08 October, 2020

Nigeria, Restructuring, and Ethnic Politics

 By Dr Wumi Akintide


British named them Burma. They rejected it, restructured & renamed themselves Myanmar.


-British named them Upper Volta, but they rejected it, restructured and renamed themselves Burkina Faso-Land of Incorruptible People.


-British named them Gold Coast, they rejected it, restructured and renamed themselves Ghana.


-British named them Southern Rhodesia.They rejected it, restructured and renamed themselves Zimbabwe.


-Brits named them Northern Rhodesia.They rejected it, restructured and renamed themselves Zambia.


-Brits named them Tanganyika.They rejected it restructured & renamed themselves Tanzania.


-Germans named them colony of South West Africa.They rejected it, restructured and renamed themselves.Namibia.


-France named them Dahomey.They rejected it, restructured and renamed themselves Benin.


-Belgium named them Zaire.However, they rejected it, restructured & renamed themselves Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC).


-Britain named a bunch of people-Nigeria.They rather kill to preserve it than restructure and give themselves a befitting name.


"It is only an animal that bears the name that is given to it by his enemy(Proverb).

[07/09, 12:34 am] +234 802 327 3984: *THE FUTILITY OF PRESERVING NIGERIA*


*My angry reaction earlier today on APC UK platform:*


*Most of the Diasporans here live in Europe. Can you show me one multi-ethnic state in Europe where one group is positioned to dominate the rest that hasn't broken up?*


*For those who may not know, what you call ethnic groups in Nigeria are called nations in Europe.*


*There's nowhere in the world where the white man accepts domination from another white man in perpetuity.*


*It used to be so under the Roman empire and the like. Not anymore. The Communists tried it, dividing society into capitalists and proletariats, deluding themselves that ethnicity is effectively swept under the carpet, but what followed? The Communist edifices in Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia,  and the big brother, USSR, all collapsed, while the two Germans that are ethnically the same but split by communism vs capitalism were reunited. Such is the power of ethnic nationalism.*


*Czechoslovakia was made up of two ethnic groups,  the Czech and the Slovakians. Both separated peacefully on 1st January 1993. The former is today 10.6 million people and the latter 5.4 million. Added together,  they're not up to Lagos. Yet, they split for peace. Two masters can't be in the same house.*


*Yugoslavia in 1991 was 23.2 million, barely more than Lagos population. It broke into six countries same year - all along ethnic lines, namely: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia.*


*Then the big brother, USSR. It had, at least, the following ethnic groups identified by their languages:*


*Regional languages:*


Ukrainian


Belarusian


Uzbek


Kazakh


Georgian


Azerbaijani


Lithuanian


Moldavian


Latvian


Kyrgyz


Tajik


Armenian


Turkmen


Estonian


Minority languages:


Abkhaz


Bashkir


Buryat


Chechen


Finnish


Volga German


Korean


Ossetian


Tatar


& various others.


*Today, your fingers will not be enough to count the number of countries that have emerged from the USSR.*


*Sit down there and be preaching unity in Nigeria as if you're the kindest gentleman on earth while you have no solution to the genocide in Southern Kaduna, the illegal but officially condoned arms in the hands of killer herdsmen roaming the country, and be condemning those better informed about the fact that the country is undergoing the strains of a forced union and should be peacefully restructured or let people go their separate ways.*


*In Europe, the two best examples of fairly stable multi-ethnic states are the UK and Switzerland.  The former is led by reasonable men who permitted regional autonomy to the Irish, the Scots and the Welsh, while the English dominate Westminster. That's something some of us are asking for, but you're fighting against it in your own country wracked by ethnic crisis. Your own people are better off under oppression of fellow black men because your people have bad leaders who can't do better than their new internal colonisers.*


*The latter country, Switzerland, has four ethnic groups. Each of them rotates the presidency annually through seven cantons that constitute the federation units. All the four languages of the four ethnic groups are recognized as official languages and school languages to boot, namely, German, French, Italian, and Romansch that has just a few thousand speakers!*


*There's nowhere in the world where the Caucasians allow the domination of their group by another.*


