Opinion

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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Opinion

Opinion: Tithes: To pay or not to pay ~ By: Tony Ogunlowo

The controversy surrounding the payment of tithes rages on with those for and those against  giving good arguments for paying or not paying.
I’ll sit on the fence here: the payment of tithes is mentioned in the Bible, as a levy for the upkeep of the church and the clergy, but again so many other things are mentioned that require equal attention like learning how to read and live in accordance to the words of the Bible and not just collecting money.
Some will argue that the payment of tithes is mandatory. Yes and so are a lot of other things in the Bible like keeping the Ten Commandments! People can’t just pick and choose what they want from the Scriptures.
As Christians it’s strange that only the issue of paying tithes should take centre stage in Nigeria with even some revered pastors demanding it: if only they put the same energy into speaking out against slavery in certain parts of Africa, cultism and ritual killings and other ills of society the world will be a better place. This is what a real pastor does instead of throwing tantrums over what or what not is paid into the church coffers.
It’s a fundamental fact of life  that we give something back – not just to the church – but to our society, our families and the world as a whole so paying tithes ( I prefer to call it ‘contributions’ or ‘offerings’) for the upkeep of the church ( – and not the pastors’ bank account!) is necessary. Again the amount to be paid and the frequency should be at the discretion of the individual paying: it’s between him or her and God on what’s to be paid and when and not somebody running around asking for bank details!
This is where what I’ll call unscrupulous ‘businessmen’ pastors come in: they purposely set-up churches for financial gain demanding tithes from their members. I’ll use the word ‘demand’ because that is what they do: if a person is unable to pay his tithes for one reason or another ( – especially with the recession on)  instead of calling him out ,while not leave him until he is able to – some people go hungry so they don’t miss out on paying their tithes, this is wrong!
Again these pastors encourage people to tithe more money to the church so that they can get more blessings from God – that is to say that God is so desperate for Our Money before he grants us any requests! If this were true then Bill Gates will be able to walk on water!
What is wrong here is not the payment of tithes but the manner in which it is collected and later disbursed – often to pay a Pastors’ fat salary or fund his lavish lifestyle – that is the problem.
Money and religion don’t mix: clergymen should hands off tithes collection or any mention of it and concentrate more on being pastors.
Perhaps there needs to be more transparency here. In a more civilized existence church accounts will be audited and published periodically so that the congregation can see how their tithes are being spent. So it won’t be the case of one man sitting on all the money and him deciding how he will spend it.
And lastly, there are a lot of things going on in the world today that urgently requires the attention of the Christian Church and the petty squabbling over the collection of tithes is not one of them.
 

