The Nigerian Police & Pidgin English Mentality -By Tayo Demola

Have you ever wondered what language can do to a person? Do you know that the language a person speaks and the culture associated with such language can influence that person's way of life and particularly the way such person behaves?

Now there are a whole lot of questions we need to ask ourselves and try as much as possible to find answers to them if really we want to solve a lot of problems confronting Nigeria. These issues may sound funny but they are really serious. Sometimes it is those issues we ignore and feel they are not important that are often the underlying reasons why certain people behave in certain ways. For us to know why some people often exhibit certain behavioral tendencies, we need to properly examine a lot of things about them and including their language. There is no doubt that a lot of human traits are associated with language or the type of language a person speaks. 

Now let me ask Nigerians these pertinent questions. Why should the average Nigerian police man always speak pidgin English even among themselves? Why can't police men communicate in good English even when they actually understand English but they chose to communicate in pidgin English? When you go to the average police station in Nigeria for a case, what common language do you hear police men communicating among themselves? What is pidgin English and how did the language come about? If pidgin English is an adulteration of the standard English and since Nigeria has chosen the English language as an official means of communication, then why can't our police officers speak good English to us when we get to the police station? 

When an average Nigerian police man stops you on the road and asks for your vehicle particulars or asks you any other questions or when you have any other encounter with an average Nigerian police man and you try to politely explain certain things to them in English, why is it that they often make statements like: "This one na grammar im dey speak", "Your grammar too much", "So you wan show me say you go school abi, you think say me I no go school too"? Why do we have police men in Nigeria with this type of mentality? Do we really deserve these type of police men in the first place? In advanced climes, a police man will politely ask you questions and expect you to explain yourself and would readily listen to you while you try to explain. They would not query you over the type of grammar you speak but would only be interested in knowing if you have committed a crime or not or to wholeheartedly carry out any investigation they need to carry out on you. In Nigeria, a police man would find fault with you just because he is looking for a way to extort money from you or to make you bribe him for an offense you committed instead of either applying his discretion and letting you go if he needs to, or bringing you to book according to the law.

I have often said that Nigeria can never succeed without a good police force. In fact no nation can develop without a good and dependable police force and who must be incorruptible and impartial at all times. Also, Nigeria can never develop with the present crop of police force where impunity, lawlessness, corruption and brutality reign supreme. What is the educational level of the lowest rank or the lowest Cadre of the Nigerian police? What type of training does the average Nigerian police man receive at the police training colleges? Who are those that actually train these officers and can we proudly say that the average Nigerian police man is adequately trained on weapon handling and on the proper ways to relate with the civilian populace with the necessary exhibition of civility and proper conduct? If our police men are properly trained and given the right orientation, why do we have so many cases of police brutality, accidental discharge and brazen extortion as well as flagrant breach of the law by the police that are supposed to be shinning examples to the people and are supposed to enforce the law? Is it not an unfortunate irony that the police that is supposed to enforce the law and protect the citizens are now the ones breaking the law and brutalizing the very people they are paid with tax payer's money to protect?

Let us examine another issue. If for example the lowest rank in the Nigerian police force is a university graduate and you meet him on the road while asking for your vehicle particulars or he stops you at the checkpoint, will such police man be offended by your polished English and tell you angrily that you are speaking grammar? If that police man carrying that gun at the checkpoint passed through the four walls of a university and after spending a minimum of four years in the university, he proceeded to do another one year national youth service, after which he joined the police, would he not be more refined and polite in treating people than someone who never went through all that education? Will he suddenly release his gun and shoot an innocent person dead at the checkpoint just like the youth corper lady that was shot dead in Abuja yesterday just because she didn't stop at the checkpoint? If she didn't stop at the checkpoint when you asked her to stop, does that warrant you killing her? If she didn't stop or if she committed any crime, is killing her a way to apprehend her for such crime?

So I really wonder the type of training our policemen receive at the training colleges because the rate of extra judicial killings, brutality and impunity in Nigeria is so glaring that every day we hear one story of brutality or the other. But the bitter truth is that Nigeria can never develop unless the entire police force in Nigeria is sacked and disbanded for a fresh set of police men and women who would be properly trained, groomed and given proper orientation on what policing is about and how to relate with the people. Do you think this is not possible? It is very possible to systematically sack the entire police force of a nation and gradually move the personnel into another institution or government agency and then while also gradually recruiting freshly trained and properly orientated men and women with integrity to man the police force. This may take several years to achieve and would also require massive capital investment but it is possible. 

Only a Nigerian leader with vision for this country can do this and I'm afraid we may not be able to achieve this in our present generation except the government has the will to take this drastic action that will be a turning point in the history of Nigeria. When we talk about restructuring Nigeria, it cannot be done unless we have a strong and reliable police force. The government should stop the recruitment of people with school certificate into the Nigerian police force. This may sound funny and unachievable but it will go a long way to reform our police force for better crime detection and crime fighting. The minimum educational qualification the government should allow into the police force should be the Diploma or its equivalent or even a degree. Recruitment into the police should not be based on nepotism, tribalism or ethnic considerations. It should be based purely on merit. When a person is properly educated, enlightened and exposed, it is certain that his behavior, orientation and attitude will definitely change and this will affect people around him as well as affect his community.

Nigerians are good people and law abiding people. Yes we are suffering and smiling according to the legendary Fela and that is why there is so much brutality and impunity by our security agencies against the very people they are meant to protect, yet they feel they are doing us a favor by protecting us but this should not be so. This is simply because the mentality of many of the Nigerian police men is not properly channeled towards protecting the people as the primary reason why they are given that uniform. So they need to be reorientated on the core values of policing. 

