How I nearly lost My Life in the Creeks -Emmanuel Uduaghan

By Yemi Olakitan

Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan is a former Delta State Governor from 2007 to 2015 and one of the founding fathers of (PDP) in the Niger Delta. However, he recently decamped to the ruling party, stating increased dialogue and a better understanding of the Niger Delta crisis by the ruling party as his reason. A medical doctor by profession, he was Commissioner for Health and Delta State Secretary before he was elected Governor. He speaks with Yemi Olakitan on growing up in the Niger Delta, cleaning up the Niger Delta and reviving agriculture in the region. Excerpts:

• ·      With a background in Medicine and surgery, why did you go into Politics?

Actually, I was drafted into politics; every human being has a political aspect of him. In fact, man is a political animal. I was politically aware of what is happening around me especially in government. I used to read a lot and I was interested in what was happening around me at the time. I was a very strong critic of government too – very, very strong critic. I also had people look up to in government, the ogbemudias and co. way back to the days of Awolowo. It was through, Awolowo I was able to attend a Primary School. We had a Primary School in the Village at the time. He was then the Premier of Western Region and he made education free for all. This was how I was able to attend Primary School and got an education.

Later on in life when I started practicing as a medical doctor I was also very critical about government. It was when Ibori came, it was 1990 or thereabout, when Babaginda was still in power and there were elections into the state House of Assembly, Governorship and all. He wanted to contest for House of Representative. He came under NRC and he just drafted some of us. Although I was not a politician at the time, I knew that SDP was the party on ground in Delta state.. It was NRC versus SDP so I advised him that if he contests under NRC he might not win. He said he was sure he could win because he had some advisers who told him to contest and they will back him up. We had that election and he did not win.

During the Abacha era when the five fingers of Abacha were formed, the five political parties, he came with one of them to Delta that was the Grassroots Democratic Movement, (GDM) Again, he drafted some of us. That was when I joined politics actively.

He was interested in me because, according to him, the first time he ran for a political office; it was only two of us that told him the truth. Every other person told him, he would win and they were just collecting his money. He appreciated that a lot and then he wanted me to be around him. He brought me close. That was how I came into politics fully. That is my background.

 

• ·      Let’s us flashback a little into your childhood. What was it like growing up in the Niger – Delta?

I grew up in the village called Mostuga, real typical village, no pipe borne water, no electricity. The only sign of civilization there was a Primary School, and then a Baptist church. There was no access road to the place. You have to go by boat. It was such a rural area and ironically very exciting. I had a very fantastic childhood looking back then, everything was just okay. There was food in abundance; there was no polluted environment. We play around, all over the place. There was no criminality of any kind.  The only incident I remembered that was close to criminality was an incident involving one woman. She was partially blind and was living alone. One night, she went out to ease herself and then she found her way back to the house. As she was entering the house it occurred to her that there was somebody in her house. So, she started screaming, people rushed out and of course, they caught the thief. That was the only event I can remember that came close to criminality. Nobody fenced his or her house. I was living with my grandmother. There was no fence in any house; every adult in the community was the father of every child, or the mother of every child. It means that though you may have your biological children but because you and I are the fathers of all our children, all the children could eat in my house, they could eat in your house. In fact, they can sleep in your house or in mine. So, discipline was easier because if any of the adults discover the children misbehaving, they can discipline them and your biological parents will not quarrel with the person. It was such a free community; it was in that type of village that I grew up.

 

• ·      What would you say has changed in that community today?

 

Over the years with the advent of the oil companies, a lot of our land and our waters have become polluted. It started with the oil companies who were not regularly maintaining their facilities and all that. So, the pipelines burst and they pollute our water, land and air. Later, our own activities, people who are doing illegal bunkering, illegal refineries e.t.c. have polluted our land, water and air.   When I was growing up in the village, you could go to the river, put your hands into the river and bring out fish. You can also throw your net, catch some fishes and go home to cook your Banga Soup to eat your Starch. Our food was fresh. It was nutrituos because we had what we needed fresh from land and water. The river was very clear, you could drink it and if you put it in a pot, it becomes very cool, and you don’t need a refrigerator. We used to use the sand in the river to brush our teeth. That is why in those days, even the old people had good sets of teeth, looking fresh and strong. They used simple things like chewing sticks and sand to brush their teeth.

 

• ·      What can be done to reverse the situation?

 

Well, it is important to know that in developing in Nigeria, we must look at other areas beyond oil. Oil has been the mainstay of our economy. This is why we must develop other areas of the economy. When I was in office; I had this vision of Delta beyond oil which is not a small project for a few days of my tenure. We must continue to work on Delta beyond oil.   One of the areas we can look at is Agriculture. Yes we have a lot of land, water and all that. The first point to start is how we can clean up our own environment because we are living in an environment where there is so much pollution.  Cleaning up our environment is not cheap. It must require the cooperation of the state, the Federal Government and international bodies. In Delta state, the first thing we did was to do a study of the level of damage done to our environment. We partnered with one of the united Nation bodies to do the study.  Today, we have the federal Government trying to clean up the Niger – Delta starting with the Ogoni. The Ogoni area is much more polluted. But I do not see the sincerity in trying to do that clean up. It’s been so much politicized, so much ethinicized that even with all the promises and all the funfair that was involved with the project when it started, nothing much has been done. I believe we need to move beyond that. The Federal Government need to take urgent and very serious steps to do the cleaning up.

