California, USA – the kind of healthcare that she and her husband denied millions of ordinary Nigerians…” was also noted by another forum member who posited that:

“It is sad to note that this is still the case. That people in government or places of authority, government parastatals are not interested in governance and provision of the basic necessities of life for the Nigerian citizens they claim to represent but what they can get out of the system. Buying property in the choicest parts of the western world

After how many years, Nigeria is still not able to generate power and there are still long queues at Christmas of all times of the year (a country with crude oil). No good roads, health care, public schools have been ruined .  What is happening??“

The article below should be food for thought to our leaders, the self-elected V.I.P and their ilks, that whatever a man sow on earth, so shall he reap.  So fellow Nigerians, what do you want to be remembered for when you passed on?

One of the biggest problems affecting our Nigerian society has to do with our tendency to misapply our emotions. All too often, we are found blowing our emotional gaskets over the least reverent of events and issues – issues and events that pale into complete oblivion in the larger context of things that affect us.

It is why some of our federal lawmakers would purport – of all things important to the struggling Nigerian out there – to draft laws that would spell what amounts to ‘decent dressing’ for their fellow Nigerians. Of course, meanwhile, things like the freedom of information bill continue to be left unattended, amongst other similar priorities begging for attention.

Such behavior (of shrugging-off the critical to go ‘ga-ga’ over the mundane) is not only common with the ones in charge of our affairs. Indeed we ordinary people, too, are given to making a big deal out of non-issues, while overlooking or tolerating what ordinarily should be an intolerable affront of our very sensibilities.

Perhaps the similarity between the two camps (the ‘leaders’ and the ‘followers’) is better appreciated or understood when one bothers to consider the fact that these so-called leaders come from the same pool of people better known as “Nigerians”, and as such would only behave true to type either as followers or leaders, and hence may be deserving of one another.

That Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida and his wife Maryam imposed themselves on the good people of Nigeria as “President and First Lady” for eight years is a fact with which we are all familiar. That those were eight long years of manipulation, deception and obfuscation is a fact that none of us would deny.

That for so long, Nigerians endured undeserved roller-coasters of emotions that swung precariously between excitation and dejection is as real as it is still raw for many a Nigerian. That the reign of Maryam Babangida, side-by-side with her husband Ibrahim, heralded an era of illicit glamor — an era of obnoxious and money-inspired rankadede — into our national psyche is a diseased reality we have to live with till present.

And so, the other day, the woman who assumed the title of “first lady” by the barrel of a coup-plotters’ AK-47 before going ahead to help herself to all the “glamorous” reign that she could afford (in her capacity as a first lady of a corrupt, coup-inspired regime that jailed and murdered citizens at will), died of the aggresive cancerous disease called ovarian cancer at the age of 61.

Prior to her death, she enjoyed the very best of healthcare in the world in California, USA – the kind of healthcare that she and her husband denied millions of ordinary Nigerians through the deliberately poor and narcisistic choices that they made while they held the forte in Dodan Barracks, Lagos and later in Aso Rock, Abuja.

Reading through the Nigerian newspapers yesterday and today, and seeing some of the comments on different Nigeria fora on the internet and beyond, one would imagine that the now deceased Maryam Babangida was some Nigerian version of Mother Theresa who gave her all for the needy Nigerians: saving young girls from promiscous old men; helping motherless babies find a home where they can be loved; campaigning against corruption and nepotism; helping the cheated and exploited of her Niger-Delta origin find a voice in Abuja; discouraging coup d’etats and murders of the men and women (including talented ones like Mamman J. Vatsa) over the greed and ambition of a few within the Armed Forces. Etcetera.

One would imagine that Maryam Babangida did all that and more. There is the continous reference to her in mournful tones everywhere. Those who aren’t talking like they are mourning her keep alluding to her so-called “glamor”, while others talk about her “kindness” – no doubt the kindness under reference here is the type that a few privileged ones recieve from close-quaters, hence their selfish rankadede.

