PMB'S 366 DAYS

It must be stated that times are really tough in Nigeria at the moment with constant power outages, water shortage and increase in the cost of certain goods. The current struggles have not surprised me because I know that Nigerians did not vote in Harry Potter on March 28^th 2015 to preside over our affairs.

I chose not to join in what I call ‘eye service’ criticism of Mr President simply because of the need to appear objective. The problem with this brand of criticism is that it ended up becoming a fellowship with eternal pessimists who thereby secured a license to continue bashing the incumbent administration perhaps to soothe the pain of their hero’s loss at the last election. It was amazing to see people who spoke ill of the president in the build up to the elections constantly talking about promises made and how imbalanced the president’s appointments were. Some claimed they voted for the president when they in fact did no such thing while most simply overdosed on their poisoned bile which made them to constantly spew hate towards the man and his crew.

Not to be misconstrued, there were indeed some healthy criticisms especially with respect to the delay in ministerial appointments and some cases of insufficient communication of government policies to the people. Many times, the government actually had information out in the open but I guess the cynics expected to have loud speakers blaring propaganda when they awoke in the mornings to get enlightened. The government could and should have done better with the management of information; this frequent lapses and inconsistencies gave room for speculation and outright manipulation by certain vested interests from time to time.

I do not think there is a way to properly evaluate President Muhammadu Buhari’s 366 days in office without reflecting on what the last administration did and did not do. I do not think it will be fair to measure PMB’s performance on the economy for example without addressing the heists carried out by certain elements of the last administration currently under investigation or being prosecuted. I will state that the president was practically compromised even before assuming office by those who felt the former president deserved a soft landing and protection from scrutiny of his activities as president. Every move by the president has been either tagged a witch hunt or a ploy to annihilate the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Many supposedly educated individuals have suspended all common sense in analyzing these cases of corruption and have instead adopted ethnic synapses to condemn the president and the investigative agencies. For those who ask why ‘only’ PDP members are facing charges ; I will only ask them if they expected that All progressives congress members would get bundled into ‘black marias’ for collecting money from Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd) to campaign for the PDP or for raiding the central bank vaults to claim money returned as part of Abacha’s loot.

What are the things which have happened in the past one year of president Buhari’s reign? Some see too much water in Nigeria’s ‘garri’ but many like me see the garri rising; we only need to add sugar and groundnut to the mixture. It is commonplace to see on social media that Buhari has achieved next to nothing and has only spent the time oscillating from place to place and did not even afford his deputy such privileges. Such individuals who propagate this brand of crudeness always attempt to make Nigerians view national issues through ethnic or religious prisms. They want Yorubas to be offended by how they imagine a ‘Hausa-Fulani’ president maltreats his abundantly educated Yoruba deputy; they quite succeed with their agenda by starting off near daily civil wars on several social media platforms. President Buhari has been called an ethnic or religious bigot only interested in  the Islamization of Nigeria. He has been perpetually called an illiterate even by those who cannot compose a simple sentence without flaws. The economy has not picked up yet neither has the power sector. The appropriation bill issue seems to have had 'messy' written all over it but I think it is better to focus on the positives of that process and expect that future bills would be better processed and equally scrutinized.

Did the president actually waste resources travelling? I really do not think so. I think it would have been foolish for our leaders not to step into the limelight earmarked for Africa and to ignore opportunities to meet up with and engage the leaders of leading nations on the globe. There were a couple of security meetings with neighboring nations and their chief backers. These in my honest opinion have contributed greatly to the apparent decline in the previously ravaging insurgency in the Northeast of Nigeria. It appears new life has been restored to the affected states in the sub region and that for me is a major plus for this administration. The previously battered military have regained their composure and respect on many levels and the major global players have severally endorsed the actions of the current leaders on corruption and security which the former leaders did not get.

A protracted fuel crisis was handed by the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to the current president which the former coordinating minister of the economy Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala described then as sabotage by the industry players. It was so bad then that diesel and jet fuel supplies were also affected; many have definitely forgotten that some radio stations advertised early termination of their programming due to inability to procure diesel to power their generators. Nigerians forget way too easily so when the fuel shortages returned a few months ago, many were convinced that things had never been worse. The minister of petroleum in two short video clips gave sensible explanations on the cause of the shortages but many Nigerians failed to comprehend perhaps because we are too sophisticated to spend time reading beyond headlines or watching a man speak simple English to explain an issue. The next move was to compare the subsidy protests following Jonathan’s increase of the pump price of petrol in January 2012 (from 65-141naira/L) to Buhari’s increase from 87 to 135-145naira/ L. They completely ignored the variables which existed then with respect to a massive fuel subsidy scam, relatively higher crude oil prices per barrel and a much more favorable exchange rate and availability of foreign exchange. These very learned individuals cheered on when a faction of the Nigerian Labour Congress declared a strike and a reenactment of the January 2012 subsidy protests which came arguably close to stirring a revolution in the land. They definitely forgot that the people shut down the country in 2012 and not the Labour congress; the people were not with the congress this time around and the strike action fizzled out like gas from a bottle of Coca-Cola.

Ese Oruru happened in February 2016 and many saw this as a good opportunity to insult the Emir of Kano and an entire ethnic group unfortunately. They claimed she must have been assaulted and violated repeatedly while in Kano. The young girl thankfully gave birth on the 26th of May and if we go back 40 weeks or so while assuming that the baby was born healthy and at term, that will put the conception of the child at sometime in August 2015 when she was taken to Kano by Yinusa. We do not still know what happened between the young man and the minor in Bayelsa but this unfortunate situation was not a justifiable tool to spite an entire race with. There are those who belong to the school of thought that Chibok did not happen despite their hero acknowledging same on live television in April 2014. The recovery of two girls alongside numerous other captives has not been sufficient to disabuse their minds; the president and his supporters still get accused of sponsoring the kidnap and to a larger extent the crisis in the Northeast which in fact makes absolutely no sense. The issues with the herdsmen happened but I believe there is nothing that cannot be solved by honest communication and determination to achieve peace if all parties are interested. Those responsible for deadly violence should however be identified and prosecuted according to the laws of the land.