There also have to be very strong legislation on cleaning up our environment. We have to put up some solid laws that will ensure that the Federal Government takes the issue of cleaning up seriously. If oil companies don’t clean up, they should be ready to pay some heavy fine. These kinds of laws are important so that everybody will be serious about it. We need legislation to stop further pollution; this should include pollution by illegal refineries. The so-called illegal refineries should modernized and operators should be licensed and given crude oil legally. We need legislation that will also put an end to pipeline vandalism. Crude oil thefts as well contribute to environmental pollution because in the process of stealing Crude oil, they damage pipelines. Yes, there are some laws here and there but they are not strong enough. They are not implemented. This means those laws have to be reviewed and more effective legislature should be put in place.

 

• ·      Looking at your very humble background. How did you become so successful becoming a Medical Doctor, a Governor and achieving so much in life?

 

I will attribute it to God’s grace and mercy. All of us have our own destiny. Some were born with silver spoon. Some were born with wooden spoon. Whatever your destiny is you will definitely get there. Sometimes we truncate what God has planned for us with our own hands. I thank God I didn’t truncate mine.

 

• There must have been some challenges. How did you overcome them?  This is very important because young people can get some inspiration whenever this is published.

Let me say this, though I grew up in the village I had a grandmother who was very discipline, we had no clock but we follow the cocks that crow early in the morning. There are three cockcrows. The first cock crows you have to get up between that times you are getting up another one will crow. That tells you time is getting near, it’s almost time for you to live the house. The first cockcrow tells you to get up. The second one is a reminder. If you are the slow type you move faster. If you are the fast type, you probably would have gotten ready by then. The third one is for everybody to live the house. Most farmers live the house by the third cock crow.

As a young boy when I live the house, I am living with some adults farmers. The women are going to the farm, the men are also going to their rubber farm to tap rubber. I will follow them to the rubber farm and by the time you finish tapping, it will probably be day break. You don’t need your headlamp by that time.. The women would have roasted yam or plantain. The men will now go to the farm where the women are working and that is where we all eat our yam or plantain with red oil. This was usually my breakfast and every one elses’. When you are  through with food you then go back and start pouring your rubber into a certain bucket. If you want to put timing to it may be by 7:00am we would have finished all those things and that is when we can go home, take your bath and go to school. My grandmother was so discipline so that despite all these we were usually the first to get to school.

The school was very far from home and we had to treck. So, I had a grandmother, who was very discipline, she was always very firm with punctuality. I took that with me till today; there is nobody that grew up with my grandmother that won’t be punctual. She was very strict.

Although, she was not educated, she ensures that I took my schooling seriously. If the Headmaster reports you to her that you have done anything wrong she will discipline you on her own. So, you have double punishment. She had a very bid cane. I will say God also granted us grace. As young as we were in Primary School we were very competitive in class. I remembered that there were three of us then, one girl, a boy and I, we were the most competitive one in class. One of us will come first, the other second and the last is the third position in the class. We alternated it like that. So, if you came second or third this year, you are determined to come first next year. We always wanted to overthrow the first person. I think it is important that young people should imbibe a healthy competitive spirit. This is essential for achievements and success in life.  All these combined together to help me later in life. I didn’t understand until much later in life that all those things were important. My father who was in the police at the time was very interested in education, although I was living in the village. He would ride to the village every Sunday. He used to come to the village from Sapele. When he comes like that the first thing he wanted to check were my books and all that. There were somethings my grandmother will not understand but he understood them. If I didn’t do well he will report me to my grandmother who would flog me.   So, I had people around me who were very interested in education. The fact that they didn’t have to pay because of Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Policy made education paramount in our lives. Later, when I moved to secondary school, my uncle in Lagos was also very interested in education. He took me to Lagos from the Village School and I entered Federal Government College. What we should take from this is that parents should show a lot of interest in their children education. It is not enough to just pay school fees. Both fathers and mothers should show active interest.

 

• ·      Its safe to say that your grandmother played a major role in your education. Was she able to witness some of your Success?

 

Yes, she is late now but she witnessed the day I become a medical doctor. It was the happiest day in her life, when I became a doctor and I went to the village to see her she said she had been waiting for me. i said why mama? She said when she dies, she believes I will be the one they will call and that I should never put her in a freezer because she is not ice – fish. (laughter)

• ·      Did you keep that promise?

Of course, we didn’t put her in a freezer she was embalmed. We never took her to the mortuary she didn’t like it.

·      Let us talk about your achievements as Governor. What would you say is your most cherished achievement as Governor of Delta State?

