Home truths about treasure base of militants

By Casmir Igbokwe

 Published: Sunday, 8 Jun 2008

IN those days when Port Harcourt was still the Garden City, many good things came out of Rivers State. From Bonny Street to Aggrey Road; from D/Line to Borokiri; and from Mile One to Mile Four, Port Harcourt residents had a good time. There were good eateries, which, most times, could not find enough space for lovers of such delicacies as fresh fish and isi-ewu. Nightclubs were not in short supply even as expatriates had upper hand in the game of wooing ladies. Many parents reflected the mood of the time then by giving their children such names as Gold, Precious, Finecountry and Fineface.

Today, there is nothing fine about the face of security in Rivers State, nay Nigeria. The state is nicknamed treasure base of the nation. But from the activities of militants and sundry criminals that currently hold sway there, one can rightly call it the treasure base of militants/bandits.

Disturbed by the negative trends in the state, the governor, Chibuike Amaechi, set up Truth and Reconciliation Commission on 29 November 2007. He gave the commission a seven-point agenda. Parts of the agenda were to identify the nature of the discontent in the state, its remote and immediate causes and the extent of damage that has been done to the people and to peace in the state. The commission is also to identify the various factions and people who have been involved in fostering the discontent and to advise on ways to reconcile the factions with a view to bringing peace and concord in the state.

The governor deserves commendation for this action. Before the emergence of democracy in 1999, the unrest in the state revolved around pockets of communal disturbances as well as protests by the Ogoni people against Shell Petroleum Development Company. After 1999, the situation changed. Such cult groups as Deybam and Deywell began a rein of terror. They killed and maimed. At a point, a supremacy war erupted between the Niger Delta Vigilance Group led by Ateke Tom and Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force led by Asari Dokubo. Allegations were rife that some powerful politicians in the state armed some of these groups to help in prosecuting their political wars.

In September 2004, the then President Olusegun Obasanjo invited Tom and Dokubo to Abuja for a peace meeting. The following month, the two groups signed a peace agreement. Thereafter, they began to hand over their “weapons of mass destruction.” Over 3,000 of such weapons were publicly destroyed. But no sooner had this exercise ended than other forms of insurgency surfaced. In 2006, militants began kidnapping foreign oil workers. This, ostensibly, was to bring international attention to the plight of the Niger Delta people. But now, a large dose of criminality has enveloped the struggle as fellow citizens, toddlers, wives and mothers are targets of the kidnappers. Attacks on oil installations and police stations have also heightened.

This has led to a jump in global oil prices, a surge in military offensive and a cut in oil production. The President of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, Dr Ignatius Adaji, was quoted to have said last week that between 2006 and 2007, the nation lost about 500, 000 barrels of oil per day at an average price of $60 per barrel. In monetary terms, this approximates to about $26.9bn. This is besides the huge losses in human and material capital.

With regard to identifying the nature and characters involved in the Rivers crises, the TRC appears to be on the right track. As its Chairman, Justice Kayode Eso (ret), put it, “We have already received over 200 memoranda…The context of the memoranda, which we have received has gone a long way for any one to come to a conclusion that all is certainly not well with the Delta, the economic pivot of the nation and except something is done drastically and urgently, this country is sitting on powder-kegs.”

Since last Monday when the commission started its sitting, it has been allegations and counter-allegations. The governor himself released the opening salvo. According to him, “I personally had to take refuge outside the shores of this country for the fear of being assassinated when I was pursuing my political ambition to be the governor of the state…Throughout the period of Dr. Odili’s tenure I was considered to be independent-minded. This explains why I later went through all my tribulations. I spoke against using cult groups for election; that was why in my local government area there were no cult groups even up till now.”

By this submission, Amaechi indirectly confirmed that prominent politicians in the state sponsored cult groups to achieve their political ambitions. Some witnesses have accused former Governor Peter Odili and former Transport Minister, Abiye Sekibo, of being the godfathers of some of the cult groups. For instance, the people of Okuru Ama, last Wednesday, alleged that Odili and Sekibo masterminded the destruction of their homes during the 2001 crisis in the state. The crisis reportedly took the lives of over 40 people. They demanded N1bn as compensation from the Rivers State Government.

As the commission awaits the response of Odili and Sekibo, it is imperative to note that the reconciliation part of the public hearing appears to be emitting negative signals. The animosities are so deep-rooted that even the governor, while responding to the plea to forgive some gang leaders, reportedly said, “If you were to be the son of a man whose father was brought out and shot in his presence, would you ask me to forgive the man, who killed your father?” He said people must be made to answer for their crimes.

If the governor had named the commission, Truth and War Crimes Commission, I would have supported him totally.

It has always been my position that criminals must be made to face the full wrath of the law. But as long as the body handling the public hearing is called TRC, the governor should be ready to pardon any remorseful gang leader. Since he modelled the commission after South Africa’s TRC, he should emulate Nelson Mandela who pardoned his white adversaries in spite of the atrocities they committed against him and his country. He should also be ready to pay compensation to those who have genuine need for that. He should not deviate from his promise to seriously consider the recommendations of the Commission and take such decisions as would help restore peace in the state.

But whoever is caught again for criminal activities after the reconciliation must be made to pay for such crimes. The major consideration for any action should be restoration of peace. Without internal peace, the struggle for equity in the Niger Delta will continue to present a variegated and ugly face. Criminals will continue to hijack it. Local and international businesses will suffer. Expatriates will leave in droves. And the ultimate losers will be the Nigerian economy, hotel and nightclub owners, company executives, market women, fresh fish and isi-ewu lovers, tourists and sundry fun seekers.

Reception for Obasanjo-Bello

Casmir Igbokwe

Published Sunday, June 1 2008

 

Many people seem to be courting Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello at the moment. Penultimate week, her estranged husband, Akeem Bello, visited and prayed with her at Maitama Police Station, Abuja. She was in brief detention there. Also, some of her colleagues in the Senate were delighted to see her again after about three weeks of evading arrest by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. To crown it all, members of Ward 11 of Abeokuta North Local Government Area of Ogun State held a reception for her in Abeokuta.

 

According to media reports, the reception was to celebrate the air of freedom the woman breathed again after the face-off with the EFCC. Hundreds of her supporters reportedly thronged the streets of Abeokuta, drumming, dancing and singing the praises of the Senator. There were banners welcoming the beloved bride of the Owus at strategic locations in town. Prior to this reception, members of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ward 11 had gone to Abuja to show solidarity during her appearance in court. Obasanjo-Bello, who expressed gratitude to her people, assured them that she was not a thief.

