The result of a mock election conducted for pupils in Lagos State by a consulting firm has been announced in favour of President Goodluck Jonathan. He scored 466 votes to beat his closest rival, Ibrahim Babangida who had 15. An education consultancy firm, Standard Mandate International (SMI), organised the event, during its School Prefects and Leaders Summit, held at the Main Auditorium, University of Lagos.
While giving the analysis of the result, the Managing Consultant of SMI, Nelson Ayodele, said over 600 pupils drawn from 60 public and private primary schools in the state participated in the one-day exercise. Some of the schools include: Corona School, Straitgate School, Ketu, St Bernadette, Akoka, Toadel Private School, Okota, Ebenezer Montessori School, Agege, among others.
Ayodele called for the inclusion of leadership in the school curriculum to make beginners’ classes possible for children. He said the summit was essentially packaged for prefects in primary schools to raise their consciousness in the country’s leadership. “It is better to groom a child than repay an adult,†he said.
He said the vision was to constitute the children into a soft interest group and integrate them into a young leaders club, with affiliation with similar international organisations. Explaining the conduct of the election, Ayodele said the pupils were given the freedom to make their choice, as no ballot papers suggesting names of candidates were issued.
“We just distributed papers to them to write down the name of the person they will like to become the president. It is an open secret balloting because they made their individual choices. “Jonathan got the majority votes ahead of his fellow aspirant, Babangida. Former vice president, Atiku Abubakar came a distant third with six votes, while Muhammadu Buhari got two votes.
“Since there was no restriction on their choice of candidate, some of the pupils chose former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, Namadi Sambo, David Mark, Donald Duke, Chris Okotie, Bukola Saraki and Nuhu Ribadu. Earlier, the pupils, through a voice vote, elected Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) to continue for a second term as the governor of the state. Mr. Ayodele said an open forum between the pupils and governorship aspirants in the state would be organised next year to inspire the future leaders. Aside the mock election, erudite scholars, including the Proprietor of Childville Schools, Yaba, Lady Gbeminiyi Smith, tutored the children on leadership skills and responsibilities.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
1.Juliet Ibrahim-I would rather put out my eyes with a fork than watch Juliet Ibrahim in anything. She can’t act her way out of the paper bag, plus she has zero personality. She just plays herself in every movie. Never understood all the hype about her, she isn’t that good, her body is not proportionate. God, she is so awful.
3.Yvonne Nelson- is nothing but an eye candy. She is so overrated that the movies she is in, suck because of her. What a nose on her. Poor skin, pounded with makeup and seems like a mean person. She acts like an uppity snob and portrays that well in her movies.
4.KALSOUME SINARE- where can I start with her? Bad actress personified. Brutal actress… she NEVER sounds like she is not reading the script when she talks on film. Her emotions are as obviously phony as her. Total garbage as an actress. There are bad actresses out there, but none can compare to the tar left by none other than the legendary queen of terrible acting—Kalsoume Sinare. Basically in a nutshell, she is CRAP!
From Nollywood: 5.Queen Nwokoye- is as stiff as a surf board, she goes with the waves. Worst excuse for an actor ever. She strikes me as a frightened kid in a neighborhood she doesn’t belong in; and that neighborhood is nollywood.
6.Uche Obodo- Boobs and talent are two completely different things. Here is an enigma I have never understood, how the hell did this girl even make it unto a movie set, never mind being thought of as an actress? The only thing I give her credit for is duping half of the idiot producers in nollywood into believing that she has talent! His voice/fake accent is enough to make you punch yourself in the face! I cannot stand to look at her disgusting wide mouth that she covers with shiny lip gloss. She looks like she could fit a bowling ball into it!
7.Uche Eleandu- No talent and a nauseating voice to boot! What are the producers thinking? Why is she still around when there are so many more talented actresses? I can’t believe that she gets more roles than Bimbo Akintola. What a shame?
8.JJ Bunny-Only saw her in one movie, but that’s enough to know she sucks. Governor’s gift, anyone? Her acting blows and she deserves to be kicked in the head for trying to act. Do you guys know that she sings too? My God, she is awful at that too. Suddenly I’m starting to get depressed about the fact that the world probably isn’t going to end in 2012. The very fact that this movie got made and I spent my hard earned five bucks on it proves that nollywood is heading for a big disaster if care is not taken.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
One of the apprehensions of members of the public against the church is that it collects so much from members in offerings and tithes and leaving many of them poorer. In fact, in the recent times, the church has had to be been taken up on several cases that many consider the tyranny of the church against the people. One of these is high charge on some of the services provided by the church. Precisely, a lot of people sore displeased about high cost of church educational institutions; nursery, primary, secondary and tertiary. But much as many churches, particularly the big ones, are guilty of this public ill-feeling, there are few of the churches which really care for the people. SEGUN OTOKITI identifies some of them and how they are impacting on the lives of some of the members of the public.
Times were when the only schools and hospitals in the country were those operated by the missionaries. The running of these social service institutions was almost at no cost to beneficiaries; the Nigerian teeming masses. Besides, many there are today that would not have become successful individuals but for the sacrifices of the missionaries who toiled and spared their meagre resources to give them education. So concerned were the missionaries for the locals then that some of them would convert their residential apartments to classrooms to substitute for formal arrangements that were at first unavailable. Many young Nigerians, after the initial training or after being discovered to have certain talent or capability, were sent abroad for further education or exposure.
It was the same story for missionaries’ efforts at the medical front. Before their coming, many Nigerians, especially children, had died of curable diseases. Vaccines were developed and given to people as prevention against deadly diseases as small pox, malarial, measles, polio, leprosy etc. In fact, many of the of the missionaries were infected and died of the diseases they were working to cure and eliminate.
Education and medicals were not the only services they provided, their efforts cut across all the facets of human lives. So, if foreign missionaries could give that much to people with whom they bore no ancestral, racial or blood relationship, why should Nigerian missionaries not do more, many would ask.
But unfortunately, the reverse of the colonial missionaries’ efforts is presently the case in the country today. When confronted on the issue, many of them would blame it the situation in the country. On high cost of education, they would say it has to be so because of facilities and good pay they give to their staff. They would also argue that due to lack of functional electricity, they run 24 hours on diesel to provide power, water and other conveniences to students of their institutions. But they would not say anything on what the portion of average members of their church is if they cannot benefit from social services provided by the church. Doesn’t it amount to fraud and wickedness if some members who pay tithe and offering as others are unable to enjoy the good provided by their church because they cannot afford the cost?
Many members of the public have asked if it is the average members are the ones that should be sacrificed for the situation in the country that the church is using as a cover up of its practice. Again, some people have queried whether the practice derives truly from the situation in the country and not from lack of godly spirit evident in the lives of the missionaries of the old. Is situation worse now that churches are making so much money from members than in old times when missionaries had to forfeit personal convenience to change people’s lives for the better?
But it’s still not a lost situation as there are still few of churches in the country doing great things to make life better for many suffering masses. Some of them are big time churches while others are small in size and spread but great and ubiquitous in giving. Below are three of such and what they do.
Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN)
Another Ministry is the humanitarian arm of SCOAN, with projects catering to the needs of widows, dwarves, the elderly, physically challenged, orphans and the destitute. The church provides scholarships to orphans and children of the less privileged, with educational support promised from primary to tertiary levels. There is also a rehabilitation programme for armed robbers and prostitutes. Often, the church financially supports them to secure a practical vocation. On his 45th birthday on June 12, 2008, T. B. Joshua made a large donation to the less privileged. Joshua has also provided scholarships for numerous physically challenged students and sponsored many physically challenged athletes. He is known to help people irrespective of faith or denomination.
In a recent bimonthly event for the physically challenged at SCOAN, Joshua expressed plans to build a university to specifically cater for the less privileged who have no one else to help them further their education, as well as giving gifts of over N30m to the thousands of participants. Giving to the less privileged forms a major part of each Sunday Service at the SCOAN; Joshua exhorts members of the church to do likewise in their respective communities in his belief that ‘the secret of blessing is in giving’.
Under another ministry, various NGO’s have been established in other countries, including the Passion For Needy in Ghana.
The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) once honoured Joshua in recognition of his scholarship schemes for the poor and physically challenged students. His philanthropic activities have been commended throughout Nigeria.
In 2009 Joshua floated a football club, My People FC, as part of his efforts to help the youth. The young team have already made a mark on the Nigerian football scene. Three players have been sponsored abroad to play professional football in Sweden.
Two players from My People FC played for Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets in the FIFA U-17 World Cup. Sani Emmanuel, who was raised in the SCOAN and worked as an altar boy, was Nigeria’s top-scorer and the tournament’s MVP, winning the Golden Ball and Silver Shoe. Emmanuel and his colleague Ogenyi Onazi have since expressed plans to have a foundation to help other less privileged youths, where “every proper means will be used to discover the talentedâ€.
At a thanksgiving service in the SCOAN held after the cadet World Cup, Golden Eaglets’ goalkeeper, Dami Paul, also testified to receiving healing through Joshua’s prayers before the tournament’s commencement.
The church philanthropic spirit is not demonstrated to people in Nigeria alone, it goes to other countries of the world. After the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Emmanuel TV Haiti Earthquake Relief Team was sent to the disaster area. Chartering a cargo plane to transport essential medical and food supplies to Haiti, an international team of medical personnel and humanitarian workers travelled to Arcahaie, a town just north of Port-au-Prince, to which many earthquake victims had fled. The team established a field hospital called ‘Clinique Emmanuel’ to provide vital medical care and assistance to the earthquake-stricken indigenes, with plans also in place for an orphanage.
Also, the church leader T. B. Joshua was instrumental in reconciling the families of the late Samuel Doe of Liberia and the man accused of assassinating him, Prince Yormie Johnson. Prior to the reconciliation, the two families were sworn enemies.
The Nigerian press have reported other cases of families being reconciled by T. B. Joshua after years of separation.
In recognition of his humanitarian activities, Joshua was awarded the National Honour of OFR (Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic) by the Nigerian government in 2008.
INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church
The church is founded and led by Primate Babatunde Elijah Ayodele. It has its headquarters in Oke-Afa, Ejigbo, Lagos. Apart from impartation of spiritual influence, INRI Church is also known for its widespread philanthropic deeds. In order to explore itself of the charity spirit, the church set up a philanthropic arm known as INRI WIDOWS FOUNDATION (IWF). The foundation was established to provide succour for the less fortunate ones in the society – the orphans and vulnerable children, the widows who lost their beloved ones at critical moments of life.
The IWF on inception identified as core areas of concern; health-care, education, granting micro credit support that is interest – free, provision of accommodation, encouraging small scale business initiatives, vocational training especially for the youths and distribution of welfare packages.
The IWF is registered with the cooperate affairs commission Abuja as a non governmental organisation (NGO). It is a non-religious, non tribal, non ethnic, non racial and not – for – profit outfit.
Since its inception, the foundation has accomplished the following: Education for children – from 20 at inception to 1300; Health-care for all – from 40 to 1500; Empowerment/Business development- from 8 at the beginning to 1204; Shelter for the widows – from 10 to 600 now; Vocational training- from 3 to 80; Distribution of welfare relief packages- from 16 to 200; Care for the aged: from 01 – 60; Care for the orphans/vulnerable children- from 4 to 1200; Skills acquisition and capacity building initiatives for the youths- from 4 to 30; Care/counseling for HIV positive widows/children- from 02 to 500.
The activities of the church extends beyond the confines of the INRI community. Other charitable activities outside the church community are: The God bless my car project where a car worth 350,000.00 will be given to a beneficiary for 7,000.00 payable on instalments for 12 months; There is the monthly food service of the INRI CHURCH in which raw foodstuffs are distributed to the indigent members of the society in what is known as preaching the gospel of the stomach; The security agencies: police and prisons service are not left out. In the month of September 2010 special welfare packages were presented to the widows and children of windows from the police force in Lagos State to cushion the effects of the demise of their bread winners in active service. The Nigerian prisons service Badagry also benefited from the humanitarian gestures of the INRI CHURCH. In April and on 1st October 2010,food stuffs,ceiling fans,standing fan and cash incentives were given to the prisons service in Badagry to alleviate the plights of the inmates; On education and moral regeneration: On yearly basis,the man of God always identifies with the educational advancement projects of the Lagos State government. Thus,:Ilamoye junior Grammar school Isolo, Okota junior and senior Grammar schools,local Government primary school Idimu even private schools like Megatrio college Ilasa benefited from the support of the primate; In the secondary schools mentioned above,Annual Awards for the best students in Christian Religious studies were inaugurated to encourage religious and moral education in the students; At the C & S Movement Ayo Ni O church Ibadan District Headquarter Scholarship Award for the brilliant but indigent students but indigent student became possible through the support of the Man of God at INRI and; Back At School: to encourage purposeful learning for the children,the BACK AT SCHOOL packages for the children where textbooks, exercise books, school uniforms, school sandals, school bags and writing materials as well as payment of school fees was put in place. It is belief that without adequate provision of necessary working tools,the hours spent in schools by the students will be a waste.
Christ Livingspring Apostolic Ministry
Pastor Wole Oladiyun is the Senior Pastor/Founder of the fast growing Christ LivingSpring Apostolic Ministry, popularly known as CLAM. The church is presently situated at CLAM Close, Behind Tejumola House, Omole, Ogba, Ikeja Lagos. The Ministry caters for the souls of over 5000 worshippers. There are different departments to cater for the individual needs of members and to encourage them to give back to their creator.
The Church has 25 departments, which are geared towards the provision of certain services to the body of Christ, the members of the church and the church itself.
