Saturday, December 31, 2011

Boko Haram!!! War Against Western Education, War Against Chop I Chop, or War Against Nigerians?


            Whilst it may be tempting to assume that national committees and/or commissions are needed to quell the embers of terrorism from the sectarian onslaught of Boko Haram, we ought to realize that ad hoc assemblies and clichés are not panaceas for this insurgency. Make no mistake; Nigeria is officially at war with Boko Haram and their sympathizers who have out rightly declared tactical guerrilla warfare against the nation. Consequently, for the first time in our history we are faced with an escalation of combat that is not brought about by core injustices such as government sponsored indiscriminate killings, ethnic marginalization, environmental degradation, national discrimination, and disregard of treaties. The listed factors were the ingredients that brought about the Nigerian/Biafra genocidal war of the 1960’s and the Niger Delta militancy at the dawn of the 21st century. Instead what we have in Boko Haram the fanatical Muslim group is a war to Islamize close to 150million Nigerians with 250 ethnicities, over 200 languages, varying religious and traditional affiliations.   
            Though the disingenuousness of Boko Haram is palpable and evident to any primary school pupil in Nigeria and around the world, the nuance of their style can not be underestimated by the President Jonathan’s administration. Under the hypocrisy of wanting to do away with western education, civilization, and religion, they want to enslave Nigeria and Africa with their bondage and/or version of Islamic thuggery. As Africans that have sold their birthrights, Boko Haram and their supporters have conveniently expunged their memories of the Trans Sahara Slave trade that began before the Trans Atlantic Slave trade. In Boko Haram we await the utopian nation state like Saudi Arabia, the same Saudis who sent their troops to hound down and murder peaceful protesters in Bahrain and Yemen. Saudi Arabia has the dubious distinction of warmly welcoming African dictators including Idi Amin of Uganda and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia with red carpets.
            On the other hand if we refuse to surrender and be led by the Fulani and/or Kanuri Muslims we are to be subjected to the plight of Southern Sudan, Darfur, and Somalia. In this ungovernable terrain which was well articulated by the likes of Dictator Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Atiku Abubakar, and Mallam Adamu Ciroma, the Disunited Nations of Nigeria will remain insecure and under siege by these group in northern Nigeria. These so-called elite politicians detonated the political bombs which have ensured our current situation when they made commentaries and prophesies during the 2011 presidential elections encouraging the current violent events. After igniting the flames of animosity these so-called leaders are now paying lip service for the need of peace while 99% of northerners are suffering from poverty and corruption.
            Ironically it was the utterances of some in the 1% elite group of northern politicians especially through the Northern Political Leaders Forum NPLF that legitimized Boko Haram and took them from a northeastern fringe group to a regional terrorist operational organization. The likes of Buhari, Atiku, and Ciroma hegemonic messages gave Boko Haram and their sympathizers the license to execute the mass carnage on nearly 1000 defenseless individuals after the 2011 elections. The dead comprised of many innocent student volunteers involved in the National Youth Service Corps NYSC program. They have also tried to mask their pretentious sectarian plans with the fight against corruption and injustice. But Nigerians are not fooled by their rhetoric because we are knowledgeable about their plans to continue the institutionalized corruption and injustices that were introduced into the nation’s polity by the Northern Military Industrial Complex NMIC. The goals of these selfish politicians’ remains to cloak their antecedents of mismanagement and their attempts are hijacking the government with religious dogmas. 
            Thus, they insist that the United Nations of Nigeria should be an Islamic country which is governed by both the Kanuri or Fulani tribes and their surrogates. Boko Haram lacks the moral character to fight against unaccountability and impunity in the Nigerian government because their financial sponsors are the same so-called leaders that engulfed the past and nascent Nigerian administrations with irresponsibility and corruption. At no time has Boko Haram demanded accountability from the Northern Nigerian ruling class that have dominated the nations military, political, and economic spheres for more than 40years of our 51years of existence as a British amalgamated protectorate. They have rejected the application of non-violent civil disobedient strategies like we have all witnessed on the African and Arab streets as a result of the 2011 Arab spring/awakening.
            Instead Boko Haram has used the same playbook of impunity that was evident during the Dictators Babangida, Obasanjo, Abacha, and Abubakar administrations to intimidate the Nigerian nation. They speak of an amoral society but proceed to inflict mayhem on law abiding Nigerians including non fanatical Muslims, Christians, Traditionalist, and others. They introduced drive-by shootings, drive-by bombings, IED’s, and suicide bombings in Nigeria on a commercial scale as a means to cause turmoil and traumatize the country. Concepts like Islamic Banking, Sharia Law, and Western Education are used as templates for killing innocent civilians all over the northern states. Those of us that have actually sat in western classes and challenged western patriarchy, white supremacy, double speak, and imperialism, wonder why we should enthrone another reprehensible slave master’s ideologies on the African continent.
            Irrespective of the camouflaging of issues by some north politicians and Boko Haram, we in the social justice activism and human rights fields in Nigeria and around the globe see through their sectarian domination agendas. We view the killings and bombings of ordinary Nigerians as a hindrance to the structural changes which we are fighting for in the country. While it could be argued that years of corruption and injustices are oblivious bombs that claim casualties, the introduction of total terrorism does not advance changes in any regard. It entrenches the five decade long status quo that we are trying to reform brick by brick with our call for transformations, accountability, and inclusive governance. In the past some of us have condemned the extra judicial killing of the Boko Haram leadership by the President Umaru Yar’Adua’s administration. We challenge members of the Boko Haram organization to not justify their repugnant acts on the basics of retaliatory tact.  
            During this time last year my family met a family at the National Museum in Lagos from Florida that was visiting Nigeria for the first time with their teenage children. Apart from coincidentally seeing President Goodluck Jonathan in a church in Abuja, the major highlight of their trip was how they narrowly escaped the Boko Haram Christmas bombings of 2010. Sadly these attempts to “arabmail” and Islamize Nigerian through bombs and propagandas are still in full effect. The sponsors of Boko Haram and their murderous machines need to realize that their objectives would be circumvented by the Nigerian people. There will be no coup d’états to allow them to come back into government through back channels. They should look inward to address the needs of northern Nigeria. Northern billionaires and millionaires who have benefited from the largesse of the Niger Delta Black Gold (Petroleum) should use their resources to address mass underemployment and illiteracy. Hard and soft power should be brought to bear on Boko Haram, their cheerleaders, and their sponsors. Henceforth the national government should stop subsidizing trips/Hajj to Saudi Arabia.
Instead those resources could be used to set up industrial, agricultural, and technological zones in the north. State governments in the north should be charged with addressing issues of draught, deforestation, desertification, and irrigation in the north. I agree with Niger state governor Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu that the federal government needs to stop playing games with the sponsors of Boko Haram and prosecute them now. President Jonathan we understand your desire to avoid conflict and drama but you need to rise up to the occasion and stop these barbaric attacks and evolving carnages. We applaud your attempts to encourage an open and free society with varying views. Lesser and myopic leaders could have gone after their critics and detractors since the inception of their administration. Dr. Goodluck and Vice President Namadi Sambo standup and confront Boko Haram before they achieve their self fulfilling prophecies which is the balkanization or “clanalization” of the Nigerian society.
Our government needs to comprehend the stakes and not use the same lackadaisical approach they have used for the corruption and impunity problems in Nigeria, to tackle this terrorist madness. Governors and local government chairpersons in the north should be immediately compelled to account for all their federal government allocated expenditures. Checks and balances are to be activated to make sure we abate the status quo fleecing by the so-called elites. We have to make sure that some of them are not using the playbook of Governor Dr. Peter Odili who looted the Rivers State treasury and sustained corruption and turmoil in the Niger Delta. The Sultan of Sokoto Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar who is also the head of Jama’atu Nasril Islam in Nigeria and the officials within the Borno Emirate should either become partners in the fight against these massacres or be forced to immediately step down. Rather than champion Islamic banking to further complicate matters why not embrace the Bangladesh Grameen Bank micro-credit system to assist with the eradication of gender discrimination and poverty in northern Nigeria? The Sultan has criticized the crackdown of the Boko Haram terrorist organization in the pass, but he ought to know that no persons or positions surpass the lives of innocent Nigerians.
            In conclusion the educational system of northern Nigeria needs to be revamped into a Pan-African curriculum. These changes have to start from the nursery schools all the way to the primary, secondary/tertiary, and university levels. The school of thought of using Quranic schools and madrasas as the primary education institutions in the north needs to be phased out. Since the current federal government appears compromised and ineffective with prosecuting some of our criminal ex-military officers/rulers and criminal politicians with all the probable cause and preponderance of evidence that denotes their crimes, we may openly offer them amnesty in exchange for using some of their loots for the public good. Let us encourage these barawos to repatriate our monies from Dubai, Sharm el-Sheikh, London, Switzerland and other money laundering capitals and invest in the northern people to improve health, educational, and employment outcomes. If these policies are not explored we may become a nation of psychopaths/sociopaths running around and killing each other. When our different tribes begin to actively use reprisal attacks to deal with the Boko Haram cancer, then forget about justice and transparency and open up the zoos.
Happy Kwanzaa, Happy New Year

