UNIZIK Controversy: Lessons for Teachers on Discipline and Respect - [Digital Insight Podcast by ITREALMS]

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Listen to our Digital Insights podcast: UNIZIK Controversy: Lessons for Teachers on Discipline and Respect

Today we are looking at the lessons for teachers on discipline and respect regarding the UNIZIK student Precious and Dr Chukwudi Okoye. 

Enjoy!

UNIZIK Student-Lecturer Controversy: Lessons for Students - Digital Insights podcast@ITREALMS

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Digital Insights podcast: UNIZIK Student-Lecturer Controversy: Lessons for Students.

It is not about who is right or wrong, but lessons for students.

Ogoni: Lessons of past 30 years - ITREALMS

Commentary@ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!

Ogoni is one of the world's most celebrated cases of state-sponsored repression. Against all odds, the people have persevered in the search for justice, equity and basic freedoms deserving of all humanity. Indeed, it has been a painful account that in our own country, our government ordered a military crackdown that left some 4,000 people dead, thousands of others went through torture, rape, brutal detentions which were supervised by Major Paul Okuntimo, the commander of the military task force at the time.

Trouble started in 1958 when the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, Nigeria's subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, commenced commercial crude oil exploration in the area. By the 1990s, the situation in Ogoni had become unbearable as the consequences had become far devastating on the environment and the people.

Lessons from JAMBFun controversy - ITREALMS

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The girl amidst technology-generated JAMBFun controversy, Miss Joy Mmesoma Ejikeme, may have gotten to her height of adolescence, but earnestly needs serious counselling, correction and guidance with conclusion by the Committee of Inquiry by Anambra State government, reports ITREALMS' REMMY NWEKE.

Preface:
Lately, the social media has been extremely active with the many pontifications on the misdemeanor occasioned by the electronic prank (e-prank) by Ms Joy Mmesoma Ejikeme, who despite her passing overwhelmingly with 249 score went on to prank the populace with 362.

Born on March 2, 2004, Joy Mmesoma Ejikeme, according to her records hails from Enugu State but schooling at the Anglican Girls Secondary School, Nnewi, Anambra State. She purportedly took her 2023 JAMB Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) with the examination number C05502116 at the Thomas Chidoka Centre for Human Development, near Shepherd County, Obosi, also in Anambra State. The false UTME result notification she printed on May 14, 2023 had registration number as 202330639047FF. While she claimed to have passed "Use of English - 98; Biology 94; Physics 89 and Chemistry 81 = total score of 362.”

INEC's lessons for NYSC - ITREALMS

Features@ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!

The social media was curious recently with a session of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) handbook that prescribes ‘ransom’ payment by corps member’s families. REMMY NWEKE writes there is a lesson from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) own handbook for staff.

Primer:

A 22-year old Osa Odim, has just graduated from one of the universities in the South-South Nigeria and when his call-up for the mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) came for those under 30 years, he was posted to Zamfara.

Lessons from the U.K. Brexit Election - ITREALMS

Commentary@ITREALMS:

The U.K. has announced the result of the “Brexit Election”, and Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party won a landslide victory, mostly at the expense of Jeremy Corbyn’s opposition Labour Party.

Listen to their statements after the results; “I will work night and day to repay voters’ trust” … Boris Johnson. “I will not lead the party in any future general election campaign” … Jeremy Corbyn.

Despite the very high stakes in this election, there was no acrimonious stirring of tribal sentiments, nor calls on supporters to protest or reject the results. Rather, leaders on all sides called on their supporters to accept the line in the sand and move forward together. The central message of the winner was – let the healing begin.

Here are the key facts:

· The decision to go for elections in the U.K. was taken in late Oct 2019, but officially kicked off on Nov 06th

· Voting started at 7am on Dec 12th, and stopped by 10pm the same day

· The polls all come in by 8am next day, Dec 13th, except for St. Ives, an island caught in a storm

· The fastest returning record was 45 mins after voting closed

· There was 67% voters’ attendance

· There were no incidents of ballot snatching, violence or deaths as a result of the election

They did not have four years to plan; in fact, they barely had two months, and they had to deal with the exigencies of the attendant “holiday mindset” of the Christmas season; and yet there was no thought of postponement.

What can we learn from the UK elections? Can we replicate this in Nigeria? What do we need to do to make this happen?