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

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Opinion

Opinion: Go, Mugabe, Go | By: Reuben Abati

Since August, I have been the anchorperson of a programme on television called ThisDay Live where we discuss political matters – local and global. The programme is available on Arise News TV at 6pm, 9pm and sometimes at midnight every Sunday.
Two days ago, we discussed the situation in Zimbabwe, the elections in Anambra, Nigeria’s decision to hire Malaysian experts at a cost of N485 million to figure out new pathways for Nigeria’s economic growth (with all the experts in Nigeria oh!), the proposed expansion of President Buhari’s cabinet, the burial of 26 teenage Nigerians by the Italian authorities without Nigeria showing up, the sale of Nigerians and other Africans into slavery in Libya…
But our top story was Zimbabwe and the travails of a once-upon-a-time Comrade Robert Mugabe. We started the programme by joining the Arise News studio in London where our colleague Tham who has been on the Zimbabwean story provided all the updates.
He had said that he thought that the Lagos studio was a little behind on the story, because at that point, there were clear indications that Robert Mugabe had been persuaded to resign and he thought that would happen in a matter of hours, because television cameras were already being set up and Mugabe, having been expelled from the ruling party, along with his Lady Macbeth wife- the Gucci Grace, was bound to throw in the towel. I engaged Tham and my last question to him was: Is it certain that Mugabe would resign, or he would have to be impeached? I paraphrase of course. But Tham was sure, he was certain that the matter would not require impeachment proceedings, and that Mugabe was sure to resign and allow Zimbabwe to move ahead.  His optimism was misplaced, and I do not blame Tham for his optimism. We all have been very optimistic that the drama of Zimbabwe had reached a certain end, but the reality is that the coup plotters of Zimbabwe are proving to be the nicest coup plotters ever in the history of that enterprise.
The more we hear about Zimbabwe, the more it appears that the military and the ZANU-PF hierarchy who want Robert Mugabe out of the way, are not really sure of what means to employ to achieve their objective. This must be the most uncertain, the most diffident bid for power ever, and it is a clear illustration of the extent of Robert Mugabe’s hold on power in that unfortunate country. Majority of the people who want Mugabe out of power may not like his wife, the typist turned mistress, turned wife, turned Lady Macbeth, turned power-seeker, but they remember Mugabe’s role in the history of their nation – he fought for independence, he defied the colonialists and the imperialists, but he then became a despot, muzzling the opposition, killing off any form of dissent, the once revered revolutionary soon became a woman-wrapper, and in his later years, a parody of his old self.  Those who want him out of power are his own associates, members of a party he co-founded, not the opposition, and so they treat their elderly comrade with too much love. These coup-plotters are therefore behaving as if they are afraid to hurt Mugabe. He is so ensconced in their psyche, they would rather not hurt him, because he is so central to their collective reckoning and history.
The Zimbabwe military has been treading so carefully it does not even want to use the word “coup”.  I believe that this is not necessarily out of the fear of international backlash – the international community would be glad to see Mugabe fall- all the issued statements are at best symbolic diplomatese. Mugabe is the oldest President in the world and a signal nuisance with his off-key speeches, falling spells, despotism and soporific appearances on the global stage. At 93, he has nothing to offer anymore, but the man has since declared that he is determined to remain in office till the age of 100, or interpretively, die in office.  A coup against such a man would attract the usual scripted responses but the global feeling would be one of actual relief. Leaders like Mugabe sometimes put international consensus to threat. Anyhow, the characters in charge of the current situation in Zimbabwe not only put Mugabe under house arrest, they have since then been going to him to pay homage. Two days after the military announced their intervention, the leaders went to visit Mugabe at home. He later showed up at a convocation ceremony, where he showed absolutely no signs of distress. One of the graduands was in fact the wife of the Zimbabwe Chief of Defence Forces! When Mugabe addressed the nation on Sunday, he was serenaded by the same people who want him out of the way, with one of them even helping him to turn the pages of an incoherent speech.
The so-called change-agents of Zimbabwe are actually not change agents at all. What is going on in Zimbabwe is not a revolution; it is a re-arrangement of the power nexus within the ruling party.  This is all at the end of the day about Grace Mugabe. The liberation veterans within the ruling party, who are aligned with the ousted former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa resent the rise to influence and power and the threat of further rise of Robert Mugabe’s wife, the 52-year old Grace Mugabe. They needed to stop the flow of her opportunism: her plan to capture the leader and capture the country with nothing more than female power. I agree that it is important and expedient to stop Grace Mugabe from turning an entire country into what is currently known in Nigeria as “the other room”. Having achieved that objective, and Robert Mugabe having reassured them, and they assuming that by taking leadership of the party from Mugabe and bringing back Mnangagwa, that the revolution has been saved, the elders of the events of the last week in Zimbabwe may end up advertising their own naivety.