 

Recall that the woman was embroiled in the controversy surrounding the sharing of the N300m unspent budget of the Ministry of Health. President Umar Yar’Adua had directed all ministries and government agencies to return all unspent 2007 budget to the treasury. Instead of complying with this directive, the Ministry of Health allegedly decided to share the money. The House of Representatives Committee on Health and its counterpart in the Senate got N10m each. But while the Reps returned their own share, the Senators under the headship of Obasanjo-Bello, allegedly used their own for a capacity-building trip to Ghana. The EFCC had since prosecuted the former Minister of Health, Prof. Adenike Grange, and some others. Obasanjo-Bello’s eventual arraignment happens to be one of the major highlights of the incident. There are other scandals allegedly hanging around the neck of this woman. It is left for the courts to either convict her or declare her innocent.

 

But rather than await the verdict of the courts, some individuals are falling over themselves to humour her. It’s just like some party stalwarts, friends and indigenes of Bayelsa State who humoured and warmly received the former Governor of the state, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who was convicted for looting the treasury of his state.

 

At the root of this kind of perfidy is poverty. For instance, the PDP Vice-Chairman for Obasanjo-Bello’s ward, Alhaji Akanni Oyeleye, wanted to go to Abuja to show solidarity with the Senator. As he reportedly put it, “I even got to Lagos until I was told that the transport fare was N5, 000. So, I backed out of the trip and we continued to pray at home.” Oyeleye turned a prayer warrior at home because he could not afford N5, 000 transport cost to Abuja. And to compensate people like him, Obasanjo-Bello donated N100, 000 to support the empowerment programme organised by an official of Abeokuta North Local Government.

 

We always blame our leaders for Nigeria’s woes. But it is the followers who are stoking the fire of corruption for them. If you are in government and you fail to steal from the public till, your own people will be the first to condemn you and call you a buffoon. This is partly why the war against corruption has yielded little dividend. Until we begin to ostracise looters; until we stop worshipping ill-gotten wealth; and until the government begins a campaign to make people change their wrong values, we may never move forward as a people.

 

Re: Hunger, anger and strategic food security

 

Casmir,

You are extremely too frank and humourous, else you won’t contemplate selling of wives. Can’t husbands be sold too? I Love your write-up.

Mrs Sola Sobande

08056633341

 

Casmir,

Your article on strategic food security is indeed a true Nigerian reflection of current global food crisis. In fact, it has exposed the weakness of our system as it relates to food strategy. It is laughable that the Fed Govt is just reacting to this. It shows the myopic nature of govt policies…

Barth Az. Okonkwo

08033019205

 

Casmir,

Those at the villa are too egocentric to think about food security. Casmir, you deserve a national honour, MON, for your write-ups.

Akinleye Adepitan,

UNAAB.

08075576801

 

Casmir,

Your write-up on food security should be another challenge for a focused and serious government with genuine concerns for its citizens. Unfortunately, what we have at the moment is a government that lacks vision, with a lot of confusion. I doubt if they will address the food crisis issue correctly…

Lai Adeyemi, Lagos.

08058988580

 

Casmir,

I read your article on strategic food security. As an agricultural economist and extensionist, I totally agree with your “permanent solution to boost local production”. Keep up the good job.

Essien Antia-Obong.

Calabar. (08055622455)

 

Casmir,

My suggestion is that government should invest in farm communities that will employ the army of unemployed Nigerians trading in traffic, touting and doing 419 activities. The farms should provide simple accommodation and a guarantee of three meals/day for the workers. Government after establishing the farms and working capital should divest from ownership by converting the capital to shares that will be sold principally to the workers through loans payable over five-10 years deducted from salaries. This way we will ensure good management and realise the objective of providing food for Nigerians.

Gbola Oshodi

08023133398

 

Casmir,

You are a fearless writer. Keep it up. But I believe the solution to the problems is to stand against these crooks by every means, even if it involves lives. That is if we are ready to die (poverty is a curse/disease).

Pastor Sunday A.

Ilorin (08035759592)

 

Casmir

Hard for me to choose who is the best between you and Ishiekwene. But I am in no doubt that you are a simply great stuff.

Barrister Jerry Llimezekhe.

08033311290

 

Casmir,

I buy THE PUNCH on Sundays only to read your column. I have not seen any columnist that chooses words like you so much that my elementary school children make sense out of your write-ups. Believe it, you write for every Nigerian…

Taiwo Akande

Ibadan (08055684174)

 

Casmir,

I am a Catholic. Anytime we are asked to recite the prayer for Nigeria in distress, I do so with a passion, most especially the part where we say, “Spare this nation (Nigeria) from chaos, anarchy and doom.” I believe that Nigeria needs this prayer for it not to end up a failed state.

Olumide Soyemi

Shomolu (08034977903)

    

               

Hunger, anger and strategic food security

By Casmir Igbokwe

 

Published: Sunday, 25 May 2008

Many Nigerians are already familiar with the story of Kola and Seyi Woniye. This couple in Oyo State reportedly attempted to sell their five- and three-year-old sons a few months ago. The British undercover journalist, who posed as the buyer, revealed that the price tag on the boys was N1m (N500,000 each). Recall also that a Nigerian woman purportedly sold her twin children for N120,000 recently. Every year, hundreds of children in Nigeria fall victim to this kind of situation. Some are reported. The majority of the cases go unreported.

The question is: What can push a mother to ever consider selling her child? The answer lies in the fact that most Nigerians are heavily indebted to poverty. And to recover this debt, poverty has taken food off many tables. By the estimation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, 65 per cent of Nigerians do not have food security. This entails insufficient access to the amount and variety of food that makes for a healthy and productive life. The ministry also puts the number of stunted children under five at about 40 per cent. Besides, Nigeria ranked 20th in the 2006 Global Hunger Index. I suspect that these statistics are grossly underestimated.

To worsen matters, food crisis suddenly surfaced in different parts of the world since December last year. In Nigeria, for instance, the price of rice jumped from about N5,000 to about N10,000. A bag of beans goes for about N7,000 as against the former price of about N4,500. The price of a bag of wheat also went up to about N10,000 from the initial price of about N7,000. The World Bank had warned that food crop prices would remain high in 2008 and 2009.

One major cause of the global food crisis is the conversion of food crops into bio-fuels. What this means is that countries searching for clean and cheap fuels are converting such crops as wheat, soybeans and corn into fuel. This has caused undue scarcity of essential food items. And due to the shortages experienced in the world, two leading producers of rice, Thailand and India, put restrictions on the exportation of the staple.

The food crisis has caused riots in such countries as Senegal, Guinea, Ivory Coast and Mali. In Nigeria, some housewives have also staged their own ”riots” against their husbands. Feeding money is no longer enough and most women want an increase in their feeding allowances. Some hoodlums now steal cell phones and other valuables just to survive and make ends meet.

