Africa: China in the minds of impressionable African kids

We are going to ABC school

My less than salutary views of China’s apparent invasion of Africa are continually reinforced with the bits of news that seem to show that China’s activities in Africa are not entirely for the long-term good of Africans.

I was irked this time by a tweet that came into my Twitter stream minutes ago.

It started with this tweet

@eolander If you don't think #China is moving to a soft-power strategy in #Africa: read this - they plan to build 1000 schools: http://bit.ly/g6x3Es [1]

To which I responded

@eolander Building primary schools is commendable http://bit.ly/g6x3Es but that is hardly the vehicle for knowledge transfer, is it?

I got this response

@eolander @forakin Africa's development needs extend beyond pure knowledge transfer. Building schools seems to be a wonderful price of entry to the African market.

There are so many strands of discourse with this development, the idea that the Chinese would build 10 ICT driven model primary schools in Kenya is quite commendable and must be applauded, and this intent would be scaled out to 1,000 such schools across Africa giving the lucky pupils a basic educational grounding in life.

One basic context

This however throws up a host of issues, one of which was exemplified in Oprah Winfrey’s Leadership Academy for Girls [2] (OWLAG) in South Africa, the benevolent lady shelled out $40 million of her own money to build that school and it drew a number of plaudits and condemnations.

In my view, I felt building one $40 million school where she had complete control of quality, management and oversight was something she could well do and it might serve as a model for schools that the government and other philanthropists might build in the future.

The other view was that she should have contributed the $40 million for 40 $1 million schools and that would have spread the opportunity but depreciated the quality because spread so thin we would have had to rely on the failing governments who are not making adequate provision for schooling in the first place to provide infrastructure, staff, support, inspection, monitoring and all.

It would have had all the makings of a logistical nightmare and prone to failure if standards could not be synchronised across the whole franchise compared to focus on a single school.

Extrapolating this view, for governments to welcome this idea at this level of the education ladder shows obvious and probably unforgivable failings of African governments to address the need for good primary school education.

Another Sino-African job imbalance

The standard of those schools might well be such that the staffing would not be by Africans but the opening for another influx of the Chinese of another profession – this time, teachers rather than engineers and entrepreneurs. To the million add another 50,000 Chinese ready to mould the minds of our dearly impressionable children.

In the meanwhile, we all think our children are getting a good education which they are, but whose minds would they have when they have finished?

Africans in the Chinese mould

The next stage to this is the building of model secondary schools that would take in the graduates of the primary schools, those who fail to make the grade would be a ready under-skilled workforce for the many Chinese industries that are growing around the continent.

Having been imbibed with the “Chinese Work Ethic”, they would be sophisticated sweatshop fodder for scandal-prone FoxConn-like [3] organisations, herded, kettled, run like the typical country folk of China that man the manufacturing lines of Chinese industry, living in atrocious bomb shelter conditions [4].

{Foxconn has seriously improved its human resources management in China but would Chinese companies have that kind of scrutiny in Africa? Where they do would we trade-off the opportunities they bring for the welfare of our people?}

Indeed, we need our African children at work, the good primary school graduates are 6 years away, then the secondary school intakes have another 6 years of reinforcement to make up the probably shift-leader and foreman class of the industry.

The risk of higher education

One would suppose universities would be the next stage but that is the dangerous part, that is where real knowledge and technology is transferred, that is where the spirit of independence is cultured, that is where ideas, solutions and entrepreneurs will emerge from and that would be the stiff competition to the Chinese Industry Complex [5] that is laying foundations as solid as pyramid bases all around Africa.

Again, on the surface it is all for the good, but the long term considerations of this seemingly “good intentions” use of soft power cannot of essence be for the noblest and altruistic reasons.

Africa already has many universities, they need funding, they need endowment, they need good management, I would rather we had Chinese money flow into those institutions, the Chinese brain-boxes join the faculties, Chinese professors of renown bring their wealth of knowledge just as they are bringing their money to give Africa the kick start it really needs.

Graduates of these universities would have more affinity for their localities; they will contribute to their communities, encourage development in their countries and be the kind of role models worthy of emulation that would really lift both our educational standards and the people in general out of poverty.

A fisherman without a boat or a lake

We are constantly told of the Chinese proverb – Give a man a fish, you feed him a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him his whole life.

That would be too simplistic a recipe for success, they have fed the man a day, even taught him how to fish, but there are no lakes to fish in and where there is water he has a rod but no boat – that is the context of this incipient soft power offensive that looks so commendable if it were not cynically sinister on closer scrutiny.

Sources

[1] Kenya Broadcasting Corporation - KBC News - China to build primary schools in Kenya

[2] Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls [akin.blog-city.com]

[3] Scandal-hit Foxconn sets sights inland - People's Daily Online – Other related articles on the page point to serious human resources issues.