*In Canada, Quebec is the only full French-speaking province, aside a little section of New Brunswick.  The other seven provinces are English-speaking.  Yet, Canada is bilingual for the sake of Quebec! And each of the provinces is largely self-governing.* 


*Here we are in Nigeria,  you have people arguing vehemently that a decrepit,  structurally-flawed, and crisis-prone artificial contraption badly configured by the British only needs good people to survive. Why not centralise the powers of the British regions to London and see what happens?*


*My Conclusion:*

*When many commentators read and repost  or share your articles  with many of their friends and contacts, they do so because they want others to learn.*


*I share this article with that mindset and so should you.*


*I rest my case.*


*Dr. Wumi Akintide.*

02 September, 2020

Increase in Prices: Where are NANS and NLC?

Lazy Nigerian youths are presently glued to their TVs watching Big Brother Nigeria while everything around them has increased in price. The government announced an increment of petrol pump price to #151.56k, DSTV has increased the prices of its various bouquets, PHCN has increased power tariff by a whopping 50%, the price of a bag of rice is upward of #29,000 etc, etc. Yet the Nigerian youth is not bothered. Gone were the days when the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, was up and doing. Ditto for the workers’ umbrella body, the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC. Alas, there is no longer social activism in Nigeria anymore. Reason the government is lazy in generating revenues in a cerebral and imaginative way by resorting to a crude and simplistic manner of raising revenues. Talk of Nero fiddling while Rome burns. This is indeed a season of anomie.

20 August, 2020

How Ilorin covid-19 patients eat isolation centre food, return home to sleep

How ilorin covid 19 patients eat isolation centre food, return home to sleep

Freshinsight


*Positive patients allowed to go
outside the centre to boy things
Restroomm were not clean always

* We were stigmatised by our caregivers

*Numbers of announced positive cases higher than inmates at the centre
 By Abdulrasheed Akogun
AnIlorinn based covid 19 survivor who goes by the name Yusufi Ridwan has described his experience as one in a life time, stressing that his stay at the ilorin isolation centre was memorable.
Yusuf Bolaji Ridwan (Ilorin covid 19 survivor)
Yusuf made this disclosure through a twitter thread with his twitter Dr. Yusuf Bolaji Ridwan, giving a details of how he contacted the virus, his times at the centre among others.
Yusuf while commending the government for the efforts put in place towards ensuring patients at the centre are adequately taken care of, however bemoaned some avoidable lapses and man made oversight.
Ilorin covid 19 patients at the isolation centre

The tweet reads “Few weeks back i was feeling really unwell and decided to treat malaria, after completing the treatment and body isn’t back to shape i went for Widal test and sample was reactive, i then went to the hospital and Dr prescribed drugs for me.

” On the 10th of July, my uncle who happen to work with WHO made arrangement for us to be tested for Covid19 s and every member of my family went except my two brothers. Test was done and on the 12th of July i traveled to the North to purchase rams for sale.
“On 18th of July on my way back i received a call from ministry of health that my Covid19 result came out positive. All i could say was wow, cause i never expected it. No contact with any +ve case I’ve not taking public transport since the pandemic started always with nose mask. Itwas then my mind went to the fact that I’ve had sore throat for quite while and also loss of taste. Sore throat was one thing I’m very prone to so my mind never went to covid19
” The caller said should the task force come pick me or i will find my way to the isolation center
i chose the later because i don’t want any scenario in my area. I called 2 of my uncles to inform them and they both requested i shouldn’t mention it to anybody.
“I arrived ilorin late, no choice than to go home Everyone was expecting i acted cold and distance myself from everybody Then with the knowledge of my uncles i had to lie i will be going to Lagos the following morning to sort some ram deals.
” Following day i left home for the isolation center at Sobi specialist hospital ilorin. Got there and i was given bucket, soap, tootbrush and some drugs and i was shown the room i will be staying On entering the center the first patient i saw was an Indian man that works with one big company in kwara here.
Foods ser
Foods served inmates at the Ilorin isolation centre
“He was on oxygen and kept shouting to call attention of the Dr and nurses that his oxygen level is getting low, he died 3 days after my arrival.