I asked these questions on my social media handles and got a myriad of responses ranging from genuine self-introspection to excuses, and even outright justification of the status quo.

It is an unfair comparison of apples and oranges. Comparing a country created in 1536 with a country that was colonised and whose independence was given in 1960 is not a fair comparison; Nigeria needs time! One of them declared. Some others postulated that until we pass into law the electoral reform bill, there will not be elections in 2023.

I don't think the comparison is unfair; technology evens things out. We have to start aspiring towards superior systems instead of wallowing in our status quo, another countered.

If the U.K. is too far from Nigeria in development for a fair comparison, then maybe we should measure our electoral process against our neighbours here in Ghana and assess how we stack up. It cannot be gainsaid that the deliberate policy of free quality education in Ghana is at the root of sustained electoral maturity. The elections are more about developmental manifestos of the candidates than about parochial tribal and religious sentiments.

Even if we compare “apples with apples” with respect to the period since independence, how do you explain that countries like Botswana (1966), Mauritius (1968) and Singapore (1965) who were also colonized and gained independence after Nigeria are doing much better in their political process.

Perhaps the most telling comment was that elections in the U.K. are not do-or-die affairs because there's a limit to what a party can spend, coupled with the fact that the rewards and perks of political office are not way out of proportion to other careers.

Nigeria’s political process seems to be riddled with rigging, violence and deaths. We seem to take one step forward in electoral reforms, followed by two giant leaps backwards. Success at organising elections will certainly boost our standing among nations, and indeed our self-esteem as a people.

While it is pertinent to do an introspection about how we got here, it is more important to focus on how to dig ourselves out of this predicament and our respective parts in the plan; what I call healing “the man in the mirror” to heal society. Credible elections will instill good governance, assure shared prosperity and stem the massive brain drain plaguing our nation. This is certainly not rocket science, or is it?

It will be interesting to hear your views.

*Austin Okere is the Founder of CWG Plc, the largest ICT Company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange & Entrepreneur in Residence at CBS, New York. Austin also serves on the Advisory Board of the Global Business School Network, and on the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Innovation and Intrapreneurship. Austin now runs the Ausso Leadership Academy focused on Business and Entrepreneurial Mentorship

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Incompetent Teachers: Lessons from Saraki’s Kwara

Commentary@ITREALMS: 

I have read so much about the teachers in Kaduna that failed a primary 4 exam and much has been said as regards if firing them or not firing them is the right step.

Sadly, this same scenario presented itself in Kwara in 2007, the then Governor Abubakar Bukola Saraki mandated his Commissioner of Education, Bolaji Abdullahi to carry out an assessment of the competence of teachers.

An aptitude and capacity test was organized for a total of 19,125 teachers in the state’s public school system. Out of these, 2,628 were university graduates.

The teachers were given tests that were designed originally for primary four pupils in English and Mathematics. At the end of the exercise, only seven teachers out of the 19,125 passed the minimum aptitude and capacity threshold. Only one out of the 2,628 graduate teachers passed the test, 10 graduates scored outright zero. What this actually means is 90% of the teachers failed the primary 4 exams but not a single teacher was sacked.

Saraki realized that those teachers were themselves victims of an educational system that had failed for so long.

The Commissioner of Education then, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi was so embarrassed that he concluded that wrong people were in the teaching profession and the future of the state’s children was in jeopardy. The tests which were designed to determine the capacity of teachers to handle primary school level Mathematics and English for children up to the age 10, have clearly thrown up a challenge about the quality of teaching nationwide.

The primary school is important as a foundation level for every child’s education, if teachers at that level are so incompetent, then there is a lot of cause for anxiety.

The teachers themselves are not culprits, what they needed at that time was help and that was the intent and essence of the test (To determine areas that needed improvement). Assessment is not an end in itself, it is to know the extent and nature of work that needs to be done.

Sacking teachers because they failed a test is like cutting the head to get rid of a brain tumor, anybody with a knife can do that but only a few can carry out the difficult surgery that the patient needs to stay alive and that takes understanding, empathy and commitment to hard work. Today, 10 years after Kwara State held that test, the quality of education in public schools in the state has really improved.

