Jos: Keke NAPEP Finally Comes

On Thursday May 11, the Plateau State Government introduced tricycles as a means of township transportation in Jos and Bukuru towns to replace commercial bikes known as Okadas.

This is despite a strong opposition from Okada riders and the passengers they carry. The argument that has been made against the ban on Okada business in Plateau State has been that it has held back the urge of the youths to join criminality in addition to making the lives of ordinary people easy. It was the argument that motivated the government to start looking for alternative means of empowering the youths which will, at the same time, serve the transport needs of the people that led to the idea of tricycles. The tricycles are given as loans to be paid back monthly installments at banks. The riders then take full ownership of the tricycles. As part of this scheme, the government had about two months earlier, released 500 taxi cabs.

Another argument that has been made against the replacement of Okada bikes was whether any substitute the government will bring would be as universal and affordable to the commuters as Okada has been. No one knows the exact population of Okada bikes within Jos and Bukuru towns but it is believed that they run into scores of thousands. With the release of the 500 tricycles however, a lot of people are becoming convinced that they will be able to satisfy the demands of passengers as you hardly walk along the road without seeing them passing. Since one tricycle carries a maximum of three passengers, perhaps an additional 500 more would finally suffice. Purchasing these additional tricycles should not be a problem to the government since the cost of purchase will eventually be paid by whoever is purchasing it.

In terms of affordability, there don’t seem to be any problem going by how much I was charged when I rode on one. As I matter of fact, I was able to save N10 from what I would have paid on Okada.

While I rode on the tricycle, I was able to gauge the reaction of people along the road. The tricycles seem so novel to people as they watched with conspicuous show of acceptance on their faces. Some even waved.

Commercials motorcycles, known as Okada, which the government intends to replace, started commuting in Lagos in the 1980s when its convenience in beating the notorious Lagos traffic congestion became obvious. Gradually, young unemployed persons came to see the ease of using it as a source of income. It then spread to other parts of the country, becoming a culture.

With time the business of Okada riding gradually built for itself a bad reputation. Most of its riders are seen as outlaws and junkies who are reckless on the road, causing accidents that maim a lot of people. When Nasiru El Rufai became the Minister of Abuja in 2003 and decided he was going to reorganize the city to reflect its original master plan, Okada with its appalling reputation was considered a misfit for an international city like the dreamed Abuja. Thus the business of Okada was banned in Nigeria for the first time in Abuja. Gradually other states started banning the business, citing criminal reasons as a motive behind their actions. The indication that Plateau State Government may ban Okada business became obvious in 2008, when the State Governor Jonah David Jang made a suggestion indicating he would have loved to ban the business during a press conference. Eventually cases of Boko Haram members using bikes to get away after killing their victims compounded the already mucky reputation of Okada riders. In Jos, bomb attacks by Boko Haram fieldmen on Christian congregations on Sundays started paving the way for the final ban of Okada in Jos. The government built the momentum towards actualizing this by banning their operations on festive holidays like New Years, Easter, etc. Eventually it announced Okada will be replaced by tricycles called Keke NAPEP (National Poverty Eradication Programme bikes). On Friday May 11, the state government distributed 500 tricycles to former Okada riders. The government had made similar pronouncements in the past without the success of enforcement but the coming of the tricycles might give the government the moral justification to finally stamp Okadas on the streets of Jos.

Rashidi Yekini: A Nigerian Superstar of Many Sides

Yekini

The evening of Saturday 5th was one of mixed feelings for me. I came home at about 7 PM local time and immediately tuned to BBC World Sports, knowing that my favorite football club Chelsea will be playing in the English FA Club finals. I received one bad news and one pleasant one that evening. The first was the news from the sports show that Chelsea had won the English FA Cup finals. Later in the same programme, the BBC journalist who anchored the show Russell Fuller broke the news of the death of Nigeria’s most accomplished scorer, Rashidi Yakini, who died the previous day.

Yakini was a Nigeria footballer who rose to the summit in the local league in Nigeria and abroad but also in the National Football team, the Super Eagles of Nigeria.

