How to Become a Music Maestro

How to Identify a Scammer

My Fake Parcel from the UK

Someone presenting himself as a white woman from the UK sent me a friendship request on Facebook. I just told myself, “Here come the scammers again.” But I was curious to see how it goes –it could be legit.

She told me she would want us to become friends. That her husband was involved in a road accident was rushed to India and failed to make it. So, she wants someone to share her life with, someone to be the father of her kids. She asked if I was married or single. I said I was divorced.

The first reason to be suspicious: she has only one friend on Facebook and I am the second.

The second reason to be suspicious: my cover photo on Facebook is of myself and my wife on our wedding day and the profile photo is of me and my daughter. Why was she asking if I were single?

She said she wanted us to be chatting via i-chat on an Apple computer and asked if I had an Apple computer. I told her the computer I have is a Toshiba laptop. She said she would send me an Apple computer if I promised to chat with her so we could get to know each other better.

The third reason to be suspicious: it doesn’t matter what computer is used for chatting.

I told her I wouldn’t mind if she sent me that computer. She requested my trust again. I assured her. As our conversation progressed, she informed me that she had sent the computer together with the iPhone 12 and 3000 pounds to pay for the delivery when it arrived. After doing my conversion to naira, I saw that I was going to be a millionaire. At that point, I became afraid for my life. These things could be delivered truly. But it could get complicated with me ending up with the police. Long-throat couldn’t let me. So, I followed along.

She messaged me, giving details of what she had sent including a photo of the parcel. She informed me of the need to call Customer Care to tell them I was expecting my parcel. She sent me the number to call. That was in the night at about 9PM. But I didn’t call because it was late. Early in the morning, someone called, speaking in decent English, albeit with a mild Yoruba accent, as would be expected of a Lagosian who is educated. He also demonstrated an understanding of how couriers are handled. He asked where I live. I told him that I live in Jos. So, he told me to come to Lagos and get my parcel. But I told him that Lagos is too far and asked if it wasn’t possible for them to send it to Jos. He said it would cost me N35500 and that he was going to send me the Kuda account number to which I would send the money. My delivery will come at about 10 AM, about four hours later. But the situation was so urgent and I felt I was being rushed, not giving adequate time to think. Truecaller revealed the identity of the line as “Nigerian Airways.”

There were questions in my mind: does the Nigerian Airways still exist? If it does, does it handle couriers?

The fourth reason to be suspicious: he asked to confirm if my parcel was made up of an Apple computer and iPhone 12. Is he supposed to know the contents of the parcel? The only way would be if he opened it. The person sending the delivery said he included 3000 pounds and I shouldn’t tell them. So, if he opened the parcel to know its contents, he must have also seen the money. So, I wouldn’t be a millionaire, after all.

So, I asked myself some questions that led me to understand that it was clearly a scam: Was the person sending the parcel someone I had known before? Why should I pay money to someone I have not met and who is far away in Lagos? If there is a problem, how would I meet the person to resolve the situation? In conclusion, I resolved not to pay the money until the parcel is delivered.

This was our last conversation that confirmed he is a rogue:

Me: “Can’t I pay the money on delivery?”

Him: “No, we accept payment before delivery.”

There was a break of about five seconds with neither me nor he speaking.

Me: “I am sorry. I can’t pay for something I have not seen. Sent it so that I pay when it comes.”

Him: “We don’t do that.”

Me: “OK. Forget it.”

Him: “OK, make half payment.”

“Make part payment! ” was clearly an act of desperation for someone trying not to lose all. Corporate policies are not easily bent that way. I immediately end the call.

 The bottom line on how to identify a scammer: IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, YOU DON’T KNOW THE PERSON, BUT YOU WILL HAVE TO BE THE FIRST TO PART WITH MONEY. 

 

Plateau the Mecca of Solid Minerals

Solid Mineral Collection

If you have never heard, Plateau State is a theatre of sorts, boasting of diversity in a couple of areas that stretch from tribes, vegetables and mineral deposits. It is the Mecca of solid minerals and, potentially, oil and gas close to its border with Taraba State. Thus, Plateau is a colourful theatre of mineral wealth.  