Dedicate to- The victims, survivals, displaced persons, and families of all the northern Nigerian terrorist attacks.

               Nnamdi Frank Akwada MSW, BA is a Social Justice Activist
Executive Director African Diaspora Institute and US African Cultural Festival
Washington DC Coordinator: Let There Be Light In Nigeria- Nigeria Million March

Reference:



Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Among Libya's homeless

This is Injustice and Mass Punishment for all to see. Are these the vestiges of democracy in action? Albeit officially sanctioned segregation and discrimination in Libya in broad view. What is the difference between these actions and the Israeli actions in Gaza?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3dcnmY6r30&feature=player_embedded

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/africa/2011/12/19/among-libyas-homeless

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Nollywood, Hollywood, and the African Diaspora

              Nollywood refers to the West African centered movie industry that germinated from South-Eastern Nigeria in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. It presently comprises of a decentralized tapestry of film production outfits from Nigeria to Ghana, other regions of West Africa, and the African Diaspora. Most credible and knowledgeable movie industry buffs rank Nollywood as the 2nd largest production outlet in the world behind Bollywood the Indian motion picture industry and in front of Hollywood the North American motion picture business headquartered in California. In Nigeria, the film industry arose as a progressive social marketing rebellion against the dictates of the Lagos and Abuja television aficionados who controlled the various means of national and state cinema productions.
            Erstwhile to the contemporary revolution and creation of Nollywood, Nigerians were saddled with the Structural Adjustment Program SAP of the Dictator Ibrahim Babangida’s administration. A bright idea that enabled the khaki boys and their civilian stooges with the assistance of the International Monetary Fund IMF to place the nation in economic austerity while they, the so-called 1% elites went about to chop the turkey and to chop the turkey’s bones. As a result, financial constraints became the norm at the Nigerian Television Authority NTA and the military boys alias Northern Military Industrial Complex NMIC de-funded the cultural dramas and productions outfits that shone critical lens at their maladaptive governments. When our coffers were drained to buy mansions outside the country and build palaces in Nigeria by corrupt officials, the inventiveness of the first apostles of Nollywood took hold.
            Consequently, the same talented folks in the industry that grew up watching television classics like New Masquerade, Village Headmaster, Things Fall Apart, Behind the Clouds with Nosa, Try Me from Aba, and Inside Out from Port-Harcourt retreated to the Southeast. They were forced into the corner because the nation no longer had the annual National Telefest competitions which showcased dramas and documentaries from all the regional NTA stations. Nigerian Telefest introduced some of us in the south to the Olumo Rock at Abeokuta in western Nigeria and Argungu Fishing Festival in Kebbi northern Nigeria for the first time. But the quintessential nail was placed on the coffins of NTA programming after the weekend Sunday 6pm show –Tales By Moonlight was unceremoniously taking off the air. Tales By Moonlight was the show that gathered and united children from various regions of the United Nations of Nigeria to the national village square tube. With the demise of these artistic outlets, some venturists from the south got the epiphany to produce local movies with funding, marketing, and distribution from investors in Aba and Onitsha. They declared their independence from the military juntas and their civilian surrogates.              
Preceding this breakthrough the Nigerian populace was also inundated with movies from India such as Sholay, Nagin know as snake girl and from China /Hong Kong with films like Snake in the Monkey’s Shadow and the initial epics from Bruce Lee. I vividly remember other little kids in my living room and around our house in Port-Harcourt lining up to get a glimpse of these movies. My older cousin Reginald Anyanwu (may our ancestors and God bless his soul) was the ring master. He must have garnered the wrath of many parents and/or families of child street vendors, who abandoned the goods in their trays for a chance to be kids. Of course we were also captivated by the British and American movies such as Simon Templar (The Saint), The Avengers, Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em with Frank Spencer, Charlie’s Angels, Hawaii Five-O, and Sound of Music. Most of these were frequently shown on our national and local channels or gotten through VHS tapes.  
            Fast forward 20-25years and Nollywood films are being sold in landmarks retail establishments in the western hemisphere such as 7-Eleven stores. Indeed the Nigerian movie industry has derived mass appeal in Africa and among the African Diaspora. Young first and second generation African immigrants in the west are introducing their high school mates, universities, and graduate school colleagues to the Nollywood phenomenon. It is no secret that this movie industry has warmed up the hearts of other Africans to be more understanding of Nigerians and the baggage that we present. One could argue that Nollywood stars such as Genevieve Nnaji, Omotola Jalade Ekeinde, Sam Efe Loco, and Nkem Owoh have unwittingly promoted Nigeria and Africa positively like other cultural educational entertainment icons such as Fela and 2Face Idibia.
