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Vol. 9 No. 8
AUGUST 2011
300 NAIRA
Jonathan’s Czars: Can they make Nigeria work?
Arts & Culture
How Nollywood is killing Nigerian Television www.timelessnewspaper.com timelesscourage.blogspot.com
From the Editor-in-Chief
I
believe unequivocably in my mind the presence, existence and strength of God, the all being spirit, that rules, controls and permiates the earth. The concept of the earth: The earth was established by God to blossom into perfection and beauty, to fill the emptiness and void and last for eternity. The earth was originally intended to be a paradise, a complete paradise without any pain, suffering or imperfection. This leads us to the concept of man’s creation: Man’s creation was the final aspect of God’s establishment of the earth: Genesis chapter 1 verse 26 reads: Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth”. Man was therefore put into place to finalise the beauty and perfection of the earth, and increase its inhabitance through multiplication. Multiplication leads on to the concept of man’s spirit and the fact that every created man exists in the spirit and the flesh. The flesh remains the earthly vehicle for your spirit and the spirit is the real man, and his access to God the creator. Originally man was meant to live forever as God’s representive, God’s spirit on earth. He was created to have dominion over all else on earth. Indeed that fact remains true even today. At that point in time, man knew no fear, no thirst and no hunger. Everything he needed was provided for him. He did not have to labour to eat, and woman like all other beings of God’s creation did not suffer the pain of childbirth. In making man in His own likeness, God gave him a spirit that
all other beings did not have and the instrument with which to subdue the earth. This instrument is what we popularly refer to today as free will. An avenue over which to think, plan and take decisions. God also instilled in man the desire to create and improve. He gave him ambition which has now turned in several regards to greed and intellect. These were the same attributes given to lucifer which made him turn against God and become satan. Satan was obviously not pleased with God’s creation of man and sought to destroy by an attack on man’s “free will “ through temptation. In his first attempt at the use of his free will - man was tempted and failed. He sinned and ate of the forbidden fruit. God’s reaction was two fold: 1. An initial punishment; 2. A final curse. Man’s punishment was the fact that he now had to labour for his food, his wife Eve now would suffer childbirth pain and satan’s messenger the serpent would forever crawl on its belly. These facts still exist till today. God’s curse was the wage of sin - which is death. Consequently, man is born to die. However, there are two types of death. The physical demise from the body and the final destruction of the spirit. With the body man has no choice; with the spirit, God in his infinite mercy has given man yet another opportunity for eternal life. His first injunction was for man to do no more what caused the death in the first place, that is sin. The second is for man to live in God’s way. In the past, (old testament), It was necessary for man to shed blood in order into pay or part pay for sin. God allowed man to substitute the blood of animals and sometimes other human beings for this atonement. Anyone that sinned was to be destroyed. One of God’s choosen people was even asked to sacrifice his son, before a ram was accepted in its place. As a final atonement for our sins, Jesus Christ Himself the son of God was sacrificed and killed on a cross. The basis of man’s life therefore, is to continuously try to get back to God. Satan has however, constantly made available the opportunities for sin and continues to attempt to prevent man
from reaching God. Satan offers different ways from and various alternatives in an attempt to challenge God’s work and prevent the attainment of his creativity and everlasting life. Satan has provided in the world the spirit of evil and darkness that leads to brother fighting brother. He breeds greed and the love of money, that breeds corruption and the ensuing destruction, that commands inflation and the inability of man to live by the sweat of his brow, that fires adultery and the destruction following, that breeds poverty, hunger and starvation and the temptation to seek satanic salvation, that breeds distrust and ensuing wars, that breeds illness and the recourse to evil, spiritual healing, that breeds bribery and cheating and the ensuing destructive cover ups, that breeds all that is evil and destructive in all the earth. The devil is at work in the whole of the world and especially Nigeria, providing us with these acts that prevent us as a people to know God. If you look at the birds and the bees, you will realise that they have nothing to worry about, that God constantly provides for them, how much less man. These animals know neither good from bad and are purely creatures of instinct and self survival. Everything and everyone in creation have been provided for, with a specific role to play in the improvement of God’s creation. All man needs do is to get to know God, get to know His ways and God’s calling for him. Satan and sin have made this most difficult. All man should really do for his continued coexistence, survival and eternal life is to know and do God’s way and all else will be solved, use his free will to his best advantage and return to the Lord. In Nigeria, we need to all get back to God, to move in His way so that all our problems can be solved and we can progress as a Nation. We need to banish satan, the devil and evil from our lives and from our Nation and put God in control. If we honestly follow God’s ways then all problems will be taken care of, medical, financial, economics, geographical, mental, physiological, physical - all. And He should, He can, He made them.
AUGUST 2011
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Vol. 9 No. 1
JANUARY 2011
EDITORIAL
300 NAIRA
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/CEO
Ituah Ighodalo EDITOR
Ayodeji Jeremiah
...for the New Year As Selected by You - Our Readers
1. UNILAG Bookshop, Akoka 2. Edysyl Bookshops, Jibowu Str, Yaba & Kodesho Str, Ikeja 3. Royal Dividends Store 4. Iman Cosmetics, Awolowo Road, Ikoyi 5. Total Filling Station, Awolowo Rd, Ikoyi 6. Media Store RCCG Christ Church, Gbagada 7. MM1 & MM2 Local Airport 8. CCD Stores, Ogudu 9. Pharm Affairs, Ogudu 10. Cheeses Stores, Ogudu 11. Terra Kulture, Tiamuyi Savage, V.I 12. Prince Stores, Diya Street, Gbagada Culture A Dissection of Chimamanda’s “The Thing Around your Neck at Farafina Book Review Style The Coolest Watches Money can Buy Society “My Vagina is Embarrasing...”
SENIOR WRITER
Adeleke Adeyemi SENIOR EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Tola Majolagbe EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Titilope Oyelade
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SEPTEMBER 2010 TIMELESS
Editorial
The Sun is Gradually Setting in the West and Rapidly Rising in the East
I
t is no news that world power is slowly and evidently shifting from the West to the East. The Key issue here is Education, formal or informal. Education is the greatest form of empowerment and the foundation for any lasting growth or development in a nation. While the western countries are de-emphasizing the relevance of education in the lives of their youths, the East, on the other hand has discovered the importance of education in the sustenance of their future.
This has given rise to massive funding of the educational sector of these eastern nations, especially China and India. The result of this is evident in the global economy of today. The western countries have unconsciously celebrated entertainment above education thereby destroying the foundations on which their founding fathers built. President Obama has kept warning against the drop in the importance placed on getting an education in most of his speeches, alluding to the painful fact that the American labour force is grossly overpriced. Jobs today are speedily moving eastward where there is an equally effective and efficient labour force at a much cheaper cost. Bill Gates speaking at the TED conference in February 2009 gave some staggering statistics for education in the U.S: • over 30% of U.S kids drop-out from High school • over 50% of minority kids in the U.S drop-out from High school • kids from low income families have more than a 25% chance of going to prison than completing a college degree These statistics are alarming but if something is not done in the educational sector of Nigeria and the current trends of the Nigerian youth, the above will be nothing compared to what we will see as a nation. Nigeria as a developing nation should place high priority on the education of her future, the youths. It will be a great injustice for Nigeria to undermine the relevance of education in nation building and adamantly follow the facade and glamour of the entertainment industry. The average Nigerian youth is seen today but not heard. This is because he has very little to offer. The Nigerian youth has been flooded 6
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with the charm of entertainment; •
soccer
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musical concerts
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reality shows
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home videos
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pageantry
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Comedy shows.
While these however, have their place in the development of any nation, it should not be at the expense of education. The Nigerian youth is more than entertainment; he wants to be educated and educated at the highest levels and standards. On this lies the hope of this nation but year after year we see government and corporate bodies spend millions upon millions on entertaining the youths at the expense of their education, forgetting that in the coming years these ‘uneducated’ ones will be saddled with running the affairs of these bodies. Corporate organisations will rather these days sponsor a musical or reality show rather than essay or maths competitions or provide scholarships. A greater part of the millions being presently spent on entertainment should be invested in educating the Nigerian child, in the provision of world class education facilities, renovation of existing structures and providing substantial scholarships and grants for deserving scholars. It is said that Nigeria has over 22 billion naira in her education trust fund but it is presently inaccessible to our ailing educational institutions, how sad. It is time we as Nigerians take up the responsibility of educating our future. This is something we can all do in our own little ways by helping the child next door. Every major revolution starts with the people not the government. Please never forget this: It is up to us as a nation to either SET with the West, having never risen or RISE with the East to greatness and relevance in the world today.
AUGUST 2011
‘’Please give me entertainment and I’ll be excited for a season but give me education and I’ll be empowered for life’’. It’s up to us Nigeria. by Taulpaul Oselen About Taulpaul: I go by the name Taulpaul. I am a Nigerian and I love Nigeria. I am an advocate for a new Nigeria; not just a good or better Nigeria but a World-Class Nigeria. A Nigeria where all our potentials and resources are fully harnessed for our common good and the improvement of the world. I believe, Nigeria will be built by Nigerians. I am not a politician, just a concerned citizen. Functional systems are very possible in Nigeria. They are not forbidden in our country. Therefore no individual, group, government can make me think otherwise! I am fully committed to Making Things Work in Nigeria by modelling such a system to those around me in my own little way and persuading/encouraging others to do the same. I write but I’m not a writer. I speak but I’m not a speaker... I am Taulpaul and welcome to my world. Please, join me. http://pauloselen.blogspot.com/ Email: liljean_paul@yahoo.com
Cover Feature
Jonathan’s Czars: Can they make Nigeria work? Ayodeji Jeremiah (with research/reporting by Tola Majolagbe)
Dr. (Mrs.) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Mr. Olusegun Aganga
Prof Barth Nnaji
cover feature
F
ollowing President Goodluck Jonathan’s inauguration on Sunday May 29, 2011, the nation waited for him to appoint his ministers who will help him steer the ship of the state. His ministerial choices were watched closely by Nigerians and foreign investors keen for a team capable of driving badly needed reforms. Gradually over a period of two to three weeks, the ministerial nominees were unveiled, screened by the security agencies and the Senate before a full list was finally presented. The president reappointed 12 ministers from the outgoing government to their old jobs while some were reposted to new ministries. Amongst those reappointed were Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke as Minister of Petroleum Resources and respected engineer Bart Nnaji as Power Minister; Investment Banker and former Goldman Sachs chief, Olusegun Aganga was reassigned to a new Trade and Investment Ministry and Dr. Shamsudeen Usman went back to his old job as National Planning Minister. Amongst those newly appointed stood out World Bank managing director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who was appointed as Finance Minister with an expansive portfolio and career diplomat Olugbenga Ashiru as foreign minister. Ashiru has served as a diplomat for almost three decades and was recently Nigeria’s high commissioner in South Africa while Okonjo-Iweala, is a respected former finance minister who served in President Obasanjo’s government between 1999 and 2006 and helped negotiate substantial debt relief for Nigeria in 2005.
Arc. Mike Onolememen
On Thursday July 14, at the State House Council Chambers in Abuja, the new Federal Executive Council was sworn in by the President which was followed up immediately with a two day retreat that weekend on Friday July 15 and Saturday July 16.