Before the last twenty years, Plateau has been known largely for tin and columbite, leading to its epithet of the Tin City. While tin mining lasted, other minerals drew no attention, since they had no economic value. However, with increased research and innovations, the economic significance of these minerals has soared, especially with the rise of monsters of technology like China. The need for wind turbines, electric vehicles, solar panels, medical devices, lights, lasers, satellites, fibre optics, batteries, better telescopes, as well as mobile phones, computers, etc, has been the impetus propelling the commercial values of the other minerals to the clouds. Thus, the breadth of the minerals that Plateau State can supply to the world has widened significantly. A large chunk of these minerals embraces cassiterite, columbite, pumice, garnet, rutile, wolframite, galena, sphalerite, fluorite, feldspar, aquamarine, mica, ilmenite, sapphire, quartz, amethyst, lithium, zircon, beryl, monazite, granite, etc.

Now, here is the ugly side of the Plateau story: it is one state with modest subventions, a situation that frightens anyone who knows what Plateau’s subterranean resources are. Just as oil-producing states get 13% derivation for oil taken from their land every month, solid mineral-producing states are also entitled to 13% derivation for any mineral taken from their lands. By comparison, 13% derivation to solid mineral states is trivial and changes nothing, ensuring that the economic plights of the affected states remain what it has always been. Take the Plateau-approved budget of N294 billion for 2024, translating to an average of N24 billion per month. This is inclusive of 13% derivation. It is miserable compared to what goes into the coffers of a small, albeit oil-producing state like Bayelsa, whose budget for the year 2024 stands at N489 billion, translating to an average of N40 billion per month.  

The huge gap between oil-producing states and solid mineral-producing states comes from the little attention the Federal Government has paid to solid minerals since the discovery of oil. The oil industry is so organized that only huge corporations like Shell, Mobil and Chevron carry out explorations, drilling and production. It makes transparency easy since the Federal Government is a partner in all these corporations and knows exactly the “country” share of the profits. In the solid mineral industry, though, this organization is absent. Companies simply pay for leases and get down to mining, paying paltry royalties to locals and taxes to the Federal Government. Whatever remains belongs to the company. What makes matters even hazier is the inability of the Federal Government to properly police the industry to prevent illegal mining, a category that falls below the tax radar. Thus, while the minerals are going, all tiers of government, including the Federal Government are getting robbed. This absence of transparency ensures that the 13% derivation paid doesn’t reflect the degree of mining activities taking place in the states.

In 2023, the Minister of Solid Minerals, Dele Alake, was quoted as saying that the solid mineral industry can contribute 50% of Nigeria’s GDP. Though third parties estimate that the value of Nigeria’s solid minerals reservoir stands at $750 billion, Mr Alake believes that this is conservative and with deeper investigation, it should run into trillions of dollars. Thus, proper organization of the industry will ensure that states with solid mineral wealth, including Plateau, begin to have enough revenue to deal with the economic challenges they face.

 

Who Is Greedy: The Farmer or Someone Else

A greedy Middleman

On the Plateau, we count ourselves lucky, and extremely so. In Plateau State, we don't only talk about the accommodating character of the people, but also the accommodating character of the climate, as well. Under the Plateau climate, we don't talk about what crops do well, we rather talk about crops that do not do well –it is easier to look at it that way, given the abundance of the crops the Plateau sun accommodates.

One crop grown in Plateau State more than elsewhere in the country is Irish potatoes. It grows abundantly, especially in the northern and central parts of the state. Back in the seventies and eighties, we often looked forward to the rains, during which nearly everyone grew the crop in even the smallest portion of land to which he had access. People will even cultivate potatoes and just share them with neighbours.

By its attraction, the demand just kept growing as other states farther away came to know about it. But since farmers had the challenge of how to store it, the crop remained cheap, despite this monster demand. With education and developments, farmers started learning ways of storing the crop. That is how irrational business practices came into the industry. Some people would buy and store them until a period when demand is highest when they would bring them out and raise the prices to the roofs.