[4] Underground world hints at China's coming crisis - Telegraph

Addendum giving context to this blog.

[5] China's economic invasion of Africa | World news | The Guardian

Analysis of this news story requires another blog but a few interesting excerpts for starters.

"If you want to start something – and be the boss – Africa is the place to do it."

"Chinese work very hard, very quickly," he says. "But here we are training local people to do the work, and if someone does not understand, he works slowly. You have to watch." Read in the context of the engineer in charge who speaks halting English.

Other Sino-African blogs I have written

Nigeria: NaijaLeaks and why China is bad for Africa

South Africa: Why again China is bad for Africa

Comments: Why China is bad for Africa

Africa: How to make China good for Africa

Thought Picnic: At church with Sy Rogers

Not finding a place

I have over time grown averse to Christian preachers that portend to speak about matters that concern gender, sexuality and relationships because they have not seemed to have a message that resonates, informs my humanity or leave me edified in any way apart from highlight my apparent inadequacies.

In fact, I could give time to many of those issues, sexual abuse in childhood, sexuality, identity and a state of elderly bachelorhood that is not prospective of getting hitched for all sorts of reasons and in particular, that of health where the dangers loom and problems are not in the purview of natural solutions.

It is so difficult to find relevance within the church community when you are in your mid-forties, never married, without kids and not in the “risk category” of the bliss of walking down the aisle.

They are not addressing my kind of single

The singles meetings and events are usually geared towards those planning on becoming couples, the participants would rarely be above 35 and all seem to be looking for cues to finding that perfect match and needing help to deal with the issues that surround the preparation for marriage

At least, I have not seen or heard programmes for spinsters or bachelors of a certain age, we are the anomaly, the minority and for convenience we attempt to be invisible.

Invisibility helps avoid questions which have no easy answers, it protects from the avalanche of scripture to conform to the typical church-type – the seeking the wife, the courtship, the marriage, the children and everything that it entails.

An unusual man with a resonating message

So, as I got to church today, I was in for a surprise that I took second helpings of the offering, the preacher was introduced to a standing ovation, I had never heard him speak before.

His mannerisms were familiar long before he spoke and by the time he did, I thought, this would be interesting as my mind wondered about the many opportunities I have rejected to participate in church leadership, even at the lowest level.

This man has been on a journey, a long one at that - 30 years of ministry, with vivid pictures of a past that would crash the careers of motivational speakers talk less of a minister of the gospel but he had walked in some really tight shoes, through thorny thickets, sometimes bruised, sometimes battered but unbowed with a message that connected to the humanity of all.

The matter of sexuality is a broader topic beyond homosexuality, it is about struggles, identity, relationships, abuse and addictions; it is about love, lust, loneliness, trust, character and more – we all have a weakness that we have allowed ourselves to be defined by.

He had an amazing Christian message that I have never heard from other preachers of note who seemed to have a binary view of things where you were either in or out, right or wrong, on the road to perdition or to paradise – on the contemporary issues of the day the savvy preachers sit on the fence, but he directed his concepts of religion to our humanity.

Seeking relevance in the religions we follow

I have always been of the view that the function of religion is to serve humanity, where it appears to fail or sacrifice humanity on the altar of custom, tradition, creed, code, rule or method; it becomes like salt that has lost its savour and that is the Genesis of cultism.

I see too many trends and fads within church organisations that leave me less affiliated than is necessary to be called having a membership, where things begin to coalesce around leaders or as it were personalities, mannerisms take hold – I have never been an organisation man per se, my life experiences in many ways inform my need for independence and great latitude at maintaining that.

However, the church I have attended sporadically is probably the one I have felt most comfortable in, if I were to attend another it would probably be a return to High-Church Anglicanism than seek out another charismatic denomination.

Life happens and never suddenly

The speaker’s life experiences were the template of his message, how his encounters with God brought him through an early life of parental estrangement, bereavement, sexual abuse, homosexuality, transsexuality at the point of undergoing a sex change through the moment that he got a revelation of love to forming new relationships, courtship, marriage, parenthood and now he is about to be a grandfather.

There were no moments of the suddenly or instant but a process, the humour and his way with words made very difficult subjects accessible and the delivery allowed for everyone to find a way to relate in different ways.

His message was not an ex-gay message, he did not repudiate the past but gave relevance to how the past could help appreciate the present and guide in times of challenges.

Knowledge and revelation

I liked his example of the difference between knowledge and revelation – If one were in a dark room and were told it contained amazing works of art on the walls, you could believe the story and probably be convinced by the narrator but that is knowledge, when the light is switched on in that room – knowledge becomes an experience, a revelation, an encounter.