Nigeria has a population of more than 140 million and has the world’s seventh-largest natural gas reserves, but mismanagement, corruption, low investment and a lack of maintenance culture have crippled most infrastructure. Power, fuel supply, road and rail transport have remained troubling issues. Director-General of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) Frank Nweke, who was a guest speaker at the two day retreat advocated for the establishment of a performance management system that will set targets; track the performance
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of the newly-appointed ministers and the federal administration in the implementation of government programmes. The private sector-led NESG has advised very strongly that government should identify not more than five priorities areas and focus on these areas. According to Nweke, who is a former information minister, “the issue in our country is not what policies we should be implementing. The issues are very clear: power, road infrastructure, law and order, the diversification of the economy and investment in human capital development. We don’t need aliens to tell us that we need power, roads, we need to be protected, and security needs to be guaranteed for citizens and investors. When we have put in place policies or programmes, we must figure a way to hold the cabinet accountable.” he said Okonjo-Iweala, in her Senate confirmation proceedings had expressed concerns about the high cost of government and the depletion of foreign reserves, despite high oil prices. She called for allocation of funds to subsidise the manufacturing sector and help galvanise them towards higher productivity and creating more jobs. She lamented the high cost of recurrent expenditure noting that not much fund is allocated towards capital projects and infrastructure development. In his address at the retreat, President Jonathan pointed out to the ministers that “Nigerians are waiting to see how quickly we are able to translate ideas and words into actionable and measurable outcomes for the benefit of all. Our compatriots are eager to see the fulfillment of the promises we have made in terms of visible growth in the economy, job creation, improved electricity supply, security, better health care facilities, qualitative education, an effective public transport system, a sincere and determined fight against corruption and working for enduring peace and happiness for all Nigerians.” He pointed out that Nigerian being a nation greatly endowed with human talents, the ministers should see their appointments as a God given privilege to serve the people of the country. He implored those who were returning to the cabinet to improve on their previous performance and those coming in newly ‘to serve with heart and might.’ The president listed his government’s areas of focus to include: • Improved funding of educational institutions that already exist and to ensure quality access to education for all Nigerians of school age • Improved supply of electricity • Energy security: to build on the prevailing peace in the Niger-Delta and to expand the nation’s oil and gas industry’s productive capacity • To provide assistance through funding, training and tax incentives to local manufacturers to
AUGUST 2011
Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke
encourage local manufacturing of goods. • Tangible results in the repair of existing roads and the construction of new roads and new railways. • To do whatever needs to be done, within the scope of the rule of law, to bring about peace and lay more emphasis on an intelligence based approach to meeting national security challenges. • Work towards ensuring full implementation of the budget in the years ahead He concluded his address by calling for a paradigm shift through the deliberate actions of his cabinet that will challenge “the prevailing cynicism of the average Nigerian”. He illustrated his call for a paradigm shift using the story of Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister who was the first man to run a mile in under four minutes. “In all of recorded human history before 1954, it was said by the experts that it was impossible to run a mile in under four minutes. Then on the 6th of May, 1954, Roger Bannister, after more than a year of rigorous training, ran a mile in under four minutes and shattered the myth. Now the thing to note is that from 1954 till date, over a thousand people have ran a mile in less than four minutes. Why? Because Roger Bannister challenged their belief-system and empowered them with the mental attitude to do the seemingly ‘impossible’. Ladies and gentlemen, this is what we need to do in Nigeria.” He reminded members of the Executive Council to always realize that they are all on probation in the eyes of the public and to give proper account of their stewardship to the people at all times. “The task ahead is not going to be an easy one. Remember the words of the late Tai Solarin, in a January 1, 1964 essay: “May your road be rough,” he said. “I am not cursing you; I am wishing you what I wish myself every year. I therefore repeat, may you have a hard time this year, may there be plenty of troubles for you this year! If you are not so sure what you should say back, why not just say, same on you? I ask no more!” Obviously the road ahead of us may be rough, but with sincere and purposeful leadership, we will surely succeed in transforming this country.”
cover feature As President Jonathan and his team commence their term of governance and Nigerians wait for much needed transformation, we take a background look at some key members of the cabinet: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala born June 13, 1954, was prior to her appointment as the new Minister of Finance for the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Managing Director of World Bank (October 2007 - July 2011) and has also held the position of a Finance Minister and Foreign Minister of Nigeria, between 2003 and 2006. She is notable for being the first woman to hold either of those positions. Until she resumed duties at the Bank in December 2007, she was a Distinguished Fellow of the Brookings Institution; a leading thinktank based in Washington DC, USA. Dr. OkonjoIweala pursued a 21-year career as a development economist at the World Bank, where she held the post of Vice President and Corporate Secretary before her first appointment to government in 2003. She was educated at Harvard University, graduating magna cum laude with an A.B. in 1977, and earned her Ph.D. in regional economics and development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Dr. Okonjo-Iweala has received numerous awards and was nominated by Time magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. She is married and has four children. One of the conditions she gave to the incumbent president, Goodluck Jonathan, was an additional power to influence/exercise power over the economic team. This power includes the appointment of credible and proven staff to head departments and ministries under her portfolio. Olusegun Aganga was appointed Nigeria’s Minister of Finance from 6 April 2010 to June 2011. Aganga was born in Sabongida Ora in Owan West Local Government Area of Edo State in 1955. He was educated at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria where he obtained a B.Sc Degree in Biological Sciences in 1977 and the University of Oxford, United Kingdom where he obtained a degree in Theology in 2000. Aganga qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1983. Aganga previously worked in Arthur Young in Nigeria, Ernst & Young in London UK, and Goldman Sachs International in London, where he was Managing Director in hedge funds. In 2006, He was a cofounder of the Nigerian Leadership Initiative and he is credited for the establishment of the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) in Nigeria. Bart Nnaji is the Chairman/CEO of Geometric Power Limited (GPL) - the first indigenously owned private sector power company in Nigeria. He served as Federal Minister of Science and Technology of Nigeria in 1993. He was Distinguished Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (1983-1996); Alcoa
Foundation Professor of Engineering at University of Pittsburgh (1996-2002); William Kepler Whiteford Professor of Engineering, and Director of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Center for e-Design (2002- Present) His book, Computer Integrated Manufacturing and Engineering, won the 1994 world best text book prize for Manufacturing Engineering. He has received numerous awards including the national honour – Commander of the Order of Niger; the national honour – Officer of the Order of Niger, the Baker Distinguished Research Award (the highest research award given by the IIE) and the 2004 Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM) – Nigeria’s highest intellectual merit award. Professor Nnaji has a B.S. in Physics from St. John’s University with distinction; an M.S. and Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Virginia Tech, and obtained a certificate of Postdoctoral studies in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics from MIT. Prof. Nnaji, will now head the Presidential Task Force on Power recently established by the President and charged with developing and driving an action plan for the attainment of steady power supply in the country. Omobola Johnson is the former Chairwoman and Country Director of Accenture Nigeria and became the first woman to hold both positions. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Manchester and a Masters degree in Digital Electronics from King’s College, London. She joined Accenture, then Andersen Consulting in 1985. In the about two decades she was at Accenture, she progressed through various roles and was a Director and the Head of the Financial Services operating group in Nigeria before her appointment as the Managing Director in December 2004. She was recently appointed Minister of Technology and Communications by President Goodluck Jonathan. President Jonathan had previously indicated interest in creating a technology ministry to both scrutiny and praise from Nigerians. His decision to merge the communications and technology portfolio seems to be a good one and would help position Nigeria’s communication strategy with one that is hopefully future driven and innovative given its merger with ICT. This is key as the country gears up to position itself as one of the continent’s leading ICT hubs. Diezani Alison-Madueke was born on December 6, 1960 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria She studied architecture in England and then at Howard University in the United States, and worked in USA for some years before returning to Nigeria, joining Shell Petroleum Development Corporation in 1992. In 2002, she attended Cambridge University for her MBA. In the US, she was the Project Manager, Howard University, Facilities Planning and Development Department, Washington, USA; Design Coordinator, Furman Construction Management Incorporated, Rockville USA; Project Engineer, American Interior
Builders Incorporated, Washington, USA as well as Architectural Intern, Charles Szoradi Architects, Washington, USA. She joined Shell Petroleum Development Company in 1993 as Head, Projects Unit, Lagos and between 1996 and 2006, she held several positions in the company, including Head, Estates and Civil Infrastructure and Corporate Issues Management. Others were Adviser, Strategy Planning; Lead Ventures Relations. In April 2006, Shell appointed her its first female Executive Director in Nigeria. Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke belongs to many professional bodies, including the Institute of Directors, Nigerian Institute of Management, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations and the American Institute of Architects. Since 1999 she has been married to Admiral Alison Madueke (retired), one-time Chief of Naval Staff who was at various times governor of Imo and Anambra State. Alison-Madueke was appointed Transport Minister in July 2007 and then moved to Mines and Steel Development Ministry on December 23, 2008, and in April 2010 was appointed Minister of Petroleum Resources. Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufai, the new Minister of Education, is a native of Ringim in Jigawa State. She was born on February 19, 1959. She is a holder of Bachelor of Arts degree in History in 1981 and Master of Arts in the same field in 1987. She obtained a Ph.d from the West Virginia University in 1991. She started her teaching career at the Kano State College of Education after her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme in 1982, leaving the institution in 1991 to join the Faculty of Education at her alma mater, the Bayero University, Kano the following year. She has an inspiring public service career of over 28 years as a lecturer and an administrator. Now on leave of absence, she is still an employee of the university where she has risen to the pinnacle of her calling as a professor of education. She has several publications to her credit and is a multiple award winner. A member of many professional bodies and a resource person at several conferences both within and outside Nigeria, Prof. Rufai is known to be actively involved in community service. She was a two-time Commissioner in Jigawa State before her appointment as Minister. Her appointment as a commissioner by Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa state in 2007 was by no means her first time of leaving the classroom for political office. Between 1997 and 1999, Rufai had served as the Commissioner for Health in the same Jigawa state. Author of books, several journal articles and technical papers, the minister is married to Dr. Ahmed Rufai Inua. They have three sons and two daughters. Shamsuddeen Usman born 18 September 1949 in Garangamawa area of Kano, Nigeria is the Minister of National Planning, Chairman of the Steering Committee on Nigeria Vision 2020 and former Finance Minister of Nigeria (from May 2007 - January 2009). He is an Officer
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cover feature of the Nigerian Economic Society and is currently a Fellow of the Society.
