Obama Becomes US President

As early as 4am on November 5 Nigerian time, I woke up and tuned to the BBC. My aim was not to merely keep up with my normal routine but to be able to witness the declaration of Obama’s victory first hand rather than be told by a third party. A BBC reporter was at a venue in Arizona where John McCain and some of his supporters had gathered in anticipation of the results of the elections. The result however, came earlier than I had expected and I had it first from McCain himself. The BBC reporter announced that McCain was on his way to the podium to give a speech and since I have not heard the result declared, I thought McCain was going to speak about something else. McCain on climbing the stage told his supporters that he had just spoken to Barack Obama a short while ago. During the speech the Republican candidate said he congratulated Obama for his victory at the polls. I screamed and jump up from my bed. Obama the African-American had become the next President of the United States of America.

Obama, in his acceptance speech, which came later, underscored the fact that his election has proven that anything is possible in the US. Yes, the US has led the world to understand that anything is possible. The fulfillment of Martin Luther’s dream came earlier than many had thought. Martin Luther foresaw the gradual fading away of the line that divided the races in the US.

The news of Obama’s victory was relayed alongside other stories. There was also the story of suicide bombings in Iraq and the war in eastern Congo. Since the Civil Rights Movements, the US had grown from racial segregation to a stage where white people could vote a black man to become the President of the United States. Thus Obama is truly a symbol of change and whom people from all parts of the world supported. He is hence a global figure that will be expected to lead the world to overcome the problems of sectarian differences that saw people fly planes to buildings and killing thousands, a problem that has led to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan killing hundreds of thousands of people.

Obama could also be that symbol of change that can lead the world to overcome global poverty and hunger. A problem that has led to the type of wars in Liberia, Sudan, Angola, sierra Leone, and many other parts of the world.

It happened that the US, a country whose presidency Obama had won, is largely responsible for the causes of global warming. Obama could also be that symbol of change that will lead the world to overcome this next big threat after terrorism.

Obama’s political victory might be just the first stage in a series of unthinkable changes that will finally remake our world.

Survey of Nigerian Core Values

Given the amount of resources that has been available to the nation, Nigerians admit that the nation has not done enough between independence and toady. It is however common knowledge that if any individual, organization or nation must succeed, he must have certain core values to which he attaches considerable significance. In Nigeria it is generally accepted that the core values of discipline, integrity, dignity of labour, social justice, religious tolerance, patriotism and self reliance have been eroded
The National Orientation Agency (NOA) in Nigeria is shouldered with the responsibility of consistently raising the awareness, provide timely and credible feedback, and positively change attitude and values amongst Nigerians. It is also responsible for accurately and adequately informing and sufficiently mobilizing citizens to act in ways that promote peace, harmony and national development. The NOA in collaboration with the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in Kuru Plateau State on 20th October 2009 presented a book titled ‘A Survey of Nigerian Core Values. As the name implies, the book is a survey of the level of perception of the values of the nation among its citizens in the 36 states of the nation and Abuja. According to Idi Farouk the Director General of NOA, the 269-page book is an intellectual exercise whose aim is to articulate a set of national core values that would enhance and promote positive value re-orientation, national integration and cohesion. He said that these values have been weather-beaten over the years thereby leaving us in the state of confusion in which we now find ourselves.
Farouk drew a direct line of transmission between material resource and the quality and attitude of human resource. In that wise he says, the level of progress of a nation is a direct consequence of a favorable combination of these two broad factors. He thus played up the significance of the patriotic duty and responsibility of Nigerians to ensure that the vision 202020 of President Umar Musa Yar’adua succeeds. Thus his agency has a twin responsibility of enlightening Nigerians on the significance of the president’s vision and the pursuance of value orientation and attitudinal transformation of Nigerians. NOA is hence delighted that the book will provide the needed reservoir of data to back up its effort towards addressing the specific needs in the attitudinal gaps of the various social spectra of Nigeria.
The collaboration between NOA and NIPSS according the DG was necessity by the common responsibility the two have. While NIPSS addresses the same subject at the leadership level, NOA does the same thing albeit at the grassroots.
Earlier, Nigerian orator and one of its few remaining nationalists, Yusufu Maitama Sule, the Dan masanin Kano electrified the gathering when he addressed the same issue. In his speech, Maitama dwelt on Nigerian traditional core values whose erosion is responsible for the chaos in which we find ourselves.
The Dan Masanin Kano noted that a number of countries which include Brazil and the Asian tigers had about the same level of progress as Nigeria at its independence. Today, he noted, these countries are far ahead of Nigeria on the global development index. He attributed the steady progress of these nations to the reverence they attach to their traditional values.
Despite Nigeria’s diversity he says, there are more similarities than differences in our traditional values and should have served as the basis for national integration and cohesion, core values the nation has not adequately been able to preserve.
The orator did not fail to mention the role of another core value, discipline towards the progress of the nation. According to him, Nigeria’s past leaders have been conscious of the modest level of discipline among Nigerians and the fact that it has contributed enormously to our chameleon speed of progress. That he says explains why every administration since the mid-seventies had war against indiscipline as part of its agenda to building the nation.
The former Nigerian Ambassador to the UN noted that democracy differs from nation to nation even in the western world. This is because there is the need for democracy to reflect local cultures. When this fails to happen, it results in the state of events in which Nigeria has found itself today. Thus he advocates an African derivative of democracy to be known as Afrocracy which must be preceded by a bloodless cultural revolution.

