Nigeria, world's 15th most failed state
Nigeria is number 15 on the failed state list, according Foreign Policy magazine's latest ranking. It is up 4 places on last year's score. Obama's destination for tomorrow, Ghana, is ranked 124..
Read more...Friday, July 10, 2009
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Fela book reading in LA - TODAY
Shout out to all the Fela Kuti lovers on the West Coast. Get yourself to this book reading this eve in Chinatown. Click on the flyer above to enlarge.
Good news for Stepping Stones today after a bad week
Dear Friend,
Just to quickly update you with what is happening in Nigeria in response to the recent campaign of intimidation that has been launched against the CRARN Children and their carers.
In response to the international outrage that greeted this incident, the Governor of Akwa Ibom State,Godswill Akpabio, has visited the CRARN centre today and ensured the staff and children that there security and safety was guaranteed by the Akwa Ibom State Government. In addition to this the Governor has donated 10 Million Naira (around £40,000) and numerous other food items to CRARN and the children.
This is a most welcome development after a rather challenging week. However, the false charges that have been levelled against Sam Itauma and the CRARN Staff by Evangelist Helen Ukpabio remain a serious threat. Stepping Stones Nigeria and CRARN are currently working with our legal team to get a high court injunction and prevent Sam and the staff from having to travel to Lagos to face these charges. Hopefully this matter will be resolved in the next few days.
I would just like to extend my sincere thanks to you for the support that you have offered us during these rather challenging times. The fight against the abuse of child rights due to the belief in witchcraft is far from over but I believe today marks another very positive step forward in our efforts to protect and save the lives of the children that we work with.
With very best wishes,
Gary
--
Programme Director
Stepping Stones
Stepping Stones Press Release
Humanists and Child Rights Activists to Tackle Witchcraft Related Abuse
The Nigerian Humanist Movement and the UK based NGO, Stepping Stones Nigeria are organising a
symposium on Witchcraft and Child Rights. The event will be held at Cross River State State Library Hall on
July 29 2009. This symposium is part of the wider efforts being made by both organisations to combat the persecution of children in Nigeria due to the belief in witchcraft. In the past ten years thousands of children alleged to be witches and wizards have been tortured thrown out and abandoned by families in Cross River and Akwa Ibom States due to this belief.
"This symposium is a welcome development", says Leo Igwe, executive secretary of the Nigerian Humanist Movement. "Witchcraft accusation persists in Nigeria because there has not been a properly coordinated public awareness campaign to get the people to understand that witchcraft is superstition and that witches and wizards are imaginary entities. Unfortunately Nigerians go through life believing in witchcraft. In their families, schools, churches and mosques, in the media and the local films, Nigerians are made to believe that witches are real and potent, and that witchcraft is effective Nigerians need programs to educate and enlighten them to abandon the belief in witchcraft and other superstitions and embrace reason, science and free inquiry. Until Nigerians abandon the belief in witchcraft, the atrocities committed in the name of this bloody superstition will not stop”, Igwe added.
Speaking from his office in the UK, the Programme Director of Stepping Stones Nigeria, Gary Foxcroft, said, "This timely symposium further highlights Stepping Stones Nigeria's commitment to eradicating the abuse of child rights that often takes place in Cross River and Akwa Ibom State's due to the belief in witchcraft. This erroneous belief is clearly being spread by a small number of powerful pastors and evangelists who are making a great deal of money on the back of falsely labeling children as 'witches'. We hope that this symposium will help to encourage the Cross River State Government to hold such false prophets to account and prosecute them under the recently enacted Child Rights Act".
* The Symposium will begin at 10 am and will feature guest speakers from UNICEF, NAPTIP, Cross River State Government, Nigerian Humanist Movement, Stepping Stones Nigeria and Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network. The objectives of the symposium are:
• To highlight the abuses of child rights that take place in Nigeria due to the belief in witchcraft
• To educate the public about the dangers of the belief in witchcraft and other superstitious beliefs
• To identify the role of “false prophets” in spreading the belief in witchcraft and attempt to dialogue with religious leaders on this issue
• To engage with traditional rulers, women’s groups, youth groups, NGOs,pastors and government on the issue of witchcraft and child rights abuses
For more details please contact Leo Igwe on 0803 3861053 or humanistleo@hotmail.com
UK govt to build prison in Nigeria
According to the Daily Mail, British taxpayers are to provide £1million for a jail in Nigeria to take convicts whose crimes were committed in the UK.
Apparently it costs GBP30,000 per year to keep a prisoner in jail - GBP12,000,000 per year for the 400 Nigerian prisoners in question. Building a prison for GBP1,ooo,ooo in Nigeria makes good financial sense from the British government perspective.
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Bugger...
accidentally deleted my blog template. Bear with me while I try to sort it out...
Read more...
Beyonce vs Ciara: for your viewing pleasure
Beyonce vs. Ciara
Beyonce, the president's daughter, meets Raj at the Super Market and falls in love with him. Unfortunately Raj is engaged to be married with Ciara (a stranger) who found him near death and took him to the nearest hospital. Beyonce uses whatever she has to win him over..
Thanks SM for the link..
Press Release from Stepping Stones
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 7th July 2009
Campaign of Terror unleashed on Nigeria’s ‘Witch Children’
Coalition of civil society organisations and churches condemn the recent violence against children and local NGO staff members
A coalition of Nigerian and International civil society organisations and churches have strongly condemned the recent campaign of terror that has been inflicted upon the so-called ‘child witches’ at the Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network Centre (CRARN) in Eket, Akwa Ibom State by Lagos-based police officers. The work of CRARN, and the children they care for, was shown on Channel 4’s Dispatches Programme on ‘Saving Africa’s Witch Children’ in November 2008.
