Pricy Scholarship

Quite contrary to our popular perception;scholarship is not an entirely free aid or award to study, at least to the donor. Some one or some foundation must have paid for it and that is why is is often said that nothing is free, not even in Freetown. Scholarships are awarded based on various criteria, which generally reflect the values and purposes of the donor or foundation. My brilliance and posh background did not qualify me for any while I was growing up, so I never had cause to begrudge those that merited it without consideration to economic or ethnicity need. It was a common study benefits then, and a catalyst for healthy rivalry in school. It however thinned out with the exit of the colonial masters and their benevolence culture. Only to be replaced with our homegrown scholarship inclusive of all manner of clauses and conditions, making it not only exceedingly difficult to access, but also with dangerous conditions to live with.

The major benefactors of scholarship and free education back then were the orthodox churches, some overseas foundations and bodies we hardly ever knew. The essence of their philanthropy was basically altruistic and their motive was whiter than snow. The  giants of industries and today's success stories were one time or the other a direct product of this laudable schemes. There were no self made successful individuals, as we all know that we can only rise by lifting others.

One of the welcoming shocks in America is the avalanche of scholarships and aid programs available for study. The educational system is designed in a way that there will be no excuse for illiteracy. If, like me, you are brilliant, from a well to do family and too proud for a scholarship, you can always take advantage of interest free school loans that can be mortgaged until you start earning decent pay. The scholarship conditions are clear as the sky while the process is not as degrading and demeaning as the one back home. Noteworthy to say that all study benefits are mainly paid for by individuals, groups, churches and foundation. And as a beneficiary,you are not supposed to pay back.

Our government is at a complete loss at what to do about our educational sector. Education is not free, bursary is now history taught in classes, the quality in our education has been replaced by quantity as university licences are sold to the highest bidding churches. With less than 30% of our national budget allocated to education, we can primordialy predict the priority of our government.

The  relationship between the churches and people back home is exploitative by nature. Like the government, churches have diversified into profitable ventures like estate, schools, banking and farming from the contribution of members. This in itself is a viable idea capable of subsidizing members physical needs and ultimately lifting their spirit. 

Sadly, only very few members of those churches can afford to put their wards in schools built by the members' contribution. Similarly, fulfilling the conditions for scholarship is as easy as the camel passing through the proverbial eye of a needle. Since criticism of this sector of our economy is not allowed, we can only hope that the truth found in education will set the people free one day.

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Going,going.....

In 1975, Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard and joined his friend Paul Allen, to form a software company called Microsoft. After Apple developed the first-point -and click operating system for the Mackintosh, Microsoft produced its own version and called it Windows. Almost immediately Windows was installed in about 90% of the world’s computers, with Microsoft stock at about 550b dollars, and owing 15% of the stock, Bill Gates became the richest man on the planet at 44 years old.

At the beginning of this century, United States of America instituted an antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft Inc that lasted for twenty-one years. The bone of contention was that Microsoft maintained its monopoly power by anti-competitive means and also attempted to monopolize the web browser market, as well as unlawfully tying its Web browser to its operating system. During that period, opinions range from imposing restrictions on Microsoft’s corporate conduct to breaking up the company.  In clearer words, USA was uncomfortable with the economy power vested in an individual’s hand through the company against the entire country.

For a capitalist economy, the suit may have appeared preposterous then, but with the benefit of hindsight, it is obvious that the State was more than justified in the action taken. Bill Gates stepped down as the CEO, but did not lose his company. Though the company continued to make money with its Windows dominance, its monopoly on computing was broken, allowing competitors like Apple and Goggles to soar.

At home, in 1977, The Dangote Group was established as a small trading firm by Alhaji Aliko Dangote. It started by trading in petty supplies and a little bit of commodities. Without patenting any invention and within three decades, the company has moved from being a trading company to being the largest industrial group in Africa. Helped by successive government direct support and patronage, the Dangote Group is today a multi trillion naira conglomerate with many of its operations spread across the sub-Saharan with monopoly over sugar, flour and cement.

In 1990 and 2012, Alhaji Dangote secured a contract from Central bank of Nigeria to manage their fleet of cars and logistics, and also secured a piece of land form Nigerians Port Authority for his flour interest respectively. With his dominance in sugar and refinery business, Dangote is the main supplier to the country’s soft drinks companies, breweries and confectioneries. It owns salt factories and it is a major importer of rice, pasta and fertilizer. With his renewed interest in telecommunication, it is safe to conclude that Dangote owns the nation.