Mr. Nnamdi Kanu of the Radio Biafra infamy breezed one day into the country and was taken for an excursion. The con artist no doubt succeeded in birthing animosity and rage in the hearts of many of his kinsmen; I actually suspect this action may have contributed to the intolerance of herdsmen who dwell in the Southeastern zone but I may indeed be very wrong. There have been protests in some parts of  the Southeast, South-South and the North central zones mainly related to struggles for emancipation or skirmishes with herdsmen who many have accused the president of protecting. A lot of the protests have been unfair to the president; many of those protesting or currently destroying government economic installations would not have moved a finger if the former president with favorable religious and ethnic configurations had been returned at the elections. One thing the last one year has exposed is how easy it is to manipulate Nigerians especially on social media. Catchy headlines and graphic images or videos culled from any part of the globe and tagged as Nigerian based backyards are enough to stir the people to revolt; a simple cross checking of these materials would have deflated these evil plots but the religious fundamentalists and ethnic supremacists which many Nigerians are ran with these stories without questioning. It is sad that even folks with advanced qualifications and foreign bagged degrees remain rigid in their ways even when confronted with evidence of their folly. There are also those who claim to be objective in their assessment of the president but rely on material produced by active participants of the last administration to inform them. These people would readily rejoice at the sight of governor Fayose of Ekiti cutting hide obtained from cattle reared by the Fulani herdsmen they despise and jump for joy when they hear that pipelines get bombed or vandalized all to spite the president.

Talking about Fayose, he has become the conscience of the PDP which can only mean that Nigeria is endangered. It is important that a new alliance not hostile to the incumbent administration arise from the ashes of the PDP to provide quality opposition to the incumbent and a potentially viable alternative in the next 4 years or so. The PDP is dead and cremated; the fact that the party has been cut off from a seemingly endless supply of nutrient for less than a year says a lot about what the party stood for. The ease with which active participants of that government develop body ailments and sudden paralysis is alarming. Sixteen years of the PDP and no thought to build one refinery or wean Nigeria off crude oil; I do not think Bola Tinubu could have been so abysmal if he had the reigns of Nigeria for 8 years even with his kind of reputation. The soldiers involved in the Ekiti state election issue have since faced the music; I expect the beat which Fayose will dance to in the coming months is still undergoing some remixing.

Dasuki-gate, Badeh-gate, Allison-Madueke-gate, NIMASA-gate, Fidelity-gate and many other gates should be enough to convince Nigerians to trust this administration but many only see this important fight against corruption as distractions. Many in this administration can definitely not be trusted but it is important that we back the lead man to help set the example and keep us focused on the end game despite the current hash climate. The government needs all the help and support it can get; criticism should be fair and well timed. Those who see themselves as citizens of other territories should repent and throw their weight behind making things work for Nigeria. Who knows, Nigeria can still advance to the point of being sophisticated enough to practice true federalism in just a few years where every aggrieved ethnic group would be able to live as free men in any part of the nation they desire.

The government will definitely make more mistakes with the economy and security amongst other sectors. The Shi’ite situation is currently unresolved but I will suggest that we trust our military and government despite the apparent injustices and heavy-handedness until everything gets resolved at the right time. Those who have become specialist in generating and propagating false information to stir up schisms in the land need to either repent or see a shrink to help manage this deficit. No one benefits if the nation is allowed to burn to the ground.

I am a fan of the football club Manchester United. I am an open critic of the man Jose Mourinho and could have bet every kobo of my savings that his dream of coaching Manchester club would not materialize. His methods do not appeal to me like it does to many of his fans but he has been appointed as the coach nonetheless. Does it mean that I now like him? Absolutely not! Should it translate to me not wishing that he fails so that the club administrators realize that their recently adopted culture of sacking coaches is wrong? Absolutely not! I will be watching Manchester United play in the coming season and will back the coach to succeed and win trophies because as far as I see it; the club wins and not necessarily the manager. He will leave the club one day and I will most likely be glad but the club will remain. Which is greater, the manager or the club? Which is greater, the president or Nigeria? Those who have become arsonists should become fire fighters and help set this nation right.

Let us agree that President Buhari has not done well in 366 days but let us agree also that we are better off than where we were headed under Jonathan. One year is too short to discard this president; he did not stockpile stupendous wealth and oil blocs when he was 40yrs old and in the limelight of Nigeria’s public service; I do not think it is at 74yrs of age that such a lifestyle will begin. He is blunt and direct like that and may be deemed undiplomatic at times but what I know is that we are on the right path as a nation. It can only get better from this point and only those who are qualified and prepared would be able to lead us after Buhari is done.

This image of Amina Ali Nkeki  breks my heart but it should give us hope as a nation. (culled from the Vanguard) 

God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

YOU ARE FREE TO PROTEST.

If you think that the tens of thousands (arguably hundreds of thousands) of Nigerian men and women who turned out daily to protest the fuel price increase of January 1st 2012 were wrong and hypocritical for not responding in like fashion now;  you can carry a megaphone and loudspeakers to Ojuelegba to initiate a protest against the government of the day and see if people will follow you. 

Do you...yes you... really think the January 2012 protests was because of the person of Goodluck Jonathan?  You call the civil liberties groups and key leaders of that subsidy protest hypocrites because you are convinced they latched on to an opportunity to 'overthrow' Jonathan's regime. How more far from the truth can you be? Who were the people who led from the front in late 2009 and early 2010 at protest rallies to free Nigeria from Turai's sleeper hold when Ebele couldn't fight for his constitutional right to guide a nation whose president was a few nephrones  away from the great beyond? He lacked ambition then and that was all the convincing I needed to know that he wasn't fit to lead even a prefects body. APC wasn't even formed then and for sure president Buhari had not come out to say he was contesting again after 3 landslide losses.  

