Don’t Blame the Igbos

Map of the dream nation of Biafra

I have never known how fierce the Igbo hatred of the idea of Nigeria is until an Igbo guy said: “can you imagine that Ojukwu was buried with a Nigerian flag? It was a disgrace!” Recently, when two Nigerians, Lesley Nneka Arumah and Tope Folarin, were shortlisted for the 2016 Caine Prize for African writing, I was proud as a Nigerian, and went on to download the stories. I started reading Arumah’s entry to discover that her story was partly set in a nonexistent nation known as Biafra. This, also, is how dire the situation is.

One source of frustration to Igbos is that, as serious as their situation may be, people don’t seem to understand it or pretend not to understand it, thereby dismissing the issue as a triviality each time it is raised.  

We cannot be multi ethnic and not be diverse –it is a paradox. The Biafran issue found its roots in the cultural contrast between the Hausas, who are incorrigible conservatives, on one hand, and the Igbos, who have inborn liberal and republican mannerisms. This is the seed that gave rise to the Biafran idea, as the two failed to blend their contrasting positions. The first effort at nation-building immediately following independence should have been the address of such difficulties that rose, rather than sweeping them under the mat.

We grew up hearing that, for Igbos, there is a ceiling in the Nigerian Army. We hear that it is made so to prevent them from getting too powerful and abusing such powers to actualize the Biafran dream. In Rivers State, there is this town known as Obibo. Someone told me that “Obibo” means “the heart of Igbos.” Obibo was carved out of Imo State (back then) and merged with Rivers State.  My narrator said that the idea was to ensure that Igboland had as limited oil-producing lands as possible.

Foresight is a basic character of good leaders, but we are not so lucky to have that, at least with the series of leaders we have had so far. At times it is not the absence of foresight, it is pure selfishness. In Nigeria, unjust leaders simply dismiss the likely impact of an unjust action by merely saying that “nothing will happen.” The pertinent line of thought should be: why take the action when you know it is unjust? Such assumptions have led to the neglect and underdevelopment of the Niger Delta and the aftermath that we see in the region today. Equally, the Igbo issue is one that has refused to abate because some selfish sections of our society have continued to think that nothing will happen. 

Conscious of our volatile nature when handling tribal or regional issues, the idea of power rotation naturally found a place in our hearts. Since Nigeria is an amalgam of three huge regions, the idea of power rotation should take this into consideration. In the seventeen years since our new democracy it became clear to the Igbos that their region, the southeast, by design, is left out of the equation. This gets every right-thinking Igbo son or daughter into thinking that he or she isn’t a Nigerian. If you not a Nigerian, you have to be something else? It was when I realized this that I ceased to be offended when Igbos start their agitations.  

Igbos often sum up their reasons in the word “marginalization,” but I think that it is precisely the idea of the presidency that is at the heart of it. This is because, in Nigeria, as long as you don’t have political power, you will always be marginalized as it is felt that nothing would happen. If one should drive around federal roads in the middle belt region, where you have a cluster of the smaller tribes, the roads are generally bad, but get better when you cross into any section that falls within the politically powerful states. The denial goes beyond roads to include the locations of federal institutions. For instance, the regional head offices of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, West African Examinations Council, and the Central Bank, were formally all in Jos, Plateau State, but were gradually, and one after the other, moved to Bauchi State. The regional headquarter of the Ministry of Information was also moved from Plateau State to Niger State. The minority tribes may not worry much as long as they can, once in a while, sneak their way into the presidency. It was the case with General Yakubu Gowon and lately, Goodluck Jonathan. The Igbos, however, constitute one of the Big Three, they are more than sand on the sea shores, equally industrious and shouldn’t wait for a chance that will never come. It is demeaning, insulting and places a stigma on them.

I think that we are yet to become a civilized nation, if we think that we can fix issues by ignoring them or using force to suppress them. While Buhari was hosted on Talk to Al Jazeera on the Al Jazeera TV network lately, his host raised the Biafran issue and asked why the agitators cannot be brought to the negotiating table. It is definitely the wisest thing to do, as suppressing the Igbos, who have every reason to be proud of themselves, will not last for long.

What to Consider When Building a House

Modest Homes

I have seen many who start building projects without taking into consideration how much it will cost them and, consequently, how long it will take to finish the project. In the end the project becomes a source frustration, with someone feeling sorry for himself.

If you are forty, and embark on a project that would last for a decade, it means that you will be fifty when the house is completed. You may want to ask yourself the question of how many more years do you have left on the earth. 

As it is often said, “cut your coat according to your size.” Here, in my own part of the world, people feel that respect comes with the size of what you own: the bigger your house, car, mobile phone, etc, the bigger your status in the eyes of people. Based on this some folk would embark on huge housing projects that, in the end, they spend lifetimes working on the project. This is not wise. The people you had wanted to impress would laugh and feel sorry for you. 

While building my house I had been staying in a two-room apartment and shared a bathroom, toilet, and kitchen with others. So, while planning to build my own house, I reasoned that if I had lived in a modest home, then I should be satisfied with a basic three bedroom apartment, as long as the quality of the work is of high standard, rather than opting for a complex house plan. A complex house plan means that I would have to bring in highly technical laborers. This means that I would have had to pay a higher labor cost.

Thus, in order to avoid starting something that ends up as a white elephant project or that takes eternity to finish, there is the need to have a plan of your house and then estimate how much it will cost you to finish it. If you already have money you have saved for erecting the house from foundation to the roof (finishing inclusive) then you compare the cost of building the house with the money you already have. If, however, you wish to build the house in phases, as your monthly salary comes, then you will have to figure out a portion of the monthly salary you will be able to spend on the project. 