The rigmarole, indeed the entertainment, has gone on for too long. The speech given by Robert Mugabe Sunday night showed that Mugabe is defiant. He is unwilling to resign or step down.  He understands that the Sixth schedule of the Constitution creates its own special roadblocks if a “supposedly elected” President must be removed from office. If care is not taken, Robert Mugabe will outsmart those who want him out of power and we could have a tragic situation in that country.  The old man of Zimbabwe politics is still trying to take charge, postponing the evil day and even after his removal from the leadership of the party, he wants to preside over the next meeting of the ZANU-PF.  Here is Mugabe behaving like that proverbial, aged uncle in the village who keeps defying death. Each time he falls ill and the children and grandchildren begin to prepare for his funeral, he would suddenly wake up again, sometimes after his death has been announced and funeral arrangements have been made. The family got trapped in the endless funeral arrangements, until someone came up with the idea that the Oracle should be consulted to find out the mystery of the old man’s repeated Lazarus-like existence. The Oracle’s striking revelation was that the old man had a charm, a ring on the big toe of his left leg, and until and except that ring is removed, the man may never die.  What the change-seekers of Zimbabwe should do is to remove that ring around Mugabe’s thumb toe on the left leg.
It is none other than the respect and sympathy that the authors of the recent process still have for Mugabe. Left to the ZANU-PF leadership and the military, they’d rather have Mugabe die in office. What they cannot stand is the impunity of his overreaching wife, the Jezebel called Grace Mugabe. The turning point came when Grace turned her gaze on the liberation veterans and began to eliminate them starting with former VP Emmerson. The liberation wing of the ZANU-PF could no longer tolerate the rise of Grace Mugabe’s G-40 and their bid for power.  Grace Mugabe is Robert Mugabe’s nemesis. She is the Delilah to his Samson.  When Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari told an international audience that his wife belongs to the sitting room, the kitchen and the other room, we all accused him of misogyny, but in far away Zimbabwe, Mugabe is making Buhari look like a man of wisdom. Not a few world leaders have been destroyed by their wives: Lucy Kibaki, the wife of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki was so powerful, her husband openly deferred to her in public.  In Africa’s patriarchal system, a President’s wife behaving like she has her husband on a leash, is bound to ignite crisis. Grace Mugabe is said to be in a fit of hysteria. Forty-one years younger than the husband she married by stabbing another husband in the back, Grace Mugabe will never be forgotten as a case study for the anatomy of female power.
On his own, Mugabe, going through a process of anagnorisis and devastating catharsis, wants to hold on to power by all means. Sit-tight African leaders and despots never want to leave. Idi Amin of Uganda didn’t want to go. Yahya Jammeh, the most recent example, tried every possible trick to prolong his stay in office. In Egypt, it took a people’s revolution to push Hosni Mubarak out. Mugabe is going through the same course of defiance. He needs to be reminded that the people are the real Oracle of democracy. The game is up. The genie is out of the bottle. In 37 years, the ordinary people of Zimbabwe, who have majorly not known any leader other than the old man, have never gone out in protest to reject him, not even when he brutalized the opposition, not even when he killed hundreds of thousands of Ndebeles, but now the people have found their voice. They are defying Mugabe. They want him out. He has thus lost legitimacy and influence. His mystique is gone. His power is vanishing. Without power, a man of power is nothing but a shell.  Mugabe has reportedly rejected every option that he has been given: resignation, a life in exile, or retirement within the country, with full immunity. He is not sure. He is trying to buy time. The truth is Mugabe has been caged. He is afraid of tomorrow. He is scared. It is good to see the hunter in the role of the hunted.  He does not deserve our pity.
Hopefully, other sit-tight African leaders who imagine themselves to be monarchs rather than leaders would learn from the travails of former Comrade Robert Mugabe. In Togo, Equitorial Guinea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, and Cameroon, and elsewhere in Africa, sitting Presidents are behaving like monarchs. The rings on their toes would also have to be removed by the people, in order to fully consolidate the democratic dispensation in Africa.
The international community must not allow Zimbabwe to continue to drift. The uncertainty that lingers in that country, if allowed to continue, could result in greater chaos and instability. The Military and the ZANU-PF have done apparently their best so far to push Robert Mugabe, but the man has refused to jump. The international community has the wherewithal to make him jump.  It must be made clear to him in no uncertain terms that the game is up. It is over. The Zimbabwe parliament should be encouraged to impeach Robert Mugabe. Fears of a possible deluge in a Zimbabwe without Mugabe may be overstretched.  Things are bad enough as they are in that country, with inflation at 50%, a comatose economy and widespread hardship. Mugabe’s exit should guarantee only one outcome: an opportunity to rebuild a battered country and a traumatized citizenry. That real change may not come from a compromised ZANU-PF and so-called rent-collecting liberation veterans, but from a new beginning in which Zimbabwe frees itself from the Banquo’s ghost of Mugabe’s misrule and an entitlement class parading itself as revolutionaries.

