Opinion

Opinion

An Emir, The Egungun and a Cultural Express ~ By: Wole Temidire Aguda

“Egungun be careful, na express you de go” is perhaps the most confounding entertainment rebound of our generation in Nigeria today. In almost magical fashion, a subtle but firm warning against indiscretion in conduct occasioned by wealth, ability, privilege or opportunity has sipped into our sociosphere and raving. Fuji Musician, Abass Akande, had loosely but energetically deployed creative imagery of an Egungun (an elaborately dressed masquerade in this case) whose stock in trade is amusement from a cheering crowd and perhaps tokens earned from performances to depict men and women in places of social recognition and attention.

Extendable to any phenomenon that is cynosure of all eyes, caution and moderation is preached by this popular musician of Yoruba extraction in that musical stretch. Obesere as the musician is popularly called, laced warning for the ‘Egungun’ with proverbial insight of the consequences of discarding restraint and caution during performances. 20 years after, and basking in the emerging euphoria of this rather strange comeback, I am quite certain that Obsesere held little or no premonition of the relevance of his musical satire in the class duel that would envelope power junctions in Kano State as observable over the last 3 years.

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 Opinion

Opinion: “2019: Time to Disrupt the System” ~ By: Tony Ogunlowo

We’ve all made it through to the year 2019. Thank God!

Now it’s time to disrupt the system!

Donald Trump is  still the President of the United States of America as is Theresa May still the PM of Great Britain as is Mohammed Buhari still the President of Nigeria: in the land of the blind the one-eyed man will continue to be King! In the absence of credible leaders the world will be continually ruled by hapless Heads of States. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world all these hapless leaders’ rules are creating hardship, inequality and uncertainty. Jobs are at risk (- or non-existent!), peoples’ dignity and Sovereignty is being stripped away from them and people have been turned into automations living day-by-day unsure of the future.

The future is only going to be bright for the mavericks who are brave enough to disrupt the system.

It’s time to go it alone! No government, no religious institution or belief is going to enable you to fulfil your full potential: they just exist to enslave you!

To declare your independence you have to free yourself from the System. You’ve got to be able to show the System you can thrive and prosper without it. We always blame all our shortcomings on the government, on our religions, on our upbringing, on our ethnicity – on everything!

It’s time to take full responsibility for ourselves and our actions: if one lemming jumps off the cliff and drowns in the sea below must the rest follow?

To disrupt the System you must find ways to circumvent whatever the system is throwing at you. For instance if there is a recession learn how to create employment or additional  income for yourself. During the Great Depression in America in the 1920s it didn’t stop some people, who had nothing to start with, to become rich and famous.

To be able to disrupt the System and become independent of it you need the following 4 things:

 

1, Accept Yourself for who you are.

2, You need to believe in yourself.

3, You need to be self-motivated.

4, You have to stop caring about what others think of you (- within reason!)

1, Accept yourself for who you are.

We all want to be like somebody else – a movie star, a Premier League footballer, a top musician, anybody who is up there as rich and famous. We marvel at their fantastic lives and can only dream about what it’ll be like to be like them…

Why can’t you just be yourself?

The mere fact that a person is rich and famous does not necessarily mean that they are happy and content: just take a look at the number of high profile suicide cases in recent years.

You as a person are unique: there are over 7 billion people living on Planet Earth and no two persons are alike.

The mere fact that you are not rich and famous does not mean you’re not special. Take a good look at yourself, see what you’re good at and work on it!

2, You need to believe in yourself.

The one thing most people suffer from is a lack of self-belief: I call it the “Me Ke?” syndrome (- which is an admission of self-doubt when faced with impending greatness. It’s a bit like Saul-on-the-road-to-Damascus scenario). We always believe we can’t do something and run away and hide in our nondescript lives. Instead of taking the plunge and hoping for the best we take the easy way out by not doing anything because we’re too scared to try and don’t believe in ourselves. If you don’t believe in yourself and your abilities who else will?

3, You need to be Self-Motivated.

We all need the proverbial kick up the backside occasionally to get us moving.

A lot of people are not self-motivated; they need others to push them. How many people pay good money to be motivated by their pastors, motivational speakers, life coaches and shrinks? Anthony Robbins has made a fortune just by telling people what to do.

Why can’t you self-motivate yourself? Why do you need some self-proclaimed ‘Guru’ to motivate you when the same information is lodged somewhere inside your own head? What these people are peddling is simple common-sense which you should already know!

Learn how to self-motivate yourself.

4, You have to stop caring about what others think of you (- within reason!)

When you strike it out on your own you become a maverick, an outsider. You’re about to do something nobody has done before and people are going to laugh at you, criticize you and condemn you.

Man’s progress in this world was not built on the shoulders of Men who were scared to do something because they were too scared of what people might say. The Wright Brothers would not have achieved Man’s first powered flight if they cared about what people might say. Blacks in America would not have had their independence if people like Marin Luther King and others didn’t believe in themselves and what they were doing and were more concerned about what people might say. Mavericks like Elon Musk and Richard Branson wouldn’t have got to where they are today if they cared about what people thought about their often outlandish projects.

