Friday, August 9, 2013
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Nelson Mandela + US Supreme Court +Trayvon Martin + Football + Mass Protesters + NSA Spying= Human Rights and Economic Justice
These
confluences of historical events this week are such that most of us would be
twitching our bodies and scratching our heads to resolve, and appreciate for
years to come. Indeed the events that have transpired this week would require
generational assessment if we desire the relevancy of mankind in the cosmos.
Our human race have been saddened by the critical condition of the indomitable
voice of the oppressed in South Africa under the apartheid reign and the eventual
distinguished leader of the South African people. Most are eagerly praying that
Mr. Nelson Madiba Mandela who gave 27years of his life to affirm our collective
dignity and humanity will remain with us as we go through these trying times in
our various societies.
Human
Rights in the United States have undergone rapid developments this week that we
have monitored through the main street media, alternative media, and social
media a.k.a. NSA swimming pool. With the US Supreme Court’s decision on affirmative
action and abolition of section IV of the voter’s right act, one wonders what Mr.
Bayard Rustin one of the great leaders of the civil rights movement in the
United States and a convener of the 1963 Civil Rights march on Washington would
say if he were still alive. In making the decision to rescind section IV, it is
as though the members of the court who voted in the confirmatory were having
their own hurricane Katrina moments. They conveniently disregarded the whole of last year when governors, secretaries of state,
attorney generals, and legislatures sort to rig and/or influence the elections
from Pennsylvania to Ohio to Texas to Wisconsin to Florida to name a few. These
shameless justices practically sanctioned longer voting lines and fewer voting
days’ policies. Instead of eliminating section IV, the US past and contemporary
history necessitates that it should have applied to all fifty states and
regions.
Ironically, the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the
1965 Voting Right Act which made the United States a great nation and a beacon
of freedom around the world has been guttered on the same week that our
homosexual brothers and sisters were spared the indignities of federally
sanctioned discrimination. The Civil rights movement and the resultant laws
were the actualization of the American ideals, ideas, and promises that are
contained in the Bill of Rights. It could be said that the American bill of
rights were not worth the papers they were written on until the abolition of
Jim Crow segregation laws and those practices that infringed on the inalienable
rights, liberty, and pursuit of happiness for a cross section of Americans. At
the core of civil rights movement that was led by the likes of Rev. Martin
Luther King, Mrs. Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer, and
Representative John Lewis is human dignity and economic empowerment for all.
But in 2013 those so-called jurist
in the supreme court are of the opinion that
close to 300years of slavery and 100years of Jim Crow racial segregation and
discrimination can be whitewashed with less than 50years of civil rights,
voting rights, and affirmative action. The Civil Rights act and the Voting
Rights act were the affirmation of our equality, sanctity of life, and our collective
human rights to survive, rather than to squalor with racial discrimination,
prejudice, and insidious second class citizenship. Those rights were put in
place to mitigate the carnage of lynching, apartheid, economic marginalization,
and disenfranchisement in the United States.
These laws were put in place to ensure that companies like McDonalds and
others do not trick us with limited black people in their advertisements
whereas they use our patronage funds to sponsor organizations such as American
Legislative Exchange Council ALEC.
ALEC was the same organization responsible
for placing stand your ground laws to shield criminals like George Zimmerman
who was enthusiastic about dehumanizing any black life under the pretense of
neighborhood watch. ALEC amalgamated corporations and legislators to sponsor
laws that busted unions and restricted access to voting. We also need to
remember the ALEC connections to the Koch brothers who were also sponsors of the
AstroTurf Tea Party groups with their manufactured mass movements. Under their schemes, poor households and other
minorities should be afforded limited affirmative action and educational
financial assistance which is withdrawn for the flimsiest of reasons such as
marijuana use. Conversely, it is okay to pass laws that allow African American
and Latino boys and men to be subjected to systematic racial profiling. It is
also dandy to promote laws that empower people to gun down young boys like
Trayvon Martin with intended malice and hate void of any provocation, and wait
for mass agitation before the murderer is charged and tried in court.