Prof (Mrs) Ruqayyatu Rufai
of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) and a Member of the National Economic Council and the Economic Management Team. After a secondary school education at the prestigious Government College Keffi and King’s College, Lagos, he gained a BSc. in Economics from Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Nigeria. He later won a National scholarship to study for his MSc. and PhD at the London School of Economics and Political Science between 1977-1980. During his first two years at the London School of Economics, he served as a teaching assistant for the final year class in Public Finance. From 1974-1976, Usman worked as the Planning Officer for the Kano State Ministry of Economic Planning. He taught Economic Analysis and Public Finance to students in Ahmadu Bello University, Bayero University Kano and University of Jos between 1976-1981. He was a Controller at the Nigerian Industrial Development Bank (NIDB) and then served as the Director of Budget/ Special Economic Adviser to the Kano State Government between 1981-1985. Usman was then appointed the General Manager of NAL Merchant Bank (currently Sterling Bank). From 1989-1991 Usman served as the pioneer Director General of The Technical Committee of Privatisation and Commercialisation, now the Bureau of Public Enterprises. Dr Usman was head-hunted to become the Executive Director of United Bank for Africa before Union Bank of Nigeria appointed him to become their Executive Director and Head of Corporate and International Banking. His time at Union Bank was short-lived as NAL Merchant Bank recruited him to become their Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, a post that he kept for over five years. At the return to democracy in Nigeria in 1999, Usman was appointed as the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria in charge of Domestic Monetary and Banking Policy, later modified to Financial Sector Surveillance. From January 2004 - June 2007 he was the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria in charge of the Operations Directorate. Dr Shamsuddeen Usman has also served as a President
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Olugbenga Ayodeji Ashiru was born in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, Nigeria on 27th August 1948 to the illustrious Ashiru family; his father was the well known Pa Simeon Adeyemi Ashiru and Mrs. Janet Solabomi Ashiru, both of blessed memory. Olugbenga Ashiru, after his primary and secondary education proceeded to the University of Lagos, Lagos, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree (BA) with honours in History – specializing in International Relations. He joined Nigeria’s diplomatic service in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as a Third Secretary (Assistant Secretary) in June 1972. In January 1991, he was appointed Ambassador Extra-Ordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. While serving in North Korea, he became the Dean of the Diplomatic Cops from 1996 to 1999. With his recall to headquarters, following the completion of his long tour of duty to Korea in 1999, Ambassador Ashiru commenced another experience that covered the Regions of the world as the Director (Regions) in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In March 2002, he was appointed as a pioneer Under Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in charge of the Regions of the World and International Organizations. He actively participated as adviser and delegate to all the yearly United Nations General Assembly Sessions in New York and Human Rights Sessions in Genevé, since 2002. Ambassador Ashiru was appointed by President Olusegun Obasanjo, in August 2005 as Nigeria’s new High Commissioner to the Republic of South Africa and with concurrent accreditation to the Kingdoms of Lesotho and Swaziland. He was awarded the Order of the Republic of the People’s Republic of Korea in 1997 and again awarded the Commander of the Order of National Merit (Commanduer de L’Odre National de Merit) by the French President in July 1999. Married since 1976 to his soul mate of many years, Dr. Omokehinde Ashiru (nee Dina), a medical practitioner, they are blessed with four boys who are working in various fields both in Nigeria and abroad. The full list of ministers and their portfolios are as follows:
8. Mrs Zainab Ibrahim Kuchi (Niger) - Minister of State for Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs 9. Alhaji Bukar Tijani (Borno) - Minister of State for Agric and Natural Resources 10. Mr Godsday Orubebe (Delta) Minister of Niger Delta Affairs 11. Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu (Ebonyi) Minister of Health 12. Arc. Mike Onolememen (Edo) - Minister of Works 13. Navy Capt. Caleb Olubolade (rtd) (Ekiti) Minister of Police Affairs 14. Professor Bart Nnaji (Enugu) - Minister of Power 15. Alhaji Yusuf Suleiman (Sokoto) - Minister of Sports 16. Prof. (Mrs) Viola Onwuliri (Imo) - Minister of State for Foreign Affairs 17. Prof (Mrs) Ruqayyatu Rufai (Jigawa) - Minister of Education 18. Dr. Shamsudeen Usman (Kano) - Minister of National Planning 19. Arc. Mohammed Musa Sada (Katsina) - Minister of Mines and Steel Development 20. Dr. Bello H. Mohammed (Kebbi)- Minister of Defence 21. Mohammed B. Adoke, SAN- (Kogi) - Attorney Gen. of the Federation/Honourable Minister of Justice 22. Mr Bolaji Abdullahi (Kwara) - Minister of Youth Development 23. Mr. Olusegun O. Aganga (Lagos) –Minister Trade and Investment 24. Mr. Labaran Maku (Nasarawa) - Minister of Information and Communications 25. Mr Samuel Ioraer Ortom (Benue) - Minister of State, Trade and Investment 26. Amb. Olugbenga Ashiru (Ogun) - Minister of Foreign Affairs 27. Mrs Erelu Olusola Obada (Osun) - Minister of State, Defence 28. Mrs. Olajumoke Akinjide (Oyo) - Minister of State for FCT 29. Senator Idris A.Umar (Gombe) - Minister of Transport 30. Dr. Yerima Lawal Ngama (Yobe) - Minister of State for Finance 31. Amb. Bashir Yugudu (Zamfara) - Minister of State for Works
1. Barrister Emeka Wogu (Abia) - Minister for Labour 2. Mrs Zainab Maina (Adamawa) - Minister for Women Affairs 3. Prof. Ita Okon Bassey Ewa (Akwa Ibom) Minister of Science and Technology 4. Mrs. Stella Oduah-Ogiemwonyi (Anambra) Minister of Aviation 5. Senator Bala Mohammed (Bauchi) - Minister of Federal Capital Territory 6. Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke (Bayelsa) - Minister of Petroleum Resources 7. Mr Abba Moro (Benue) Minister of Interior
AUGUST 2011 Dr. Shamsudeen Usman
events
Trinity House:
The First Anniversary Celebration
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rinity House, a non-denominational, free flow Christian worship centre powered by leaders, professionals and leaders to be held its first anniversary celebration service on Sunday, July 24, 2011. The event had been preceded by visits to the Hearts of Gold Orphanage in Surulere, Lagos and the Modupe Cole Memorial Home in Akoka, Yaba, Lagos on Tuesday July 19, 2011 where the church made donations to both charities as part of the first anniversary activities. This was in line with the church’s vision to ‘take the church out of church’ to meet the people and their needs using its motto obtained from the book of Acts chapter 10, verse 38 in the Bible: “Everywhere he went he was doing good.” On Wednesday, July 20, 2011, the church held a Praise Night featuring Tosin Alao and the church’s choir and band. Dignitaries at the Sunday Celebration Service included Her Excellency, Dame Abimbola Fashola, the First Lady of Lagos State, Princess Sarah Sosan, the immediate past Deputy Governor of Lagos, Mr. Asue Ighodalo, Mr. and Mrs. Felix Ohiwerei, Mr. Gamaliel Onosode, Mr. Leke Alder, Pastor Idowu Iluyomade, Pastor Ghandi Olaoye, Pastor Bimpe Mfon, Rev. Konyisola Ajayi, Venerable Gbenga Fagbemi, Dr. Lanre Tejuosho, Dr. and Mrs. Tunji Abayomi, Comedian Holy Mallam amongst others. The church had held its inaugural service on Sunday July 18, 2010 at the Civic Centre in Victoria Island, Lagos and held services there until Sunday September 19, 2010 when it moved its services to the Landmark Village at Oniru, Victoria Island.
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events
Gospel films without boundaries!
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he challenge for technical and artistic excellence in the production and exhibition of gospel movies took centre stage again during the 3rd edition of Gospel Film Festival (Gofestival) which took place at the Jogor Center, Ibadan, Oyo State capital. For four days, filmmakers from the secular and Christian outfits mingled in series of workshops, symposia and master classes to analyse trends that appear to delimit the potential of gospel films as a viable outreach media. Go Festival 2011 set the stage for interaction among drama ministers; film producers, directors, screen writers, television producers, copywriters, film schools, media houses and international leading Christian filmmakers. 12
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The general atmosphere was charged with the need to capture the estranged human mind through a persuasive film media and methods that draw the ‘unbelievers’ closer rather than scaring them with tough doctrines. The 3rd edition of this great festival was organized in collaboration with Marieke Wilson, a Ph.D. candidate/ Fulbright Fellow from the Department of Anthropology at the Johns Hopkins University in the United States who is conducting her dissertation research on Pentecostalism and its relation to various media (film, television, internet, radio, etc.) in southwestern Nigeria. Faranpojo Olaitan, the festival director in his welcome address, was grateful to God and Christian film makers over the years noting that God that planted the Gospel Film Festival for the glory of His holy name is desirous of
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raising the standard of gospel films, especially in Nigeria, to regain its lost glory and occupy its right position. Stemming from the theme of the festival, which read: Our Stories… Our Audience… Our Future, keynote speakers, among whom were the Managing Director of the Nigerian Film Corporation, Mr. Afolabi Adesanya; veteran actress, Joke Silva; and studious gospel filmmaker, Mike Shola Agboola, gave talks on different topics. They noted that gospel filmmakers have a duty, not only to preach the gospel of Christ, but also through moral lessons drawn from the neighbourhood, should preach family values and encourage patriotism in the citizenry by directing their minds to some of the individual and communal obligations that could make the nation great.
events Burial of Prince Siyanbola Adebisi Aderemi The burial ceremony of Prince Siyanbola Adebisi Aderemi took place on the 23rd of July 2011, at RCCG Rehoboth Mega Cathedral, Osun State. He died at the age of 78 on the 3rd of June 2011. He was born on October 28 1933, his father, Oba Adesoji Titus Tadeniawo Aderemi was the late Ooni of Ife and the former Governor of the old Western Region. The Service of Songs and Commendation Service took place at RCCG Jesus Sanctuary, Surulere, Lagos on Wednesday the 20th and Friday the 22nd of July, 2011 respectively. The late Prince Adebisi attended Oduduwa College (which was founded by his father) and completed his Secondary Education in Kings College, Lagos in 1952 before he proceeded for his Diploma in Civil Engineering at Birmingham College of Technology and then graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering in 1958 from University of Aston, Birmingham, UK. He got married to Titilola Aderemi (nee Olukoya) in January, 1960 and they had 3 children, Kunbi Victoria, Adeyanju Mofunluke and Adebanke (who passed on in 1996) and 4 grandchildren namely Adedayo Tandoh, Seun Tandoh, Titilade Aderemi and Adebanke Aderemi. He was a man who in his life time impacted several lives.
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Life & Society FAmily
relationships
Health
education
Wash and then wear
science
pg 18
Life & Society is something in you that responds to their presence. It’s a feeling only you can understand but never articulate. It’s a feeling that transcends any bad day or tragic event. No matter how horrible your day might have been, nothing gives you more comfort than knowing that in a matter of minutes, at the end of a long and hectic day, you will be seeing the person that brings the most joy to your heart – not because of anything they have done, but simply because of who they are. This craziness I speak of is a loving attraction that will exist between you and this person and as silly as it may sound, should be the foundation of any relationship you plan on getting into. Now remember, if you are not crazy about him or her, you will eventually get attracted to someone you are crazy about even after you are married. That wedding band around your finger only tells the world that you are married to someone, it can’t make you love them or better yet – it can’t make you crazy about them. Marry someone whom you have reverential respect for We all know what respect means. This is deeper than that. Some of us are in relationships where we show respect because he is providing a good life for the family or because she is the mother of your kids. But besides what they are, there is really no reason to respect them. This reverential respect has nothing to do with what this person is to you or what they do for you but more so, it’s about who they were even before you met them. It’s the thing that intrigues you about them. It could be their character, their vision, their personal discipline, their intelligence or their immense contribution to society. One thing is for sure; it’s usually something about them that you have nothing to do with but rather reminds you daily that this person is a gift to you. It’s almost impossible to abuse or mistreat someone you are in awe of. In marriage, we get to see the best and worst Tola Majolagbe of each other and it’s that awe factor that keeps us from just seeing people at the level of their mistakes or short comings – and you’ll have to admit, we all have them. Men – if she doesn’t o you are in love and you think that you different from being a wife or a husband. So it see that world changing essence in you, she will should get married. If this is what’s in your becomes important to face yourself and realize never give you the respect you truly deserve. And you know your ego craves that respect! mind, then it is important for you to face the truth and your readiness for marriage. some facts and see if you are really ready for Marry someone you are totally physically tying the knot especially if you want to make it Marry someone you are totally crazy about your one and only trip. Being crazy about someone is a feeling that attracted to makes your heart beat twice as hard at People make deals with themselves based on Being a girlfriend, boyfriend or fiancé is quite the mention of this person’s name. There what they think they can get instead of being
Before you walk the aisle…
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Life & Society honest with themselves and saying, ‘I don’t think she is fine’ or ‘He just doesn’t cut it for me.’ Dude! 50 years is a long time to be looking at a head that you think is too big or feet that are ugly. If you’re going to lie in my bed, you better be everything I dreamt of and if I’m going to lie in yours, I better be everything you desire. For men: Looking at a beautiful woman, is like experiencing a 70 degree day in January. She brightens up the whole place. She attracts and commands attention. Men may look calm and collected when they are talking with such for the first time, but they probably can’t hear a word she is saying. If you are a guy and you know you love large breasts, please don’t marry someone with a B-cup and if you know you love a woman’s rear view, please marry someone with a sizable butt. If you marry someone who is missing something you like, you’re going to hurt her. How? You ask. If you are not mesmerized by your wife’s physical beauty, you will find it difficult to give her the heartfelt compliments that she truly deserves. Women run on heartfelt compliments. You may not cheat on her but you will cheat her and rob her of loving words that she would love to hear on a daily basis. When a man is physically attracted to a woman, he can’t help but say it to someone. If he’s living with her, who do you think he will be saying to? When he’s married to a woman that he is hot for, his mouth will be a volcano for compliments anytime he sees her. It is close to impossible to keep your hands to yourself let alone your words around a woman you consider dynamite!