As this happened, the crop started getting out of the reach of ordinary people, becoming an elitist crop. In Jos, you will see women selling it along the road to Abuja, an indication that the crop has now become the special food of the influential, who make their money in the millions. Now, however, we have reached a situation where even the elite are beginning to groan. This is May 2024 and a bag now sells for as much as a hundred and twenty thousand naira or even more.

This example of what obtains in Plateau is, sadly, everywhere in Nigeria. Back in the decades, farmers often cried over the lack of profitability. But while former President Mohammadu Buhari campaigned for the Presidency, he promised to create jobs in the agric industry. When he finally won the election, he banned the importation of rice, which largely came from Asian nations, particularly, Thailand. The decision of President Buhari was just the prompt required to correct miserable pricing in the industry. Before this, foreign rice had a higher advantage in competition, due to its high refinement at the mills. The local versions were endemic with stones and debris of chaff the modest technology couldn't get rid of. The administration encouraged people to get better technology leading to what is now hysterically referred to as "Nigerian foreign rice."

But, now that we have Nigerian foreign rice (I have defined it), prices have continued to rise –we thought local products would mean local prices. But because rice is among the few most revered meals in Nigeria, it became the reason why other foods are rising in price –maize, guinea corn, millet, fonio, sweet potatoes and even garri, the resort of poor people. If you argue that this is driven by inflation, other schools of thought would argue that it is the rising food prices that drive inflation.

The spiralling prices of foods in Nigeria raise the question of what many think is the killer greed of farmers. Farmers, on the other hand, blame it on middlemen and the rising cost of farm resources. Retailers of foods, who often go to rural markets to buy understand the situation better. They blame it on hoarding, which is largely orchestrated by middlemen. They build large warehouses, buy and store the foods until that period when they are in high demand. For grains, it is the period around August, just before harvest, when people's bans are depleted. For tubers, it is the period between April and May.

When farmers talk about resources, they are referring to fertilizers, herbicides and manpower. For chemical fertilizers, it is still middlemen that are to blame. They use all manners of enticements to buy fertilizers state governments have subsidized for their farmers and then sell to the farmers at high prices. It, however, takes the collusion of state officials. Thus, it could be said the constant enemy of the ordinary Nigerian is the middleman who goes to any extent to make money.

So, how can we tame the middleman so that ordinary people can breathe in Nigeria? We have to find a way of checking the middleman. One way is the law. If the middle man can continuously orchestrate challenges that ridicule the government's economic policies, it makes him public enemy number one and attention should shift to curbing his excesses. 

The Bachelor of Technology Certificate

A link was shared on Facebook by a journal concerning ongoing discussions regarding the possibility of replacing the Higher National   

This throws in my mind the relevance of doing such. The challenge holders of Higher National Diplomas have in Nigeria is the fact that the certificate is not as respected as a University degree. It has created a situation where, for instance, you don’t get promoted to anything higher than Grade Level 14 in the Civil Service. Even in other organizations like the oil industry, holders of HND certificates have had to undergo degree programs while working. The aim is to get upgraded to enjoy what their university counterparts enjoy. 

The question is: will changing the name of the certificate change the way the certificate is perceived in Nigeria? Looking at the situation rationally, one will understand that this wouldn’t change the discrimination holders of the HND certificate face, as long as it is issued by the same polytechnics and entry requirements remain the same. What about people who go to the polytechnic to study Social Work, Business Administration or Public Administration, for instance? Would their certificate also read, "Bachelor of Technology?

Most holders of the certificate argue that they should be accorded the same treatment because, in their view, there is nothing university graduates have that they don’t have. A university graduate, who prefers not to be named, is of the opinion that changing the name makes no difference and that they will continue to face the same obstacles they have faced regardless of what they are called. When students write the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Exams, JAME, candidates with the highest scores end up in universities, while the polytechnics are left accepting candidates who scored comparatively lower marks.  Of that, the polytechnics have accepted to deal with candidates that failed to compete well.

Another university graduate, who believes he is better than a poly graduate argues that if you know that going to a university will end up with you having a professional ceiling, above which you cannot rise, you have an option to go to a university. If, however, you choose to go to a polytechnic, you are doing so because you have failed to meet the requirements for university admission. The best for you is to admit you went to a polytechnic because you failed to meet the university requirement and maintain a humble posture. You will be respected more than someone who insists he is better despite knowing the modest score that left him with the option of going to a polytechnic. 