Other mass
movements remain alive and well in places like Brazil and Turkey where the
footballing industrial Complex has shown their might like they did at the South
Africa 2010 world cup. When the South Africans got frustrated about the cost of
the world cup and the dictates of the Federation Internationale de Football
Association (FIFA) they turned inwards and massacred fellow Africans under the
guise of overpopulation and economic hardship. But in Brazil and Turkey the
focus remains on the culprits of economic malaise and inhumane social justice policies.
In Brazil which has excelled in uplifting the poor under former President Lula
da Silva and his successor President Dilma Rousseff the question remains as to why
more investment on the peoples’ economic development has not remained a
priority, instead of state corruption and massive investment on FIFA projects
like the stadiums.
In
Turkey, the masses want to be able to shape policies in their country. They
crave for a bottom to top approach rather than the heavy handedness of Prime
Minister Tayyip Erdogan. Though, Mr. Erdogan has being instrumental in
delivering foreign investment in Somali and accommodating the Syrian refugees,
the Turks want to be consulted in their domestic matters. They long for a
society that would be guided by the aspirations of the people rather than the
dogmas of the religious right. Hence like the Brazilians who are protesting
right in front of the soccer fields that are the venues of the confederate cup,
the Turks are also demonstrating and boycotting the FIFA Under 20 soccer
tournament. In both countries they would rather be on the streets than pay the
exorbitant fees to watch the football matches.
The Occupy Movements in Brazil and
Turkey are producing the next generations of Nelson Mandelas who are speaking
truth to power and forcing concessions for a better world. Global citizens in
Rio prefer capital expenditures in the favelas that will benefit the local
inhabitants without creating artificial inflation and/or bubbles that results
in homelessness in the short run and unsustainable growth in the long-term.
Those in Istanbul are akin to Mr. Snowden of the United States who resents the
power grabbing nature of some of the world’s governments. They want their
government to desist from usurping authorities and abusing public trust. These
heroes yawn to be part of the progressive public discourses that have been
engrained in our collective consciousness this week. Irrespective of our
economic systems these protesters and billions around the world long for
transparency in government, which has human rights and economic justice at the core.
Nnamdi F.
Akwada MSW, BA is a Social Justice Activist
Thursday, May 23, 2013
http://vimeo.com/66875436
http://vimeo.com/66875436
Diaspora Voices and Our Perspectives
Public Policy and Social Justice Monthly Program- Diaspora Voices
Our public affairs programming would highlight the state of affairs within specific African and African Diaspora countries, regions, and communities. We are going to take a driver’s seat on the condition of economics, politics, and social justice within our motherland and elsewhere by bridging the gulfs between the African peoples through the required awakenings. For example, emphases would be placed on our perceived intractable problems and the program would include calls for accountability and problem solving within the African context and throughout the globe.
Panelist: Mariama Jalloh-Heyward of the Green White and Blue Commission
Yemi Falusi Esq. of the Occupy Nigeria Movement in Washington DC
Cultural Education and Entertainment Monthly Show- Our Perspectives
With the on-going evolution of the African renaissance there remains the need for Africans to take ownership and present our cultures in ways that illuminates the various positive attributes of the African people. We intend to be the responsible vessels to interpret and utilize our cultural norms, values, food, crafts, and fashion as the means of repairing most of the bias, prejudice, and discrimination of the African people that remains prevalent in the global community. The show portends to reduce our self-hate while advocating self-efficacy and pride. Ours should be the authentic lens for affecting and spreading the African culture and vitality.