As part of efforts to mitigate the food crisis, the Federal Government resorted to releasing grains from the strategic grain reserves. The Federal Capital Territory, for instance, reportedly got about 30 trucks of grains with 50 per cent subsidy. The FG also suspended all levies and duties on rice imports for a period of six months; established a N10bn credit facility from the Rice Levy Account to support local rice processing; and plans to increase the capacity of the National Strategic Food Reserve from 300, 000 metric tonnes to 600, 000 metric tonnes.

These efforts are laudable. But they are not enough. Media reports last week indicated that the Food and Agricultural Organisation‘s recommendation was that every country should have reserves of 20kg per person for three months at any point in time. What this means, experts say, is that Nigeria should always have a minimum of 2.8m tonnes in its reserves. But it currently has only about 10 per cent of the FAO recommendation. Prof. Yomi Omotesho of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ilorin, reportedly doubted the ability of the country to even store grains up to the limited capacity of its reserves. Perceptive governments elsewhere, Omotesho noted, were further boosting their already sumptuous reserves. Even a poor country like Zimbabwe is said to have strategic reserves of five million tonnes.

As a matter of urgency, the Federal Government should raise our grain reserves to, at least, meet international standard. Besides, waiving duties on rice importation for six months may not solve the problem. The permanent solution is to boost local production. The first step towards this is to build feeder roads and develop other infrastructure that will aid agricultural production. If the government was ready to stake N80bn for rice importation as initially announced but later jettisoned, I believe it could go beyond the N10bn credit facility it earmarked for farmers.

We can toy with many things. But we should not toy with food security. If there was food on the table of the Woniyes, I don‘t think they would have ever contemplated selling their children. I hope the situation does not get to the point where we also have to sell our wives to survive.

Deportees as symbol of a failing state

By Casmir Igbokwe

 Published: Sunday, 18 May 2008

IN JUNE 2006, some Nigerian deportees allegedly caused pandemonium at the Caracas International Airport in Venezuela. They had disembarked from a commercial flight from Trinidad en route to Lagos. As they were to go through Madrid in Spain, they got to the tarmac to board an Iberia flight to Madrid. But, as they were boarding, they reportedly started shouting “asylum, asylum.” Aboard the aircraft, the shouting continued. Nauseated, the captain of the aircraft refused to move, saying the Nigerians posed a risk to the flight. Normality returned when officers of the Venezuela National Guard ejected the Nigerians and took them into custody. The following day, Trinidad and Tobago Air Guard sent an aircraft that brought the deportees back to that country.

Although we are not fighting any war, nor are we afflicted by natural disasters, Nigerians have continued to emigrate from their country en masse. The unlucky ones are caught and sent back to the country. Last Wednesday, about 156 Nigerians were deported from Libya. Some of the deportees included a four-month-old baby and her mother, who said she was actually heading for Italy to join her husband. Last year, Libya repatriated over 700 Nigerians from its territory. The deportations were for either criminal or immigration offences. Also, last year, the United States Department of Homeland Security reportedly repatriated about 50, 000 Nigerian illegal immigrants.

Some of these deportations had ended on a sour note. In November 2000, thousands of Nigerian deportees from Libya staged a demonstration in Abuja. Their grouse was that the Nigerian government allegedly refused to pay them $25m the Libyan government purportedly provided for their resettlement. In May 2001, a 27-year-old Nigerian asylum seeker, Samson Chukwu, died in a detention centre in Switzerland as the authorities of that country attempted to deport him forcibly. Last year, Osamuyi Akpitanhi met his own untimely death when Spanish immigration authorities tried to forcibly deport him to Nigeria. Similar tragic death of Nigerian deportees had been recorded in such countries as Austria, Belgium, Germany and some other Western nations.

Perhaps, this was why some Nigerians decided to intervene to save their compatriot from forcible deportation at the Heathrow Airport in London last month. The intervention sparked off a row. One issue led to the other and, pronto, about 136 Nigerian passengers were asked to disembark from the Lagos-bound British Airways aircraft. Many Nigerians have expressed disgust over this incident and have been campaigning for a boycott of British Airways.

The fundamental questions are: if the living condition in our country is good, will our countrymen be migrating in their thousands to other countries? If there are employment opportunities in the country, will they seek asylum in Trinidad, Spain, or Belgium? And what could have made Nigerians prefer staying in prisons abroad to coming back home?

Recall that the Foreign Affairs Minister, Ojo Maduekwe, last month, expressed surprise that Nigerian citizens serving various jail terms abroad rejected attempts to bring them back to serve their jail terms in Nigeria.

Surely, Maduekwe would have known the reasons by now. Earlier this month, THE PUNCH published a report, which indicates that the UK government spends £48,000 (about N11.8m) a year for the upkeep of one Nigerian prisoner in that country’s prisons. Due to this huge maintenance cost, Britain is seriously considering transferring those prisoners back home. Indeed, how many able-bodied free Nigerians can ordinarily afford half of this amount of money?

Recently, a lawyer friend who is a member of staff of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria expressed his strong desire to relocate to the United Kingdom. As he put it, “It won’t be out of place to find a way to fit in there as each day we get serious doubt that our leaders here have any vision.” For a privileged oil company worker to contemplate checking out of Nigeria shows the serious decay this nation has fallen into.

And why will anybody want to remain in Nigeria when we have refused to move forward as a nation? We cannot maintain our roads. We do not have access to potable water. Even the generators we buy to provide us electricity have turned out to be part of our major problems. Last week for instance, fumes from a generator killed a family of six at Ozuoba in the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State. The generator ran throughout the night because there was no prospect of getting public power.

Life has no meaning to the majority of Nigerians anymore. Even those who are working are not sure of what will become of that work tomorrow. Earlier this month, I read reports that Shell was planning to sack over 3,000 workers. The retrenchment was said to be a reaction to the cuts in output occasioned by frequent attacks on the company’s facilities by Niger Delta militants. The Niger Delta crisis is seriously threatening the revenue base of the country. Already, Angola has reportedly overtaken Nigeria in the last one month as the leading producer of crude oil in Africa. As at last year, Nigeria was still Africa’s leading oil producing country. But the way things are going, Angola may take over that position in 2008.

We have all failed and come short of the glory of Nigeria. The President who promised a seven-point agenda, but has no blueprint to achieve any of them after almost one year in office has failed Nigeria. A governor or local council chairman, who pads up his foreign bank accounts with public funds, has failed Nigeria. The legislator, who is only interested in foreign trips and fat allowances, has failed Nigeria. A legislature that has only passed 11 bills out of 65 before it in about one year, as admitted recently by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, has failed Nigeria. A judge who collects bribes to grant spurious injunctions has failed Nigeria.

A minister or permanent secretary, who corners unspent budget of his ministry and shares it at the end of the year as Christmas bonus has failed Nigeria. An accountant or auditor, who collects such loot and refuses to alert the nation about it, has failed Nigeria. A journalist who collects brown envelope and turns facts upside down has failed Nigeria. The auto mechanic who collects money for original spare parts, but fixes fake ones for his customer has failed Nigeria. The businessman/woman who sells fake drugs and fake drinks to kill their compatriots has failed Nigeria. The contractor who collects mobilisation fee to build roads or electricity, but pockets the money and does nothing has ruined Nigeria.