It achieves its main vision of winning souls for God through its evangelical arm known as Christ Livingspring Apostolic Ministry Global Outreach “CLAMGOâ€. The Ministry has a Director of Outreaches who coordinates the programmes of CLAMGO under the supervision of the Senior Pastor. Because we believe that the spirit of the lord is one and that the body of Christ is one, the outreach is usually held with other anointed and seasoned evangelists and missionaries working in the field near where the crusades and outreaches are to be held. The choices of location for outreaches are usually by the leading of the Holy Spirit or by requests made by host pastors or people in a community or area.
A widows and widowers’ group also exists under this department. The group provides spiritual leadership and counseling for widows and widowers in the church. The group receives counseling on dealing with bereavement, traditional funeral rites, dealing with family members and in-laws, taking decisions as it affects their children (growth, developments, and education). The unemployed widow and widower are also encouraged to learn a skill to reduce their dependency on whatever inheritance they have acquired and in order to fill the gap of the loss of an additional income.
The department liaises with the Welfare Department to provide succour for members in need by providing them with cash, food stuff, clothes and even “holding hands†and joining of faith with those who lack.
Also, the welfare department, in collaboration with the Family Life Department, apart from providing physical and material succour to those members in need, arranges skill acquisition programmes for the unemployed members and members facing financial difficulties. This is to fulfill the biblical injunction of teaching people to “fish†rather than providing them with “fishâ€. The church provides some start up capital for serious minded people who have undergone some skill acquisition training and have shown promises of excellence. Such provision is either in the form of a loan or an outright gift depending on the circumstance of the member.
Apart from catering for the general welfare of the people, the department also liaises with the Evangelism department to provide support for those won into the kingdom of God and for visits to orphanages, hospitals etc.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
I magine a British citizen arriving in Nigeria on Friday night for the first time. He is perhaps welcomed by an immigration officer whose name is Charles, then has his baggage inspected by a customs official, William and later checked into Newcastle Hotel, but has been told there are other good hotels in the country – Liverpool, Chelsea, Bolton, Bristol and Hawthorne. Coming from Manchester, he feels somewhat left out.After a beer by the poolside next morning, our visitor is alarmed by loud noises from cursing and fighting nearby. Frightened, he quickly requests the hotel management to check him out.
The manager calms him down, “Oh it’s these hooligans, these football fans, Manchester United supporters fighting with Arsenal fans! We see that every Saturday.” The visitor is shocked beyond belief, cannot comprehend what he has just heard – Arsenal and United fans fighting in a place called Nigeria! And maybe none of these guys had ever been to England before, never visited Old Trafford or the Emirates! What kind of people are these Nigerians! Later, Henry, the steward brings in his tea, but cheekily hangs around for a minute, watching the football match on the TV in his room, then leaps in the air, overjoyed, as Sunderland score against Chelsea.”So, who are you supporting?” the Englishman inquires. “Sir, I’m a Man U fan!” The visitor is totally lost for words, but still makes a call to his family back in the UK to tell them what is going on.
Reading about Nigeria before falling asleep, he makes a stunning discovery that keeps him awake – the country has been a sovereign state, independent from British colonial rule for 50 years! When foreigners come here, they are actually disappointed and disgusted at the painful attempts by Nigerians to measure themselves blindly by the culture and norms of the former colonial master without any sense of decency and self-respect.Festivals of art and culture in Nigeria were started by the British during colonial times, in appreciation of the people’s rich heritage which dates back over 2000 years. The partial result is that some of Africa’s most famous writers, sculptors and painters come from Nigeria. Ignorant post-colonial administrations have turned the country into a caricature of Europe or anything else but Africa.
We are yet to see the dividends of the 1977 FESTAC.In the early 1990s, Wole Soyinka commented that Abuja was disappointing in not reflecting Nigerian culture. The Nobel Laureate may be interested to know that Bala Mohammed, Minister for the Federal Capital Territory is presently preparing the award of a contract for the construction of the Abuja Town Centre to a US firm in Dallas.
Is this minister telling us there are no artists and architects in Nigeria to design and execute anything purposeful and culturally unique?
Know thyself
Bala Mohammed and our other leaders must also understand that for security reasons, it is not prudent to have the detailed architectural designs of built-up environments in a country – airports, air force bases, naval yards, highways, power stations, factories, central banks, mints and security printing, radio and telecommunications stations, ministries, presidential lodges, and prisons in the safe-keeping of foreigners.Most of such documents on Nigeria are already in the vaults of Julius Berger at their head office in Wiesbaden, Germany.
If the objective of development in this country is to emulate the industrialized world, Nigerians would prefer our governments to provide healthcare, water, electricity, food, jobs and schools, just like in Europe and America, instead of constructing massive concrete and glass houses in anci
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Nihu Ribadu, Nigeria’s former ‘anti-corruption czar’, is running for president. While he has little chance of winning, his campaign could be a sign that a more idealistic brand of politics is rising in Nigeria.
The presidential campaign by Nihu Ribadu may be hopeless, but it represents an important new form of political mobilization in a West African sub-region that greatly needs more creative electoral tactics.
Ribadu is the first anti-corruption czar in Nigeria, who was fired in 2007 after pushing too hard against wrong-doers in and around the government. While Ribadu has virtually no chance of winning a national election early next year, his campaign presents a novel approach to winning power in a country whose political leaders are a motley crew of misfits and miscreants. Ribadu is not without his flaws; he lacks administrative experience, and he has yet to demonstrate any particular sensitivity to Nigeria’s dizzying multi-ethnic, and multi-religious composition. Yet unlike anyone who has ever come before him in Nigerian politics, Ribadu is openly and frankly idealistic, committed to honesty, clarity and equity. These values make him a pioneer of great significance because his sub-region of West Africa is the most populous in the sub-Saharan and greatly in need of a vision for improved governance.
“Everything about me has always been clean and this will be a clean campaign,†Ribadu told the Economist this week. “In any case, I will not need as much money as other parties because I am not going to bribe anyone. My campaign is about winning over people with my ideas, not my money.â€
The idea of gaining political power in Africa through ideas has a long history. In South Africa, Mandela famously came to power through the power of an idea (tolerance to the white minority, and unassailed power to the black majority). And 50 years ago, in the waning years of white-supremacist colonialism, Nkrumah in Ghana and Toure in Guinea each mobilized their untutored masses with compelling ideas of political and economic self-reliance.
In pushing ideas and values to the forefront of his campaign, Ribadu brings to Nigeria, and West Africa generally, an approach to politics that has yielded good results in other parts of the world, notably Eastern Europe and Latin America. Campaigns of conscience are often critical to renewing the capacity for long-suffering, long-oppressed polities to assemble pragmatic reform movements out of the shattered pieces of their nations. While the odds are stacked heavily against campaigns of conscience in Africa — a region where the “politics of the belly†famously dominates — such campaigns should be applauded rather than dismissed, reflexively, as hopeless.