” I was eventually moved to the general ward where i met other covid19 patients all acting like nothing is wrong with them i was relieved a little man might not die here crossed my mind

Lunch was served nice food right? Also a conducive environment Kudos to the government.
“After about 3 days, my parents are already calling when are you coming home blabla No other choice than to let them know pe their boy don get coro.
” The 3rd day during isolation i started feeling a burning sensation on my throat iwas like i swallowed hot charcoal started having a very nasty headache Feeling feverish and dizzy, O boy make i no lie my mind cut, then diarrhea join again, everyone complained of the diarrhea though.
“Center was lively, we make lots of jokes Watched football games, light was very stable also We had a chairman we named oba oni koro, very lively man, he do walk around at midnight to ensure everyone is sleeping well even though he’s a patient like us.
Most patient showed no symptoms. Some started claiming its all scam and started agitating they want to go home to their families, tried my best to explain that they might be asymptomatic carriers and its better they stay here so as not to put other to vulnerable ones at risk.
While some wanted to go home Some wanted to stay and continue enjoying the food served to us, well how many people can afford the types of meal given to us. 24th of July i was discharged from the isolation center.
” lots of asymptomatic carriers are out roaming our streets, due to their strong immune system they show no symptoms but they can transmit to susceptible individuals viz a viz old people, young children and those with underlining medical condition.
Discharged certificate of Yusuf
“It got to a point the state government kept on announcing new cases and no one is showing up at the center, we all started thinking are they giving out fake numbers?
Well, i wouldn’t know, they are still doing contact tracing or the individuals are running away from the center
” Not everything was good at the center, so i will point out some and make some recommendations to the state government.
“With efforts put in place by the government some individuals might just jeopardize those efforts with their attitude.
1. Throughout my stay at the center it was just twice Dr came in to also how we were doing 2. Patients were allowed to even go outside the center to get stuffs
What is the essence of isolation then? Some come in the morning to eat the 3 square meals Then go back home to their house to sleep at night Thereby exposing more people to the virus 3. Rest room were not clean always 4. Stigmatization from some of the staffs is another thing.
” Results are not quick to be released Imagine taking almost 8days after my sample was taken before i was contacted Imagine the number of people have had contact with Why not make it a rule Anybody that his/her sample has been collected the individual should start isolating
“Pending the time the result will be out leaving people to roam about after sample collection isn’t the best thing to do what if result comes back +ve” he lamented

15 August, 2020

Oshiomhole Last Card

   

Comrade Adams Oshiomhole’s political relevance, going forward, is staked on the outcome of the forthcoming governorship election in September. Since his fall from grace from the lofty heights as the APC party National Chairman to an ordinary party card carrier, he knows that the forthcoming election is his last stand, as it were. It is a do or die affair for him politically. If his candidate wins, he may continue to hope Ize Iyamu would be more malleable and be under his thumb. 

Oshiomhole has since perfected the art of godfatherism. If he denies being a godfather, Oshiomhole should be asked to define what makes a godfather. For someone who staked his governorship to putting the erstwhile Edo godfather in his place, it is very pitiable to see him threatening fire and brimstone against the other party this election cycle. The triumph of his candidate will be a triumph for godfathers across the nation.  The will of the people should count in the political scheme. The old men should leave the youth alone to determine their path. The old have done their bit and as such, should therefore not sow rancour and discord in the polity before they go to their graves. What they’ve taken from Nigeria should suffice them. They must be resisted from causing mayhem in their wake. Oshiomhole should swallow his pride and simply fade out quietly rather than raising hell. The result of his last throw of the political dice should be taken with grace and equanimity

Oshiomhole Last Card

   

Comrade Adams Oshiomhole’s political relevance, going forward, is staked on the outcome of the forthcoming governorship election in September. Since his fall from grace from the lofty heights as the APC party National Chairman to an ordinary party card carrier, he knows that the forthcoming election is his last stand, as it were. It is a do or die affair for him politically. If his candidate wins, he may continue to hope Ize Iyamu would be more malleable and be under his thumb. 