 In estimating the cost of building your house, you may have to consider the following.

•        That you will have to buy a piece of land.
•        Digging a well to serve as a source of water for the construction work.
•        Digging of foundation trenches.
•        The gravels and sand to be used for the whole project.
•        The cement to be used throughout the whole project.
•        The total number of blocks you will need
•        The rods and wood you will need for casting lintels.
•        The bags of cement you will need throughout the whole project
•        The wood, nails, ant-repellant, and shingles you will need for roofing.
•        The wood, nails, ant-repellant and the panels (PVC, ordinary asbestos, or POP)     that you will need for the project
•        Make provisions for scaffolding
•        Remember you will build a toilet. You will need blocks, cement, wooden planks, nails, and rods.
•        The house would have a floor that may be tiled.
•        The house would need door frames, shutters and cementing.
•        The windows would need frames, shutters, and cementing.
•        The windows may need burglar protection.
•        There is the plumbing job to take into consideration.
•        There would be electrical cables and fittings
•        You will need the power authorities to connect you to the power supply.
•        Anything bought for the sake of the project would have to be transported to the construction sites. 
•        You will have to submit and the plan for inspection by the urban development authorities and you would have to pay. 
•        Your house will need painting.
•         You will have to pay workmanship in every step of the way

 Sometimes it is difficult to make this estimate accurately without the help of a quantity surveyor. If you cannot afford one, you may want to ask a trusted friend to give you an estimate of how much it cost him to build his house.  When you get the total cost of building the house you then divide it by the proportion of you monthly salary you are willing to commit every month. This will give you the number of months it will take you to accomplish your housing project. If it will take too long, then you need to scale down the size of your house. Note that it is needless to weave into your calculations probable incomes –they are not guaranteed.  

The Cost of Unethical Radio and TV Broadcasts

Image source: www.veryshareimg.com

These days I don’t listen to local radio much. There is so much littering of the airwaves on my part of the globe. Every morning, after booting my life for the day, I will tune to local radio. This is notwithstanding the fact that I am aware that everything has become very pedestrian. But I tune in out of fear of missing out on critical local issues that could affect me, after all my life is still ninety per cent tied to what goes on around me. But it won’t be long before I will impulsively switch off, after I would have been turned-off by the usual irritants. 

What are those things that turn me off? There’re often issues that fall short of what one may consider news, bits and pieces that aren’t news-worthy at all. For instance, an old politician calling on Nigerian subjects to have the fear of God. But, one also hears news items that have already become so stale that they shouldn’t be aired as new. These days, getting people to call and air their views on selected topics has become fashionable even when the complexion of the show is unsuitable for such.

The greatest and biggest litter of local radio airwaves is the kind of music that one hears. In the past half a decade or so unprofessional local music artists have increasingly become dominant of the airwaves. This is despite the truth that their materials are demos that fall short of the acceptable standards. Tolerating such shoddy material means that we’ll have to make do with the irritation that comes with hearing them.  When one argues he is asked: “if you don’t play local artists how would they find their bearing?” An apt answer has always been that while promoting experimenting artists one shouldn’t end up exhausting a greater percentage of music time on them. It makes them seem like the professional and the toasts. After all, most of the artists played are satisfied with just that and won't do anything to further improve their conditions. Why can't they be given something like one hour (at most) every day.

The tawdry of these transmission practices compels one to turn to better competitors. In this era of digital satellite competition the pedestrian loses out to the innovative and professional. A large number of radio and TV stations are owned and financed by public money. The Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria has its headquarters in Abuja, with at least a branch in each of the 36 state capitals and Abuja. It is the same thing with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA). The 36 states also have their own radio and television stations to help air their peculiar activities and policies. That is a cursor to the enormity of public money that is spent on transmission operations. Always, there is the issue of how public agencies can become self-sustaining thereby taking off part of the burden from the shoulders of the various tiers of government who will then be able to heed the other issues that have been left in the cold.  The tradition also breeds a culture of mediocrity, a culture to which Nigeria has become enslaved.

Getting Your Book to Schools

Your book doesn’t just finds its way into the list of books used by schools. It has to follow a path. This is what I didn’t know. I had taken my book directly to the Federal Ministry of Education. I was at the Directorate of Basic and Secondary Education of the ministry. But the Director made it known to me that they do not have the constitutional right to recommend a book for use in schools. Doing that would amount to usurping the powers of another body. That body is the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC). It’s located at village called Sheda in the Gwagwalada suburb of Abuja.

I found my way to Sheda the next day, again not knowing what to expect. There website leaves you hungering for more info.  It was only when I arrived there that I was met with another surprise. For them to appraise your book and see if it’s worthy of use in schools, there is money you have to pay. The pages of your book, including, the front and back covers and their inner sides, are counted. Then you have to pay N100 per page. That means that if your book has 300 pages, you would have to pay N30, 000. After that, copies of your book are sent to professors in universities across the country. The professors are chosen according to the theme of your book. If your book discusses health, your book is sent to a health professor, if it is a book on literature, the book is sent to a professor of literature, and so it goes. The professors read the book and decide if it is suitable for use in school and the level of education to which they find it suitable. They do not only do that, they also make corrections where necessary. So if your book is recommended, you have to effect those corrections and return to NERDC. After that, NERDC gives you a letter stating that the book is good enough to be used in a specified level of education.  You take the letter to the Ministry of Education, from where another letter is written to schools, informing them that they should adopt your book for use in the teaching of students. 

So, when next you write a book and hope to see students reading it, don’t just run to the schools or the Ministry Of Education. Go to NERDC first.