Collectively, we have contributed in sending our citizens abroad as asylum seekers. We have made Nigeria a fragile state, a failing state. At the fullness of time, we shall all pay for our sins against this country. But as an incurable optimist, I believe that collectively, we can still reverse the situation such that our people will change their chant of “asylum, asylum” to “paradise, paradise.”

The trouble with our lawmakers

By Casmir Igbokwe

 Published: Sunday, 11 May 2008

LAST week, we got the information that members of the Rivers State House of Assembly were in Australia for a capacity-building retreat. Perhaps, the retreat was to enhance their legislative duties. It ought to be so. But from media reports, we got to know that some of them not only built their capacity to fight, but also enhanced the capacity of their libido to function optimally.

Simply put, they allegedly engaged in a free-for-all. According to reports, a principal officer of the House purportedly abandoned two of his female colleagues for a younger and more beautiful lady, who travelled with them. The abandoned women got angry. And, like a wounded lion, they reportedly pounced on their male colleague and almost stripped him. They have also vowed to initiate the removal of some principal officers of the House as soon as they return this week. What is not certain is the charge the House will slam on those officers. Could it be dereliction of duty? Or jilting of lovers? Or disruption of capacity-building assignment?

In Ekiti State, the fight is of a different hue. Lawmakers in that state had some misunderstanding about the appointment of some members of the State Independent Electoral Commission. The quarrel led to the disappearance of the mace, the symbol of authority of the House. Last Monday, the Action Congress members of the House allegedly marched to the Speaker‘s office to search for the mace. That action generated some disquiet in the state. Tension is still high.

As Ekiti legislators continue to flex muscles, Osun State Assembly members bicker over the N150m constituency allowance graciously made available by the governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola. The money is part of the N600m earmarked for constituency projects this year. Each of the lawmakers, whose constituency comprises two local government councils, got N10m. Those with one local government council received N5m. This, ostensibly, was to provide dividends of democracy to the constituencies.

But the AC members of the House feel that paying the money into their private accounts amounts to corrupt enrichment. They petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over the issue. The Speaker, Adejare Bello, reportedly defended the allowance. He said he utilised the N60m he got in the last four years to build edifices in his constituency, which outweighed whatever any contractor would have put up. In 2004, Bello had enthused that 110 blocks of classrooms were constructed in 2003 as constituency projects by the lawmakers.

Oyo State lawmakers are not divided over their own constituency largesse. They are probably full of gratitude for the N20m Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala promised each of them as constituency allowance. Besides, the governor has reportedly arranged a 10-day foreign trip for the House members between May 19 and 29. Six days shall be for capacity building. The remaining four days shall be for relaxation, or satisfying the libido if you like.

Delta State lawmakers got a similar treatment late last year. As some reports put it, they travelled to the United States to enable them to relax after 100 days of hectic legislative duties. However, the state government said the trip was to enhance legislative business. In October 2006, the immediate past governor of the state, James Ibori, gave 29 Prado jeeps to the lawmakers to also enhance legislative business.

When shall we learn our lesson as a nation? Nigeria is a rich country. The Niger Delta states in particular, derive resources from federal monthly allocation, derivation fund, ecological account and excess crude oil account. In spite of this, life is short and brutish in that region. Endemic conflict, social deprivation, abject poverty and poor and greedy leadership define the region.

In most states of the federation, armed robbers have made life unbearable for citizens. Roads are death traps. Public hospitals are comatose. Power generation has fallen to below 1,000 megawatts. Corruption is endemic. Unemployment is high. And some people have resorted to selling their babies because of poverty. Amid these problems, the legislators enjoy lining their pockets under the guise of capacity-building trips and constituency project allowances.

It is this same capacity-building trip that has put Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello into trouble. As the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, she allegedly supervised the disbursement of N10m they got from the Ministry of Health. The House of Representatives Committee quickly returned its own share when it learnt that the money was part of the N300m unspent budget of the ministry, which President Umaru Yar‘Adua had ordered returned to the treasury. But members of the Senate committee decided to spend their own on capacity-building trip to Ghana.

Our lawmakers seem to be guided by selfishness. The game plan, I suspect, is to create some avenues that will make it look as if they are working and then use that as an opportunity to make money for themselves. These legislators should realise that they are not contractors. Their main duties are to make laws, to effectively represent their constituencies and to perform oversight functions. They seem to have abandoned these responsibilities. They seem to have abandoned their constituents to serve themselves.

If they so love their people that they want to attract amenities to them, what they should do is to sit down with the executive and agree on the relevant projects to be sited. Execution of such projects should be left for the executive. In other words, legislators can attract the building of primary schools in their constituencies but not to collect money to build the schools themselves. As things are now, can the Oyo lawmakers impeach their governor if he does any wrong? Can the Peoples Democratic Party members of the Osun Assembly support any move to remove the governor for corruption?

Anti-graft agencies should be interested in those who have abandoned their legislative duties to become contractors. Every money collected must be properly accounted for. Constituency project should not be another security vote that leaders could embezzle without proper account.

Lawmakers should be contented with their legitimate salaries and allowances, which the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission generously beefed up earlier in the year. For instance, a Senator‘s annual basic salary is N2m. He also receives N4m as accommodation allowance and N6m as furniture allowance. Each lawmaker is also entitled to a car loan, vehicle maintenance allowance, domestic allowance, entertainment and utilities allowances and so on.

The legislature is the backbone of any democracy. That is why any military junta that comes to power suspends it immediately and assumes that role. If the legislature fails, our democracy is doomed. This is why Nigerians must always hold their elected representatives to account. Like the Nigerian Labour Congress that staged a protest march against corruption in Abuja last Thursday, people should rise up against those legislators, who enjoy looting our common wealth and going abroad to quarrel over the loot with their concubines.

Big bottom, Queen Elizabeth and our dying culture

By Casmir Igbokwe

 Published: Sunday, 4 May 2008

MOST people define African women by the colour of their skin and the shape of their bums. In some cultures, the bigger the bums, the more appreciation the woman receives. In Ivory Coast, bobaraba, which is the Djoula language word for big bottom, appears to be the most popular word at present. According to the BBC, Bobaraba is a form of dance, which is inspired by a hit song entitled Bobaraba by DJ Mix and DJ Eloh. Whenever the music is played, people reportedly flock the dance floor to shake their buttocks.