However, one doesn’t conclude that another person knows little because he failed to go to a university. There is a myriad of situations that end up with many going to polytechnics even when they were hardworking enough to find university entry requirements. Some decide to go to polytechnics even when they have entry requirements for university admissions for reasons they alone can explain. On the reverse side, there are university graduates who fail to perform well in their professions as compared to some polytechnic graduates. 

The institutions that award degrees must not be universities. They can be any institution, but the entry requirement is what matters. Unfortunately, we have seen institutions working to be upgraded to be referred to as universities. In the last decades, many institutions have had their statuses changed to universities in broad daylight. 

The bottom line is that our polytechnics must be allowed to bestow to their students the HND certificate so that the decision to go to a university or polytechnic is left in the hands of the candidate. If you know the limitations of a HND certificate, then it is left for you to work hard to avoid ending up in a polytechnic.  

 

Why I Don't Like Boys-Only Schools

AI-generated Photo

I attended two public elementary schools in Jos South. Most elementary schools are mixed, with boys and girls learning next to each other. But when I was about to finish elementary, I started learning that some schools are exclusively unisex. There are examples of such schools in Plateau State. There is the Boys High School Gindiri, Science School Kuru, College of Mary Immaculate Zawan, St. Joseph College Vom and hosts of others. 

Many people assume that Government Technical College Bukuru is a unisex school. It is not. The fact that it is a technical college makes it repellent to girls, but there have always been a handful of girls. The current Principal of the school, Mercy Patu Wambutda, is female, the first woman to hold that position. She is an alumnus of the school and was also the first Head Girl of the school. 

Government Technical College Bukuru is a school that admits students who have already finished the foundation level of secondary in other schools. It used to be the first two years of secondary, but with the 6-3-3-4 system, you have to finish the first three years of secondary to meet the criterion to attend the school, also referred to as Butechs.  

Inter-school sports competitions or Man-o-War jamborees often brought schools together.  It was where I learned the character of Butechs as a school that breeds hard nuts. They would splurge to get attention. For instance, they could go to the extent of eating bread with the polythene plastic covering or pushing three balls of chin chin burns at the same them, making their eyes bulge as if wanting to pop out of their sockets  –they just loved creating a scene. 

The hard-nut character of Butechs’ students did work on our psychologies, making us believe that the school is a-most-attend. So, I wrote the entrance exams to get to Butechs, but I wasn't admitted due to my weak mathematics foundation at the time –it became a silver lining. 

Science School Kuru is one of the most iconic schools Plateau State has ever known. It became very glaring to me when I was a student at the University of Jos –the school would boast of scores of students at the university when other schools had but a handful.

The entry criterion of Science School Kuru is similar to that of Butechs –you must complete basic education. So, while in class two of my secondary, I reluctantly wrote the entrance examination, reluctant because I never liked an exclusive boys' school –it seemed like a prison to me. So, when the results came out, I pretended I hadn’t heard about it. People who saw my name on the shortlist still came to inform me, but I jettisoned the idea of going. When I gave my reasons for refusing to go to Science School Kuru to an old student, he confirmed to me that it was true that they often had to violate the rules by jumping over the fence just to see girls in the host community. 

What is the aim of schools and education? To sum it up, schools are intended to fade the darkness in our minds and provide a good life, position, power and sometimes wealth. Science School Kuru stands along the way to Abuja, the work base of many educated and successful Nigerians. On their way to or from Abuja, some of them will disembark to meet with the local women who sell by the roadside. They give financial donations to the women, admitting the gifts are reparations for the damages done to tubers and livestock, years back. Isn’t this a confirmation that boys' schools are prisons of sorts?

Where I work, there are a couple of men from some of these schools. There are times they talk longingly about their antics during the school days. Some students were daring enough to kill whole goats and take them to the mountains where the goats are grilled and eaten. They would talk about how they often defied the rules to hide cooking stoves in dormitories so that inspectors wouldn't find them. They would talk about how “inmates” would fight ferociously over the illegal meals. When they talk about these things, however, I begin to feel like it may be a prison, but it is an experience that is worth having. I think that I gained and missed something at the same time.  