I came to Government at a very turbulent period in the history of Delta state. There have been some disagreements between the various ethnic groups – the Itsekiri, Ijaw and Uroboh. The issue of location and relocation of local Government headquarters sparked off a crisis that culminated into the Niger – Delta Crisis that we are still trying to manage today. Starting from when I was Commissioner. For Health and Secretary to the state Government. I had played a very active role in mediation. As Governor, I even went into the creeks to negotiate with the boys. I had no security aid with me and yet they didn’t harm me. It was risky though but I did that. Although there was a time I almost lost my life. I had gone into the creeks to negotiate with the boys and I was coming out on a boat when I met some heavily harmed soldiers waiting by the shore. They were going to shoot. Although, it had been announced that I was going in there, the Army knew but obviously not all of them was aware and I almost lost my life. I just raised my hands up with the people that went with me. I had no security so It was all Gods mercy on me. I will say my most important achievement was conflicts resolution, management and peacekeeping and it is still ongoing.

• ·      So, why are you defecting to APC?

I decided to join the ruling party because of President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s effort in tackling the crisis in Niger Delta region. This administration is a departure from the past when the military used to harass our people with their might and power.  The Buhari administration has embarked on various engagements processes that have led to agreements and brought real hope to the people of the Niger Delta. This approach by the APC-led federal government has pointed us in a direction that is progressive and developmental. This is what we can build on.  It is a major achievement of the Buhari government that I want to follow up. This why I want to work with that party. Politics is about service to the people.

Seven Pillars of Wisdom

November 21, 2018

                          A review by Bayo Ogunmupe

     The Seven Pillars of Wisdom is a paperback christian  theological treatise on wisdom and how to get it. Gaining inspiration from: "Wisdom hath builded her house, she has hewn out her seven pillars,"Proverbs 9:1, the Right Reverend Chris Josephs U Eromosele wove out an inspiring message of hope for mankind. According to Reverend Eromosele, as God's children we have been enabled with a great and stable destiny. We have access to wisdom's pillars for a fulfilling and fruitful life. In this classical monograph on theology, Eromosele reveals how you cannot fail.

     This book is your guarantor of success in whatever vocation you choose to dwell in. Why is wisdom so important in fruitful living? Wisdom is useful in the enhancement of a fulfilling destiny. Among others, wisdom is a defence against failure, Ecc. 7:12. Wisdom is better than strength: Ecc.9:16. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, Ecc.9:18. Wisdom is justified by her children, Matt 11:19. Wisdom is profitable in the service of business, Ecc.10:10. Wisdom is better than rubies, Prov.8:11. Wisdom is the principal thing-Prov4:7. This revelation will culminate in a change of season for you as it did for the author.

     In defining wisdom Eromosele says wisdom is knowing what to do in a situation. It is the 'know how' of any issue. Once you know what to do, success comes to you easily. Failure is the result of not doing well. Success represents a culmination of decisions taken rightly. Taking rightful decisions was the outstanding feature of the greatest wisdom celebrity- Jesus of Nazareth. He is referred to as the wisdom of God. he is wisdom personified. When tou access this wisdom, you won't walk in darkness on any subject. You will intuitively know what to do in any situation. You will become the encyclopedia of your  time- John 1:2.

     The Seven Pillars of Wisdom has 17 chapters, 164 pages and a page of the author's memorabilia. It was published this year by The Secret of Fulfilment Series; printed by the Grace Insight Production, Wuse 11, Abuja Nigeria. The word of God the Bible is wisdom. You can only have access to wisdom through the reading of the word of God. It is impossible for you to have access to wisdom and be tossed around by the currents of life. In another way, wisdom is the proper application of knowledge to life. You are expected to earn God's pleasure as a wise man. Jehovah is always happy with His wise children.

     The following suitably describes His feelings towards you: You are a city set on a hill. You are the light of the world. You are the salt of the earth. You are a chosen generation. You are the apple of God's eyes. You are the master of signs and wonders. You are kings and priests unto God. The wisdom of God is supreme, when you build a house with it, it becomes your home. Access to God's wisdom is available to His elect: "I will give you a mouth and a wisdom which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay and resist," Luke 21:15.

     In concluding chapter two of part one on the power of vision, the author enjoins you that in order to succeed in life, you must draw up a plan with the utmost clarity. Architects will tell you that before any building is erected, its plan must be settled; an exact replica of the proposed structure is built such that a visitor can easily predict the outcome of the building. Which is why success isn't a try your luck creature. Success isn't an accident, it is a result of planning. Hence a vision of your greatness must first be hewn. "And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do, and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do," Gen. 11:6.

     Joseph is Eromosele's example of the visionary whose vision was fulfilled in prison after interpreting the Pharaoh's dream. Wherefore, Joseph was made prime minister of Egypt where his family members came to worship him  for food and protection. God loves you when you are not just a hearer, but a doer walking in the integrity of God's word. The qualities you need for fulfilment are: "And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge: and to knowledge temperance: and to temperance patience: and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity. for if these things abound, they make you, that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged, of his old sins."

       "Wherefore, rather brethren, give diligence to make your calling, for if ye do these things ye shall never fail,"Gen 11, 1:5, 10. And finally to achieve your goals, you need such pillars as diligence, faith, knowledge and love. The author, the Right Reverend Chris Eromosele is the president of The Pinnacle of Grace Incorporated. He is the author of several books. He has been presiding over the anointed ministry for over 20 years: a minister of the gospel and inspirational speaker. His church is in Wuse 11, Abuja, Nigeria. From the foregoing you will realize that The Seven Pillars of Wisdom is a must read for your success and fulfilment.