Guest: Anna Mwalagho DMV based musician, poet, and social activist from Kenya
www.annamwalagho.com
Emmerson musician, social-economic, and political activist from Sierra Leone
Venue: Agama Kitchen and Restaurants
5640 Annapolis Road, Bladensburg MD 20710
www.agamakitchen.com
Date: Sunday May 26th, 2013
Time: 2pm-4pm
Producer: Omar Rafik of Life Depicted Productions
www.lifedepicted.com
Diaspora Voices and Our Perspectives
Public Policy and Social Justice Monthly Program- Diaspora Voices
Our public affairs programming would highlight the state of affairs within specific African and African Diaspora countries, regions, and communities. We are going to take a driver’s seat on the condition of economics, politics, and social justice within our motherland and elsewhere by bridging the gulfs between the African peoples through the required awakenings. For example, emphases would be placed on our perceived intractable problems and the program would include calls for accountability and problem solving within the African context and throughout the globe.
Panelist: Mariama Jalloh-Heyward of the Green White and Blue Commission
Yemi Falusi Esq. of the Occupy Nigeria Movement in Washington DC
Cultural Education and Entertainment Monthly Show- Our Perspectives
With the on-going evolution of the African renaissance there remains the need for Africans to take ownership and present our cultures in ways that illuminates the various positive attributes of the African people. We intend to be the responsible vessels to interpret and utilize our cultural norms, values, food, crafts, and fashion as the means of repairing most of the bias, prejudice, and discrimination of the African people that remains prevalent in the global community. The show portends to reduce our self-hate while advocating self-efficacy and pride. Ours should be the authentic lens for affecting and spreading the African culture and vitality.
Guest: Anna Mwalagho DMV based musician, poet, and social activist from Kenya
www.annamwalagho.com
Emmerson musician, social-economic, and political activist from Sierra Leone
Venue: Agama Kitchen and Restaurants
5640 Annapolis Road, Bladensburg MD 20710
www.agamakitchen.com
Date: Sunday May 26th, 2013
Time: 2pm-4pm
Producer: Omar Rafik of Life Depicted Productions
www.lifedepicted.com
Declaration of Emergency in Nigeria! Is it too little too late?
In
December of 2011 after the Christmas Day bombing, President Goodluck Jonathan
missed the opportunity to address the Boko Haram issue head-on. Instead of resolving
the terrorist problem the administration decided to zero in on taxing average
and/or regular Nigerians with the Fuel Subsidy scheme on January 1st, 2012.
Shock and Awe policies were rolled out to conflate the oil barons and marketers
with ordinary Nigerians and the Islamic fundamentalism with oil subsidies.
Those
of us that stood up as Occupy Nigerian Movement protesters have been vindicated
over and over again with the exposed corruption in the Petroleum sectors reaching
up to the National Assembly membership and the explosion of terror in West
Africa. Hopefully, with the eventual declaration of emergency against those
that have perpetrated carnage on our homeland, other fights would emerge such
as those again corruption, impunity, and unemployment. These scrutiny and
measures of accountability should not be reversed for opponents of the regime.
Carnage in
Northern Nigeria (article written in April 2011)
Amnesty
International, one of the premier human rights organizations characterized the
incidents in the northern areas of the United Nations of Nigeria as riots and
demonstrations. Thus equating the carnage to the demonstrations in Bahrain,
Yemen and Syria where people are currently using peaceful and civil means to
petition their governments. This mischaracterization is appalling because what
took place in northern Nigeria was hundreds of bloodbaths, lynching, burning of
innocent human beings, arson, and gross destruction of properties by Dictator
Muhammadu Buhari’s supporters. With nearly 250people dead and close to 50,000
fellow Nigerians displaced, give it up to the perpetrators of inhumanity to
remain indifferent. They have mastered the skills of committing mass murders
while simultaneously cloaking in victim hood. Similar butchery was the primary
reasons behind the Nigerian and Biafran genocidal wars.
Contrary
to revisionist historians after the 1966 coup, counter coup d'état, and
extinction of some southeastern officers from the ranks of the Nigerian Army,
our union was still standing. It was days of similar mass massacres like the
world have just witnessed from April 17-18th 2011, that has continued
sporadically from 1960’s until now, that forced the hands of the
South-easterners to head back home to peace and safety. In the process they realized
that their safety could not be protected in some parts of the Disunited Nations
of Nigeria and were forced to declare independence in 1966. Unfortunately these
shameless killings have continued unabated since then. The Nigerian and
international press always report about these barbaric incidents as though they
began after 1999 when the civilians took over from the military.