We all need encounters with God in our Christian life; it would help that we journal these encounters to keep us in remembrance of how we have been touched because we have as part of our humanity the inability to imprint well those encounters to maintain our confidence in being able to meet ever increasing challenges in the Christian walk.

Between loving and using

These encounters are should be clearly differentiated from the typical, in his words; “I’m sorry, forgive me, give me, hurry up” relationships; created on what one pastor so succinctly put up on Facebook the other day – Love God and Use Money, not the other way round.

That interchange of “Love” and “Use” is what determines the success that one makes of their religion and the ability to meet challenges with the power that is on offer to live wholesome victorious lives.

By the time he came to end of his message, I walked away with an impartation, the kind he hoped to offer which was hoping that something from his life would in some way add to our lives to help us understand our humanity and core message of Christianity.

My takeaways

It is part of human nature to have appetites but we can chose to fulfil them our way but God offers the best means for satisfying those appetites; if we find ourselves running from God rather than running to Him, we are on the wrong path.

Obviously, each individual who heard him would have to take from his message what helps them, but I can say that I am glad for hearing Sy Rogers [1] tell his story and it was one that gave me a kind of hope I have never before thought within grasp.

However, he had some quotes [2] that would keep the message in our consciousness long after the encounter and I found a list of them that I heard during his talk.

“God would rather have you messy than not have you at all.”

“Sure, God will take you like you are, but He will take you further.”

“There’s a big difference between what you think you know about God versus an experience with Him.”

“Change is not your goal—that’s an inevitable byproduct of growth. Growing in God is your great goal. As you grow things can change.”

I was blessed. Thank you.

Postscript

There is every possibility and in fact, reality, that Sy Rogers is dogged with controversy, some will choose to define him by his past but it does not make his story any less relevant to those who search for knowledge and truth of how someone has gained a fulfilling life experience in the midst of difficult choices, circumstances and situations.

I will not call Sy Rogers ex-gay, former gay or any other label, in Christianity everyone is a former something, the question is what are you now, in spite of your past?

So, I have referenced his biography [3] from this site and it is incumbent on the individual to use knowledge with a sense of wisdom and discernment.

Reference

[1] Sy Rogers Communications - International Communicator and Minister

[2] Sy Rogers - Quotes

[3] Sy Rogers | Ex-gayTruth.com

Nigeria: NaijaLeaks with our principals fighting for corruption

The leaks have become a lake

The presumed great fight against corruption which garnered steam during the tenure of Olusegun Obasanjo’s Presidency of Nigeria seemed to have hit the buffers hard during the regime of his successor, the late Umaru Yar’Adua.

We probably would never find out the cumulative damage the drip-feeding of Nigerian WikiLeaks (NaijaLeaks) cables will cause but each new revelation seems to paint a compelling story of everything awry in the Nigerian polity, each declaration of probity being a completely dishonesty publicity stunt, a sham, if we ever saw one.

A nadir with the UK

In cables released on the 4^th of February though revealed earlier by the UK’s Daily Telegraph and copied by Nigerian dailies; Nigeria had reached a nadir in our relationship with Her Majesty’s Government (HMG) in the UK.

In September 2009, the UK Serious Organised Crime Organisation (SOCA) had written to its equivalent partner in Nigeria, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) through its head Farida Waziri asking her to “write a statement on the state of corruption in Nigeria and give HMG a list of working-level contacts within the Commission.”

Courtesy demands, urgency commands

As at 17^th of November 2009 when this cable was created, the EFCC head had not responded – now, she may not have realised the importance of responding that letter after almost 2 months but it was irksome enough for SOCA to suggest that the UK High Commissioner in Nigeria delay and probably decline her request for a meeting until she had responded to the SOCA request.

This is a classic case of the basic matter of discourtesy being repaid with an avoidable snub; in her position she probably would have been best informed about corruption in Nigeria and in some way she is a custodian of the way Nigeria is perceived in international circles as a safe place to conduct business without the threat of criminal loss.

It defies explanation that she cannot have realised that this was of such importance that it should have been addressed promptly and honestly, maybe embellished with diplomatic speak when addressing tough areas of corruption but she let the side down horribly.

The AG as head goon

SOCA and the EFCC’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) seemed to have decided that could have a good working relationship; SOCA’s particular interest was with e-crime in Nigeria but it appeared the EFCC through its head was apparently prepared to let “the big political fish go simply because the small ones are easier to catch.”

For nine months there had been no legal cooperation between the Government of Nigeria (GoN) and the HMG, there was reflected in the deteriorating relations with EFCC and even worse with the then Nigerian Attorney General Michael Aondokaa.