Football is referred to as a beautiful game. The Nigerian style of football plays this beauty up more evidently and explains why Nigeria football, like the sun, has universal visibility. At the international level, Nigerian football especially the senior male team, the Super Eagles may have been recording reverse fortunes in the last decade and half with a drought of trophies; it has nonetheless remained classical in terms of its ability to sustain its attractive playing pattern. Rashidi Yakini was one man who played up this attractive football quality remarkably. The effervescence in a football stadium comes when there is a goal. Yakini was the most consistent goal scorer in the history of Nigerian football. He was so skilful that he jogged with the ball while on the run with the world’s best defenders pursuing him. My most memorable moment of Yakini in the field of play was strangely in a match that ended in a scoreless draw. It was a match against the Pharaohs of Egypt in Tunisia 94. At that unforgettable moment, he received the ball with his head in mid-air, controlling it to his chest, lap and taking the shot that sent the ball flying like a rocket and colliding with the post. This caused panic among the opponents in the field, the stands and at home. It takes skill, courage and experience to do this knowing that defenders are pursuing you.

The other memorable moment of Rashidi Yakini in the field of play was undoubtedly when Nigeria scored its first goal at the World Cup in USA 94. The spectacle of Rashidi Yakini clutching and shaking the net was one that became popular around the world, demonstrating that it was not only memorable to Nigerians but all football fans as well. Before USA 94, Nigeria had tried over the decades to play at the World Cup to no avail. The feeling that got into the minds of Nigerians after this long period of frustration was that perhaps nations that went to the World Cup and even scored goals had something Nigeria and its footballers did not have. That first goal changed that feeling in the minds of Nigerians. That goal made Yakini to realize that there is nothing previous World Cup scorers had that he didn’t have. He was world class after all. That was the motivating factor behind that kind of goal celebration at the Bulgarian goal post.

Besides remembering Yakini for his role in the development of Nigerian football and the entertainment and pride he brought to Nigerians, the star will also be remembered for his outstanding humility. He was a Muslim and lived up to its teaching that adherents should live modest lives. It is also a big lesson for many Nigerians to learn from. He chose to drive a modest 505 Peugeot car in contrast to the ostentatious cars his contemporaries preferred. Daniel Amokachi was, for instance, said to own a private jet with which he flew around the world. On completion of his career abroad, he came back to Nigeria and played with local clubs that included Julius Berger and Gateway football clubs, something that is rare among Nigerians footballers. I remembered how the stadium was field to the brim when Julius Berger, featuring Yakini, honored an away fixture at the Rwang Pam Township Stadium in Jos, demonstrating that the turnout at the numerous stadia across the country could be improved upon if Europe-based footballers choose to exhaust their last trace of gas at the domestic league.

It is a general belief that without football, Nigeria would have disintegrated into shreds. Yakini played a mountainous role in Nigerian football and is the reason why there should be a huge statue of him standing somewhere in Abuja.

Wande Cole Misses a Goldmine

Wande Cole

Wande Cole is that Nigerian music artist and an affiliate of Mohits clique that sang the song bumper to bumper. He is a protégé of D’banj and Don Jazzy, the pioneers of Mohits clique. His music has wide acceptability in Nigeria and beyond. He has made quite a number of songs, one of which is ten-ten.

Ten-ten is actually the subject of this article of mine. Of all the songs that Wande Cole has made, ten-ten is the single most important song that has refused to go off my mind because of a certain peculiarity in it.

The beauty of the world’s pop music is its diversity in the sense that global music is made up of many different genres. Some of the greatest genres are becoming extinct. If we must sustain the beauty of the world’s popular music, then we must continue to invent new styles of music.

What makes a style of music outstanding as to become a visible genre recognized by music fans? A style of music is outstanding when there are patterns or cultures that have become part of the identity of the music exclusively. During the formative years of Soul Music in the US and Reggae in Jamaica, Nigerians where not left out as Juju and Highlife were being invented in Nigeria concurrently. Juju and Highlife also became popular around the world as these other foreign styles did, selling Nigerian cultures from the southwest and southeast of the country respectively. There was also the big one, Afro-beat, invented singlehandedly by the late Fela “Anikulakpo” Kuti.