And today, as the Federal Government gears up toward selling off our national assets in total insensitivity to the wishes of the people, Dangote is once again poised to buy off what remains of the country and pay from his back

pocket. If Dangote has monopolized our economy, has he also monopolized our collective senses? How we got to the decision to sell our assets to raise fund for capital projects still baffle me. But for now, I will allow the readers the luxury of reading in between the lines while I shudder at my personal conclusion on this matter.

HomeAbroad: Tamed transition

HomeAbroad: Tamed transition: Two years to an election year, the America government has already established an office called "2017 Inaugural Support Team" that ...

Tamed transition

Two years to an election year, the America government has already established an office called "2017 Inaugural Support Team" that is saddled with the responsibilities of effecting a seamless transition of running government to the incoming one. The committee will also be handling the party, invitations and most importantly, the security arrangements before and after the event. That is planning.

Forty-eight hours after David Cameron left power and 10 Downing Street for Theresa May, the foreign policy of the new government was already felt in Nigeria through changes designed to drive revenue from visa application at their chancery. That is implementation.

Six months into the life of the present administration, we were still shopping for individuals “that we were made to believe” will have been screened and passed all integrity tests. The list eventually came and left everyone wondering what yardstick was used for the tests, in the first place. A year after, we still do not have a blueprint nor a decent budget to work with. For a government that rode into power with so much goodwill, and, did not have a liability of political petitions, they still did not hit the ground running. This is unacceptable.

For every need you can will from your infinite realm of imagination, someone here has made a provision for it. It is just incredible how every little thing that makes life easier is on the shelf in a mall. The focus and drive, I think, is on improving life and impacting the immediate environment without neglecting the ozone depletion. With that kind of mindset, there is no way their nation will not grow. That is commitment.

 It is good news that we are discovering oil in commercial quantity in every nook and cranny of our country, but who will be buying it? Oil is the fuel running international terrorism and coating pockets of war around the globe. The developed countries of the world are unanimous in their decision to fund research for alternate and cleaner energy. That is vision.

The new vocabulary in our country now is diversification. If we move our agriculture from the level of subsistence to mechanize and industrial, we would have sufficiently made provision for the future. We must also not align our agro business with politics by creating grazing routes all over the country for the benefit of cattle-rearers, who are infamously the subject of national security. That will be suicidal.

Peddling the fact that the former government mismanaged resources is a recycled knowledge. That oil price has dipped in the international market is a fact available on Google and that our leaders are corrupt and reckless is an incontrovertible culture of ours that this new administration cannot continue to dwell on. We are sick of excuses; let them plan with vision and implement with commitment. That is an order!

Unfriendly forces

Added to the growing civil, but not civilized unrest across the face of the United States, is the  police killing of an allegedly armed or unarmed ( depending on which part of the divide you are) black gentleman.The violent two day protest that engulfed Charlotte metamorphosed into civil protest yesterday,defying the curfew imposed by the governor. Even before our arrival at the United States, this kind of scenario has been a recurrent decimal in the last decade.

Mankind has always has the problem of co-habiting since creation and man's discovery of identity and culture decimation have fueled appropriation of races. This in turn has derogatorily gave birth to ethnicity and it's cousin, tribalism. Unfortunately, this is not a situation that can be legislated away or violently addressed. We need love, but quite sadly, it is a virtue that is at the precipice of extinction.

The immediate consequences of this malaise is available for all to see on television round the world, even  as international bodies look on haplessly. Before Christendom starts switching off the remote of their television and reminding us of it being the signs of time, we must hasten to inform our people that we can only change the world by changing ourselves. That is however more difficult to do than just pointing accusing fingers.

Unresolved earlier cases have also contributed into the national mess that is beginning to threaten the soul of the nation. To have peace, you must not only prepare for war but justice. Either side has however switched positions on this matter; the side that should prepare for justice is drumming for war and vice versa. The Tulsa case is another potential grenade in a gas station. The handling of that case leaves so much to be desired, especially in the light of the situation of the nation. If we may approach the bench, you will discover that the case that was summarily dispensed with,may have been lost in the court of public opinion.

Life is sacred and it should be treated as such. Suddenly, am beginning to appreciate and miss the Nigerian Police Force.

Adopt Change

The difference between the government and the governed here is so seamless that it is difficult to find a crack; the love and patriotism the citizens exhibit is beyond that which is advertorials solicited for. So, what you find is a situation where citizens are ready to fill in for the government in provision and maintenance of infrastructures. For example, there is a program called, ‘Adopt a road’ which allows residents to pick a particular road that they will clean, clear litters, move drainage and generally maintain the road. This is completely voluntary as they do not get paid for rendering this community service.