However,
Enough is Enough! How can northerners continue to preach “One Nigeria” only
when they are holding on to the presidency? The sad reality is that they have
controlled and/or occupied the said position for about 40years within our
so-called 50years independence. In their time as rulers, the Northern Military
Industrial Complex (NMIC) alias Army Arrangement have legitimatized corruption
and mismanaged our national resources. The northern elites have set the country
backwards about twenty-five years if not more with their incessant coups and
dictatorships. This retardation in developments has been felt in every nook and
cranny of the United Nations of Nigeria. With the marginalization of the Niger
Delta and the assassination of Dr. Ken Saro Wiwa the veils were finally lifted
off the eyes of the South-south. The south west including Awoist (who would
like to focus on the prediction of Chief Awolowo that a Niger Delta man would
become president someday) are beginning to understand that while the
Southeasterners might allegedly play you wayo, some northerners are very
willing to exterminate their fellow Nigerians.
It is
one thing to contest the votes/elections and the tabulations of the result but
quite another to execute regional killing orgies. These ghastly acts were done
to intimidate the masses who came out in droves to cast their votes all over
the country. In the north, President Goodluck Jonathan got more than 25%
(http://www.inecnigeria.org/results/states.php) of the votes in nearly a dozen
states. So the vitriolic Congress for Progressive Change CPC) supported
murdering quads wanted to silence the segment of the northern population that
have realized that the Presidency is not the panacea to their problems. The CPC
supporters wanted to terrorize the Independent National Election Commission
(INEC) who conducted a commendable election. These killing thugs wanted to
suppress the announcement of the election results. Why did CPC supporters not
wait for the pronouncement of the outcome before going out to threaten and
arrest our national security?
Where
were these hooligans, their parents, and their sponsors when Dictator Sani Abacha
took the whole nation hostage and ostracized Nigerians from the African and
global communities of nations? We could not participate in the African Cup of
Nations in South Africa and we were suspended from the Commonwealth of Nations
not for resisting imperialism but due to authoritarianism. Where were these
miscreants when Dictator Abdulsalami Abubakar handed the presidency to Dictator
Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999? Why was there no protest when Mr. Obasanjo and his
pal Professor Maurice Iwu gave the post to President Umaru Yar’Adua in 2007?
But they have the audacity to slaughter law abiding Nigerians. These nonsense
needs to stop right now, we have to break the cycle of massacres, we cannot
compensate our way out of these man made tragedies.
Notwithstanding the concerns of
Amnesty International the Nigerian government has a responsibility to use
adequate force to defend law abiding citizens. While the observance of peaceful
protest should remain sacrosanct the carnage that we have just witnessed in
Nigeria should be prevented and suppressed with commensurable force to
safeguard the lives of innocent law abiding citizens. The union of the United
Nations of Nigeria cannot remain sacrosanct for long when it is a death
sentence in northern Nigeria to be suspected of southern ethnicities, an
Ancestor worshipper, a Christian, and a Muslim who votes for a Christian. My
own sister (a Christian, an Igbo and Ijaw) supported and campaigned for
Dictator Muhammadu Buhari, so what would the murderers do in her case?
Moreover
the fact is that people like Mr. Buhari and former Vice President Atiku
Abubakar had sown the seeds of violence before the elections. They purposely
used languages like “lynching” and the “inevitability of violence” to ginger up
their supporters in preparation of the Saturday April 16, 2011 elections.
Hence, Buhari did not see the need to call off his supporters from the streets
while the killings went on for more than twenty four hours. Alhaji Abubakar
wants to pay lip service to the so-called revered indivisibility of our nation
when the lives and property of southerners and fellow northerners who voted
their conscience is not guaranteed in the United Nations of Nigeria. Our people
are nonchalantly orphaned, our parents are rendered childless through
brutality, and others are maimed. The sanctity, safety, and respect of lives
should be our primary sacrosanct obligation and not nationhood/religion.