The hike was announced in 2012 and the stories that were brought to the surface in the following days caused many to wonder how a responsible government watched on as they incurred a 2.3trillion naira subsidy bill in 2011 from a 'meagre' 600 billion the previous year.  A Vanguard newspaper report has it that Nigeria spent just over 100 billion on subsidy payments in 2000.

Have we forgotten that the subsidy regime was investigated following the protests in a bid to pacify Nigerians?  Have we forgotten that banks,  the military,  the Nigerian customs, real and imagined companies were indicted in the technical committee report and that some powerful Nigerians and some powerful children were named with a few of them seemingly getting charged to court? 

Should we talk about president Jonathan offering to cut the basic salaries of himself and his officials or should we dwell on the buses they shared to the NURTW?  Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala alongside Dezaini Alison Madueke defended the move and the subsidy reinvestment drive tagged SURE-P. Jonathan even got a credible individual to head that until he voluntarily resigned in late 2013. Lieutenant-General Martin - Luther Again replaced Christopher Kolade as SureP boss until the former got fired in march 2015 allegedly for attending former president Obasanjo's birthday bash.

The Nigerian labour congress suffered a near fatal blow to its integrity during the last days of that subsidy protest.  The body which includes petroleum workers attended a meeting to resolve the crisis at the Aso rock villa over the weekend and by Monday morning,  armed soldiers were stationed at Ojota the higher centre of the mass protest to prevent the re aggregation of protesters. President Jonathan settled for a compromise pump price and the Labour union lost respect. 

For those who are only capable of seeing Nigerian affairs as pro-Jonathan or anti-Buhari;  they really need to stop making reference to how 'great' Jonathan was and how doomed Nigeria is to have rejected her only president who passed through a university. It's tragic how seemingly educated people will constantly hail a regime characterized by heists which have made the British prime minister to crossbreed corruption and the fantastic four movie. All we hear is "why is Buhari only persecuting PDP members?", did APC members join in withdrawing money from the Central bank's ATM to win the 2015 election?  Did APC members like Olu Falae receive money they didn't know came from arms money to campaign for Jonathan? If indeed any member of the APC got any of such funds,  I'm sure it won't be hard to nail them. 

They say Fashola,  Amaechi, Aregbesola and other APC governors emptied their respective state treasuries to fund Buhari's campaign and hence deserve to be prosecuted. Do they really think that the president won by sharing money to all and sundry?  The president as a lone ranger in 2011 was awarded over 12 million votes to Jonathan's 22 million.  Do people actually think that Buhari without access to the CBN's vault and returned Abacha loot paid his way to ensure that Jonathan lost 10 million votes from 2011 and only gained just over 3 million plus votes to win in 2015? If Amaechi indeed drained Rivers state,  should it not have reflected in how Rivers people voted at least? 

Those who collected money to campaign for Jonathan and his NSA Dasuki have not denied that they took such monies; I'm not sure I've read of any allegation that any ethnic or religious leader collected money from anybody to ensure that someone called brain dead by the former president's wife got enough votes to defeat an incumbent. Many multi millionaires and billionaires were forged from simply associating with Jonathan.  Former service chiefs also indulged in the largesse and even the president's kitchen cabinet must have assumed the erstwhile president was just a rag doll to play with and then discard. 

Ruminating over some imaginary great deeds Jonathan did and wishing for his return is like a pregnant woman in her first trimester looking for thalidomide to relieve her morning sickness. No one is delighted that we now have to pay a more than 60% increase for petrol. Majority of Nigerians will find it hard to cope but we must understand that the people trying to fix things now were not responsible for leaving four sub optimal refineries which have ensured that petrol has to be purchased and shipped with foreign currency from refineries situated on other continents. Government or privately financed refineries on how shores won't just appear overnight;  it'd require some time.  

Obasanjo told Nigerians that power supply would be a thing of the past when 2003 came yet we still sleep soaked in darkness and its incubating heat. Nuclear reactors won't be purchased on ebay neither will windmills dot our coastlines like sunflowers in 'Mama Charlie's' garden after just a few weeks. Is it not fair to give the current team a reasonable chance to work? One thing Nigerians gained from 2015 is courage; the courage to do away with what doesn't work. If Nigerians observe that alterations need to be made by 2018/2019; be assured that Nigerians will effect the changes. 

The marketers sat with the government officials and decided on the way forward. They won't have forex at official rates because such funds aren't simply there. They'll get their money and ship in products which should match stipulated standards. Hopefully when supply increases it'd drive prices down while the nation's refining capacity and efficiency improves.  The minister of petroleum in a previous video said that the long term plan was to have the private sector run things in the oil sector. This may just be the first bus stop on that journey. 

The Emir of Kano championed an end to subsidy months before January 2012 and during the heat of the protests. He must have felt Nigerians who protested then were being unreasonable and didn't see the benefits of putting an end to the scam. One wonders what made the poster boy for subsidy removal to turn around and out the officials of the past government on missing oil revenue. Just about every account of Nigeria's money got looted in the last administration. Returned loot,  arms money, pension funds,  oil revenue,  excess crude account,  sovereign wealth fund,  etc; money sha miss all over the place. 