There is a similar program at home? Well, the environmental sanitation day outlived its usefulness some decades ago and has not been able to transit into relevance since then. Firstly, the environmental sanitation programme was a brain child of the government, forced down our throats in order to discipline us into submission. Discipline we needed, while submission would have come through mutual respect and engagement. Rather than fulfil it’s purpose, it became a useless tradition. Every last Saturday of the month and for three hours the economy is always on lockdown for us to clean our environment. However, the kids use this opportunity to hone their football skills on deserted streets, fathers go for street meetings while mothers seize the time to catch up on latest gist as they prepare for the party that will start after the program. So, nothing gets done and the economy suffers for it.

Primarily and out of sheer mental laziness, government has not been able to re-evaluate this program and assess its continued relevance and functionality. Secondly, the government has not shown enough sincerity in her limited engagement with the citizenry and lastly, the people are weary and tired from shouldering government statutory responsibilities like generating energy by themselves, providing potable water, enforcing personal security and providing Medicare to bother about community services. We may have a point in our seemingly lethargy, if this is viewed strictly from above perspective, but the truth of the matter is that we are the one living in these communities and therefore owe ourselves the duty of making the best out of what we have.

Let the change begins by scrapping the environmental sanitation. And imagine what Lagos-Ibadan expressway will look like if all the religious organizations on that stretch should decide to adopt portions of the road. It is time to make the crooked ways straight!

One bedroom and three bedroom flats to let at Baltimore.

Rules without regulations

Someone was said that the Barcelona football club is so good that they will still deliver, even without a coach. I suspect a hyperbole there, since they lose matches with their manager on the bench. The truth is that their results and performance over time is a confirmation of the fact that system and structure work at the club, and indeed anywhere. Same can also be said of the United States of America. The systems and effectiveness of structure are timed to perfection and totally delineated from individual(s) influence. Here, you do not have to know anybody to get what you want as long as you can submit to regulations and respect the rule of laws. It is that simple. 

Quite contrary to popular but wrong perceptions; Nigerians are fairly easy to get along with and our needs are moderate, even if our wants are sometimes extraneous. That is to be expected, when you consider our abject living conditions alongside the malicious opulence our leaders wallow in. Between where we are and our aspiration, are police check points that succeeding inspectors generals of police have out- lawed, but still functioning. The IG sees them daily and receives reports of their intransigencies, yet, they remain conspicuously above the law. It is almost a custom for custom officer to accost you in town or on the highway to check import papers of your vehicles, leaving one to wonder where they were when the vehicle entered the country. The Federal Road Safety boss keeps reiterating the fact that no one should pay above N6500 for driver licence in the country, giving one the impression that the gentleman knows that he is not by any stretch of imagination in charge of his boys or the command.

We must build and reinforce our system and structure beyond individual control. Human beings are prone to excessiveness when there are no checks and balances. Our political landscape is shaped not by values or principles but by people who have had unhindered access into the nation’s treasury and have rendered our collective purse into a personal wallet from which they spend from. It is understandable that the federating states in the country are not likely to grow at the same pace, but the fact that 80% of the states are their governors’ colonies premised the cause of their backwardness. Our inordinate financial demands on our leaders once they get into power is also one of the reason most of them cheat on us. Rather than hail leaders who are handing us donations, giving our kids scholarships, buying artisans equipment all in the name of empowerment, we must begin to question their sources and motives. If there are no constituted body or organs to handle such responsibilities, an enabling law must be made to create them. The idea of giving funds to an individual to develop his constituency must also stop.

If we elect to work on ourselves by allowing our system to thrive, our laws to be sacrosanct and our leaders accountable, we will find out later that the efforts and funds that go into the USA election process of picking from two of identical ideologies; differentiated and personified by differing and dithering personalities is not worth it, especially in the light of a strengthened system that works. There will still be election of course, but it will come at minimal expense to the country and at less stress to the people.

  

Birthday Blues

India is twenty years older than my wife- who coincidentally is having her birthday today- (warm wishes will not be totally out of place) and thirteen years older than Nigeria. Between the two countries, there are lot of shared history, heritage and antecedents. Both countries were colonized by Britain. Both are not just multicultural societies but also multilingual. They were both named by the British along riverbeds –Nigeria by the River Niger area, and India by the Indus River. This is however, where the similarities end.