Education Is Indeed Neglected In Nigeria

The primary school I attended in Nigeria was built during the colonial era. It is an eight block structure. Two were actually built during the colonial era while the other four were built in the post colonial era, precisely in the seventies and eighties.

There is no doubt that we lack a maintenance culture in Nigeria. For unpatriotic Nigerians however, the lack of maintenance culture is either deliberate or encouraged as it serves their purpose. The structures have continued to wear away as a result of the lack of maintenance. Those built during the colonial era have been able to stand wear and tear for a longer period of time since they were built with a deliberate aim of ensuring they lasted for a longer period. No matter how strong a building is, it will eventually begin to wear out however. That is what is happening to even the colonial blocks of my primary school presently.

Of these eight blocks only three are adequate enough for the population of the school thereby confirming the suspicion that the classroom blocks are built primarily to get some people rich.

In Nigeria, it is an open secret that authorities hate maintaining school buildings as it is the only way of ensuring that contracts are awarded for the construction of new ones during which money is made by contractors and the members of the administration awarding the contracts.

The other day as I passed around the school I saw the blown roof top of the most solid structure built with rocks derived from the rocks which are available in my community. It has been like that for the past three years. It then dawned on me that the local authority whose responsibility it is to maintain the structure is determined not to undertake that responsibility.

I decided to see certain prominent persons who went to that school hoping that their show of interest in seeing that the structure is rehabilitated will compel the local government education department to see to it that the building is given the desired attention. On arrival at the house of one such individual I first met with his son who is known to me. I then asked if he could arrange a meeting between me and his dad. He asked if all was well. I answered that I wanted to see the man in my position as a journalist. He told me I have to go and come back some other time to enable him arranged the meeting. I responded by calling his attention to the fact that the man is around and people are seeing him and why not me. I then went ahead to tell him the exact reason why I wanted to see the father by revealing to him the situation of the school. He responded by saying that why the school is like that is that people are only trying to get some money for themselves and doubts if his father who happened to be an ex-security official would want to attend to such an issue. The guy who said this claims to be a graduate of sociology. Seeing that he didn’t have any intention of letting me see the man, I left to the house of a second individual who was also educated in that school. I also met with a son of his who was sweeping the yard when I arrived. I told him to tell the father that I am a journalist. When the man came he asked why I wanted to see him. On hearing the subject of my mission, he simply told me he doesn’t talk to journalist and opened the door for me to find my bearing. He actually banged the door behind me. This is a man who had been the chairman of a local government during his period in the service.

Chris Hassan and NAPEPS Successes

Chris Hassan became the Plateau State Co-coordinator of the National Poverty Alleviation Programme just six months ago. Accepting this position automatically placed on his shoulders the responsibility of the implementation of the new blueprint of National Poverty Eradication Council (NAPEC) for the eradication of poverty across the nation. The new policy became imperative in view of the shortcomings of the previous programme where trainees were more interested in the monthly stipends but not the skill, which is necessary if poverty must end.