Despite the aforementioned strides, the responsibilities on the shoulders of Nollywood cinematography are enormous. As the largest Black owned, controlled, and sponsored vessel to depict African and Black culture, education, and entertainment, the onus on them is great. The reality is that the Nigerian and Ghanaian movie industry and their tributaries surpass the reach of Black Entertainment Television BET, Centric TV, and TV One which are African American mass media enterprises that are located in the United States. Ironically, Nollywood might be unconscious of their exposure and conscientiousness in the global market. Otherwise how do they explain characters that only preach against piracy while completely ignoring the issues of parental and viewers rating systems? Some of us in the African Diaspora who are eager to introduce our children to African cultures think it is unwholesome for us to watch actors with limited acting skills resulting to gimmicks such as racial and sexual expletives. These words are used especially to pad their way through roles, without warning to the audience and devoid of context. Whatever happening to saying Waka, Shege, u de bonbonro cigar? Have we lost these Pidgin English lingos that were used to convey rage and jest some years ago?
Indeed some of us in the African Diaspora are of the view that using the N-word and I wana wana language does not serve the image of the industry and deviates from the foundations of Nollywood. We want to see the African movie business take up issues of corruption, impunity, transparency, poverty, tribalism, injustice, self-hate, religious intolerance, racism, ineptitude governance that have bedeviled most people of black hue for centuries. African cinema needs to challenge Hollywood racism, stereotypes, biases, and prejudices that have been ingrained in the psychics of millions worldwide through the Minstrel Shows of the 1940-50’s and the Tarzan movies. The Minstrel shows had depictions of black and white people painting their faces as black as coal to lampoon African descendents in a cesspool of racism. In the nearly 100 Tarzan movies the systematic themes are so repulsive in their sustenance of European and white hegemony. 
In May of 2010, CNN Anderson Cooper reconstructed the infamous Doll Test conducted by psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark in1947 and found out that the perception of how African American and white children view blacks had not changed after more than half a century. The black kids and white kids in the contemporary experiment still characterized the black dolls/faces with negatives attributes. This is because of the overt socialization messages from institutions like Hollywood and other western businesses and retail organizations. They have a tendency to operate as though people of African decent are invisible and/or do not exist in non-positive reinforcement avenues. It was interesting to watch Mr. Cooper querying the kids, parents, and experts like Professor Eric Dyson on this subject when the media and some children books are the primary culprits in spreading this self-hate and external hostiles/prejudices. Nollywood could actually be a vehicle to mitigate and end these stereotypical and bias perceptions within the African Diaspora, Africa, and the world.
There ought to be the green lighting of more progressive and socially conscious projects between the Africans in Nollywood and the African Diaspora. These strategies can encourage projects springing up between the African motion picture industries and the likes of Shari Carpenter, Spike Lee, Marlies Carruth, Tyler Perry, Ayoka Chenzira, and Robert Townsend. Hopefully Ice Cube can also come on board and stop making caricatures of Africans in his movies – “I don’t get gig with that shit.” In the same vein Usher Raymond and Alicia Keys will not soil a beautiful music video like My Boo with a trigger motion when African cab drives in the United States have been on the receiving end of senseless violence. Anyway the foray into cooperative work and responsibility will help heal the mindset of numerous Africans in the Diaspora. When black children in the United States are called Africans in school they will stop recoiling and thinking/feeling it is an insult worst than even the N-word. For example, discredited Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain and US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas will rather submit themselves to a “high tech lynching” than get caught answering African Americans. Cooperation between Nollywood and the African Diaspora may also lead to some dynamics in which our African American relatives whose economic might is among the top ten in the world, become partners in our attempts to rid the African continent of our corrupt and ineffective regimes.
            Moreover, the potentials are enormous for Nollywood if they decide to form these strategic and tactical alliances. There is going to be tremendous improving in the writing expertise and film productions of the African originated and lead industry. Nollywood will expand to include graphic and computer animations to counteract the downbeat influences of Hollywood on our children. African Diasporas in Europe, Asia, South America, Antarctica, and North America are sources of cultural infusion and technological knowledge that can sustain Nollywood for ages. One of the goals of the movie business in Africa should be to broaden their reach and improve societies along the way with peoples originated progressive messages. Instead of pursing the lifestyles of African dictators, Hollywood skewed glamour, and the so-called African corrupt elites (alias the 1%), their goals should be the systemic reintegration of the worldwide cultural lenses with media voices that are affordable to ordinary people. It is imperative for Nollywood to be at the apex of challenging what Bob Marley called Mental Slavery and what Fela termed Colonial Mentality.          
Happy Kwanzaa

Dedicate to Mr. Malcolm X, Dr. Maulana Karenga, and to my cousin Mr. Reginald Anyanwu who resided in Ghana, South Africa, and Mozambique before his death.