Moreover,
the Nigerian federal and northern state governments need to bow their heads in
shame because of their negligence. They knew that some in northern Nigeria
would turn to their tried and true part time of using tyrannical savagery. The
stakeholders should have prepared for the worst while hoping for the best which
many of us knew was not likely given the antecedents of some northerners. Heads
of the Nigerian security apparatus need to immediately tender their
resignations. Hopefully, contrary to press reports, Captain Emmanuel Ihenacho
the Minister of Interior was relieved of his position for the ineptitude in
providing security for our young national service coopers and the general
public in the north. The expectation is that he was not suspended due to
internal political considerations from Imo State. It would be a betrayal of the
highest order to the victims if no one takes accountability for this perennial
mayhem.
Never Again
should people be victimized in such callous ways with impunity. President
Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan and the authorities need to establish the
Emergency Response Tactical Teams (ERT) in all northern states that have a past
history of perpetrating this carnage. The ERTs should train and practice the
needed skills to protect the general public and should never be deployed to
disrupt non-violent protest. These teams should be able to be organized within
15minutes of any disturbances when the lives and properties of individuals from
the United Nations of Nigeria are under attack. Our governments should mandate
the ERT to protect our visitors too. We must protect the sanctity of the
African lives.
Nnamdi F. Akwada MSW, BA is a Social
Justice Activist 
Sunday, April 21, 2013
A Race to the Bottom and the Global Economic Abracadabra
While
listening to the radio some days ago in the Washington DC metro area, there was
an interview of an air traffic controller in the Frederick county area. The subject
was so upset that as part of the United States federal government austerity or
sequestration magic, his job would be vamoosed from federal funding. The
shocked controller went on to indicate his right wing leaning support for cuts
within the government but wondered aloud why his job should be on the cutting
block. This is not unique as corporations and individual members of the elite
1% club have used their stooges such as the main street pan-international media
to wage regimes of miseducation against public sector workers around the globe.
So from
Cyprus to London England, from Greece to Wall Street America, and from
Wisconsin to Ohio there is the renewed mantra to blame the victims of corporate
malfeasance and victimize the fatalities of individual greed instead of the
so-called makers. When middle income folks within the private sectors lose
their jobs and are unable to secure and provide for their families they are
quick to point fingers at government workers instead of taking an objective
look at the global corporate gluttony. They become impotent to challenge the
transfer of jobs abroad and the automation of businesses to render people
obsolete in various employment arenas.
These
economic casualties which are perceived as mere collateral damages but are
actual systematic offspring of our global economic systems are depressed,
demoralized, and dejected and become unable to connect the dots between the
disparities in income within their former organizations and their present
conditions. There is a failure to link the corporate jets and CEO bonus to the
devastation permitted on the common folks. Ours is a race for the crumbs that
seeks to scavenge and be content for what miserly benefits that greedy elites
deem necessary for us to survive on. We are swift in condemning homeowners that
lost their homes in loan mortgage crises without realizing that they were ponds
of the banking cartels and/or turning a blind eye to the same scams which the
bankers have used from Spain to west coast states in America such as Nevada and
California.
Consequently,
we are presented with a Europe of unimaginable dichotomy like in the bible
(religion) for butter (resources) days. At the same time we have more
Portuguese and Spaniards heading to Angola than at any time since the global
slave trade economy. We now have Europeans openly embracing fascism politics
and cultural xenophobia. Amidst the petroleum wealth and boom in Luanda no one questions
the Europeans for their workers permits. But in Europe and America it is easier
to pick on the foreigners instead of organizing against those from within that
specialize in setting up tax havens, shipping jobs around the globe to pay the
lowest cost, and reaping astronomical profits. On US television there is an
open call to move monies and investments to Ireland whereas urban and rural
unemployment remains off the chain with the ensuing societal cost.