they are a part of. They are committed. They can walk away at anytime but love for what they do keeps them there. They don’t need to be there, they want to be there. Most ladies who have slept with guys too soon often try to make the relationship work because they do not want to lose what they have already lost – their confidence and dignity. Deep down, they know it was a mistake to have had sex too soon, so to recover the loss they work really hard to try to make something out of nothing. When you have a baby for a guy, you become attached. You want to have a baby for a guy who is committed to you. You don’t want to marry a guy who is committed to his baby and attached to you. An attachment means ‘I’m stuck with you and I have to be with you’ while a commitment means ‘I want to be with you - not just in you.’ You would rarely get a commitment out of an attachment but you can always create an attachment within a commitment. Never let your bodies get attached to each other before your hearts are committed to each other. Never marry someone you need - marry someone you love And never marry someone who needs you. Needs are some of the most deceptive things on earth. They are temporal and selfish. When
someone needs you, you are not the Subject, but the Object to getting that need fulfilled. Once that need has been fulfilled, you become a nuisance in that scenario. What am I talking about? If a lady has a need to be married because all her friends are married, she’ll get you and keep you, but once that need in her has been fulfilled, your relevance to her begins to diminish day by day. You see, in relationships we desire a true loving connection with another human being and this cannot exist in the presence of any deception. If you are not with someone because you sincerely love them for who they are, you are using them and once their use is over, you’ll focus elsewhere. A lot people are still married and living in the same house but all the while their hearts are looking out through the window. For a guy, all its going to take is a lady outside to stroke his ego and for a lady it’s probably going to take that one guy at work who gives her a heartfelt compliment that she has truly yearned for but never received. Divorce is not an issue for the courts; it’s a matter of the heart. So before you make that decision to marry this person, consider these five things, so that the first trip down the aisle of your heart also becomes the last one.
Delay physical intimacy This is where most people mess up a good thing. Physical intimacy should be the last stage discovered in a relationship. You must develop a mental and emotional connection over a period of time before embarking on the physical journey. How you build your relationship determines how you live in it. You want to make sure that your relationship is based on commitment and not attachment. A commitment to a person is wanting to be with that individual void of any external forces. An attachment is: needing to be with the individual due to external forces. I’ll give you an example. Most of you go to work because you are attached – you need the money and in turn that pays your bills and helps you look like you are somebody in society. On the other hand, there are people who hold volunteer positions and don’t get paid a dime. These individuals are there because of a deep passion for the issue
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Life & Society
Wash and then wear Titilope Oyelade
Buying new clothes can be exciting, and some people can’t be bothered with the seemingly wasteful practice of washing new clothes before wearing them. But that might not be enough for some people. A sizable number of people are so sensitive to formaldehyde that even low level exposures could be enough to set off an uncomfortable rash, or a severe allergic reaction. Having different ensemble is never a bad thing, but you may want to consider just how some new they really are before putting them on. Tests have shown that new apparel are only new in the sense that no one has procured the item; it excludes the situations of fitting room try-ons and factory ingredients used to treat “new” clothes just before they are purchased. Kids Clothing aren’t an exception. Though donning new clothes pose much less of a risk to kids than other hazards, right precautions should really be taken in order to avoid gaining something more major. Most apparel, whether it’s T-shirts or khakis, appear in shops containing a compound known as formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is a brand of resin utilized in assorted products, from home furnishings to hygiene items, like a kind of preserving adhesive. In garments, they can be utilized to produce various characteristics, such as anti-wrinkle and permanent press, but regularly they are meant to prevent moths and mildew from forming. Excessive levels of formaldehyde in garments could cause eczema and intense rashing, redness, swelling, blisters and flaky dry skin that can burn or itch, mainly from tight-fitting clothes that guarantee
skin contact while using the substance. Snug clothes worn on warmer days are definitely more prone to emit formaldehyde, as warmth stimulates the compound and produce it in a gaseous form where it is then breathed in. Thus, formaldehyde is not only bad for your skin; it is also harmful to your health. Children are even more vulnerable to formaldehyde than grown-ups, due to the ratio between their body weight and a larger lung surface area that causes them to ease soak up the elements and feel bigger repercussion. In general, children have more delicate immune systems that make them more vulnerable to most diseases anyhow, which makes formaldehyde one in a list of things that are potentially harmful towards young individuals. Washing kids clothing before they wear them is among the best preventative measures to defending your kids against formaldehyde together with other bacteria acquired from fitting room try-ons. Depending on the fabric of kids clothing, you don’t necessarily have to use scalding hot
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water to get rid of the chemicals, as this may destroy the full garment all together. Comply with the washing directions indicated on the outfit tag, and then replicate the rotation at the very least thrice. If manually washing, pay further attention to the restrictive area of clothes, such as the waist band, surrounding the knees, arm pits and collarbone. Such parts are prime elements of kids clothing in taking up perspiration, particularly in young boys who are active and build excessive amounts of body heat. Utilize a free-grade of a detergent to choose the identical laundry-style clean without the harmful chemicals and try to air out the clothing on a powerful sunny day. If your youngster somehow receives skin issues from their clothing, search into what was used to create the garment, and then visit a physician to seek further treatments. Since just one wash can eliminate or reduce levels of a number of these substances (along with any wayward bug that might have come from the person who tried the shirt on before you!), it’s a good idea to wash new clothes that will be worn against the skin before you put them on.
Living & St yle FASHION
BEAUTY
FOOD
HOMECARE
GADGETS
CARS
LEISURE
Tola Majolagbe
Know your Shoes AUGUST 2011
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Living & Style As dogs are men’s best friend so also shoes are women’s best friends. Some of us buy shoes without really knowing what type of shoe they are or what name to call it when we want to buy it. Here is a description of each shoe so you know how to show off when next someone asks what type of shoe you are wearing.
STILETTO A stiletto heel is a long, thin, high heel found on some boots and shoes, if you want to make a statement with your image, then make sure you make that statement with the help of a gorgeous pair of stilettos, it’s impossible to go wrong. The stiletto style is named after a type of short knife or dagger that features a long and thin blade making this to always be on the cutting edge of new fashion.
SLINGBACKS Instead of having a full, closed back, a slingback has a strap that connects from the sides or the vamp of the shoe, and wraps around the back part of the foot. Slingbacks come in a wide variety of styles from casual to dressy, with heel height ranging from none to high, and they may be either closed- or open-toe. They have been fashionable since the 1930s and continue to be popular today.
MARY JANE Instead of having a full, closed back, a slingback has a strap that connects from the sides or the vamp of the shoe, and wraps around the back part of the foot. Slingbacks come in a wide variety of styles from casual to dressy, with heel height ranging from none to high, and they may be either closed- or open-toe. They have been fashionable since the 1930s and continue to be popular today.
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Living & Style PUMPS Pumps are one of the most popular styles of women’s shoes. In their most basic form, pumps have closed backs, and lowcut fronts that hit closer to the toes than they do the top of the foot. A classic pump has a seamless vamp, and is without laces, buckles, straps or ties. Pumps can have open toes, peep toes, pointy toes, round toes, almond toes or square toes, and they can have heels of any height. Pumps are a perfect shoe to wear on a suit or for a formal event.
GLADIATORS Gladiator sandals are t-strap sandals with several straps running across the front of the foot. These sandals were favoured by Ancient Greeks and Romans. The recent gladiator sandal craze was in 2008, when these shoes were declared “musthaves” in summer fashion. The original gladiator sandals were flats, designed to be extremely comfortable for casual walking, working, and fighting but the modern sandals sometimes branch far from their ancestors, with some women’s designs featuring tall heels, thick wedges, and other design features.
WEDGES A wedge heel runs under the foot, from the back of the shoe to the middle or front. It has a somewhat triangular, wedge shape, but not all wedges are high heels. In fact, wedge heels range from low to high, it’s the shape and the length of the heel that classify it as a wedge. Wedge shoes are casual and classy and extremely comfortable especially for women who can’t walk in heels.
BALLERINA FLATS Inspired by ballet slippers, ballerina flats have become a staple in women’s footwear. Having a flat heel, closed toe, and a slipper-style construction, ballerina flats are typically low-cut, meaning they show a lot of the top of the foot. Made from a wide variety of materials, ballerina flats can be dressy or casual, and are sometimes called “skimmers” or “ballet flats.”
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Living & Style
How to Clean Up Your Kitchen
Clear counters make us drunk with happiness, so we found fail-safe ways to organize the key stuff (and hide the rest). (1) Use a stainless-steel rack ...to dry items you won’t put in the dishwasher. It looks sleeker and lasts longer than wood or plastic. Then, ditch the soap bottles by the sink and fill one automated dispenser with detergent that’s easy on skin. Cut down on germs by moving the sponge to a holder away from the faucet stream. (2) Find more prep space! A stove-side lazy Susan is perfect for the usual 22
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suspects, like salt, pepper, and oil. Other counter-space-worthy items include your most-used spoons and spatulas (throw them in an old vase — or even a coffee can). If you’re slicing and dicing constantly, keep knives on a mounted magnetic board; it’s much more streamlined than a wooden block (3) Find more prep space! Then fold those towels and pot holders and store in a nearby drawer.
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(4) Use it or move it. If you reach for an item a few times a week, it belongs on the counter. Everything else goes in a cabinet. If you need caffeine in the a.m., put the coffeemaker and a tray with grinds and sugar in an easy-access spot, and push your second-most-used gadget further back (like the toaster). If you have a corner, tuck your allthe-time items there to avoid wasted space.
Business FINANCE
MANAGEMENT
TECHNOLOGY
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
TRADE
MARKETING
Running Effective Meetings Companies can send in their articles for publication on these pages. To participate call 01-4358330, SMS 08026861642 or email timelesscourage@yahoo.co.uk
Business
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here are good meetings and there are bad meetings. Bad meetings drone on forever, you never seem to get to the point, and you leave wondering why you were even present. Effective ones leave you energized and feeling that you’ve really accomplished something. So what makes a meeting effective? Effective meetings really boil down to three things: 1. They achieve the meeting’s objective. 2. They take up a minimum amount of time. 3. They leave participants feeling that a sensible process has been followed. If you structure your meeting planning, preparation, execution, and follow up around these three basic criteria, the result will be an effective meeting. 1. The Meeting’s Objective An effective meeting serves a useful purpose. This means that in it, you achieve a desired
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outcome. For a meeting to meet this outcome, or objective, you have to be clear about what it is. Too often, people call a meeting to discuss something without really considering what a good outcome would be. • • • • •
Do you want a decision? Do you want to generate ideas? Are you getting status reports? Are you communicating something? Are you making plans?
Any of these, and a myriad of others, is an example of a meeting objective. Before you do any meeting planning, you need to focus your objective. To help you determine what your meeting objective is, complete this sentence: At the close of the meeting, I want the group to ... With the end result clearly defined, you can then plan the contents of the meeting, and determine who needs to be present.