Challenges

Chris says the biggest challenge on his assumption of office, as the Coordinator of the programme, was the absence of communication between his office and the people the office is meant to serve. According to Chris, a lot of people even in the immediate neigbourhood of his office in Jos South were oblivious of the organization. Those who knew were skeptical of the financial assurances of the organization to help them bid farewell to poverty. His office was then compelled to commence investing huge financial resources on jingles. It also had to create offices in all the seventeen Local Government Areas. There was also the recruitment of the manpower made up of people of grade levels nine to ten to run these offices with the sole intention of reaching all the districts across the states.

Programmes

The Coordinator said the policy guidelines of NAPEP are designed by NAPEC, which is chaired by the President. It has, as its members, seventeen serving federal Ministers, the National Coordinator of NAPEP and the national economic adviser. Two of the programmes of NAPEP in Plateau State are the ones drawn by NAPEC at the national headquarters in Abuja. They are the primary programmes that all states branches must adhere to. These include the Village Economic Development Solutions, VEDS and the Micro Credit Scheme. Having studied the peculiarities of Plateau State, his office decided to bring in additional programmes to compliment those of the federal office. Thus at the state level, the Mandatory Attachment Programme for unemployed graduates, the Skill Acquisition and Widowhood Schemes were added.

Loan Disbursements so Far

Under VEDS individuals are not qualified to apply for loans. A group made up of a minimum of ten people and a maximum of thirty must register as a cooperative group according to the terms stated by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. These cooperative groups then apply on behalf of the members. So far 149 cooperative groups have benefited from the loans in the state. The total financial loan disbursement to these groups now stands at N146 million. Under the Widowhood and Micro Credit Schemes, N2 million have been issued out to each of the seventeen Local Government Areas of the state amounting to a total of N 34 million. In addition to these there is also another N6 million from an NGO known as the Grassroots Women and Men that has also been disbursed evenly to the seventeen Local Government Areas. The grand total of loan disbursements now stands at about N186 million.

Repayments of the Loans

In view of the fact that Nigerians have often seen public funds within their reach as a piece of that Nigerian national cake, it could be the reason why there may be difficulties in the repayments of the loans. Chris says there is usually the pre-assessment of potential beneficiaries, which is undertaken by the monitoring department of his organization in addition to that undertaken by the micro-financial institutions nearest to them and through which the loans are issued. They must show an existing venture they intend to use the loan to improve. Besides the pre-assessment, there is also the post assessment usually undertaken using standard means of appraisal such as templates to ensure that beneficiaries remain committed to the ideals of the scheme.

In the event of failure of repayments by beneficiaries, his organization will resort to a memorandum of understanding that involved a legal document singed by the guarantors of beneficiaries.

Funding of NAPEP

Funding of the organization comes primarily from the Federal Government through the Millennium Development Goals office. In addition to that is counterpart funding from the Plateau State Government. There is also the NGO, Grassroots Women and Men. The state branches across the nation never receive allocations in the year 2008 however. The money that has been used in 2008 is a rolled over of the financial resources that was meant for 2007 in addition to the N50 million from the state government. In 2008, the Grassroots Women and Men also gave N6 million.

Plan for the Next Six Months

The next six months is a period during which the organization will continue to give out loans says Chris who pointed a stack of application files at a corner of his office. This however depends on the availability of money to give out to beneficiaries. The Coordinator thanked the Governor for his commitment to the poverty alleviation programme through prompt action whenever it matters. The NAPEP boss says the indication from the 2009 budget is that they may get more than they got in 2008

Nigerians Lack Fire Safety Consciousness

The past few months in Plateau State recorded incidences of fire outbreaks during which possessions acquired over years of hard work and sacrifice perished. The frequency of fire outbreaks is usually higher during the dry and windy seasons of the year. As the dry seasons draws nearer, we approached the Plateau State Director of Fire Service, Michael Pam Dung at his office along the Bukuru express way to find out about their plans towards preventing fire accidents in the coming dry season.

Mr. Dung explained that a reasonable degree of prevention of fire outbreaks can be achieved if the fire service has its operations improved upon to a professional standard. This is usually achieved with a good manpower base that is properly trained and welled equipped. The public must also be adequately educated to understand that the fire service knows there is a fire outbreak only when it is informed through phone calls or other efficient means of communication. Majority of the public, he says are ignorant that fire fighting as undertaken by his organization is free. As a result they sometimes prefer to put out fires on their own using manual approaches with all its shortcomings.