The thing is so popular that some Ivorian women now purportedly sell bottom enhancers in the markets. Those who buy the enhancer, also known as Vitamin B12, are required to inject it into their bottoms once a day. The medicine is also said to come in form of a cream with the words: big bottoms and big breasts. Boys, naturally, tend to like the trend as the BBC quoted one boy to have said, “We appreciate these things because when women use the treatment it attracts us, but for women it’s not good.”

Our own Shina Peters also composed a song similar to Bobaraba a few years ago. I suppose he called it Ikebe Super. Whenever the music was played, people always gyrated and shook their bodies. Makosa and some other traditional African music also revolve around shaking of waists and buttocks.

There are cultures that even encourage women to put on weight. In some places in Cross River State, for instance, women used to undergo some fattening rites before getting married. In ancient traditional Igbo society, the practice also existed. It was called iru mgbede. Prospective wives were usually kept indoors to do nothing but eat and nurture their bodies for their husbands. The fatter the woman, the healthier and wealthier people perceived her to be.

However, what we hear more in many parts of the world these days are figure eight, hot legs, hot mini, hot pants, and such stuffs. Of course, a girl cannot win Miss Nigeria or Miss World with a big bum. Such titles are reserved for lean damsels.

Culture is dynamic. As people acquire new ways of doing things, they discard their old identity. The Western culture has had a great influence on our way of life. The type of dress we wear, for instance, is largely patterned on the Western style. Last Tuesday, I attended a reception to celebrate the birthday of Queen Elizabeth II at Ikoyi, Lagos. I took time to examine what people wore that day.

The British High Commissioner, Bob Dewar, was regal in his Scottish attire, which comprises a suit on top of what looks like a red skirt. The former Commonwealth Secretary-General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, wore his native Igbo dress with a red cap to match. The Chairman of Stanbic IBTC Bank, Mr Atedo Peterside, was immaculate in his white Rivers long-tailed shirt. A few other people were in their native dresses. The rest of us wore suits and other English attires.

British people cherish their way of life. The Queen happens to be the custodian of that culture. The celebration of her birthday in Lagos indicates that her people still have high regard for her. Can we say the same thing of our traditional institution?

I doubt. Partisan politics has beclouded the sense of judgement of some of our Obas, Obis, Igwes and Emirs. Some have sold their consciences because of money. Some, like the Ijesha Traditional Council, bicker over how to share the five per cent accruable to them from the local council allocations from the Federal Government. Some other traditional rulers have expressed their readiness to live and sink with their governors. I don’t so much blame them because any show of disloyalty to the powers that be could result in the withdrawal of their salaries and other perks.

The celebration of the Queen’s birthday was also a testimony to how Britain exports its culture to other parts of the world. English, for instance, is gradually driving away our local languages. Take Igbo language, for instance. Most of these children that grow up in urban areas hardly know that “bia” means come. At school, they speak English. At home, their parents also force them to speak English.

During the last Easter break, I took my children to the village to commune with their roots. It was interesting listening to their conversation in Igbo when they came back to Lagos. They asked each other to interpret different Igbo words and phrases. In particular, each of them wanted the other to tell them the meaning of “bia rie nri,” “je nyuo nsi” and “je rahu ura.” They correctly interpreted them to be “come and eat”, “go and defecate” and “go and sleep”. It was not difficult for them to interpret because these are the things they know how best to do for now.

We need to do something about our dying cultures. True, the world is now a global village. But while we take some positive things from other cultures, we can as well influence other people to copy ours. This is why I tend to appreciate what people like the Central Bank Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, have done. Soludo was hitherto addressed as Charles. But he now prefers to be addressed by his native name.

My own native name is Chibuzo. But people call me Casmir. The name was not my choice. As Catholics, my parents took me to the church as an infant and had me baptised with that name. I decided to retain it simply because it is not as common as Charles or Peter or Simon.

Many of us bear foreign identities. Some prefer fake outlook. Or how does one explain the fact that some black people bleach their bodies to become white. Some manipulate their flat noses to look pointed. Some do tummy tucks to look ageless. Some artificially blow up their buttocks and breasts ostensibly to attract men. We can imbibe positive aspects of foreign and local culture. But for those ones that will make us look foolish or faceless, we must collectively say, no way!

 Re: Tales of encounter with marshals

My brother,

I read your piece in the SUNDAY PUNCH on the encounter you had with our marshals on Kingsway Road, Ikoyi around 1440hrs on Monday April 14, 2008. I have asked Lagos Island to give me a report on the issue in order to identify the lady marshal that attempted to extort money from you.

I also demanded to know the circumstances that led to non-issuance of receipts for the transactions. We shall investigate all the issues raised. Please avail us your telephone number(s), for the investigating panel to get in touch with you.

Thanks for providing us the feedback opportunity. The Federal Road Safety Commission appreciates such opportunities, as we do not condone indiscipline. We frown seriously on extortion. In fact, we have fished out and flushed out many. It is a continuous process. Once again, Thanks.

Kayode Olagunju,

(Corps Commander),

Sector Commander, FRSC, Lagos.

Tales of encounter with marshals

By Casmir Igbokwe

 Published: Sunday, 27 Apr 2008

TWO major things activate the prayerful spirit in my wife. One is when she sees me in a vision with ladies. The other is whenever we are on the road, especially beside a container-bearing truck or a Molue. Most of these truck drivers don‘t latch the containers they carry. The Molue driver will first cover your vision with excessive smoke. Then, he will push you dangerously out of the road or even hit your car with impudence. At such moments, chants of “blood of Jesus” usually rend the air.

Really, driving on Nigerian roads amounts to travelling to Golgotha. There are many obstacles motorists contend with: bad roads, rickety vehicles, armed robbers etc. Just last week, a container-carrying truck crushed two vehicles on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. The accident reportedly happened because the two affected vehicles were fleeing from armed robbers operating on the road. They made a U-turn and drove against the traffic. In the process, they had a head-on collision with the truck. The container on the truck fell on the vehicles, resulting in the tragic death of 13 people.

There are people who also make U-turn when they sight law enforcement agents, particularly officers and men of the Federal Road Safety Commission. The reason is that people perceive them to be more stubborn and uncompromising. The police may collect N20 and leave you, but marshals may not. Their own collection, call it fine if you like, goes far above N20.

For instance, sometime in 2003, I ran into their net at Aba in Abia State. My major offence was that I had an expired fire extinguisher. Despite my pleas and in spite of the fact that some of them, including their commander, were my friends, they booked me. Immediately I returned from my travel, I went to their office and paid my fine. They told me that I could have gone to the bank to pay. But because I was their friend, they decided to save me the trouble by collecting the fine in their office.

Since then, I vowed never to fall into their trap again. I make sure I always have fire extinguisher, caution sign and all such things that they ask for. And so, it was with confidence that I stopped when some marshals flagged me down on Kingsway Road, by NNPC Filling Station, Ikoyi, Lagos. It was on Monday, 14 April at about 2.40pm. I had passed another group less than 100 metres on the same road. The lady marshal, who was detailed to check me, first asked for my driving licence and vehicle particulars. I gave them out with all pleasure. She held them as she asked for my fire extinguisher and caution sign. I provided all these. “Go and march your brake,” she ordered.

