NIGERIA ROADS: THE EASY ROAD TO THE GRAVE.

By Kazeem Azeez Idowu*

It is not surprising that everything is happening like this in this country. The politicians we have are those that when they say ‘yes’ it means ‘may be’, when they say ‘may be’ it means ‘no’. But mind you if a political figure says ‘no’, it is evident that he is not a Nigerian politician. No politician in Nigeria would ever say no when he wants the electorates’ votes. At the time of campaign, things that are done and those that cannot be done, Nigerian politicians will assure you that all shall be done. And after giving him your mandates and he assumes office, the next thing he does is to go on media to broadcast that he has done all things that are left undone behind. They are good at nothing other than fetching for their pockets and doing with their mouths things that concern the citizens.
If not, then I say that if governorship and presidential aspirants in Nigeria so far, sincerely implemented their manifestoes with utmost good faith and political will or something close to that, when they assume office, Nigeria would top the list of countries with good road network in the world today. Many families have lost their beloved bread-winners to the Nigeria roads. Many wives have lost their beloved husbands and many husbands their lovely wives. Children have lost their amiable parents to the deadly roads: parents their good-nurtured children. Only God knows the amount of souls lost to the road today and those that will occur subsequently. To this road, I lost my beloved childhood friend, Islamiyyat in 2011, my amiable neighbours, comprising grandmother, father, mother and three children. In 2002, I lost a classmate with her entire family. To this same road, I lost a mentor and father Bar. I.k Imam Eleshinla, in 2012. In fact, if I should continue, this piece may not contain names.
Now imagine the number of casualties from my side alone, add it to your own side plus your friends' own, your friends' friends and the number is unimaginable. Instead of getting better, the roads are rather getting worse every day. Almost if not every year, huge amount of money is allocated to road construction. But one still wonders why the situation is still the same. Every time political aspirants come out to canvass for votes, promises upon promises are always on two main things; stable power supply and good roads. Then, why do our roads still remain the way they are? Is it that the money being allocated for the purpose is spent on other things or not spent all or misappropriated? Whatever way it is done, I do not wish to answer these questions. The answer is left to your imagination.
To be frank, over the years, three major factors have been identified as responsible for the loss of uncountable souls in the roads accident; human, mechanical and environmental factors. Many road accidents are humanly avoidable but for the recklessness of the drivers who want to make fortune just in one day- a journey meant for 7 hours, he would ply the road using 4 hours so that he could quickly come back to the garage to embark on another journey- the more journeys he goes the more moneys he has. However, at the long run, the money he earns may be used to pay the medical expenses, if God says he doesn’t die or his funeral expenses if he does, after he might have succeed in driving himself to death. And for flimsy reasons, though rarely, passengers fuel the drivers desire to drive recklessly. This as it appears to touch the human aspect, is still the least.
It is unfortunate that many drivers do not know what they drive every day. A motor-vehicle is any road vehicle driven by an engine. It is mechanical device in nature and just like human beings; it gets tired and needs rest. When a person becomes tired, he may take to medicine or treatment, relax and rest; the same thing goes to a motor-vehicle. Due to careless attitude of many commercial transporters, their motors-vehicles are left unserviced, hardly maintained except it develops a fault. For this negligent attitude, many lives have been lost - a driver may have exceeded 120 in his speedometer before he discovers that the car- break has failed - which if he had serviced the bus before he left home for journey, the faulty break might have been safely repaired. And this addresses the mechanical aspect.