 

Abroad by Any Means is Edo culture

The front page news of Vanguard Newspaper of today, May 12th refers to a story of Gaius Obaseki, Edo State Governor, talking about how he is educating Edo youths to understand, on the whole, the idea of abroad. According to Abaseki, there were 30, 000 Edo youths in Libya alone, when he became the Governor of Edo State. 

I wasn’t surprised there were this much of Edo youths in Libya alone. The love of travelling abroad is a culture around that region of Nigeria and goes more than fifty years back. As far back as then, a lot of other people have not taken notice because it hasn’t become an issue to the foreign destinations of desperate travellers. 

As a member of the National Youth Service Corps, I served in Edo State, staying in the St. Saviour area of Benin City. That was as far back as 1993. It was a time when commercial buses carried huge iron drums in the back, rather than passengers’ baggage. The drums housed huge speakers from where the sounds of Shaka Demus/Pliers, Mad Cobra and Shaba Ranks rose. It was a time when women wore long skirts with slashes that began from the helm right up to the thigh; you would think they were sabotaged with Gillette razor blades. That crazy skirt was referred to as “Shaba,” after Shaba Ranks who happened to be the king of Dancehall at the time. Certainly, the girls who wore those skirts are now grandmothers and are now looking back at what time has done to their pride. 

The Liberian war was ongoing at the time. Liberians were accepted as refugees in many parts of the Western world. All that was required of them was to present a Liberian passport. I was at a barbing saloon at the last bus stop in Inhiwhinwhi area when a guy approached me with a fake Liberian passport, pitching to get me to buy it. He requested an amount with a five as the starting digit. I can’t recall if it was five or fifty thousand. But I came from Jos and we don’t have that huge adventurous culture on the Plateau. In my typical Plateau mindset, I just looked forward to getting a job with Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, where I served or getting back to Jos and seeing what Heaven brings.  

Four years later, I found myself in Port Harcourt, Rivers, hustling. I run into a guy from Agbo, Delta State –they are all related, you know.  He studied Mechanical Engineering and had two options in life: either he find a job with an oil company or conserve enough money from the petty jobs and find his way abroad. He was always talking about the adventurous journeys, saying, “Where I come from, they don’t care about your graduate shit. What they want to see is how much you have.” He eventually left to travel abroad and I never heard from him anymore, despite searching all social media. I dread the idea of my friend ending up in a Moroccan pit of hell.

While still in Port Harcourt, there was this lady from Edo. She was an English teacher in one of the schools in Port Harcourt. Her ambition was to travel to the Netherlands. I had feelings for the dark slim and brilliant Edo woman. She knew it but I didn’t have what she wanted.  One day, I heard the shocking news that she was in Holland, already.  She was civil enough to avoid the idea of travelling through the desert with all manner of companions –desert storms, aridity, the ignorant, the young and old, the clean and the clumsy, uncertainty... She just worked to save enough money to travel via a safe, legitimate option. Her case is one of a known, documented success. 

Travelling by any means necessary has moved from what it is to trafficking kids that are, at times, willingly offered by their parents. The reasoning is that “Well since I am not young enough to go through the hassle, my kids can go, get the money and send it back.” 

Obviously, economics is at the root of the epidemic. It is the reason why it will spread and it has, indeed, spread. The Edos were just the first to see and understand it from a distance.

While the war in Libya got so messy everything became chaotic, warranting some Libyans to begin taking black Africans as slaves, I watched footage on YouTube, beholding the ignorance some victims played out and I wondered how someone with such profound ignorance would navigate the complex societies of the west, their ultimate destination. The depth of ignorance was such that you can’t help but ask yourself the question: what is she going there to do?

The profundity of ignorance can best be addressed through education and, hence, Gaius Obaseki hits the nail on the head. But education will do little to someone whose psychology is hardcore and rooted, since it is going to rest largely on reorientation –poverty and hardship have already given their orientation. It is the reason why basic education of the right quality is what is needed, not only in Edo state but across the length and breadth of the Nigerian space.