We now have evidence that he was a law unto himself fronting for a corrupt enterprise and unfortunately the most senior legal officer of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The EFCC had been continually frustrated in the Nigerian courts by the extensive influence of former Governor Ibori who apparently was a friend of the President and had found ways to suborn the judicial process, challenge with firepower the execution of a warrant for his arrest and consequently flee to Dubai where the EFCC eventually gained the upper hand on their quarry.

Where the Attorney General had lost respect was to ask for UK Home Secretary to return the evidence file that EFCC had sent in good faith concerning the Ibori case.

Misplaced priorities, displaced judgement

Whilst a case of gross misconduct against the EFCC could be made for having passed on information through inappropriate channels, once the information had arrived in the hands of the HMG, the best he could ask for was for a copy of the dossier to be shared with him which the HNG were willing to do.

{In another cable, a high court judgement had deemed the Ibori dossier inadmissible evidence but the HMG will appeal that decision and have every possibility of winning with the preponderance of evidence they must have mustered in relation to the intentions of the Attorney General.}

The HMG had three weeks before invited the Attorney General to the UK and had since not received a response to their invitation.

It is doubtful that the Ibori dossier was sent to the HMG during the tenure of Farida Waziri because she was being kept on a short leash by the Attorney General who in turn was protecting influential Nigerians with the President from being investigated and indicted.

This situation might well have lead to the witch-hunt of the former head of the EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu who was forcibly sent on a course, redeployed, demoted, arraigned and dismissed in what must have been the most horribly orchestrated abuse of power and influence by any minister in Nigerian history.

All on Yar’Adua’s watch

It is almost unbelievable that the publicly laundered image of the honest, devout and upright President Yar’Adua was just the frontispiece for a government wallowing in corruption, blackmail, criminal inducement and co-conspirators with people of ill-repute so evident to some of our most important diplomatic ties with the United Kingdom and the United States.

Nigeria just never had the credibility to pull its weight in any international forum where this was open knowledge, but the HMG for what they required of Nigeria were bending over backwards to accommodate the people they had to deal with whilst being ready to draw up an exclusion list of people who would be refused visas to visit the United Kingdom.

Nigerians must have felt so seriously betrayed that all the good work of improving our ratings for the better in terms of corruption was being discarded without due consideration for our national interest and all that means for creating the right perceptions for business and development in Nigeria.

With both President Yar’Adua and Attorney General Aondokaa completely out of the picture, it appears the EFCC have been more cooperative and hopefully the fences and relations that had so seriously been battered are gradually being restored.

Nigeria is in West Africa

One very interesting final point is a throwback to the Scramble for the Partition of Africa of the late 19^th Century, Nigeria has for time immemorial been in West Africa, it is a core member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), cartographically, it sits well within that political dynamic and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the HMG had at one time placed it in group of East and Central African countries.

One cannot deny the fact that many other countries allow themselves to be defined by external factors and analysts, BRICS being a case in point and lots of countries are striving to enter that grouping – you wonder when some organisation would put Nigeria in the Southern group of African states – Absurd does not begin to describe the incredulity of it all.

The cable

The original source of the cable can be found at http://213.251.145.96/cable/2008/11/08LONDON2882.html

ID 08LONDON2882

SUBJECT NIGERIA: UK ON EFCC AND PRESIDENT YAR A'DUA

DATE 2008-11-17 15:03:00

CLASSIFICATION CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN

ORIGIN Embassy LONDON

TEXT C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 LONDON 002882

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NOFORN

STATE FOR AF/W, INL/C, INL/AAE, AND INR

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/17/2018

TAGS: PREL KCOR KCRM PINR NI UK

SUBJECT: NIGERIA: UK ON EFCC AND PRESIDENT YAR A'DUA

REF: A. LONDON 2499 B. LONDON 1916 C. ABUJA 2248 D. ABUJA 2095 E. LONDON Classified By: Acting Political Counselor Jim Donegan, reasons 1.4 (b/d ).

¶1. (C/NF) Summary.

The UK's relationship with Nigeria is "static," FCO Nigerian Team Leader Catherine Inglehearn said November 14. Cooperation with Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has largely stalled, pending a letter from new chair Waziri about HMG engagement with the Commission.

Meanwhile, the UK legal experts continue to pursue with the EFCC controls to e-crime. HMG's relations with Nigerian Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa remain bad, largely because of the corruption case against former governor Ibori, following a letter from the UK Home Secretary indicating that HMG will not return the evidence the EFCC gave HMG for its case against Ibori's associates.

Former UK Charge in ABUJA (and current FCO East and Central Africa Group Head) James Tansley assesses that Waziri will not pursue any corruption cases that are not in the government's interests and that the Attorney General keeps Waziri on a very short leash.