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Opinion

Coping with Suicidal Thoughts | By: Tony Ogunlowo

You haven’t killed yourself, yet, so that’s a start. You are thinking, seriously, of doing it but haven’t yet mustered up the courage to go ahead with it. With all the conflicting thoughts in your head you’re still trying, desperately, to find a reason to carry on living.

Don’t despair! You might think the whole world is against you and there is no other option, but it’s not over – there’s a way.

Suicidal thoughts are mostly brought on by financial difficulties, social and peer pressure. Feeling worthless enough to want to end one’s own life can happen to anyone – no one is immune so it’s not the reserve of just the poor, the lonely or mentality unbalanced.

I will not go into the religious implications of taking one’s life as this will just provoke a lengthy debate on the dos and don’ts of suicide: people who are suicidal need help and not a religious lecture! For whatever we might think it takes a very brave and desperate person to decide to end their lives. And for those who believe they took the easy way out, it’s not: sometimes a tormented soul has no other option.

While it’s not easy to try and talk somebody out of contemplating suicide, one can only try. And in trying a counsellor cannot take the moral high ground so I won’t.

So you’ve got to that point where you consider your life is not worth living. I, and nobody else, can imagine in our wildest nightmares what you’re going through and I don’t believe you can tell anybody either what the feeling is like – even if you tried. The pain has enveloped you and you can see no other way out. I would like to tell you that there is always light at the end of the tunnel, no matter what you’re going through, but I won’t: you need to use whatever energy you’ve got left to find it yourself. Somebody trying to tell you how good things can be is not the same as hearing your own voice: talk to yourself and convince yourself there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Give Life another chance! I know you’ve been let down badly by Life so much that you want to kill yourself but give it another chance to redeem itself. You’ll be surprised at how you can turn your life around by deciding to live on! It’ll be a bit of a struggle trying to make a comeback but with the right PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) you’ll make it.

With whatever energy you’ve got left put up a fight – even if that strength is the size of a mustard seed. Somewhere inside you is still that will to live and it can be magnified to pull you through whatever terrible episode you’re going through. Put a smile on your face by remembering the good times you’ve had in your life – and think of the good times you still can have. Think of the problems you have now as something that’s happening now and will eventually go away – they normally do.

You have a problem: we all have problems. Whatever problem you have there is somebody else, out there, who has bigger problems than you and they’re still alive. Even though in your desperate state you believe there’s no way out, there is. Why not try a different approach to solving your problems?

Try talking to somebody: two heads are better than one. A problem shared is a problem halved: bottling things up can make an individual feel lonely, dejected and isolated. Friends and family will gladly help if they know you’re at the end of your tether.

And what about saying a few prayers for divine intervention? In desperate times when we pray that little voice in our head will always be on hand with words of encouragement and advice enough to pull us through. Have faith!

And lastly it doesn’t matter who you are, what you’ve done or what your problems are, you are special, special enough to warrant the right to live in this world. If you’re brave enough to want to take your own life, I believe you are also brave enough to fight on and live: life is not always fair to anyone and can sometimes make us miserable, despondent and suicidal. It’s our job to put up a good fight and make the best of it. As they say after a thunderstorm comes brilliant sunshine: so if the storm soaks you the sun will dry you out – you just have to be patient a little bit more.

Muster up all your strength and positive energy and stay alive. Life is beautiful and it’s your right to live just like anybody else. So please don’t give up (- this is me begging you now!) and give Life another shot no matter what it’s throwing at you now.

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

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The 7 Deadly Sins A Nigerian President Should Avoid | By: Tony Ogunlowo