We got our independence on a platter of gold when Pa Enahoro moved the motion for our independence at a tender age, before we went through a civil war that almost tore the nation apart. India, by the 19th century, had to endure years of non-violent resistance to British rule, led by Mohandas GANDHI and Jawaharlal NEHRU, before their independence was granted in 1947. Large-scale communal violence took place before and after the subcontinent was partition into two separate states - India and Pakistan. The neighboring nations have fought three wars since independence, the last of which was in 1971 and resulted in East Pakistan becoming the separate nation of Bangladesh.

At a time in the early 1970 and 1980s, the Indians migrated to Nigeria in droves as they were mainly found in our secondary schools as science teachers having fleed from the economic recession in India then. Tide has however turned full cycle now and India is firmly in the able hands of Indians. The Indian economy has picked up, their population exploded without negative consequences on their infrastructures and have been able to stay calm in their balance of payments. They have advanced exponentially in science and technology, as they are now joint medical center of the world with Cuba. They may not be competing with the Western World in the space race but they are definitely not lagging behind in nuclear capabilities. They started building their own automobiles two decades ago through TATA, and now have Suzuki, Mahindra, Jaguar and Land Rovers as subsidiaries.

They have been able to achieve this much because they kept their national identity. From their accents to languages and their cultural values, India has maintained national integrity, remain focused, planned and is extremely disciplined in policy implementation. The leadership strictly followed the ethos of their founding fathers, and Indians are better for it today. If it were possible to freeze India while we continue, do we honestly think we can be where India is in the next thirteen years?

As a matter of urgency, we must restrict religion to a private and not a national matter, close our borders against luxury items and be content with consuming what we can produce locally. As for the corrupt leadership, the led must be able to sort that out without recourse to the bureaucratic and stained justice system. The educational sector must be properly funded and result-driven. We should hand over the energy sector to foreign investors so as to jump-start the economy and encourage foreign investment.

Lastly, we must not celebrate any independence day until we are able to get close to where India is. 

As for my wife, she is allowed to celebrate. Happy birthday dear! 

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Travels and Tourism

When you put a man that was created to walk in a

pressurised cabin 8000ft above sea level, to fly; a lot of things will happen. First, the oxygen content in the blood of passengers, in such cabins fall by 4%, culminating in series of bodily discomfort when sustained for hours. Secondly, when you add the other symptoms like headache, nausea, tiredness and sleeplessness that are associated with high altitude to the disruption of passengers’ body clock, what you are likely to have is a condition commonly called jet lag. If the cabin altitude is however lowered, we will have a reversal of condition and passengers will be better for it. However, if the cabin altitude is lowered, this will have adverse effects on the airlines as boosting the air pressure in the cabin will put greater stress on the aluminum frames which will end up shortening the service life of the airplane. Got it? It does not matter, just follow me.

Our choice of airline when my family was planning our trip was largely informed by the family budget and the nation’s fiscal policy. So, we flew Emirates airline and have an extended stopover in Dubai with room and meals paid for by the airline in a decent airport hotel. The undiscerning will probably be feeling indebted to the airline for their seemingly generosity, not knowing that the whole arrangement was packaged in a way that will ensure that we are fleeced of every cent in our pockets. The Dubai Airport is built in such a way that your long wait for your flight is at the duty free mall where temptation to buy is higher that your propensity to save. To pay our quota to their tourism purse, passengers are encouraged with free transit visa to enter Dubai and spend. Dubai, I later found out is run and managed not as a country but as a corporate entity, hence their unbelievable achievements and progress within a short space-time of nationhood.

We used to have a national carrier called the Nigeria Airways that PMB promised he was going to revamp once he gets into power. A year into his administration, the eleven airplanes in the presidential fleet he inherited from the GEJ are still in the hangers not serving any national cause. If we are serious about diversification of the economy, we must be looking at the prospects that travel and tourism offer. The logo of the Nigeria Airways used to be an image of elephant and with that, the airline is not likely to fly at any altitude.

     

Neither.....

Some 72 hours ago, the Democrat and Republican presidential candidates, sensationally referred to as possible commander in chief, were briefly held up for questioning by a cross section of the public  in a town hall forum. No earth shaking discovery was found in the personae of both candidates, as they all danced around direct questions with different adroit. Donald Trump’s inexperience in both public life and governance at any level was again laid bare by stinging questions, while Mrs Clinton’s wanton mistakes in her rich public life cast a doubt over her preparedness for a job with zero tolerance for errors. In between the two, Americans are expected to pick one person that will control an over 10 trillion dollar economy, direct what is arguably the largest military might on planet earth, finance an over 17 trillion dollar debt profile and manage a security network that has the entire world as its constituency. Some job descriptions and faced with the prospect of election of either of the two, the line of undecided voters continues to grow.