Then on environmental aspect, a friend recently posted on his FACEBOOK wall that 99% of politicians would rot in hell fire and when she was asked why, her response was: ‘‘having lost my parents and three beloved friends to road accidents this month, I am tired of living in Nigeria. Many lives have been wasted by these people. The money, meant for the welfare of citizens are diverted to their personal use, the roads are bad, electricity is worse than being epileptic, no water, food is scarce, I… a...m...Am..Just tired…’ This reply stunned everyone that saw it. In fact, I do not think, persuasion could make her wish politicians well as at that time; after all, what advice can you give someone whose parent was murdered by a lion. As if the answer was not adequate, then she finally lamented: 'Thank god! There is plane crash, if not these people would watch the entire citizenry lost to the road with their arms crossed'. Then I tell myself, ‘What a lamentation!’ What a Nigerian! What a leader!
I neither blame her nor blame persons like her. Frustration can make one becomes despondent and completely bellicose. In fact, it can breed terrorism especially if it spills over to other aspects of a person’s live. This is not even the point; the point is; if our roads can be as bad as they are, where is the money that had been allocated to the construction of roads so far? Or are these people telling us that they did not mean to fulfill their promises? Benin-Ore road, the persistent subject of discussion on the floor of the House, is still there. The road that connect Jebba, in Kwara State with Mokwa, in Niger Sate is more than worse, Ajase to Offa here in Kwara State, to use the word of Honourable Patrick, is in a state of anomie and in fact, macabrely bad. We were made to believe, through the media, the existence of what does not exist. And what surprises one is that we see it conspicuously everywhere, that Operation-No-Porthole has patched all portholes in Kwara state, when several roads still remain undone.
If I understand my friend very well, she actually meant to say that she was happy not because ‘plane crash’ really exists rather she was not unhappy that ‘plane crash’ creates equal risk and balance the hazard of road accident with that of the plane. This might not be unconnected with the fact that a person who flies on board the plane would necessarily think that he is completely safe and therefore deceitfully indifferent to whatever happens on the road. It is, perhaps, because the so called ‘government’ flies in the air using aeroplane, private jets and other types of aircraft and rarely travels on roads, that is one reason why the government becomes indifferent to the deadly road network we have in this nation. If this is not so, then why does the government, through careless attitude, let Nigerian roads become the easy road to the grave. Or must every Nigerian rest in peace, before the government would do something about all these roads that have become the entrance to the graveyard? I do not blame them, they fly in the air. And with that wouldn’t one say thank God that there is a plane crash just like my friend said.
It is highly regrettable that the roads which are supposed to be safe haven, joining one state with the other, have now turned to the threshold of death that directly leads to the world beyond the earth, the grave. Good road-network should be the government’s priority rather than the ocean of controversy it has drawn itself into. If nothing is done to these death traps called roads, in years to come, the roads may cease from being the easy roads to the grave but the grave itself.