Reddlemen”, we must now become

November 21, 2018

Deciding what topic to comment on in Nigeria these days is proving to be less and less of an effortless undertaking, what with the breathtaking spate of egregious discoveries within the leadership class, and the brazen indifference of the ranking members of that class to those discoveries. I dare say that it is inconceivable to think up a more damning script for Project Nigeria than the intensifying “You be thief! I no be thief!” drama among our elected leaders – see my piece in The Guardian of 6^th April, 2018.

I had once remarked to a colleague that contemporary Nigeria is likened to a military parade wherein a clumsy ill-trained recruit tragically assumed (read usurped) the drum-major’s position. That of course was not a novel commentary on the Nigerian state. Parallels to my expressed view could be obtained without exertion; famous among these was the late Pius Okigbo’s scathing line in his 1992 University of Lagos 30^th Anniversary Lecture: Crisis in the Temple. In his clinical analysis of the sources of decay in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions, the renowned economist pointed out that successive investigation panels on the administration of Nigerian universities had observed that most lecturers notoriously fail to update the currency of their qualifications. Typical of him, he then went on to conjure up the hazardous graphics of drivers with expired licences. Academic qualifications, the anniversary lecturer had asserted, like driving licences, are meant to be renewed periodically. In his immortal words, “If Faculty members lack the discipline to diligently revalidate the currency of their intellectual contents, these are automatically deemed incapable of learning… Now, would any one be taken aback that our temple of learning is in crisis, when those who are notoriously incapable of learning have taken to teaching therein?”

The unfortunate situation depicted by the great Anambra state born intellectual aptly mirrors the situation in all other sectors of the Nigerian state. And, as the yet unfurling leadership crisis reveals, that ugly situation is rendered ugliest by Nigeria’s primitive political culture, which permits of semi-illiterates and ill-bred persons rising to the pinnacle of power. Imagine the absurdity of notoriously corrupt officials of one political party vociferously calling for the arrest and prosecution of their fellow notoriously corrupt officials in another party??? (The kettle calling the pot black is apparently the new normal in Nigeria) Therefore, we now can safely say that discounting the few, not unlike the late Aminu Kano; MKO Abiola; Alex Ekwueme, etc, who were unquestionably accomplished prior to seeking political office, a greater part of Nigerian politicians are mindless gold-diggers who spare little or no thoughts for the ordinary people whom they swear under oath to conscientiously serve. Much to our collective discomfiture, these questionable characters have now leveraged themselves into vantage positions in Nigeria’s political space with ill-gotten wealth. Simply put, ill-bred persons now predominantly decide the composition of Nigeria’s leadership. This scenario clearly is a state of national emergency calling for massive citizens’ action. If Nigeria were to keep her glorious appointment with destiny, her committed patriots, be they men or women, party members or not, young or old, religious or not, able-bodied or physically challenged, professionals and non-professionals, must now cultivate the spirit of the “reddlemen”, a leading character in one of Thomas Hardy’s classic novels, “The return of the native”.

Hardy’s reddleman could pass as a benevolent masquerade in our setting, because he was not only something of a guardian spirit committed to sniffing out evil plots and persons in his 19^th Century Wessex, England, but would go the entire hug to ensure that the ultimate aim of those evil plots came to naught. Instructively, he did all of these entirely at the expense of his personal resources and risks to his safety. Diggory Venn was the man literally behind the reddleman’s mask. In pre-industrial England, a reddleman was a person whose vocation it was to supply farmers with redding for their sheep. On account of their ware, reddlemen were usually red from the crown of their head to their feet – thus disguising their natural features. Being itinerant, reddlemen have privilege knowledge of their communities. Citizen Diggory Venn had patriotically put that advantage to the peace, unity and progress of his Wessex homestead. The climax of these instances was when his priceless intelligence gathering culminated in averting the potential elopement of Mr. Damon Wildeve and Mrs. Eustacia Yeobright. 

Damon and Eustacia had been lovers; but Damon’s unfaithfulness caused Eustacia to harbour second thoughts about the relationship. During Christmas, Clement Yeobright, a glamourous native of Wessex who had made good in Paris in the world of finance, returned. Eustacia, the local beauty who ceaselessly dreamed of living out her life in a more glamourous setting than rural Wessex, was inexorably taken in by the returnee’s reputation. Ever the resourceful coming lady, she caused her path to cross with the illustrious returnee’s. Against both families’ misgivings Clement and Eustacia struck up a relationship that made a bee-line for marriage. Eustacia’s estranged lover, Damon, acting with an eye to spiting his former heartthrob, married his casual lover, Thomasin on the rebound. But he no sooner learned of the unending torments of burying one’s love before its death. Eustacia was still much the love of his life. He desperately, albeit furtively, wanted her back.