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2. Use Time Wisely Time is a precious resource, and no one wants theirs wasted. With the amount of time we all spend in meetings, you owe it to yourself and your team to streamline the meeting as much as possible. What’s more, time wasted in a meeting is time wasted for everybody attending. For example, if a critical person is 15 minutes late in an eight person meeting, that person has cost the organization two hours of lost activity. Starting with your meeting objective, everything that happens in the meeting itself should further that objective. If it doesn’t, it’s superfluous and should not be included. To ensure you cover only what needs to be covered and you stick to relevant activities, you need to create an agenda. The agenda is what you will refer to in order to keep the meeting running on target and on time. To prepare an agenda, consider the following
Business factors: • Priorities – what absolutely must be covered? • Results – what do need to accomplish at the meeting? • Participants – who needs to attend the meeting for it to be successful? • Sequence – in what order will you cover the topics? • Timing – how much time will spend on each topic? • Date and Time – when will the meeting take place? • Place – where will the meeting take place? With an idea of what needs to be covered and for how long, you can then look at the information that should be prepared beforehand. What do the participants need to know in order to make the most of the meeting time? And, what role are they expected to perform in the meeting, so that they can do the right preparation? If it’s a meeting to solve a problem, ask the participants to come prepared with a viable solution. If you are discussing an ongoing project, have each participant summarize his or her progress to date and circulate the reports amongst members. Assigning a particular topic of discussion to various people is another great way to increase involvement and interest. On the agenda, indicate who will lead the discussion or presentation of each item. Use your agenda as your time guide. When you notice that time is running out for a particular item, consider hurrying the discussion, pushing to a decision, deferring discussion until another time, or assigning it for discussion by
a subcommittee. 3. Satisfying Participants that a Sensible Process Has Been Followed Once you have an agenda prepared, you need to circulate it to the participants and get their feedback and input. Running a meeting is not a dictatorial role: You have to be participative right from the start. Perhaps there is something important that a team member has to add. Maybe you have allotted too much, or too little, time for a particular item. There may even be some points you’ve included that have been settled already and can be taken off the list for discussion. Whatever the reason, it is important you get feedback from the meeting participants about your proposed agenda. Once in the meeting, to ensure maximum satisfaction for everyone, there are several things you should keep in mind: • If certain people are dominating the conversation, make a point of asking others for their ideas. • At the end of each agenda item, quickly summarize what was said, and ask people to confirm that that’s a fair summary. Then make notes regarding follow-up. • Note items that require further discussion. • Watch body language and make adjustments as necessary. Maybe you need a break, or you need to stop someone from speaking too much. • Ensure the meeting stays on topic. • List all tasks that are generated at the meeting. Make a note of who is assigned to do what, and by when. • At the close of the meeting, quickly
summarize next steps and inform everyone that you will be sending out a meeting summary. After the meeting is over, take some time to debrief, and determine what went well and what could have been done better. Evaluate the meeting’s effectiveness based on how well you met the objective. This will help you continue to improve your process of running effective meetings. Finally, prepare the meeting summary. This will be forwarded to all participants and other stakeholders. It is a record of what was accomplished and who is responsible for what as the team moves forward. This is a very crucial part of effective meetings that often gets overlooked. You need a written record of what transpired, along with a list of actions that named individuals have agreed to perform. Make sure someone is assigned to take notes during the meeting if you think you will be too busy to do so yourself. For more information and enquires contact Adebowale Jeff Johnson on 080560625 92 or 08036632849 or simply send him an email on debojeffjohnson@gmail.com. Adebowale Jeff Johnson, a Human Resource Consultant is the founder/ CEO Jeff Johnson Business Solutions and Jeff Johnson Business School. He is also a member, Board of Director, Grace House Worship Centre. Prior to starting his own business, he has worked with firms like Phillips Consulting Limited, SoftSkills Management Consultants, People Prime Limited, and SIAO. He has spoken at several university campuses and is currently writing a paper to develop quantitative analysis and decision making with the use of data to develop business model that will enhance organizational performance.
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Business
Responsive versus Reactive Reaction can be defined as an unpleasant response, characterized by emotional outburst, physical or verbal action, whereas, Response is considered a reply or feedback to a request, offer or statement from another party.
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was so much inspired by President Obama’s inaugural speech of 2008 which I have tagged “Obama’s Strategy”. He said “The power of humility instead of brutality, the use of mutual respect and interest instead of exerting, imposing and enforcing power in dealing with the world”. He towards the tail end of his speech said “Strength is judged by what you have built or can build and not what or how much you can destroy”. I have watched and observed his somewhat management style and my deduction is that his approach to issues are responsive. Most probably your question is how do you differentiate a responsive approach from a reactive approach? When we respond to the challenges of life, including our conflict situations, we take responsibility for our role in the situation. We are in tune with what we are feeling and why. Our thoughts, words and behaviours are conscious of the bigger picture. By contrast, when we react, we shift responsibility for the situation to the other, through blame; we assume the victim role and are ‘justifiably’ carried away by powerful feelings like anger, fear and grief. We use an unconscious template for reaction that seeks acknowledgement, justice, restoration, and even revenge…..John Ford.
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Human beings are the natural inhabitants of Reactions rather than Responses. Whenever a situation arises, we tend to react instead of responding. Yes, responding to a situation is a more mature task but we usually burst out with reaction. Reactions mostly have an immense effect on the negative aspects of life. Reactions can be destructive but Responses are not. Because when you react, it is just an impulsive retort whereas when you respond, you give a prompt answer to the situation. You involve yourself in the thinking process before responding thereby coming out with a genuine reply! …. Roopa Sushil Workplace changes occur than we sometimes imagine or preempt, usually in response to a new opportunity or to avoid a threat to the company. Change can be difficult for all concerned irrespective of the reason for it and facing a new challenge can be daunting. Organizations and companies that are proactive have planned well and have resources to support and drive the change and play down to the barest minimum, on reactive feedbacks. Proactive change involves actively attempting to make alterations to the work place and its practices. Companies that take a proactive approach to change are often trying to avoid a potential future threat or to capitalize on a potential future opportunity. Reactive change occurs when an organization makes changes in its practices after some threat or opportunity has already occurred. The same practice occurs in our personal lives. We react instead of being proactive. Our decisions and actions are on the spot, triggered and propelled by our feelings and sentiments at that point in time rather than staying focused on the issues or matters arising.
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I have twice fallen victim of this reactive syndrome. It led to the two greatest career blunders I can ever possibly make. The first time was as a result of my immaturity towards handling my own emotions, not having confidence in my talents which explained for my poor people’s skills; secondly I suffered from the deficiency of staying power, which is a reflection of the first reason. Sometimes what we see is not necessarily what it is. I reacted based on what I saw and felt rather than responding to what it really is and how to manage or tackle it. Modern day neurologists, such as Antonio Damasio, have explained and helped us to understand that emotions are enmeshed in the neural networks of reason. In other words, there is no such thing as a decision free of emotion. The crux of the matter is how do we make responsible emotional decisions? We need to mature emotionally so that we can deal with the differences i.e. conflicts. The way we see and analyze the various situations we are confronted with determines our interpretation and subsequently feedback which maybe reactive or responsive. “A blue sky can mean hell for a farmer desperate for rain, and joy for a sunbather at a beach. What triggers one, will not necessarily trigger another. Playing the victim is a choice and when we do, it feeds into our tendencies to react.” John Ford Reaction is brash and impulsive i.e. done without thought or any form of logical reasoning and therefore, destructive. On the other hand, responsive is calm, calculated and unambiguous, though it might not be favourable. A typical example is the doctor’s response to your concerns or fears over a serious or acute illness. The response is the truth though it might not be pleasant. Managing change can be a reactive or a proactive process. Always make a conscious effort to allow a Reaction to be preceded by a Response!
Folake Oluwole is a corporate and career coach and the CEO of GTD LTD (i.e. GETTING THINGS DONE LTD), a consulting firm based in Lagos, Nigeria. She connects with people and organizations in order to inculcate a passion for the vision of the organization. For more information, call 08083179384 or email oluwolefolake@yahoo.com or gtdltd@yahoo.com
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s your child starts growing older, your child understandably becomes more independent. Paradoxically as a parent, as you start to loosen the apron strings, you also need to search for a way to stay connected with your children. During these ages, school activities, a widening social circle of friends, new interests are all jostling for young child’s attentions. And so at this time, parents become more important in the child’s life. The parents become a much needed source for stability and guidance that a good child- parent relationship will provide. This relationship when healthy, also provides your child with the required stability and security. This in turn helps the child cope with the realities of life its ups and downs, smiles and tears which will surely come. Usually somewhere around these ages your child may start to act as if they can do without your help. They may resist or seem to resent your help or advice. They start to exhibit a need for privacy maybe by shutting their bedroom door seeking some time to be alone and so on. While it is advisable you step back, kindly stay within reaching range. Your actions at this time become more important than words. Your behavior and actions are just more important than what you say. These ages’ children will mimic you in more ways than one. Your child will imitate your dress habits, your mannerisms, your speech (whether seasoned with salt or otherwise). It might be a fantastic idea for you to behave just as you would like your child to behave. You cannot swear all the time and ask your child not to swear. This is also a good time to reflect on your behavior to others. How do you treat the people around you? Your driver? Your Nanny? Maybe your house keeper? There really is no downtime. Your child is watching and recording your actions for further use. Aside of “Practicing what you Preach” small routine actions can connect you to your child and help reinforce good habits. Here are simple easy to use tools available to you. Food Times Try really hard to ensure you eat as family. Sharing a meal at a table at least
once a week if not daily is an important and useful habit. This provides excellent opportunities to talk to our child and reconnect as a family. Turn of the television and ignore phone calls for the period unless of course it is an emergency. Bed Time Maintaining a routine and consistent bedtime routine help the children to get the rest they need to grow healthy and strong. Remember to schedule a “Winding Down” time in to the bedtime routine. This can be a good time for a few laughs together with your child. It can also provide an opportunity to give your child some gentle and sometimes much needed reassurance of your love and belief in your child. Special Times Celebrate important times in your family. There is always something to celebrate. Birthdays are of course very popular at these ages but you can also celebrate other things like Good Report cards and so on. This helps to reassure your child. This can encourage your child to work harder at school. Loving Times Showing your child love can never be bad. It helps your child to know that he is loved. Be proud of your child. Verbalize your pride in his achievements when required Rough Times Help your child through the ‘not- so- good’ times. Maybe she was not picked for the School play or maybe he was dropped from the football team. Talk your child through the disappointments. Things rarely seem as bad as they initially feel when there is someone to talk you through it. Remember ‘A problem shared is a problem halved’. This works just as well with children as it does with adults Time Time Time Give a little time to your child. Make time out for a school play or a musical recital with your child whenever you can. Be interested in your child. Listen and read between the lines of your child’s speech and actions. Nothing really counts more than the child spent with your child. Look at the time you spend with your child as some sort of investment that can only yield good returns. Enjoy your child.
Tayo Olarewaju is the Director of Delightsome Land School, a nursery and primary school in Victoria Island Lagos. She studied Accounting, Educational Leadership and Management. She is passionate about children, enjoys reading and writing and is learning to stay away from chocolate biscuits. She is married with 3 stars and a dog named scratch. If you would like to be a part of the all stars team send your name, date of birth and phone number to 08033527272 or email it to allstars@delightsomeland.org
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PreSchooler activities for Preschool Children from Age 2-5
Name
VICTORIA TANDOH
Name
Cut the shapes at paste them to the matching shape on the balloon.
Draw a line to connect each animal with its shadow.
PreschoolPalace.org
PreschoolPalace.org
Paper Cup Flowers • Take a paper cup and starting at the top rim, cut down to the base. • Repeat the cuts about every inch or half-inch around the top rim. • Let your toddler help you flatten the cup into a flower shape. • Give your child a piece of construction paper and have her glue the flower shape onto the paper. • Finally, have her add some glue to the centre of the flower, then sprinkle on some confetti, beans, glitter or a large coloured pom, to finish off the centre of the flower.