Now, a word of advice here! Whilst I might be preaching about going solo and not listening to what people might say you need to exercise caution!

Sometimes you might need to listen to somebody – even if it’s just that tiny little voice in your head. Before you jump off that cliff into the unknown you need to be a 100% sure of yourself and what you’re doing because if you get it wrong you’ll end up more screwed up than when you first started!

To this end try and assemble a group of knowledgeable confidantes who can honestly advise you. Your ideas might be crazy and out of this world but there’s bound to be someone out there who thinks the same way as you and can help you to make the “go” or “no go” decision. Only then proceed.

So there you have it! To be independent and disrupt the System you need to be yourself: independent, resilient, decisive and resourceful.

For the foreseeable future no government, anywhere in the world, will be able to help its citizens to live a better life.

It’s up to you.

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 Opinion

How about 3 Sitting Presidents for Nigeria? |By: Tony Ogunlowo

The 2019 Nigerian Presidential elections are just around the corner and the electorate are going to be faced with the age-old problem of electing one from the Good, the Bad and the Ugly( – and I’m not providing any clues to who is who!)
Whoever gets elected will face the age-old problem of tribalism, Corruption and Religious differences that has dogged Nigeria as a nation since 1960. Faced with all these problems any new President will spend his entire 4-year tenure battling them instead of doing anything positive for the nation: as a result progress will become stagnant, nothing gets done and all existing problems remain.
Recently an interesting thing happened in the formally war-torn country of Bosnia and Herzegovina – they elected THREE PRESIDENTS to run the country!

It what seems to be a ludicrous political joke it is aimed at promoting peace and keeping the country together : the position is pro-rata and each elected President will spend 8 months at the helm of affairs before passing on the baton to the next.
Bosnia, just like Nigeria, is a 3-nation state rather than one: they have three major ethnic groups – Bosnians, Serbs and Croats – who rarely get along and lead to the bloody civil war that engulfed the country in the 90’s.
Nigeria has naturally been divided into 3 regions since time began by the Rivers’ Niger and Benue creating the North, the West and the South-East. Also the people are different – the Hausa, the Yorubas and the Igbos – have carved out their own territories; Religiously, Muslims are predominantly in the North and the Christians in the South.
There have been several attempts to carve up the country that led to a civil war and constant civil unrest. Unfortunately we’re still stuck together, Nigeria will always be one nation, kept together by greed (- Oil!) rather than anything else.

The politics of Nigeria will always be dogged by religious and tribal issues so why not have 3 sitting Presidents? This will be a throwback to the past when there was a Premier for the West, East and North only that they will have full Presidential powers. It’ll take a major re-working of our constitution but the results will be worth it( sic – I’m not sure the pro-rata thing will work: they might all have to rule at the same time!

So the Presidency which is usually the domain of a single person will be de-regulated to accommodate three and the position of Vice-president will become obsolete. So, at the same time, you’ll have a Yoruba President, an Igbo President and a Hausa President – all with equal powers- running the country; hopefully from different political parties! Eventhough their different ideologies and inability to control corruption might still be a problem.
So instead of the Federal Republic of Nigeria you’ll have  the Confederation of Nigeria where all will come together for the betterment of  the country(- perhaps?) and all major ethnic tribes will all be equally represented at Aso Rock. So nobody will be able to complain when things are bad and not working because there’s a Muslim, Christian, Northerner or Southerner as President.

Considering Nigeria has tried every form of government known to Man in an effort to find what is suitable to us  – parliamentary, military dictatorships, federal( we haven’t tried communism or socialism yet but if we do its obvious who the Fat Cats will be!) – to no avail, having 3 sitting Presidents wouldn’t go amiss in our efforts to find a viable way to govern an un-governable nation.

Tony blogs at http://www.archangel641.blogspot.co.uk
Photo Credit: BBC

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 Opinion, Technology

Why Most Online Businesses Fail ~ By: Tony Ogunlowo

Even though  e-entrepreneurship is the new gold rush of the 21st century 90% of start-ups fail within their first year.
Why?
Lots of people try to make money online because in comparison to traditional businesses it’s relatively easy to set-up and it’s not capital intensive. The belief is you can make a lot of money in a short period of time. 

This is where people get it wrong – they want to make a lot of money in the shortest time possible. Think this way and you’ll crash within months! All the top internet giants of today – Facebook, Google – didn’t make any money in their first few years of operation. It takes time for you to build up your brand and make it profitable. This cannot be done overnight and there’s a lot of things to learn, learn again and keeping on learning.

You need to have a passion for what you’re doing and be prepared to work very long hours, sometimes probably 24/7, for months on end, perhaps even years without the prospect of a pay check at the end of the day.
Do it because you love what you’re doing and you’re prepared to commit your everything to it before you break even. If you can’t do this stick with the 9 – 5 job!

Another thing that makes a lot of online businesses fail is what I call the ‘Copycat Syndrome’. The mere fact somebody is making it big as a blogger, vlogger, apps developer or affiliate marketer doesn’t automatically mean you can duplicate their success; a lot of undocumented hard work would have got them to where they are now – this is the ‘secret’ they don’t share with you!