Meanwhile, Eustacia, to her disappointment, was similarly circumstanced. She had cleverly schemed to marry Yeobright in the hope that he would return to Paris after his short visit to Wessex. Was she utterly mistaken! The accomplished economist had returned to give back to his fledgling community. Clement had come back to stay! Eustacia consequently starting toying with unholy ideas about the young marriage, much like a kitten sports dove. Under such a heavily misty atmosphere, Mr. Damon Wildeve and Mrs. Eustacia Yeobright were able to contrive a most secretive elopement plot. But for the legendary selfless intelligence gathering exploits of the reddleman, most of which were undertaken in the dead of the night and in inclement weather, that evil plot could well have been pulled off, much to the heartbreak of many a Wessex citizen.

Damon and Eustacia died in the misadventure. But it was a happy ending for the reddleman as he earned bounteous returns on his huge investments in sustained selfless community service. He was the residual legatee of Wessex with his marriage to Wildeve’s widow who recently came into her rich inheritance. The tale is as engaging as its moral is compelling. The latest shocking revelations in our own land ought to jolt us into massive citizens’ action to exorcise the political class of the ill-bred characters among its ranks. We must now become reddlemen. Needless to say that I am one already; that is the reason I persist in speaking poignant truths to power, in spite of explicit death threats to my person by government agents. Needless also, to state that the spirit is slowly but surely finding a foothold in our much abused country, Nigeria. It is interesting to observe that a number of recent group-protests against the harsh realities in the country readily adopt the reddleman’s colour code: deep red. One of these has even produced symbolic blood-red cards to express the mood in which its members would approach the 2019 general elections. I couldn’t agree more; ordinary Nigerians have endured red-eyes for decades due to a succession of grossly incompetent leaderships, it’s time red-cards substituted the weary red-eyes!   

Reddlemen, therefore, we must now become to reset Nigeria on the course of true greatness; so help us God.

Afam Nkemdiche; consulting engineer. November, 2018                                          

Beware of excuses from your mind

                              By Bayo Ogunmupe

     The human mind is wonderful. It is also a good liar and excuse machine that frequently convinces us not to take actions that are beneficial to us. This ultimately prevents many successes in our lives. Our mind does this because it wants comfort. The mind is afraid of discomfort, pressure and change. When the mind is in its comfort zone, anytime we try to stretch that zone too far, for too long, the mind desperately tries to get back to ground zero at any cost. This way it sacrifices our long term good health, happiness and success. So, here are three of the mind's most regretful deceptions and excuses that deter our progress.

     One, "They can do it, but that  doesn't apply to me because they are better than me." That means just because someone else can, doesn't mean you can? Here your mind is looking for excuses why you cannot compete with another person. Inferiority complex you say? You then attribute his success to being an internet guru or because he has no kids to tend like you. That is absolute balderdash, you are cowering into your comfort zone. Okay, but it is easy to find excuses: but look at all the other people who have considerable obstacles too but who've done it. There are stories of people who have reinvented themselves at odd ages- 50 year olds starting families, 71 year olds starting successful businesses and so forth. Obstacles are to be overcome.

     Two, "Life is meant to be easy and enjoyed." Certainly that is plausible, but the problem is that the idea that life should always be easy and enjoyed is a justification for laziness and immaturity. You might as well sit on the couch and scarf down those potato chips, because life was meant to be easy and enjoyed. You can give up much comfort in your life and not lose a thing. In fact the path of least resistance is often the path of least reward. Success isn't cheap, if it is so everyone will be rich. There are no short cuts to greatness. As the Nobel laureate and the greatest physicist of all time Albert Einstein once said, "Genius is one percent talent and 99 percent hard work." You must run to be an award winning Olympian. You must write to be a writer. You must work assiduously on a venture to learn how to run a successful business. There is no substitute doing the work. So imbibe the affirmation, "Life is only worth the work you put into it."

     Three, "I can do it later." That is procrastination, but procrastination is the thief of time. Why should your later self be more disciplined than now? This culture of procrastination promotes indiscipline. So today, stop making excuses as to why you cannot get your work done on schedule. Start focusing on reasons why you must make things happen immediately. Stop thinking on what you are going to do, do it now. Whatsoever thou desires to do, do it immediately. Reserve not to the evening what the morning can do. That is a rendering of a Rosicrucian aphorism from 'On to thee I grant', by Dr Spencer Lewis. Great things in life don't happen by chance, they happen by design. You never know what's possible until you risk finding out. In the end, the only thing that will make  you fail to achieve your dream is your failure to take action today.

Is Buhari dissimulating?

Not unlike many other observers of contemporary events in Nigeria, I had presumed that the conversation on whether or not Nigeria’s architecture needs restructuring has been laid to rest when President Muhammadu Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC) committee on the sensitive matter returned a verdict in support of restructuring, until recently when Aso Rock hosted a group of Delta State traditional rulers. Buhari was reported to have told his royal guests that those calling for restructuring of the country are parochial(!) While still trying to figure out what that unexpected pronouncement might come to mean, let us recall that even though Candidate Buhari had in 2015 made a great play of the fact that APC’s Manifesto accords priority to restructuring, President Buhari, with equal measure, pretended to be ignorant of the contents of selfsame Manifesto on which he had ran for office. Buhari’s benumbing pretence only succeeded in heightening the nationwide call for restructuring.