Tansley also thinks that Bukola Saraki's intentions are the key to post-Yar A'dua planning. Saraki's intentions, possibly to take a more front-and-center role (rather than his current behind-the-scenes influence), may determine much in Nigeria's "power over position" political landscape.

Tansley, while not formally covering Nigeria, is likely to continue influencing the Foreign Office's thinking on Nigeria. End summary.

¶2. (C/NF) On November 14, FCO Nigeria Team Leader Catherine Inglehearn provided an update on HMG's thinking on the EFCC and other Nigeria issues.

James Tansley, former UK Charge in ABUJAand new Head of the FCO's East and Central Africa Group, discussed HMG's legal cooperation with the Nigeria Government and his thoughts about President Yar A'dua.

(NOTE: Tansley does not cover Nigeria in his new position. END NOTE.)

EFCC and Waziri

¶3. (C/NF) HMG has not heard a response to the UK Serious Organized Crime Organization's (SOCA) September request that EFCC Head Waziri write a statement on the state of corruption in Nigeria and give HMG a list of working-level contacts within the Commission (reftel A).

Following a courtesy call by British Embassy ABUJA's new corruption officer during the week of November 10, Waziri requested a meeting with the UK High Commissioner.

British Embassy ABUJA put off the request and will likely continue stalling until Waziri responds to SOCA's request, according to FCO Nigeria Team Leader Catherine Inglehearn, admitting however that HMG has not "considered where to go from here."

¶4. (C/NF) Inglehearn said that representatives from SOCA's Financial Services Agency (FSA) recently met with officials in the EFCC's Financial Intelligence Unity (FIU) and were "charmed" by the FIU personnel, finding that SOCA "could really work with them."

Inglehearn said the Foreign Office has been trying to balance the discussions with EFCC, as HMG cannot let "the big political fish go simply because the small ones are easier to catch." She admitted, however, that e-crime in Nigeria is a big issue for the British public and SOCA will continue to pursue it.

Commenting on the changed dynamic on the ground between HMG and the EFCC, Tansley said that practically speaking HMG had not had any legal cooperation with the Government of Nigeria in over nine months.

The Attorney General and Ibori

¶5. (C/NF) On the corruption case against former Governor Ibori and HMG relations with Nigerian Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa, Inglehearn said Aondoakaa had written to the UK Home Secretary to request that the evidence the EFCC had given to HMG for the Ibori case be returned to the GoN because the transfer of information had gone through inappropriate channels.

The UK Home Secretary replied by saying that the information was given in good faith and that HMG is happy to give the GoN copies of everything HMG received.

Three weeks ago, HMG invited Aondoakaa to the UK to discuss the case and other issues. The AG has not replied, and Inglehearn said it is likely because of the implicit message in the UK Home Secretary's letter that HMG would not be returning the Ibori evidence.

HMG plans to push the Attorney General to make the visit before Christmas. Inglehearn also said HMG continues to pursue a prisoner transfer deal with the Nigerian Attorney General, but has not made any progress, especially since the AG knows HMG "wants the agreement" (reftel B).

On the Attorney General and Waziri

¶6. (C/NF) Tansley said the Attorney General has stopped cooperation with the UK at all turns, and that he does not think HMG will be able to develop a more productive relationship or conclude a prisoner transfer agreement with Aondoakaa.

Tansley said the Attorney General has put Waziri on a very short leash and that he has "no doubt" that Aondoakaa is protecting the governors and other key officials from prosecution. He also noted that Aondoakaa is very close to Ibori, who is generally acknowledged as one of President Yar A'dua's closest advisors.

Tansley assessed that Waziri would prosecute small cases, but will not pursue any cases that are not in the government's interest.

What If President Yar A'dua...

¶7. (C/NF) Tansley said he thinks Nigerian President Yar A'dua "will hold on longer than we think," but assessed that Kwara State Governor Bukola Saraki is the key to post-Yar A'dua scenario planning (reftel D).

Tansley said it is convincible that if Saraki decides he wants a more official, in-the-front role, Saraki could become current VP Goodluck Jonathan's Vice President.

While it would be difficult for the Northerns to abide a Southern President, Nigeria's political scene is one of "power over position." Such a scenario would be easier for Saraki to sell towards the end of Yar A'dua's term -- Jonathan would take over for a few months, and then Saraki could take the top position through regular elections.

¶8. (C/NF) If Saraki decides to remain behind the scenes in Yar A'dua absence, then there may be a more aggressive legal challenge to overturn the election results or a small cabal of Northerns may ensure that Jonathan, if he is able to take the top position, remains impotent.

¶9. (C/NF) Tansley noted that Saraki is very close to Ibori, and Ibori is likely to maintain significant influence in the government, even if he does not hold a ministerial position.