Stick to what you know best and what you’re good at and don’t copy others. All those who tried to copy twitter, Facebook and even Linda Ikeji have all disappeared over the years. Be original.
Watch the pennies: start small and grow gradually. I had a friend who wanted to set up an online media portal. Even before he had his website up and running he had hired 6 staff and rented a big office. With only a little money trickling in from sponsorships and advertising he soon found himself in the red and debt and had to close down. Only hire people and premises when you need to. Most of the time all you need is a laptop with internet connection. Keep it simple and small in the beginning.

Time: most people become entrepreneurs because they believe they will have more time for themselves – wrong! Until you’re making mega-bucks being an entrepreneur is a 24/7 affair – no time off, no holidays, no social life…nothing! You’ll literally be working all hours. So if you want more time off you better stick   with your current job where you’ll only work 9 – 5, have the weekends off and 2 weeks holiday per annum!
You also need to watch out for the competition: whatever you are doing there is bound to be somebody else doing the same thing somewhere else in the world which means you have to be innovative and on top of your game; look at the competition Uber is facing around the world from other copycats? If you let the competition get the better of you, you’ll sink like a stone in water. Look how Google destroyed AOL,Yahoo and Hotmail and relegated them to the back of the queue.

So to re-cap if you want to be a successful e-entrepreneur you can’t be motivated solely by the money you can make, be unique and don’t copy others(-blindly!), watch your budget – and your competitors and be prepared to work extremely hard.
Goodluck!

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 Opinion

The Rise and Fall of Akinwunmi Ambode. “Baba Sope” Political Ideology and the Myth of Yoruba Omoluabi Ethos | By: Kayode Ogundamisi