By Kazeem Azeez Idowu
He is a freelance writer based in Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria. You can reach him on Kazdan01@gmail.com. He blogs in immunityview@.com

WHY WE SUFFER WHAT WE SUFFER (PART 2).
By Kazeem Azeez Idowu
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Democracy is one of the greatest forms of government man has ever conceived. It is good; it is based on the ideal that all the citizens of a nation determine together the laws or actions of their state, either directly or through their elected representatives; it requires that all citizens have an equal opportunity to express their conscience and their will and in practice, "democracy" is the extent to which a given system verge on these ideals, and a given political system is referred to as "a democracy" if it allows a certain approximation to ideal democracy.
To deliberately limit ‘democracy’ to the above ideals to assess the system in my country, in simply language the Nigeria democracy has, since, ceased from being the government of the people. It is not even the government by the people. In the face of serious brandishing of expertise at election rigging, the so called ‘justice’ of the Election Petition Tribunal and the subsequent appellate courts’ verdicts, the dimension of our democracy has been successfully changed to another system of government. And there appears now, an imminent prophecy that before Nigeria can be sailed to the Promised Land, its harbor, some people must inevitably get out of the system.
Apart from the fact that the system has been channeled in form of a vicious circle, the same sets of people have been rotating within the circumferences of the circle - when one evil gets out, another evil steps in, the citizens continue expecting angelic productivity - and the rotation continues and we continue to suffering what we are suffering.
Being Nigerians does not imply that we are sentenced to eternal torture and pain resulting out of our ugly deeds or that we are naturally unfortunate, we indeed have the Judicial Arm of the Government as the last hope of the common man and we have Nigeria Police Force to protect us. The Judiciary is highly respected and seriously commended. But it is quite unfortunate, that the judiciary has allowed its throne where justice is delivered to be painted with mud and the threshold of justice is decorated with corruption. The members of the Nigeria Police are really trying as well even though they are regarded as licensed thieves because of what people perceived as their expertise in collecting their own share of the National-Cake at various Check Points, on road. The hope is now erosive. We are nearly despondent, and what can we do except to bark and keep quite when we get tired.
If it is unfortunate already, it should not be totally unfortunate. Thus, amongst anti-graft agencies combating corruption, we have Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practice and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC). These two bodies have made tremendous achievement over the years. They are indeed highly commendable. Conversely, I was in Nigeria when Mallam Huhu Ribadu, the Chairman of EFCC was sent on a compulsory study leave to Jos at a time when EFCC was closer to recording tremendous achievement and at the time when the country needed him the most as the EFCC Chairman. But far beyond this point several funny heart-warming events took place when he was close to completing his study at Kuru, Jos in Nigeria. However, it is too hilarious and amusing to discuss such in this piece. In fact, this is not even the point the point is, he was replaced by Ibrahim Lamorde although that alone does not conjure any negativity on the person of Ibrahim Lamorde.