Saraki administration then designed what was called Teacher Professional Development (TPD) supported by DFID/WORLD BANK. Under this program, they developed what was called Teaching Manual, which reduced the lesson plans to simple easy-to-follow manual from P1-P6. Then recruited a team of SSIT (State Schools Improvement Team) made up of the few that did well and lecturers in the state colleges of education. After training these SSIT, they assigned them to 5 schools each, bought Okada for them and they went round their allocated schools training the teachers on the job on the use of the manuals and supporting them.

Saraki then set up the quality assurance unit to monitor compliance. Within one year, parents started withdrawing their children from private schools to public schools.

It is a little bit complex than I have narrated but I’m sure those that were in government then will be able to shed more light, but it became a model for the rest of the country and states started coming to Kwara to understudy the programme.

States like Jigawa took it a little further by delivering the teaching manual to teachers mobile phones in Hausa. It’s an incredible strategy that turned the “Useless” teachers into enthusiastic students, willing to learn so they could teach better.

This goes a long way to prove that the carrot and stick approach can actually work in this situation. While the problem has been noted and some of the teachers have been chastised, there is also a need to give them a platform for improvement. We should be solutions driven at this point we are in because Governance is not about exclusivity but inclusiveness.

Courtesy: Abiodun Jimoh is from Ilorin, Kwara State.

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Pix: Adamu Adamu, Minister of Education

Six Nollywood tricky lessons for girls on femininity

Gender ICT@ITRealms:

If you are a fan of Nollywood movies, you probably already have certain impressions about Nigerians and their women especially. The female characters in Nollywood movies are almost always cast in similar roles.

The young girls are often portrayed as damsels in distress who eventually find their purpose after they meet a man; or they are cast as gossips and home breakers driven by jealousy and bitterness. Other times they are money-conscious and beauty obsessed simpletons e.t.c;

The older women are usually depicted as wives whose lives are centered around their husbands; they are over-religious mothers who control their daughters, and mothers-in-law, whose purpose is to antagonize the daughters-in-law.

In general, the movies fail to portray Nigerian females in their diversity and complexity. Of course, there are exceptions where the female character is portrayed differently and given non-traditional roles, but how often do we see those kinds of Nollywood films?

While these movies entertain the viewers, it also serves as a medium through which the cultures and norms of the Nigerian society are disseminated to inform and mold the behavior of the masses. As such, they have the potential to shape young minds in a lot of ways.

Without realizing it, young girls in Nigeria who are exposed to these Nollywood films, learn what it means to “be a woman”. Unfortunately, not all of the lessons Nollywood teaches these girls about feminism are good.

Here are some of the problematic lessons:

Marriage is the end game
From as old as the movie “Taboo” to as recent as the blockbuster “Wedding Party”, a number of Nigerian movies tend to subtly or even strongly pass the message that marriage is a woman’s highest achievement, thus should be the highlight of her existence. Most times disguised as a love story or just plain comedy, it essentially portrays the heroine as someone who is all about getting a man to love and marry her. Some of these movies even portray women as men-mad idiots who will go to great lengths to get a man: betray friends, disown their families, and change their religion e.t.c.

Girls, when they absorb this message, start to believe that they must have a man to eventually lead a complete life. This is possibly why the marriage fever is unending and most women in our society today would rather chase a man than chase their dreams…even when they do not even feel attracted to a man.

Nollywood should strive to diversify their plot to include heroines who are able to achieve their life’s purpose without necessarily being married or being depressed they achieved the success without a man by their side.

Being Feminist means being tough, domineering and acting like a man 
Among the myriad Nollywood movies that have been produced over the years, some movies have tried to foster the ‘feminist’ agenda. Some of these movies like “Black Bra” or “women in power”, however, end up giving these female characters “male” attributes while trying to achieve their aim. 

They make them tough, domineering and even get them do certain things that have been stereotyped as ‘male’ behavior. This defeats the purpose, as the idea of feminism is not that men be removed from earth or be hated.

It should not in any way either suggest that the world will be better run by females.

Feminism basically just suggests that the female is of the same status as the male, not less, not better…and this message is what these Nollywood movies should strive to pass across.

This is so that the girls, who are influenced by these movies, are not deluded to think that to be empowered, they have to feel better than men or even despise them.

Women are weak and need rescuing
A classic example is the movie “First lady”. The Heroine already on her own was hoping to be rescued by a Prince Charming. This is a mentality most girls have these days, as a result of the numerous Nollywood movies they have seen on African Magic.