Meanwhile, two other clean vehicles were behind me: one, a Japanese car; the other, a Jeep driven by a woman. The woman was fuming, “I am going to the hospital. I don’t know what you people are talking about. This is my husband’s car. I don’t know where he keeps his fire extinguisher and C Caution.” Immediately, she called her husband to complain.

As she was yelling, I marched my brake as ordered. With triumphant glee, the marshal said, “Your brake lights are not working.” I expressed surprise at this discovery. To convince me, she called her colleague to come and check as well. The second person came and asked me to march again. I did. Her verdict was that the right side was working, but the left side was not. I simply told them that a car, being a mechanical device, could develop fault anytime. “Oga,” she said, “this is an offence. So what do we do?” I knew where she was going, so I threw the question back at her.

The penalty for my offence, she said, was N3, 000, which I must pay in their office on the island. But to show me some mercy (like their Aba counterparts), she said I could pay N2, 000 there without bothering to come to their office. I rejected her kind gesture. It was then she said I should talk to their oga. I waited as the oga was booking the man behind me. After this, the oga, without uttering any word, started booking me. When he was through, he gave me the ticket and walked away.

The following day, I went to their office located on Sura area of Lagos Island to pay. At the registry there, they gave me a Union Bank deposit slip with which I paid N2, 000 into the FRSC account at the Lewis Street branch of the bank. When I came back, they collected the customer’s duplicate copy of the slip from me. They not only forced me to buy their booklet, The Revised Highway Code, for N300, but also apologised for not giving me any receipt for all the transactions I made with them. They claimed they had run short of receipts.

Though I wasted my time and energy going back to the island to pay, I felt happy with myself. I was happy that I didn’t succumb to the subtle attempt to make me pay N2, 000 that may never be officially recorded. I was happy that the experience enriched my knowledge of traffic offences and the punishment accompanying them. And I was surprised to find out that the official fine for my offence, known as lights/sign violation, was N2, 000 and not N3, 000 as the lady marshal erroneously told me.

Some other offences and their fines include road obstruction violation, which is N3, 000; driving licence violation, N3, 000; dangerous overtaking violation, N3, 000; traffic light disobedience, N5, 000. Others are attempting to corrupt marshal, N10, 000; use of phone while driving, N4, 000; seat belt violation, N2, 000; hospital rejection of accident victim, N50, 000 and excessive smoke emission, N5, 000. There are many other offences.

Indeed, no sane society condones reckless violation of traffic rules. In the United Kingdom, Immigration Minister and MP, Liam Byrne, was fined £100 last year for using his mobile phone while driving. A Sutton Coldfield Magistrate’s Court also ordered him to pay £35 costs and gave him three penalty points on his licence. This was in spite of the fact that the minister was taking an important call on a deportation matter. Ironically, Byrne, according to media reports, is a strong campaigner for road safety. In 2005, he reportedly tabled a petition from constituents, which called for tougher penalties against dangerous drivers. He was also said to be on the committee that inculcated in UK’s 2006 Road Safety Act, an increase in fines for using a mobile phone while driving.

Similarly, the Wrexham magistrates fined the former Chairman of roads policing at the association of Chief Police Officers in Wales, £350 and banned him from driving for 42 days last year. Chief Constable Meredydd Hughes was caught on camera driving on a speed of 90mph in a 60mph zone.

My sincere wish is to see a Nigeria where marshals can book a minister or his convoy for over-speeding; where safety considerations override collection of fines or bribes; where more attention is focused on the express roads, where scores of Nigerians perish everyday rather than on less risky roads as in Ikoyi; and where every road user behaves so rationally that there may not be any need to shout “blood of Jesus” whenever we are on the road.

Abuja land probe: Matters arising

By Casmir Igbokwe

 

Published: Sunday, 20 Apr 2008

My encounter with the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja in July 2005 was by accident. The KLM flight I took from Amsterdam was billed to land at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. But a big cargo plane had crash-landed and blocked the only functional runway in Lagos then. After hovering in the air for over 30 minutes, we found ourselves at the Kotoka International Airport, Accra, Ghana. And since the airport authorities in Lagos could not remove the cargo plane that day, we were forced to land in Abuja from Accra. Moving through the streets of Abuja was a delight to me. The city was glittering like the European city I was just returning from. It was a total opposite of the bedlam called Lagos.

I later got to understand that the magic hand that transformed Abuja was Mallam Nasir el-Rufai. When he assumed office as the FCT Minister, he vowed to restore the Abuja master-plan. To achieve his aim, he had to revoke the allocation of some plots of land. He also demolished structures, most of which were allegedly built on sewers and water lines.

This, no doubt, was and remains an unpopular decision. For one, the demolition affected many prominent Nigerians. Some of them are former Heads of State, Yakubu Gowon and Abdulsalami Abubakar; former President Shehu Shagari; former Vice- President, Alex Ekwueme, and former Anambra State Governor, Chukwuemeka Ezeife. Some not-so-prominent Nigerians were also affected.

Some of these individuals had lamented the treatment meted out to them. Some, according to the FCT Minister, Aliu Modibbo Umar, had been putting pressure on him to return their revoked plots. Some took legal action and, as at the last count, over 800 cases are said to be in court over land allocations.

Apparently to douse tension and right some perceived wrongs, the Senate Committee on the FCT decided to undertake a public hearing on the sale of federal houses, allocation and revocation of plots of land in Abuja. The committee said the probe was not targeted at any individual. But, from what transpired at the hearing last week, el-Rufai seemed to be the main target.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo‘s government reportedly allocated 37,938 plots in Abuja to individuals and organisations between 1999 and 2007. Some of the allocations were contentious. Some were revoked. Aggrieved parties were aghast. They poured out their venom. Some called for the head of el-Rufai. Even some columnists and public commentators joined the fray. They labelled Obasanjo a monster, a demented despot and so on. El-Rufai got the worst tongue-lashing. The whole thing, to say the least, became a sentimental exercise in ad hominem and name-calling.

This is understandable. While not holding brief for anybody, it is pertinent to note that land anywhere is a contentious resource. A man could kill his brother because of it. Instances abound where aggrieved sons have either beaten up or killed their fathers for not giving them the lion‘s share of their landed property. Indeed, any investment in land is an investment well made. And if that investment is in a place like Abuja, the investor may never experience poverty again.

Besides, some may have spent their lifetime savings to acquire the property in Abuja. Visionary civil servants in particular usually go into real estate when they make some money. That serves as a buffer against penury. And during retirement, they will continue to live comfortably from the proceeds of their investment, pension or no pension.