It is faulty to equate the deep loyalty Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu attracts in Lagos as exemplary of ‘Omoluabi loyalty’ or being reflective of the entire Yoruba or South-West populace. Ondo State electorate will argue for example that they “liberated” themselves without compromising the ‘Omoluabi’ ethos.
In the 2012 Ondo State Governorship election the current Governor of Ondo State Rotimi Akeredolu as a candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) was perceived as a “Tinubu imposed” candidate, he ran against the then incumbent Governor Olusegun Mimiko of the Labor Party, the people of Ondo rejected Akeredolu.
I recall stomping across Ondo during that election, excited crowds in Ondo State could not but approve with songs and folk songs as Mimiko invoked the tradition of the people of Ondo State not to take imposition from “outsiders’.
Then most nook and crannies in Ondo State the campaign was more about resisting Tinubu than on Mimiko’s performance. Mimiko did not have to say much about his performance during his first term in office, it was almost above his peers, particularly in education and health care, is Abiye healthcare project was celebrated even by his opponents.
In 2016 when Akeredolu was to run again, ironically against a candidate handpicked by Olusegun Mimiko, Mr. Eyitayo Jegede (SAN), he presented himself as an independent candidate, his own man, not only did he defeat Tinubu’s anointed candidate in the APC primaries, he canvassed for votes also reminding the people of Ondo State of how they should not let outsiders chose for the people of Ondo. Akeredolu won against the candidate of the PDP and today the rest is history. A number of other factors contributed to the victories in the 2012 and 2016 election of Mimiko and Akeredolu.
AMBODE AS AMBODE’S ACHILLES HEEL.
A lot has been written about current Governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, the irony is Ambode’s problem isn’t his Godfather, former Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Akinwunmi Ambode’s problem is Akinwunmi Ambode.
Power overwhelmed the Governor, he completely detached himself from the strong political party structure, a party that has been in power in Lagos since 1999 is not the kind of party you would ride on and ignore, you may ignore the man who brought you from obscurity, but to survive, you need to be an exceptional performer and keep your party structure happy. Ambode did not read the hand over notes of Governor Babatunde Fashola, if he had, he would not be facing the political battle of his life, the people stood with Fashola even when the body language of his godfather was hostile, even the mighty Tinubu knew moving against Fashola would have been political suicide.
MAFIOSO NATURE OF THE APC IN LAGOS
The Lagos APC power structure is filled with contradictions, sometimes progressive, sometimes self-serving, mostly operating like a bunch of mafias, highly close nit, those who control the party at every level expect absolute loyalty and no questions asked, it reflects most political parties in Nigeria, even newly formed political parties are mirroring the model, they have improved on it, 6 of the newly INEC registered political parties have founders, who are party Chairmen/Women and also sole Presidential Candidate.
Lagos civil service is an extension of the party structure, if you come in as a governor, you are not expected to rock the boat or ‘change the template’ (apologies to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu) it is a structure mostly servicing the few against the majority. Hardly would you find a Lagos State civil servant that is not a card-carrying member of the APC. Particularly the Alausa based civil servants, what happens in Alausa always remain in Alausa.
Lagos APC has political leaders who depend on state resources, they have no other means of livelihood than politics, they know Lagos like the back of their hand and have foot soldiers beholding on them, from NURTW members, to genuine party members who desire progressive change to just anyone that can be a yes man or woman, mostly reliant on on a rental system, they cannot just be cut off and be neglected by any Governor no matter how powerful or resourceful.
Ambode broke the first commandment, “thou shall not be unreachable”.
Yoruba and especially Lagosian’ s do not like Governors or political appointees who are perceived as ‘arrogant’ or cannot be reached, if you like tar the whole of Lagos roads with gold, they want to be able to ‘visit’ and expect TP on the way home, party leaders and members expect you to attend meetings at intervals, they don’t want you forgetting them during ‘Ileya’ ‘Christmas’ or any festive period, the street talk is that Ambode was not only unreachable to party members and leaders, he lived in his own world, his appointees are also detached, party members can’t even remember the name of commissioners in Ambode’s cabinet. Gone are the days when Rauf Aregbesola, Musiliu Obanikoro, Muiz Banire, Tokunbo Afikuyomi and co were Commissioners and you need not see the Governor to have a say in the government. Ambode ran a one man show.
For every progress Ambode made with road construction in inner city Lagos and futuristic projects such as the Lagos-Airport road, Bus Terminals, he undid with unpopular policies that targeted the very poor, it was as if he was in a race to undo some of Tinubu and Fashola’s projects, they say if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. Ambode was busy fixing projects that didn’t need fixing, from bus stops, to remodelling roads, it was a waste of time and resources. BRT buses were disappearing one after the other due to neglect, even Ambode’s newly constructed roads started developing potholes, the solutions became a problem. He did so well looking into inner city roads and improving on the Lagos Security Architecture, Lagos under him is one of the safest city by Nigerian standards.
Ambode’s greatest sin was taking away the garbage clearing project, thousands of poor people in Lagos, mostly party members employed as street cleaners and operators lost their means of livelihood. Ambode handed the task of cleaning Lagos over to a relatively unknown company called Visionscape Group, they did a terrible job, the only clean effort from Visionscape was to create a clean looking website, the new face of Lagos became the dirty face of Lagos.
Ambode unleashed one punitive tax system after the other on the people of Lagos, his most controversial being the land use tax, when he was advised to review the tax policy he was stubborn, indifferent and ruthless until the protest grew louder, he did not stop at that, he legislated his God fathers alleged tax collection firm company Alpha Betta as the sole collector, when citizens screamed scam, the state legislator claimed that legislating Alpha Betta into a state tax collection system was an “administrative mistake.”
Of all his attempt to fix inner city roads, Ambode waged war on poor people in waterfront areas, the people of Otogbgbame paid dearly for Ambode’s land grab schemes, over 200 structures belonging to poor people were razed down in 2016, the Egun and settler community around Lekki were seen by the government and elitist friends as an eyesore, to make matters worse the government disobeyed court orders, even when they got an injunction from the courts, like his predecessors Ambode mocked the Freedom of Information Act. Lagos is one of the few states where budgets are released without a breakdown.
Ambode is a product of the ‘baba sope’ collegiate contradiction and a victim of same. Hopefully the Yoruba “progressive” will learn from the resistance in Ondo, Ekiti, Kogi and the disaster of losing a Senatorial seat to a dancing clown and almost losing Osun Governorship to him as a warning shot. The warning being democracy is not a gift, it is a right, leaders are servants, entrusted with superintending the fair distribution of the commonwealth, they can’t keep distributing to their lackeys, friends, cousins, wives, concubines, brothers at the expense of qualified members of the public.
The Tinubu Clampdown on Ambode
The assertion that Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu is behind Ambode’s travails are false, Tinubu would have been swept by the revolt from within his own political base. He was smart enough to be led by the mass, rather than lead them. The revolt also exposes Tinubu’s vulnerability, if he had not moved against Ambode, the mass in his party structure would have moved against him, Tinubu barely yield power and influence, he was forced to stand with the party and base than stand against them, even overtures from Abuja could not have changed that. The crises within the Lagos APC against the Governor had been allowed to fester for too long. The chicken had come home to roost.
Many us have been saying it for years, both privately and in public, the Asiwaju Tinubu political structure would have to adapt to modern democratic ethos. The collegiate “baba sope” methods is plagued with contradictions and abuse, thus repeated conflicts. It is only a matter of time before it caves to the anger and discontent of followers and the electorate. For all his contributions to Nigeria’s democratic process, the legacy of Governor Tinubu will be better served if he stops getting involved in every selection process, let contest and processes be free and fair, Nigeria’s democratic process can only improve if internal party democratic process is free, transparent and fair, party membership open and attractive to the best who may disagree with the leaders of the party. It will be a shame for all his contributions for Governor Tinubu to leave the public with the image of the Lord of a Mafia group.
WHO ARE THE YORUBA PROGRESSIVES?
Many are sympathetic to the ideological left in Yoruba land, but really if you de robe the masquerade, it is becoming very difficult to spot the differences between the Yoruba PDP or Yoruba APC.
Land and resource ownership and control in Yoruba land, particularly in Lagos is now for the benefit of the few, economy of YORUBA circulates within the same elite. Thus, a Governor Ayo Fayose could challenge the traditional Yoruba left and “win” in Ekiti and it took the traditional left in Yoruba land adapting the play book of Ayo Fayose to “win’ back Ekiti. Usually it takes invoking the spirit of Obafemi Awolowo to win elections in the South West, that is fast changing, the people can’t spot the deference any more, they will rather take their chances with so called ‘akotiletas’ than stay with the so called ‘disciples of Awolowo’
The class structure of modern day YORUBA politicians is modelled after the so-called Hausa-Fulani hegemony style we all have been brought up to detest. Check beneficiaries of government appointments both at the federal, state and local levels in Yorubaland many are family members of Yoruba ruling elite. A very ‘progressive’ Yoruba Senator who mouths JUSTICE was already a pensioner in America, when the opportunity came for the ‘progressive’ to present a name to President Buhari for NAFDAC Chairperson, our Senator did not need to search far and wide Yoruba land for younger qualified Yoruba, he recalled his wife, who by the way was already a pensioner to take the position, the office of the Vice President is littered with sons and daughters of who is who in Yoruba land, Lagos House of Assemble like most Yoruba House of Assembly in Yoruba land is an extension of family meetings,  ‘Familitocrcy’ is replacing fairness, New generation Yoruba leaders are winning the battle of who is more nepotistic in the Nigerian federation. The politics of ‘godfatherism’ is replacing the ‘omoluabi’ ethos. ‘Omoluabi’ is just a theme to cunningly use the load of bread to wipe the soup from the plate of the commonwealth.
Yoruba OMOLUABI ethos should not be the subjugation of the will of the people to the few. It is Justice for all, equality for all who live and reside in Yoruba land, irrespective of who they are, where they come from, what language they speak, we are meant to be the beacon of hope, the welcoming people who rejoice at the arrival of new settlers, the one who vacates the most beautiful part of the household to make the guest comfortable, the tolerant one, the one who’s strength is not in the ability to spill blood but the diplomatic prowess of stopping a war, the people who agree, but mostly agree to disagree. The ‘omo Karo o ji ire bi?’.
Fairness in the distribution and allocation of Yoruba resources for all who contribute to Yoruba land should now be the priority of Yoruba leaders, it should cross party and ideological lines. Not all Yoruba progressive or conservatives have done badly, even with their faults but a lot of bad has been done, yes, we can still point to some progress, but that is due to the determination and can-do attitude of Yoruba and all those who have chosen Yoruba Land as home. It is never too late to stop the house from fallen.
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Kayode Ogundamisi is an Inter-Politics, Anti-Corruption Campaigner and presenter of the political TV show #PolitricksWithKO on BEN-TV UK. He blogs at kayodeogundamisi.blogspot.co.uk
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Opinion