Paradoxically,
the race to the bottom is sanctioned by politicians and
the corporate media types who are beholden to the corporate status quo. As such
they have the masses divided and fighting themselves, for example poor
Europeans in America against African Americans and Latinos and African
Americans against immigrants. Whilst they keep us bickering and competing for
the lowest common denominators, the Dow Jones and other leading financial
markets are creating no jobs, depressing wages, gambling with the savings of
folks, forcing municipalities into bankruptcies, but making record earnings for
the economic/financial gurus and members of the exclusive 1% club. These
entitled classes would rather hoard monies and properties to service 3-5centuries
of their descendants, whence people are poor, homeless, and dying today.
Nnamdi F. Akwada MSW, BA is a Social
Justice Activist
Friday, March 29, 2013
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Viva La Comandante Chavez
Hugo
Chavez just died few hours ago and yet he has been assaulted by the revisionist
histories of western media propagandizing that some around the globe are
falling prey to. I am going to analyze Chavezismo based on the contexts of my
two homes. The same main street media in the United States that collaborated
with Bush and Cheney to deceive us into an unjust war in Iraq and who want
President Obama to invade Iran has embarked on the smear campaign against Chavezism,
since President Chavez kicked out the oil company cabals, speculators, and monopolies
. While Chavez was increasing participatory democracy in Venezuela, setting up business
cooperatives, and eradicating poverty, so called democracy agents in the states
were busy reducing access to the polling places such as restricting voting
centers, limiting days for voting, disenfranchising college students and the elderly
in the guise of voter IDs, and requiring voters to wait for 8-9hours before
they could cast their votes in 2012.
The
sins of Chavez include fighting for the self determination of Latinos, Africans,
and other people of the world who desire the pursuit of happiness, liberty,
equality, and communal actualization. The media portrays him as buffoonish for
speaking truth to power and accuses him of wrecking his nation’s economy; these
same journalists that are still embedded in the lies that have sustained the invasion,
occupation, reconstruction, and fleecing of Iraq. And then and now they seem
not to be interested in truth telling about some of the reasons behind our
prolonged economic crisis in the United States and the push for austerity when
the 1% are still making out like bandits as exemplified by the Miracles on Wall Street.
One of
the most hated truths that Comandante Hugo spoke was when he called Bush a devil
at the United Nations in New York. What else could he have called a liar that
sent young American soldiers to untimely deaths because Saddam tried to kill
his papa or Iraq had nuclear weapons, or he wanted to install democracy or the Texas
oil barons wanted control over Mesopotamian oil fields. How many Iraqis have
since died because of the actions of George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld,
Condoleezza Rice, and Paul Wolfowitz? Why
are they not facing crimes against humanity trials in the United States or at The
Hague? But for the so-called American exceptionalism and racism we remain
unaccountable to our own citizens and the other inhabitants of the world, hence
the escalation to unending global drone strikes and warfare.
In
Africa, one wishes that we had just one leader in this generation who would not
be preoccupied with their systematic theft of resources and self-aggrandizement
but with improving the conditions of the people. A leader or two who would not
just allow multinational companies to plunder their nations while accepting crumbs
in return like in the days of human slavery and contemporary economic globalization
slavery. Chavez was not perfect and should have left the Venezuelan
constitution without tamper while training the new crop of leaders, assuming
the role of elder statesperson, and taking care of his health. He should have
increased community policing in line with the community cooperatives nonetheless
if any of our current African rulers can achieve one-tenth of what Hugo Chavez has
done, ours would be multiple havens of some sort on the mother continent.
Nnamdi F. Akwada MSW, BA is a
Social Justice Activist
Monday, February 11, 2013
President Jonathan and Co! How do you guys sleep at night amidst the Crumbling infrastructures?