Another issue worthy of consideration is that every police station in Nigeria should be headed by a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) who must have a Masters degree. The police should not continue to rely on experience and other considerations alone in appointing police officers to manage police stations or divisions. While experience must count, the level of the officer's education should equally be very important. I have heard of a DPO who has personally come to the bus stop to arrest market women trying to make a living for themselves but as if that was not enough, one of the women told me the DPO even personally slapped her several times. Yes if they have breached the law, bring them to book but why assault them in the cause of doing your job? Nobody is supporting crime but even the police itself is not above the law while carrying out its duties and in fact the police should be the number one institution in Nigeria to obey the law and they are not above the law. What about the DPO in Agege, Lagos who personally shot and killed a protester some years ago in one of those extra judicial killings and brutality by the police?

But would a police officer who spent all those many years in the university before obtaining his degree or masters degree ever involve himself in such atrocity knowing fully well the implications of his actions? Will he not even be ashamed to speak pidgin English to you knowing fully well that it could be degrading for him considering his level of education and exposure? If he is properly educated and enlightened, will he get offended or jealous of you while at the checkpoint just because you spoke good English to him or because you drive a big car? 

If a young man is well polished in his manners and well dressed with a fine car and speaks good English and also knows his rights as a citizen of Nigeria, does that mean SARS or the police should tag him a yahoo boy or a fraudster? Is that part of the orientation of the Nigerian police and is that their own way of detecting crime? In saner climes, the police could be monitoring and studying or putting a suspect in surveillance for several months or even years before eventually apprehending him if they are sure he has a case to answer but in Nigeria, by mere seeing a person the police will tell him he looks suspicious and that alone to them is enough to arrest him and illegally clamp him into detention. This is wrong and we must stop this type of barbarism and wickedness if Nigeria must move forward.

Pidgin English is a language of the streets and of the market. It is a debased form of the English language. It is not our official language so I see no reason why the average Nigerian police man you meet at the police station should stick to pidgin English and if you are not willing to speak that pidgin with them, they will tag you an "over sabi" person. The Nigerian police should stop embarrassing every person who speaks good English or every person who knows his or her rights as a citizen of Nigeria. The police must realize that it's primary duty is to protect lives and property and to maintain law and order. The Nigerian police must focus on this and refrain from behaviors that could bring its name into disrepute. God bless Nigeria. ​

Tayo Demola

Human Rights Activist

Sack These Incompetent Security Chiefs Now! -By Tayo Demola

For several months now, some parts of the nation have been boiling with hostilities. We have now lost count of the number of killings that have taken place. We have now lost count of the number of innocent Nigerians that have been killed in one of the most dastard and mindless killings in the history of Nigeria. I can't believe that this is happening in our own very eyes and nothing has been done about these killings up till now! It seems as if the government has now accepted this as the norm because I'm yet to see any drastic step taken by the President to address these urgent issues and put a permanent stop to these security challenges. 

President Muhammadu Buhari should realize that the primary responsibility of government is to protect lives and property and to care for the welfare of the people. The government has failed to provide for the people. The government has failed to protect the people of Nigeria. It now seems as if there is no government in Nigeria. It now seems as if the people of Nigerian have been left to protect themselves and the government has abandoned its responsibility of protecting the citizens. The president by his lackadaisical attitude to this continuous blood letting and his inability to curtail these crises all these years has shown us that he does not value the life of Nigerians. He has simply failed to uphold the Nigerian constitution and his electoral promises. Nigerians are tired of these empty promises and his inability to tackle Nigeria's mounting security challenges which was one of the focal points of his campaign that made Nigerians to give him a chance to solve these problems.

One of the reasons Nigerians jettisoned former president Goodluck Jonathan's government was his inability to tackle these security challenges and we thought president Buhari would do better but what do we have now? Nigerians are now being massacred in their own country even when we have a government that should take decisive action and stop these mindless killings. Benue state has been a hotbed of hostilities for sometime now. The notorious fulani herdsmen have killed several people in Benue including men of God and shed the blood of innocent Nigerians, yet we have a government that has continuously failed to fulfill its statutory responsibility of protecting the people. So it is very clear that the security agencies in Nigeria are not really up and doing and are not equal to the task in tackling these security challenges. The whole security apparatus in Nigeria needs to be overhauled since they cannot tackle Nigeria's security challenges. 

When you continue to apply a technique that continues to fail you, then you must change that technique or else you will continue to fail. There must be an urgent change in Nigeria's security ideas or else these killings can never be tackled. The sponsors of these dastard killings must be fished out and punished. The president should personally address Nigerians and publicly condemn these evil acts and come out strongly against these people who want to make Nigeria ungovernable. These people must not be treated with kit gloves. They must be identified and brought to book or else we would only be paying lip service to these issues. The recent Plateau killings as well as the recurring killings in other parts of Nigeria is highly condemnable and the president must urgently rise to the occasion to solve this problem once and for all. We cannot continue to witness these type of premeditated attacks on our people across Nigeria even when we have a sitting president and the Service Chiefs who seem helpless in tackling the menace. The blood of the innocent people killed in different parts of Nigeria would cry out for justice and until justice is done and the perpetrators fished out and brought to justice, Nigeria may never know peace. 

Since these crises have continued unabated, it is very obvious that the security chiefs are not only incompetent, but they lack the solution to these problems. It simply shows they don't know their job and should be immediately disbanded by the president for a new and fresh set of security chiefs with fresh ideas to tackle these mounting security challenges Nigeria is facing at the moment. The president must listen to the voice of reason and urgently restructure the security architecture in Nigeria and bring in people who are capable of tackling these problems and people who have the solutions to these problems or else these killings might never stop and might even get worse because it is obvious that these killers are hell bent on destabilising Nigeria. The president has a duty to ensure there is peace in Nigeria because that is why Nigerians gave him the mandate in order to improve the lives of the people. But if on the other hand the president fails to do this, he should honorably resign and vacate office. Nigerians will no longer accept lack of performance from the government. If the president cannot remove these obviously incompetent security chiefs and overhaul the security architecture of Nigeria and replace them with more competent hands, then the president should be ready to tender his resignation letter if these mindless killings of innocent Nigerians continue. 