On Friday 3rd July 2009, in the afternoon local time, a group of men appeared at the CRARN Centre claiming to be donors who wanted to donate goods and toys to the children. Shortly after, the men identified themselves as police officers, and unlawfully arrested two CRARN staff members and mercilessly beat many of the children whilst searching for CRARN’s Founder and President, Sam Itauma. Two young girls aged 11 and 12 years old were beaten unconscious and are currently receiving treatment in a local hospital. Five other children suffered injuries at the hands of these men, who then left a round of bullets in Sam Itauma’s bedroom, presumably to act as a warning that his life is in danger.
Gary Foxcroft, Programme Director of the UK-based NGO Stepping Stones Nigeria, and partner of CRARN, said: “We condemn the actions of the police in the strongest possible terms and call for the Akwa Ibom State Government to ensure the safety of all CRARN staff and children. The beatings of these innocent children further highlight the depravity of these so-called men and women of God who label and abuse children as witches. However, we will not be intimidated in our fight to protect the rights of vulnerable children and ensure that children are no longer labeled as witches. We know that the truth is on our side”.
Stepping Stones Nigeria believe that this campaign of terror is a direct response to Channel 4’s Dispatches Programme, ‘Saving Africa’s Witch Children’, which highlighted the role that Mrs Helen Ukpabio, self-proclaimed pastor, evangelist and founder of the Liberty Gospel Foundation Church in Nigeria, and her film production company, Liberty Films, have played in spreading the myth of child witchcraft.
Helen Ukpabio has recently filed legal complaints against Sam Itauma and CRARN at the Special Fraud Unit at the Ikoyi station in Lagos for “fraudulent activities and threat to life”, charges which the coalition argues are clearly fabricated in order to threaten and intimidate. The police officers that carried out these brutal attacks were accompanied by Mr Victor Ukott, the Lagos based lawyer who is representing Helen Ukpabio. Staff at CRARN, Stepping Stones Nigeria and Stepping Stones Nigeria Child Empowerment Foundation have also recently received numerous threatening phone calls, which would appear to be linked to this campaign of terror. CRARN staff have also been threatened by persons regarding the upcoming court case of “Bishop” Sunday Ulup-Aya, who was featured on Channel 4’s Dispatches programme bragging that he had killed “up to 110 witches”.
Sam Itauma, Founder and President of CRARN, said: “It is clear that forces of darkness are intent on taking my life and I remain deeply concerned for my safety and, most importantly, that of the children at the CRARN centre. I therefore plead for the Akwa Ibom State Government to offer us its full protection and ensure that its international image is not further damaged by this worrying situation”.
The coalition urgently calls on the Akwa Ibom State Government to:
• Arrest and prosecute the police officers who unlawfully arrested and detained CRARN staff members and beat and injured innocent children;
• Award their full protection to Sam Itauma, other CRARN staff members and the children to ensure their full safety now and in the future;
• Carry out in-depth investigations into the activities of Mrs Helen Ukpabio and the Liberty Gospel
Foundation Church, prosecute anyone found to be labelling children as witches and close any church found to be labelling children as ‘witches’ through deliverance or other methods.
• Support the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the false legal charges that are being levelled against Sam Itauma and CRARN staff.
Notes to Editors:
1. Coalition members include: Stepping Stones Nigeria, Stepping Stones Nigeria Child Empowerment Foundation, Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network Centre, Consortium for Street Children, Nigerian Humanist Movement , StreetInvest, Mboho Akwa Ibom Association (UK & Ireland), Ibom People’s Forum, Ibibio Nation, Eket Development Congress USA, The Covenant of Grace Ministries, International Christian Ambassadors of God (ICAG) and Grace Chapel, London.
2. Saving Africa’s Witch Children’ Dispatches Programme was aired on Channel 4 in November 2008. The documentary graphically details how the belief in witchcraft leads to the widespread abandonment, torture, trafficking and killing of children in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
The documentary has since won a prestigious BAFTA award and Amnesty International’s Media Award in the UK
3. Following the airing of the Dispatched documentary, The Akwa Ibom State enacted the Child Rights Act making it illegal to brand a child a witch. On its website the Akwa Ibom State Government states that it “will not fold its hands and watch evil elements of society dehumanise, demoralise, bastardise, displace, stigmatise, or persecute our children for personal gains.” The Government then states how it will:
• Place full legislative machinery against labelling of children as witches
• Advance high powered investigation into every element of the issues involved and all allegations against persons involved in stigmatisation of children as witches
• Prosecute all persons found culpable of this crime of child labelling
• Deploy social resources for the support, comfort and enjoyment of all categories of children all over the state
• Possibility of closure of every organisation involved in this evil stigmatisation of children
• Government will not spare any culprit involved.
For more information please go to: http://www.aksgonline.com/issue_child_abuse.aspx
4. For more information about the work of Stepping Stones Nigeria, CRARN and the issue of child witchcraft please visit www.steppingstonesnigeria.org.
5. For more information about this press release please contact Gary Foxcroft, Programme Director, Stepping Stones Nigeria on gary@steppingstonesnigeria.org or 0845 313 8391.
--- ENDS---
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
African writing and publishing
I was part of a discussion on the World Service this afternoon on African writing (timed with the 10th year of the Caine Prize). You can listen to the show here and read the online comments here. I am on about 30 mins in.
Many of those calling in said they found African writing boring and associated it with passing exams. I think part of the reason John Grisham, Danielle Steele and the like are hugely popular in Africa is simply because they are highly readable, page-turning popular fiction works. African writing has not focused on popular fiction and sheer readability in recent years, with the exceptions of the Pacesetters series, Onitsa and Kano market literature and the love stories of Hints magazine in Nigeria, and their equivalents in other countries.
All these are recent history rather than contemporary goings-on however.
The Nigerian/African fiction market is like any fiction market anywhere - popular fiction sells way more than literary fiction. Grisham and the like simply fill the void. Things will change slowly, as we and our fellow publishers (such as Storymoja and Kwani in Kenya) across the continent develop writing that is ever more in tune with the tastes of the market. But there is first of all a publishing infrastructure to be built - bookshops, distribution systems, printing presses, functioning public libraries, well-funded libraries in schools and universities etc. Publishing in Africa cannot thrive until these things are in place.