Africans overseas normally get irate when images of poverty stricken rural areas, animals, and woods (aka jungles) are used to portray all of Africa. These are standard images in the western media with the classic been the pictures of poor starving African children with flies on their faces and white “saviors” asking for a dime per day to feed them. In the middle of our indignations we wonder why these so-called saviors do not show either the vicinities of the airports they landed at and/or the luxury resorts they stay in in-between TV shoots. But our desires to have Africa put its best foot out, belies the reality that we have a bunch of impotent, uncaring, and greedy rulers at the helms of governments throughout Africa, who are content to do little for the privileged few while the masses wither away.
Our grievances are misplaced and ignorance becomes bliss whereas we long for a day or setting to show the world the same playgrounds of the wealthy and scant middle income folks on the African continent. We ignore the life line of our countries such as our dilapidated basic amenities and infrastructures. For example, visitors to the local wing of the Murtala Mohamed Lagos Airport would be highly impressed with the edifice and international standards within, when the Port-Harcourt-Aba federal government express road remains a deathtrap of human making and/or neglect. Some get excited about the state of aviation that is used by less than 10% of Nigerians and Africans while our highways and railways the key to affordable transportation for 95% of individuals, businesses, and goods are eyesores.
President Jonathan of Nigeria and his band of yes-men have no qualms in seeking second terms and hedging their power when all the matrix indicate that poverty is on the rise and the benefits of economic growth is centered on the select few in our upper classes. Current Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe is in the middle of a heated argument with Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State about performance with government allocations. It should be noted that wiser men have built interstates, railroads, and engineered decades of economic development with lesser monies than Mr. Orubebe and Amaechi have in our public but unaccountable coffers. As they quibble we have young people who have graduated from universities and polytechnics with specialized degrees but are not employed because they lack 3-5years of working experiences and are part of the African underclass.
At least the governor and minister are challenging each other to stop the siphoning and theft of petroleum generated public revenues which are handed to them with insufficient oversights. In Abia State the people are forced to exist in what could best be described as series of manmade disasters. The Abia people have been subjected to inept leadership for close to a decade courtesy of Mr. T. A. Orji and Mr. Orji Kalu. In Port-Harcourt the problem is congestion and pollution but in Aba (Enyimba land) we are presented with a dump for a city. Refuse adorns the Abia axis of the Aba Port-Harcourt express road. In fact motorists have to switch to the opposite sides of the road with oncoming traffic, a situation that compounds those deathtraps that we call roads. This is done numerous times to seek a modicum of drivable freeways.
Irrespective of how our rulers are able to sleep through these glaring problems whether of their free will or through chemical dependency substances, we the people need to brainstorm and implement concrete solutions instead of getting distracted, bamboozled, and mislead by staged optics. Diaspora progressives like this writer take issue with the messages behind aid to Africa such as the Lawrence O’Donnell’s and UNICEF’s K.I.N.D. program in Malawi and other NGO paradigms which reinforces the African dependency narratives, when we have the richest continent that attracts home based and outside exploiters. We would like for shows like MSNBC’s The Last Word, to investigate and find out why the Malawian President Joyce Banda and her cohorts who are multi-millionaires by all standards, cannot provide basic necessities like classroom chairs and desks for African children.
But the reality is that western media establishments do not owe us any favors. We have to be the ones responsible for demanding the changes that have eluded us since the days of our independence. As Diasporan Africans we have to ask the critical questions about rulers like President Jonathan that have become dismal failures and his stooges such as Governor Amaechi and Minister Orubebe whose budgets are more than those of many African countries? We need to realize that our organizing and support of the Occupy Movements from abroad can only go so far. Changes can only come about in Africa when we are ready to move back and put our lives on the line. Alternatively, collective economic developmental changes would come about when our sisters and brothers in the continent actually get sick and tired of the status quo to the point of standing up for the fixing.