Who are the hypocrites?  If you didn't actively or passively support the protests in 2012 because of your obsessive affinity for Jonathan (and not necessarily based on principle) and you are now breaking your head because people are not joining you to protest the end of subsidy then you are the hypocrite. If you thought like Emir Sanusi that removing the subsidy in 2012 was the way to go but are now pulling out your hair because you think it adds some lustre to Jonathan,  you are free to charge to the front lines with labour unions to grind the nation to a halt.  I'm sure you'd find many pastors who will accompany you on such a voyage;  who knows,  you may just be right afterall.

let us not forget these brethren who exercised daily at places like Ketu and Badagry only to have their hopes dashed by SURE-P

BEYOND GOOD MEAT

Nigeria developed from an infant nation seeking economic aid, recognition and respect from other nations around the time of her independence to an ambitious state capable of funding and defending other African nations by the mid to late 1970s.

A modest entourage visited John F. Kennedy in July 1961 to discuss cocoa price stabilization, economic aid and the metastasis of communism into Africa amongst other critical subjects. The nation held so much promise and our adopted mentor nations were well aware of this. Unclassified documents from Balewa’s visit in 1961 has it stated that “Nigeria’s greatest resource is its people who number 38 million…These are energetic, industrious people vigorously pressing for economic and social advancement.” Our agricultural produce which consisted of diverse food and cash crops; minerals such as tin, columbite, petroleum, coal and iron deposits were highlighted as strengths despite the high illiteracy, high infant mortality rates and low per capita income which characterized the nation at that time.

38 million strong people in 1961 have become about 180 million in less than 60 years but our agricultural sector has remained stunted just like most of our mineral deposits have stayed interred. Per capital income remains abysmal and it remains rocket science to crash the rates of infant and maternal mortality. JFK and his people figured that the Nigerian people who made up about one-sixth of all Africans on the continent at that time were the nation’s greatest asset; that assertion is however yet to be proved accurate largely because the Nigerian people seem to have worked against the dream and pressed the self-destruct button too often.

The recent upsurge in communal clashes and the response to these have served to expose some of the underlying insecurities which cripple the Nigerian and prevents him/her from seeing himself as a citizen and trusting other citizens as comrades in developing the Nigerian project. A particular group noted for pastoral nomadism has been so vilified in recent years that many from other tribes readily utilize derogatory terms to refer to them and their activities. It is easy for some Nigerians to brag about how their tribes could do without other tribes which make up the Federal Republic of Nigeria especially the Fulani. It is imagined that this largely uneducated bloc who seemingly have more regard for cattle would wither away economically if other groups boycotted their ‘meat.' This thought has even expressed severally on social media and reports of an upgrade in the terrorism profile of Fulani herdsmen has led to calls for them to be curbed before they are able to mutate into more virulent strains like the Boko Haram terrorist group.

The Fulani tribe spans virtually all of West Africa into Central Africa and parts of Egypt. They are quite a formidable race with tales of conquests which date back a few centuries. They are the largest pastoral nomadic group in the world; this practice of rearing livestock is also done in several parts of East Africa, Central Asia, Russia, China, the Middle East and Scandinavia. The Fulani tribe conquered Hausa territories between 1804 and 1809 establishing their own Emirates before being conquered by the British in 1903. The Hausa language somehow prevailed over the Fula probably because of intermarriages and the absence of outright ethnic cleansing. The people who embarked on these expeditions were perhaps only interested in spreading Islam such that anyone or group of people who accepted got spared. The recent alleged attacks on Enugu and the Agatu incident a few months ago have led many to accuse the president Muhammadu Buhari of complicity with some boldly calling him the chief of the herdsmen since they are of the same stock.

The passage of time has made it difficult to identify who is actually Fulani or Hausa. The president is from Daura which is said to be historically the oldest Hausa state in Nigeria. It can be said that the president is technically Hausa although there are reports that his mother was from another northern tribe. The major problem with the champions of this theory is that they are actually unable to define the object of their rage. Do they despise the Fulani or the Hausa? Is it the Islamic bloc of Northern Nigeria they cannot stand or is it the entire North? They often do not know the diversity inherent in Northern Nigeria so they end up wrongly generalizing as well as indulging in propagating hate and intolerance. The conquests of old, the migrations and the acquisition of slaves within the geographical space that is Nigeria have caused intermingling of people over centuries. I was told by my father that his grandmother was said to have been a very light-skinned ‘priestess.’ Who knows if she arrived Ekiti from a region well beyond the boundaries of where she eventually settled. It would be very interesting if genetic studies to determine ancestry of all Nigerians could be done. I am certain that many will be shocked at what such tests would yield.

The Fulani tribe and to a lesser extent Northern Nigeria are despised by many Nigerians ignoring their history, potential and good qualities. We sometimes assume that livestock is all about the cows we get to buy for our weekly ceremonies or the yearly purchase of rams for the ‘Iléyá’ festival. Livestock is way more than that and the business of animals is a potential multi-billion dollar goldmine yet to be unearthed. We have forgotten about camels, donkeys and other ruminants just like we forgot about our cocoa, coal, groundnuts and solid minerals all because of the black crude. Chief Obafemi Awolowo in a speech he delivered on the 16^th of August 1954 in the House of Representatives mentioned that the revenue of the then Northern Region Native Authorities was £5,643,000 in 1954 while the Western and Eastern regions yielded £2,134,000 and £993,000 respectively (although the proceeds from the Eastern region could have been higher if some politicians from that region had not led the people to assume that they did not need to pay tax before getting social amenities). This was before the advent of crude oil sales and when agriculture was the sinoatrial node of the fledging nation’s economy. We shut down agriculture and began to overdose on crude.

