Nigeria, a Heavy Burden for One Man, I

Nigerians love to talk about their nationalist with a deep longing, wishing they were still with us in order that we continue to enjoy the benevolence of their rare traits. Those nationalists inherited a healthy baby-nation in 1960, from the British colonial administration. Six years later issued erupted and there was a civil war. 

The fact that there was a civil war in just six years of independence should tell us that perhaps those leaders were not exactly what we thought they were. Rather than simmer down our despicable issues continued to flourish, reaching a point where the nation is perpetually at war today. At different times, it is either Sharia Killings in Kaduna, tribal and religious conflict in Jos, or war of emancipation in the Niger Delta, or cattle theft and killings of revenge in Benue and Enugu, or voodoo killings in Nassarawa State. Yes, the revolt just gets relayed from one state to another like a baton in a tract event.

These continued problems underscore the character of every Nigerian, stretching back to the so called nationalists. If there was any good in the years directly following independence it was the remnant of colonial legacy. 

One man who saw and played a role in the politics of the years following independence, and who is still alive today, is Alhaji Maitama Sule. In his oratory speeches he constantly and flawlessly eulogizes the impeccable traits of his contemporaries, until he was cornered recently by a BBC journalist who noted that he had seen video footages in which the “saints” of Nigerian politics were said to have been seen carrying smoking guns. At that point the orator was compelled to make an admission in which he agreed that there were streaks of corruption there were, nonetheless, not as fanatical and crazy as what we see today. In the same interview a tape was played of another man who witnessed the politics of the early 1960s narrating how members of the opposition parties were denied agricultural loans, and even killed for their political views and beliefs. 

The most important thing to note about the revelation is that the issues we faced today were actually sown and watered by those pioneers of a politically independent Nigeria.  So, all Nigerians must address one issue: the lowest level of patriotism that is, perhaps, fantastically the greatest in the world. 

But our issue is deeply rooted and as treacherous as a land underlain by booby traps. It became so entrenched because it has been allowed to flourish for over half a century, and as such it has grown to be a culture, a lifestyle, a band wagon that everyone wants to be part of. 

Today, though, we have a rare personality who has the will and fearlessness to face and tackle our problem until there are just signs that it once existed. The patriotism and courage of President Mohammadu Buhari, for long, has been impressed in the consciousness of Nigerians, but it is just that we have pretended to be ignorant of it. It is often said that the taste of a pudding is in the eating. With Boko Haram bitterly marking the climax of our soaring complacency, it is clear that millions of Nigerians have now fully tasted the consequences and are now turning to Buhari while he is still alive.  

Buhari made promises: fighting terrorism, fighting corruption, improving infrastructures, reviving the economy and creating jobs. In the past, series of administrations serially fooled Nigerians, and at the end of the first year when there was nothing to show, people are simply fed with blinding rhetoric’s. Nigerians would aware that the persuasions were rhetorical, but would have no option than to fold their hands while hoodlums and gangsters continue to intensify the rot. In the first one year of Buhari as an elected president, however, there are things to show. All territories from Boko Haram have been retaken, and the refugees, the insurgency has created, are now returning to their homes. 

When the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, boss talked spoke on radio sometimes this month he said the anticorruption war has recovered more loot than the commission has ever recovered since its creation in 2003. Extraordinary men do extraordinary things. 

However, the burden of Nigeria is still too heavy for one man. Luckily, Nigeria is a nation of 170 million men and women and should be able to carry the burden, with unanimity and concentration of efforts.

Review – Genesis –Tope Folarin

For weeks I had visited the website of the Caine Prize for African Writing, hoping to see the publication of the 2016 shortlist. I kept seeing only the new face of the website. Eventually, I became tired and decided to take a break. It was only at that point that the shortlist was published, behind my back. I stayed for days without knowing, until I ran into the notice on Facebook. 

My attention was drawn by the story, Genesis, by Tope Folarin, whose story, Miracle, won the prize in 2013. Should he win again he would become the first writer to have won the prize more than once.

Genesis, a single story with two conflicts and two resolutions, is, thus, a double-edged sword. It is about a Nigerian couple in the United States. The first conflict is played up when the wife became mentally ill, forcing the breakup of the marriage. The result: two homes, with the man left in the first and the wife and their two kids in the second. Since the first child resembled his father he became his mother’s victim of constant violent abuses. Resolution came when, before a judge, the kids chose to stay with their father. 

The first kid, in whose voice the story is narrated, was often accompanied by an old white woman midway as he trekked to school. As they walked she would tell him that she would like him to serve her in the afterlife; she believed that all white people would be served by black people in heaven. This is the second conflict of the story. 

When the boy’s parent learned about the old woman and her notion the boy was made to understand that, in heaven, there is flawless equality for all races. The boy’s mother, while still sane at the time, started walking the boy to school. When old white granny caught up with them she was told of the racial equality of heaven. This point marks the resolution of the second conflict. 

The story writes another story outside the margin of its pages. I find myself using a microscope to locate the African component of Genesis: it is the mere allusion to the Nigerian origin of the couple and the fact that, eventually, the mentally sick wife returned to Nigeria with nothing more heard of her.