I was still in Nigeria when Ibrahim Lamorde was replaced by Farida Waziri and I can vividly recollect that one of her first remarks when she was appointed as the EFCC chairman was; I will not mind stepping on toes. Portraying her in the form of a caricature in the nation News Paper, somebody wrote ‘be careful some toes are finger-nailed’. Now that she is removed after several cacophonies, one would have no doubt that she has, indeed succeeded in stepping on toes and not just ordinary toes but finger-nailed toes. It is not funny that Ibrahim Lamorde is now the new EFCC chairman after Farida Waziri was removed. What a circle! Vicious circle!
It is probably understandable, had the embers of corruption not been extended beyond the realm of politics, since politics itself is a dirty game. The combustion has extended to our educational sectors and beyond. Employment is now the popular song in the mouths of both Graduates and Undergraduates but the fact remains that some graduates are unemployable. We appear to have the best system of education, yet poor in quality service delivery. An average Nigeria graduate spends not less than or exactly 16 years of schooling – 6 years in Primary School, 6 years in Secondary School and at least 4 years in University – yet graduates end up being unemployable.
The ugly fact is not unconnected with the fact that favouritism and sometime despotism surround both the appointment of lectures and the admission of students in to tertiary institutions of learning. The Curriculum Vitae (CV) of competent lecturers are probably thrown in the trash can or alternatively in the garbage – they do not get beyond the school gate after submitting their CVs – just because the Vice Chancellor thought they are not from his home town or perhaps the Dean of the Faculty turns it down because they are not his loyalists. The incompetent ones who are from the Vice Chancellor’s home or the Dean’s loyalists get employment and what becomes the fate of the students? Nemo dat quod non habet, meaning you cannot give what you don’t have. The graduates remain poor and end up being job seekers rather than job makers
Corruption is bad; it is not good; it destroys any system of government it finds its way in; it hinders development of the society as well as manpower and every Nigerian hates it even our leaders hate it as well. But the point of question is why we celebrate corrupt people when we indeed hate corruption? My dear reader(s), I am in this country when Bode George, the former Chairman of the board of Nigerian Ports Authority, was given heroic welcome from Kirikiri Prison, Lagos after serving a sentence for misappropriation of public funds (80 billion naira). It would have probably been understandable had the celebration been organized by his devoted family, instead some members of the top echelon of the Presidency and the so called ‘elites’ visibly participated at the programme which took place at a time President Goodluck Jonathan was busy hawking anti-corruption campaign promises. President Goodluck Jonathan himself allegedly has a representative present at the occasion and some other high profile people like the former president Olusegun Obasanjo were in attendance. Then at this point one must ask what the society would make out of the whole scenario or in the alternative what signal is being sent to the citizenry particularly the youth. We make our heroes, public rogues and fraudsters and we outcast and victimize the honest ones.
Throughout the globe, regardless of culture, Integrity and truthfulness are virtues to be desired but to politicians in my country, they are trash bags to be thrown away in the realm of politics. The cumulative effects of all these are that the unemployment raises every day, with looting of public treasury at the front role, kidnapping accompanies them, terrorism ushers them in breeds and corruption host them all. The paradox of Nigeria is in the attitude of its citizens and the leaders. And until we learn to change our attitude, the better Nigeria is yet to come. But I must ask you, is Nigeria destined to fail? Watch out for part three of this piece.