Nigeria’s landmass is about 920,000km² and it was estimated that the population of cattle within the country in 1992 was 13.9 million. South Africa is reported to have had about 13.5 million cattle in 2003 while Kenya although a net importer of cattle sourced through pastoral nomads had about 17.5 million cattle in 2009 according to a Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) report. About 96% of Nigeria’s cattle are in the hands of pastoral nomads but most of the animals slaughtered within the country are sourced from neighboring countries. It is important that we understand the relationship of Nigeria with her neighbors and how whatever happens to them affects us. Joe Garba in his book “Diplomatic Soldiering” referred to urgent meetings he held with the ambassador of Niger Republic in August 1975. There was a drought in 1973 which claimed over 50% of Niger’s cattle resulting in meat shortages in Nigeria. It appears Nigerian cattle gets relatively preserved while we eat those sourced from neighboring nations.

Uganda according to Kurt Davis Jnr produces between 1.5 to 1.8 tonnes of milk a year with only 10 to 15% of this getting processed. Kenya was reported to have had more than 9 million dairy cows in 2012 (a little more than the United States of America) but they did not produce milk anywhere close to what South Africa produced despite the latter having a far less number of dairy cows. The USA led all and sundry in the production of milk with their 9 million cows (87 million tonnes per year) followed by India’s 50 million tonnes from a little over 43 million dairy cows; the highest population in the world. Europe is the largest supplier of processed milk worldwide with 47% of supplies while Africa contributes just 4% to this multi-billion dollar industry just like Oceania’s 4%. One must wonder what proportion of the 4% of Africa’s quota emanates from Nigeria. It is not surprising to learn that we are the largest importers of milk on the continent; we are also one of the largest importers of rice in the world despite being the largest producers of rice on the continent. The Nigerian profile page on the FAO website has it that Nigeria produced 2 million MT of milled rice in 2008 but still imported 3 million MT. I believe there is a current embargo on such importation at the moment. This is akin to exporting crude oil and importing refined products for many years while allowing the local refineries to decay; this persistent negative trade balance can only be described as madness.

The milk shortage on the African continent implies that most countries have to depend heavily on imports but still, the average volume of milk per head consumed annually is well short of the per capita global average. One country with about 573,000 dairy cows (2010 figures) is the Scandinavian nation Denmark which has over 400 islands. Denmark contributed 3.6% of EU milk production in 2010.

The Danish project

Denmark with a population of 5.6 million people (Nigeria is over thirty times more populated) is approximately 43,000km² in total land mass (excluding the area covered by Greenland and the Faroe islands) which is about twenty one times smaller than Nigeria. The agricultural sector of this relative small nation is one of the most efficient in the world with approximately 65% of the total area cultivated. They contribute 3.4% of the world food supplies and deal with over 150 countries. 61% of their exports go to the European Union and their largest trading partner in Asia is China. The Denmark agricultural societies are one of the world’s largest with over 40,000 farms. They produce over 30 million pigs annually, 85% of which gets exported as processed bacon or as pig ears to China. But how did Denmark develop a €15billion industry capable of comfortably producing enough food for 3-6 times their population? How did they get to become number 5 in the world with respect to the average yield of milk per cow when India with their world leading 43 million dairy cows did not even make the top 20 list?

Denmark experienced wars and severe losses in the 1800s which plunged the nation into bankruptcy and a famine ensued which meant that the government was unable to feed the people. Wars do not necessarily help anybody and those agitating for war in Nigeria or any kind of showdown at all should get this clarification synapsed with their higher centers. The Danish government officials of the day did not wallow in self-pity neither did they continue their attrition with the neighbours who inflicted severe damage on them. They vowed that never again would Denmark go hungry; they thought like statesmen instead of mere monarchs or politicians. Obafemi Awolowo echoed this mindset when he said in 1954 on the floor of the House of Representatives that "Of course, a politician may think only of the present but a statesman has to think not only of the present but of the future generation." 

The Danes developed their country’s agriculture through massive investment in education and research. They established nationwide railway networks, connected their arable Islands and Peninsulas by Ferries and turned their people’s focus to education. Their many years of research led to the development of new tools and equipment, new high yielding crops and new methods of producing milk and other livestock products. Denmark exports food, technology and their human resources; we have a good number of agricultural research facilities all over Nigeria but I am not certain their recommendations over the many years since their establishment have been adequately implemented. Who needs agricultural counsel when there is crude oil?

Where Nigerians see self-preservation and distrust, other nations see opportunity. We see our over 13 million cattle as Salah meat, the United kingdom see their 1.8 million dairy cows as producers of tonnes of milk for export annually. Denmark has a GDP per capita of $45,435 which is about seven times larger than Nigeria’s and agriculture contributes a great deal to this. Life expectancy is 81.9 years for females and 78 years for males; should we mention that of Nigeria? Many Nigerians see cattle grazing as the job of lazy men; many groups of sedentary farmers have had their crops trampled upon or eaten by livestock and have reacted with rage many times leading to numerous communal clashes. Where we have seen destruction, India and Pakistan have been utilizing Biogas as an alternative energy source. We have not exploited this technology sufficiently in Nigeria even though there were reports of Biogas experimentation a few years ago. Denmark has invested heavily in Biomass which is carbon neutral and they have a target to make it the source of 30% of their renewable energy by 2020. If we really think about making use of cow dung as a source of energy all across the country, are we going to have to import cow dung for that purpose if we shut out our brothers who control the herd in Nigeria?

The late Major General Joe Garba highlighted in his book more than a few ‘Big Brother’ gestures by Nigeria to other nations especially in Africa and the Caribbean. There were a few millions of dollars here and there for the struggle against apartheid and colonialism; we also used out planes to ferry delegates of other nations for Organization of African Unity summits from time to time. General Yakubu Gowon once paid the salaries of civil servants in Grenada and we paid for and constructed highways connecting our border states with our neighbors. One particularly fascinating request made of Nigeria was on the 4^th of February 1976 by Angola. Lieutenant-General Olusegun Obasanjo had travelled to meet President Neto in Luanda where he assured the Angolan president that Nigeria would fulfil her promise to deliver C-130 and F28 aircrafts to Angola. The Angolan then went further to ask Nigeria for an urgent supply of meat to which Obasanjo replied that Nigeria could afford to deliver 7,000 to 8,000 tons of meat aboard a Boeing 707 aircraft belonging to the Nigerian Airways. I wonder what was so urgent about meat in Angola in 1976.