This anarchy must stop. This conspiracy of silence against Nigeria must stop. This wickedness must be brought to an end and it can never stop if we don't take drastic and decisive actions to stem this tide of anarchy and blood letting. It is very clear that the security chiefs have run out of ideas on how to tackle these security challenges and therefore they must immediately be sacked by the president and replaced with a new set of security chiefs who can rise to the occasion and solve these perennial security problems that have threatened the existence of Nigeria. 

This is the the immediate solution to the current quagmire we have found ourselves as a nation. But if on the other hand the president decides not to sack these security chiefs and these crises continue, he must resign and vacate office for a more competent leader who would be able to solve Nigeria's challenges. But if he fails to resign, he must be prepared to be disgraced out of office through the ballot box by the citizens of Nigeria for failing to live up to the people's expectations and for failing to fulfill his promises to the people. Nigerians say no to incompetent leaders. Nigeria must work. Nigeria must know peace. Nigeria must succeed no matter the circumstances and no matter the many obnoxious conspiracies against the corporate existence of Nigeria. 

TAYO DEMOLA 

HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST

What's Wrong with Medical Doctors? -By Tayo Demola

 Please read this article and share your views below. Let me know what you think about these issues.

I read with dismay and total shock in the Punch newspapers of June 22, 2018 the story of a nurse Dorcas Adeyera who was brutally attacked and humiliated by a medical doctor, Dr Emmanuel Okolo at the Awoyaya Hospital and Maternity Centre, Ibeju Lekki, Lagos State. I still find it hard to believe that there are still some educated people in Nigeria in the calibre of this so called medical doctor who could throw caution to the winds and still behave in this barbaric manner. So what is the essence of their education in the first place? And this makes such person's claim to being educated really questionable.

But what really caused this issue between the nurse and the doctor? Let me quote from the Punch newspapers: "... Okolo and Adeyera’s misunderstanding stemmed from the treatment of a patient rushed into the medical facility in the early hours of Monday. Okolo was alleged to have frowned on the admission of the accident victim without his consent, blaming Adeyera for the action. The medical doctor allegedly summoned the 23-year-old into his office and ordered her to kneel down. When the victim refused, 35-year-old Okolo was alleged to have dealt her several slaps and also flogged her with a belt." Can you imagine that? Can you imagine this type of cruelty? Has the medical profession in Nigeria now become a breeding ground for thugs who pretend to be medical doctors and who now brutalize nurses at the slightest provocation? What happens to decorum and synergy between medical professionals in the treatment of patients and why should a doctor arrogate to himself to the status of god or a know-it-all in medical profession?

The duty of the doctor to urgently save lives and to save an accident victim who needed urgent medical attention and who was probably dying was done by the dutiful and caring nurse and just for not informing the doctor or waiting for him to handle the admission of the patient himself, he had the guts to order the nurse to kneel down, slapped and flogged her! This is unbelievable and I think this type of medical doctor does not deserve to be called a medical doctor because he is a complete disgrace to the medical profession in Nigeria. This type of doctor needs to be properly examined to know if he is psychologically balanced because many of these so called medical doctors who parade our hospitals and claim to be doctors actually need medical examination themselves because they don't conduct themselves in the least noblest of ways that behoves of a doctor. A doctor who treats another person should first and foremost be sound health wise and psychologically too, but if on the other hand he is psychologically imbalanced, so what type of treatment is he going to give to others and how will he be able to properly treat an ailing patient?

We all remember the medical doctor who went all the way to the third mainland bridge in Lagos in 2017 and committed suicide. The memory is still fresh in our minds. But do you know the psychological issues he had that led him to commit suicide? Do you know the many patients who must have passed through him and who might have suffered from lack of proper care or treatment due to his inability to come to terms with his own health and well-being? This is one of the many problems of our health sector in Nigeria. If a medical doctor could slap a nurse for such flimsy excuse, if he could drag her on the floor and also flog her with his belt just because she did not take permission from him before admitting a patient, then it shows clearly that our medical profession in Nigeria has been seriously endangered by quacks and charlatans who parade themselves as medical professionals.

But this type of lackadaisical attitude by doctors is common in many of our hospitals. They treat patients with levity and disdain. They expect you to beg them and cry before they can admit you or your relatives. They will give you a high bill you can't afford just to make sure the patient dies and is denied medical attention. They will insist that you deposit a huge amount of money before they even treat you and the moment you are unable to pay such money, they will abandon such patient to die. They take precious life with levity as if they too will not die one day. That is the problem with our health sector in Nigeria and our hospitals need a total overhaul because the medical professionals there don't seem to understand the concept of saving lives first as a sacrosanct medical concept which should be adhered to by all medical professionals irrespective of the financial condition of the patient.

So it was the prompt response of the nurse in admitting the accident victim that angered the doctor because left for the doctor he would have perhaps treated the accident victim with levity and demanded for a huge deposit before he could treat him or her. In other instances, these doctors would subject an ailing patient to all sorts of horrendous and psychological trauma and even add more to their problems before treating them. Sometimes they would require an ailing patient who can barely walk to go round different offices in the hospital to fill different spurious and irrelevant forms just in order to properly extort the patient of his hard earned money even at the expense of his health. Sometimes before such patient finishes going through all these cumbersome processes in the hospital he might even collapse and die. But do many of these doctors really care?