Ideas do matter in African politics, even though decades of cynicism and disappointments have left Africans and friends of Africa suspicious of big ideas and campaigns of conscience. Mandela and the African National Congress proved this proposition time and again in South Africa. So did many others in Eastern Europe and Latin America in recent decades. Pragmatism has its place of course; ordinary Africans have too often been sacrificed on the altar of wildly-inappropriate “grand†ideas. Rabadu’s animating idea that corruption is the chief enemy of Nigerian prosperity is not without flaws. Yet a committment to honesty and integrity is undeniably important in any reformation of Nigeria or many other African nations. So the conclusion is inescapable: Ribadu’s high-minded quest for Nigeria’s presidency, however quixotic, is a powerful reminder that for Africa to achieve greater prosperity values and ethics must co-evolve with improving material conditions and better leadership.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
First and foremost I am neither the spokesman of Philip Emeagwali nor do I intend to hold brief for him. Rather I am only trying here to look at the accusations levelled against him by Toyin Falola and his Yoruba friends, without bias. According to Saharareporters, Mr. Alan Karp the chief judge of the panel of judges for the Gordon Bell Prize recognized Emeagwali´s unique intellectual ability when he said: “Mr. Emeagwali didn`t win by default. As a lone graduate student he solved a harder problem that could have taken a team to solve.†End of quote.
Aside from numerous awards and recognitions both from the low and high places, in 1998, Emeagwali was also awarded the Distinguished Scientist Award by the World Bank. The writer of the article – Toyin Falola – and his friends concluded that unfortunately Emeagwali was filled with a false sense of entitlement and also described him as a lazy student who only wanted to earn a PhD without putting in much work. At the same time, however, they went further to contradict themselves in many areas. For example, they admitted that Emeagwali was a fairly brilliant student. Another example is that they admitted that Emeagwali holds two Masters of Science degrees in Engineering from George Washington University. And yet another Master’s degree in applied Mathematics from the University of Maryland in 1986. So, a pertinent question here is, how can a lazy student, who does not want to work hard to earn a degree earn three Master’s degrees in such difficult fields as science and engineering? Does it mean that because he could not manage to get his acts together to also get the “almighty PhD†that he must be seen as a failure and should be discredited by any means necessary? There are many known inventors who did not have a PhD.
Anyway, if these writers were not biased, why didn’t they bother to conduct an interview with Emeagwali to hear his own account of the whole problem he had with the University of Michigan? I ask this question because they reported that Emeagwali took the university to court because of the PhD issue. I know about two African students who had problems with some white professors who supervised their PhD work and the lecturers failed the students. One of these two students later went to another university and received his PhD. Today, he is a professor and head of department in a university in one of the universities in Ireland. Students could get messed up sometimes by professors supervising their work.
The impression the writers of the article laboriously created on reader’s mind was that Emeagwali was not capable of gaining any sound academic qualification, not to talk of winning any award. They even reduced the Gordon Bell Prize he won in 1989 to the level of your run-in-the-mills-awards. Nevertheless, Mr. Alan Karp informed the world that Emeagwali did not win the prize by default. This is contrary to what Mr. Falola and his friends wanted the whole world to believe. They claimed that Emeagwali actually got a second position and not a first position. But, because the Mobil company team got two first positions and as a company team, they are allowed to hold only one position, therefore, Emeagwali had to be declared winner since he was a lone graduate student. This is cruel seeing the extent Falola and his Yoruba friends have gone to distort official records, all in an attempt to discredit and rubbish Emeagwali`s reputation. The judge did fault some of Emeagwal´s wife’s claims. This is not a surprise since it did not come from Emeagwali but from his wife. I have visited Emeagwali´s internet website. I did not read where he described himself as a doctor or a professor. It is only his wife that has the title of a doctor. You will find this at Emeagwal´s contact information at the top right on his internet homepage, www.emeagwali.com.
NO HUMMAN BEING IS PERFECT
As aforementioned, I am not trying to exonerate Emeagwali from any of his weaknesses. There is no doubt that Emeagwali exaggerated and “over-milked†his achievements. For example, he allows people to call him doctor or professor and has done nothing to correct that. And he had gone haywire since his recognition as a scientist, instead of embarking on new research. But come to think of it, there is no human being without blemish. Hence the question, is Emeagwali the only one in the whole wide world that has a bloated ego and has over exaggerated and over milked his achievements?
WHAT ABOUT WOLE SOYINKA AND LATE GANI FAWEHINMI
I have enormous respect for Wole Soyinka and there is no doubt that he is a world-acclaimed scholar. But, for the past 24 years, there are no nooks and crannies that Soyinka has not set his foot on. He once boasted that he spent most of his life flying and couldn’t even remember where he was a few days before. He is always showing off and wants his audience to know which of the world VIPs he had dinner or a chat with the previous night. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnHV0HG6vM4&feature=related Today, a good proportion of the world sees and addresses Soyinka as a professor (which he is not, since I fear he may not have a PhD-see, http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20080327105613634) – and as the first African to have won a noble prize for literature. Though he knows that this (even the first) assumption or claim is false, yet he has done absolutely nothing to correct the falsehood. During his life time, Emperor Haile Selasie 1 of Ethiopia went to a radio station in Canada to let all Rastafari religion adherents around the world know that he was not a divine being and the messiah contrary to their belief, and that he could die like any mortal. And, true to his words, he was abducted in 1974 and murdered in 1975 by Ethiopian Marxist Military officers led by Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam.
In fact, contrary to Wole Soyinka´s claim, Albert Camus from Algeria who also held a French passport was the first African to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. That was as far back as 1957 before Soyinka in 1986 and Nadine Gordimer from South Africa in 1991. But the way Soyinka is running around the world exploiting his oratorical English speaking skill, implicitly coercing his unsuspecting and his admiring audience to see him as the only African sage by wearing his trade mark of blown-up white hairs and beards leaves much to be desired. Obviously, he has succeeded in misleading so many people to assume that the Nobel Prize for literature is something no other person can win except him. Unlike him, numerous past winners across the world, including his fellow African scholars have maintained philosophical calm and have invested their time in more research work to benefit present and future generations. Soyinka should learn some element of humility from Chinua Achebe. Chinua Achebe´s latest work is The Education of a British Protected Child (2009). He is currently working on another project about the Nigeria-Biafra war due for release next year. Wole Soyinka has also soiled his reputation by venturing into the corrupt, dirty and mucky waters of the Nigerian politics, by forming many quack and corrupt political parties in the past that never saw the light of day. His current Democratic Front for a Peoples Federation (DFPF) political party is well known by many Nigerians to have links to the “Evil-Genius†Babangida,- his old-time friend, who gave him the post of the director of the Road Safety Corpse, during his evil rule. And at that time Soyinka´s Nigeria Road Safety Corpse overtook the Nigeria police in bribing and corrupting Nigeria, particularly road traffic users. As a dramatist, he has never stopped dramatizing his life. Even the novel that won him the Nobel Prize The Man Died he wrote in 1972 and which was influenced by his prison experience and notes is not seen as a masterpiece by the majority of the people. The late Afro-beat king, Fela Anikulakpo Kuti heavily criticized the book. Indeed, when it comes to literature and other academic fields, we all know that the Yoruba people have many great and humble scholars. Hardly anybody hears about them except Soyinka. There are people like Wande Abimbola, Femi Osofisan, Niyi Osundare and countless others whose names ring bells.