Opinion: A Lesson in Resilience | By: Tony Ogunlowo


For more than three weeks last month 12 boys, the youngest of them being just 11 years old, were trapped in a cave in Thailand, not knowing whether they were going to get out – alive – or not. For the first 9 days of their ordeal before they were found they were in pitch darkness, they had no food or clothes apart from what they wore and had to resort to drinking water dripping off the walls to stay alive. At no point did they give up hope of being rescued even though they were in a helpless situation: nobody knew where they were and they had no means of getting out due to the rising waters. Even when the rescuers arrived and it was determined they couldn’t be brought out straight away they still didn’t give up hope.
Often in our lives when confronted with problems we are quick to give up, losing our faith and hope in an instant. And when faced with a seemingly hopeless situation – like the Thailand cave boys found themselves in – most people will go all the way down becoming clinically depressed and often suicidal.
Personally I don’t think any problem, in this world, is insurmountable and can’t be conquered. With the right state of mind anybody can get through anything in life.
When asked what got them through their ordeal, The Thailand Cave Boys put it down to their belief in their God and themselves.
Nowadays most peoples’ belief is limited to the virtual world of their phone or tablets touchscreens! The once belief in a God-that-can-pull-you-through anything has long gone and most peoples’ mental resilience is like a candle in the wind: first sign of trouble and they become quivering nervous wrecks!
There will always be trials and tribulations in our lives; nobody goes through life without facing problems. There will always be that one odd hopeless situation one has to deal with: situations which will defy all usual problem solving techniques leaving us with just faith and hope to pull us through.
To be able to get through whatever Life has to throw at us one needs to be spiritually and mentally strong: the two go hand in hand, not one without the other.
Lots of people will attest to their miraculous escapes from impossible situations; car accidents, house fires, even soldiers will attest to how bullets have missed them on the battlefield. This is without a doubt is divine intervention brought about by the individual’s faith and belief. If you have Faith you can move mountains.
The next thing is Positive Mental Attitude – PMA – some people have it and can remain positive and up-beat no matter what is going on in their lives. They are the ones who can always see light at the end of the tunnel even when there is nothing to see.
And there are the ones who have no PMA – they are perpetually negative! Their minds are permanently tuned to a negative channel and at the first sign of trouble they will be the first to panic and lose hope.
Conditioning one’s mind to ne more positive is relatively easy: start by believing in yourself – and God! You as a person have unlimited mental abilities often lying dormant because we don’t activate them! Our minds are capable of doing a lot more if given the chance. And believing in God 100% can produce miraculous results even in impossible situations.
Learn to believe in the word ‘hope’: it’s a simple four-letter word that can spell the difference between success and failure. None of the great men and women in the world today would have got  to where they are if they didn’t have ‘hope’ – even at times when defeat was staring them straight in the eye.
Put the two together, faith (-or belief) and PMA, and you’ll become a more resilient person able to deal with whatever life throws at you. No matter what problems you have there will always be a way out: probably not straight away, but there will be a way.
As the Yorubas say, there’s nothing that can fall from the sky that the ground (Earth) can’t shoulder.
Be more resilient.