Since Juju, Highlife and Afro-beat, music inventors in Nigeria seem to have gone to sleep. All we hear is Afro-hip hop and Afro-reggae. Nigerians will be able to create an impact if what is created is head-over-heels home-made and original.

The song ten-ten by Wande Cole as said in the preceding parts of this piece of article, seem so peculiar that it can easily would have formed a lead to a new style of music. All that Wande Cole would have to do is to make a whole album in which the songs have similar patterns to that of ten-ten.

 It is not late.

Learn how to invent a new genre of music. Buy :  ebook  or Paperback

NTI and the Future of Education in Nigeria

For decades now, education in Nigeria has witnessed a steady decline. This has often prompted well meaning organizations and individuals to continue to express their concerns given that a better future for the nation cannot be guaranteed if the wretchedness of this component part of the life of the nation continues to be sustained.

On April 23, a spokesman of the National Teachers Institute (NTI) Kaduna, Nigeria,  told the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that it intends to set up cybercafés across Nigeria as a solution to the perennial underperformance by secondary school students at external examinations such as the National Examinations Council (NECO) and West African Examinations Council (WAEC). According to the NTI spokesman, the cybercafés will be used free by the teachers in all state capitals of the federation for the purpose of research with the intention of improving the sad situation in public secondary schools.

Two things were wrong about this solution to ending the woes of education in the country. First, it will not be feasible for NTI to establish and operate cybercafés to be used free for teachers across the nation. Secondly, the NTI through this has demonstrated its ignorance of the roots causes of the predicament in which secondary school education has found itself. This suggestion will only plunge the secondary school education deeper into its difficulties.

For anyone that has taken time to study the problem of education in Nigeria, the root causes lies in government’s disregard of the sector. Currently most wealthy Nigerians, who happened to be politicians, prefer to educate their children outside the country. Given that it is their responsibility to fix these problems, one can conclude, without an iota of doubt, that the issue of a better education of the kids of ordinary citizens of the country is not one of the preoccupations of our politicians.

Schools in Nigeria are operated by governments and the private sector, comprising individuals and organizations. In the past few decades, the private sector has reasonably lived up to its responsibility of providing quality education in the country. Sadly, high proportions of Nigerians can only afford to educate their children in public schools because of the subsidy the government provides by paying teachers. If public schools continue to fall short of meeting the minimal standards, it means that the future of education for a large majority of Nigerian kids will remain doomed.

The question arises as to how the government has failed in its educational obligations to the people. It arises from the twisted line of reasoning that anything meant for the ordinary man is of little worth. As a result, public schools have been poorly cared for. Infrastructures are uncared for. Teachers are poorly paid with the paltry salaries coming haphazardly. At times certain percentages of their salaries are just withheld with reason. Most times teachers stay for months without pay. These difficulties have become the reasons why most of academic sessions are often wasted as a result of industrial disputes.

With the exception of federal government secondary schools, all other public secondary schools in the country are owned and operated by the state governments. The normal steps leading to the establishment of a secondary school is to build the infrastructure, recruit teachers and declare the school opened. In nearly all states of Nigeria today, governments hardly get involved in the development of school infrastructures. When a community makes a request for a secondary school and the government agrees to grant the request, it does so without building the structure for the school. It locates an existing primary school in the locality and then uses the structure to serve the two schools. The primary school uses the facility in the morning hours while the secondary school uses it in the afternoon hours. The head of the school that is usually a principal builds the school by the imposition of levies on students. Since the government is usually not interested in what goes on at the school, the principals gradually started abusing what should have been an innovative idea towards covering government shortcomings by corruptly enriching themselves with the generated funds. The principals increasingly started becoming more interested in having huge student populations as the more population the school has, the more money to be realized from fees and levies. In order to attract more students, entry qualifications for students seeking admission gradually became irrelevant. The desperation for good student populations also led to a state of affairs where students are promoted without passing promotion examinations for fear that the students and their levies will leave to other schools. Thus the situation helped to develop and sustain a culture of poor performance in external examinations such as those of NECO, WAEC and Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB). This is an open secret for which the government does nothing.