Kazeem Azeez Idowu
He is a freelance writer based in Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria. You can reach him on Kazdan01@gmail.com.He Blogs in immunityview..com

WHY WE SUFFER WHAT WE SUFFER
PART I
 By Kazeem Azeez Idowu*

Nigeria is an interesting place to live and perhaps, that is the one reason most Nigerians are yet to be tired of living there. Nigeria as a country is an offshoot of British civilization having been colonized since the 18th century and given independence on October 1st 1960. After this independence by the British, Nigeria has been striving for survival particularly to have a suitable place in the world.  And we Nigerians have been crying since the birth of democracy that our leaders are corrupt and thus we are in dire need of change but till now, it seems the beautiful ones are not yet born.
To deliberately close eyes on the period of incursion into Nigeria politics by the military, Nigeria has, since independence, been demonstrating to its African counterparts that it is the Giant of Africa and it has shown its eagerness to show to the whole world that it has dream and vision. That is why it takes interest in exporting to other countries peace and democracy it does not have and continue to import what it has in abundance.
The ability to identify problems seems to be an inherent quality of every average Nigeria and as it is often said a problem known is half-solved but contrary is the case in my country. Sincerely, Nigerians can identify problems with correct and accurate data and in almost, if not all, the sectors of the country – economic, educational, agricultural sectors etc – we know what the problems are but one may ask; why do we still suffer what we suffer when we know what our problems are. If you will be patient enough to read through this piece to the last, you will understand.
Nigeria is blessed with abundant potential and raw materials. Before petroleum was discovered, many years back, people lived on agriculture and they were living well. After petroleum was discovered we became relaxed and heavenly rely on it, we neglect agriculture, we allow corruption to permeate the oil sector and unnecessarily misappropriate the proceeds coming out of it and that is why the discovery of petroleum marks the beginning of economic doom and poverty of the highest order. And today, Nigeria is yet to remove the dyke between its potential and fulfillment.
Also, Nigerian politics is a hide-and-seek game. It is a game that is already turned to warfare. It is seen as a ‘do or die affair’ and characterized with election rigging and political God-fatherism. The electorates’ votes hardly count. Perhaps, because of the dirtiness associated with politics, the attendant corruption that accompanies it and the fact that people hardly leave the position of leadership with such honor and respect that took them there, men of God and people of integrity, who do not want to be stained, clear themselves off the track. Eventually, we sprout out illiterates and fraudsters into the driver’s seat.  We have several competent people among the citizenry who can drive Nigeria to the Promised Land but their ways are blocked and some even hardly come. Thus, we have zombies as our leaders – zombies who have no mind of their own and do not mind copying policies from any country, even from the moon, to the detriment of the citizenry. Unfortunately, they would never copy policy execution or implementation or copy US in upholding rule of law, independence of the judiciary, welfare of citizens or good governance, but they can copy tenure elongation, subsidy removal and lots more. When good people keep quiet, bad people would have their ways.
Besides, election period in Nigeria is usually seen as a green season for politicians, technocrats and even those who are apolitical. The period is seen by the politicians as the period to invest, the technocrat and the apolitical ones see it as the time to collect their own share of the National Cake. Only God knows the amount of money some people collected in the last election! In fact, should you try to sensitize them, especially in the rural areas and in some parts of urban centre, you would be seen as a big fool who does not know anything because they believe any one that needs their votes must be ready to pay the purchase price. At the long run, we got the kind of leaders we bargain for and their policies, actions and inactions affect us all. But what usually pains one is that people would soon forget that they have compromised and sold their mandates for token amount; then they cry louder than even a megaphone when they are affected by the government policy.
Next is the issue of despotism and favoritism. A country which has favoritism and ethnicity as its foundation hardly succeeds. In Nigeria today hardly can one succeed except you know somebody that matters. Even the issue of admission into tertiary institutions of learning which ought to be based on merit, until you know someone, if care is not taken, with the best of results, one may spend up to 10 years at home seeking admission. Political appointments are based on who knows who. And even the issue of employment, until you know somebody, you are on your own.
What is even annoying is people’s attitude towards politics. If a political office holder wants to prove to be Godly and decides not to misappropriate public funds, you will be surprised if I tell you that some Nigerians would blame him. Should a politician be invited to a function and donate little amount he thought he could afford, the audience would welcome him dejectedly. But let him donate a huge amount greater than his annual income and he would be welcomed with a standing ovation and nobody would bother to ask where the poor man got it from. Indirectly, we encourage corruption.
While the poorest person in the world is a person without a dream, the most frustrated person is he who has a dream but does not know how to bring it to pass. We have vision and dreams as Nigerians and our leaders also claim that they have as well, even in abundance they claim. As a nation, we have always had one vision at one time or the other – Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), 7-Point Agenda, Vision 20:2020, etc – but little wonder that more often than not, our dream and vision as a nation have always become nightmare and unfulfilled expectations. It is no more a subject of debate that every Nigerian is now a living witness to the economic predicament, insecurity and uncertainty which our leaders, through their ineptitude and parochial interests, have imposed on our beloved country. The above include but not limited to why we suffer what we suffer.