In as much as I do not want to draw comparisons between leaders like Trump with Putin and brother Obama (in more sensitive clime, which is tantamount to treason), it is still pertinent to this discourse that we separate quality of individualism from political characteristics. Some politician once remarked that it is strange how we take them seriously when they talk, since they hardly take themselves seriously. In other words, politicians are the same everywhere on the globe. The major difference between our leaders and theirs here is simply the absence of conscience.

At home, we finally got a leader in PMB that has conscience but he is at best a temporary leader and an extreme person that is daily finding it difficult to trust the people available to work with him. The economy is in a free fall and at the mercy of a largely ignorant finance minister. Besides our financial woes, there are contending issues far too numerous to mention here. However, in another two years, we will, like America, be at the point of electing leader that will steer the nation and we must not limit our choices to the political class and business sector alone. Sincere and true leaders are going into extinction in those over recycled constituencies of our country. It is high time we have independent candidates that are truly independent in all ramifications to shake the almost predictable nature of our political front.

Refusing Recession

Mr Bayo Onanuga, the MD of NAN and his daughter recently conducted a survey and came to the conclusion that the rest of us 160 million Nigerians got our assessment of the economy under the watch of Buhari wrong. The seasoned journalist put his daughter on a London bound plane to find out if the flight was full or not, and the confirmation that the flight was full was enough premise to support his conclusion that our economy is after all not in recession.It clearly does not matter to Mr. Onanuga how much an economy ticket of less than 6 hours flight cost? Or the mission of the passengers and the opportunity cost of being aboard the flight. I hope it does interest Mr. Onanuga that the people flying these days are those relocating, teeming government appointees like him who fly at taxpayers expense and our failed leaders and their families. 

As at last week Thursday at the Murtala International Airport, dollar was going for N415, bag of rice was N20,000 and a bag of flour was N11,000 at the local market. Most of  our federating states still do not agree on an N18,000 minimum salary for workers and those that agreed are not paying. Some of the states are heavily into salary arrears, while few states have resolved into reducing hours and days of work in order to cut cost. Manufacturers Association of Nigeria has b

buckled and folded under the pressure of foreign exchange and government will rather subsidize forex for pilgrims than jump-start the economy through local production. These are all too obvious facts to be dismissed.

Regardless of the cause of the state of the nation, I sympathize with Mr. President, he probably would be regretting not having retired with his cattle in Daura. He has recovered a lot of money in his sole battle with corruption but he still cannot release fund for capital and developmental projects because it may soon find its way back into the hands of those who the loot was recovered from in the first place. This has also decimated the fact that we are not earning revenue, not saving and hopelessly in debt.

From Mr. Onanuga's vantage position, you expect him to be aware of all these healthy indices pointing to our sick economy, but, if he chose to turn a deaf ear, we owe him the responsibility of sign language. Sadly, we all know that Mr. Onanuga knows that we know what he cannot divulge for the safety of his job and the welfare of his high flying daughter.

Home coming....

We-an African family of six, came into United States of America some days ago,  courtesy of the wonderful Oladimejis whom God has used to facilitate our relocation. Courteous immigration and custom officers officially ushered us into this great country and into the waiting hands of our host family. The drive from the airport was sane and devoid of all manners of  pollution we were accustomed to on our roads at home. Even that was not lost on my kids as they could not fathom why nobody was blaring horns at nothing! The rich green forest along the road on our journey to the house was a gentle reminder of what our country would have been without the devastation of deforestation.

Anyway at home, while our kids were sleeping off the jet lag and my wife was busy updating her "gossip app" with her identical twin sister and generally catching up with the latest gist, I took my time savoring the new environment and sniffing the cleaner air. Neighbors minded their business. Utilities workers were conscientious. Even, the nature was in obedience to man. 

Our first thanksgiving Sunday was spent in His presence at Redeem Christian Church of God, Jesus House, DC. In an unusually long service, the choir ministered graciously and the leadership of the church took time to give account of their stewardship and presented the lay out of plans for the immediate future, that is if the coming of the Lord tarries. And just when I  thought this was just going to be another service, Pastor Ghandi mounted the pulpit and with brevity of time, delivered a Rhema that transformed my perspectives. Needless to say that, I cannot wait to hear the sequel next coming sunday.

Monday was labour day and therefore a public holiday. I do not have a job yet; so, that did not quite make an impression on me. What is however profound is that for the first time in my eventful life, I have absolutely nothing to protest about on a labour day! Too early you say? Well, time will tell.In the meantime, it is good to be here.


Inset is my wife and her twin sister with Pastor Ghandi of Jesus House DC.