As part of his approach to rapid economic development, Obafemi Awolowo told the House of Representatives on the 7^th of April 1960 that the country needed to do all within its power to stimulate the development of agriculture and other natural resources. He highlighted that the gap in education between the north and the south at that time was dangerously wide which needed to be closed. It remains wide till this day but I do not think that this should be blamed completely on the Northern leadership. Awolowo repeatedly pointed out that the federal budgetary allocation for health and education were inadequate and would not augur well for the desired economic growth. From 1957 to January 1966 when Tafawa Balewa was prime minister, the majority of cabinet positions were occupied by Southerners but it seems they did not utilize their vantage positions enough to push to close that education gulf.

Many have claimed that the Fulani have spent the longest time ruling Nigeria but that is technically inaccurate. Tafawa Balewa who was prime minister of Nigeria from October 1 1960 to January 15^th 1966 was a Shuwa Arab. Yakubu Gowon who took charge after the July 29^th 1966 counter coup for the next 9 years is Angas while Murtala Mohammed who reigned for less than 7months after a palace coup deposed Gowon on the 29^th of July 1975 was Fulani. Shehu Shagari was president for exactly 4years and 3months and he is Fulani. The incumbent president who took over following a military coup on 1^st January 1984 and ruled for 20 months is from Daura the oldest Hausa state but he is also Fulani while Ibrahim Babaginda who reigned for the following 8 years is of Gbagyi descent. Sani Abacha who reigned for about four and a half years was Kanuri; Abdusalami Abubakar ruled for 11months and is Hausa while Umar Yar’adua who was actively president for just over 2years was Fulani. The much maligned Fulani ethnic group seems to have had one of theirs in power for less than 8years out of Nigeria’s 56years since independence.

Awolowo advised the country then to engage in industry and agricultural ventures and to establish large-scale ranches in the Northern region. The Northern region here refers to all the 19states which make up the Northwest, Northeast and the North Central geopolitical zones. The truth is that a good proportion of the region is arid with the more fertile regions occupied by minority tribes which have had skirmishes with Fulani herdsmen in the past. There is palpable resistance and any talk of establishing grazing zones or ranches will be shrugged off. It is baffling why we cannot see the need for cooperation and organization with respect to this. One wonders what proportion of our arable land is actually currently cultivated that it cannot be enough to sustain livestock. We only need better organization, education and integration of these herdsmen even if many of them are said to be foreigners from neighboring countries. I do not believe there are many who will remain unreasonable when a profitable and well-structured plan is tabled before him.

Awo went on to suggest that refrigerated vans and trains should be provided to transport slaughtered cattle from the north to maximize profit for the producers and ensure the supply of “really good meat to eat, particularly those who live here in Lagos.” On the 18^th of November 1961, he addressed the issue of the balance of payments with respect to Nigerians’ taste for luxury. We were importing fresh, chilled or frozen meat; eggs in the shell or otherwise; malted milk compounds, fish and fish products as well as canned ones and tomatoes. We have all these in abundance within the country; will it not be wisdom to nurture what we have so that it can multiply in geometric proportions?

The animosity which even supposedly intellectual people are propagating has to stop. These people owe their gullible fans and supporters easily swayed by chants of ethnic or religious supremacy a responsibility to preach patriotism instead. We have been too prideful and focused too long on what divides us instead on establishing successful businesses. According to the Nigerian profile on FAO.org;

 “The sector faces many challenges, notably an outdated land tenure system that constrains access to land (1.8 ha/farming household), a very low level of irrigation development (less than 1 percent of cropped land under irrigation), limited adoption of research findings and technologies, high cost of farm inputs, poor access to credit, inefficient fertilizer procurement and distribution, inadequate storage facilities and poor access to markets have all combined to keep agricultural productivity low (average of 1.2 metric tons of cereals/ha) with high postharvest losses and waste.”

These are some of the issues we ought to be focusing on and channeling our advocacy towards. The legislators are constantly talking about securing constituency projects; this is what they ought to be doing. A southern farmer should be able to freely relocate to Taraba state and acquire land larger than the 1.8 hectares limit to establish farms, ranches and/or food processing facilities with technology and equipment obtained indigenously and from well-established agricultural success stories such as Denmark.

We have not even scratched the surface, we have the potential to feed ourselves comfortable and most of Africa. It is not about war and rumors of war; who has fighting wars actually helped? Syria, Liberia, Guinea, DRC, Angola, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Ivory Coast, Iraq, Biafra? This is not the time to call for division but to identifying our strengths and deal with one another like properly trained business men. Obafemi Awolowo while addressing African Unity on the 28^th of June 1961 said that

“It cannot afford to behave like the mythical phoenix in the confident belief that by burning and destroying itself a more glorious Africa would arise from the ashes of the dead.”

Let us eliminate the thought that viable nations will rise up if we allow Nigeria to burn to ashes because we think one group is better than the others.

“Genesis 13 So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. ² Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.

³ From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier ⁴ and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the Lord.

⁵ Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. ⁶ But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. ⁷ And quarreling arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time.

⁸ So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives. ⁹ Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.” (NIV)

Our possessions as different ethnicities are not even anywhere near great yet; when we become great while staying together then we may then proceed to discussing separation. Separation didn’t augur well for Lot eventually; it isn’t always the best option on the table. Selah.

  

form the jfklibrary

Bibliography

§  VOICE OF REASON. Selected Speeches of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. 1981

§  DIPLOMATIC SOLDIERING (Nigerian Foreign Policy 1975-1979) by Joe Garba. 1987

§  Statistics: Dairy Cows ciwf.org

§  Facts and Figures: Danish Agriculture and Food 2012.