References and Related Articles on Infrastructures
http://www.zimbio.com/Nigeria/articles/g0vyMBtph-A/2015+Fight+Between+Minister+Niger+Delta+Governor
http://www.thenigerianvoice.com/nvnews/90993/1/southern-nigerian-guidelines-sng.html
http://www.pointblanknews.com/Articles/artopn3657.html
Nnamdi F. Akwada MSW, BA is a Social Justice Activist
Our grievances are misplaced and ignorance becomes bliss whereas we long for a day or setting to show the world the same playgrounds of the wealthy and scant middle income folks on the African continent. We ignore the life line of our countries such as our dilapidated basic amenities and infrastructures. For example, visitors to the local wing of the Murtala Mohamed Lagos Airport would be highly impressed with the edifice and international standards within, when the Port-Harcourt-Aba federal government express road remains a deathtrap of human making and/or neglect. Some get excited about the state of aviation that is used by less than 10% of Nigerians and Africans while our highways and railways the key to affordable transportation for 95% of individuals, businesses, and goods are eyesores.
President Jonathan of Nigeria and his band of yes-men have no qualms in seeking second terms and hedging their power when all the matrix indicate that poverty is on the rise and the benefits of economic growth is centered on the select few in our upper classes. Current Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe is in the middle of a heated argument with Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State about performance with government allocations. It should be noted that wiser men have built interstates, railroads, and engineered decades of economic development with lesser monies than Mr. Orubebe and Amaechi have in our public but unaccountable coffers. As they quibble we have young people who have graduated from universities and polytechnics with specialized degrees but are not employed because they lack 3-5years of working experiences and are part of the African underclass.
At least the governor and minister are challenging each other to stop the siphoning and theft of petroleum generated public revenues which are handed to them with insufficient oversights. In Abia State the people are forced to exist in what could best be described as series of manmade disasters. The Abia people have been subjected to inept leadership for close to a decade courtesy of Mr. T. A. Orji and Mr. Orji Kalu. In Port-Harcourt the problem is congestion and pollution but in Aba (Enyimba land) we are presented with a dump for a city. Refuse adorns the Abia axis of the Aba Port-Harcourt express road. In fact motorists have to switch to the opposite sides of the road with oncoming traffic, a situation that compounds those deathtraps that we call roads. This is done numerous times to seek a modicum of drivable freeways.
Irrespective of how our rulers are able to sleep through these glaring problems whether of their free will or through chemical dependency substances, we the people need to brainstorm and implement concrete solutions instead of getting distracted, bamboozled, and mislead by staged optics. Diaspora progressives like this writer take issue with the messages behind aid to Africa such as the Lawrence O’Donnell’s and UNICEF’s K.I.N.D. program in Malawi and other NGO paradigms which reinforces the African dependency narratives, when we have the richest continent that attracts home based and outside exploiters. We would like for shows like MSNBC’s The Last Word, to investigate and find out why the Malawian President Joyce Banda and her cohorts who are multi-millionaires by all standards, cannot provide basic necessities like classroom chairs and desks for African children.
But the reality is that western media establishments do not owe us any favors. We have to be the ones responsible for demanding the changes that have eluded us since the days of our independence. As Diasporan Africans we have to ask the critical questions about rulers like President Jonathan that have become dismal failures and his stooges such as Governor Amaechi and Minister Orubebe whose budgets are more than those of many African countries? We need to realize that our organizing and support of the Occupy Movements from abroad can only go so far. Changes can only come about in Africa when we are ready to move back and put our lives on the line. Alternatively, collective economic developmental changes would come about when our sisters and brothers in the continent actually get sick and tired of the status quo to the point of standing up for the fixing.
References and Related Articles on Infrastructures
http://www.zimbio.com/Nigeria/articles/g0vyMBtph-A/2015+Fight+Between+Minister+Niger+Delta+Governor
http://www.thenigerianvoice.com/nvnews/90993/1/southern-nigerian-guidelines-sng.html
http://www.pointblanknews.com/Articles/artopn3657.html
Nnamdi F. Akwada MSW, BA is a Social Justice Activist
Monday, January 21, 2013
Martin Luther Live Performance, "Daily Bread," 1.5.08.
2nd Video of the Week
www.usafricanculturalfestival.com
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