It was great to be part of a conversation today connecting different corners of the continent and the world. I was only on the show because Bibi's flight was delayed. Long live Auntie!
Monday, July 06, 2009
Late to the Wazobia FM partee but so what...
My Lagos driver had Wazobia FM (95.1) (listen online live here) while I was in town these past few days. A few people have raved about it recently, so it was good to be able to have a listen.
I am hooked!
Wazobia's basic content premise is everything is in pidgin. The news is read in pidgin. The music is pidgin music. The liquid poetry of the language is utterly beguiling: playful and joyful in equal amounts. You hear words like 'jollification' and the most melodious repetition of phrases.
I had an epiphany while rolling around Lagos with Wazobia FM as my soundtrack - that pidgin really is the language that connects people in Nigeria, and as such, should really become the official language. Wazobia FM is a delightful taster of how much more integrated a society Nigeria would be, if everyone became comfortable with pidgin as official and unofficial lingua franca and did away with the starchy bow-tie regime of Mama Charlie English or the hot dog life of faking an American accent.
Scammology: Japanese bling
A 419 guy calls me this morning, caller ID hidden. He says his name is Fernandez Williams and he is the MD of Skynex Manufacturing company, speaking from Tokyo. He asks me if my name is Dr Jeremy Weate. I say no, my name is Dr. Ezekiel Ibrahim. He tells me it is so hard to pronounce and remember Nigerian names, but he gets Dr Ibrahim just fine from then on in. His accent sounds throttled, and gives me the impression that I'm talking to an Igbo guy trying to put on a Japanese-accent. I make to sound interested. He tells me that his company has been buying garnet minerals from Afghanistan, but they've heard you can now buy cheaper from Nigeria.
He wants me to be his trusted intermediary to verify prices and companies. He tells me about the MD of one company that sells the stones - Engineer Adams Okilo, and gives me his phone number. I am to call this Okilo chappie and ask him for the price of a unit of garnet (there are, apparently, 5 pieces of the gem to a unit). He needs 1,000 units immediately. My reward will be 10% commission. I request that the money is transferred to my Swiss bank account. He agrees. I promise to call him back once I’ve heard from Adams Okilo.
A few minutes later, he calls back. I tell him I cannot reach Okilo. He tells me to call him back as soon as I have made contact. I reply that I cannot as his caller ID is withheld. He then gives me his number – a UK number. I ask him where he is – he replies that he is now in London, having just returned from Japan.
These guys should be sitting in a room banging out film scripts for N/Hollywood. I’m sure they could make more moolah that way, don't you?
Sunday, July 05, 2009
Student life in Nigeria
For the one out of every ten Nigerians that has the opportunity to do a degree at a Nigerian University, the pain begins as soon as they have the joyful news they have been granted a place (most likely however, not in the subject of their choosing). So many young minds face the frustration of inadequate facilities, the prospect of delays through strikes and unrest, and beyond that, the harsh reality of ferocious competition for professional jobs at the end of it. Koye-Ladele's blog post gives an insight into the latest ASUU strike on the life of a Nigerian student.
Read more...Saturday, July 04, 2009
Islamic openings..
Reading a good primer on Islam and learning lots. Didn't know that the Kaaba was constructed by Ibrahim/Abraham and that the meteorite only came much later (the placement of the rock being a matter of intense dispute, solved by Mohammed getting all the groups to share in the task with a carpet); didn't know "Allah" is an ungendered concept, and that the masculine reference is simply a linguistic convention not found in the pristine Arabic of the Book. I was only semi-aware of the explicit equality between men and women within Islam, in contrast to the marked patriarchy found within the Bible.
Various theological pathways and questions open up the more I read. I'm not sure how "Allah" can be omnipotent/omniscient and yet humans be granted free will, except through a form of deist withdrawal which plays against the purported omnipotence. I like the way that Islam is portrayed as a set of cultural/aesthetic forms and a worldview, as much as a religion (I guess that plays to liberal sensibilities). There is a strange tension, at least to an interested and sympathetic outsider, between the non-linear nature of the Koran (it doesn't begin with a Creation myth) and the emphasis on linear causation that posits Allah as the prime mover or fundamental cause. I also wonder whether Islam is at all compatible with evolution. I look forward to the sections on Sufism. The idea that the force that truly binds us, that we can only name by approximation, is nonetheless best thought of as Love - celebrated through dancing to a trance - cannot fail to appeal..
Friday, July 03, 2009
Conference on Nigeian Pidgin at UI starting on Monday..
Conference on Nigeria Pidgin
(Ibadan : July 7-10th, 2009)
IFRA (Institut Français de Recherche en Afrique) will organise a conference on Nigeria Pidgin in the University of Ibadan from the 7th to the 10th of July, 2009. This conference proposes to explore the various dimensions of NP, and set the foundation for the Nigerian Pidgin Project aiming at producing a reference grammar, a dictionary and a teaching method for NP.
Nigeria Pidgin (NP) is spoken by more than 50 million speakers all over Nigeria, in a variety of forms that go from the vehicular “broken English” to the more elaborate and complex varieties developled by standup comedians, song writers, journalists and students. The broad intercomprehension that exists between the Pidgins spoken in Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana and Sierra Leone give it a strong potential as a language for commerce and regional integration and could be useful in the present context of globalisation. Despite this powerful social and political potential NP suffers from a lack of recognition that hinders its development as a potential linguistic integrator for the Nigerian nation. The conference will center on the essential question:
What is Nigeria Pidgin ?
Programme:
· July, 7th : Arrival of participants
· July, 8th and 9th : Conference
- 1st day : Six 30 min. papers will be read, followed by 15
min. discussions.