Paper Kites You will need construction paper, string, paper streamers, tape and a stapler. • Using a large piece of construction paper, cut out a large paper kite. • On the bottom sides of the kite shape let your child help you staple on some crepe paper streamers. • Then let your child decorate the kite with marking pens. • When finished, tie a string near the top point of the kite and reinforce the hole with some tape. • Show your child how to run with the kite streaming out behind her. AUGUST 2011
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Dabar
Insights for Christian Living
The Christian and his demons John Igbinovia
I
love rings – always have. I love other weird things as well. Someone once said to me, why do you like rings, and in my mind, I was thinking ‘why do you like trousers that seem scared of the floor?’ It seems hard for some people to grasp the notion of personal preference. That’s why some do not like mangoes, others love sky diving, some have dogs as pet and some love dogs better in stew! I can bet my life some are appalled at the notion of eating dogs, as they chew on a poor chicken’s thigh – while the vegetarian looks at everyone else who eats meat in disdain, while they uproot a poor onion.
scripture, is a position from right living IN GOD, not a spiritual gel to be topically applied on cars, and journey routes or ailments. Yeah, people love to chant ‘but they overcame by the blood of the Lamb’…but the verse CONTINUES with ‘and they loved not their life unto DEATH’ (Revelations 12:11). The covering of the blood is for those who are sold out and are ready to DIE instead of compromise their faith. Still think you’re covered?
One of the things that got me thinking was the fact that in the bible, you do not see a lot of references to demons by Jesus himself or even Paul. In the King James Version, the word ‘demon’ does not appear at all. ‘Devils’ and ‘unclean spirits’ appear and they were promptly cast out of people with minimal drama. Jesus talked briefly about demons going back to inhabit a person who opened up to them.
Someone even said harvested plants could be heard shrieking if you were ‘sensitive’ enough. Well, that is certainly not a spiritual gift I’d like to have. So, this female pastor once said to me ‘what if your ring was forged under the sea and has marine spirits attached to it?’ – and then I realised: It’s very difficult to have a conversation with a person who asks you ludicrous questions. Apparently, the portion of the bible where Paul says you don’t need to ask the origin of everything you buy must have escaped her – and what if her blouse was forged right next to the marine factory that made my ring? The bottom line is there is persistent talk of the devil and demons and evil spirits and what they can do, how they can catch you, bite you, smite you, wound you, ingest you and even fart on your ice cream sundae! And beware, you are told, of the demon’s fart for it causes a mad toothache! Ok, I’m kidding but you get my drift. However, when you decide to actually talk about demons from a scriptural perspective and you start to quash the silly arguments and myths, people ALWAYS resort to STORIES. Stories abound of a ‘certain’ pastor who had a dream, or a friend’s wife baby’s uncle who had a ‘revelation’ – and the balderdash just never ends! The solution prescribed for demonic problems is generally the blood of Jesus, and energetic prayer. Sadly, the truth is that energetic prayer only builds physical stamina if the spirit isn’t right – and the ‘covering’ of the blood of Jesus, as seen in
In another scenario, villagers in a part of Nigeria were given a treat when students in one of the local parishes were told to squat, stool down, kneel down, take several painful positions, including running around with wooden benches on their heads – while speaking in tongues. Apparently, that was the prayer leader’s version of ‘effectual fervent prayer’. The funny part is that for some, the more stupid and abnormal the command, the more ‘potent’ they think it is and the more gusto is put into the silly act. Indeed people are destroyed ‘for lack of knowledge’.
However, there have been numerous books about spiritual warfare and the seven steps to gain victory over Satan, how to kick the devil out of your finance, how to catch demons that affect your ATM card…and many other such things. The bottom line is this: Any remedy can be sold to the desperate man. It is the same with teachings on demons and Satan that talk about the power and then prescribe antidotes that are often measured out by the ‘man of God’.
My sister was privileged to be in a service where everyone was told to ‘drink the blood’ and people started gulping in massive unseen litres of Jesus’ blood. Another dude talked about ‘basin blood of Jesus’ – apparently, a cup would not suffice. But the weirdness never ends. I attended a prayer meeting where the facilitator had us put our hands on light sockets. I am embarrassed to say that I was at a point in my life where I wasn’t old enough and strong enough to say to an authority figure that they were not making any sense, so I put my hands on the light switch and ‘spoke in tongues’. Hey, don’t give me that look; it was someone else who had the circuit breaker covered!
The fact is that the greatest warfare is in the mind, and the biggest battle is over the soul – and that is why Bill Gates would not be binding demons ‘that affect his finances’ because binding demons, many times, is the crutch of the lazy man. The warfare, as seen in scripture, talks about casting down imaginations (mental states), and high things that come against KNOWING GOD. You see, the solution for every problem is to finding God in a real, personal relationship. Jesus said, I am the vine, ye are the branches… and without me, ye can do NOTHING. So what is the conclusion of the matter? Simple. Fear God AND keep his commandments. More articles at ‘Meditations on the Christ’ http://christmeditations.blogspot.com/
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Viewpoint
Boko Haram:
Is’haq Modibbo Kawu’s ominous rhetorics Zik Zulu Okafor
I
confess I am a fan of Is’haq Modibbo Kawu. I admire his granite cast personal convictions. I adore the impunity of his pen and importantly, the audacity of his political enunciations. Kawu’s pen can also be solemn. But most times it is petulant and he gallantly wears both the grab of an advocate and a rebel. His mind appears, to me, to be a rendezvous of extremes, a scholar on a hazy odyssey to canvass change and a writer, sadly tilting towards an ethnic jingo. Kawu’s ominous rhetorics in Vanguard of Thursday, June 23, 2011 could not but wake my snugly sleeping pen. Audaciously titled Boko Haram: Even with the bombings, there is no alternative to dialogue, Kawu went on a tedious race of condemning every action of government, seeing in them an Islamic hate even when muslim heads of state like Alhaji
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Shehu Shagari and Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua were involved. Pathetically, not one complete sentence of his hypothesis condemned the barbarous bestiality of Boko Haram. For a seemingly incisive thinker and writer like Kawu, wearing this toga of religious and ethnic jingo will do him no good; not among his sincere muslim brothers and certainly not among other Nigerians of different religious inclinations. Kawu writes like one that seems to regale his heart and mind with the morbid adventures of Boko Haram. Hear him, “It was instructive that Boko Haram not only claimed responsibilty, but specifically that it did not target the innocent but the IGP, who literally escaped by the skin of his teeth.” This precious writer whose caustic assertiveness I unrepentantly admire, sounds like he would have received the news with fervent spirit and utmost joy had the IGP
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been killed in the police headquaters bombing. I do not want to believe that Kawu has such a morbid thirst. State violence: For Kawu, Boko Haram attained this giddy pedestal, this mindless running massacre of fellow men, women and children, because of the state violence deployed against them in 2009. It was wrong, in his theory for Yar’Adua, a fellow muslim for that matter, to have ordered the police to deal with Boko Haram and to crown government’s sins, some members of this sect, including their leader, were killed in extra judicial manner. Worse still, the report of the enquiry ordered by the government has since been drowned by the silent mystery of Aso Rock operations. Re-enactment of America’s reaction Kawu, worthy to be called a brillant and
Viewpoint damn fearless columnist, sees the Federal Government’s response to Boko Haram as a reenactment of America’s reaction to the September 11, 2011, Al Queda’s bombing of the twin tower of the World Trade Centre. Kawu laments: “The Bush administration launched a “War on Terror” which became a pretext for the illegal invasion/ occupation of Iraq, the extraordinary rendition of hundreds of suspected enemy combatants, detentions in Bhagdad, in Afghanistan, in Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay. American client regimes also launched their own mini-wars on terror to repress local islamist groups, often abetted by prejudiced media reportage as in Nigeria where Islam and Muslims have often been unpopular subjects of coverage anyway.” For anyone who has followed Kawu’s column, it is easy to tell that his intellectual posture cum analysis draws from an invaluable fountain of knowledge. What is most painful is how he allows his religious sentiments to blur his vison, taint his ideas and naturally give birth to only a jaundiced judgement. In all his lamentations, Kawu’s saw no wrong in Boko Haram’s gruesome blood rituals. He seems unable to locate any wrong doing in their acts as he walks the aisle of his heat oppressed mind. For Kawu, the Federal Government should have perhaps spread effeminate hands appealing to Boko Haram to stop the bloodshed when they sprang onto the states maiming and killing innocent people. But our brilliant columnist forgot that one of the fundamental indices of a failed state is loss of monopoly of the use of force by the government. Only the government has the right to use force and it had to use force to stop the Boko Haram rampage. Yes, I agree totally with Kawu that the extra judicial killing of the leader of the sect is uncivilized, unlawful and unacceptable. I also wholly subscribe to the demand for the release of the report of the enquiry ordered by the government. Yet none of these government’s short comings can lend justification to the mindless histrionic of this blood thirsty gang. Boko Haram’s demands, hatred for the North and Niger Delta Among the demands of Boko Haram, according to Kawu are the release of the report on the execution of its members, full implementation of Sharia, trial of former Borno State governor, Ali Modu Sheriff and resignation of the newly
elected governor, Kashim Shettima. It is always so easy for writers to sit in the comfort of their rooms and try to make sense out of absolute rascality and profound irrationality. I am most certain that despite the seeming Islamic fervor simmering inside Kawu, were he to swap positions with Governor Shettima, he (Kawu), with his intellectual bent, would not tolerate Boko Haram for one day.
that has been with every Nigerian, successive Nigerian governments and the international community. If Kawu drives into Abuja and indeed drives around, He will see the magnificient structures the federal and state governments have erected in that beautiful city. He will see the awesome hotels and the skyscrapers and fly over bridges and he will see same aesthetic pictures of man’s achievements in Lagos.
While democracy enunciates individual freedom and liberty, the exercise of such freedom must not become a burden to other people’s right to their own freedom. Boko Haram’s demand for the resignation of a governor voted into power by his people is crass and amounts to carrying concept of freedom too far. Yet, Modibbo Kawu with his intellectual zeal could not see the farce that this Boko Haram’s demand really is. How could one renegade religious group wake up one morning to constitute itself into an anti corruption agency, a court and a jury, demanding the trial of an ex- governor and the removal of an incumbent governor. From what constitution are they deriving their authority? Is Nigeria a jungle? Yes, Ahmed Yerima, in his naked hypocrisy, tried to introduce the Sharia law in his Zamfaria State. But he did it,at least, with some authority, being a state governor.Where did Boko Haram sip this wine of authority that is intoxicating it? We have to thank God that on the two occasions that the use of force has been ordered against Islamic religious sects from the north, providence ensured that the sitting presidents were of northern extraction and of the same religious hue.
Stinging Truth The stinging truth that Kawu may be in denial about is that about 90% of the capital used to erect those structures came from the sale of oil that flows underneath the homes and kitchens of Niger-Deltans. Even some of the magnificent structures and monstrosities that belong to private billionare business men were still built with droplets of oil money. This is so because Nigeria’s is government based economy and 90% of billionares in this country sure have dealings with government.
Alhaji Shehu Shagari confronted the Maitasine sect while Boko Haram saw Yar’Adua’s fury. If any of these orders had come from a president from the southern part of the country and, worse still, a Christian, the entire episode would have taken an ominous dimension that would further expose the widening chasm between the north and south. I need to say here that the core recesses of my heart sizzles with pain as I write this piece. Kawu seems to descend below the intellectual bottom. How could anyone with even a lame knowledge of Nigeria’s political economy begin to compare the dehumanizing story of NigerDelta and the prognosis that gave birth to the militants with the sheer myopia, cruelty and caprice that charaterized the emergence and demands of Boko Haram? To begin with, the exploitation of the Niger-Delta is a tragic tale
But let Kawu take a day trip to just a few Niger-Delta towns and villages and he will get an acute sense of what poverty, negligence and squalid life simply mean. Kawu will discover that while some of these people will need to jump over an oil pipeline to get to their shacks, they still paddle canoes, sometimes for hours, to buy ordinary kerosene, a by-product of oil, drilled beneath their homes and refined at their backyards. Yet the first major rebellion against their oppression did not happen until the Major Isaac Adaka Boro led revolt and demand for self determination in the 60’s. If Is’haq Modibbo Kawu is conversant with Nigerian history, he would have known that nobody negotiated with Boro and his gallant group. They were crushed by the federal government and Boro was charged with treason but was later granted a political amnesty because of the outbreak of civil war. Kawu should be reminded of the Ogoni nine led by the Human Rights and Environmental activist, Ken Saro Wiwa. Who negotiated with them? Were they not executed by the retarded military monster called Sani Abacha, even as the whole civilized world watched incredulously at such robust barbarism? Which Nigerian will forget the recent Odi Massacre under the Olusegun Obasanjo administration? These same people practically lost their primary and in fact only means of livelihood which is fishing because of consistent oil spillage that turned their waters into poison.