Oshiomhole has since perfected the art of godfatherism. If he denies being a godfather, Oshiomhole should be asked to define what makes a godfather. For someone who staked his governorship to putting the erstwhile Edo godfather in his place, it is very pitiable to see him threatening fire and brimstone against the other party this election cycle. The triumph of his candidate will be a triumph for godfathers across the nation.  The will of the people should count in the political scheme. The old men should leave the youth alone to determine their path. The old have done their bit and as such, should therefore not sow rancour and discord in the polity before they go to their graves. What they’ve taken from Nigeria should suffice them. They must be resisted from causing mayhem in their wake. Oshiomhole should swallow his pride and simply fade out quietly rather than raising hell. The result of his last throw of the political dice should be taken with grace and equanimity

15 May, 2020

193 New Cases of COVID19 (15/05/2020)

One hundred and ninety three new cases of #COVID19 have been reported in Nigeria.

Confirmed cases of coronavirus in Nigeria have increased to 5162 after 193 new infections were put down on Thursday

This was released by NCDC on its Tweeter Handle on Thursday night.

193 new cases of #COVID19;


58-Lagos
46-Kano
35-Jigawa
12-Yobe
9-FCT
7-Ogun
5-Plateau
5-Gombe
4-Imo
3-Edo

14 May, 2020

On The New Chief of Staff

That the newly unveiled Chief of Staff to  Prsident Muhammadu Buhari is Professor Ibrahim Agboola Gambari is no more news. he was announced to the post by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation,  Boss Mustapha, yesterday. However, some are wondering if he has the energy for the post given his advanced age. They point to the fact the new CoS is 75 years old. With his age would he be able to cope with the frenetic pace of his office? Netizens pointed to the fact the President Buhari has a penchant for old men. They point the president past appointments like the former CoS Mallam Abba Kyari who died at the age of 67 earlier on17 April, the Minister of Agriculture who is 72 years, etc. Some have also likened Buhari's government to a gerontocracy. 
Others accuse him of nepotism and favoritism. Some even joked that Nigeria scrapped the study of History in schools because those who are supposed to be studied are still in power. Below are some tweets.

13 May, 2020

F.G To Commence School Feeding Programmme--Minister

The Federal government has made known its readiness to start home feeding of pupils under the school feeding programme of the government. The home feeding programme was announced by the Minister of Humanitarian Affair, Disaster Management and Social Development, Mrs Sadiya Umar Farouq. She said the programme will start with the FCT, Lagos, Ogun, and Kano state. Since schools have been closed the pupils will be given their food at their various home addresses. The programme will take off in 31 states where the Federal government is budgeting a hefty sum of N679m per day, which is about N13.5 monthly. The cost of logistics is expected to be heavy as food will be delivered to individual pupils’ homes. If on the other hand, pupils are expected to congregate to collect the food, the spread of Covid-19 is guaranteed. Mrs Sadiya Farouq said 3.1m households would benefit from the programme. 60% of the programme cost will be borne by the FG while the states will cough up the balance. The feeding programme will commence on Thursday the 14th of May 2020 with 3,131,971 households benefiting.
  A lot of people are skeptical of the workability of the project. Does the FG know the pupils’ addresses?  Is the government ready for the logistical challenges? Others believe the project is just another white elephant project crafted to divert public funds into private pockets. The various adjectives used to describe the project by some commentators include: sham, smokescreen, embarrassing, disrespectful, dishonest, unrealistic, etc.

12 May, 2020

Osinbajo, Chairman of Association of Short Men--el-Rufai

Nasir El-Rufai, the governor of Kaduna state has conferred the chairmanship of the Association of Short  Men on the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo. He made this declaration on his twitter handle @elrufai while reacting to a video interview with @Tejubabyfacetv in 2010. In the said video,  he jocularly said he was the Secretary General of Nigerian Association of Short Men.
  While recalling how time flies,  he thanked @Tejubabyfacetv for the interview.  
He however posited that  "the current chairman of the Nigerian Association of Short People….so we are represented at the highest echelons of governance! Thanks Teju." He  was at his comedic best.  

Covid-19 Update (Nigeria)