- 2nd day : 2 workshops will be organized to debate the following :
Organization and launching of the Nigerian Pidgin Project (NPP)
Creation of a Nigeria Pidgin Academy
July, 10th : Departure of participants
Call for papers
You are invited to submit researched and data-oriented papers covering the following topics:
- The sociology/ function(s) of NP
- The geography of NP
- The history of NP
- NP in literature, the arts and entertainement
- The structure of NP
- The vocabulary of NP
- The future of NP
- What orthography for NP?
Deadline
All proposals must be sent by e-mail before May 31st, 2009, in
multiple copies, to :
Prof. Francis Egbokhare, University of Ibadan : foegbokhare@yahoo.com
Prof. Bernard Caron, IFRA, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria :
ifra.nigeria@gmail.com
Secretary : Mr. Martin E. Mbella : administrationifra@gmail.com
For further information concerning IFRA and the Conference, please
check our website (http://ifranigeria.org/), or contact us by e-mail
or at the following phone numbers: ++234 (0)802 608 05 53 / ++234
(0)807 70 40 836.
Bernard CARON, Director
Institut Français de Recherche en Afrique
IDR -- Ahmadu Bello University
Zaria -- Kaduna State -- Nigeria
Obama on Africa (interview)
Here. The Giant of Africa doesn't get a mention, although the word 'Lagos' is uttered towards the end of page 2.
Read more...Thursday, July 02, 2009
Soyinka at 75 celebration by Jos Rep Theatre
THE LION AND THE JEWEL
DATE: 24TH & 25TH JULY, 2009
VENUE: MERIT HOUSE, AGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, ABUJA
TIME: FRIDAY 24TH – 7.00 P.M.
SATURDAY 25TH – 2.00 P.M. & 7.00 P.M.
GATE: N2,000(GROUPS OF SIX PLUS MORE GET TO PAY N1,500 EACH)
CHILDREN / STUDENTS – N500
THE THEATRE OUTREACH ACTIVITIES OF THE JOS REPERTORY THEATRE ARE SUPPORTED BY THE FORD FOUNDATION
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
9 million barrels spilt
According to a new report by Amnesty International, over 9 million barrels of oil has been spilt on the Niger Delta, with 6800 spills recorded between 1976 and 2001. Read the Guardian's take on the report here.
Read more...Tuesday, June 30, 2009
The health of Nigerian banks..
According to the latest Africa Report, only Diamond Bank, First Bank, GTB and Skye Bank can be classified as "strong" banks in Nigeria. 9 banks are classified as "satisfactory", while 7 are deemed to be "shaken" and four as "stressed".
To download the report, click here. Punch Newspaper ran a story on the Africa Report's report in their daily paper today. This edition was 'sold out' today on the news stands. Make of that side-story what you will...
Monday, June 29, 2009
Identity: An Imagined State
Video Art Exhibition:Call for participation
Following the implementation of two successful video art workshops, the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos will be hosting the first video art exhibition in Lagos, taking the form of a three part project to be held in October/November 2009.
The exhibition Identity: An Imagined State will cover themes that each takes a different perspective on notions of identity exploring issues of race, citizenship and migration using. The exhibition aims to provide a platform in Lagos for emerging and established video artists.
The exhibition, split into sections listed below will form the curatorial framework for the submission of works.
The first section of the exhibition aims to explore issues relating to race or skin tone and the impact it has made on identity amongst African people (living on the continent). Particular areas of interest relate to those whose racial identity is made up of multi-ethnic backgrounds, the problematic of skin toning (skin lightening) and non-Black Africans. By asking questions such as; can we always tell what race is when we see it? What role does race place in society? How do we negotiate between skin tone and identity?
The second section explores the challenges of political, economic and social predicaments, which have engendered voluntary or forced migratory movements into and out of Africa. The impacts of these actions have resulted in changes such as displacement, deprivation, enhanced economic benefits and psychological transformations.
This project will present a body of work by artists that engage with migration and trans-national pattern of movement in our continuously globalizing world. It will explore the effects and impacts of migration within and out of the continent, highlight issues on memory, identity, displacement, alienation as well as the challenges that arise from cultural and physical separation.
Video artists of African descent or artists of any nationality exploring these themes in relation to Africa are invited to make a submission for either one or both areas of interest. We ask for all videos to be sent in either English or with English subtitles. Submissions should be made in the following manner:
- DVD containing maximum 3 works
- A Full CV
- An Artist Statement
- 2x still images from the video (minimum 75 dpi)
- Completed application form below
Please note that submitted work cannot be returned and unless indicated otherwise will form part of CCA,Lagos’ visual art library collection used for research and learning purposes only.
For further details and enquiry call: 234 7028367106, 234 705 568 0104, 234 803 439 2413 and ask for Oyinda Fakeye or Jude Anogwih or email: oyinda@ccalagos.org, jude@ccalagos.org Read more...
Juju and politics
Quite a mild case of juju and politics here. Only animal body parts involved, it seems...
Read more...Another brilliant post from Salisu Suleiman
On the dark ages that have settled upon Nigeria's university system. Read it and weep.
Read more...Saturday, June 27, 2009
Online naija sex shop
For all your dildo/lube/cock ring/butt plug/penis enlargement/bondage needs. Zee online.
Ikare Kamp
Someone just told me about this place, accessible by boat on the Ilashe beach strip. Looks nice, abi?
The good times are over
The Nigerian telecoms sector has finally hit market forces and the mathematic of where supply and demand cross at a competitive pricing point. ARPU (average revenue per user) has brought Zain to its knees (sinking to US7 per month), hence the crisis a few weeks ago and the decision to outsource the meat of its operations to Ericsson earlier this year.
What a contrast with the sector 6 years ago in Nigeria. The MTN story is case in point.
I remember buying my first MTN sim card back then. I think it was N18,000. The good times were rolling - its not as if the price of producing a sim card has reduced significantly since. MTN was staking out London recruitment fairs, bringing plane loads of diasporics home - anyone with the word telecoms on their cv (no matter how fabricated or puffed up) got a ticket and an apartment in VI, their salaries paid for by the first million or so customers paying off the scale prices just to get connected. The A-bar on Adeola Hopewell was the place for the big MTN boys in their polo shirts to hang out.