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ARTs
& Culture
books movies music theatre photography exhibitions architecture
How Nollywood is Killing Nigerian Television Uche Nworah
T
he 80’s and 90’s in Nigeria belonged to actors and actresses who lit up our television screens with superb performances in soaps, TV dramas and shows such as Inside Out, Mirror in the Sun, Supple Blues, Behind the Clouds, Checkmate, Fortunes, Basi & Company, Ripples, New Masquerade, Fuji House of Commotion, The Village Headmaster, Cockcrow at Dawn, Second Chance, Tales By Moonlight and the list goes on. These men and women became small screen gods and goddesses. I remember watching the likes of Barbara Soky deliver breathtaking performances first as Rosemary in the Rivers State Television (RSTV) produced soap Inside Out, and later as Yinka Fawole in Lola FaniKayode’s Mirror in the Sun – the soap opera that still ranks as one of the best to come out of Nigeria.
Olu Jacobs
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Recall the longevity of shows such as Cock Crow at Dawn especially the profound performances of Bitrus (Sadiq Daba) and the weekly comic relief served up by the whole cast of New Masquerade including Chief (Dr.) Zebrudaya Okoroigwe Nwogbo alias 4:30 (Chika Okpala), his screen wife Ovularia, Prince Jegede Sokoya (Claude Ake), Gringory (James Iroha), Clarus (Davis Ofor) and Akpeno (Christy Essien-Igbokwe). Who will forget the forever raging battle of wits between Ann Haastrup (Ego Boyo) and Segun Kadiri (Richard Mofe-Damijo) in the Amaka Igwe directed soap Checkmate or the hilarious crew of the Ken Saro-Wiwa produced TV sitcom Basi & Company including Basil (Albert Egbe), Alali, Josco, Dandy, Segi and Madam-the-Madam all of Adetola Street who popularised phrases such as “If you want to be a millionaire, think like a millionaire,“, “It’s just a matter of cash!“, “I’m hungry, Mr. B!” and “Come in if you’re handsome and rich!” Basi was already advising us to think like millionaires if we wanted to be millionaires in the sitcom before Frank Edoho started searching for who wants to be a millionaire on TV. These were well-scripted shows that became popular in millions of Nigerian homes purely for their entertainment value. Long before Ramsey Noah, there was already another heartthrob in the person of late McArthur Fom who made millions of women idolize him as Nosa in the soap hit Behind the Clouds. Ene Oloja played the character of
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Clarion Chukwura
Nosa’s no-nonsense stern elder sister while Zack Amata played the role of Mr Okonzua, Nosa’s father. Nosa’s career was unfortunately cut short by cerebral spinal meningitis which claimed his life. This period could probably be described as the golden age of Nigerian television, a period when actors and actresses made waves for the right reasons not just because of who they were sleeping with or what car they drove. They worked hard at improving their craft and reaching their devoted fans every week performance after performance. The Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) broadcasting through a network of sister stations in almost all
the states of Nigeria helped to bring these shows to people’s homes supported by corporate sponsors. NTA also gave opportunities to many of its staff including Pete Edochie and Obi Okoli to showcase their talent. This is also how the names Peter Igho and late Matt Dadzie came to be associated with quality television at the time. This period also saw the rise of
Richard Mofe Damijo
independent producers such as Amaka Igwe and the likes of Paul Emema, my classmate at the Communications Arts department of University of Uyo who created Supple Blues. And then came Living in Bondage and everything changed. Widely acclaimed as the pioneer of what has since become a multi-million naira film industry in Nigeria known as Nollywood. This straight-to-video movie was released sometime around 1992. It was directed by Chris Obi Rapu, written by Kenneth Nnebue and Okechukwu Ogunjiofor and produced by Kenneth Nnebue. Its cast included Kenneth Okonwo, Kanayo O. Kanayo, Bob Manuel Udokwu, Francis Agu, Ngozi Nwosu, Nnena Nwabueze and Sydney Diala. The success of Living in Bondage gave rise immediately to the production of other straight-to-video independent films notably Circle of Doom, Rattlesnake, Nneka the Pretty Serpent and many others whose release followed in rapid
succession. Our Nollywood stars literally were then born. Enter Eucharia Anunobi, Saint Obi, Liz Benson, Jim Iyke, Genevieve Nnaji, Mona Lisa Chinda, Funke Akindele and the rest of them. They were widely celebrated while they smiled home to the bank as well. And the pioneers, those who first gave Nigerians joy on the small screen, it seemed their stars waned, sponsorship money on television dried up except for corporate owned and sponsored programming. NTA also appeared to have lost its way preferring to air Mexican and other Latin American soap imports; moving away from its time tested and successful model of supporting indigenous soaps and productions. It appeared there was no longer interest in continuing to sustain soaps and other related shows on TV when Nollywood’s fame and fortune beckoned. And then the crossovers began, even former queen of soaps Regina Askia couldn’t resist the pull of Nollywood. Richard Mofe-Damijo, Joke Silva, Nkem Owoh, Olu Jacobs, Pete Edochie, Clarion Chukwura, Sam Loco Efe and many more who dominated soaps and shows on the small screen all made the inevitable switch to Nollywood productions. It is the Nigerian television audience that have become the biggest losers in the Nollywood “craze” – that is for those who still bother to watch. Lovers of good old-fashioned family sitcoms, soaps and shows have now been condemned to watching third rate performances by some unemployed actors, actresses and ‘wannabe’ stars as they dish up rubbish by way of some of the half-measure Nollywood films being rushed and produced overnight. Some end up being aired as fillers on the DSTV operated Africa Magic movie
channels. These guys are forgetting that hard work and professionalism should come before the thoughts of fame and fortune. Maybe some blame should go to some of the professional actors guild who rather than focus on improving the arts and demanding for minimum standards of performance are more interested in fighting for leadership of the guilds so as to control the perks of office and perhaps have access to President Goodluck Jonathan’s promised $200 million Nollywood lifeline. At the next award season in the United States, those who care should watch out for the Emmy Awards nominees and winners. It will prove that that motion pictures and media entity that is Hollywood has not killed television in America. So why should Nollywood destroy television in Nigeria? Uche Nworah is a Lagos based company executive. He can be reached at chenworah@yahoo.com. This article was first published on www.ayakaonline.com
Ego Boyo
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Podium
Democracy in Nigeria and the Rebirth of Opposition Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu
Being excerpts of the annual lecture of the Chatham House, London delivered by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, National Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) on Monday July 18, 2011 of government that looks like democracy but does not act like it. We will be applauding as Nigeria’s political economy becomes a corporatist entity in democrat’s clothing.
Buhari
Tinubu
W
e cannot talk about the vitality of Nigerian democracy without talking about the vitality of the political opposition. For there is no democracy without diversity in substantive opinion and political affiliation. To underscore this fundamental concept, our party spurned an offer by the ruling party to join a nebulous ‘Unity Government’. Our ground of rejection was that our democracy would be better nourished and better served if we, as a minority party, remain outside the loop of power to nurture the culture of opposition. I must report that the ruling party appeared to have bought the idea when it excluded cabinet nominees of a string of small parties grovelling to be part of the government. The past quarter century has seen the expansion of forms of democratic governance throughout the world, including Africa. Democracy is so well considered the most legitimate form of government that no one dare publicly speak ill of it. The lack of vocalization does not mean the lack of enmity. It would be premature and naïve to conclude that true democracy has emerged triumphant. History is still being shaped and the verdict is yet to be rendered. We must not err into thinking democracy has been anchored in Nigeria or in other countries just because of the conduct of elections and the existence of certain institutions usually found in a democracy. We must be careful not to read too much into the increasing visibility of processes that appear democratic. If we lend too much credence to the outward appearance, we will fail to look critically at the inner workings of government and the substantive quality of its output. We dare not mistake the image of democracy with real democracy any more than we should mistake the image in a mirror with the real person. If so, we will be applauding a form
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It is of utmost importance when talking of Nigerian democracy, that we not only highlight the existence of certain institutions but weigh those institutions on two scales. First, do these organs procedurally function in a democratic manner? Second, do they produce outcomes that advance the public welfare in ways that further democratization? Based on this analytic construct, we should assess Nigeria’s democracy. I say this, not due to anything learned from a book but due to my own humble experiences. I have fought, struggled and suffered to help promote democracy in Nigeria. This has been the main pursuit of my adult life and remains my guiding light. Thus, I know well the snakes that lurk in the garden. There are many people who are all too willing to take advantage of the democratic process. They advocate democracy up to the point of gaining power and no further. Once in power, they eagerly whittle down the very democratic mechanisms that enabled their political ascent. Upon making it to the rooftop, they kick aside the ladder to prevent others from making a similar climb. Nigerian democracy is not yet strong enough to have corralled these errant forces. Actors with democratic phenotypes but authoritarian genotypes abound in the current political landscape. I dare say Nigeria has more of this ilk than of genuine democrats. If not kept under watchful eye, these personalities will deface what already is a sparse edifice. We are positioned at the fulcrum where Nigeria is as likely to incline toward artificial democracy as it is toward the real specimen. 2003 and 2007 Elections: Less Than Meets the Eye A discussion of the state of Nigeria’s democracy must look at the recent elections. The superficiality of the transition, its many contradictions sooner began to manifest. The newly minted political system was found to possess many attributes of the parent. Our country’s democracy was a parody of true democracies: ours mimicked some essential aspects of military and authoritarian rule. President Obasanjo had the chance to become the
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father of democratic Nigeria by using his tenure to accelerate the drive to federal democracy by establishing a fair and tolerant political culture. Instead of raising a unifying banner and standing as a father to the nation, he became a hector that fought all and sundry. In the end, his great failing was his attempt to superimpose a barracks mentality on a fledgling democracy. Thus, he entertained themes such as a one party state. He and his close acolytes resonated with undemocratic anthems such as the PDP ruling for sixty years or a millennium as if this were the blossoming of a Nigerian Reich. He even attempted to rewrite the constitution to rule for a third term! When the 2003 elections came, Obasanjo and the PDP pilfered more elections than they properly won, using brute force and brazen fraud. In the western part of Nigeria, where my former party, the Alliance for Democracy had won five states in 1999, our control was sharply reduced to just one state, Lagos State, then under my watch. In all, the PDP emerged from the 2003 polls as a party with a super-majority in all things except performance. Opposition parties had been ruthlessly emasculated. The PDP would henceforth rule without any viable opposition. Come 2007, the PDP raised its electoral rascality a notch higher. First, President Obasanjo declared the election as a ‘Do or Die’ affair. PDP stalwarts openly commandeered election materials everywhere it could. Phantom results were announced for phantom polls. Candidates were illegally excluded from the ballot paper. Opposition candidates, who went to bed cocksure they had won in their constituencies, woke up the next day to learn that the result had been altered to favour the PDP rivals. That election was a monumental embarrassment and a mortal threat to the pursuit of democracy. Things at that juncture seemed very bleak for the opposition. In retrospect, by this gross overreach, the PDP had become its own most potent adversary, triggering both international and national backlash. After eight years of shoddy arbitrary governance, it belied logic that the PDP in 2007 would capture 80 percent of the gubernatorial seats, literally enjoy a clean sweep in most State Assemblies and maintain supermajorities in both chambers of the National Assembly. It appeared that Nigeria orbited in a strange universe where the poorer the ruling party performed, the
