RANDOM MUSINGS: ICT ADOPTION IN NIGERIA AND TREATMENT (OR NOT) OF GUNSHOT VICTIMS

I sit at my reading table and instead of working on the report I sat down to do, I am reminiscing about very varied things that are wrong in my country- the fuel scarcity going on at the moment; the benefits ICT will bring various sectors in other parts of Nigeria, apart from Lagos and Abuja; the electricity problem that has stagnated the growth of entrepreneurship in Nigeria, amongst other things. In the midst of my reminiscing, I suddenly remember stories from my mum about how patients with gunshot wounds are not allowed treatment in the hospital where she works until they provide a police report authorising treatment to be carried out on the patient.

I wonder why I had never thought about this before. But why in heaven's name is there a law like this? And what exactly does the law state? I quickly google the said law and I come up with the following from here about the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provision) Act, Cap 398, 1984, which states thus:

THREE THINGS I WANT FROM MY PRESIDENT BETWEEN MAY 2015 AND MAY 2019

The election season is here again...but wait, we’ve been having elections off and on in various states ever since Maurice Iwu’s 2007 widely disputed  Iwuruwuru (s)elections and the subsequent tribunal judgements that trailed almost every state election, led to deviations from the regular standard gubernatorial elections calendar. But this time around, in addition to the remaining states’ governorship elections, we have the big one- the presidential elections coming up in February next year. The drama and excitement are steadily building up. Are you excited yet?

Quite interestingly, noise about the elections had been very few and far between, mainly because our incumbent, Oga Jona, wasn’t very keen on declaring his interest early on (or maybe, he just pretended he wasn’t very interested in occupying Aso rock a second time and therefore, will need to consult or be persuaded before taking up the thankless but highly enriching task of leading Nigeria again); and also because the APC guys were still shuffling their feet, trying not to step on each other’s toes, in this very important event that will be make-or-break for the party (I mean, let’s be frank, the main purpose of the formation of APC by the PDP castaways was to grab Nigeria’s central seat of power from their former party).

But in the past one month, Buhari’s announcement of his intention to be president, which seemed to suddenly wake GEJ (and PDP) from slumber and enable him to conclude consultations and finally get “convinced” to contest the coming elections, has led to plenty of the much-anticipated noise and debate about the February presidential elections. Suddenly, news and social media are discussing the elections with more gusto. Suddenly, the coming elections has become the major topic of discussion during lunch break at workplaces, among okada riders at their stands, and among bus commuters sweating in Lagos traffic. Suddenly, it doesn’t seem like GEJ will have a smooth-sailing ride to victory in the elections. Suddenly, APC does look like it will put up a fight in the coming elections. Suddenly Buhari looks like the man to beat- or be beaten again.

MOURNING THE THINGS THAT WEREN'T

I wish the British left us as the Northern and Southern protectorates that they met us as when they came in 1846 without amalgamating us to become Nigeria in 1914. We most probably wouldn’t have had ethnicity and religion as foremost problems now.

I wish the January 1966 coup was completely successful. I wish Madiebo didn’t successfully convince Nzeogwu not to take the fight to Ironsi after the latter had taken control of the government in Lagos. With the blueprint the coup-plotters had mapped out for Nigeria, we most likely would have had an economy similar to Russia and China’s by now if that blueprint was executed to the letter.

I wish Ironsi had kept the end of the bargain he made with Nzeogwu before the latter surrendered to him. If Ironsi had kept the deal, Awolowo and the rest of the imprisoned Southern opposition would have been released; the families of the slain victims of the January 1966 coup would have been taken care of by the government and the subsequent May 1966 riots and July 1966 coup may never have occurred.

NIS RECRUITMENT: WHEN JOB SEEKERS BECOME MARTYRS

Just when you think you've seen and heard it all in this jungle of a country, another mind-numbing incident happens and you start to wonder if Nigeria isn't an extension of hell...