                 Nnamdi Frank Akwada MSW, BA is a Social Justice Activist
Executive Director African Diaspora Institute and US African Cultural Festival 




References:
             
                  

Monday, December 5, 2011

Let There Be Light In Nigeria- Nigerian Million March 2

             Amidst the preparations and subsequent Let There Be Light In Nigeria- Nigerian Million March rallies that took place in Nigeria, United States, and Europe on Monday October 24th 2011, it became clear that if corruption is one of the dominant cancers in the polity of the United Nations of Nigeria, our electricity and energy infrastructure underdevelopment has emerged as one of the cankerworms of our endemic chronological problems. The issue of electricity in Nigeria is so contaminated with scandals and scams that the Nigerian Ambassador to the United States Professor Adebowale Ibidapo Adefuye, graciously conceded this truism when he granted us an audience at the Nigerian embassy in Washington DC on the day of the rally.
            During the impromptu meeting with attendees of the Nigerian Million March which quickly evolved into a nearly thirty minutes interview, our ambassador spoke about commissions and omissions in the electric sector. Chief Adefuye informed us about the lack of competent technocrats during the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration; and how despite their zeal and the allocations of monies, their intentions did not match their stipulated outcomes. The Let There Be Light In Nigeria group was told about how machineries for the power sector got abandoned at ports due to lack of good roads and adequate transportation resources. Our courteous ambassador spoke about contemporary developments in the light generating process and the invitation of international investors to work in conjunction with competent/experts like Professor Barth Nnaji the Minister of Power and the Power Holding Company of Nigeria PHCN.
            Notwithstanding, we need to examine the relationship between education and competency, individual industry-greed and our public good-integrity. Why is this important, some might ask? We need to be objective enough to provide checks and balances. Case in point, it has been disclosed that the former Treasury Secretary of the United States secretly committed $7 trillion to save the largest banks in the US and that he gave his Wall Street friends, hedge fund managers, and Goldman Sachs colleagues insider tips about a partial United States government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Nigerians ought to have independent institutions and individuals that will check the excesses of government officials. We have to place individuals like Professor Barth Nnaji the Minister of Power, Mr. Olusegun Aganga Minister of Trade and Investment, and Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Minister of Finance under a fine microscope. Despite their educational prowess and perceived competence, we need to ascertain the corporate cultures of the institutions they have been aligned with and the roles they assumed in their prior organizations. For example, we need people that are more eager to strip monopolies and subsidies that are directed to our so-called elites than those that are willing to dismantle pseudo fuel subsidies from the Nigerian masses.
            Although Ambassador Adefuye is proud of the contemporary administration for not appointing politicians but rather technocrats to sensitive positions, we need to insist that when it comes to electricity and other infrastructures, individuals are aboveboard. Professor Nnaji should not be working for the interest of Geometric Power Limited or for his personal advantage during the unbundling process of PHCN. Similar scrutiny should apply to Mr. Aganga the former hedge funds Managing Director for Goldman Sachs in London. Goldman Sachs has gained notoriety for strong-arming and ruining many economies around the globe, through insider trading, credit swaps, and hedge fund financial marketing/gambling instruments which are more insidious than the much maligned 419 advanced fee fraud scams. Our Finance Minister, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala the former second in command of the World Bank needs to come under the same checks and balance lenses. We ought to remember that the roles of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in the developing economies do not exult confidence.
Moreover, there should be much resources and energies on overseeing the potential conflict of interest of personalities in government, as Professor Adefuye reported that the Nigerian federal government is expending on cleansing ghost workers from payrolls. The urgency of transparency in the electricity and energy ventures cannot be overemphasized in lieu of the provision of $1.5 billion investment funds by the US Export-Import Bank EXIM to Nigeria. We should not succumb to conditionalities such as the eradication of so-called fuel subsidies because we need stable electricity. The United States agricultural sector is heavily sponsored by the US tax payers. In Nigeria we have independent petroleum exporters and importers who have a blank cheque of monopoly. 
Conversely, there needs to be a simultaneous appraisal and reckoning of previous electricity projects in order to objectively affect the plans of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration. We need to know the exact expenditures on the power sector by the President Obasanjo’s and Dictator Babangida’s administrations. This was the situation that resulted in the public spate between both men some months ago. Any transformational government worth a salt would investigate both generals instead of acquiescing to the position of a referee to the detriment of Nigerians and the truth. Where are the members of the National Assembly to investigate and sort out these harbingers of our electrical and energy problems? Maybe they are still dithering over their greedy and reprehensible wages, allowances, and bonuses.    
Some have speculated that the death of Chief Bola Ige the former Attorney General and Minister of Justice and former Minister of Mines and Power was related to his attempts at cleaning up the National Electric Power Authority NEPA now known as the Power Holding Company of Nigeria PHCN. The former minister was swiftly moved from the power ministry to the judiciary at the height of his assessment and revitalization plans for electricity in Nigeria. It is on record that foreign investment capitals were sourced during his tenure in the Power and Mine ministry. Though Chief Ige ruffled many with his tenacity on a host of issues such as the bickering in the Alliance of Democracy Party and the opposition to Sharia law in northern Nigeria, some people are of the opinion that his death reveals the nexus between electricity-energy in the United Nations of Nigeria and corruption-impunity.
            Our “Let There Be Light In Nigeria” movement needs to transition from the exclusive electricity issue to include the fight against cover-ups, corruption, injustice, inhumanness, and insecurity in Nigeria. The “Light” we seek should be a synonym for the lack of transparency and the impunity that clouds our vision and development. As a movement this is the time to pivot and address the other basic issues of development in Nigeria, a clarion call of the Lagos rally whose members were subjected to harassment by the Secret Service in Nigeria. In the United States members of the US uniform secret service that are responsible for protecting embassies arrived to question us but left after some observation period. This was before we exhausted our 2 hour rally and got to seat down with the ambassador flanked by some staffs.
            Another talking point that Professor Adefuye stressed apart from competency and expertise was the identification of potential investment partners in the power generating projects. But the names that were mentioned such as General Electric and Halliburton are organizations that have a checked past and begs for more oversight from our legislators. One wonders why the new National Assembly class (members and senators) have not stood up to elucidate these problems. Where are the so-called progressive members of the Action Congress of Nigeria and the Congress for Progressive Change, have they all been compromised? We have a laundry list of actual survival subjects and not phantom kerfuffle on same sex relationships like some of our so-called 1% elites will have us believe. When I came back to Nigeria at the beginning of the year with my family and traveled through Lagos, Benin, Onitsha, Owerri, and Port-Harcourt, we were not threatened by homosexuals. Instead we were confronted with unreliable electricity, noise and air pollution from generators, climate change in terms of no harmattan, gas flaring, and burning of refuse; lack of portable water, inefficient hospitals, and deathtrap roads. Therein should lay our moral and just outrage by the National Assembly, Presidency, and the general public, not political distractions and theaters.