Podium greater was its electoral reward. However, the wholesale confiscation would come unglued. It was too blatant for even a relatively quiet public to stomach. The electoral robbery actually energized some of us in the opposition and spurred moves for the building of a coalition of political forces. The Resurgence of the Opposition Both at the levels of fighting for electoral integrity and justice and that of ensuring true fiscal federalism, the opposition made the courts the first theatre of battle. In many cases, the response to the overbearing ways and outright constitutional violations of the Federal government fell upon the opposition states to initiate. The reason was that the majority of the states were controlled by the PDP- and most governors were for reasons of party unity, or simply timidity, unwilling to oppose the President and the Federal government, even when their best interest would be served by opposition. The exception was the so called ‘resource control’ cases, when oil producing states stood up against the Federal government. The approach of the opposition in redressing many of these unacceptable policy positions, constitutional violations of the federal principles, and election rigging was quite varied. We believed then that in the absence of a significant voice in the parliament with coalitions of smaller opposition parties, the courts would be our only serious option for redress. Between 2001 and 2007, we mounted several legal challenges in the Supreme Court, the Lagos State usually being a plaintiff, where we asked the court to resolve a wide variety of issues. Time and time again our recourse to the courts won us, more constitutional victories than the National Assembly’s majority was able to secure for itself by legislation. By and large, the battle for a truly federal state has been fought not in the chambers of the National Assembly but in the hallowed halls of the Supreme Court. Nigeria’s National Assembly looks like an undemocratic institution, serving undemocratic ends. Winning Back the States In the preparations for the 2011 elections, we knew what we were up against as the opposition: an electoral system designed for easy manipulation by the ruling party, electoral laws that were undemocratic and susceptible to abuse and manipulations by the ruling party, a hostile security environment, and a system in which so much state money had been pumped into the system to fight the opposition. We were fully aware that unless we made electoral integrity a make-or-break issue, the 2007 travesty would only be a dress-rehearsal for even greater impunity. We therefore initiated the ‘every vote
must count campaign’. Several civil society and professional groups kicked off the campaign at a lecture given in my honour on my birthday- March 29, 2008. Thereafter we established in collaboration with several civil society groups “the Coalition of Democrats for Electoral Reforms (CODER), to ensure the integrity of elections and demand for electoral reforms. Local and international civil society organizations and foreign governments also engaged with the government to ensure transparency and accountability in the electoral process. From this stage, the ‘one man, one vote’ mantra resonated across Nigeria. As a result of the vigorous agitation by the opposition for fundamental electoral changes, the government inaugurated the Electoral Reform Committee to bolster its image. Chaired by former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Muhammed Uwais, the committee did a good job and produced a comprehensive report detailing the faults in the electoral process and enumerating 83 procedural and substantive recommendations. Key recommendations dealt with ensuring the independence of the electoral commission and of creating an electoral process less vulnerable to manipulation. If implemented, the report would have constituted a radical transformation of the political landscape and place Nigeria on the right path to stable democracy. As with most attempts to reform a stubborn and regressive system, our efforts succeeded in part and failed in part. Due to public agitation, the Electoral Commission Chairman who engineered the sordid 2007 election was replaced by a respected figure in whom civil society had confidence. We also were successful in calling for a new voter’s register to replace the one the former Electoral Commission head had concocted. It must be stressed, however, that the change in the leadership of INEC is insufficient for the total transformation of the electoral process in Nigeria. First, the recalcitrant government failed to resolve the issue of the independence of the Electoral Commission. Second, government refused to alter the selection process giving a president unilateral power to appoint the Chairman and its commissioners. And third, government refused to provide the Electoral Commission an independent budget. This means the Commission remained susceptible to political influence because the National Assembly and President could control the Commission’s purse strings for as long as they deemed appropriate. The few and cosmetic reforms made by the National Assembly were also delayed because neither the assembly nor the presidency really wanted genuine reform aimed at improving the electoral process. Their eleventh hour antics were mere shifty manoeuvres to bolster their political positions for the approaching election. Instead of perfecting and insu-
lating the electoral process and broader political environment from manipulation, they focused national discourse on trivial intra party matters. The 2011 Elections Against this backdrop, the 2011 elections must be weighed. The elections improved on the 2007 edition. The PDP still emerged the dominant party, with its majority in the National Assembly slightly reduced. Its losses were the opposition gains. However, the 2011 elections were not of the high quality the government and many international observers proclaimed. In a way, international observers have done Nigeria a disservice that will become apparent in the future. The 2007 elections were the bitter dregs from a bad cup. Those who conducted it employed the full handbook of electoral malpractice. Coming into this year’s polls, foreign observers and many domestic observers thought the worst. These observers were possessed of the preconceived notion that they would see open and coarse misconduct in broad daylight and at every polling station. Thus, observers were pleasantly surprised when they travelled about Nigeria’s urban centres only to find our citizens standing in orderly lines waiting to cast votes. Expecting the worst, they unduly applauded the modest improvement that took place. If this were all that constituted the electoral process, I would agree with the clean verdict pronounced by the observers. However, the observers did not see what took place before Election Day or what happened in rural Nigeria. More importantly, most observers ended their day as the sun set and the polling stations closed. They ended their watch just as the agents of malpractice would begin their craft. Observers made a broad final conclusion based on a thin filament of information. They judged a complicated play solely by viewing one of its several acts. I can understand how observers came to their conclusion given the constraints under which they operated. I can also understand that many friendly governments wanted to see the elections in Nigeria as successful. Given the world as it is, no one seeks another foreign policy challenge. Yet, the negative consequence of this inflated measure is that the bar has been set too low for the conduct of subsequent elections. Those in power now believe they will not have to improve the process. This would be a gross miscalculation of the public mood. Should subsequent elections be of the same uneven quality, I fear a backlash that cannot simply be contained by resort to the judiciary for resolution. The Presidential Election This brings us to the presidential election. I believe Jonathan won the election but that the returns attributed to him in some parts of the country obvi-
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ously appeared exaggerated. The inflated tally subtracted some plaudits from what would have been a well deserved victory. Thus, celebrating the election as free and fair might lead to INEC beating its chest and might short circuit the process of fundamental electoral reform. We must not relent in our struggle for fundamental reforms. To be honest, the opposition did not run a strong enough and sufficiently coordinated campaign with a unifying message. The opposition believed that public disenchantment with the ruling party, PDP was enough to get rid of them at the polls. In retrospect, we made an important strategic mistake that continued to play out and weaken us throughout the campaign. The major opposition parties began their serious work too late. We got distracted by the electoral reform gimmick employed by the PDP led National Assembly. Already faced with a short election season, we waited too long to make important decisions and to get our campaigns off the ground. In the end, the opposition parties danced with each other but did not embrace. Our constant dancing however confused the public and partially doused some of the public’s enthusiasm. It was a learning experience that will not be repeated in the next election. A unified ticket would have made for a more competitive race and the final outcome would have been different. Due to the unique circumstances of his rise, much of the public saw Jonathan as a distinctive figure. They saw him as an outsider of the much detested PDP establishment. Because he faced a few powerful figures in the PDP primary, many people assumed he was the man of the future because he had squared off against men of the past. Thus we heard the popular refrain ‘I voted for Jonathan not the PDP.’ Security and the Economy: The Pillars of our Future The election has come and gone. President Jonathan is there now in his own right. The first challenge he faced was the post-electoral violence in parts of the north. The violence was caused by perceived inequities much deeper than what occurred during the election. The eruption was both about the quality of the election and the dwindling quality of life. The electoral violence comes from the same wellspring that has produced the urgent security threat called Boko Haram, which has launched a violent campaign against government authority. Boko Haram signposts the deficiency of the ruling party in governing the country. The nation’s stability and the President’s mettle are being tested. Should he stumble on this, unrest may follow in other areas. Different groups may race to mimic Boko Haram’s apparent success in challenging government. This is a serious matter not to be under-estimated.
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On this issue, the President has my full sympathy and support in finding ways to quickly resolve Boko Haram. He must succeed, for his failure will damage Nigeria. However, he must do much better at communicating with the public, to build widespread support for a durable resolution to this dilemma. Without enduring peace, government will not be able to achieve the transformational agenda already promised Nigerians. While the opposition has a duty to lend support on existential issues of security, we likewise have a duty to draw a distinction between us and the PDP on key matters affecting the political economy. This is the area where the opposition must make material improvement in talking to the public and in highlighting the vast difference between us and the ruling party. The average Nigerian sees little space separating the PDP’s political and economic policies from ours. This means we have not been proficient in explaining who we are and what we stand for. We must alter the landscape of Nigerian politics. We have to remove the obstacles of region, ethnicity, religion and personality so that people can see the substantive issues more clearly. We must turn politics from the practice of ‘who do you know’ to a critical inquiry into ‘what do you know and in what do you believe.’ This is the opposition’s next great agenda. The Bad Management of the Economy PDP management of the economy in the last 12 years has been ineffective and here I am being charitable in my use of adjectives. They claim real GDP growth at a robust pace of nearly seven per cent per annum. How can that be? Inflation runs at over 12 percent. Are they really claiming the economy is growing at nearly 20 percent in nominal terms? High unemployment rates remain unchanged. Official statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics puts unemployment rate in Nigeria at 19.7 per cent, with about 10 million Nigerians unemployed as at March 2009. But we know the figures are much higher. The amount of people living below the poverty line has not decreased. The middle class – the backbone of any democracy – is an endangered species. Manufacturing and industrial firms are closing faster than others are opening. Electricity supply remains a serious challenge. In the last 10 years, over $15 billion has been spent to improve power generation. Yet, it remains at an abysmal level of less than 4,000 megawatts per day. Cities such as London and New York enjoy four to five times more electricity than the entire Nigeria. Fuel supply is also a major challenge. We have a government unable to provide millions of Nigerians with refined petroleum products. While in the past, oil majors were able to meet demand, the reverse is the case now.
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Food prices are climbing so much so that hunger has entered households where it was once a stranger. After earning about 200 billion dollars from oil revenue in 10 years, based on NNPC documents, Nigeria is still a pauper nation. This brings me to the issue of corruption which remains the bane of our development. Corruption continues unabated and examples abound. There are allegations bordering on the extortion of illicit payments from operators in the upstream and downstream sectors of the oil economy. The outright wastage of financial resources on illegal subsidies that never percolate to the people need to be boldly addressed by President Jonathan. Mismanagement of scarce resources as exemplified in the delegation of the Petroleum Subsidy Funds (about $8billion per year) to the Ministry of Petroleum instead of the Ministry of Finance leaves the door wide open for corruption. Nigeria suffers one of the world’s worst rates of income inequality. The economy is not an open one and we do not yet practice sufficient economic justice to change the skewed regime. Under the excess crude account and now its progeny, the sovereign wealth fund, the federal government has improperly siphoned funds constitutionally meant for the states. This represents a massive slush fund that the federal government can use as it wishes with little public knowledge or oversight. At best, the monies will be used to fund rentier practices that enrich government cronies but pauperize the larger economy. At worst, the money will be squandered. I cannot speak for other states, but I wager that the people of the ACN states would rather see theirs states’ proper share of these funds in the hands of their governors than in the custody of the unnamed bureaucrats servile to PDP chieftains. Conclusion The Nigeria that now exists is neither the Nigeria I have worked for all my life nor the one I would have loved to bequeath to my children. Thus, I shall keep working. Nigeria stands in the middle of the road between democracy and disillusionment, between a strong, progressive economy and a mean, feeble one. It is time that we pulled Nigeria to the right side of the road. The PDP is a corrosive organization beyond the hope of reform and redemption. It has long passed whatever utility it might have had. Although imperfect and in need of improvement in how we conduct ourselves, Nigeria’s opposition parties are her best chance for a virile democracy. We can only do this, if we continue to demand for fundamental electoral and financial reforms. Thus we must strive until we place Nigeria on the road to her better destiny. This we can achieve in partnership with the civil society, the media and progressive elements, by forging a critical mass that is capable of enthroning change.
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