They are unwilling to put in the hard work they need to upgrade their status, or take them out of whatever situation they find themselves entrapped in. They wait to meet a man who will rescue them from an abusive father, or change their lives and take them out of poverty.

This mentality is the reason a lot of our Nigerian girls are still not self-made and not rising up to their full potential.

Nollywood movies that highlight this damsel in distress/knight in a shining amor theme, should be regulated so that we have more girls who are confident and willing to chart their own course.
Being girly is what makes you beautiful, attractive and most of all “normal”

The heroines who get the happy ending are usually costumed and molded to look and behave a certain way. They wear dresses and adorn themselves with jewelry. They also put on make-up and wear hair extensions. They also tend to show a lot of emotion (they cry and throw tantrums). The few times a female character is shown, perhaps without makeup or flashy girly clothes, she is really poor, and usually, she will have to upgrade to or adopt the “girly” image, in order to get her happy ending. Even more, if is she is dressed in certain clothes that have been tagged “male”, automatically she is a lesbian or a thug who probably will not have a happy ending.

The young girls who get these messages become image-obsessed, as they now believe how they look is everything. Perhaps Nollywood movies need to place less emphasis on the outward appearance of the girl focus more on highlighting the qualities in a female character that makes her uniquely female.

As a woman, you have to wait for love to find you
It is really hard to see any romantic Nollywood movie where the girl took the bull by the horn, and went in search of love. The love stories are always written in such a way that boy meets girl, boy pursues girl, and love conquers all.

In these movies, these girls- even ones that are clearly self-centered and narcissistic- do not need to work on themselves or do anything …love finds them any way.

This is not the case in our real world today. Love does not come easy. At least, not genuine love. It is important that girls know it is alright for them to make the first move sometimes, and go for what they want as opposed to waiting to be pursued.

Also, it is important that they understand that love requires emotional maturity; they may need to work on themselves to attract the kind of love they desire. Nollywood movies should try to reflect that.

Women are destined for subservient roles in the society
In a large number of Nollywood movies, men are depicted as leaders, rulers and successful business men. Women, on the other hand, are mostly captured in domestic settings, their roles constrained to being mothers, daughter, brides, housewives and other related roles. Even in a few movies where the woman is given a sort of ‘masculine’ role or place in a position of power, it is still orchestrated such that she has to submit to a higher boss who is male, or submit to a domineering husband.

This gives the girl the impression that this is all the future holds for her. Her mind is conditioned to accept and even look forward to it. Modern day Nollywood movies should consider the direct and remote messages their moving may be passing across and not ignore them. They can start by ensuring women are not always cast in traditional roles.

What are your thoughts on these points?

*Nkem Ndem contributed this from Lagos.

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Canada @ 150: Lessons for Nigerian youth

Commentary@ITRealms:

On July 1, 2017, Canada, the world’s second largest country after Russia, will be 150 years old. There is a year-long celebration of this milestone for a nation that prides itself on being one of the best, if not the best country in the world. Before the European colonialization in the early 16^th century, Canada was inhabited by aboriginal people (the indigenous people of Canada).

Canada’s history of colonialism dates back to July 24, 1534, when French explorer, Jacques Cartier, in the name of King Francis I of France, set up a French colony in New France, the area colonized by France in North America. As conflicts between colonial powers raged, Britain would later supplant France and take control of much of what is Canada today.

On July 1, 1867, the British North American Act came into being. It led to the fusion of the colonies of Canada (later Ontario and Quebec), New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia to form the semi-autonomous federal dominion of Canada. With time, other British colonies and territories joined with or were ceded to the new nation. From four provinces in 1867, Canada today has ten provinces and three territories. It wasn’t until 1982 that the country became a fully sovereign state. It was that year that Canada eliminated the last vestiges of legal control the British Parliament had in the amendment of the country's constitution.

It is not for nothing that the country has been described as the best place on earth. According to a 2015 study by the Reputation Institute, “Canada is the top country in the world for studying, visiting, working, and living.” It was ranked first for “best quality of life” by U.S. News Best Countries Ranking (2016) and named the “world’s most welcoming country” by the 2015 Global Nation Brands Index. Beyond its picturesque countryside, tundra, prairies and beautiful snow-capped mountains that stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean, Canada provides a breathtaking kaleidoscope of multiculturalism, diversity, inclusion and freedom that other countries can take a cue from.