 

Folarin perhaps found himself in a tunnel where he could neither see the sky nor light at the end, as he tried to play up the Africa element in his story; he was not only born and raised in the United States, but lives there –I think that it is much easier handling a story that is set in a locality you have known very well.

If writers, like Folarin, born and raised by African parents outside of the continent must write stories with a good African presence then they must have to take occasional visits to the continent. Living and mingling with Africans for just a month can throw up a good number of story ideas, exploring virgin territories with related nuances. 

I wish Genesis and all the other stories the best.

S. B. Gyel Dies at 96

Late S. B. Gyel

The Berom tribe of Plateau State has again lost one of its prominent sons. Sambo Bashi Gyel, most known as S.B. Gyel, died on Friday 20^th May, 2016, after a long battle with a combination of high blood pressure and Cancer.

Sambo, according to sources, was born sometime in 1920, in Gura Riyom, Gyel District of the present Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State. He went to the Native Authority (NA) Primary School Gyel, later becaming a teacher in the same school, having finished as an exceptional student. He did go around helping out with adult education in the villages around. It was his involvement with education that earned him the title of mallam, which, in Hausa, means “teacher.”

Sambo later left the teaching service and ventured into mining, buying from petty miners and selling to other buyers higher in the hierarchy. Since he didn’t have a lease of his own, the business was not flourishing the way he wanted it to. It was the reason why he took up a job with the wealthy and famous D. B. Zang (late). As the Chief Security Officer, he went around the mining leases of his employer, ensuring that whatever was mined from those leases were not diverted and sold to other buyers other than the lease owner. After working for a good number of years for D B Zang, he felt the need to move on but thought it wise to discuss it with his employer, to ensure a harmonious break up. D. B. Zang eventually granted Sambo’s request, but not after two rejections. The break up worked the way Sambo had wanted it, amicably, with his boss rewarding him with a Mercedes with a famous number plate of “8888” that had become part of Zang’s identity.

Sambo went into business with a weak financial base, buying construction materials on credit from his suppliers and paying back only after he himself had been paid by his patron.  Eventually, he grew and started bidding for the big contracts, too. He won bids to construct public buildings, feeder roads, and the bridges connecting them. Some of the most notable contracts he won from the government and executed them included the Bukuru Abattoir, along Shen Road, in Jos South, the Ganawuri Market, and the Bachit Bridge. The climax of his work as a contractor came with his election as the Chairman of Plateau State Association of Contractors.
 
For six years, he supplied the nutritional needs of the animals at the Jos Wild Life Park. At times, he supplied for months to be paid in arrears. He also pushed his way to become the auctioneer of government vehicles to the public. That was sometimes in the early nineties. Sambo was also associated with kerosene and petroleum distribution. 

The keen investor from Gurah Riyom believed so much in investing his money on land and tenements. This he did in the form of long term investments, buying his lands and erecting his properties in the outskirts of town and playing up his patience until development crawled to such locations. The conflict in Plateau State did become his silver lining, suddenly pushing people from the heart of towns to the outskirts and ensuring that he never waited as long as he had envisaged for his investments to appreciate.  The buildings always had “S. B. Gyel” inscribed in dripping red paint. These inscriptions helped in building his reputation as an avid land developer. 

Politics eventually became one of Sambo’s passions. He did participated in the politics of the First Republic (1960 to 1966), but his political ripples started becoming perceptible during the second Republic (1979 to 1984). With the coming of the Second Republic, and the emergence of Zang, his erstwhile boss, as the Chairman of the Nigeria’s People’s Party (NPP), Zang drew Sambo closer again. The two men drove in the same vehicle during political campaigns. Driving in the same vehicle was designed to tell the world that the end of their working relationship wasn’t a result of a dispute, and that they were still faithful friends. Having made their point, Sambo bought a brand new car in which he was driven behind Zang, each time they went out on their vigorous political campaigns that heralded the Second Republic. Eventually, the NPP won the gubernatorial election, setting up a government, with Late Solomon Daushep Lar as the most powerful man in Plateau State. 

While the Second Republic lasted, Sambo served as the NPP Chairman in Gyel District. Decades later, he became the Plateau State Chairman of the All Nigeria’s People Party (ANPP). His political principles were endearing, ensuring he was chosen as the Northern Senatorial District Chairman of the Berom Tribe on political matters. Under this role, he helped to ensure the Berom brought out a single candidate to contest the seat of the Plateau State Governor. The result was the presentation of Jonah David Jang, who eventually became the first Berom man to become the Governor of Plateau State since the creation of the state in 1976. 

His children insist that their dad never benefitted financially from politics, but the public argue that political benefits are, usually, not handed out in raw cash. Rather, they are given in the form of contracts, something that made their father wealthy and prominent. The most powerful Berom body is the Berom Cultural Organization, BECO. Its leader is usually powerful and respected among the Berom tribe, but Sambo’s son, Honorable Davou, contested against Chris Mancha, a serving BECO Chairman, and won. People say that Davou was voted to reward his father for his role in the politics of Plateau State.

The long Sambo died, leaving behind a scary number of land titles, tenements, and other investments. He also left behind a widow and nine children to inherit his properties.

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.