Pressed to pay appropriate attention to the inevitable matter, and perhaps acting with an eye on 2019, Buhari hurriedly set up the APC committee which pronounced in favour of restructuring. It would also be recalled that in receiving the committee’s report, Buhari assured Nigerians that the report will be diligently implemented. What then informed the implied change of heart in Buhari’s recent surprise statement on the issue? Has Buhari been dissimulating on the matter the while? Is consummate dissimulation an essential trait in the Daura born general? We shall return to these questions presently.

Now, in adjudging the calls for restructuring parochial, Buhari was also reported to have invoked the time-worn excuse that those calls are not focused – restructuring means different things to different people, etc. That excuse is nothing short of being economic with the facts. No national conversation in decades has been more focused than the calls for political restructuring of Nigeria. And no national conversation has been more substantiated by history. That need to restructure Nigeria became evident no sooner than the conclusion of the 1967-70 Civil War. The creation of 12 states from the post-independence 4 regions (Eastern; Midwestern; Northern; and Western) at the start of war in 1967, was targeted at strategically breaking the backbone of the Eastern region which had just seceded from Nigeria. Though the jury is still out on how the decision contributed to the Civil War efforts, but it smacks of inverted logic to observe that the solution to a country’s unity would be sought by breaking it up. What is more troubling was that successive federal governments since 1970 to the late 1990s seemed to have looked to states creation as a ready political masterstroke. As a consequence Nigeria grew from 12 states to 36 states in less than 30 years. The petro-dollars that accrued to the national coffers in those years completely blinded the respective leaderships of the country to the critical need to make economic viability a basis for states creation. Funding of state governments thus became the sole responsibility of the federal government – a novel concept in Nigeria’s financial management since 1967. But the equally blinding gales of petroleum oil gluts at the turn of the century ruthlessly exposed the rump of the mother hen. Today, 20-odd of the 36 states have been officially declared non-economically viable. As they say, the rest is now history.

It is also now history that the calls for politico-economic restructuring of Nigeria is unwavering focused on both economic viability and financial autonomy. Furthermore, it was observed that the resultant dependence-orientation in the states and the appropriation of mineral rights by the federal government have negatively impacted the entrepreneurial inclination of the states. This is reflected in Nigeria’s virtually stagnant Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita of approximately $400.00 for decades – a mere fraction of those of many less-endowed countries than Nigeria. This unacceptably low figure indicates that the bulk of the citizenry does not actively participate in adding value to the economy. All of these constitute the essential argument for restructuring. Restructuring strictly defined, is a call for the reversal of the experimental decision to break up the 4 regions into smaller states in mid-1967. That experiment was decidedly not properly thought through; this was to be expected in a war-induced emergency.

But the Civil War lapsed over half a century ago; it’s time for reason to hold sway. The call for restructuring eminently qualifies to be classified as a voice of reason. Virtually every leading Nigerian patriot has lent their weight on the side of restructuring the country – the 2014 National Conference provides the proof. So why is Buhari apparently feet-dragging of the matter, even in the light of compelling reason? Could that well-known spirit of dissimulation that has wreaked havoc on Project Nigeria since the First republic, presently playing a wicked trick on Buhari’s mind in the Fourth republic? Recall that the first indigenous federal government was formed by a coalition of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons, (NCNC) and the Northern Peoples Congress, (NPC), with the understanding that the NCNC would produce the prime minister; but NPC’s dissimulation introduced a crack in the coalition that prematurely terminated that republic. Following the partially successful January 1966 coup d’etat, Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi in Lagos, and Chukwuma Nzeokwu in Kaduna had reached an understanding, with Yakubu Gowon and Olusegun Obasanjo among others present at the Lagos end, on how to move the country forward. But Aguiyi-Ironsi’s apparent dissimulation got the better of that agreement. Nzeokwu went from wielding the command of one half of the country to being Aguiyi-Ironsi’s prisoner within minutes of arriving in Lagos. (Yet some persons insist on propagating the fallacy of an Igbo January 1966 coup d’etat) Aguiyi-Ironsi was overthrown six months after.

In 1975 Gowon dissimulated on his pledge to handover power to civil authorities. He was forced from office few weeks after. Ushering in the Second republic in 1979 Obasanjo would cover his own dissimulation with the sophistry of arithmetic (two-thirds of 19). The Second republic barely lasted one term. Ibrahim Babangida didn’t spare a thought for sophistication in his own dissimulation in bringing forth the Third republic. He shamelessly annulled the June 12^th 1993 “free and fair” election even with the international community looking on. Sani Abacha was to borrow a leaf from his mentor; he dissimulated on his late-1993 promise to MKO Abiola’s fellow Social Democratic Party (SDP) stalwarts – he never handed over power to SDP. The infamous Third-term bid was another version of Obasanjo’s sophisticated dissimulation. Unusual presidential humility compelled the former shoe-less Otuoke boy to break that cycle of dissimulation in 2015.