*A Law Student at the University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria.
You can reach him on kazdan01@gmail.com or contact him on +2348155561493

WHAT IS YOUR OWN DEFINITION OF THE SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT NIGERIA PRACTISES?


By Kazeem Azeez Idowu
A Law Student at the University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria.

I can argue it to eternity that the current system of government Nigeria is practicing is not a democracy. Counting from the Third Republic I mean 1999, Nigeria’s ‘acclaimed democracy’ is now 13 years old. And if at this period, the Nigeria independence, which is 51 years, can be said to be in its infancy I cannot imagine what adjective will satisfactorily qualify the Nigerian 13 year’s old democracy. Perhaps, it will be described as a democracy yet to be ejaculated into the uterus of it mother. I will be sad if the masses can claim that, throughout these periods, they have got the much touted dividends of democracy. I think I have no reason to be sad because the fact is, as at today, the masses cannot claim to have enjoyed any dividends of democracy.
The idea of democracy is traced back to the ancient Greece which practiced direct democracy in which ‘the whole citizen body formed the legislature’ because ‘then representative democracy system was unknown. For the sake of clarity, the word ‘democracy’ itself is the combination of the two Greek words; ‘demos’ which means ‘people’ and ‘kratein’ meaning ‘rule’. After the fall of the Greek city-states 2000 years back, that buried democracy was exhumed by Abraham Lincoln, the former President of the United State of America, in his famous Gettysburg address delivered in November 19, 1863, at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, when he said ‘ it is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth’. This idea of his became the most popular definition of democracy.
If you will be patient enough to hear me to the last, you will understand. It is posited that there are five basic rudiments without which no country can claim to be practicing democracy. These are; equality, sovereignty of the people, respect for human life, the rule of law and liberty of the individual. I do not mean to burden, but can you help me highlight any one of these elements that exists in Nigeria. Count them, how many?
It is no more a democracy when the political repression turned politics into warfare and a ‘do or die affair’ thereby undermining issue of development of the state. It is no more a democracy either when the leaders disconnected themselves from the citizen and even detaches public policy from social and basic needs of the citizens. Neither is it a democracy when the constant economic coercion of the citizens has made them become estranged from the state and the government is seen as a force to be feared nor is it a democracy when the leaders cherish enormous waste of human resources and concentrate on amassing wealth for their great grand children yet to be born at the expense of the citizenry. At this juncture too, I will not like to trouble you, but let me ask you in a manner you will understand, which one of these does not exist in Nigeria? Shh! Keep the answer to yourself I do not need it.
One of the cardinals of democracy is free and fair election. This is the platform through which the citizens elect those who will represent them. But take the memory lane backward, how many Governors can you assuredly say that won the Election of 2007 based only on the votes casted for them by the electorates? How many Governors were later brought in by the intervention of the Nigerian Election Petition Tribunals? If you do not remember any others, at least you can remember Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, the Governor of Osun State, Ayo Fayemi, the Governor of Ekiti State, Adams Oshiomolo, the Governor of Edo State, Olusegun Mimiko, the Governor of Edo State, and a host of others. Now, if you cannot remember all these cases, were you aware when the former President Umar Musa Yar’dua publicly admitted that the election that brought him into office was mercifully rigged? And do you still believe that there is free and fair election in Nigeria?
That one apart, the next is the issue of welfare of citizens and their fundamental Human rights. Can you alone, without the influence of anybody, decides when and when not to meet the counsellor of your area; the chairman of your local government; the governor of your state not to talk of Mr. Mighty President at the dungeon in Aso Rock, in Abauja? Besides, do you know the number of people that sustained injury while exercising their rights to protest against the removal of subsidy? If you do not know, one citizen Opobiyi was reported dead on 5th January, 2012 in Ilorin Kwara State consequent to the protest on removal of subsidy. Did you read the Nation News Paper and what the police said was the cause of his death? Did you believe it? Once more, on 9th January, 2012 one Ademola Adesin Tobi aged 28 was shot dead in Lagos by a member of Nigeria Police Force, while playing football. On the same spot, one Samuel Egbuyor, 23, Abubakar Alimi, 24 and Joy Monday, 20 were all wounded. Do you know whether some people still died somewhere? Is this democracy?
Since my Secondary school days I have learnt that in democratic system majority carries the vote. And if I may ask, do you know the number of Nigerians clamouring for the removal of subsidy? Do you know the number of those insisting that subsidy should not be removed? Do you know that their conditions are not the same? Is this still a democracy? Okay if you feel you do not understand the above questions; let me ask you in manner you will understand. You too, look steadily around you then fix the ‘Nigerian Democracy’ into the context any definition of democracy you know - any compatibility? Is Nigerian Democracy a government of the people? Do you have a say at all? Is it still of a government by the people when the Big Brothers in election rigging have not given it a quit? Is the government for the people- you and I? Count from one to three, how many times have you gotten the dividend of democracy?
To my mind, Nigerians, myself inclusive, need a definition for the type of system of government we are practicing. But I am afraid we may have to wake the past political thinkers and theorists from their graves or probably conjure their spirit for this purpose. If I have read the current situations of things in Nigeria in a book, I would not hesitate to tag it to be a fallacy. But what can I say now when all these are happening before my very eye? My dear reader(s), please, once more help me answer this last question. I know this cannot be democracy. And you may not agree with me, but if I may ask, do you consider this to be an ideal democracy? If the answer is yes, why? And if no, then what is your own definition of the system of government Nigeria is practicing?

By Kazeem Azeez Idowu
He is a Law Student at the University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria. And a writer who writes to right wrongs. You can also send your comment to Kazdan01@gmail.com or reach him on +23480155561493