Still, there are others who are invoking the tri-partite guilt-trippers of Heaven, God and His Ultimate Judgement as a convenient emotional blackmail on behalf of persons who are nothing more than apostates of opportunism and self-serving glamor – people who have rarely felt the kind of pain that millions of Nigeria have to live with everyday, thanks to these folks’ choices as leaders.

It is on occassions like this that one is forced to agree with those who say that we deserve the kind of leaders we get in Nigeria.

The man who looked us all in the face and damned us on several occassions – the man who took the jewel of our electoral annals and made a pariah of our nation out of it; the man who looked us dead in the eye with his boyish smile and lied to us on several occassions with his usual “Insha Allaha”; the man who murdered Mamman J. Vatsa, based on unsubstantiated allegations; the man stole the little that is left of our values and ran away with it; the man whom we gave a chance to appear before Oputa to explain himself but returned our favour by thumping his face at us; the man whom he and his wife lived a glamorous life with our commonwealth while we all suffered at home and abroad – is the man whom we saw crying yesterday.

Yes, that was Ibrahim Babangida. In another land where people value individual self-esteem and comeuppance for one’s life choices, the likes of Babangida would be long forgotten and joyfully ignored as a disgraced opportunist, forever to bow his head in shame wherever good Nigerians are present at home and abroad.

He would not be refered to as “former President”, neither would his late wife be refered to as “former first-lady”. He would have NO benefits or privileges, or recognition of any kind besides the one he deserves: a recognition of ignominy. When his wife died, he would get nothing but a curt note of sympathies from the representative of a people who would only be too happy to avoid any kind of association with him, even while they understand the gravity of the loss of a human life.

But ours is not a land where self-esteem is treasured as it should. Ours is a land where faith and God is constantly abused and used to decieve and blackmail one another with obsessive compulsiveness. Ours is a land where we refuse to use the pain of yesterday to rebuke the suffering or insult of tommorow.

Ours is a land that continues to reward the worst from amongst us with our sympathies, as opposed to our rejection of these people and our indifference to their burdens.

Most important, it is sad to observe how we reserve the most condescending of labels for those amongst us who do not sympathize with the survivor and his departed, while our tears and our heartaches are inspired by the sight of the opportunist and manipulator who wrecked so much havoc on our society.

Some of us continue to get our priorities backward as peoples of that land – it is like we have been so beaten-down by years upon years of subjugation and exploitation that we now take it all with gratitude. Or, it is like we are so far beneathe these cheats we call leaders, that all we can do is dance to their tunes like puppets on a string.

We all know what it is to feel pain, and I personally understand why the sight of a grown man like Ibrahim Babangida crying in public would evoke sympathetic emotion amongst some unlookers. Still, it is another thing entirely when this man’s dramatized loss inspires some people to preach-down on their fellow citizens who may not share their sympathies for the man. That is just unfortunate.

But those of us who have NO sympathies for Ibrahim Babangida or his belated wife are not intimidated by others who have made it their place to bombard us with condescending sanctimonies. We renounce and reject an expression of sympathy that does more to take away from our self-esteem than it does to sympathize with the loss of another.

We reject the attempt by the Nigerian Media to make an icon of “glamour” of a dead coup-plotters wife whose reign alongside her husband brought us most of sickening traits that continue to undermine our societal values today. We reject the notion that seeks to suggest that one may lack the ability to sympathize with the suffering of another, simply because one remains mindful of the dishonorable glamor that the suffering one personified before her eventual death..

We reject this unending journey that Fela Anikulapo-Kuti aptly called “suffering and smiling”.

We reject an invitation to mourn with those who continue to torment and insult us!

Folabi Ogunleye,
December 31, 2009.

According to Farooq, contemporary English language usage in the Nigerian media “derives from a fetid repertoire of aggravatingly stereotyped and error-ridden phraseology”.

He wrote:

“While some of the expressions I have highlighted below are outright grammatically incorrect, others are grammatically correct but either laughably outdated or hopelessly clichéd. Either way, they all need to be dumped like “the verbal refuse” that they are. The numbering of the expressions is entirely arbitrary; it doesn’t indicate a hierarchical ordering of their egregiousness.”