I've only ever been in a Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) office for three hours but two things were clear to me from that brief visit. One, every Tom, Dick and Harry, if given the opportunity, wishes to leave Nigeria- but that's topic for another day. Two, the NIS is a very corrupt and disorganized institution. Or how else would you describe a government office in Nigeria where workers resume before 8a.m just to ensure they can get as much passport applicants who will pay them sharp-sharp processing fees to get their passports within the blink of an eye, with such fees usually being double the amount the legit process requires to get the same passport? I doubt if there's any of our Immigration officers that knows or remembers the legit process to apply for and collect these international passports any more, the dubious means has become the normal mode of operation. Of course if you've been to any of the NIS offices, you'll agree with me that the ratio of khaki-wearing officers to passport applicants at peak period is approximately 2:1- yes, I mean that there are more officers than applicants themselves at every point in time in Immigration offices across Nigeria. Really, NIS is a place I'll want to visit ONLY when I absolutely have to.

NIGERIA AT 100: WHAT EXACTLY ARE WE CELEBRATING?

It’s a very sad me typing this right now. Just when I was still trying to come to terms with the fact that $20 billion of our commonwealth had been stolen and we weren’t ever going to get it back, since the whistle-blower aka noisy CBN governor had been ousted, I learnt about the gruesome killing of over 50 teenagers in a Federal Government College in Yobe state by the Boko Haram sect with 20 girl children abducted in the process ( as I write this, I’m pondering with fear what exactly those girls, if they are still alive, will be going through right now). I lived in the boarding house of a Federal Government College for three years myself and I still remember vividly the few and far between times we heard stories like a man coming into the hostel to rape girls and the beating of some supposed  student witches by fellow students and the kind of fear those stories put me in for days and weeks. So I can’t even begin to imagine what those teenage students experienced that dark night. I was still in shock about the incident when I learnt the Boko Haram sect had invaded a village in Adamawa and slaughtered over 20 people. All these in less than one week! At that point, I wasn’t sure my heart could take any more bad news from Nigeria, preferring to just read about happenings around the world from CNN and co. Only for me stumble across a news item that the Federal Government had drawn up a list of 100 people for Centenary awards that will be handed out during the 100 years’ of Nigeria. Centenary what? I quickly found the list on the internet and on skimming it, it dawned on me that even after 100 years of being a country- and more than 53 years of being independent- we still don’t have a clue of what we are doing or where we are headed.

ANOTHER PROPHET NATHAN STORY

It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself. 
- Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 -1962)

If you were a bible-story loving kid, then you’ll remember the story Prophet Nathan used to illustrate to King David, his greed in going to sleep with another man’s wife- Beersheba, trying to get the man- Uriah- to cover up his (David’s) act by asking him to leave the field of battle and go home and lie with his wife, finally killing the man when his cover-up attempts failed, and taking the man’s only wife to be one of his wives. There’s also the story of Jezebel’s act of ordering the false accusation and subsequent killing of Nabaoth just so that her husband, King Ahab, could acquire Nabaoth’s garden, after Nabaoth had refused to bequeath his family-inherited garden to the king. These two bible stories are very similar in that the rich tried to exploit the poor of the little they had; and when their attempts failed, they resorted to eliminating the obstacles in their way- the poor. Incidentally, these stories don’t happen only in the bible.

DELUSIONS FROM THE PULPIT

Source: christrbc.wordpress.com

It is sad and very unfortunate that our society has gone really haywire and that the rate of morality over the last decade has descended to an all-time low. From the regular street gang armed robbery to the present bold and full-blown kidnapping, and even assassination in some cases; from the regular one-night-stand prostitutes to the 24/7 prostitution by female undergraduate students and desperate ladies at work places; from the normal peaceful protests and threats to the militancy and ‘boko-haramism’ which we now have; from the occasional adultery and second-wife practices to the present-day, and I daresay now-excusable, chains of mistresses and concubines our married men keep – even with their wives’ knowledge; from the frequent fornication with the opposite sex to the brave and mind-numbing acts of sodomy and lesbianism that have now become the order of the day in our society, and the list continues. It has gotten to a point where nobody sees anything wrong with government officials embezzling public funds; instead we all envy them and wish we were in their positions so that we will take more bites than they have of the national cake. All these evil practices which were unthinkable at the start of the new millennium are now sadly the order of the day in Nigeria. But then I have noticed another trend too.