I see a lot of anger and pride in some medical doctors in Nigeria in the course of carrying out their duties. This is very wrong. If you know you can't function as a medical doctor, why go to school for all those years and then come out to vent your anger and frustration on hapless patients? I see many medical doctors that are so pompous and condescending in their attitude to people. So I begin to wonder why they behave that way or whether they were trained to be that way. Sometime in 2011 at the Navy Town Reference Hospital in Navy Town, Ojo, Lagos, I took a relative to that hospital and she was already in serious pains. She had a six months pregnancy and was referred there for the evacuation of the fetus because it was already a miscarriage and there was no hope on the baby anymore. Although the doctors at the previous hospital didn't tell us the baby would be evacuated but from what they wrote in the reference letter, they had already communicated this to the reference hospital at Navy Town. But that is not even the issue.

The issue is that despite this woman was in serious pains and lying critically in pains at the reception for over one hour, they didn't even attend to her despite all my pleas and they kept tossing me from one office to the other to make one payment or the other but left her in serious pains. As if that was not enough and to add insult to injury, while I was in the office of one of the doctors pleading with him to treat her case as urgent (which he knows it was urgent) and to attend to her, the doctor got angry and threatened to slap me and in fact he ordered me out of his office. He was actually a naval officer doctor because I can clearly remember he put on navy uniform as a naval officer. I was put through so much pains by the medical personnel at that Navy Town Reference Hospital just to make sure I save her life and to make sure the baby was evacuated. The funny thing about many Nigerian medical doctors and medical personnel is that many times they add to the sorrow of patients by their nonchalant attitude to patients who are in pains and who are supposed to be cared for.

But can a medical doctor of this calibre who brutalized a nurse in the course of her duty and who belittled such nurse and regarded her as insignificant ever save a life? This type of behavior by this medical doctor is crude, barbaric, wicked, disgusting and highly condemnable. This type of behavior is not only primitive but shows that such medical doctor is not qualified to be called a medical doctor in the first place. It shows that he has no regard for women. It shows that he is hot tempered and not qualified at all to be a medical doctor in Nigeria. It shows that if he could brutalize that nurse, he would most probably be a wife beater because he has no iota of respect for women and all women in Nigeria should rise up against this type of barbaric and uncultured behavior by this primitive medical doctor and defend this nurse who was unjustly brutalized by this so called medical doctor. All Nigerians should rise up and speak against this type of injustice. We must never allow this type of behavior to continue unchallenged else it would become the norm. We must bring to book perpetrators of this type of crime against women and against any other person in Nigeria to serve as deterrent to others.

This issue should be thoroughly investigated and if found culpable, the medical doctor should not only be banned from practising as a medical doctor in Nigeria, but he should equally face the law and be charged to court for assault as a deterrent to others who might want to do likewise. By his apparent display of insanity, it is very clear that he is not fit to live among sane people. It is so appalling and unthinkable that some medical doctors in Nigeria are so pompous and proud that they arrogate themselves to the status of gods to be worshipped by patients just because they feel that these patients have no choice because they are ill and need urgent medical attention. But these medical doctors failed to realize that they have an oath and a sacred duty to save lives no matter the circumstances. They are not meant to vent their anger or frustration on anyone but to do their job according to the law and save lives. Saving lives is the primary duty of medical personnel and any doctor who cannot live up to this expectation should be shown the way out of the medical profession. 

Tayo Demola
Human Rights Activist
Email: tayodemola@gmail.com

Crime, SARS & the Pains of That Bullet -By Tayo Demola

I saw that bullet wound in his right arm: The bullet actually put a hole in his arm. It was deep, disgusting and breathtaking.  I also saw the blood-stained cotton pads on his hospital bed and I imagined the amount of blood he must have lost while battling to save his life from those bullet wounds. I imagined the pains he must have gone through after that attack and I pray that may God save his life.

He is an officer of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) identified as Yusuf Adamu based in Nassarawa state and who recently came under heavy attacks alongside with his colleagues as they were attacked by armed robbers after they encountered these hoodlums during an operation. He has been battling to save his life at the hospital even after undergoing the first surgery and is billed to undergo another surgery on his bones that got shattered by the bullet. Imagine the pains of that bullet!

Now here we go. This police man was attacked in the line of duty while fighting crime. And it is commendable that he and his team actually had an upper hand and subdued these bandits in the process. If we keep getting this type of news about actual combat of men of SARS with bandits, showing that they are actually doing their job and facing their core responsibilities of fighting crimes instead of terrorizing and extorting money from innocent people, no one in Nigeria would clamour for the disbandment of SARS. We have read countless accounts in the newspapers on a regular basis of the experiences of many innocent Nigerians with SARS operatives which resulted in brutality, extortion and even deaths of these people and this is totally condemnable in a sane democratic nation.

The primary duty of SARS is to fight and curtail armed robbery and violent crimes in Nigeria. They are not meant to stop young and innocent boys on the streets of Lagos, Abuja, Warri, Port Harcourt, Enugu or any other place in Nigeria for that matter and harass, intimidate or extort money from them. No, that is not the job of SARS. So if they do their job accordingly, no one would clamour to end SARS but if on the other hand they use it as an avenue to harass innocent Nigerians, then people will continue to campaign against them. The moment any organization deviates from its responsibility and primary duty and perverts injustice, then the people will surely resist such tendencies and clamour for the scrapping of that organization no matter how good and effective it has been before. That is the problem with SARS. It started well but in recent times the complaints from Nigerians about the brutality and high handedness of SARS officials have been so overwhelming to be overlooked.

But will disbanding SARS be the ultimate solution to this problem? What about the good ones among them? If SARS is eventually disbanded, what viable alternatives will be available to fight violent crimes and armed banditry in Nigeria just like this officer did and got himself wounded by these armed robbers? Would it not amount to throwing the baby away with the bath water? I live in Lagos and although I've travelled to other parts of Nigeria, I've not had any experience with the SARS operatives, good or bad, but I can't discountenance the negative experiences of many Nigerians who have had series of complaints about the brutality and extortion of Nigerians by SARS officials in many parts of Nigeria.