Tony Ogunlowo blogs at http://www.archangel641.blogspot.co.uk

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Opinion

Opinion: The 2019 Nigerian Presidential Elections | By: Tony Ogunlowo

The Nigerian Presidential Elections are barely a year away. It’ll be an interesting and definitive election that the whole of Nigeria – and the rest of the World – will be watching very carefully. Again it’s going to be a test to see if democracy can survive in Africa.

Traditionally incumbent Presidents can expect to win a majority of the votes cast with a ‘swing vote’ – floating or undecided voters – deciding whether they’ll be elected for a second term or not.
Nigeria is a funny country and nobody knows what this ‘swing vote’ will be: the electorate normally makes its judgement  based on how well the President manages the economy and deals with civil unrest. In the case of ex-President Goodluck it was his inability to eradicate Boko Haram, rescue the Chibok girls and control rampant corruption in his government that made the voters vote him out of office.
The incumbent won the Presidential ticket on the single basis of turning the country around. In this task he has failed, but yet again the problems besetting Nigeria can’t be solved in a single or double tenure of office by a President; the right President will need a millennium to sort out Nigeria’s problems!
The incumbent President is not in a good position to win the elections in 2019: too many things have gone wrong; some his fault and others beyond his control. The falling prices of oil on the international market is one factor: with no money in the nations coffers very little can be done. Corruption is still rife and all promises to bring all guilty politicians to book have failed: corrupt politicians have proved to be cleverer, either  hiding behind Section 308 or playing legal games which makes it difficult to secure convictions. He (the president) will be savaged by the electorate on further issues concerning his health and his suitability for the post, his inability to bring the country out of recession and most important of all his stance on the infamous militant Fulani herdsmen. The Presidential election will not be a contest between APC or PDP parties but rather against one man – the President – and a lot of people will gang up against him just to get him out of office.
There are a lot of Presidential aspirants in the waiting and borrowing a leaf from the American Presidential elections of 2016 the voting public fed up with the establishment might well vote in a maverick – like Donald Trump – just to see what somebody else can do. And if Baba Iyabo has anything to do with it, it might well be a coalition of opposition parties – or one of his protégés – that will be vying for the top job – and may win it!
Nigerians want results and not promises. It’s one thing to mount an election podium and make outlandish promises and another thing to deliver. If you can’t deliver you’ll be called out and stoned!
A presidential aspirant in Nigeria needs to make promises they can deliver within their tenure, whether that be the eradication of Boko Haram or the creation of jobs. Nigeria is a cesspool of problems and one person can’t solve all its problems in one go: Rome wasn’t built in a day! So instead of promising Heaven and Earth and nothing gets done – which is a logical conclusion –  make meaningful promises that can be attained within a specific time. This way people will see that something is being done.
Perhaps the time has come for a much younger person to take over the helm of affairs instead of all these old babas who have been meddling in Nigeria’s affairs since before independence: no more analogue 20thcentury Presidents but a digital one for the 21st century who’ll be in tune with everyone whether they be ‘lazy’ youths, pompous billionaires or ‘snake-oil-merchant’ politicians. New young person = new ideas and style of governance (- hopefully!)
 Even though the electorate will demand everything be fixed within the Presidents tenure, the latter has to be honest in outlying what he can or cannot do. At the end of the day the President is only human and can humanely do whatever he can to keep over a 180 million people happy.
Therefore in choosing a new President Nigerians need to understand that the person they’re electing has a long term vision for the country – this is the only way. Where Nigeria is concerned there is no such thing as a quick fix solution.

Follow Tony Ogunlowo on Twitter: @Archangel641 or visit http://www.archangel641.blogspot.co.uk