Exclusion List, Lagos Governor's Visit

¶10. (C/NF) Inglehearn said HMG continues to develop criteria for an exclusion list that would prevent Nigerians from receiving visas on a case-by-case basis.

The FCO's planning, in conjunction with the UK Home Office, is still in the initial stages but will focus on corruption. Separately, Inglehearn said that the Governor of Lagos would be visiting LONDON on an official visit at the beginning of December.

His calls will focus on financial management, urban planning, and public-private partnerships.

Comment

¶11. (C/NF) Recently returned from Nigeria, Tansley will likely continue to influence the Foreign Office and HMG's thinking on Nigeria, even though the country does not officially fall in his remit.

When he originally agreed to take his new position on East and Center Africa, Nigeria fell in his portfolio. With the FCO Africa Directorate's recent reshuffle (reftel E), Nigeria now falls under West Africa.

End comment.

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Thought Picnic: Night cooking to self-exorcism

A person of the night

Being more of a nocturnal person, stranger things have happened in the night than should be the case in the lives of many others.

In fact, I have the inkling that if people had dreamt these things and shared those dreams with people of a certain persuasion and not a few, an exorcism would be ordered; based on contrived and tenuous links with some ethereal interactions with the spirit and God help them help themselves.

My nights start early and are somewhat regimented around the 11^th hour, the hour of pills; it behoves me to have abstained from foods two hours either side of taking my pills else I end up with a rather stoned feeling through the night.

Slight thrills of night pills

I have a physiology that can never like drugs, the eerie feeling, the light-headedness and that state of suspended animation of being between consciousness and the subconscious pushing my mind into a dreamy phase of lacking control over my imagination that takes flight to places angels fear to tread; it is a world I dread.

Taking food in that 4-hour window especially those that have the taste-enhancing ingredient of fat take me to that dreadful land and it has meant that the pill-time switch to the witching hour if I have succumbed to hunger pangs and ingested something later than 9:00 PM – I apparently do not have a set time for meals and that creates a bit of chaos in itself.

Ingestion is the easy part, incubation is worse, the incubation of thoughts, thoughts of what I would like to have for a meal and what it takes to make it.

A night of long beans

The other day it was moin-moin (bean pudding cakes – recipe provided courtesy of Adefunke’s defunct blog), I had to soak a bag of split black eyed beans in water for hours, the optimum being 8, I think they were soaked for close to 11.

The dried fish came out of the freezer and that was soaked in hot water, bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, boiled eggs, palm oil and species all came together in the journey to satisfy a yearning.

After blending in the peppers, tomatoes and onions into the beans, the other condiments were stirred into the mix and the first part poured into a baking dish, covered with foil and left to bake for an hour.

Then I found three small ramekins and poured the rest of the mix into them, placed the ramekins in a steaming pot and steamed the mix for about an hour.

After which I had the opportunity to savour my moin-moin in large cubic portions cut out of the baking dish or from one of the ramekins.

Stewing in the night

Then again, as I rummaged through the freezer, I found some frozen cooked meats and put the bag in the fridge for defrosting, it was well after 1:00AM when I put chopped tomatoes, peppers, onions and stock cubes in the blender – I was about to make some stew.

In 90 minutes, it was all ready and I was just having the stew as if I was having soup, satisfying a craving for tastes and food that just overwhelm you at unusual times of the day.

For those who know, imagine if you told your African-initiated church priest that you dreamt of cooking and eating at night or in my somnambulist wake doing the same – it would be Psalm 119; read 119 times into a cup of water that you have to throw away thrice – talk about hard-labour self-exorcism.

[Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible with 176 verses.]

Nigeria: INEC Voter Registration Review V

It ends tomorrow

We are coming to the close of the third week of voters’ registration in Nigeria; the exercise was after much anxiety extended for another week just 24 hours to the end of the original 14-day plan.

When the INEC Chairman met the Joint Committee on Electoral Matters at the Nigerian National Assembly he suggested that just one extra week would be needed to clear the backlog of unregistered possible voters.

Numbers and fumblers

The projection was to register 70 million Nigerians for the April 2011 elections, at the end of the two week period it was said that 59 million had been registered at the rate of 4.3 million people a day, however, with 48 hours to run, this number was revised downwards with 54.9 million having been registered at the rate of 3.2 million people a day.

Which #INECRegistration figure is right? 59m in 14 days http://j.mp/gKtZxS or 54.9m in 19 days? http://j.mp/igSFH5

That great discrepancy in figures is worrisome because it suggests the estimators were out by 1.1 million people per day, meaning that at the end of the first 14 day period, the figures were grossly inflated by 14.2 million prospective voters.

Many will lose out

Looking at the figures, it then suggests that about 44.8 million voters were registered by Saturday the 29^th of January 2011 and by the 3^rd of February 2011 another 10.1 million voters had been added to the tally leaving an estimated 15.1 million Nigerians left to avail themselves of registration in the last 48 hours.