This is why it is painful that some of them had to lose their property in controversial circumstances. Obviously, mistakes might have been made in the allocation, revocation and reallocation of the choice property in Abuja. Some allegations have it that some civil servants working under el-Rufai sold some of these plots illegally to unwary buyers. Some alleged that the former FCT Minister revoked the lands and reallocated them to his cronies and family members.

Even the Chairman of the panel probing the allocations, Senator Abubakar Sodangi, is alleged to have participated in the allocation process. Last Thursday, the Acting Director, Abuja Geographic Information Services, Mallam Yahaya Yusuf, accused him of acquiring 20 plots of land in Abuja. Yusuf was reportedly interrupted when he started reading the particulars of the plots. Sodangi denied acquiring 20 plots, but admitted having three.

In any case, all law-abiding Nigerians, including el-Rufai’s wives, are entitled to legal acquisition of lands anywhere in Nigeria. It is only when that acquisition goes against due process that it becomes an issue. He who seeks or dispenses justices must be above board. It will be disheartening if it is later discovered that the probe is nothing but a witch-hunt and that those crying foul are part of the mess in the first place.

This is why the panel must be very careful in the discharge of its duties. Rather than the emotional outbursts that have trailed the probe, the committee should look at issues dispassionately. If any civil servant had engaged in allocating lands illegally without the knowledge and consent of the Minister, that civil servant should be identified and punished. If el-Rufai is the one that is deliberately at fault, then the law should take its course.

My concern in all this is that things have gone wrong and continue to go wrong in Nigeria because we like to circumvent the rules. If the law prohibits building on a sewer and you deliberately violate that law, I have no sympathies if the property is demolished. That Singapore is prospering today is partly because their law is no respecter of persons. Recall that a Nigerian who was caught with hard drugs in that country was executed despite pleas for clemency by the Nigerian government. It pained us as a people, but that is their law.

This is not to say that those who have genuine complaints as regards the revocation of their lands should not be compensated. They should. But with due respect to such people, I believe that el-Rufai did his best to make Abuja what it is today. If not for his efforts, by now, the FCT would have become another bedlam. The Senate President, David Mark, hit the nail on the head when he noted (in his opening speech at the start of the public hearing), that he admired the zeal with which the last administration handled issues of the master-plan of Abuja. He hoped that this administration would keep to the master-plan and improve on the job done by the immediate past regime.

This seems to be the most sensible thing to do.

The trouble with Anambra

By Casmir Igbokwe

 Published: Sunday, 13 Apr 2008

THERE is a Christian song that the Catholic Prayer Ministry, Elele, in Rivers State, popularised in the 90s. When translated from Igbo, it means: “Today is a joyful day, everyday is not for weeping. Today is a joyful day, everyday is not for supplications.” Thousands of miracle-seeking faithful usually sang this song with faith and happiness.

This song came into my mind immediately I set out to write this piece. But realising that there is little to cheer about in our country today, I decided to reverse the lyrics. And so, for me, “Today is a sad day; everyday is not for laughter. Today is a day for sober reflection, a day to cry for Anambra State, nay, Nigeria.”

On Easter Sunday, Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, was at St. Patrick‘s Catholic Church, Isuofia, in the Aguata Local Government Area of the state. In his speech at the service, he urged the congregation to pray for him. What is the reason? There are many wolves in and out of government, who are guided only by their selfish interests. These characters will not allow him to do the work the people of the state elected him to do.

I did not grasp the full import of this statement until the latest crisis over the state’s 2008 budget surfaced. Penultimate week, the House of Assembly Committee on Finance and Appropriation slashed the state’s budget from N84.2bn to N57.6bn. This generated some furore, which led to exchange of blows and throwing of chairs and tables at the assembly chambers. Media reports indicate that the committee reduced recurrent expenditure from N24.2bn to N21.9bn and capital expenditure from N60bn to 35.7bn. It also reduced the allocations to some other sectors, but reportedly increased the allocation to the House to N1.235bn from N284m.

To the House Leader, Mrs. Njideka Ezeigwe, the face-off between the lawmakers and Obi was because some of them purportedly refused to collect a plot of land and N50m each to facilitate the passage of the budget. According to her, “The governor has been rushing us to pass the 2008 budget without scrutinising it, but we have refused to be intimidated or blackmailed.” These lawmakers must be saints!

The executive/legislative altercation in Anambra did not start today. Recall that some legislators once organised themselves and claimed to have impeached Obi. He challenged it in the courts and won. Towards the end of 2007, the legislators also flexed muscles with him over the implementation of the 2007 Appropriation Act of the state. At a stage, the lawmakers alleged that the agents of the executive were threatening their lives. The governor denied this charge.

Incidentally, that state is home to many prominent Igbo citizens. The late Nnamdi Azikiwe hailed from the state. Dim Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu is also from there. Other prominent citizens of the state are former Vice President, Dr Alex Ekwueme; former Commonwealth Secretary-General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku; foremost author, Prof. Chinua Achebe; the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo; and the Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Prof. Dora Akunyili.

The questions are: why is Anambra always in turmoil in spite of this array of personalities? And for how long will the state make headlines for the wrong reasons? In the days of Chinwoke Mbadinuju as governor, development flew away from the state. Civil servants could not take home their salaries. A terror gang masquerading as a vigilance group held sway. The people cried out but nobody heard them. Emeka Ngige replaced Mbadinuju as governor. He tried to work for the development of the state. But the powers that be did not give him any breathing space. At a point, they tried to abduct him just to intimidate him into submission.

Yet, this is a state that needs harmony and all the resources at its disposal to fight underdevelopment. Some of the roads in the state are still not what they should be. Though the Nnobi-Awka Etiti Road has been repaired, for instance, the Igbo Ukwu- Isuofia-Ekwulobia axis of the road is still in a terrible state. Public water supply is virtually non-existent in most towns. What most families resort to are wells and overhead tanks where they store rainwater for eventual use during the dry season.

There is also the challenge of erosion. Some parts of the state such as Nanka, Oko and Ekwulobia are the worst hit. The menace has swallowed up some houses there. One may not appreciate the enormity of this problem until one visits any of these erosion sites. The devastation is horrendous.

Besides, a litre of petrol in that state is between N90 and N100, instead of the N70 official price. A litre of kerosene is about N90. I understand the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company Limited no longer pumps products to the depots in Aba, Enugu and Makurdi. These are the issues a people-oriented assembly should be debating.

The trouble with Anambra is greed. Most people always look at things with business eyes. Hence, they see government as a business enterprise that must dole out dividends to stakeholders. Those dividends do not come in form of general development that will benefit everybody. They are expected to come in form of personal patronage to line the pockets of a few individuals.