The race to be President of Nigeria in 2019 has already started – well, behind the scenes. Will it be the incumbent (- if he decides to run again!) or somebody else?
The Bible lists Gluttony, Greed, Pride, Envy, Lust, Sloth and Wrath as the 7 Deadly Sins to avoid during our time in life and other religions have similar requirements.
For a President to effectively rule a diverse country, like Nigeria, he (- or she!) needs to avoid the following 7 Deadly Sins:
1, The North- South palaver – As long as there is still Nigeria there will always be the debacle of the North-South divide.
Like two jealous lovers you can’t do one thing for one region without doing something equal for the other.
Over the years it’s become very petty and silly: the Presidency is rotated so that if you have a Northern President you must have a Southern Vice-President and in the next government it must be rotated to feature a Southerner as President and Northerner as Vice-President – whatever happened to electing the right person  with the right qualifications to do the job irregardless of what region they’re from?
Again the Northern and Southern  elders will dictate, to the President, on who gets the most ministers, budget allocations and federal installations. There’s nothing wrong in wanting the best for your region but things should be allocated on merit : for instance why appoint someone to head a ministry they’re not qualified to head because you have to bow to the whims of either a North or South elder or the quota system? Or why situate a nuclear research facility, for instance, in a region where the people are only interested in goat-herding?
To summarize the country cannot be ruled effectively by bowing to the demands of the North- Southerner gangs all the time.
2, Religion – Just like the North-South palaver, religion plays a key part in the running of the nation and should be steered away from: politics and religion don’t mix but funny enough, in Nigeria, they do. If you have a Muslim President then the Vice-President has to be a Christian and if the President is a Christian then the Vice President, without a doubt, will be a Muslim- Nonsense! Another outdated pro rata system that should be consigned to history. Again this prevents the right candidate from getting the job – and getting the job done!
The Presidents hands will also become tied because of religion: a Muslim President making policies that will affect Christians will face a backlash and if a Christian President does anything that will upset the Muslims he’ll be in trouble.
No politician’s hands should be tied because of religion: policies should be fair and applicable to all irrespective of their religious affiliations: for instance some protestant churches are getting out of control in the country and the Muslim President and government is powerless to say or do anything for fear of upsetting the Muslim-Christian code.
3, Kleptocracy –  The mere fact the President has the sole ATM card to the nations’ bank account is not an excuse to loot it dry – thou shall not steal!
A President is the custodian of these finances and must ensure that they are distributed fairly – and honestly – to the various apparatus of government that require the funds and not divert them to private bank accounts in Switzerland or the Cayman Islands!
Even though some believe ‘corruption is not a crime’ it is as pilfered funds causes untold suffering for the masses who are supposed to be the end recipients. Therefore to re-iterate again – thou shall not steal (- or let those beneath you steal, not even 10 %!).
4, C.Y.A aka ‘Cover Your Arse’ aka ‘Blame Your Predecessor’ – Every President does it from Nigeria to America or Croatia to Sudan: every incumbent will blame his/her predecessor for everything going wrong in an attempt to cover their own backsides! If a President is going to keep on passing the buck then he or she is in the wrong job! As a President you’re elected to fix things and not spend your entire tenure blaming your predecessor! The buck stops with the President! What’s the point in having a surgeon come in to operate on a patient but can’t (- or won’t!) because he’s too busy criticizing the last doctors work? Operate and fix the patient first, for that’s what you’re paid to do, and moan later!
5, Cronyism – For any President to be elected, anywhere in the world, he or she will need the support of political godfathers, cronies, hanger-ons etc who’ll lobby behind the scenes to get him into office. Once in office they’ll call in the favour and start making outrageous demands of the President: they want to be first in line for lucrative contracts or ministerial appointments. Any President should learn from Donald Trump – use them and dump them before they become a nuisance! Every President should learn to control his cronies: not favour one over the other or let them control him.
 6, Tribalism – Tribalism is way up there with religion and the North-South palaver but on a different scale. A President from the South, for instance, might be a Christian or a Muslim but his ethnicity plays a major rule: is he Yoruba or Igbo? If he’s Yoruba what part of Yoruba land is he from? Just like with the North-South palaver his policies will be seen to be influenced from what tribe he’s from: a Yoruba President can’t pass certain laws that will affect the Igbos or Hausas because he’ll be accused of tribalism.( even his fellow Yoruba people from other sub-tribes will accuse him of tribalism!) As a result some tribes become a law unto themselves as the President will be scared of being accused of tribalism.
 7, Indecision – A President can’t be indecisive hoping a problem or situation will go away or that people will forget. Take the Chibok girls’ kidnapping fiasco for instance, if the then  President had been more decisive those girls could have been home within days, not weeks, not months and most certainly not years! When action needs to be taken a President can’t afford to be indecisive whether that involves removing a minster, clamping down on terrorists’ or ordering military action against subversives. No problem or situation will ever go away unless it’s dealt with swiftly. So any President who thinks such will go away is in for a shock.
So there’s my version of the 7 Deadly Sins a Nigerian President should avoid, of course there are things that didn’t make the list like complacency, nepotism, buffoonery and quite a few others…but we’ll leave that to later!