There is no way that number would be catered for and it appears INEC might just get to 62 million at best with 8 million seemingly disenfranchised and that might be due to a number of factors from poor logistics and planning (observed as overcrowded polling units), malfunctioning registration equipment or procrastination and apathy on the part of Nigerians.

#INECregistration, We are down to one DDC for now. The second one's overheating so it's been shut down to receive 'fresh air'.

The Punch: Relocate DDC machines to populous areas in Lagos’:http://bit.ly/ftCTw7 via @addthis #INECRegistration

bubusn If INEC won't move less crowded units around, we'll move people around to them. #INECRegistration

There is probably no case for extending the registration period beyond the 5^th of February 2011, we had all been adequately informed, it could have been properly planned for, the people could have taken time to ensure that they were registered despite the frustrating situations they might have encountered and it could have been dealt with, with a great sense of civic responsibility for what the 2011 elections mean for Nigeria.

@bubusn @inecnigeria How much of the #INECRegistration issues are due to INEC or are due to people who did not prioritise this activity?

Champion Newspapers http://bit.ly/h9h0Q2 The governor ofAnambra State only just performed his #INECRegistration yesterday2/2/11

The same problems again

The logistics issues remained but not as grave as they were at the beginning, it was more about the inadequate supply of DDC machines to meet the demand and a few instances of the inability of the registered to collect their cards and where they have, the cards may not have been laminated.

AkwaImoh #INECRegistration some centres in my Location are not laminating the Voters Card. And this doesn't help people because it will be hard to maintain

Some criminality had also been observed of people being charged to register or print their cards, in other cases people were registering in order to sell their cards to the highest bidder.

nelsonisibor Today I experienced first-hand how party agents when unchecked can hijack #INECregistration, it's like a 'film trick'.

The Sun News On-line |Voters’ #INECRegistration: Oyo police arrest PDP chieftain with 25 underage students http://bit.ly/dWq9Rkvia @addthis

That latter situation should if the technical specification of the registration dynamics are as we are told root out people who are using false identities because pictures and fingerprints have to match to validate a voter and allow the person participate in voting.

However, there would be many who would try to game the system.

It is not mandatory

The illegalities include making having a voter’s registration card to access goods and services in Nigeria, that is unconstitutional; it is within the rights of each citizens to decide to participate in the electoral process or not. However, if such a person does not participate, it would be of concern if the said person then feels they have assumed the right to criticise how they are governed.

Mandatory Voter #INECRegistration Unconstitutional: A Judiciary For Sale! http://bit.ly/eXONhy via @addthis

amasonic A voters' card is meant for voting, not as a requirement when seeking for employment #inecregistration

Processing the data

The next stage which could be fraught with issues is the collation of the voters register where the data on the DDC machines and the external hard disks are fed into the super computer that would process all the information and eventually produce a voters list that can be inspected by users.

If INEC do in fact capture 88% of the electorate and the turnout for elections exceeds 70% of that number, we might well have the makings of credible elections if the votes are counted as the voters have intended.

@EngrMuza @sfladipo @nnabros It shows that after #INECRegistration we have to keep the pressure on to Select, Vote & Protect #RSVP

There is one day left and it is worrisome to hear that there are many especially amongst the youth who have not risen to the revolutionary opportunity to rise, speak up and let their voices be heard about the direction of their country.

BSKukawa I think Nigerians need to be educated on their rights. #INECRegistration

nelsonisibor #INECregistration Tomorrow, I'm mobilizing a hundred friends who are yet to register. We’ll be @ different PU's as early as 5am to get a head start.

Dick: A year on

He prepared for a journey

A year of Wednesdays ago, I received a call that I thought was coming from friend; it was from a friend about a friend.

That morning, he woke up, asked his housemate to prepare a cup of tea, and then asked for a bag to be packed as if going for a journey.

When the bag was packed, he was offered another cup of tea and whilst that was being made, my friend went on that journey never to return again.

The things that keep him here

Is there a day that passes without that memory of him, we met a few times over each year for meals at his place with other friends he had met on many of his journeys or just went out for meals together.

The phone rings on some evening and we chat about what we are both up to and arrange to meet in the not too distant future; when he made time, he was completely involved, very helpful and tremendous support.

You just had that feeling that when it came to the crunch he was just a phone call away and never a disappointment – that is how I knew him.

It has been a year now, for a memory like mine that is so keen and almost photographic at things I have seen, I can scarcely recreate the image of how I last saw him. I very well remember the way he called my name but it is a very faint sound in my head.

As we waved goodbye

A week later, we saw him off, about 300 of us on a very cold February morning just hours before I was to receive what became the last of my chemotherapy session.