This serves to show that no matter how good or bad you are in whatever you do, bold steps, oratorical skills, and self-promotion are important in our crazy world of today. Maybe this is why people like Soyinka and Emeagwali have gone haywire in drawing attention to themselves. This maybe also the reason why people like our most respected human rights crusader and legal luminary in Nigeria, late Gani Fawehinmi, was able to make it in life. He was bold enough to take on the Nigerian governments of the day squarely. He also vigorously promoted himself through championing the cause of the ordinary people, despite his very weak academic qualification from the United Kingdom. According to the Yoruba-born Alex Akinleye, erstwhile minister for information of Nigeria, Gani Fawehinmi only earned a third class law degree. But, today, Gani Fawehinmi is a household name in Nigeria and beyond, and did win many awards.
From time, superstitious beliefs, myths, and assumptions, which give rise to spurious claims, have been part of human nature. The world has been told that Christopher Columbus discovered American. But you and I know that before he arrived in “the new world,†as America was known at that time, there were natives living there. Also he is credited to have discovered Jamaica, whereas there were already Awrak-Indians and a few people of African descent inhabiting the land. And those people swam to his ship and offered him food and tobacco, because he was too afraid to swim ashore. See, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHxw088qQms
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There is no other place in the world this deceit has become the order of the day than in Nigeria and the self-styled “God’s own country†– America. In “God’s Own Countryâ€, dangerous lies are perfectly covered. For example, when a husband is caught in an extra martial affair, because such disclosure could cause both political damage and undermining of the country ´s authority at home and abroad, the wife would go on the mainstream media to cover up the lies. No wonder, Dr. Donita Brown-Emeagwali, the wife of Emeagwali is doing her best to shield Emeagwali from allegations levelled against him by Toyin Falola and his friends. What is unique about America is that the lies are promoted and nurtured to earn liars millions and billions of dollars. This is why Americans like to live bombastic life and their economy by and large a credit-based economy, built on lies upon lies. For example, while I respect many of their Hollywood stars, yet the fact remains that some of the Indian-Bollywood, Nigerian-Nollywood and even recently Ghanaian-Gollywood stars are better actors than them. But, because they have the big media, big plots, big budgets, big markets, everything about America will continue to dominate in the world. In America, everything has to be big, otherwise it will not be perceived to be good enough. I was amazed at the size of the Georgia International Congress Centre when I visited there in 2004. I was also amazed at the size of a non-denominational World Changers Church International (WCCI) in College Park Atlanta, owned by African-American “Man of God†– Creflo Dollar. One wonders how America got this whole land, I have heard many times that they intimidated and stole lands from Mexico.
The world loves our only living boxing legend Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. aka Muhammad Ali. But as the American he is, the rest of the territories he could not conquer through boxing he did with his humorous and oratorical skills, and self-promotion, by making many spurious claims upon claims. For example, he claimed that he has the type of knowledge that Jesus Christ had or the type of knowledge the biblical Moses and Abraham had, and posited that as a religious leader you must display your wealth otherwise people would not believe in you or become members of your church. Aside being a one-time boxing heavy weighty champion of the world, this other side of his life made him to become one of the “most beautiful brides†that were courted by the mainstream world media. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnYCTh_DSLM&feature=related. Therefore, there is little wonder that Philip Emeagwali imbibed this typical American mentality and bombastic lifestyle having lived there for over three decades.
PERTINENT QUESTIONS AND ACCUSATIONS
A pertinent question here is, was it a happenstance or by design that the writer of this most disparaging article about Emeagwali on Saharareporters.com and his friends are all Yorubas? Once again, let us take a look at their names: Professor Toyin Falola, the author, with contributions from his friends, Dr. Ms. Okelola, Dr. Ola Kassim, and Professor Mobolaji Aluko. They tried to be smart by half by including a Benin man – Professor Pablo Idahosa, to make it have some kind of national outlook. Even though I do not have any problem that many Benin guys force themselves to appear Yoruba. Bolaji Aluko, in his envy is, still with the help of Saharareporters.com, battling one Igbo lawyer in the USA called Emeka Ugwuonye. Aluko, whose family lived at Nsukka before the Biafra War, has been an Internet Tiger, writing all sorts of nonsense about Igbos. He is so filled with envy against Igbos and their achievements. He has ganged up against Igbo lecturers in American universities and elsewhere. Even the Emeagwali he had vowed to destroy was the same man about eight years ago, who once came to his defence against some Igbos whom Aluko had wrongly offended. This is how Aluko and his father pay back the Igbos for harboring them during the Nigeria-Biafra war, and ensured their easy passage to Western Nigerian. It is unfortunate that because Aluko apparently has no more readership in the underground, he has now come out with his anti-Igbo crusades. And unfortunately the saharareporters.com has stoop too low by becoming a willing accomplice. Otherwise, how come that not only they have published more than 5 sponsored disparaging articles in less than one week on the Emeagwali, but has wickedly published a picture of Emeagwali posing in handshake in an event in New York with the discredited Governor of Delta State, Emmanuel Uduaghan, conspicuously the same day he was sacked as the governor of Delta State, by the Court of Appeal in Benin City. Unlike the good work they were doing when they started, the saharareporters.com has been lately losing readers every day because they have derailed by engaging in “junk journalism†every now and then.
Obviously this composition on the Emeagwali write-up has made the writers vulnerable to all kinds of accusations. For example, they have been accused by the majority of Igbos of blackmailing of an Igbo illustrious son who had achieved world fame. While Falola and his Yoruba friends might quickly scurry to a cheap defence by accusing those Igbos of being tribal jingoists. But then, how about the majority of Africans, and people of African descent and patriotic Nigerians who viewed their article as rubbishing the reputation and outstanding work of a fellow Nigerian and African. Another accusation is that since all of them are PhD holders, did they not act out of jealousy, considering the fact that Emeagwali without a PhD has achieved world fame in both academic and scientific fields and collects appearance fees and lecture fees or speaker fees that is many times the annual remuneration of a senior university professor? Perhaps, this could be one single reason why one of them, Dr. Kassim the head of a department of one of the Canadian universities, turned down his students’ request of inviting Emeagwali to come to their university to deliver a lecture and to interact with them. He claims that Emeagwali´s asking fee of $10.000 and a driver during his stay in Canada was too much, coupled with the fact that Emeagwali did not have a PhD. But, maybe, if Emeagwali were a Caucasian academic or better still one of his fellow Yoruba friends in the academic field maybe Dr. Kassim would not have denied those poor Canadian university students that rare opportunity to come face to face with their role model. Also, another one of Falola`s female Yoruba friends Ms. Okelola bragged about how she refused to publish Emeagwali on her Africanacafe website when Emeagwali requested her to do so.