Aspects of the senior management of the company became bloated with charlatans who were working many levels above their pay grade (no names mentioned). Since that time, MTN in Nigeria has matured, shaken out the diasporic chancers and now has a good senior management cadre which is a mix of Nigerians and international staff. It is easily the best placed operator in Nigeria and is sure to profit well when the big pipes land in Lagos mid-to-late next year and the country finally has genuine Internet Service provision, rather than the fake-broadband floggers of now.
The consolidation taking place currently in the telecoms sector is also going to hit the financial services sector in the next 12 - 18 months. The new Central Bank governor Sanusi Lamido's strong risk analytical approach is sure to shake out the sharp practices the banking sector has relied on for so long and that are an open secret: buying each other's public offering shares (creating a phantom layer of valuations), round tripping currency trading and use of multiple books (to name just a few of the most popular tricks). Combined with the opening up to foreign ownership, another round of consolidation is somewhere between probable and imminent. I doubt many banks will be unaffected by the inroads Barclays, HSBC and the big American and Chinese banks will surely make.
So, the two juicy sectors of the economy that were the main draw for diasporic Nigerians outside of hyrdocarbons are closing up. I suspect we are now moving away from the returnee era, at least in terms of the corporate sector.
At which point, it might be an idea to begin to compare what the recent influx of diasporic Nigerians has done for the country's corporations. Compare and contrast with India.
Ten years ago, Indians with Californian technology experience started to return home during the dot com consolidation that began in late 1999/early 2000.
On the back of this migration, India's IT services sector began to boom from Bangalore to Pune, with the incumbent early-starters such as Infosys the tip of a large iceberg.
What have diasporic Nigerians brought to Nigeria? Which sectors have developed thanks to them? There has been no equivalent boom in IT services, and banking remains antediluvian. The perfect symbol of the level of sophistication of consumer banking in Nigeria is the Interswitch card - all your data stored on one easily replicable magnetic strip. It is strikingly similiar to my first 'cashpoint card' for Lloyds bank, back in 1986. Surprise surprise that Nigeria is currently awash with ATM fraud.
How are we to judge the impact of diasporic Nigerians that have returned back to Nigeria to work in its corporations? Have they 'added any value'? Certainly, in many organisations, they have generated mostly negative value: inadvertently importing a two-tier class system.
Those parading their recently acquired janded or yankee accents are earning multiples more than their stayed-home-didn't-get-the-break colleagues. They are almost completely blind to the hostility and resentment this has generated. Worse, they are in most cases not as effective as their 'local' equivalent.
The snob factor that they maintain meticulously stands in the way of them engaging with the world beyond Ikoyi and Victoria Island. In a complex and evolving society like Nigeria, they therefore forget to do the first thing that must be done in any new enterprise: map the territory. Many of the returnees simply didn't have the wisdom of local experience to do the job that needed doing.
The integration period - when an influx of diasporic Nigerians filled out the hot new sectors of the economy - is now over. Many of the most talented and experienced Nigerians overseas never bothered to come home. Those who made the Big Return in the past year or so are half-full of regrets. Accommodation is a joke in Lagos and Abuja (the only two cities they can return to) - all of it over-priced, jerry-built (sometimes dangerously so) and poorly managed. Quite a few will return with the realisation that home was in fact Maryland or Milton Keynes. Nigeria will return to being 'holiday for the kids'.
Anyone with smarts setting up nowadays in Nigeria in financial services, telecoms, the media etc. would do well to focus on how to develop local talent, rather than decide to bring in over-priced and over-entitled diasporic resource that is often afraid to wade in deep into the ways of the Nigerian market, for fear of getting too much mainland muck on the tyres of their Prado/Lexus. The future of business in Lagos (a city which generates 70-80% of Nigeria's tax base) will be increasingly defined by the thousands trying to get ahead from Isolo or Surulere, rather than those flying back home to stay with Mommy and Daddy in Ikoyi or VI. The more market forces come to play in Nigeria, the more on-the-ground talent and experience will come to the fore.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
I am Hungry, please re-brand me
Someone just sent me this:
I am Hungry, Please Re-brand me
By: Salisu Suleiman
I am Nigeria. I have millions of acres of arable land and billions of cubic litres of water, but I cannot feed myself. So I spend $1 billion to import rice and another $2 billion to import milk. I produce rice, but don’t eat it. I have 60 million cattle but no milk. I am hungry, please re-brand me.
I drive the latest cars in the world but have no roads. I lose family and friends everyday on roads for which funds have been looted. I lose my young, my old, and my most brainy and productive people to the potholes, craters and crevasses they travel on everyday. I am in permanent mourning, please re-brand me.
My school has no teacher and my classroom has no roof. I take lecture notes through the window and live with 15 others in a single room. All my professors have gone abroad, and the rest are awaiting visas. I am a university graduate, but I am illiterate. I want a future, please re-brand me.
Malaria, typhoid and many other preventable diseases send me to hospitals which have no doctors, no medicines and no power. So my wife gives birth with candle light and surgery is performed by quacks. All the nurses have gone abroad and the rest are waiting to go also. I have the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the world and future generations are dying before me. I am hopeless, hapless and helpless, please re-brand me.
I wanted change so I stood all day long to cast my vote. But even before I could vote, the results had been announced. When I dared to speak out, silence was enthroned by bullets. My rulers are my oppressors, and my policemen are my terrors. I am ruled by men in mufti, but I am not a democracy. I have no verve, no vote, no voice, please re-brand me.
I have 50 million youths with no jobs, no present and no future. So my sons in the North have become street urchins and his brothers in the South have become militants. My nephews die of thirst in the Sahara and his cousins drown in the waters of the Mediterranean. My daughters walk the streets of Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, while her sisters parade the streets of Rome and Amsterdam. I am inconsolable, please re-brand me.