Faroog then went on to choose 10 expressions he found most annoying.

1. “Remains deposited at the mortuary.” This is almost the standard expression in Nigerian media English to say that a dead body has been delivered at the mortuary.

There are two problems with this expression. First, the word “remains” is too formal for a news story. “Corpse” and “dead body” are the more usual words. And “deposit” is a singularly quaint verb to associate with death, especially in popular usage.

There are three principal senses of the word “deposit” in conversational English. The first and most popular is to put money or other valuables in a bank account. The second sense is to put, fix, force or implant something, as in “deposit a bullet in the table.”

And the third sense is to situate something, that is, to put something somewhere firmly, as in “deposit the suitcase on the bench.” It’s unclear how this expression sprang in Nigerian media English, but it makes me sick to my stomach.

2. “Hear him,” or “in his words.” These are not strictly grammatically incorrect expressions; they are just ugly, inappropriate and superfluous verbiages.

The convention in journalistic writing globally is to quote a source and acknowledge attribution by writing “(s)he said” at the end of a sentence. Example: “I hope Yar’adua lives long enough to save us from a potentially destructive constitutional crisis,” he said.

Now, when Nigerian newspaper journalists write “hear him,” they are not only being superfluous; they are also being unfaithful to the medium in which they write. We don’t literally “hear” people in print; we read them.

And to write “in his words” while at the same time inserting quotation marks to those words is redundant. It is precisely because you’re quoting your source “in his words” that the sentence is in quotation marks.

It’s, of course, appropriate to write “in his words” in broadcast scripts since they are meant to be read out.

3. “As at the time of filing this report.” Well, the correct expression, which is actually a fixed prepositional phrase, is “AS OF,” not “as at.” So, that sentence should read: “As of the time of filing this report.” This solecism has sadly percolated deep into the conventions of Nigerian English in general.

4. “Men of the underworld.” This expression has lost currency in other parts of the English-speaking world.

But my gripe with it is that it’s a hackneyed, flyblown cliché that evinces the intellectual laziness of Nigerian journalists. Why not simply write “criminals”?

5. “Names withheld.” This expression rankles me to no end. It’s not only unprofessional and irresponsible journalism to habitually conceal the identity of the subjects you are writing about (as in, “a

south-south governor in an oil-rich state [names withheld] is involved in a corruption scandal”); it’s also exasperatingly redundant to state that you have withheld the name of someone whose name you have not mentioned anyway! It is obvious to any reader that a name has been withheld if it’s not mentioned.

But what is particularly irking about this practice is that it is used even in reporting stories of crucial public importance.

If reporters and editors are not prepared to name names, even where it is legally and ethically safe to do so, why waste ink and space to opaquely hint at them? But the bad news for editors and reporters who practice this imbecilic and feeble-minded journalism is that, in media law, not directly mentioning the name of a person or an organization is not sufficient safeguard against legal liability.

If a person or a company can prove that there is sufficient material basis for “right-thinking” members of the society to infer that they are the object of a libelous newspaper innuendo, the paper is in the soup.

6. “Electioneering campaign.” “Electioneering” and “political campaign” mean the same thing. So “electioneering campaign” is tautologous. It’s either electioneering or campaign.

7. “Our story is true in every material particular.” The phrase “in every material particular” is an archaic legal jargon. It is not used in everyday English in any native variety of the English language.

8. “Yesteryears.” This old-fashioned word, which is sometimes used for literary effects, has no plural in both the British and American varieties of Standard English. It remains “yesteryear” whether it’s in the singular or plural form.

Another word that Nigerian newspapers—and by extension Nigerian speakers of the English language—pluralize against conventional practice is “slang.” The plural is often rendered as “slangs” in Nigeria. In Standard English, however, the plural form of slang does not take an “s”; it is often rendered as “slang expressions.”

9. “A free-for-all fight.” This tautologic expression is probably a consequence of the misrecognition of the part of speech of “free-for-all.” It is a noun, not an adjective, and cannot modify another noun. It means a brawl, a noisy fight in a crowd.