Though the governor is a member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, the 30 members of the assembly belong to the Peoples Democratic Party. And there are powerful interests in the state, who wish that the PDP also controlled the executive arm. It is time these divergent interests sank their differences in the general interest of the state.

Happily, some elders of the state have decided to wade in the crisis. People like the former governor of the state, Chukwuemeka Ezeife; former Health Minister, Tim Menakaya; former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Agunwa Anekwe; and the Catholic Bishop of Awka, Simon Okafor, among others, met with the lawmakers last week. Their mission was to find amicable ways of settling the budget impasse. The problem is that in a state where some people have little or no respect for elders, nothing much may come out of the intervention if it does not serve the selfish interest of some individuals.

The citizens of the state must be alert at all times. They must take a cue from Onitsha traders, who closed their markets last Monday to protest the budget delay. They accused the legislators of colluding with an erstwhile governor of the state to starve the incumbent governor of funds and hence prepare the grounds for his impeachment. The traders vowed not to fold their hands and watch a group of supposedly elected persons turn themselves into tin gods and hold the entire state to ransom. They urged the assembly to pass the budget as presented.

In all, the governor and the assemblymen should begin to see themselves as partners in progress. They should carry one another along in their programmes and activities. Collectively, they should inspire hope in the citizenry most of whom have placed all their hopes in miracle centres. Anambra people must begin to see everyday as a day of joy.

Swindlers, Church of Painted Breast and other stories

By Casmir Igbokwe

 Published: Sunday, 6 Apr 2008

LAST December, the BBC’s news website published a report about how a certain Mike beat a Nigerian scammer at his own game. Mike and his group of volunteers at 419eater.com used their computer skills to fool the con man, Prince Joe Eboh.

According to the story, Eboh claimed to be the “Chairman of the Contract Award Committee of the Niger Delta Development Commission, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.” He wanted to strike some deals with Mike. But Mike told him he worked for a church and could not do any business with people who were not of his faith. He signed the mail as Father Hector Barnett of the Church of the Painted Breast.

Eboh wrote back and promised to join the church. On receiving this message, Mike, alias Father Hector, replied, saying their ministry was founded in 1774 by a lady called Betsy Carrington. This woman, he reportedly told Eboh, spent her first preaching years in the Masai warrior tribe of Kenya. To identify with the people and make them accept and trust her, she had to remove the top part of her clothes and painted the top half of her body and breast with the red Masai war paint. Using image software, Mike made up an initiation picture of young inductees with painted breasts and sent to Eboh. As a precondition to enter the Holy Church of the Order of the Red Breast, Eboh must do likewise.

The swindler removed his dress as instructed, painted his breast and mailed the picture to Mike. Seeing his ugly face with protruding belly on the BBC website made me pity him. He thanked God for the opportunity to be a member of the church and looked forward to establishing a branch in his place. However, he was more interested in finalising his business proposal. The processing fee for transferring the proposed millions to Father Hector‘s account is $18,000. Father Hector told him his church had plenty of money, but that he needed $80 withdrawal fee. The con man quickly sent the money inside a birthday card by courier. Apparently not realising that he had been conned, the swindler continues to send his con mails and saying the daily prayer of the fake church: ”When all above seems a great test, get on down with the Holy Red Breast.”

These fraudsters will never repent. On Thursday that preceded the last Easter, I received an unusual call. The caller hid his identity, but his voice was friendly: “Happy Easter my brother! How are you and how is the family? How is Nigeria?” I told him that nothing much had changed in Nigeria, that we were still searching for a plane (the Beechcraft aircraft that got missing since March 15) days after it disappeared from the sky. “O my God!” he retorted, “when will that country ever grow?”

He later asked if I knew who was speaking. I didn‘t. “Can‘t you decode that from my voice?” he asked. Not being suspicious of anything, I mentioned the name of a friend whose voice sounds similar. He said he was the one and that he was now in London. He wanted me to contact a friend called Engineer John on 08032570806 as soon as possible. John was to deliver a very important message to me on his behalf. I should feel free to contact him anytime on 009447045791619.

I almost called “Engineer John” immediately. But on a second thought, I decided to call the Nigerian number of the friend I thought I had spoken with. The phone rang and my friend picked it. I needed no soothsayer to tell me that 419ers were at work.

Now, I receive their mails on a daily basis. The latest one is from Peter Hammond, the Recruitment Officer/CEO of Hammond Fabrics & Textiles Inc., 5 Russell Square, London. The company, Hammond noted, “Is one of the biggest and most successful textile, fabrics and antique wears company (sic) in the United Kingdom.” And it needs a payment representative in the United States and Canada, who will receive payments on its behalf from clients. The money comes in form of certified cashier cheques or money orders, which I will first cash in my bank, deduct 10 per cent commission and then forward the balance to any of their offices via electronic transfer. There is no need boring you with other details.

Surrounding us are all sorts of criminals, who do even worse than the 419ers. Armed robbers have held and continued to hold the nation hostage. Some civil servants are sharing the common wealth in the name of Christmas bonus. Some politicians use human beings for rituals in order to get power and loot the treasury. Many contractors collect billions of naira to fix our poor infrastructure, but pocket the money and do nothing. The petrol attendant manipulates the pumping machine to short-change the unwary customer.

The entire system is rotten. We have been oscillating between one scandal and the other: Ettehgate; Siemens scandal; Wilbros scam; national ID card swindle; power sector scam; Christmas bonus loot and so on. There seems to be no end in sight. No leader seems to believe in Nigeria. The mantra appears to be, grab as much loot as possible as there may not be any Nigeria tomorrow.

We are undoing ourselves and nobody else. This is why almost every young Nigerian wants to run away from the country. I met a young man recently at Imo Concord Hotel, Owerri. He desperately wanted to leave Nigeria. He asked me how much it would cost him to travel to London to either work or do business. My advice that he should continue with his work at the hotel fell on deaf ears. He enthused that he had just got his passport (as if passport is all that is needed to travel abroad) and his parents really wanted him to leave Nigeria. In 2007 alone, the United States Department of Homeland Security reportedly deported about 50,000 Nigerians from that country.

Nigerians face humiliating treatment from other Western nations. Some are serving various jail sentences abroad. And Foreign Affairs Minister, Ojo Maduekwe, thinks he is doing them a favour by asking them to serve their jail terms at home. The minister complained last week that Nigerian prisoners abroad had rejected his come-and-complete-your-sentences-at-home application. According to him, Nigeria will demand respect, fair and lawful treatment for her citizens even when they allegedly commit crimes.

Maduekwe gladdened my heart when he was quoted to have said, ”To create the kind of loyalty that Nigeria deserves, we must go back and ensure effective and responsible governance that touches on the lives of the people.” Until leaders at all levels imbibe this exhortation, Nigerians will continue to troop out and commit crimes. And foreigners will always treat us as a people who can do such foolish things as painting their breasts to swindle a church.