Is there not a possibility that these SARS officials who perpetrate these brutality and extortions are the bad eggs among them? Is it not possible that these bad eggs are latching on the fact that since SARS has now become popular and having considerably fought crimes in Nigeria, they now capitalize on this and now turn it into an avenue to enrich their private pockets through intimidation and brutality? The end SARS campaign may be justified considering all the alleged atrocities by them, but we must still be careful in ending SARS without providing a better alternative because we all know how deadly and daring armed bandits operate across the country even when SARS is tackling them let alone if SARS is disbanded. The Offa bank robbery which happened in broad daylight is still fresh in our minds and we all saw how these criminals killed scores of people including several police men just to achieve their aim of robbing the bank.

As we work towards reorganizing SARS, the bad eggs should be uprooted from the system. There should be a total restructuring of SARS to meet up with the current realities. I see no reason why SARS should leave its main duty of fighting violent crimes and then deviate and start terrorizing, extortion and killing innocent citizens of Nigeria. If there are too many bad eggs in SARS, then there should be a complete overhaul of the organization and injection of new hands into SARS for better service delivery to the people. When SARS stop innocent young boys who are struggling to make a living, they check their phones and tag them yahoo boys. But are all these boys actually yahoo boys? And is it the duty of SARS to check people's phones? Is it not invasion of privacy for the police to check people's phones without any formal complaints against such person? And why are they now using this as an avenue to extort money from this boys and also use it as an excuse to clamp innocent people into detention cells? This is barbaric, disgusting, condemnable and can only happen in an uncivilized nation and we should not allow this type of injustice in Nigeria or else we would continue to be a laughing stock to the outside world.

The Nigerian police force should take it as an urgent priority to train and retrain SARS officers and give them proper orientation about fighting crimes and about their actual duties to check these incessant harassment of innocent citizens whom they are meant to protect in the first place. If this is done and if eventually we see a change in the activities of SARS for the better, then by then we would heave a sigh of relief. Ordinarily it should be the armed bandits that should be scared when they hear of SARS and not innocent citizens going about their daily activities and trying to make a living for themselves that are now living in fear because they are scared that SARS might harass them on the way. Enough of SARS harassment. Enough is enough. 

Tayo Demola

Human Rights Activist 

tayodemola@gmail.com

Now That Abiola Has Been Honoured By Tayo Demola

When I saw that certificate of honour signed by President Muhammadu Buhari honouring Chief MKO Abiola, the winner of the annulled June 12 1993 Presidential election, I was happy that it was a dream come true for us as a nation. I was happy for the Abiola family. I was happy for the masses of Nigeria who came out enmass on that fateful June 12 1993 and lined up in the rain and sun and voted for their own choice of a leader. I was happy for the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as well as for the Lagos State government and the entire South West for a dream come true because despite it took a long long time to achieve this recognition, it is better late than never. Finally after all these years MKO Abiola has been given his rightful place in the Nigerian polity despite all the irreparable injustices done to him and the entire masses of Nigeria all these years.

Now Abiola will smile in his grave not only because he has been honoured but if and only if he sees that the life of an average Nigerian has improved and not deteriorated. Abiola will only be happy if he sees that the current crop of leaders in Nigeria do better than what he planned to do for Nigeria before his mandate was stolen by some selfish cabals. But these people who stole Abiola's mandate, then locked him up and eventually killed him thought they were doing evil to Abiola but they never realized they were doing greater evil to the entire Nigerian people and generations yet unborn. For several years successive Nigerian governments have ignored talking about or recognizing Abiola. But can we write the history of this country without dedicating a special chapter to Abiola? Absolutely no! It is now clear to even the uninformed that Abiola played a pivotal role in the history of this country despite how successive governments refused to recognize him. But for how long can they suppress the will of the people? Can evil triumph over good? No way!

But where are all those who conspired against Abiola? Where are they now? Do they think they will go scot free? Do they think they will escape God's judgment? No way. But these people thought they were conspiring against a single individual, but no, they actually conspired against the corporate existence of Nigerian as an entity. For over two decades since that coup against the Nigerian people, has Nigeria recovered from that brazen theft of the will of the people? Has Nigerian been able to make any meaningful headway? How have we fared as a people? Have we not all suffered the inexplicable consequences of the careless decision of a select few decision makers whose indiscretion has plunged us into this avoidable cesspit of inglory as a nation?

But really where are these people who put us into this backwardness? Are they supposed to be smiling and enjoying themselves now when Abiola who paid the ultimate price by laying down his own life for Nigeria rots in the grave? These people who conspired and stole the people's mandate from Abiola and ended up putting Nigeria through several years of hardship should be shamed and made to face the public condemnation and the law. They should be put in their rightful place in history because the are thieves for stealing the people's mandate. They should not be honoured because they don't deserve such honour because they have put Nigeria and the masses of Nigeria to shame. They should tender a public apology to Nigeria and be put in their rightful place in the minds of the people.

For too long the will of the people has been subverted in Nigeria. For too long the will of the people has been swept under the carpet but we say enough is enough because power ultimately belongs to the people. It is not enough to honour Abiola, what matters is how the people he so much fought for are faring. If he were alive, would Nigeria be the way it is now? If he were alive, would Nigeria still remain backward the way it is now? If the people's mandate given to Abiola was not aborted by these enemies of Nigeria and he was able to lead Nigeria for at least a term in office, would Abiola not have transformed Nigeria by now or at least laid a solid foundation for Nigeria? Would he not have solved a lot of problems for us instead of these crop of incompetent and clueless leaders foisted on Nigeria over the years and who have ended up creating more problems for Nigeria?