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

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Our Depraved Society | By: Tony Ogunlowo

A few days ago a rather chilling and disturbing video emerged, online, of a young teenage girl cradling a recently decapitated human head. On her own admission she was going into the bush to bury it and she had already killed two people herself.
Considering her young age it would be otherwise be difficult to believe she was capable of committing such a heinous crime. But seeing her holding the head confirms her guilt.
Now  what sort of upbringing was she given by her parents or guardians that made her turn into a cold bloodied killer at such a young innocent age? How could a wicked person, like her, be in our midst and nobody saw what she was doing until it was too late? Presumable she didn’t go to Sunday or Koranic school where she would have been taught ‘thou shall not kill’ human beings. And how evil (- or what evil spirit lurks inside her) can a child like her be that would turn her into a cold-bloodied murderer? When I was her age even killing a chicken would be difficult for me let alone a human being.
And what is she killing for? Obviously it’s not for the fun of it, so either somebody paid her to do it or she herself wants to use the body parts for a ritual.
If a callous and evil person paid her to kill – and there’s no shortage of adults requiring ‘body parts’ – has the recruitment age for hired killers dropped so low that teenagers – even girls who barely have breasts – are now being recruited? I know there is widespread poverty, unemployment and lack of money to go to school and have three square meals but is killing a fellow human being, for ‘body parts’, for a few thousand Naira really the answer? Which ever way you look at it it’s murder punishable by a lengthy stay in prison or execution. It’s a good thing the security services caught this young serial killer before she went on to kill other people.
And if she wanted to use the ‘body parts’ herself was she planning on doing a money ritual? 95% of the time these money-making rituals don’t work and why is a young teenager doing such in the first place? What does she want to do with all that kind of money anyway? Since we live in a society where everybody wants to get rich quick, by whatever means possible, it’s not surprising – live fast die young! Whatever happened to working hard, speculating and accumulating? I suppose that is too tiring since every kid coming out of its mother’s womb today wants to be rich and famous tomorrow – minus any hard work.
Ritual killings have spiked in recent years and the way area boys, cultists, kidnappers, assassins and now this young female serial killer are killing people the country’s population will be decimated in no time, no need to worry about enforcing birth control!
Again the whole of society has to share the blame in creating these little monsters: a young person will think if an adult can get away with killing indiscriminately  why can’t they? How many murders are solved by the police and how many people are brought to justice?
Society doesn’t seem to be worried that a majority of these killers are getting younger by the day despite the fact it’s an epidemic in the making. Who put the idea into their heads that it’s alright to be a killer when they’re barely out of diapers? And shouldn’t so-called religious leaders being doing more to educate about the dangers and evil of taking a life? And what about the parents or guardians? They say charity begins at home. How could the parents of this teenage serial killer not know she was a murderer? Were they so busy with their lives that they didn’t know what she was getting up to? These sort of questions is what society needs to ask itself : how many parents know what their children really get up to? And if they do know, do they care? Having a son or daughter who’s a murderer is not fashionable, it brings shame upon the family. I’m not an advocate of ‘jungle justice’ but how would a parent feel if their wayward child is lynched in public? It’s time parents become a bit more responsible and took proper care of their children. If you don’t raise them properly, discipline them when necessary and teach them about the evils of this world – especially about messing about with cultism and occultism – they’ll turn out to be vagabonds and murderers.
And to all the cold-bloodied murderers, out there, young and old, if you shed the blood of an innocent person you’ll pay for it in this world and the next. There is no hiding place!
 

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

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Nigeria – Now That The Recession Is Over, What Next? | By: Bukola Ogunyemi


On Tuesday, the National Bureau of Statistics gave a lot of Nigerians the news they desperately wished to hear – Nigeria is out of recession. After five consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth that started in Q1 2016, Nigeria’s economy grew by 0.55% in Q2 2017. Predictably, data once again became the hero and villain in a long-running social media battle of bias between the supporters of Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, and his critics.