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Opinion

Opinion: Curbing the menace of the marauding Fulani herdsmen | By: Tony Ogunlowo

I’ve been asked to write about the marauding Fulani herdsmen who have been causing havoc and mayhem where ever they go. This is a very sensitive and volatile topic that nobody will write about unless it’s about their murderous antics. But nevertheless let’s see what I have to say. Surprisingly I’ll sit on the fence here: a lot of blood has been shed on both sides; there are no winners or losers here, everybody is suffering.
What you have going on here is the equivalent of opening up the floodgates to Hell: on the one hand you have a bunch of illiterate herdsmen protecting their livestock with everything they’ve got and on the other hand you got those protecting their lands from the trespassing herdsmen. And unless steps are made to keep them apart –
permanently – there will be pandemonium for years to come. The proliferation of weapons in Nigeria and the inability of the security forces to control it means these otherwise ‘bow-and-arrow’ herdsmen now have access to a wide range of advance weapons – handguns, AK47s and god knows what else – to go on the rampage with.
I don’t believe the killings are politically or religiously motivated since the herdsmen haven’t declared any allegiance to any political cause or party and they intend to kill anyone indiscriminately which rules out religion as a cause. That they were trained in Libya to come and wreak havoc in Nigeria seems to be a far-fetched  unsubstantiated claim: without a political or religious agenda this doesn’t make sense.
For those old enough to remember the Fulani herdsmen have always brought their herds down from the North to graze in the South before selling them. In the past they have done this in a peaceful manner without becoming a nuisance or danger to anyone. Then something happened , recently, that would turn them into rag-tag militant murderers burning down towns and villages and killing people. The thing that happened is called ‘progress’: whilst the rest of the country has moved on into the 21st century the mentality of the herders is still stuck in the 19th century – or even less!
As we know, the Fulani herdsmen are nomadic and highly illiterate: they don’t stay still in one place to get a decent education or learn about the world around them. Their loyalty is only to each other and their herds – anybody else is their enemy. They also believe it is their God-given right to graze their herds where ever they see a green patch. The people in the South and Middle Belt have progressed further and the once open and vast green belts are now somebody’s front garden, farm, playing field or park – definitely not for grazing without permission from the owner. The illiterate herdsmen don’t know this (- or don’t care!) and continue grazing their ‘beloved’ animals and before you know it trouble erupts and escalates to big time wahala and people are killed.
Now instead of the herdsmen to see this as a deterrent to them grazing on somebody’s land without permission they see it as a declaration of war. So next time they come down from the North with their herds they are ready to battle with anybody who gets in their way: and armed with AK47s, machetes etc they can inflict a lot of damage on a small community within a few hours. What is wrong here is their mind-set and with no one to talk to them
or educate them about the dos and don’ts of the 21st century they will carry on. And in a country where there is a breakdown in law and order, where 80% of the active police force are assigned non-police duties such as guarding dignitaries and banks, anarchy is bound to prevail; so it’s no surprise Fulani herdsmen, Boko Haram, cultists and
other miscreants are running amok.
In the United Kingdom the government had a similar problem with a nomadic group of people called ‘travellers’ or ‘gypsies’. They would turn up out of nowhere with all their old vehicles and caravans and set-up camp where ever it suited them – be it a public park, school field or somebody’s front garden. Without a doubt this lead to incessant conflicts between them and the local residents. It got so bad that just like the Fulani herdsmen they came ready to do battle with anyone who got in their way until the government stepped in. The government’s solution to the problem was a very simple one: they established traveller’s parks outside of every major town so these people can go there whenever they’re on the move and passed laws forbidding them from going anywhere else. Problem solved! The travelers were happy and the local residents were happy. No more ugly confrontations and no more wahala.
Sometimes the solution to a big problem can be something very small. There’s enough land in Nigeria for every major town to have a ranch or ranches outside the city boundaries to accommodate these Fulani herdsmen and their cows. Once you have these ranches up and running (- hopefully!) you make them go there and stay there, enforcing it with whatever means possible: enforcing their movement there is the key here; somebody needs to get it into their thick skulls that they can’t graze their cattle anywhere else. By the time you arrest and lock-up a few of them and seize their ‘beloved’ herds the rest will get the message. By doing this a lot of the bloodshed, happening on a daily basis, will be avoided. Branding them as terrorists or engaging them in running battles will only escalate the problem.
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Opinion

Opinion: Benue Killings And The Other Issues | By: Wole Aguda

The episodes of killings that Nigeria has witnessed in recent times are not new. While conceding that, I must however immediately submit, that they bear the trappings of an expansionist agenda that works against the spirit of unity that the Nigerian spirit actively espouses and passionately promotes.
The Herdsmen killing problem of Nigeria is partially caused by the trap of conspicuous consumption in which we find ourselves. We must eat meat regardless of the price or the circumstances of its availability. The average Nigerian family has a cultural affinity to meat and its consumption. Despite recurring warnings from Nutritionists about the hazards of red meat, we have continued to consume meat as status symbol. The man whose morsels of Fufu and Eba are accompanied with sizeable chunks of obstructive meat in soups is seen as living well regardless of his heart condition and so by extension, whether agreeable or not, we are slaves to the average Herdsman. His meat is a god on dining sets and at eateries across the length and breadth of Nigeria. The need to eat meat is therefore a remotely connected, yet powerful but unmoderated driver of the killings at Benue.
How many of you will survive without meat in your soups? We copy the White man per opportunity but not in their prescriptions for diet. Our consumption at Ipetumodu and Mbiase forms the fundamentals of the industry. Nothing will change till that also changes. Shake the demand side a bit and see a calming down.
But what do the killings say about the profiles of the Herds and their owners. If I were a Herdsman, I wouldn’t kill my market. I would be concerned about corporate social responsibility. I would be drawing up plans for increased wallet and market share. While I will have security as a concern, I will more than any other thing conceptualize how cows can be supplied via electronic orders placed on my website. I’d be having sleepless nights on how I can even do more than I am currently doing in huge sales per day. I would be concentrating on the mechanics for a Cows-on-Demand Business Model.
See, I believe that technology can redefine daily living and so will be guided by the need to consider 21st century thinking for an Ottoman Empire trade. It is what is going on in developed countries so why not here? So the run of herdsmen, reflects the ownership, and the entire value chain. Who are the faces behind them? Owners of these businesses must be exposed, not for shaming, but for needful update on how to manage consumers, regulate markets, retain external relations and social responsibility. Our herdsmen should consider CSR, for starters. Their owners should attend business school. If they can’t, why are we one country where basic thinking on a simple subject as mutual exchange of value between Herdsmen and communities is so polarized. Or do we have a consensus?
We cannot blame President Buhari any longer. He boldly declared already in 2015, 3 good years ago that there is a limit to his performance due to old age. We are nonetheless the fools at fault for building gallant expectations against expressed inability.
May the blessed departed souls of the people of Benue (whom I love so much), Adamawa, Taraba and Plateau rest in peace. Amen.
 