One problem his organization has often faced is the problem of chaotic development of residential areas that has often led to the inability of his organization to put out fires as a result of the unavailability of in-roads.

Mr. Dung said that Nigeria is a country where emphasis has often been placed on security consciousness but not on safety consciousness. Safety consciousness however, ensures prevention. He noted that most fire accidents would have been avoided but the lack of a culture of safety consciousness has been responsible for our inability to prevent them leading to lost of lives and belongings. He said that the national fire code is underway and it is hoped that its final passage into law would ensure the enforcement of crucial fire regulations. When that happens he says he is sure the frequency of fire accidents will reduce.

The Plateau State Government according to Dung is now determined to overcome some of the difficulties of the Plateau State Fire Service. More persons have been recruited into the service. An ambulance has also been purchased to help them in their rescue operations for victims of fire accidents. As at the time of granting this interview, Dung said that some equipments have been ordered and are being expected at the end of the week.

Dung called on private organizations to take up the responsibility of sponsoring radio and television programs aimed at creating awareness, as doing so will go a long way towards ensuring they arrive fire accidents sites as quickly as possible. Such forums will also serve as channels for educating the public on fire safety consciousness and its significance.

On the optimal use of Hadejia-Jama’are-Kamadugu-Yobe River Basin

The River Dilimi with its catchment on the Jos Plateau stretches through five other states in the northern part of Nigeria where it is variously known as Hadejia, Jama’are, Kamadugu and Yobe River. These five other states include Jigawa, Kano, Yobe, Borno and Bauchi. The river thus supports economic and domestic activities among hundreds of thousands of Nigerians.
Growing challenges resulting from population explosions and the consequent desire for economic activities to support the increasing population has further played up the significance of the river in the various states. This is also coming at a time when the nation’s authorities have devolved powers for generating electricity to the state governments. Some states could thus be considering building water barrier dams across the basin with the intention of generating hydro-electric energy. When this happens, the communities downstream would be prevented from getting access to the water anymore. Already the decision of the Bauchi State Government to build a dam across the basin at Keffin Madaki has resulted in a showdown between the state and the other four, downstream.

The world is indeed a small place. A Plateau man travelling upwards to the northern part of the country may fail to realize that the high velocity and explosive Hadejia River he sees at Kano and Jigawa is the slow and gentle river Dilimi he apparently left behind in Jos. It would be the reason why the river had become his refuse dump resulting in the people suffering all manner of water borne infections downstream as a result of his abuse of the river. At this time of dire need of additional megawatts of electricity, he may also be tempted to build a dam and broaden the irrigation opportunities of his brethren. These considerations informed the hosting of a capacity building workshop for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) which was held at CRUDAN office at Sabon Barki in Jos-south Plateau State.

According to Sam Ishaya, the focal contact person for the Hadejia-Jama’are-Kamadugu-Yobe River Basin project for Plateau State, the aim of the capacity building for the CSOs is for them to in turn train communities with stakes in the river to play strategic and key roles in determining how the water resource is governed and where development project will be carried out, in a more transparent, environmentally friendly, cost effective and efficient manner. Already, there are the Fida, Chalawa and Hadejia dams along the basin. The sensitization will among other things teach approaches by which the demerits of these dams can be minimized as much as possible in addition to ensuring that additional dams are not built. The workshop thus has dam impacts within the basin, policy frameworks of the world commission on dams and water and energy policy advocacy as topics to be addressed during the workshop.

The Delimma of Jassawas of Jos

At the casualty unit of the Jos University Teaching Hospital, JUTH, Abdulrazak a Yoruba did not look like the victim of the Jos crisis of November 28, 2008. Following the unusually high number of casualty cases, hospital bed spaces could not meet the demand. Thus the beds were reserved only for the critical cases. Abdulrazk and his younger sibling looked like visitors as they sat on top of the wards’ cupboard for patient’s paraphernalia. The two reside in the Hausa quarters of Rikkos in Jos-North. On the morning following the elections, some Hausa youths launched an attack on a Miango Quarters of Rikkos killing the men and throwing the remaining members of the families out of their houses. The houses were then set ablaze. The Yorubas who happened to live with the Hausas by virtue of Islamic brotherhood could not sleep. They were certain the Miango boys would launch a revenge attack. The Miango boys came some twenty-four hours later. They were according to Abdulrazak, little boys who drew their valor form the heavy weapons with which they were armed. All pleas fell on deaf ears. they later discovered themselves at the casualty unit of JUTH. JUTH, Plateau Hospital, ECWA Evangel Hospital and other auxiliary medical centers became a rendezvous of the living and the death from the different suburbs of the city were ferocious attacks followed the local polls of December 27.