Interview with Professor Adefuye- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srguguG_360
                                                         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xourKS0pJWA



Dedicated to: Chief Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu - Ikemba of Nigeria

             Nnamdi Frank Akwada MSW, BA is a Social Justice Activist
Washington DC Coordinator: Let There Be Light In Nigeria- Nigerian Million March Project www.nigerianmillionmarch.com
Executive Director: African Diaspora Institute and US African Cultural Festival 


Inspiration:

Let There Be Light In Nigeria- Interview with Professor Adefuye

Saturday, November 12, 2011

International Social Justice Activist: Sovereign National Conference And/Or Succession

International Social Justice Activist: Sovereign National Conference And/Or Succession: In the United Nations of Nigeria some citizens have the habit of wondering about the eventual disintegration of the country due ...

Sovereign National Conference And/Or Succession

            In the United Nations of Nigeria some citizens have the habit of wondering about the eventual disintegration of the country due to the overwhelming realities of 51years of structural malfeasance, corruption, ethnic strife, and ineptitude on most levels. The scenario of succession is further compounded by groups like Boko Haram in the north, MEND (and other Niger Delta militants, and MASSOB in the southeast. Some of these fringe organizations are directly and indirectly championing the goals of disruption in Nigeria. Though, the reality is that Nigeria might have more staying power than the world. If the proclamation that the world as we know it is going to be nonexistent by next year (2012) is anything to go by, then those that have predicted that Nigeria will cease to be a nation in 2015 might need to re-consult their oracles.
Hence, our attempts to proffer solutions must acknowledge that the status quo is hinged on the sad reality that our country is a protectorate/gift that keeps on giving to the “so called” outnumbered and powerful few at the expense of the marginalized majority. As we transition from these perilous times when most right thinking citizens of the Dis-United Nations of Nigeria have begun to critically examine our continued coexistence, we have to consider the skeletons in our closets. Our various nations need to decide the modalities ahead in a situation where Nigeria has joined the League of Nations with routine suicide bombings. In order to decide about the present and the future we painstakingly need to investigate some of our skeletons that have gotten us in this situation, such as some Muslims in Northern Nigeria quest for political dominance/hegemony; the affinity by some in the Southwest, the Niger Delta, and the North to be Kingmakers while supporting rogue governments for nearly six decades; the genocidal wars against the Southeast that have continued unabated and now includes Christian and non-Christian communities in the north irrespective of ethnicities; and finally the economic and infrastructural assault against the Niger Delta people whose communities have been the bedrock of survival for the Nigerian nation through the Black Gold of Petroleum. 
There needs to be the realizations that there are no magic bullets and those that will rather destroy than to build a better society are also called upon to appraise their motives and their anticipated objectives. One of the magic bullets which some who are frustrated with the status quo of corruption, impunity, and lack of transparency have opined is the emergency in Nigeria of a character like Jerry J. Rawlings the former president of Ghana. Our psychopathological inpatient personality is so perverse with the quick fix disorders that we always want a messiah to cleanse the system. We are unwilling to use time tested systematic and best practice nonviolent approaches to change our society.
Instead, like the Ken Saro-Wiwa characters in the 1980’s hit show Bassey and Company we remain obsessed with “drive through” reformist solutions. These so-called answers are shootings, bombings, and killing ourselves out of our problems. For instance an objective analysis of J.J. Rawlings methodologies will reveal the true empowerment movement that he led in Ghana albeit with antisocial and criminal means. Let us analyze what would have happened if a character like President Rawlings had sprang up in Nigeria. In our cynical nature some would have questioned his citizenship to start with. Who born u? Where your papa dey wey you wan come rule us for Naija? Others could have heaped all types of insults on his mother while counseling her to take her son to Scotland to find J J’s dad.
Unbeknownst, to our consciousness either due to repressive memory or inability to deal with the truth, the likes of President Rawlings drew their inspiration from Nigeria. Before the advent of Dictator Rawlings in 1979 Ghana, we had the unique experience of Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu in the1966 United Nations of Nigeria who was born of Igbo parents but bred in Kaduna. In his misguided and illegal ploy to rescue Nigeria from the grips of the emerging political, military, and economic corrupt elites who have come to dominate us, Nzeogwu organized the 1966 coup. Despite his intentions, chief of which was to handover to Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the outcome was a bundled mess of deaths which some interpreted as tribal and unbecoming. Our silver bullet- quick fix was sabotaged with tribal sentiments and incompetence on two fronts due to the illegal actions and the unfortunate reckoning of events.
            Ironically, fringe groups are still adamant in their decisions to use violence to address perceived grievances. They are more willing to massacre innocent people in their pseudo attempts at illuminating and eliminating injustices to effect changes. Some are also eager to blame the Nigerian federal government for all their problems without acknowledging that “Charity Begins At Home.” They are reluctant to ask for accountability and transparency in their hamlets, local government councils, and state governments. Some of us that know that we can walk and chew gum at the same time have our reservations for those that are described above. We wondered what the iconic nationalist Sir Herbert Samuel Macaulay the grandson of Bishop Ajayi Crowther would think if he were to revisit the United Nations of Nigeria in this fragile state.
            Compatriots that really desire and want social justice and economic changes for all, that are not narrow minded need to stop remaining complacent. In all honesty we do not need the permission of President Goodluck Jonathan or anyone for that matter to plan and assemble a Sovereign National Conference. The likes of Boko Haram and MEND have never requested our authorization to bomb and mutilate us. We the people need to stand up against the tyranny of the minority from those who want to either plunder and/or divide the nation. As a Port-Harcourt son with Imo State heritage, I have no yearnings to fly neither the Niger Delta nor the Biafra flag when our state governors and local government chairpersons manifest the impunity of corruption without remedy that we criticize in Abuja.
In furtherance, of sustainable transformational changes we must be willing to recall legislators, governors, judges, generals, police commissioners, and chairpersons irrespective of party affiliations and without primordial biases of ethnicity and religion. We should be enthusiastic about putting ourselves on the line and our comforts on hold to peacefully occupy our public spaces and our government structures for present and future generations. It is unconscionable for us to allow our government to renege on minimum wages when our politicians and administrators are responsible for our over expenditures and massive frauds. Our bloated budgetary problems and deficits should not be ameliorated on the backs of the poor through the removal of fuel subsidies. These are some of the issues that we can effectively tackle with revolutionary progressive protests, strikes, sovereign conferences, and civil disobediences without resulting to anarchy as the first and/or primary solution.              
                