The gist of Toyin Falola and his Yoruba friends’ article about Emeagwali centered on these key points: Emeagwali does not have a PhD, but claims to have one and allows people to address him as a “doctor or professor.†Emeagawli claims or allowed people to call him “father of the internet.†They claimed that they wrote the article to expose these lies and to inform the world who the real Emeagwali is. But the irony of it all is that it is the same world that gave him those accolades, titles and prefixes that Falola and his friends are complaining about. So what is actually their problem? I have seen the interview where Emeagwali had clearly told a beautiful Jamaican TV moderator that he is not the father of the internet or the inventor of the internet. Continuing, he explained on the same TV Programme to another male host that many people contributed to the development and invention of the internet, and that it is not a one-man thing. He also said that the Gordon Bell Prize he won was viewed at that time (1989) as a Nobel Prize in computing. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMFy9sBLFQQ&feature=related. And also http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa111097a.htm#cm2.jpg
Judging from the above claims allegedly made by Emeagwali, one would like to know if they are serious enough to warrant that onslaught. Hence, real facts simply put across without bias will be understood by the whole world. But, since this is not the case, many people therefore believed that Toyin Falola and his Yoruba friends must have some kind of ulterior motive behind this attack. Otherwise, they would not have spent such amount of time writing pages upon pages of comments demonizing and describing Emeagwali in a most despicable way. And, also, they would not have been so bitter in their writing, which manifested in the many denigrating and unprintable names they called him such as fraud star, most sophisticated con man, 419 kingpin, biggest liar of all time, etc. There are yet other people who believe that Toyin Falola and his Yoruba friends were unjust to the world-acclaimed computer scientist and Mathematician, a harmless man, who never duped anybody but just working hard to promote himself, the African race and his work to the benefit of the world. And many people are wondering and do want to see Toyin falola and his Yoruba colleague’s article about the white American Bernard L Madoff, who perpetrated the world’s biggest financial scam by swindling his depositors of over $50 billion. They also want to see Toyin Falola´s article about the biggest financial scam of $6.7 billion in France, perpetrated by debonair white French man Jerome Kerviel, an employee of Societe Generale SA. The whole world is waiting to see if Toyin Falola and his Yoruba friends would use the same despicable words and venom they have poured on harmless Emeagwali also on these two world’s biggest white swindlers. Up till now, the world has assumed that it is only Nigerians, people of African descent and indeed people from so-called third world countries that are scammers.
CONCLUSION
Superstitions, self-promotion and wild assumptions, which give rise to claims upon claims, have always been there from time immemorial. Although, this mentality has been part of human nature, but there is no country where this mentality has pervaded all facets of life than in America, in which Emeagwali has lived for three decades and therefore has become assimilated. Finally, majority of the people that read Toyin Falola and his Yoruba colleague’s disparaging article on Emeagwali viewed it as a disingenuous act and, therefore, concluded that it is a typical crass case of (PhD) “Pull Him Down†syndrome. And, since Toyin Falola and Yoruba friends are Africans and also Nigerians as Emeagwali, the people had also viewed it as a good example of the African adage that says “it is only the frog’s kith and kin that can mercilessly kick on his delicate water filled-belly.â€
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
I just got a visa to Nigeria. It took four visits to the Nigerian consulate in New York -and four hundred and forty-four curses at Nigeria, the Nigerian officials at the consulate and the picture of Umaru Yar’Adua hanging on the wall of the receiving room. I don’t want you to go through the same ordeal. It wasn’t fun cursing a dead president, a security guard at the gate, ambassadors in cheap suits and all past leaders of Nigeria.
To begin with, I know many of you are wondering why I need a visa to Nigeria.
Well, I don’t.
If I were the one who needed a visa and went through this whole ordeal, I would have lost my mind, just like many who have gone for consulate service at the office. I went for my cousin who was afraid of mailing in his passport after filling the required forms and making the payment online.
To begin with, whatever is on the Nigerian consulate website is just a sample of what is needed to obtain a visa. On my first day at the consulate, I presented all the documents posted online as required. A consulate staff told me that my cousin would need a letter of invitation to get a visa. He also gave me another form to fill, which required a passport photograph to be attached, and an additional $20.00 money order. None of these were stated on their website.
I explained to the staff that my cousin was a Nigerian, and that his passport expired but he had no time to travel from Minnesota to New York for renewal because he was busy preparing to go home to bury his father. As an alternative to the letter of invitation, the staff then asked for a copy of his expired Nigerian passport.
My cousin could not find his expired Nigerian passport.
On my second visit, I came with a letter of invitation. The letter was written by the chairman of our kindred telling my cousin that his father was dead and he needed to come home for the burial. Failure to do so, the letter sad, my cousin would lose his share of his father’s estate.
Brilliant! Isn’t it?
This time I met a woman at the consulate. She told me that the person who wrote the letter of invitation must attach the profile page of his Nigerian passport. I explained to her my whole dilemma. I showed her my cousin’s birth certificate. He was born in Lagos. She said it would not help. I told her that the chairman of our kindred had no Nigerian passport. (I almost told her that the last passport the man owned was the Biafran passport. But one thing you don’t want to do with those ‘diplomats’ was to upset them).
Time was running out for my cousin, I explained. What should I do? The woman told me that I could write the letter myself.
On my third visit, the documents were finally accepted. I had written a letter in New York, inviting my cousin in Minnesota to Nigeria to attend the burial of his father – the same burial that he is financing. How ridiculous!
I was told to come back in two days to pick up the visa.
Because I wasn’t the one who would miss his flight if things didn’t go well, I was calm all through the ordeal. But not the other applicants I met there, many of whom travelled from far away to renew their passports or obtain a new passport. And by the way, the old passport is being phased out by December, and every Nigerian with the old passport will need to visit a consulate.
But my gesture was too soon. Later, the man came back, cut the line and went to present a note to the woman. Reading the note, she directed him to the 12th floor to meet someone who would take care of him.
Another man needed to be in Europe the next day. He was shocked when he was told to come back for his passport in two days times. When he complained, the woman counseled him that flights to Europe had been cancelled due to volcanic ashes from Iceland.
Of course, while ordinary mortals like us were at the receiving room waiting to hear the woman’s verdict, those with the right connections lounged in a restaurant next to the receiving room while their passports or visas were processed upstairs. Now and then, we would see women in pant suits or men in Aba made suits come down, give us a pitiful look and walk to the restaurant to give the immortals their processed passports.
On my fourth visit, I arrived promptly for the pick, sat with other applicants and waited in anxious anticipation. After what we’ve been through, no one could be sure when it would come to an end. The consulate’s capacity for drama is endless.
The other days I had been there, the TV in the receiving room had been off. I thought it was either broken or that nobody paid the cable bill. I had hoped to watch NTA. On this fourth day, it was on, showing NTA international. Watching clips of Nigerian slums from the heart of Manhattan turned out to be more disheartening than one might imagine. It was brutal contrasting the beautiful people on Lexington Avenue with the Nigerians jumping into Molue at Ojuelegba bus stop. I couldn’t help but to curse Ibrahim Babangida. I cursed James Ibori. I cursed all those who wasted Nigeria’s $290 billion dollars in the last 25 years.