My people cannot sleep at night and cannot relax by day. They cannot use ATM machines, nor use cheques. My children sleep through staccato of AK 47s see through the mist of tear gas. The leaders have looted everything on the ground and below. They walk the land with haughty strides and fly the skies with private jets. They have stolen the future of generations yet unborn and have money they cannot spend in several lifetimes, but their brothers die of hunger. I want justice, please re-brand me.
I can produce anything, but import everything. So my toothpick is made in China; my toothpaste is made in South Africa; my salt is made in Ghana; my butter is made in Ireland; my milk is made in Holland; my shoe is made in Italy; my vegetable oil is made in Malaysia; my biscuit is made in Indonesia; my chocolate is made in Turkey and my table water made in France. My taste is far-flung and foreign, please re-brand me.
My people are cancerous from the greed of their friends who bleach palm oil with chemicals; my children died because they drank ‘My Pikin’ with NAFDAC numbers; my poor die because kerosene explodes in their faces; my land is dead because all the trees have been cut down; flood kills my people yearly because the drainages are clogged; my fishes are dead because the oil companies dump waste in my rivers; my communities are vanishing into the huge yawns of gully erosion, and nothing is being done. My livelihood is in jeopardy, and I am in the uttermost depths of despondence, please re-brand me.
I have genuine leather but choose to eat it. So I spend a billion dollars to import fake leather. I have four refineries, but prefer to import fuel, so I waste more billions to import petrol. I have no security in my country, but would rather send troops to keep the peace in another man’s land. I have 160 dams, but can not get water to drink, so I buy ‘pure’ water that roils my innards. I have a million children waiting to enter universities, but my ivory dungeons can only take a tenth. I have no power, but choose to flare gas, so my people have learnt to see in the dark and stare at the glare of naked flares. I have no direction, please re-brand me.
My people pray to God every morning and every night, but commit every crime known to man because re-branded identities will never alter the tunes of inbred rhythms. Just as the drums of heritage heralds the frenzied jingles, remember - the Nigerian soul can only be Nigerian - fighting free from the cold embrace of a government that has no spring, no sense, no shame. So we watch the possessed, frenzied dance, drenched in silent tears as freedom is locked up in democracy’s empty cellars. I need guidance, please re-brand me.
But then, why can I not simply be me, without being re-branded? Or does my complexion cloud the color of my character? Does my location limit the lengths my liberty? Does the spirit of my conviction shackle my soul? Does my mien maim the mine of my mind? And is this life worth re-branding? I am not yet born, please re-brand me.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Abati - verb.
To find out about a new word in the English language, click here (but be quick because its sure to change soon).
If you haven't seen the eye of the storm, its pasted below. The interesting phenonemon is that Nigeria's commentariat is now a fully fledged force to be reckoned with. I'm not sure any amount of money (US$5m or more) is about to put the genie back in the bottle:
A Nation's Identity Crisis
By Reuben Abati
You may not have noticed it: Nigeria is suffering from an identity crisis imposed on it in part by an emergent generation of irreverent and creative young Nigerians who are revising old norms and patterns. And for me nothing demonstrates this more frontally than the gradual change of the name of the country. When Flora Shaw, Lord Lugard's consort came up with the name, Nigeria in 1914, she meant to define the new country by the strategic importance of the Niger River. And indeed, River Niger used to be as important to this country as the Nile was/is to Egypt. We grew up as school children imagining stories about how Lugard in one special romantic moment, asked his mistress to have the honour of naming a new country in Africa. Something like: "Hello, sweetheart, what name would you rather give the new country that I am creating?"
"Let me give it a thought? ....Awright, how about Ni-ge-ria darling?"
"That would do. That would do. How thoughtful, my fair lady? You are forever so dependable"
And the name stuck and it has become our history and identity. But these days, the name Nigeria is gradually being replaced by so many variants, that I am afraid a new set of Nigerians may in the immediate future not even know the correct spelling of the name of their country. For these Nigerians whose lives revolve mostly around the internet and the blogosphere, the name Nigeria has been thrown out of the window. Our dear country is now "naija" or "nija". What happened to the "-eria" that Ms Shaw must have thoughtfully included? The new referents for Nigeria are now creeping into writings, conversations, and internet discourse. I am beaten flat by the increasing re-writing of the country's name not only as naija or nija, but consider this: "9ja". Or this other name for Nigeria: "gidi". There is even a television programme that is titled "Nigerzie". In addiiton, Etisalat, a telecom company has since adopted a marketing platform that is titled: "0809ja." Such mainstreaming of these new labels is alarming.
This obviously is the age of abbreviations. The emerging young generation lacks the discipline or the patience to write complete sentences or think through a subject to its logical end. It is a generation in a hurry, it feels the constraints of space so much, it has to reduce everything to manageable, cryptic forms. This is what the e-mail and text message culture has done to the popular consciousness. Older generations of Nigerians brought up on a culture of correctness and compeleteness may never get used to the re-writing of Nigeria as "9ja". Language is mutatory, but referring to the motherland or the fatherland in slang terms may point to a certain meaninglessness or alienation. What's in a name? In Africa, names are utilitarian constructs not merely labels. Even among the Ijaw where people bear such unique names as University, Conference, FEDECO, Manager, Heineken, Education, Polo, Boyloaf, Bread, College, Summit, Aeroplane, Bicycle, Internet - there is a much deeper sense to the names. But the name Nigeria means nothing to many young Nigerians. They have no reason to respect the sanctity of the name. They don't know Flora Shaw or Lord Lugard, and even if they do, they are likely to say as Ogaga Ifowodo does in an unforgettable poem: "God Punish you, Lord Lugard." Eedris Abdulakarim summarises the concern of young Nigerians in one of his songs when he declared: "Nigeria jagajaga, everything scata, scata"
The post-modernist, deconstructive temper of emergent youth culture is even more manifest in the cynical stripping to the bones character of today's Nigerian hip-hop. It is marked by a Grunge character that shouts: non-meaning and alienation. On my way to Rutam House the other day, I listened at mid-day to a continuous stream of old musical numbers from 93.7 Radio FM. Soulful, meaningful tunes of Felix Lebarty, Chris Okotie (as he then was), Mandy Ojugbana, Christy Essien-Igbokwe, Onyeka Onwenu, Sony Okosun, Alex O, Ras Kimono, Majek Fashek, Evi Edna-Ogoli, Bongos Ikwue, Veno Marioghae, Uche Ibeto, Dora Ifudu, Mike Okri, Dizzy K. Falola, and Tina Onwudiwe. Onyeka Onwenu sang; "One love, keep us together". Veno Marioghae sang: "Nigeria Go Survive". Even in the romantic offerings like Chris Okotie's "I need someone, give me your love", or Felix Lebarty's "Ifeoma, Ifeoma, I want to marry you, give me your love" and Stella Monye's "Oko mi ye, duro ti mi o", or Tina Onwudiwe's award-winning "Asiko lo laye". there was so much meaning and polish.