§  denmark.dk The official website of Denmark

§  http://www.africa.com/dairy-consumption-in-africa-part-1/ by Kurt Davis Jnr

§  www.fao.org

§  www.jfklibrary.org

NAILING THE HERD

It seems some folks are obsessed about nailing the Fulani herdsmen as the perpetrators of the mayhem which allegedly occurred on Monday morning despite the lack of irrefutable proof of their involvement.

One Biafran themed blog went ahead on Tuesday to state that some people were displaced from an area in Delta state by Fulani herdsmen. They used a photo I had seen before during the height of the Agatu propaganda. Note that I don't dispute that Agatu happened; however the same kind of fabrication and use of unrelated images sourced from social media with respect to Enugu was also adopted by vested interests during the Agatu conflict. They used images of mass graves and mutilated bodies which were actually events that occurred in the Congo, Chad or south Sudan.

Several individuals have since Monday spread rumors of persistent attacks and one in particular posted a picture suggesting that a certain community was armed and ready to defend themselves. The comments on that thread were all about back slaps and high fives with many encouraging all inhabitants of a certain geo-political zone to do all they can to arm themselves to the cusps of their enamel for an inevitable war. The only problem with that post was that the image used had been used before especially a few years ago to tell the story of protesting Niger - Delta militants.

Some people are busy sipping soda and munching on prawn crackers behind their computers or mobile gizmos and using Nigeria to play ludo or their imagined version of war of clans. They know you will react spontaneously to emotionally charged information hence the use of gory images and ever morphing figures. They know you won't check and cross check the information they provide. They know how to override your common sense and send your mumu into overdrive.

Enugu state police command is part of zone 9 which consists of all southeast states save Ebonyi. From the Nigerian police website; there are over 14 million citizens resident in that zone and they have approximately 50,000 officers to maintain law and order in the four states. Let us take out all the cops serving as attaché to the political elite and their spouses; one can only imaging the actual number of officers available to respond to everyday security challenges.

Also from the police website is listed the several challenges that characterise the state of Enugu. These range from armed robbery to kidnapping and then to cultism. I do not think that Fulani herdsmen can be blamed for all these atrocities. I came across one or two links to stories from a few years ago about cult clashes in Enugu with extremely gory images of blasted heads with brain tissue splattered all over. I am not ascertaining that what happened on Monday were cult attacks but if the police think hoodlums who may or may not be herdsmen clashed in the boundary town, I wonder why some people opt to discredit the police but believe hook, line, sinker and bucket stories from blog sites and online media platforms with questionable integrity.

This affair needs a thorough investigation; I do not even want to go into the matter of whether the governor of Enugu called the president but was put on hold for hours. Some individuals who pride themselves as cerebral social commentators unfortunately allowed themselves to be used to spearhead a dangerous rumour even if they were simply asking questions.

Some people think Nigeria is a game or game which needs to be hunted and dismembered. A certain educated fellow stated on social social media that Nigeria must be divided and cannot be allowed to thrive. Don't get carried away by these distractions; always look at the big picture.

April 28, 2016

THE BLAME GAME

I'm sorry if I sound insensitive and if I don't buy into this FULANI HERDSMEN drama. The Fulani tribe in Nigeria cannot be said to be widely loved simply because history doesn't favor them. Many atrocities over the years have had them involved and more than a few other prominent tribes have remained eternally scarred by those times.

It has become fashionable to mention Fulani herdsmen in any discussion at the moment but I sense a conspiracy playing out and many in the media are helping to propagate the plot by not wanting to be left out of breaking news.

Just about every scene of violence in Nigeria now is attributed to Fulani herdsmen. From Agatu to Ondo and from Taraba to Enugu. One begins to wonder how herdsmen in search of pasture would leave their livestock safely at a distant site and then proceed in their hundreds to inflict mortal damage on mere farmers who denied them grazing.

The latest story today is from Enugu and it appears social media was saturated with rumors of an impending attack just a day before it allegedly happened. It seems those who pushed the news were hoping and praying for an attack on Enugu to validate their rumour that 500 herdsmen mostly from Nassarawa state were going to storm Enugu.

Within hours, an Enugu town was set ablaze with inhabitants scampering for safety in neighbouring towns. More than 20 were slain and security forces overpowered. Most of the prominent newspapers that carried the story on their social media platforms had similarly worded scripts and none seem to have quoted government officials or spokespersons of security agencies.

The usual anti-incumbent forces were tweeting and re tweeting screaming Islamization or ethnic cleansing depending on the effect they wanted to generate. A Biafra related handle even tagged Fulani herdsmen as Buhari's forces. Reno Omokri and Fayose's spokesman were not left out in having a go at the president and his team. Some were able to exhibit some restraint by searching for news on respected stations such as channels television but it didn't seem to come when they waited.

Some doubting Thomases demanded for proof and they got links to blog sites and several images of dead humans either stacked up in a truck or on the ground. Most of the images used on social media platforms including the more popular outfits had cattle herdsmen carrying assault rifles and these images were mostly captioned as Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria. The problem with most of these photos is that it has been proven that they were sourced from unrelated events in the past from countries such as South Sudan, Congo and possible Chad. It is not unusual that the Fulani tribe extends well beyond northern Nigeria and the history and culture of the region have encouraged herdsmen to diffuse across highly permeable borders to ensure survival of their main source of livelihood.

One of the images posted tonight of dead people was guaranteed to be from Enugu and father Mbaka was called out for not backing Goodluck Jonathan. That image was sourced from September 28 2009 when a massacre claimed many lives in Guinea. Some people are not content with Nigeria facing economic challenges so they want to set fire on what is still left of the country. They are portraying the incumbent government as insensitive and accommodating terrorists. They are convinced beyond every doubt that the Muslim and northern president wants to wipe them out of existence so they are encouraging people to take up arms and defend themselves. One fellow said it is better to die fighting than to die running.