It seemed like yesterday but no, twenty-five years have just passed away since that people's mandate was given to Abiola. A child born that year by now should have perhaps graduated from the university and now working, yet it seems like yesterday and it still seems to me like a dream that our popular will was stolen and our messiah killed to suppress the wishes of the Nigerian people. But let's live with the consolation that he has been recognized at last. Let us hope that as he has been so recognized, the ideals he lived for would propel us to greater heights as a nation. Let us hope that one day God will give us a messiah greater than Abiola who would turn Nigeria around for good. Let us not give up as a nation for if Abiola could make so much impact on the Nigerian polity from his grave even when he never actually lead Nigeria even for a day, then imagine what he would have done if he were alive and if he were able to preside over the affairs of Nigeria? This is a great lesson for us as a nation. Never again should we allow a select few selfish and greedy individuals determine the affairs of this country. Only the wish and the will of the people should prevail.

For me it is not enough to give honour to Abiola when the bulk of the Nigerian masses live in abject poverty. It is not enough to honour him when the lives of the people whom he so much fought for and died for have not improved the way Abiola would have loved if he were alive. Abiola was a man of the people. If he were alive he would have given his last kobo to make sure a hungry man on the street does not go hungry. He would not fold his arms and do nothing when he hears that Nigerians are committing suicide for lack of food. He will rise to the occasion. He will not fold his arms and watch when he hears that Nigerians are throwing themselves into the third mainland bridge because they can no longer feed themselves, no Abiola will do something to help the people. He will not fold his arms and do nothing when he hears that Nigerians are selling and exchanging their children for a bag of rice, no I'm sure this will never happen if Abiola were alive. It will be an abomination to him if he were alive and he would never allow such to happen. In fact he will do something to stop it.

But come to think of it. Will Abiola allow Nigerians to buy fuel even as an oil producing nation for N145 per litre even without any commensurate improvements in the lives of the average Nigerian? Would he have allowed this injustice to prevail? Would he have allowed injustice, brutality and human rights abuses if he were alive and if he were the president of Nigeria? Would the Nigerian economy be in such a bad shape with many companies relocating out of Nigerian if Abiola were the president of Nigeria? Would he allow such to happen? Would he not have fixed the economy by now with his dexterity as a successful business mogul an international business man? Would he not have fixed the recurring problems of power by now? And lastly, would Abiola not have by now laid a solid foundation for the nation and generations yet unborn instead of the pillaging and daylight robbery of Nigeria by successive governments? Abiola would have no doubt performed the magic but the will of the people was subverted. Never again should we allow the will of the people to be subverted in Nigeria. Let your vote count. God bless Nigeria.

TAYO DEMOLA

HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST

Twitter: @TayoDemola

Respite For UNIABUJA & Lessons For University Education In Nigeria -By Tayo Demola

The University of Abuja, established on January 1^st, 1988 and enviably located in the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria has been bedevilled with crisis for some time now owing to the inability of the school to obtain accreditation for some of its courses. There have been several protests by the students on this issue some of whom have unfortunately spent seven years for a course that is ordinarily supposed to last for four years!

It is the duty of the National Universities Commission (NUC) to accredit courses, regulate and maintain high standard and ensure that adequate facilities are in place for the running of various courses in our universities. This duty it has discharged creditably well by denying accreditation to these courses lacking the necessary facilities including Medicine and Engineering and by ensuring that these departments in the University of Abuja meet the required national standard for course accreditation.

For several years, professional bodies in Nigeria such as the Dental and Medical Council of Nigeria as well as the Council for the regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) have denied recognition for products of Uniabuja as a result of this anomaly. The multiplier effects of this are innumerable. The world has undeniably become a global village and whatever happens in the home front reverberates to the outside world and the international community and that accounts for why many Nigerian graduates who seek employment opportunities and greener pastures abroad have been denied placement due to the belief that these Nigerian products possess “untrusted” degrees.

The situation at the University of Abuja has been of immense concern to stakeholders in recent times and it is surprising that a Federal University of that status could make its students go through such harrowing experience of having to spend several painful and unnecessary extra years before graduating from their chosen courses in the university. However, news reaching my desk last week indicates that the NUC has finally accredited some of these contentious courses at Uniabuja. I think it calls for celebration for those students and their parents who have fought tooth and nail all these years for these courses to be accredited and here we are as they have finally been approved by the NUC. But let me advise you on this: Don’t ever celebrate until you eventually graduate from that course! The reason is not far-fetched. With the erratic and unpredictable nature of university and tertiary education in Nigeria plagued by perennial neglect by government, incessant strikes and unstable academic calendar, the fact that your course has been duty accredited by the relevant body does not guarantee that you will graduate at the right time from the university.

Students in Nigerian tertiary institutions would have to unfortunately contend with a whole lot of unpalatable experiences including constant lecturers’ strikes and denial of accreditation to the courses for which they have been validly admitted to study. Strikes have a crippling effect on the education sector and no wonder Nigerian graduates are regarded as half-baked by certain employers of labour who feel that these graduates do not have the necessary skills and wherewithal to be entrusted with certain positions of responsibility. We have heard of some Nigerian graduates who went abroad in order to obtain a second degree but were either denied such opportunity due  to Nigeria’s poor educational standard or asked to undergo some years of study and scrutiny to ascertain their suitability before admitting them into those programs.

When we remember the Uniabuja crisis, it brings feelings of neglect, incompetence and lack of accountability and foresight on the part of our university administrators. There is a clear-cut difference between teaching well in the classroom and being a good administrator. The two do not necessarily require the same skill and not many people can effectively combine the two skills. A university is not a laboratory or experimental specimen which you hand over to an inexperienced hand to determine the possibility of the outcome because you will be toying with the lives and future of thousands of people who would later on graduate to become future leaders and important decision makers. The prolonged situation in Uniabuja over course accreditation as well as similar situations in several other Nigerian universities calls for concern of stakeholders because the future of our students is at stake and this is part of the lingering crisis in the education sector that is threatening to cripple the education system in the country.