In the terminal years of General Ibrahim Babangida, who ruled Nigerian between 1985 and 1993, Jos-North was created out of Jos Local Government Area (LGA) leaving the remainder as Jos-South. The northern portion happened to be the pearl and pride of the whole of Plateau State, which also included Nassarawa state at the time. The Berom were the predominant indigenous tribe of Jos LGA. The division of the Jos now left only a handful and helpless remnant of the Berom tribe in Jos-North. The other indigenes of Jos-North were the Jarawas and the Anagutas. When all ethnic groups of Nigeria residing in Jos-North are taken into account however, the Hausas who now started calling themselves the Jasawas (Josites) make up the largest ethnic group.

History of Crisis

The first Hausa man to be appointed the Administrator of Jos-North is Samaila Mohammed now representing Jos-North and Bassa LGAs at the House of Representatives in Abuja. He held the postion between 1990 and 1992. In 1994 Col. Mohammed Mana Governor of the state appointed late Aminu Mato as the Administrator of the LGA. It resulted in the first Jos ethno-religious crisis.

On September 2001 Governor Joshua Dariye tried to appoint a Hausa man as the state’s coordinator of the National Poverty Alleviation Programme (NAPEP). There were protests by indigenous tribes leading to the reversal of the decision by the Governor. Six days later fighting broke out between the Hausas and the indigenes. It was one of the worst crises ever witnessed in the history of not just Plateau State but the whole nation. Thousands of people died and any progress made in ethnic and religious relations were shattered.

The 2001 crisis in the city of Jos lasted for just three days. The result of the fight however created ripple effects that traveled across the state. The crisis lingered in the form of occasional attacks between the Moslems and the Christians in the different localities across the state. In May, it blew up so severely in the town of Yelwa in Shendam LGA in the south of the state.

Who is an Indigene in Jos-North?

The Yelwa crisis compelled the President, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo to declare a state of emergency in Plateau State. An Administrator appointed by the President replaced the democratically elected Governor of the state Chief Joshua Dariye. During the period of emergency, a peace conference was held and attended by all ethnic groups of Nigeria that are well represented in the state. There were also delegates from social groups, NGOs and trade unions. At the end of the conference, it was agreed that the only indigenous tribes of Jos-North LGA are the Berom, Jarawas and the Anagutas. With the exception of the Hausas, Nigerian Bar Association, Nigerian Labour Congress and Jama’atu Nasril Islam (an Islamic NGO), all participants endorsed this resolution of the conference.

The Jasawas and the Federal Character

Appointments to fill vacancies in federal ministries, parastatals, and agencies, military and paramilitary organizations are based on the principles of the Federal Character Commission. The Commission allocates job quotas to the thirty-six states of Nigeran and Abuja. The state quotas are in turn shared among the local governments of the state. As long as the Jasawas are not recognized as indigenes of Jos-North, i they don’t stand the chance of getting appointed into these federal organizations. What the indigenes of Jos-North fear is an obvious fact that should the Hausas become citizens they would dominate the quotas available to Jos-North.

How the Hausas Win Elections in Jos-North

It is needless to stress that politics in Nigeria as a whole follow religious and ethnic paths. Of the twenty electoral wards of Jos-North, seven are strongholds of the Jasawas. The remaining thirteen are strongholds of the Christians. Whenever the Jasawas are able to strike a deal with a tribe that is well represented in Jos-North it helpls them to win elections, The Irigwe people make up the second largest ethnic group in Jos-North. In 1996 the Jasawas had a power sharing deal with the Irigwes. It yielded a beautiful dividend as the Jasawas won the set up a government in the LGA. After the 2001 crisis all indigenous tribes became jittery of any political deal with the Jasawas.