The corruption in the administration of a majority of secondary schools left the desperate students with no option besides cheating during examinations. This has led to the development of miracle examination centers where students are guaranteed success in examinations as long as they pay specified amounts of money to the authorities of such examination centers. The centers collude with law enforcement agents who turn a blind eye. This is an open secret for which government don’t ever act. The situation has also led to the development of ‘mercenaries’ who are available on hire to write examinations for whoever has the cash.

Outside of miracle examination centers, cheating still goes on in the most of the other centers, albeit with a degree of caution. Some school principals pay off supervisors to allow teachers to come into examination halls to provide answers to students when their own subjects are written. Supervisors that co-operate are considered ‘good’ people that are interested in the ‘progresses’ of the students.

There are other factors that have been partly responsible for the poor performance in external examinations for secondary schools. One is the poor educational foundation built by the lower levels of education from where the students are coming. The nature of the challenges in public primary schools is such that many children pass out without learning how to read and write in contrast to private nursery/primary schools where pupils learn to read and write in the three years of nursery education. Being able to read and write, prior to the commencement of primary school education affords kids the opportunity to take full advantage of what is to be learnt in primary school, thereby paving the way for success at the secondary level.

If the authorities of NTI cannot understand the issues at the foundation of the woes of secondary school education in Nigeria, then the leadership of the institute is questionable. NTI itself looks like an institute that has been shaken to its knees by corruption, especially looking at the manner with which they award post-graduate diplomas across the country. Admission is always automatic as long as you apply. It appears they also cannot afford to miss the money a candidate will bring as tuition fees.

Reversing the succession of failures by students of secondary school does not lie in the provision of free internet access for secondary school teachers but in understanding the real issues responsible for the collapse of public schools in Nigeria. Already the books recommended and used in secondary schools are a result of the works of the best researchers the world has ever known. They are the same books that were used by the Soyinkas, Achebes, Iwealas, okris and a host of others. They are also the same books the private schools used with better results today.

The contribution NTI can bring towards ending persistent failure at NECO, WAEC and JAMB examinations is to continue with its constitutional duty of training teachers in addition to suggesting to governments to be interested in what goes on in our schools. They should admonish the various tiers of government to understand that teachers are educated people that expect to be paid well and regularly. The governments must ensure that teachers are promoted as and when due. The government must pay enough attention to ensure fees are affordable and that classes are never congested. Governments must tell school administrators to ensure that promotions are never automatic for all students. The governments must be made to understand that schools will never do well unless the authorities are provided with money to cover daily running costs and if they don’t do it the principals will find the money by hook or by crook. The governments must be made to understand that they can upgrade the curriculum of public primary schools for better results by just learning from the private primary schools next door and not through unnecessary workshops. Furthermore, the government must be made to understand that a very insignificant portion of annual budgets will change the situation significantly as if it is appropriated and percolates down to the bottom. The government must be reminded that examination offenders are liable to 21 years imprisonment but no Nigerian has ever served 21 days for cheating during exams.

Everything lies in the doorstep of government. The government must recognize that majority of Nigerian parents can only afford to educate their children in public schools. If we must take advantage of our human resource that is not just the biggest in Africa but one of the biggest in the world, then the millions of kids that look onto public schools alone must be given a good opportunity to develop their potential to the benefit of the country. The government must be reminded that the public schools are the country’s biggest possessions and should receive the right attention.

Mopping Off Small and Light Arms in Nigeria

While Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan hosted a delegation from the EU on February 8, 2012, the issue of cooperation for the common good of both parties came up. One was the issue of cooperating with the EU to help Nigeria to clean up its confines of small and light arms that have entrenched an era of violence only comparable with events in the build up to the Civil War in 1966. One way Nigeria can end this period of unjustifiable killings and mayhem of innocent Nigerians is, no doubt, by withdrawing the weapons that have sustained the ugly period of sleeplessness in the country.