This was in the 80s. That generation which sang music under its real names, not abbreviations or slangs, was continuing, after the fashion of T.S. Eliot's description of "Tradition and the Individual Talent", a pattern of meaning that dates back to traditional African musicians and all the musicians that succeeded them: S. B. Bakare, Victor Olaiya, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey, Dan Maraya of Jos, Osita Osadebey, Ayinla Omowura, Victor Uwaifo, Geraldo Pino, Rex Lawson, I. K. Dairo, Haruna Ishola, Yusuf Olatunji, Inyang Henshaw, Tunji Oyelana, Bobby Benson, Tunde Nightingale, and even the later ones: Shina Peters, Dele Abiodun, Y.K. Ajao, Ayinde Barrister, Kollington Ayinla, Batile Alake, Sir Warrior, Moroccco Nwa Maduko, Orlando Owoh, Salawa Abeni, KWAM I (Arabambi 1 and please include his disciples- Wasiu Alabi Pasuma et al), Oliver de Coque (Importer and Exporter...), Ayefele, Atorise .... But there has been a terrible crisis in the construction of music. The children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of these ancestors have changed the face and identity of Nigerian music. As a rule, gospel musicians, given the nature of their form, sing meaningful lyrics, but the airwaves these days have been taken over by the children of "gidi","naija", "nija", "nigerzie" and "9ja". I listen to them too, but everyday, I struggle to make meaning out of their lyrics.
Music is about sense, sound, shape and skills. But there is an on-going deficit in all other aspects except sound. So much sound is being produced in Nigeria, but there is very little sense, shape and skills. They call it hip-hop. They try to imitate Western hip pop stars. They even dress like them. The boys don't wear trousers on their waists: the new thing is called "sagging", somewhere below the waist it looks as if the trouser is about to fall off. The women are struggling to expose strategic flesh as Janet Jackson once did. The boys and the girls are cloaked in outlandish jewellery and their prime heroes are Ja-Rule, Lil'Wayne, Fat Joe, P. Diddy, 50 Cents, Ronz Brown, Chris Brown, Sean Kingston, Nas, Juelz Santana, Akon, Young Jeezy, Mike Jones, T-Pain, F.L.O-RIDA, Will.I.am, Beyonce, Rihanna, Ciara, Keri Hilson, Jay-Z, Ace hood, Rick Ross, Birdman, Busta Rhymes, Cassidy, Chamillionaire, Soulja Boy, Young Joc, Kanye West, R. Kelly, Kevin Rudolph, T.I.P-king of the South, Ludacris, Plies-The real goon, The Game, Young Rox, Flow killa, Osmosis (2 sick), Flow-ssik, Raprince, Bionic, Fabulous, Jadakiss, Nas, Swiss Beatz, Dj Khaled, Maze, Yung Buck, Maino, MoBB Deep, Lloyd Banks, Olivia, Lady Gaga... Well, God Almighty, we are in your hands.
And so the most impactful musicians in Nigeria today, the ones who rule the party include the following: D'Banj, MI, Mode Nine, Sauce kid, Naeto C, Sasha, Ikechukwu, 9ice, Bouqui, Mo'cheddah, Teeto, P-square, Don-jazzy, Wande Coal, 2-face, Faze, Black Face, Dr. Sid, D'prince, K-Switch, Timaya, Dj-Zeez, Dj Neptune, Banky w., Big bamo, Art quake, Bigiano, Durella, Eldee, Kelly Hansome, Lord of Ajasa, M.P., Terry tha rapman, Weird MC, Y.Q., Da grin, kel, Roof-top Mcs, Pype, Niga Raw, Ghetto p., Kaka, Kaha, Terry G, Ill Bliss, Zulezoo, Pipe, Dj Jimmy jatt, X-project, Konga, Gino, Morachi... Well, the Lord is God. These are Nigerian children who were given proper names by their parents. Ikechukwu bears his real name. But who are these other ones who have since abandoned their proper names? For example, 9ice's real name is Abolore Akande, (what a fine name!), Tu face (Innocent Idibia), Sauce Kid (Babalola Falemi), D'Banj (Dapo Oyebanjo), Banky w. (Bankole Willington), P-Square (Peter and Paul), MI (Jude Abaga), Timaya (Enetimi Alfred Odom), Sasha (Yetunde Alabi), Weird MC (Adesola Idowu). But why such strange names? They don't sing. They rap. Most of them don't play instruments, they use synthetic piano.
At public functions, they mime. They are not artists, they perform. They are not necessarily composers, they dance. The more terrible ones can't even sing a correct musical note. They talk. And they are all businessmen and women. They are more interested in commerce and self-advertisement, name recognition, brand extension and memory recall! They want a name that sells, not some culturally conditioned name that is tied down to culture and geography. But the strange thing is that they are so successful. Nollywood has projected Nigeria, the next big revelations are in hip hop.