So it is sufficient to simply write that there was a free-for-all without adding “fight.”

10. “Not unconnected with.” This expression is not grammatically wrong but is hopelessly hackneyed and pretentious.

George Orwell once urged us to laugh the not un- formation out of existence by memorizing this sentence: “A not unblack dog was chasing a not unsmall rabbit across a not ungreen field.”

Are there many other annoying things with journalism as is practiced in Nigeria today that you know of?

Share your thoughts with us below.

One of the major challenges facing Nigeria since the return of democracy in 1999 is the capacity of core stakeholders in the various aspects of democratic governance.

The legislative arm of government — the major victim of military regimes — constantly had to start learning the rope each time civil rule is restored.

The committee staff in the legislature at all levels; legislative aides and other support staff, most times found themselves as beginners as a result of suspension of civil rule.

It is in realisation of the paucity of such knowledge and skill that the National Assembly, in partnership with relevant civil society organisations and consultants, has continued to raise the capability of this critical segment of governance.

One of such efforts is the recent two-day training on “Using New Media to Enhance Legislative Efficiency”, organized by the management of the federal legislature, in collaboration with two consultants — Strategic Network Systems Ltd. and African Exchange Programme.

Organised specifically for Senior Legislative Aides, the event held at the National Women Development Centre, Abuja.

The Clerk of the National Assembly (CNA), Chief Oluyole Ogunyemi, said the event was part of the developmental process in assisting legislators through well-trained aides.

He said the training, which was packaged through collaboration between the two chambers of federal legislature, was a continuation of a similar one held in July 2009.

Ogunyemi observed that the task of managing lawmakers by legislative aides was a difficult one, and that training on ICTs would enhance the competence of the staff to improve on the performance of their principals.

He said since government had adopted e-government and e-payment, the National Assembly was of the opinion that legislative aides should not be left behind.

He commended the Senate President, David Mark and House Speaker, Dimeji Bankole, for their support for the training, adding that since the world had become a global village it was necessary for the country’s legislature to be one of the ICT-friendly parliaments at the global scene.

Participants at the event called for regular training of the legislative aides, including foreign interactions, so that they could be exposed to the experiences of advanced democracies.

“There is not enough interaction between Nigerian legislative aides and their counterparts from other parts of the world”, they said in a communique at the end of the programme.

They observed that in spite of the huge benefits in the deployment of ICTs for legislative work, most legislative aides do not have sufficient skills to maneuver the technology for optimal utilisation.

Four lead presentations were made by resource persons at the two-day skills acquisition session.

“Working with Nigerian Online Communities” was presented by Mrs Wabuji Kefas-Dore; “Blogging Made Simple for Political Office Holders” was by Rima Shawulu Kwewum, a consultant on ICTs.

Boniface Kassam — a communications expert – presented “Working with the Nigerian Media: The Challenge for Legislative Aides”, and “Database Management” was by Edoho Daniel.

Dr. Samson Omojuyigbe of the Africa Exchange Programme, in a remark, expressed the preparedness of the trainers to impact knowledge of ICTs on the participating Senior Legislative Aides.

Omojuyigbe commended the large turnout of the aides and urged them to make good use of the knowledge they would acquire from the training.

Mrs Wabuji Kefas-Dore, a London based ICT expert, informed participants that millions of people around meet regularly online to chat, to debate topical issues, to give or ask for information, to find support and join discussion groups.

She described these social gatherings as ‘online community’.

“Nigerians all over the globe are amongst the millions of people who have developed and are engaged in online community groups. Factors like the purpose of the community, as in parliamentary practice or constituency demands and software environment characterise the online community,” she said.

Kefas-Dore argued that parliamentary staff could make use of chat rooms, email, instant messengers, forums, websites and conference calls — through the telephone — in the speedy execution of their responsibilities.

“Early online communities for education, networked communities and office communities were developed for known groups of users, whose characteristics, needs and skills were known and who had the same or similar communications software.