If the government and its friends must clean up the nation of small and light weapons successfully, we must acknowledge the herculean nature of the assignment. The herculean nature is made obvious by the fact that there is hardly any region of the country where there has been no violence since 1999. Prior to this period, there has been insecurity brought about by crime, mainly armed banditry. The weapons used by this category have been mostly automatic rifles and locally made pistols. With the new democracy in 1999, some persons in the largely Islamic North of the country started asking for the implementation of Sharia Law. Christians within the region started experiencing violence for opposing the calls for the implementation of the Sharia Law. Some Christians who could not cope with the situation moved to other parts of the country. However, some Christians who spent life times building business reputation and wealth in the affected regions saw it as unwise to leave behind these lifetime achievements to start lives anew elsewhere. Some of these people that include a lot of Ibos saw expedience in buying weapons with which to defend themselves in the event of an outbreak of conflict resulting from religious misunderstandings. This crisis in the north was followed by rebellion by militants in the Niger Delta. It is right to suspect that most weapons used by the Niger Delta militants came through the sea bordering the Niger Delta communities. Then there is the Jos crisis that has lasted for more than a decade. Government’s inability to end the conflict informed the need for people to buy weapons in order to defend themselves. The central location of Jos allowed entry of weapons from both the south and the north. There are cases of arrest of persons involved in gun running from both the south and the north with Jos as destination. Violent life in Jos was followed by what has turned out to be the greatest security challenge in Nigeria, the Boko Haram which is the primary motive behind the intended collaboration of federal government of Nigeria and the EU. The weapons used by Boko Haram will be found in the North Eastern region where the activities of the so-called jihadist are most established.

In Jos, the prevalence of small and light weapons is so grave that, frequently, one hears the exploding sounds of weapons being tested in the night to ascertain their functionality.

While the Boko Haram bloody activities intensified, the possibility of collaboration with foreign governments with the aim of keeping them at bay became imminent. Sadly, some Nigerians started condemning the Nigerian administration for demonstration of incompetence. These groups of Nigerians, to me, are either supporters of violence in Nigeria or persons with evil political opposition who are desperately looking for ways to fault the government. With this possibility of EU-Nigerian collaboration for the purpose of restoring lasting peace in Nigeria, the same groups of Nigerians have started making the same criticism. The truth however is that terrorism is something that has always been fought through international collaboration whether in Pakistan, Yemen, Afghanistan or Indonesia. Thus the intention of the Federal Government of Nigeria to collaborate with the EU in order to clean up the nation of deadly weapons that have sustained terrorism is only conventional.

However, there is the need to call the attention of the administration of Goodluck Jonathan to the fact that, fundamentally, what has sustained the state of insecurity in Nigeria is corruption. The same factor will be the reason why any effort of the administration will hardly work. While the period of insecurity in Nigeria lasted, there have been arrests of persons dealing in weapons in the hinterland of Nigeria, at border areas of the north and the coastal areas down south. While the arrests represent moments of triumph for the administration and the nation, the judicial silence that usually follow thereafter often represent moments of shame for well meaning citizens and the nation.

When the Nigerian police force is mentioned in Nigeria, the first thing that comes to mind is corruption because the force has over the years become the epitome of corruption in the country. Corruption among the rank and file within the police is opened as seen at police check points on our roads where every commercial vehicle must give twenty naira (N20) before it is allowed to pass. Any driver that refuses to comply is made to pull out and has his time wasted. On the other hand, those that comply are allowed passage without the scrutiny for which the roadblocks were set up. The implication is that one could carry contraband and get away with it as long as he is willing to give that twenty naira with ease. It is often said that senior police officers back in the office often wait for ‘returns’ from the men in the field. The dirty act is so tolerated that is has become an attraction that lures some Nigerians into joining the force.

Nigerian borders have often been described as being porous as a result of inadequate security manpower and explains why weapons will always come in. This is not true. What is true however is that the porosity of the Nigerian borders is by design, caused by policemen that are readily willing to take bribes and disable standard procedures.

The administration of Goodluck Jonathan must understand that his government will never succeed by refusing to fight corruption, as it is the bedrock of mediocrity that has entrenched the series of tribulations within the nation.