 

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Opinion, Sports

Opinion: Why Africa’s young people are the real winners at the CAF Awards | By: Benedict Peters

Almost nowhere on earth is football followed as passionately as in Africa. It is loved by Africans from all walks of life across the continent. This week, I am giving the opening address at the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Awards in Accra, Ghana. This has afforded me a good opportunity to reflect on Africa’s relationship with football and how it can help deliver a brighter future for our young people.
I believe we need only look to the Liberian presidential election for a fine example of the transformative power of football. Against the odds, football legend and opposition candidate, George Weah was victorious and today, is President-elect of Liberia, one of Africa’s most popular countries. Weah’s perseverance in the face of an initial unsuccessful attempt is a testament to the endurance football teaches.
Before he was a Presidential candidate, of course, Mr. Weah was an outstanding footballer whose career spanned great clubs like Paris Saint Germain, Marseille, Monaco and even English Premiership giants like Chelsea and Manchester City.

George Weah

A striker of fearsome reputation, Weah has been described as the greatest footballer to emerge from Africa, confirmed in 1995 when he won both FIFA Footballer of the Year and the highly valued Ballon d’Or. Over a three year period, in 1989, 1995 and 1996, he claimed the top prize of African Footballer of the year, crowning that in 1996 with the African Footballer of the Century award.
The power of a footballer entering frontline politics cannot be overstated, for two reasons. First, it shows that politics is accessible to all, to the ambitious individual who dares envisage a way he or she can contribute to their country’s future. Second, it makes politics interesting and relevant to young people. If our continent is ever to reach its full potential, then it is our young people who are going to deliver it.
Africa’s youth are already shaping today and redefining tomorrow with their creativity, passion and innovation. I believe that the greatest gift that our generation can give them is to continue to provide platforms for aspiration, recognition and inspiration. But the idea of ‘opportunity’ or of ‘potential’ can be an abstract enough concept to adults never mind the younger generation, many of whom have been overlooked by the decisions of governments not to allow funds raised from investment to trickle down into stronger education systems, apprenticeships and advancement.
In football, the notion of opportunity is far from abstract. Football has always been a unifying factor and a great tool for promoting integration and development. But more than that, it is a global currency, a language spoken in the United Kingdom as much as in Brazil, China and Nigeria. And in football we see, most tangibly, the bold young role models and ambassadors of Africa who are inspiring others and have set the pace in their pursuit of excellence.
Of course, we must be careful not to set false expectations. Football is affected by the same attrition rate that applies to other sports in that very many are called but few ultimately make the dizzy heights that many dream of.  President Barack Obama pointed out that youth in the United States may have good role models for economic empowerment and entrepreneurship in the music industry, but that it was unlikely that each child would grow up ‘to be the next Lil Wayne’, so children must also work hard in school. The same can be said of football: not all of our children will grow up to be the next George Weah, Abedi Pele,  Dider Drogba or Jay Jay Okocha, but these role models still offer young people a concrete example of the hard work that goes into the pursuit of excellence.

The example of football goes far beyond the 22 men or women who stand on the pitch for 90 minutes each week. I know this because I have seen the extraordinary depth of support services that go into creating the finished product of a football match, and the transformative role they play when properly looked after.
Over the last year, Aiteo has been supporting sports development in Nigeria, leading a partnership agreement with the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) to provide financial Support to the technical team of Nigeria’s national team for the next five years. In the months since, Nigeria has won more games than they have lost and has qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Aiteo has also made significant contributions towards developing the local football by underwriting the costs associated with organising the Federation Cup, Nigeria’s equivalent of the English FA Cup, helping smaller teams grow and improve on the national stage.
With coaching roles, training roles, marketing, advertising, commercial partnerships and merchandising roles all part of the infrastructure of a newly-global Nigerian football team, no child need only grow up to be the next Alex Iwobi if they are to benefit from the transformative power of football. If a footballer can become the head of a nation, they why not a football coach, a medic or a marketing executive?
So, when I stand on the stage this week to open the CAF Awards, the winners will be very clear to me before the awards have even been handed out: the true winners will be every young person who sees that event; sees that the eyes of the world are on Africa and that a future for each one of them exists in which they can go beyond their school, their hobbies, their parents, and truly embrace their potential. Because the way we conceive the future sculpts the present.

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