                   Nnamdi Frank Akwada MSW, BA is a Social Justice Activist

Friday, October 7, 2011

Let There Be Light In Nigeria- Nigerian Million March

Under the spring-like atmosphere of April 30th 2006, I took my pregnant wife and our one year old son to the National Mall in Washington DC to attend the Save Darfur: Rally to Stop Genocide grassroots event. On that special day we listened to young men and women from Southern Sudan and the Darfur region petition their government in Khartoum and the International community from across the globe in North America. The speakers included “lost boys and girls,” eyewitnesses to the genocides from the horn of Africa who gathered in the preeminent chocolate city of the United States to testify and seek lasting solutions to the brutality of the Dictator Omar Al-Bashir government. As we approach the fall of 2011, there comes another opportunity for a group of people to congregate in Washington DC, in Nigeria, and all across the world to make a difference in the African continent.
            On Monday October 24th, 2011, citizens of the United Nations of Nigeria and their friends and families all over the globe will congregate in strategic locations for the Nigerian Million March. Our simple demand to the government in Abuja- is to say “Let There Be Light in Nigeria.” There shall be non-partisan gatherings in Abuja, Lagos, Port-Harcourt, Washington DC, London, New York, Atlanta and other smaller venues around the world. These marches have been organized to motivate the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to follow through and implement the bedrock/cornerstone of their transformational agenda. The Nigerian people and our friends believe that our country will experience exponential development and economic diversification with the introduction of permanent reliable electricity infrastructures.    
            Despite the optimism about our desires for Light and the positive potentials for our nation in terms of improving infant mortality, health-wealth gradient, reductions in morbidity rates, security, reduction in investment capital/running cost, and the creation of employment opportunities, some remain overly cautious. Their apathy and dissolutions are the by products of many years of development retardation  in the “Giant of Africa” where previous rulers have perfected the maladaptive vices of impunity, corruption, selfishness, greed, religious intolerance, and sectarianism. In discussions with some cross-sections of citizens of the United Nations of Nigeria, they were quick to ponder about the necessity of rallying for Light because of their traumatic socialization experiences in Nigeria. Our reality and history is such that we have been engineered to hope for the best while expecting the very worst.
            Some samples stories that I heard, included how an ex-Nigerian Electric Power Authority NEPA official from the south was able to build a hotel with more than 100rooms while working as a civil servant. I was told that he used his governmental position to enrich himself to the detriment of ensuring quality public service. On October 1st in a gathering at Washington DC, I met a young man who works for the Power Holding Company of Nigeria PHCN, the replacement and/or offshoot of NEPA. He and some colleagues were in the DMV for training in Virginia. My brother-fellow Nigerian wanted to know why we were protesting against his company. I had to assure him that this movement was interested in asking President Jonathan and his team to fulfill there transformational agenda by ensuring the provision of stable electricity. The Nigerian Million March draws those of us that are independent thinkers and others that range from the spectrum of www.saharareporters.com (Jonathan can do no good) to www.nigerdeltastandard.com (Jonathan can do no wrong).
            Moreover, I got other tales about the fleecing of the Nigerian federal and state treasury by our elected officials while trying to organize for the Nigerian Million March project. For example, the case of a governor of one of the northern states who flew into the Washington DC metro area and promptly got a new lady to spend our unaccounted largesse. He came upon a Zambian lady while visiting his friend’s dental office and fell heads over hill in love. Our generous governor has been on a shopping spree since that encounter. He made a full payment for a 4wheel truck in the United States “the land of down payments and monthly payments.” Reports have it that our benevolent administrator also bought his US lady a townhouse and is planning to purchase a heartthrob quarters in Lusaka so that his romances can be done in the African continent. The interesting part of this story is that all these actions transpired in less than six months. I wondered how efficient this governor was/is in dealing with the needs of his constituencies.  
During our attempts at mobilizing Nigerians for mass action through the Nigerian Million March- Let There be Light In Nigeria project which is the brainchild of Doyin Olagbegi a regular Nigerian, we have had some astonishing responses. Nigerians and friends of Nigeria have gravitated towards this goal of electricity production and have called us from all corners of the global to lend hands of solidarity. A Nigerian lady and man abroad spoke about the monies that we send home to subsidize the endemic problems of bad governance. Some of us abroad live stress ridden lives due to worries for our loved ones back home and the incompetence of generations of Nigerian governments in the local, state, and federal levels. They have been unable to provide electricity which unleashes ingenuity and the development of our human resources.
In the United States and United Kingdom there is a non-realization that African Americans and Caribbean peoples have laid the ground work for the benefits and rewards that some of us are reaping in the West. In the US people like Sojourner Truth, Malcolm X, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth actually laid their lives on the line. In the UK individuals like Marcus Harvey and Darcus Howe had to fight and rally against the establishment power in order to make changes in the society. It is time for Nigerians all over the world to take a timeout from complains and indifference and learn from others who are standing up against corruption and incompetence to ensure that Light becomes a reality in Nigeria.
Our histories are not void of these types of rallies that have effected great changes. In the late1980’s and early 1990’s members of the United Nations of Nigeria rose up against the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) and forced some changes in policies and government. It is time for us to standup again to demand changes in our Electricity policies like we have done before. In 2006, when the Sudanese gathered in Washington DC for the Save Darfur: Rally to Stop Genocide, most people could not have contemplated the emergence of an independent Republic of South Sudan after 5years. Indeed that was not the only significant change from that spring day in April that relates to our peaceful rallies for electricity in Nigeria, on Monday October 24th 2011.
On that April day in 2006, we listened to a fairly unknown senator from the Chicago area in the US who was not the keynote speaker for that event. Academy Award winner and United Nations Messenger of peace actor George Clooney was the chairperson of the Sudan event. However, in 2years Senator Obama would go on to become President Barack Obama because of his axiom of “Yes We Can.” It is time for Nigerians Students and Labor Unions to realize that we can also make differences in Abuja through our worldwide rally for the progressive course of Electricity. Did President Goodluck Jonathan promise us permanent Electricity as part of his transformation agenda? Sure he did but we must not fold our hands and legs and expect this development on a platter of gold. We need to take heed to the other words of “Mr. Yes We Can,” President Obama who said if you want change “Make Me Do It.” Compatriots in Nigeria and all around the world let us not cut President Goodluck Jonathan some slacks when it comes to the life saving issue of Electricity, let us Make him Do It.                
           