 The optics of sneaking out of a 15-month recession apart, a 0.55% year-on-year GDP growth is hardly anything to cheer for Africa’s biggest economy. But as the NBS data reveals, the Q2 2017 growth is an improvement, even if marginal, on the GDP performance recorded in the preceding quarter (-0.91%) and the corresponding quarter of 2016 (-1.49%). Beyond the numbers, however, questions persist about the long-term economic recovery prospects of the nation. Questions that demand that all post-recession celebrations be suspended until further notice.

27 months into the Buhari administration, the patience of the Nigerian masses on the state of the economy and general standard of living is wearing thin, and understandably so. Inflation rate dropped for the fifth consecutive month in July, but the prices of goods and consumables which skyrocketed during the recession remain exorbitantly high. In reality, the recession persists for the economically dis-advantaged demographic of Nigeria’s 170 million population.
Nigeria’s path out of recession is lined with commendable efforts in improving the ease of doing business through the Presidential Enabling Business Council (PEBEC). Chaired by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo. the Council implemented a 60-day National Action Plan on Ease of Doing Business and was able to tackle some of the critical bottlenecks and bureaucratic constraints that had hitherto defined the ordeal of doing business in Nigeria.
Osinbajo, who assumed the role of Acting President while President Buhari was away in the United Kingdom on medical leave, issued executive orders on port operations heralding a much-needed improvement in the operational efficiency of the nation’s airports and seaports. He also signed two critical bills on improving access to credit, a major stumbling block for businesses in Nigeria. As the NBS data released yesterday show, Nigeria came out of recession the same quarter the implementation of these reforms started.

The recession has also proved pivotal to Nigeria’s drive for revenue diversification and a rebalancing of the economy’s over-reliance on the oil sector. The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) for example recently revealed it generated N2.11 trillion as revenue in the first six months of 2017 and is on course to meet the N4.94 trillion revenue projection for the year. Similarly, the Nigerian Customs Service generated N486 billion as revenue in the first half of the year, surpassing the N385 billion generated for the same period in 2016.
On the part of the Nigerian Ports Authority, reforms like the implementation of a Revenue and Invoice Management System has gone a long way in blocking revenue leakages and improving ports operations through the exclusion of unnecessary human interface in doing business at the ports. As a result of this and other reforms, the agency was able to surpass the N16 billion revenue projection for the first quarter of 2017, raking in N118 billion.
Progressive reforms in the monetary policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, notably the introduction in April of a special foreign exchange window for investors and exporters have been instrumental in the journey out of recession and its sustenance is important for further economic recovery. The special forex window grossed about $2.2 billion of trade in the first six weeks of its introduction and its impact on the market capitalization of Nigerian Stock Exchange – which jumped from N8.748 trillion in April to N11.463 trillion in July – is undeniable.
All these notwithstanding, the perennial issues of corruption, public sector bureaucracy and the high cost of running government remains. The duplicitous arrangement of line items in Nigeria’s 2017 budget berates hope of its ability to shape any lasting change in the life of the common man. Businesses still face the hurdle of multiple taxations coupled with the obdurate challenges of power and bad roads.
A good number of Nigeria’s 36 states are broke, largely dependent on monthly revenue hand-outs from the federal government. The bulk of these monthly federal allocations, in turn, go into servicing the salaries of civil servants with little or nothing left for the execution of capital projects and provision of social amenities. Yet some of these states offered subsidies for religious pilgrimages this year alone up to the tune of N50 billion.
President Muhammadu Buhari, whose campaign was built around his anti-corruption stance, has set about recovering funds looted under past administrations with resounding success. Critics, however, berate the former dictator for unlooking the corruption going on within his own administration. It took some weeks longer than necessary for President Buhari to suspend a high-ranking member of his government after he had been indicted for tampering with funds allotted for the care of those displaced by Boko Haram insurgency.
With the negative impression of an economy in a recession now dispensed with, the Nigerian government must keep its focus on providing an enabling environment to attract more investment and for businesses to thrive. Talks, for example, of reviving the defunct national airline, should take into consideration the huge drain on public revenue that South Africa’s romance with the same venture has been.

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