I really do not know how those who claim that kidnappers of a man in Delta and those who raided farmlands in Benue are one and the same people. At a time, unknown gunmen were the major culprits but now every case of kidnap, arson, murder and terrorism is the handiwork of a Fulani herdsman. If indeed there is an agenda on the part of this largely uneducated group, should they be wrecking havoc in Enugu and overlook Lagos where they could potentially do more damage?

I will always call for restraint and patience with respect to the citizens of Nigeria many of whom possess itchy fingers ready to push unsubstantiated news and rumor especially on social media. Inciting people to engage in hostilities even for a justifiable and credible reason is surely not the way to go. We all end up becoming arsonist and will have all our roofs blown off when we could all have helped to put out the fire by uninstalling our default ethnic and religious sentiments.

I was on a medical mission to Taraba once in 2009 and our team members had to attend to a man allegedly attacked by herdsmen. Before then, I had to attend to a man with multiple lacerations and puncture wounds to his face and head when I was in Abuja in 2008. The man survived an attack related to cattle rearing; I don't recollect if he was a Fulani herdsman or not. The violence related to cattle in Nigeria didn't start in June 2015. The solution won't arrive today but will require time. Quite a few Nigerian communities have been notorious and violent towards their neighbours over the years. Families destroy property belong to other families just to get ahead, I do not believe that every evil meted out in Nigeria emanates from Fulani herdsmen. They seem to be the available group to target and a tool to label the president as destructive.

Should we round up every cattle herdsman along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway and along the rail track at the Agege area of Lagos because they have now been labeled terrorist? Should these events not be investigated to properly identify the real actors causing unrest in our nation instead of trusting solely eye witness accounts? If these events have all happened exactly as they have been described; should we not properly categorise them and raise our security alertness?

It all seems convenient and too easy to label Fulani herdsmen as the source of our current insecurity. I am weary about the authenticity of news in Nigeria and would rather urge Nigerians to be more cautious about what they permit to spread. Nigeria shall survive every falsehood come what may.

April 26, 2016.

BOTTLE FIGHT

I saw the headline about one guy killing another over the regular Messi-Ronaldo debate and immediately hoped that the incident didn't happen in Nigeria.

I saw the report on Eurosport.com and decided to click on it. I relaxed for a moment  when I read that India was the location for this dreadful act but I was soon confronted with the names of two Nigerians. 

Disappointment is what I feel rather than shock. Why do we readily succumb to the evil lurking in the backyards of our minds? Why will two young men go gangster over two individuals whose footballing prowers will soon fade away in 5years or less depending on several factors?

I am not one to pick on the tribe of the two men concerned because it is completely irrelevant; I won't deny them now because their names do not sound like mine. The fellow who stabbed his fellow man to death on an Italian street with a piece of broken bottle was from a different tribe. Many husbands or wives from varying tribes have viciously attacked their spouses sometimes killing them. 

Fulani herdsmen roaming with their cattle have left destruction in their wake on several occasions and "unknown gunmen" have their legend intact after ransacking entire communities all over the country. Politicians have engaged the services of touts to wreck havoc after which they get armed police escorts when they get the political power they paid for. Why do we keep hearing of kidnappings and outright murders all over the land? 

It is sad however that some people appear to like or love images of dead human beings adorning their various social media timelines. They like to post or share images of mutilated dead bodies of the young and the old and act like they are offering a social service. Some of these individuals may be naïve while a few others are downright dangerous and mischievous.

We have developed a habit of losing sight of the most important detail in any matter and focusing on frivolities. Where people are harming other human beings, some Nigerians chose to focus on tribe or religion and lose sight of justice and law enforcement. We lose sight of why many of our kind have lost the ability to be civil, tolerant and peace loving. 

Our educational system is deeply flawed and our young people are not sufficiently engaged positively. The injustice of the past has crippled some of the older generation and impaired their ability to forgive and trust. Ours is a nation which has failed the young and the old, the Ijaw and Kanuri, the North and the South, the Religious and otherwise as well as the poor and the poor. 

The only group which has not been failed is that which continues to plunder Nigeria. The individuals there have no gender, religious, age or ethnic restrictions and they are the ones who continue to sow seeds of discord and promote schism amongst Nigerians. We do not know our history, we are in many ways oblivious of where we are coming from and have come to learn how to see each other through supremacist lenses.

The British who colonized us referred to us as "Muslim North, pagan Plateau, Christian Southeast and predominantly Christian Southwest" prior to independence. They are a nation with a Christian background yet they related with the Muslim North without enforcing a religion change. They bound these units together because they partly wanted to protect their own interests but also because they must have seen that these component units of Nigeria could potentially form a great nation. 

We have unfortunately indulged more in emphasising our differences instead of adopting unity. This is perhaps why a debate on two iconic football stars could rapidly degenerate into a bottle fight because neither party wanted to yield. 

We should be weary about what we push on social media because of our adopted inclinations. Many are inciting violence and preaching exactly what the Ku Klux Klan or the Islamic state would preach. These ones only hide behind titles of religious, political or community leadership. They will use any unverifiable information to push a narrative and exaggerate issues for selfish goals.

How images from a few years ago and from South Sudan became scenes of the violence which rocked Agatu is beyond me. No one is denying that towns were attacked and a government interested in covering issues up will outrightly control the media and pay the full price of their consciences.

There are fires raging in the hearts of many Nigerians; there are arsonists roaming and hell bent on ensuring that Nigeria maintains status quo. We can and should help to put out these fires and neutralise these arsonists. When we do these, Nigerians will stop killing each other over footballers, religious leaders or politicians.