“Since then, the number of computer users has increased dramatically. The range of people participating in various kinds of online communities has also changed.

“While some communities require members to have particular skills or qualifications, there are millions of open communities in which anyone with internet and web access can participate.

“Consequently, the majority of users in these open communities and many others are not technical people or skilled workers. Today’s online community participants come from all walks of life,” she said.

Kefas-Dore listed the advantages of online communities to include an “anytime, anyplace’’ framework for facilitating and building partnership and collaboration among legislative aides and legislative committees.

She said it would also support “high tech, high touch’’ process for capturing a group’s best thinking as it “becomes a springboard for creative synergy, and a framework for maintaining time and attention, and supports secured, invited access to contribute to knowledge gathering and sharing”.

According to her, online communities are becoming a popular way to organise people and accomplish work in a highly collaborative manner.

“We all have to get better at participating and creating online communities in the coming years as it is beginning to be understood that online communities are not just for socialising, but for getting things done”, she said.

Kwewum, who led training on simple adaptation of blogging for political office holders, said the Internet was seen as an elite fad in the past but the situation has changed as “the most crowded place outside parks, beer parlours and worship centres are cyber cafes.”

The communications expert praised government policies that encouraged ICTs, citing the use of Internet for West African Examination Council (WAEC), National Examination Council (NECO), JAMB and post-University Matriculation Examination (UME) forms, as well as passport and employment applications.

“In some other African countries, including South Africa, tax assessments and payment are done online. The Lagos State Government has gone far in this direction, and as demands for accountability and transparency increases, many more organisations and institutions would be operating principally online,” he said.

He observed that such public institutions as the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), NigcomSat and National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), were providing community communication centres equipped with computers, Internet telephony facilities and broadband Internet access.

To prove that education is no more a barriers to the ICTs, he said, computing devices such as keyboards are being localized to enable more people access the Internet in their languages.

Citing the 2004 United States of America presidential election, the expert said the Democratic Party candidate Howard Dean used his blog to recruit volunteers and raised $50 million.

“Similarly, in 2008, President Barack Obama used the Internet to overwhelm his Democratic counterpart Hilary Clinton and later the Republican candidate John McCain. “His bloggers and social networking platforms registered more than 1.5 million new voters who organised themselves into 35,000 groups.

“A total of 150 meetings were organised by supporters who made millions of phone calls, donated millions of dollars and took the Obama campaign into millions of American homes,” he said.

Kwewum argued that blogging could be deployed to help politicians, when used “to recruit new members and supporters, raise funds for campaigns, debunk negative publicity, introduce new issues to the media, get instantaneous feedback on issues and conduct surveys on specific political matters.

“For most politicians, especially those starting out new, the costs of advertising in the traditional media such as the television, radio, newspapers and magazines are simply not affordable.

“The cost of placing a one-page advertisement in one newspaper can be deployed to set up and maintain a blog for over 10 years,” he said.

Boniface Kassam, who diagnosed the challenges faced by legislative aides in their manipulation of the media for political advantage, explained the various dimensions of the media of mass communications.

“It informs. It keeps one up-to-date. It educates, broadens and deepens one’s perspectives. It persuades, it sells goods and services, candidate and opinions,” he said.

He argued that senior legislative aides have the responsibility of writing well-informed press releases in a clear and interesting manner for circulation to the media on behalf of their principals.

This, he said, could be enhanced through press conferences, where an elected representative could explain certain actions and his role in such actions.

Messrs. Emmanuel Ogbor, Akpaudo Bassey, Uduak Udoka, Paul Ogbaji, Onabolu Lolu, Bello Oladele and Adebayo Akala, all legislative aides, who participated in the training, agreed that politicians could perform better if their aides were properly enlightened in all aspects of online communication.

They asked for improved financial support to encourage them to adequately aid their principals.

It is necessary for the management of the legislature at the federal, state and local government levels to pay special attention to the manpower gaps of the support staff.

Provision of adequate fiscal resources will enable the affected aides to acquire the needed skills to provide modern and latest information to their principals who will in turn make laws for the good governance of the society.