Is Jonathan’s successor now making to resume that cycle of destabilizing dissimulation in 2018? Incidentally, Buhari’s latest vacillation on the topical matter of restructuring lends a measure of credence to my recent suggestion (The Guardian, June 13^th, 2018) that the taciturn general could end up in history as a curious quantity. This brings us back to the earlier set of three questions; but before we attempt to proffer answers to them I should suggest we ponder the reported words of a man who ought to have an inkling of the right answers, the veteran journalist-turned-politician, Segun Osoba: “Nigeria was built on deception and corruption; restructuring is the only way to make progress…”

Hopefully, Buhari would eventually command the presence of mind to heed the voice of reason on Nigeria’s political restructuring.

Afam Nkemdiche is an engineering consultant; June, 2018                      

Pathways to effective entrepreneurship

A review by Bayo Ogunmupe

     This book is titled: Pathways to Effective Entrepreneurship, a guide to successful business. It is the first business manual from Chukwudi Sunday Nwosu, a great entrepreneur who studied both business administration and business management. He merged the two technologies in his book. Pathways for short, is a huge paperback with 509 pages, four parts, 18 chapters, 13 pages of references and 13 pages of indices. First published in 2015 by Guzman Nigeria Limited, Pathways is an inimitable guide to successful business entrepreneurship. It is a practical manual and useful resource that is invaluable in assisting small business owners.

     The book encompasses the fundamentals of building a successful business enterprise. It is an invaluable companion to budding entrepreneurs, businessmen, researchers, professional bodies and non governmental organizations. Embedded in this volume are policies, strategies and drafts connected with starting and managing companies. Entrepreneurs and businessmen in need of capital, chief executives of ongoing firms looking for capital are well advised to buy copies of this book for their own success and survival. The strength of the book is its ability to furnish its readers with information with which to implement strategies and get identifiable results whether in a new business or the old ones.

     Pathways addresses the gap in the provision of both tested professional and practical knowledge needed by business owners. It is compilation of research results on contemporary entrepreneurship. Part one covers: how to understand and undertake entrepreneurship. Here, two chapters are devoted to the theory and practice of entrepreneurship. Part two has eight chapters. Part three treats organic business functions; it has five chapters. In addressing part one, we shall be dealing with the concepts and differences between the entrepreneur and the manager. Nwosu also traces the historical development of entrepreneurship in Nigeria.

     In part two, featuring the activities of entrepreneurs; forms of business organizations, opportunities in startups, the business plan and the internal and external sources of funding for the enterprise. Here, Nwosu enumerates capitalization of the company, the memorandum of association; sole proprietorship, types of partnership and the business name. Another issue strongly recommended by the author is the principles upon which companies are established. Thus, the differences between companies and cooperatives are analysed. He shows the sources of capital for cooperatives and the advantages of cooperatives over profit oriented companies.

     For part three, the organic functions of business is explained. Part three spans chapter nine through chapter 11, ending at chapter 13. Within these chapters, the art and science of management were analyzed. Operations management was treated extensively in chapter 10. Also minded were the fundamentals of marketing. Product concept, product life cycle and branding were the products of research by economists highlighted by the author. Packaging and its role was given prominence in the array of skills which make businesses thrive.

     In Pathways fourth and final part, covering chapters 14 to 18, Nwosu enunciates the modalities with which entrepreneurs develop and apply modern technology to gain success and profit. He discussed at length why businesses fail, demonstrating how the Nigerian environment, the role of regulatory agencies inhibit business enterprises. Without any fear of contradiction, one might suggest: The Roadmap for the diversification of the Nigerian Economy in the Age of Sustainable development goals, as another title for Pathways. This is the prism we expect every tier of government in Nigeria and the private sector to view this priceless book.

     In concluding this review, I feel constrained to revisit the definition of the term: entrepreneur. Behind any innovative business must be an entrepreneur, a person possessing foresight, boldness and creative verve. The term: entrepreneur was first brought into prominence by the 18th century French economist Richard Cantillon. According to Cantillon, entrepreneurs are non fixed income earners with uncertain incomes. Shortly after, the French economist Jean Say added that entrepreneurs had to be leaders. Say (1803) defined an entrepreneur as an economic agent who unites all the means of production: land, labour and capital to produce a product. 

     By selling the product in the market, he pays rent for the land, wages to labour, interest on capital and what remains is his profit. An entrepreneur shifts economic resources out of an area of low productivity into one with higher productivity and greater yield. He redeploys people, material and money and coordinates processes necessary for efficient  large scale industrial and trade development. Hence, an entrepreneur is one who brings other people together in order to build a single productive organism. Which is why this book is capable of making its reader a successful entrepreneur.

     The author, Chukwudi Sunday Nwosu holds a bachelor's degree in business administration and a master's in management. He is an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Administration and member, Institute of Certified Professional managers. He has the practical experience of working in newspaper production; having worked at The Guardian and Vanguard newspapers. And apart from being a self made entrepreneur, Nwosu is a member of the Gospel Business Men's Fellowship and president of Men's Ministries Fellowship Assemblies of God Church, Lagos. Nwosu is  married to Blessing and  are blessed with children.

