When you critically look at Nigeria, or the North, and its situation, what is happening is not excusable. Take instances where warehouses or trailer loads of food were attacked and stripped of everything: Is it hunger where you see a purportedly hungry man hurrying away with two or three bags of rice on his shoulders and returning for more? Or able-bodied youths, both male and female, fighting their way through the madness to grab as much of the loot as they can, taking them somewhere for safekeeping and returning for more?
Browsing: Hassan Gimba
These days, the words dominating the air are “hunger” and “protest”. And that, we are told, is because of two others – “dollar” and “salary”. Unfortunately, those capitalising on the latter two words to push for the first two words hardly mention the words “production” and “security” which are fuelled by justice and fairness. And there can be no justice without the rule of law.
Adamu Maina Waziri is one politician most people misunderstand. He is one man who does not suffer fools and, unlike the typical politician, he shoots from the hip, the reason some saw him as “crude”. His word is his bond; and if you asked him for a favour that he can grant, he would tell you, and if he promised, he would deliver. But if he wouldn’t, he would not bat an eyelid in telling you no.
Elected on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), he became the state’s first democratically elected governor and was in office between January 1992 and November 1993 when the late General Sani Abacha sacked the democratic contraption of that time. He came back, though, in 1999 where he served for two terms under the flag of the All Peoples Party (APP).
The promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies is the focus of goal number 16 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It also broached “access to justice for all and building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. “Strong institutions are necessary to respond effectively to the needs and concerns of nationals and are better placed to hold those in authority accountable.
Nigeria is a country of one week, one issue; but insecurity, spreading over the nation like a cancer in a diseased body, remains constant. However, in some ways, a nation’s behaviour tends to reflect that of its leader’s character.
As reporters and analysts, we must inform, based on trends, and where possible, raise the alarm, hoping that those in authority will heed. In 2018, six years ago, that was what I did. And so, this is just a rehash of my article “Insecurity, the North under siege” written on this page on 24 December 2018.
On Monday, January 8, I lost my mother. She died at the age of 85. Despite the age being ripe, it was still a shock. It is normal for a child to see his parents as immortal despite an ingrained knowledge that every soul shall taste the inevitable – death.
Last week, we got a dose of what investigative journalism ought to be. Umar Audu, a promising young journalist, proved to be an outstanding student of his mentor, Ja’afar Ja’afar, an investigative journalist of the first order. Reporting for Daily Nigerian, Ja’afar’s online newspaper, Umar Audu went underground to bag a degree in Mass Communication from a university in the Benin Republic. It is a report worthy of the highest award in the land for investigative journalism.
An Igbo adage says that when an anomaly persists for one year, it becomes the norm. So slowly, steadily but surely, it is becoming a norm, an accepted aberration, for a president in Nigeria to appoint himself as a minister. It is like saying in a country of 200 million-plus, there is no one good or capable enough to hold that particular office except the man entrusted with the running of the nation.