Finally, I received my cousin’s passport.
“Check if the visa is in there,†the woman said.
It wasn’t unlikely that someone forgot to put the visa in the passport; so, I made sure before I stepped outside to find out it was raining.
Along with some others who had just got their passports, I waited for the rain to subside before going to the post office to mail the passport to my cousin. While still waiting, an applicant rushed out from the consulate, panting. He asked everyone who just picked up a new passport to return to the consulate and write down their passport number. Otherwise, according to him, they would not be allowed into Nigeria with the passports.
It happened that those who got the new Nigerian passports were supposed to write down their names and passport numbers in a notebook so that the Nigerian immigration service would know who had which passport.
Opari! Some had already left.
As I walked to Lexington Avenue, I wondered if it was so hard to put online all the steps and requirements for each consulate service. I tried to recall how many times I heard Nigerians I met at the consulate use the word “incompetentâ€. I stopped counting when my jaws disjointed.
Now here are the top ten things to remember when you are going to Nigerian Consulate for any consulate service.
1.) Do not bother calling the consulate number. Paid staff is there, quite alright, but nobody ever answers. 2.) What you see on the website is just a partial list of requirements. Brace yourself for the full list when you get there. 3.) While you fill forms online, print out each page as you go. 4.) Print receipts and confirmation pages. Don’t expect that the computer in the Consulate works. It is for decoration. But you can go and pay an Indian store owner down the street for your print outs. 5.) Whether you want express service or not, just buy $20.00 money order. And do not ask what that is for. 6.) Whatever you do, do not mail in your passport. They misplace the ones handed over to them much less the one that came by mail. And do not ask them to mail your passport back to you. They have a way of dropping it inside NIPOST mailbox instead of U.S Post Office mailbox. 7.) Don’t expect a courteous service. The workers paid with your oil money are too pissed off by the job to be cheerful. If you want cheerful customer service personnel, go to Ghanaian consulate. 8.) Do not expect a comfortable room in the consulate of the giant of Africa. Be ready for clumsy space and kindergarten chairs. 9.) If you need to pee, please do all you need to do at home. If you must do number two, make sure you wear a mask and that you have your own toilet paper. 10.) If you know someone upstairs, just go straight up. It will save you time and a lot of agonies.
How was your experience at a Nigerian consulate where you live?
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Several Nigerians have complained of unfair treatment by the Chinese Consulate in Lagos while seeking visas to the country. Most of the complainants claim that they are not provided with any reasons for denying them visas. Some also complained of being treated discourteously by the embassy staff.
When NEXT visited the embassy on Monday, armed Mobile Police officers and officials of a private security agency, manned the door to the visa office, while some of the visa seekers stood outside as agents and other middle-men handled the application process.
A businessman, Akeem Balogun, who was denied visa a week ago, said he has lost ₦400,000 due to the denial. “I don’t understand why they will deny me visa to China. I’m a business man; I go to China to import CDs and plywood,” he said.
“I’ve been to China five times and my one year visa finished last month but they denied me. Several people here are having the same problem. I’ve sent several mails to the Consulate General but he has not replied me. I got his number from someone and called him, he picked. When I started talking about visa denial he switched off his phone and since then he is not picking my call.”
Many traders are often required to send advance funds to their Chinese business partners before an invitation letter is sent and this too can delay applications.
“If you don’t send 30 per cent advance payment, the companies in China won’t deal with you,” Mr. Balogun said. “You will pay the money before you get an invitation letter that will enable you get a visa. So our money is hanging over there and China man will not refund your money; the highest he can do is to send the goods and if you are not there to inspect it they might send you sub-standard goods.”
Tina Frank, who is an agent at the embassy, said the language barrier also contributes to the problem. “You know this people are not English-speaking; sometimes they don’t understand when you are complaining,” she said. “They will just say ‘I’m sorry, no visa’. But it wasn’t like this before. Then, once you’ve travelled to China before, and fill your form well, you are sure of getting your visa. As for the harassment, the people harassing us are black men like us, the mobile policemen.”
Akin Olabode, who imports suits and wrist watches, was denied a visa for no reason. “It’s not only in Chinese embassy that they reject visa application, but when other civilised countries reject you they give you a reason for it,” he said. “If you don’t want me to come to your country, at least let me know why. After many wahala – standing in the sun, being harassed by police – you get appointment for visa interview then they give you pick-up form. When you go to collect your visa they say no visa. It’s unfair.”
Economic significance
In recent times, the Nigerian economy has been open to businesses from China, partly as a result of the trade agreement signed by both countries in 2001. Since then there has also been an increase in the number of Nigerian business people visiting China. Relationships have strained somewhat after several futile attempts by the Nigerian government to spare the lives of Nigerian prisoners on death row in the Asian country.
According to Mr. Olabode, the denial of entrance to Nigerian business people into China, will have a negative impact on the Nigerian economy.
“Over 90 per cent of goods in Nigeria now come from China. If they stop us from going to China, it will affect the common man because the price of goods in the market will increase,” he said.
Consulate’s response
A senior source at the consulate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, suggested that a diplomatic unease between the two countries is one of the reasons for the numerous visa denials.
“China and Nigeria have enjoyed a good relationship but both countries have to find a common ground on their visa policies,” he said.
He added that Chinese citizens also find it difficult gaining entry to Nigeria.
“People call me from China every day to say they are finding it difficult to get visa to Nigeria,” he said.
“A reporter of Xinhua News Agency who applied for visa at the Nigerian Embassy in China since June but they have not given him till now. The same thing is happening to two reporters of China Radio,” he said.
“Many Chinese want to come to Nigeria but they cannot come. I think Nigerian government should do something about this problem.”
The source defended the work time of the embassy, insisting that they process more applications than their Nigerian counterparts in China.
“The Nigerian Embassy in China work for two days in a week and give out about 50 visas in a day but here we work three days a week and give out about 100 visas in a day.”
He added that many of the applications were rejected because of fake documents submitted by the applicants and not having strong enough reasons to visit China.
The source said there is a particularly high rate of denial at the moment because China restricted the inflow of foreigners during their independence celebration in October. He said the embassy has also become stricter because of the number of Nigerians involved in criminal activities in that country.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
I have just received and read the pictorial book commissioned by the Embassy of Nigeria in the United States of America celebrating 50 years of friendship between Nigeria and the United States of America and titled – ‘The United States and Nigeria; Celebrating 50 years of Friendship & Progress in Pictures’. Several exchanges between Nigerian leaders and U.S Presidents over the past 50 years were detailed in this book and it has been uplifting to my spirit to read some of these which I would like to share with you so we can learn from our past.