When students are admitted into various courses in our universities and other tertiary institutions, the school authorities have a constitutional and moral responsibility to ensure that nothing within their power hinders these students from graduating at the appropriate time from such programs. Why did it take so long for the management of the University of Abuja, a Federal university for that matter, to put in place the necessary facilities required for the accreditation of these courses? Did the school not receive its own share of Federal allocation over the years or was it just a case of neglect and lack of accountability by people entrusted with the affairs of the university? These questions are pertinent because the issue here is peculiar to countless other Nigerian universities which are internally sick and need special financial surgical operations to bail them out of a monumental mismanagement of resources threatening to cripple their existence. Aside the lectures’ strike resulting from the failure of government to holistically address funding issues, what of the issue of accountability, integrity and prudence on the part of our university administrators?

Does the case of Uniabuja not show to any right thinking person that there is more to it than meets the eye? It is surprising that some state universities in Nigeria are ranked higher in performance index in certain courses than some Federal universities who as a result of the lack of adequate facilities required to run such courses only end up admitting students whom their facilities cannot cater for and these students end up wasting away their future with the hope that someday they will graduate from these schools all to no avail. Recall that in December 2012, a Special Presidential Visitation Panel to the University of Abuja had recommended the sacking of the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sunday Adelabu and his management team due to the magnitude of systemic rot in the university and their failure to properly manage the university. The Panel thereby recommended the appointment of a reputable Professor from outside the university, with strong character, integrity and sound experience in university management as Vice-Chancellor of the university. I believe that if Uniabuja had had the right kind of leadership and management over the years, the current situation would not have been the case.

The lesson here is that when square pegs are put in round holes, the result you get is better imagined than experienced. We must stop playing politics with every issue in this country if we truly desire any meaningful development. If we must play politics, issues concerning education should be totally excused from such games because they should never be toyed with by any serious nation. To avert students’ protests and agitations such as the ones witnessed in Uniabuja, school authorities should endeavour to utilize the resources available at their disposal to ensure that adequate facilities are in place for the smooth running of courses for which they admitted students or else they should scrap these programs to avoid misleading admission seekers into seeking admission into them.

The government should ensure that only people who are morally and intellectually fit  to  manage  our universities are eventually appointed to head these institutions. A university is the world's highest citadel of learning and an Ivory Tower which produces manpower for several sectors of the economy and should not be entrusted to people who have little or no managerial acumen. Governments at all levels, both Federal, state and local level, should realize that education inevitably holds the key to Nigeria’s development and should ensure that the education sector is given utmost priority in the scheme of things.

By Tayo Demola

E-mail: tayodemola@gmail.com

Rivers Crisis & Political Expediency -By Tayo Demola

 

The political atmosphere in Nigeria has always been dramatic and full of intrigues. In several instances, political actors throw caution to the wind and exhibit a most unpleasant, shocking and condemnable behaviour which could have a disastrous effect on the Nigerian polity. At such times one wonders the type of people these overzealous political actors are and if they are truly fit to occupy public office. It beats one's imagination that a blessed nation like Nigeria can throw up some clowns who call themselves legislators and whose behaviour only but bring untold embarrassment to the image of Nigeria.

The nation and the world got a rude shocker on Tuesday July 9, 2013 when the crisis at the state's chapter of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) precipitated a commotion at the House of Assembly Chambers. The video clips of the fracas which we saw on TV and online were not only disturbing to an average mind, but showed how desperate some people could go in order to vent their anger. Members of the state House of Assembly which should ordinarily comprise of honourable men of timber and calibre and men of integrity were seen openly attacking each other with dangerous objects which left some of them injured in the process and later hospitalised. We are aware that five of the legislators are opposed to Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi but in democracy there must definitely be opposition and different shades of opinions in politics but must we allow our political ideology or differences to propel us into acts of hooliganism in the name of politics?

The five legislators opposing the governor had surprisingly made an announcement purportedly to have impeached the Speaker Hon Otelemabala Amachree and therefore presented Hon Evans Bipi as the new Speaker. The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria made express and unambiguous provisions on this issue. For the impeachment of any elected official to be constitutional and valid, there must be a two-thirds majority vote of the members of such House. Specifically, by virtue of Section 92 Subsection (2)(c) of the 1999 Constitution, a Speaker of a state House of Assembly can only be removed from office by a resolution of not less than two-third majority of the members of the House. In the case of the Rivers House, this mandatory constitutional provision was breached and therefore a valid impeachment cannot be said to have taken place.

Can five members validly constitute two-third of 32 members in law? Is this not simple arithmetic which requires that 22 members is the valid two-third required of 32 members? The grievous assault perpetrated on some members of the House which we all saw is not only barbaric in these modern times but also condemnable and if this crisis is not properly handled, it could snowball into a national tragedy that could leave a sour taste in its trail. Nigerian politics has been characterized by theatre of the absurd and we have not forgotten the 2003 kidnap saga of Governor Chris Ngige of Anambra state by the powers that be for their own parochial and selfish political gains. Similar political machinations are gradually being covertly deployed in Rivers politics and I dare say that we should by now be more politically matured to learn from history and realize that this type of antics can never do us any good. If this type of political shamelessness and rascality by our legislators is not immediately halted, it will only show to the outside world that we are still politically immature thereby making us an object of caricature in the comity of nations.

It is worrisome that many politicians in Nigeria still believe in and practise the culture of impunity. Why would a legislator who is supposed to be a shining example to the upcoming generation of youths be seen on national television exchanging blows with a fellow lawmaker? Are these people really law makers or law breakers? In saner climes, these clowns should have been put behind bars or recalled from office for such national embarrassment. Why would a sensible person hold a big stick of that nature and forcefully and violently assault his fellow law maker in the name of political disagreement? Are there not better ways to resolve whatever impasse there are or grudges they have against each other?