Of course, Canada is not a perfect nation. No nation is perfect. Nation-building is not a tea party but a work in progress, no matter how old a country is. One of the most decentralized federations as well as one of the most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations in the world, Canada, a country of 35 million people, (2016 census) has continued to push the boundaries of what it means to be a modern nation-state.

Last week, as part of Canada’s 150th anniversary celebration, the country’s High Commissioner in Nigeria, H.E. Christopher Thornley, held a reception in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, for Canadians and friends of Canada in Nigeria. Ambassador Thornley spoke about Canada’s “strong and enduring relationship with Nigeria, and commitment to continuing our friendly and productive relations for many years to come.” He also spoke about Canada’s “diversity and inclusiveness, reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, youth, and the environment.”

There are plenty of lessons Nigeria can draw from Canada. Like Canada, Nigeria is a member of the Commonwealth, an organisation of countries that were colonized by Britain. Of course, there is a difference in how both countries emerged—while Canada’s three original British colonies agreed to come together to form a semi-autonomous confederacy in 1867, the Northern and Southern Protectorates in Nigeria were amalgamated by the British in 1914 to create Nigeria. From two protectorates to one country in 1914, Nigeria grew to three regions in 1946, four regions in 1963, 12 states in 1967 and today has 36 states. While Canada’s expansion was through accretion and concession, that of Nigeria was through forced division. This difference notwithstanding, both countries have in common, diversity in terms of region, language, religion and ethnicity.

According to Ambassador Thornley, Canada is strong because of its differences, not in spite of them and is strengthened in many ways because of her shared experiences and diversity. Nigeria can look to its diversity, differences and shared experiences as sources of strength. Unfortunately, thanks to poor leadership, the country has managed to exacerbate its fault lines so much so that today it sits on the brink, racked by political instability, and ethnic and religious strife propelled by a greedy and bankrupt elite for whom enlightened self-interest means absolutely nothing.

“Inclusion is a choice,” noted Ambassador Thornley. “This choice is guided by the many benefits that diversity can bring: higher rates of economic growth, better social cohesion and tremendous cultural and civic benefits. It has taken years of hard work for Canada to get to where it is today. Inclusion does not happen by accident, it happens because of choices. Decades ago, Canada chose to embrace a policy of multiculturalism and official bilingualism. The Government of Canada chose to welcome more refugees. Prime Minister Trudeau chose to have gender parity in Cabinet (because it’s 2015).”

These are the ideals Nigeria should aspire to if we are to build a modern nation. We must make conscious efforts to build an inclusive nation; a society of equal opportunities and civic benefits; the alternatives are not pleasant. We must redefine citizenship rights in Nigeria. We must build a nation, like Canada, where every Nigerian can call every part of the country home. That conversation must begin now. Nigeria does not have the luxury of time!

In 2015, Canadians elected Justin Trudeau, a dynamic and progressive young politician as prime minister. Ambassador Thornley spoke eloquently about the role young people in both Nigeria and Canada can play in shaping their countries: “As we celebrate one hundred and fifty years of Canada, we remind ourselves that it is today’s young people that will shape both the Canada and the Nigeria of the next fifty years. Canada understands the importance of engaging youth not only on issues that affect them directly, but on all issues of national and global importance. In fact, our Prime Minister, quite deliberately, chose to personally take on the role of Minister of youth to emphasize the priority his government attaches to it. Young people represent a generation of true global citizens. This has been helped by a world that is networked and connected like never before, namely through the use of new technologies and social media. The importance of youth is particularly pronounced in Nigeria, which has such a sizable population of young people. I have been impressed in the early months of my tour in Nigeria with the ideas, energy, and vitality of young Nigerians.  The desire to build a better world is evident and inspiring.”

Nigerian youth have ideas and energy. They are creative. But they must do more; they must be involved in reclaiming and re-inventing the country; they must realize that the power to bring about real change in Nigeria lies in their hands. Many of those who shaped Nigeria at independence were in their 20s and 30s and few in their 40s. They were the same people who plunged Nigeria into an avoidable and internecine civil war, mismanaged the post-war reconciliation, robbed the country of its resource, impoverished majority of Nigerians and brought us to the sorry state we are in today as a nation. 