On the 2nd of October, 1961, in a message to the then Governor General of Nigeria, Nnamdi Azikiwe, congratulating Nigeria on her first independence anniversary President John F. Kennedy said “The first year of your nationhood has been a highly auspicious one…it has seen the emergence of wise and far-reaching plans for the social and economic betterment of the Nigerian people”. President Kennedy was talking here about The first Nigerian National Development Plan which had as cornerstones the Kainji dam construction and the development of the lower Niger River. That plan was a good plan, but unfortunate events which occurred mid way into its implementation affected the plan and it could not be implemented as originally envisaged. The message here is that Nigeria has to make plans and stick to the plans to fruition because as is commonly said when you fail to plan you plan to fail.
Then on October 11 1977, while receiving General Olusegun Obasanjo at the South Lawn of The White House, President Jimmy Carter remarked that ” Historically Nigeria has been a friend of our country. A nation of about 80 million people…..There is no doubt this is one of the most important nations economically in Africa”. President Carter made this comment at a time when we had a population of about 80 million people. Today, it is said that Nigeria has a population of about 150 million people. We can not continue to speculate about our population. We must have the discipline and the mutual respect to carry out a honest and thorough census so that we can say with certainty that this is our population and this will help us make exact plans as we prepare for the future.
And it has not just been a one way traffic. On visits to Nigeria by U.S Presidents, they have had cause to listen to addresses by Nigerian leaders and these interactions have influenced U.S policy to Nigeria, Africa and the world. In fact when General Olusegun Obasanjo said to President Jimmy Carter on April 2, 1978 when he reciprocated General Obasanjo by visiting Lagos that “This visit will afford you Mr. President….and through you the majority of the American people a closer understanding of Africa today and African aspirations” few knew that those words and that visit would have far reaching implications for consequent U.S policy towards nations like Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) South Africa and a host of others.
Also the August 2000 visit by President Bill Clinton led to a greater understanding between both countries and the discussions at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa Abuja during that visit eventually sowed the seeds that led to the debt relief package Nigeria benefited from between 2000 and 2005.
By and large this book is a delight to read as it serves as a reminder that over the years Nigeria has indeed achieved a number of things that are worthy of celebrating and I commend our Ambassador in Washington DC, Professor Adebowale Ibidapo Adefuye and his team for a job well done. Once again, long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria. GEJ
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
This is sugar cane; the new born baby that we are celebrate his naming today will have a life devoid of sorrow, this is honey; the baby’s life will be full of pleasant experiences, here we have cola nuts; we pray he lives longer than any of us here, Alligator pepper; we ask that his life be full of spices and fulfilling days, and finally this is Banana; because we witness your naming today life will never be difficult for you. Theses were the prayers from my uncle then when Toluhi my youngest brother was named and the well-wishers echoed ‘Amin’. I grew up believing that truly life was going to be all rose-coloured for Toluhi after all neither difficulty nor bitterness was represented that day as my uncle read out his names which had been carefully selected by my parents.
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While my other siblings and I were busy sweating it out in the lecture rooms for academic degrees and excellence, Toluhi was busy sweating it out in discotheque halls all over Kabba and its environ and at the same time perfecting his ‘American’ accent and life style. Those who met him for the first time mistook him for either an ‘Americana’ or a ‘Londoner’, so he grew up believing strongly that someday he will travel out of motherland for good in a grand style to live permanently in America where he thought he belonged so that he could ride the best of cars and tie the knot with one of the most beautiful girls. I wouldn’t know if the fear of failure was the reason why he didn’t have a girl friend, although his friends called him ‘Stoneface’ because they think his face is so unattractive that no girl will accept to go out on a date with him yet he had so much confidence in himself and believed that money, Power, and women are inseparable. Even though he never believed he was unattractive, he told me once that his wife must be beautiful and tall, that will at least balance up their offspring’s gene. Tolu, ‘What about a woman having good manners I asked’, ‘egbon ewo efi yenle’ he answered, and continued ‘money answereth all things the holy book says’. He further said ‘Money is the root of all evil but the trunk and leaves depends solely on the root for life or have you seen a three or plant without roots?’
Even though he threw a party once to celebrate a positive response from the American embassy 8 years a go he finally got a British Visa in May 2007 after 11 years of fruitless attempts. The last time I saw him was some 6 years a go and as I picked him up from the airport, like water trickling down my head the memories of those good old days came back. As he swung exuberantly in his usual style in front of me toward the car boot I saw nothing but a young man who was about ten years behind. Despite sounding American, I was not surprised though as he had been rehearsing how to be mad and speak with his nose for a decade. On one occasion and as the twang in his voice grew more nasal my Mum asked if it was his mad crave to Americanise himself that’s making him speak with his nose like someone who caught cold. Yet at the airport I could only see a 1970 Nigerian student returning home after his graduation from London ca
rrying an afro hair style, pencil jeans, tight shirt, and a high heel shoes to match. How do I tell him he was a bit backward in his appearance and steps I asked myself, an instinct said it’s too early, he’ll find out and adjust.
As I drove along the A30 Heathrow airport road he began to narrate his experience at the British embassy in Lagos; he said “Visa process has been turned into a money spinner and a big scam to the detriment of poor Nigerians at the British High Commission. From the 1st of April 1 2007, a new visa fee was introduced with multiple visa applicant paying N52, 000 (£208); Single entry applicant (six month) paying N16, 400 (£65.6) and Transit applicant paying N11, 450 (£45.8).
All visa fees and charges are applicable to adults as well as children and, according to them, “not refundable under any circumstances” also Fees once paid into their G T Bank account would only be valid for 30 days.
He said Egbon, ordinarily, because of the queue completing and processing an application form should take about a month or, so you would imagine but that is just the genesis of the problem. According to their website which I confirmed, the UK Visa Application Centres are officially authorised by the British High Commission in Nigeria to accept applications for all categories of visas. The website he said stipulates that you are also advised to “take an appointment for visiting your nearest UK Visa Application Centre to turn in your application. This will help you significantly reduce waiting time as you will be assigned to a ‘Priority’ queue. “Applicants can also visit an application centre without an appointment; such applicants will be assigned to a regular queue. Please note that the number of applicants allowed into the regular queue may be restricted during peak periods for sake of crowd control. We strongly recommend that you visit an Application Centre by prior appointment, saving you unnecessary waiting time. You will particularly value the appointment facility during the peak season when long queues may be an occurrence.”
He said he was fortunate not to have paid the application fee twice. I fumed ‘why?’!&$£#*, ‘Egbon calm down’ he said ‘Let me tell you this …… my friends wife had filled the forms on-line for herself and the kids and after she coughed out N208, 000 (£832) that was paid into the UK High Commission GT Bank account, she was given a number to register on-line and the process was so burdensome that it took her several visits to the bank and many days. After successfully filling the form, she went to book an appointment and there was nothing on the website to help. Meanwhile, the 30 days were slipping away and at the end, she finally got her form to their centre only to be told the huge sums of money she paid into the UK High Commission bank account at GT Bank has ‘expired’! She thought it was a joke until she began to hear the tales of other many Nigerians who had fallen victims of the same scam, including her neighbour who had to pay twice too for their UK visas because the earlier fees paid ‘expired’…
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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