Art of Audacious journalism

        By Bayo Ogunmupe

    The book: Audacious Journalism, its art, style and depth is written by Anietie Usen. It is a breathtaking story of Nigeria, told humorously by an eyewitness. This big paperback volume was published this year 2018 by Parresia Publishers, Ikeja. Lagos, Nigeria.  The book is designed well, coming from the perspectives of a field artist who lived his life for thirty years in a crusty, sparsely furnished room of rookie reporters in Lagos, Nigeria. The book's author however, moved quickly from the jungle of scary wars onto the comfort of the boardroom in middle age.

    Anietie Usen has been able to craft a massive book with 710 pages, an index of two pages and a foreword by Des Wilson, a professor of mass communications. Audacious Journalism is in seven parts. The stories are grouped as those on Nigeria, his columns, on Africa and America. Other stories are on the world, his interviews and the sports reports. The section on Nigeria has the largest contribution. This first section hosts 42 chapters, starting with Usen's baptism of fire at Newswatch magazine and closing with 'Back from the brink' a description of the maiden speech of Nigeria's head of state, Abdulsalami Abubakar. Section two contains his columns; hosting 19 articles. Africa has eleven chapters, America: six; the world: seven; interviews: five and sports: three.

    These hundred long stories reflect both his eclectic interests and various journalism beats. By its title the book seeks to serve as a guide for entertainment, education as well as playing the role of a sourcebook of journalism practice. Which is why mass communication students can learn from its contents, the art, science, style and in-depth news gathering and analysis. Thus, this book provides valuable information and entertainment as a sub sector of mass communication. The Prison in Hell is an article offering much information on the state of our prisons. i shall analyze it for the reader to have a taste of Anietie"s pudding.

    The prisoner died just before lunch. A plate of pottage kept at the foot of his hospital bed was covered with flies. His sore mouth and sunken eyes  were closed. The rusty iron that fettered  him to the bed had left his ankle badly bruised. One could count the number of his ribs. He had the ugly look of a drought victim. The doctor's report simply said Muazu Mohammed prisoner No 1519/86 of Kano Central Prison, died of acute malnutrition. Life in a Nigerian prison is hard, inhuman and cruel. Only this month the newspapers reported an official of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre saying 12 million Nigerian children have grown stunted owing to malnutrition this year.

    Even in the case Mohammed, he was not sentenced to death. He was just one of the 46 inmates in Kano state who died that time as a result of bad conditions of life in the state. Many more died of pneumonia, sclerosis of the liver, tuberculosis and meningitis. Another case was Saminu Lawal, who had survived three years in detention without trial could not survive another day to prove his innocence. When an Ilorin magistrate called his case the next morning, Jimoh Ishola, a warder stood up instead. "My Lord," he said,"Lawal died last night and his body has been taken to the mortuary." These stories show the state of the Nigerian nation in the second half of the 20th century. This condition has shown why Nigerians don't live long.

    In contrast, A Prison to Desire is the title of the next article I am reviewing. Unlike the Kano prison, this is in Cardiff, United Kingdom. A smooth narrow road ends abruptly at the foot of a brick wall. The huge remote controlled glass door slid open to admit Newswatch to her Majesty's prison. hardly any black man was in sight except then author, Usen. The English spoken there is strangely laden with an accented intonation, akin to what the evangelicals call speaking in tongues. there, some 486 inmates are locked up in three blocks of three storeys built in 1884. In the visitors' hall, about 50 of the inmates sat opposite their relatives across a row of five long tables, trying to say as much as they could within the 30 minutes permitted each prisoner.

    More than 200 were in the workshops, busy with their handicraft. Another hundred were sitting or lying on lush lawns enjoying their hour-long break. Inside their three-by-five metre rooms, some prisoners sat on their beds, smoking. Their walls were covered with pornographic pictures. There were two beds a small table and a locker squeezed into the room, leaving a narrow passage between the two convicts. The room was designed for one convict. But now some of the rooms even accommodate three convicts. Mathematically, that is 200 percent overcrowding.

    The prison governor, Alan Rawson was ready with explanations. "A degree of overcrowding is expected in a prison like this because we keep short term prisoners not exceeding 12 months. Virtually all British prisons of this kind are overcrowded," he said. Of the 486 inmates, 152 were non-convicts awaiting trial. Non-convicts in Cardiff however, do not await trial for nine years as in Nigeria's Ikoyi prison. They are taken to court every seven days until their cases are disposed of. The Prison governor told Newswatch that Cardiff prison alone services 26 magistrates and three Crown courts. Such is the content of Audacious Journalism. The stories are told incisively and humorously, captured so dramatically in snippets of well crafted and stylish prose.

    Originally published as newspaper articles, this book is a treasure trove of information you need to read as students, teachers or practising journalists. Its author is an award winning journalist and technocrat Anietie Usen is an alumnus of Harvard Business School, Oxford Business School, Manchester Business School and the University of Calabar. As a pioneer reporter at Newswatch, Usen rose to become the general editor. Later, he became an Editorial Board member of Thisday as well as Editor at Large of Africa Toiday magazine, London. Currently, he is the Commercial and Industrial development director, Niger Delta Development Commission, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.