Nigerians can’t continue to run the country with the same people and ideas that have failed in the last 56 years. Nigerian youth must rise to the challenge of their generation. Nobody will provide employment or quality education for you unless you create a system of equal opportunities and civic benefits. It is your country, your world and your time! I am, therefore, encouraged by the efforts of some young Nigerians like the economist and writer, Tope Fasua, who is rallying other young Nigerians for real progressive change under the banner of the Abundant Nigeria Renewal Party (ANRP) as the country heads into another general election cycle in 2019. There is Bashir Abdullahi II, the building engineer and social activist who sought me out a few weeks ago to share creative ideas for the social and political reconstruction of Nigeria as an inclusive and egalitarian society.

These are the kinds of new attitudes and approaches that Nigeria needs for her to survive. We must break from the past. We can’t continue to run Nigeria in the same old ways and expect different results. Dear Nigerian youth, let no one tell you that you are not old enough to lead or that you don’t have experience. Make your mistakes if you have to, but lead you must. Your glorious battle cry must be: dare to struggle; dare to win!

Nigeria must rethink its federalism. Like Canada, Nigeria must seek reconciliation with various groups within the country. Everybody matters! We must also elevate the debate around gender equality and empowerment of women. It is only the youth that can achieve this by collectively destroying the ingrained mistrust and prejudices of the past. Successive rulers—with jaundiced and parochial thinking—have failed the country. There is no reason for the current generation of Nigerians to toe the same line. There is no explanation why Nigerians born after the end of the civil war in January 1970 should see themselves as anything other than Nigerians first. That must be the attitude going forward; it is the only way we can get out of the current morass. 

Last week, I was on Aljazeera’s Inside Story to talk about corruption and famine in three African countries (Nigeria, Somalia and South Sudan) and Yemen where, collectively, 20 million people are at risk of starvation. In Somalia, “a national disaster has been declared because of drought and about half of the country’s population faces severe food shortages.” In South Sudan, “famine has been declared in parts of the country and up to a million people there will soon run out of food.” And in the giant of Africa, the UN says “400,000 Nigerian children face malnutrition. Close to 80,000 of them might not survive the next few months.”

It was tragic as it was painful for me to find Nigeria in the same league as these other countries that have a long history of natural disasters and civil wars. Nigeria’s problems are purely self-inflicted. There is no reason any child in Nigeria should go to bed hungry much less being malnourished; no reason for millions of Nigerians to be refugees in their country. It is this retrogressive paradigm of governance that has defined Nigeria since independence that our youth must interrogate.

The challenge before Nigerian youth, therefore, and the lesson they can learn from a country like Canada is how to build an inclusive nation, home to millions of people from diverse ethnicities and backgrounds, living together in harmony and bound by social justice, equity, the rule of law and a common national ethos.

It is the bounden duty of this generation of Nigerian youth to rescue Nigeria from the tragic hamster wheel the country has become. 

  

*contributed by Chidi Onumah, the author of We Are All Biafrans; conumah@hotmail.com; @conumah

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Commentary: Possible exit of Britain from European Union and Lessons for Nigeria

Commentary@ITRealms:

Over many years, the Scottish people were unhappy to belong to the United Kingdom (UK) and there were agitations to break up the union so that the Scots could go their own way as a separate and independent Nation. 

A couple of Parties emerged calling for what I may call Scottexit from the UK. There were heated and rancorous debates all over the UK which tended to divide the Nation. To determine if this was truly the desire of the majority of the Scottish people or just the opinion of some of the Politicians or a minority vocal protesters, a referendum was conducted last year in Scotland.

The Majority of the Scots voted against leaving the UK, preferring the semi-autonomous status that gave them opportunity to have greater say in how they were governed. The agitation ended, at least, for now.

No bullets were fired and The UK avoided reliving the experience of the violence that engulfed the Nation for several years as Irish People of Northern Island sought self-determination and self-rule. The Scots are at peace right now still part of the UK and they live at peace with their independent neighbor, Northern Island.

Similarly, in the last couple of years, there has been a growing dissent among many British People regarding Britain’s stay in the European Union (EU). This has led to stiff political debates that divided the Nation. To stop the debate degenerating into violence, the civilized political leadership of The UK decided to hold a referendum to decide, if it is really true that the majority of the British people want to exit the EU. In the last couple of months, the debate has become intensive with Prime Minister David Cameron leading the campaign to Stay while the former London Mayor Boris Johnson is leading those who want to exit. 