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                     Nnamdi Frank Akwada MSW, BA is a Social Justice Activist
         

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Polarizing Positions/Pronouncements of the Sultan of Sokoto

In most societies around the globe it is routine and customary to approach the traditional rulers and/or religious heads in times of tranquility, equilibrium, and upheavals. Our traditional rulers are the designated authority figures that are saddled with the responsibilities of promoting harmony and fairness to ensure the survival and communality of peoples. Though, many of these custodians of societies have woefully failed us in the African continent, among the traditional and religious rulers in northern Nigeria there is none as important as the Sultan of Sokoto.  Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III occupies a unique role in the polity of the United Nations of Nigerian. The Sultan of Sokoto and President General of the Jamatul Nasril Islam (JNI), is the dual head of the northern Nigeria traditional rulers and the spiritual leader of Nigerian Muslims. 
Consequently, we need to scrutinize Brigadier General Sa’ad Abubakar the heir of the Islamic caliphate and a member of the Northern Military Industrial Complex (NMIC). The investigation of Alhaji Abubakar is necessitated by his pronouncements on critical issues that are at the epic center of the fluctuating unity in the United Nations of Nigeria. The Sultan has been credited with some polarizing positions that demand objective analysis by Nigerians at home and abroad on the continued entity of the Nigerian nation. For example, in the Nigeriaworld.com news article titled “Abuja: 2 Suspects arrested in UN HQ bombing” although the Sultan was identified as a moderate, his statement if quoted right is an eye opener to the mindset of the Nigerian extremist Muslims.  The article cited the Sultan of Sokoto Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III as saying “We should not allow our enemies to cause us to commit acts prohibited by our religion and the perpetrators should desist from such acts and rather seek for avenues of dialogues with the leaders on the problems confronting the nation.”
                At first glimpse this statement reads like a rational admonition to the Boko Haram zealots but on second take we are forced to ask, who the ‘we’ represents and who the ‘enemies’ represents.  The importances of these characterizations are made all the more pertinent when we understand that Boko Haram and their sponsors -some northern Nigeria elites and Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb have declared war on the United Nations of Nigeria. Does the Sultan of Sokoto view moderate Muslims, Christians, southerners, and African traditionalist as the enemies that cause the extremists to commit discriminate and indiscriminate carnages? What about the classical notion of blaming the victims for villains committing acts prohibited by their religion. What side if we may respectfully ask is the leader of northern traditional rulers and leader of the Nigerian Muslims identified with? Is he part of the “We” in the aforementioned statement attributed to him?
                Besides, this will not be the first episode of controversy by Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III who recently addressed the Islamic banking issue with these thought provoking questions. “So many people have said so many things about Islamic banking . . . . Why is it that whenever anything Muslim is mentioned, it is equated with violence?” Why is it that anybody who is not a Muslim is afraid of [religion of] peace?” The answers to these probes reside in the sayings and songs of our national hero Majek Fashek who sang “Religion Na Politics” and urged us to unite and build the country. The facts are that some northern Nigerian elites have skillfully used religion as a wedge issue to divide Nigeria, in trying to deceive fellow northerners, and the rest of us about their absolute failures at the helms of power.
Religion is the gift that keeps on giving to the northern elites who have decimated the country and have little to show for close to 40years of so-called stewardship in the United Nations of Nigeria. Thus it is no surprise when issues like Sharia law, Islamic banking, and Boko Haram are conveniently introduced to extort the nation whenever non-Muslims are occupying the presidency. These are some of the reasons why many Nigerians are fed-up by these bullying tactics of the predominately Hausa and Fulani northern Nigerians. Other explanations to the Sultan of Sokoto’s thought provoking queries are the evolution of some northern Nigerians as international terrorist and suicide bombers. Even the most cynical Nigerian and African could not have dreamt of the day Nigerians will be perceived as potential suicide bombers. Many members of the United Nations of Nigeria relive the trauma of December 25th, 2009 each time they attempt to board a plane because of the attempted bombing by Nigeria’s own Mr. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. We are all now considered to be potential underwear bombers irrespective of our religions, economic status, and non-affiliations with Muslim extremists.  
                As much as the Sultan of Sokoto is seeking justice for members of the Muslim Ummah in Nigeria, we request that as a national elder, he should broaden his quest for justice to encompass every member of the United Nations of Nigeria. His focus on extra judicial killings should not be limited to Boko Haram insurgents. Indeed in other write-ups some of us progressives have questioned the killing of the leader of Boko Haram, Mr. Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf by the President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua administration. While most of us belief that Alhaji Yusuf was killed to silence his links to some northern elites, this does not exonerate the present Boko Haram soldiers who have declared war against the nation. Where is the Sultan’s outrage on the tens of thousands that have been massacred due to sectarian and religious violence by Muslim extremists? Surely the Sultan must comprehend that the facts do contradict his notions that non-Muslims are intimidating Muslims. Instead this time around other nations in the entity called Nigeria are determined to resist the perennial intimidation and sabotage of the Hausa and Fulani hegemony.
                Therefore the Sultan of Sokoto needs to decide between being his own man like he declared upon his elevation to his current position and being a puppet in the hands of the NMIC. As a man who commanded Nigerian peacekeeping missions in Chad and Sierra Leone, the Sultan is now called upon to decide between war and peace, destroying or developing. Is he still going to receive commands from the same selfish northern elitist military and political class that have done more harm to the north and the United Nations of Nigeria? Sultan are you going to adhere to the likes of Dictator Ibrahim Babangida (your reported mentor) and Alhaji Adamu Ciroma who have embezzled our nation funds for years and  only cared about themselves and a select few instead of the totality of our populations.
As a national leader is the Sultan going to center the discussions/fights on seeking the delusional birthright of the north “The Nigerian Presidency” or is he going to fight for the betterment of regular children, women, and men in northern Nigeria and all over Nigeria who seek transparency in government. If there is one thing the election of President Goodluck Jonathan has revealed, is that others nations in the country can effectively ostracize the core northern Nigeria with their votes from the presidency for the next 24-32 years if their continuous threats and belligerences continues. The Sultan maybe wise to concentrate on building effective local and state wide leadership in the north that will actually serve the people. Let his major strategies concentrate on redressing the derogation of duties in the state and local governments. We are seeing that states like Bauchi, Borno, and Abia would yield more democratic dividends if their administrators are more responsible to their residents.  The truth of the matter is that the Presidency is not the key to successful leadership instead good governance and accountability are the keys for a better tomorrow.
Dedicated to the Victims and Survivals of Religious and Ethnic violence and their Families.

