JUST READ: IT WON'T KILL YOU

JUST READ: IT WON'T KILL YOU

This here reveals what is fundamentally wrong with many Nigerians and to a lesser extent, it shows us one way the press aid in promoting confusion especially with delicate matters.

The caption used by whoever put this story up mainly serves as fodder for those who cannot help themselves but view Nigeria through sentimental spectacles. Oh Mr Mohammed Kari is a Muslim and a Northerner so he must be a Boko Haram sympathiser or an islamic fundamentalist; one of many who have made up the "skewed" appointments made by the president.

The matter in the story is about Insurance and these people do not even bother to know if he is competent for the job or if his sector approve of him. For these Nigerians, any name like Ibrahim or Ahmed or Abdulwahab must be northern and muslim but this is not always the case. To them, northern Nigeria is made up solely of the Hausa and Fulani tribes. Explaining to them that someone called Ibrahim may actually be from Nassarawa state and be a christian is futile because their superficial inclinations readily truncate the synapses to their central nervous system thereby preventing them from reasoning effectively.

I engaged a fellow on twitter yesterday who in response to a tweet "6 South African and only 1 Nigerian University are in the list of Africa's top 10 universities" by BBC Africa tweeted "Nigeria is a fraud and a failed state we need BIAFRA". The fellow's tweets ranged from approving the call to bear arms to paying glowing tributes to the warmonger Nnamdi Kanu. At one point he tweeted that there would be no room for Islam in Biafra in response to a question I asked about what would happen to Igbo muslims in Biafra. Laughable remarks like this from folks of every race, clubside, deity (or lack thereof) or political affiliation flood cyberspace and this is regretably the main symptom of people who do not learn from time and search things out.

Mr Kari may be from Kano but the most important thing should be if he knows the job. The report indicates that he is being moved from being the Deputy commisioner to the Commisioner of the NIC; why should that be difficult for some folks to comprehend?

The folks who saw this post on the channels TV facebook page most likely did not click on the link to read the full story before they jumped on the "ikebe" of "Buhari is the president of Northern Nigeria" and "the Southeast and Southsouth are geting overlooked in this government". If they did, they'd have realised that the story is only about 6 short paragraphs long . Nigerians do not read and it is a tragedy. Beyond equiping Nigerian schools with infracstructure and equipment; there needs to be an urgent drive to promote Nigerian history and culture across the land irrespective of age; numerous middle aged and elderly Nigerians have completely marred information about the Nigerian state.

The last paragraph of this channels report has the following statement: "President Buhari has also renewed the appointment of Mr. Joshua Okpo as the Rector of the Maritime Academy, Oron for a second and final term of four years." If these Nigerians took time to actually read and inform themselves; they would have been patient enough to get to the last line and read that a non-northerner got his appointment renewed for a second term.

That is the point I have an issue with the media outfit. The terrain is tender at the moment, the caption could have reflected Joshua Okpo's renewal since they chose to squeeze his appointment into the last paragraph as if his parastatal is of less importance as Mr. Kari's. They have offered their platform to breed ethnic and religious fundamentalism which they need to be wary of.

http://www.channelstv.com/2015/07/31/president-buhari-appoints-mohammed-kari-as-commissioner-for-insurance/

Jide akeju
2-08-2015