The role played by the police is not clear since despite their presence, the crisis persisted and it is uncertain if they came to douse the crisis or to add to an already aggravated situation. We are all aware of the political issues in Rivers state for some time now and even the Governor himself had raised an alarm on security issues and safety but what have the security agencies done to forestall any breakdown of law and order? The role played by the police on that day is not only questionable but leaves much to be desired and this should be investigated by the Senate and any police officer found culpable should be made to face the law. The members of the House who took part in such show of shame by assaulting their colleagues should likewise be investigated and properly sanctioned.

The culture of impunity must stop in Nigeria and people who break the law must be made to face the law and be punished for their offences if found culpable. This is very vital if Nigeria must move forward. We cannot continue dancing round the same circle all the time without learning from our history. The only way to stop impunity is to punish offenders without minding whose ox is gored and it will be impossible to do this without the cooperation of everyone concerned.

      

      By Tayo Demola

      tayodemola@gmail.com

   

  
                 

Editors, The Media And Nation Building -By Tayo Demola

      

The art of editing a book involves a whole lot of things depending on the editor. To edit a book, an editor is required to edit all the errors and make the book generally acceptable and appealing to the reading public. It could be a tasking job but when properly edited, a book that people would ordinarily disregard after reading can end up selling millions of copies in the market. That is what editing can do to any book and it is the job of the editor to remove or add anything that will affect the quality of the book as the case may be.

In editing, an editor  will come across several styles of writing and presentation by authors and it is the duty of the editor to polish these writings to a certain level of  maturity and acceptability such that the reading public will appreciate the works of such authors and yearn for more of their books. Editing requires a lot of hardwork and in the process of editing a book, an editor may be required to re-write the book and remove all the jargon therein.

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Editing ​and proofreading are not the same​ because you can only proofread a book after editing it. Proofreading should be the last stage before finally going to ​press to publish a book. In proofreading, a proofreader majorly concerns himself with the spelling and punctuation errors but editing involves quite more than that. Editing requires a higher level of language use, grammar, proficiency, talent, thinking and imagination on the part of the editor who will read a book several times over and know what to do in order to make that book a masterpiece through editing. Therefore, it can be said that an editor is an excellent writer who is not only skilled and talented in writing but also in editing. A good editor must be a good writer because it not possible for a person to edit books without being a writer himself. Is it possible for somebody to be a football coach without having been a footballer himself? If he coaches a football team, with what skill will he deploy in coaching them when he does not even know the nitty-gritty of playing football? The only way he can have an indepth knowledge of football as an aspect of sports is for him to have been a footballer and not just being a footballer for the sake of it but a good one at that!

Is it possible for a person to teach others without having the rudimentary knowledge of whatever he is to impart? Whoever embarks on such ignoble journey has not only opened a gateway of embarrassment and scorn unto himself but would have ended up belittling himself before the very people he is to teach. You cannot give what you don't have, so if you cannot write or even spot the slightest errors in any write-up, then it will be impossible for you to edit any book or claim you are an editor. A good writer can develop into an editor with talent, skill, training and practice. A good editor must be a voracious reader in order to devour several styles of writing to enhance his editing skills.

When you read some very powerful and captivating books, you will think the author is so excellently gifted in writing but alas that may not be the case because it is possible that the author just wrote down his ideas in a boring and uninspiring style but when the editor picked up the book, he deployed his editing skills to polish it to make it a masterpiece bestseller. A good editing work must generally start from the title to the last word of the book and anything that will hinder the message of the book from being properly understood by the reader must be removed by the editor. A good editor must look at the content, message, style, tone, presentation, logical sequence of events and chronology of ideas as well as a whole lot of other elements which will make the book irresistible to the reader.

In editing articles, journals, magazines and newspapers, the editing skill needed is similar to that needed to edit books but not entirely the same. This is because a newspaper or magazine is somewhat transient but a book is more permanent in nature and books are more likely to stand the test of time than newspapers and magazines. In editing newspapers and magazines, the editor must preoccupy himself with editing several aspects of the articles, stories and features submitted by various writers and contributors which include the title, content, message, style, tone, presentation as so on. It is critical to note that a magazine or newspaper editor is usually subjected and restricted to the economic and socio-political philosophy or ideology of the publisher and such editor must ensure that all articles and write-ups are tailored to fit into a certain editorial style as directed by the publisher.

A good editor must be versatile and adaptable. He must read wide on various issues and be willing to learn new styles of writing which keep evolving everyday as more authors emerge. Editors must be open-minded and dynamic in their editing style and should not necessarily expect all writers or authors to conform to a certain dogmatic style of writing. Every writer should be allowed to express himself in his own style of writing while the reading public can appreciate a writer based on the quality of his work.

In Nigeria, editors will do better if they realize that they have a high stake in nation building and should not relegate their prestigious duties to the background. Nigerian editors and publishers should consistently and properly censure whatever material they are to bring out to the public and ensure that only the best material is eventually published. The Nigerian media is awash with too much sensationalized news reporting and little or no investigative journalism which should be the selling point of any credible media outfit. Virtually every news item is politicized or blown out of proportion by the media which should not be the case because the media is so crucial to national development that any modern nation cannot develop without the media. It amazes me the type of material, information and pictures which some media outfit publish which at times should not have been published in the first place. This calls for proper regulation of our media laws and sanction for those who violate the required standard in publishing. Morality has been thrown to the dustbin by many newspapers and magazines in Nigeria that publish pornographic and half nude pictures of women and young girls just to sell their paper. The media should also refrain from publishing materials that are defamatory and outright falsehood calculated towards character assassination of a person which is presumably the hallmark of Nigerian politics. Every Nigerian has the right not to be defamed in any way and it is the duty of editors to ensure that materials brought before them are properly scrutinized and authenticated before going to press. 

Therefore, editors, publishers and the media generally have a great and indispensable role to play in national development and it is their duty to ensure that their responsibility is not compromised for the sake of posterity. 

             By Tayo Demola

          

             E-mail: tayodemola@gmail.com