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Inspiration

                               Nnamdi Frank Akwada MSW, BA is a Social Justice Activist

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Why Nigerians Elected President Goodluck Jonathan?

In April of 2011, citizens of the United Nations of Nigerian selected Dr. Jonathan as their sixth “elected” president and their sixth civilian administrator. They came out in droves to vote for a candidate that although he did not have the subjective “pedigree,” he was the best contender for the position at Aso Rock, like I stated in a September 2010 article titled “Endorsement of Jonathan, the United Nations of Nigeria, but Not the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).” Nigerians did not allow the nostalgia of 1980s to consume them, by allowing Dictator Mudammadu Buhari back into the presidency. We were able to see General Buhari for the opportunist that he is despite the veils of progressive euphemisms that were used to mask facts. These facts were that we never once heard him speaking up against Dictator Babangida when the later was taking the country to the cleaners. When Dictator Abacha blew Mr. Ernest Shonekan away like a breeze in the 1993 palace coup, General Buhari remained hopelessly silent.
Instead he joined forces with General Abacha our most brutal and most repressive of dictators, and served as the Chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund. General Buhari does not have much credibility compared to General Obasanjo who took the likes of Dictator Babangida and Abacha his blossom pals to the mat and ended up getting imprisoned at various points. Though, this should not be read as an exoneration of President Obasanjo for his crimes against the nation. It is also what noting that in those days’ issues like Sharia Law, Boko Haram, and Islamic Banking was not part of the political discourse. The Northern Military Industry Complex (NMIC) was firmly in charge and as such our landscape only witnessed the perennial carnages in northern Nigeria, defunding of universities, theft of workers compensations and allocated development resources, impunity by those in khakis, economic austerity and stagnation.
            However, with the application of objective and best practices measures there is a need to wonder out loud why Nigerians came out in large numbers throughout the south and north, east and west to support President Jonathan. Why did Nigerians abroad support President Jonathan? They saw the president as a man they could identify with in terms of hard work and sincerity. In Jonathan they saw a fellow from a regular family who trekked for miles to obtain his education. In Jonathan they saw someone who was not born with a silver spoon that was a witness to the debilitating environmental crisis in our nation. In Jonathan they saw someone from the academia that was not malleable to the dictates of the NMIC. But it sure seems that the President has been distracted by contemporary events within these few months to recognize these reasons.    
            Other than this explanation how do we clarify some of the onerous situations including the selections of ineffective recycled politicians into some key ministerial positions; the appointment of Justice Mary Odili to the Nigerian Supreme Court when Rivers State ex-Governor Chief Dr. Peter Odili is a fugitive from justice; the surrendering of the Nigerian secular state to the tenants of Islamic Banking under the Machiavellian leadership of Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi? When is the new Minister of Finance, Professor Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala going to assume her duties so that our economy can be diversified and reinvigorated in a semblance of justice and equality for the regular people, and Mr. Sanusi can be redirected to focus on national banking strategies instead of sectarian ones? The sudden pivot to a six year one-term proposal for future presidents by President Jonathan does not leave much to be desired because of the existing problems that bedevil us in Nigeria.
How do we allow the same National Assembly members that are fleecing the country to drastically change the constitution with regards to tenure? Why is President Jonathan not supporting some independent senators and/or house of assembly members in a quest to sponsor bills that reduces the over bloated salaries, allowances, and bonuses of the legislative and executive arms of governments. Ironically, all this is happening whereas unemployment and hardship is increasing among our youths and many are forced to flee our shores into a life of perpetual destitution, sexual slave trade, and trauma in foreign lands. There is a refusal to provide the Nigerian Labour Congress with a livable minimum wage. We arrest people with bombs and bomb making apparatus nearly every month but still have not prosecuted the brains and sponsors behind the insecurity in Nigeria. The occupants of Aso Rock should realize that the election of the president is not a panacea to our collective desire for a Sovereign National Conference.
Moreover, this is comparable to the situation in the United States, where millions of independents decided to support President Barack Obama in the hope that people oriented development strategies will be used to tackle the overwhelm economic and social problems. But the realization is beginning to set in that the over 2million people at his inauguration on January 20th 2009, should not have had a laissez faire (hands of policy) attitude after that historic day. The inability to sustain the election momentum and demand verifiable results have resulted in a malaise of the United States economy and administration, and the near paralysis of the global economy. Independents and progressives in Nigeria have to ensure that pressure is brought to bear on the President Jonathan’s administration. While offering our support we must ensure that the declared core election agendas are not compromised and hijacked by opportunists in the administration and/or other sinister figures and events.       
            Despite the cumbersome nature of governance we must continue to hold Mr. President’s feet to the fire of responsibility and stewardship. Dr. Jonathan needs to recall that many people in the United Nations of Nigeria died for the actualization of the GEJ presidency. Innocent brothers and sisters met their demise through political related stampedes in rallies, accidents, bomb blast, and gory mass murders. We need to remind his Excellency about his “transformation agenda” and hold him responsible for post campaign and pre campaign promises. He has to remember why Nigerians elected him few months ago to lead and we need him to be a great president because of the current daunting obligations and those ahead. How about the assurances of providing permanent electricity to millions of Nigerians?

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                Nnamdi Frank Akwada MSW, BA is a Social Justice Activist