Last week, MP Jo Cox was murdered on the streets of Northern England as she campaigned for Britain to stay in the EU. And on June 23 this year, a few days hence, the people of the United Kingdom will March out to the pools to freely express their desire. Who knows what the majority may desire. But what a civilized way to end disputes relating to self -determination and sovereignty.

Are there lessons for Nigeria from these two examples related above? Between 1967-1970, Nigeria fought a bitter civil war in an effort to prevent the people of Biafra from leaving Nigeria. At that time the slogan was: “To keep Nigeria one was a task that must be done.” 

Well, we succeeded or did we? After the loss of nearly three million people, not to talk of morbidities (we still have an army of disabled ex-Biafra soldiers left to die by installment) loss of material resources of unquantifiable value and at least a three-year delay in the development trajectory of Nigeria, it is surprising that we are where we are today.

Main crude oil pipelines blown up by NDA & militant fighters explode into huge fireballs and disrupt supply to export terminals on the coast

All over Nigeria, there are agitations for self-determination while some are asking for sovereignty. Currently the most prominent are the agitations for Biafra by MASSOB & the IPOD, with their horde of supporters. There is the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) with their variants asking for the Republic of Niger Delta and whatever is left after all the oil wells and pipelines have been bombed or ruined. 

There is another group which seems to be an amalgamation of the two tendencies called the Lower Nigeria Congress (LNC) whose geographical territory extends to the Middle-belt of Nigeria. This group is speaking essentially about self-determination which does not necessarily mean secession. In the South West and middle belt, there are dormant volcanoes which can become active anytime. I do not quite know if the technical defeat of Boko Haram is the end of that chapter.

All over Nigeria, there have been increasing and strident calls for restructuring Nigeria. NADECO which included Balarabe Musa (Northwest), Tony Enahoro (Southsouth), Wole Soyinka (Southwest), Bola Ahmed Tinubu (Southwest), Ndubuisi Kanu (South East) and a host of others started this campaign in the early 90’s, especially after the June 12 debacle. 

They asked for a National Sovereign Conference to restructure the Country.  This cry remained which compelled Olusegun Obasanjo to set up the National Political reform conference in 2005 that made far reaching suggestions on how to restructure the Country to create stability. Not much came out of this effort as the report was jettisoned at the National Assembly along with the third term agenda. Despite palliative efforts by Obasanjo, Yar’adua and Jonathan to calm agitations, through all kinds of “bribery” and hand twisting including the amnesty program, the call remained disconcerting forcing Jonathan to call for another National Conference in 2014. 

This conference is said to have come up with suggestions on critical things that need to be done to bring peace and stability to our beleaguered nation.

So far, it looks to me that this government thinks there is no form of justification for any of the agitations and protests. In fact, they seem to treat every agitation, armed or unarmed, peaceful or violent as criminal activity, which must be crushed with brutal force. I see that the mentality of 1967 still persists: To keep Nigeria one at all costs, so nobody would be allowed to say or do anything that that seems to threaten the current lopsided, unstable Nigerian political structure. 

If you ask me, my preference is to restructure this nation and restore stability. My preference is for the leadership of our Country to invest serious effort in making our country united with happy and contented citizens in every part of Nigeria. Of course if this becomes impossible, I will naturally consider other options.

Movement for New Nigeria (MNN) agreed to above map to be future federations for a devolved Nigeria.

But it will be foolhardy to assume that is everybody’s preference. That’s why Prime Minister David Cameron is not assuming that his preference of Keeping UK in the EU is everybody’s preference. And since some British people have agitated for a Britexit, he decided to call for a referendum. My wish is that Britain remains in the EU. And eventually that might be what the majority of British people want and if that happens, that will quieten the current rancorous agitation and if the people prefer to leave, that will be it.

Everybody will have had their say but the majority would have their way and life continues. That is called self-determination. So, to keep Britain in the EU is desirable but not a task that must be done by all means. If the British got us into one Nigeria, we need to learn a few things on how to resolve major national issues. The way of referendum seems to be the preferred option even to agree to adopt or reject the report or recommendations of the last National conference.

That to me will be cheaper than arming the Nigerian army to kill Nigerians as we see all over Nigeria today in the bid to quell protests and agitations. And it may resolve matters faster and we may surprise ourselves to realize that there is more that unites us than divides us.

May God help our leaders.

Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, OFR

 

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