The Ethnic Groups of Plateau State

Map of Nigeria showing Plateau State (in red)

Plateau State is a microcosm of Nigeria, meaning that all ethnic groups in Nigeria are found residing and working in the state. However, the indigenous tribes in Plateau’s seventeen local government areas (in bold type) include:

Barkin Ladi: Berom, Ganang, Ron, kulere.

Bassa: Irigwe, Rukuba, Amo, Buji, Chawai.

Bokkos: Ron, Kulere, Mushere.

Jos East, Afizere.

Jos North: Berom, Anaguta, Afizere.

Jos South: Berom.

Kanam: Bogghom, Jar, Ngas, Taroh.

Kanke: Ngas.

Lantang North: Taroh.

Langtang South: Taroh.

Mangu: Mwaghavul, Pyem, Rumada, Afizere, Berom, Mupun.

Mikang: Tehli, Youm, Koenem, Piapung.

Pankshin: Ngas, Mupun, Chip, Kadung.

Qua’an-pan: Doemak, Kwagalak, Mernyang, Goemai, Jagatnoeng.

Riyom: Berom, Ateng.

Shendam: Goemai.

Wase: Boghom, Jukun, Basharawa, Taroh, Burum, Fulani.

History of Mining in Plateau State, Nigeria

Mineral exploitation in Plateau State is an age-old industry, starting from the pre-colonial extraction and marketing of tin from the upper Plateau to salt and lead-zinc in the lower Plateau that includes some parts of Nassarawa State. Officers of the Niger Royal Company were credited with locating tin deposits of Jos Plateau which and marked the inception of modern mining activities in Nigeria. Foreign metal merchants, mostly British, followed the tin trade route from the North African markets into Nigeria to Plateau where an aggressive and prosperous tin mining industry was established. Subsequently, the multinational companies, which dominated the industry, were joined by small local companies. While the foreign companies congregated under powerful chambers of mines, the local miners formed themselves under a less powerful organization called the “Association of African Miners.”

The tin trade boomed to the detriment of other minerals in the state. There was then the dominance of Nigerian mining activities by British companies with the backing of British banking service and supplies. At the peak of mining, there were up to 120 companies operating. Then, mining was exclusively a private sector affair. During this time, it came to a point that Nigeria was the sixth world producer of tin with a production of 16 000 tones per annum and world’s leading producer of columbite.

The Association of African Miners became heavily handicapped by a myriad of problems, ranging from lack of necessary expertise to a dearth of capital and hence the necessary equipment required for efficient performance in the field. With the aforementioned, the multinational companies piled up and repatriated huge profits while their African counterparts performed sluggishly, resorting sometimes to unorthodox practices but still managing to record success, which sometimes was questionable. The tin mining industry was swept off the Nigerian economic scene by the so-called oil boom.

During this period the government concerned itself with providing the enabling environment and necessary infrastructure in the mines field and collected royalties, rents and related rates which before the mid-fifties were collected by the Niger Royal Company. Before the takeover of the collection, the Nigerian Government has to pay an all lump compensation to United African Company (UAC). Mining operations were effectively monitored by the mines division of the then Ministry of Mines and Power to ensure compliance with the operational and safety guidelines.

In 1972 the government indigenization degree led to the compulsory acquisition of controlling shares in the foreign companies. The foreigners then lost interest in mining operations. The activities of the companies declined slowly until they finally left the mining scene in the early eighties. This led to the merger of major companies to form what is today known as Consolidated Tin Mines (CTM). CTM could not work with the obsolete machineries left behind by the expatriates. The result now is a company struggling to survive. In Zurak area of Wase LGC, some mining of lead/zinc deposits were also carried out and later abandoned. There was molybdenite mine at Kigom Hills near Riyom LGC which could not make any progress.

Also in 1972, the Nigerian Mining Corporation with headquarters in Jos was established to embark on exploitation of industrial minerals. The corporation discovered barytes at Azara in the present Nassarawa State and also established a barytes mine at the locality. This led to the discovery of the same mineral in Langtang South. Kaolin was also discovered at Kuba on the Barkin Ladi- Bokkos road and exploitation commenced in 1988.