Despite the identity crisis and the moral turpitude that we find in Nigeria's contemporary hip-hop, the truth is that it is a brand of music that sells. Nigeria's hip hop is bringing the country so much international recognition. All those strange names are household names across the African continent, so real is this that the phrase "collabo" is now part of the vocabulary of the new art. It speaks to an extension of frontiers. In Nigeria, it is now possible to hold a party without playing a single foreign musical track, the great grand children of Nigerian music are belting out purely danceable sounds which excites the young at heart. But the output belongs majorly to the age of meaningless and prurience. The lyrics says it all.
Rooftop MC sings for example: "Ori mi wu o, e lagi mo". This is a very popular song. But all it says is: "my head is swollen, please hit it with a log of wood." X-Project sings: "Lori le o di gonbe (2x), e so fun sisi ologe ko ya faya gbe, ko ya faya gbe, file, gbabe, se be, bobo o ti e le, wo bo nse fe sa hale hale niwaju omoge, ha, lori le odi gonbe, .....sisi ologe ki lo di saya o, so fun mi ki lofe, o wa on fire o...." Now, what does this mean in real terms? But let's go to Naeto C: "kini big deal, kini big deal, sebi sebi we're on fire", or D'Banj: " my sweet potato, I wanna make you wife, I wanna make you my wife o, see I no understand o, cause I dey see well well, but dey say love is blind, see I never thought I will find someone like you that will capture my heart and there will be nothing I can do....". Yes, we are in the age of sweet potato. And so Art quake sings: "E be like fire dey burn my body, e je ki n fera, oru lo n mu mi. Open your hand like say you wan fly away. Ju pa, ju se, ka jo ma sere, alanta, alanta."
And here is Zulezoo, another popular Nigerian musical team: "Daddy o, daddy, daddy wen you go for journey, somebody enter for mummy's house, person sit down for mummy bed, person push mummy, mummy push person, mummy fall for bed yakata, daddy, o daddy, the man jus dey do kerewa kerewa...kerewa ke" And Dj-Zeez: "ori e o 4 ka sibe, ori e o 4 ka sibe, 4 ka sibe, 4 ka sibe". And MI: "Anoti, anoti, anoti ti, anoti titi." And Konga: "Baby konga so konga, di konga, ileke konga, ju pa pa, ju pa, konga, ju pa pa, ju pa, sibe".. And 9ice: "gongo a so, kutupu a wu, eni a de ee, aji se bi oyo laari; oyo o se bi baba enikan, kan, i be double now, aye n lo, a mi to o, gongo a so, oti so o, e wo le e wo enu oko..." Or Tony Tetuila: "U don hit my car, oyinbo repete, u don hit my car o". Or Weird MC: "Sola lo ni jo, lyrics lori gangan, awa lo ni jo". Sheer drivel. So much sound, little sense. Is this the future? Maybe not.
Most of the music being produced now will not be listenable in another five years and this perhaps is the certain fate of commercial art that is driven by branding, show and cash. But we should be grateful all the same for the music, coming out of Nigeria also at this time in the soul, gospel, hip, hop genre: the music that is of Femi Anikulapo-Kuti, Lagbaja, Asa (there is fire on the mountain/and no one seems to be on the run/ there is fire on the mountain now..."), Ara, Sam Okposo, Dare, Sunny Neji, Infinity (now a broken up team), African China, Alariwo of Afrika.... We suffer nonetheless in music as in the national nomenclature, an identity crisis. A country's character is indexed into its arts and culture, eternal purveyors of tones and modes. Nigerian youths now sing of broken heads, raw sex, uselessness and raw, aspirational emotionalism. A sign of the times? Yes, I guess.
I find further justification in the national anthem, many versions of which now exist. I grew up in this same country knowing only one way of singing the national anthem: from "Nigeria we hail thee" to "Arise o Compatriots". The singing of the national anthem is supposed to be a solemn moment. Arms clasped by the side, a straight posture, and the mind strictly focussed on the ideals of patriotism and nationalism. Stillness. Nobody moves. And the national song is rendered in an unchanging format. But not so any longer. There are so many versions of the Nigerian national anthem these days. Same lyrics but different musical rhythms. I have heard the national anthem sung in juju, in fuji, in hip hop, in Ishan's igbagbolemini, in acapella mode, even reggae. I attended an ocassion once, the rendition of the national music was so enthralling, people started dancing. Even the photographers and cameramen danced with their cameras. For me that was the ultimate expression of the people's cynicism. The prevalent mood is as expressed by Dj-Zeez: "ori e 4 ka sibe, 4 ka sibe": an epigrammatic, onomatopoeic, market-driven diminution of language as vehicle and sign. What kind of people are we? A dancing nation? Dancing and writing away our frustrations and caring little about sense, in this country that is now known as "naija", "nija", "9ja", "nigerzie," "gidi"?
Monday, June 22, 2009
Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani on the World Service
Here. I Do Not Come to you by Chance will be published in November by Cassava Republic Press.
Read more...Nigerian banks opened to foreign ownership
The big business news of the day for Nigeria, in today's FT. Its a bold move which should shake things up, introduce some energy into the financial services sector and introduce global best practice...
Read more...Sunday, June 21, 2009
Brian Chikwava interview
Brian Chikwava’s Harare North is one of the most talked-about African novels of the year. We caught up with Brian in London just after this year’s Hay festival in June. In this 30 minute interview, he talks about the language of his book, the writing process, artistic integrity, his favourite books, the importance of the internet, the location of the writer and the short story as the ideal medium between the poem and the novel.
Friday, June 19, 2009
NEITI is recruiting..
The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) is recruiting, for over 50 vacancies. Click here for all the positions to be filled, and here for the newspaper ad that went out yesterday (which includes the application email information). The application deadline is July 10, 2009.
Read more...Dispelling the myths of doing telecoms business in Africa
Interview with Taj Onigbanjo, MD of Cable and Wireless Africa, here. The game changes with Main One and WACS landing in Nigeria later next year...
Read more...
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