It was a moving ceremony befitting a man of many talents, many friends, many laughs and many memories.

A year on, he is remembered fondly, whilst missing the things we did together, those things are part of the story of a man much liked, they belong to the narrative that makes him special.

This is to Dick, in memory of the wonderful life he lived and how his friendship is treasured by all those who knew him. Thank you for being a friend.

Nigeria: The Revolution has already begun

The cry for revolution is shrill

I have suffered to my hurt and discomfort the many cries for revolution in Nigeria. Everyone seems to have an opinion about change for Nigeria; be it splitting up the country to sending the current crop of leaders to an early grave in order to clear the air for new growth.

Once again, it can be so easy to list all the problems with Nigeria, the great potential squandered by the selfish interests of those who on assumption of power are too intoxicated to walk straight, think right and act determined for the progress of the country.

The spirit of profligacy and kleptomania possesses the leaders to the point that rampant acquisition beyond needs leaves their bank accounts heavier than the treasury of the country – we have been sorely lead and badly served, indeed, something needs to give.

We are NOT like the others

There are some that wish for the clear-out that Jerry Rawlings offered Ghana with the execution of three of his predecessors, it did appear to purge Ghana of some of the poison and rottenness that was engulfing it, but Nigeria does not have a Jerry Rawlings.

The nearest example to that might have been Mohammadu Buhari in the early 80’s but in his zest to improve the country, it was slowly being turned into an Islamic police state, it prepared the way for even worse leadership that has held Nigeria hamstrung since.

One could say that the worst times in Nigeria were during the time of the military despot, Sani Abacha who by the grace of God expired in a sexual orgy which presaged the preparation of democratic rule just a year after in 1999.

Our ruler-ship is not homogenous

However, it is left for one to wonder about the ends of a revolution in Nigeria, we have not been under the cosh of or autocratic regimes like the Arabic states of North Africa where leaders have been in charge forever, chief amongst whom is Muammar al-Gadhafi of Libya. Nor have we suffered the false democracies of Uganda or Zimbabwe there has been a musical chairs of the ruling elite in Nigeria.

In some cases, they all seem to be of the same ilk, it is not like Nigeria has some popular leader of opposition in exile waiting to take the mantle of leadership when the revolution has toppled those in power.

The revolution talk is fraught with serious problems because the leadership clique is not homogenous, it is composed of competing interests regional, religious, political, economic and social.

None seem to have the wherewithal to coalesce for a common good because of egotistical megalomaniacs who only understand compromise and consensus in terms of the former being their lead and the latter being their view, none of which is negotiable.

After revolution comes anarchy

In other words, there might well be a revolution but no leader to reap the fruits of the revolution; we might well end up in anarchy with a rapidly deteriorating state of affairs as these competing interests jostle for position, opportunity, power and the do-or-die grab for the spoils.

We do need reform and change; we need a common goal for the good of Nigeria, preserving the entity and the identity that makes us proud Nigerians.

However, the good people have not stepped forward and for good reason many who might cannot bear the snake-pit of politics to sully their good intentions, plan and possibly progressive policies for Nigeria.

We are not suited for the usual revolutions

Nigeria is by no means ripe for a revolution, there are no components in place to make it the success we desire with blind optimism, we can do well to educate ourselves, participate fully in the democratic process we have, deign to hold the elected accountable and become better and coherent activists that demand positive action or expect the said leaders to resign in disgrace.

We are plagued with leaders of old who have refused to retire, whilst one cannot pray – death come swiftly and take them away, until we rise to assumed greater responsibility we would be belittled and patronised by those who through arrogance and hubris think they are the best gifts to Nigeria when they are in fact the worst things to be inflicted on our long-suffering people.

Your revolution is in RSVP

Pray, if you might, fast, if you will, but until we all take up the mantle of civic responsibility by registering to vote; selecting those we can trust and hold accountable; vote for those who have not tried to usurp the system, whose character is beyond reproach and competence is verifiably vouched for and stood to protect the voice of our collected efforts of choosing our leaders our revolution would be too far away in the future to grasp and too high an aspiration to attain.

Register | Select | Vote | Protect [1] without regrets your revolution by participating in democratic change for great change and accountability – the protection part does not end when the results are declared, it continues for the duration of the term of that elected representative and any other connected interest that should be working for the good and progress of the country.

Nigeria’s revolution is not in the template of marching the streets with civil disorder to upset the as it were status quo, our Green Revolution is in making the best of what we have now, take the democratic bull by the horns and not relenting until the will of the people is fully expressed and accepted in free, fair, credible and viable elections.

Our revolution has started already, are you in the move to change your country for the good?

Source

[1] EiE NIGERIA: Register | Select | Vote | Protect