A TRIBUTE TO CHINUA ACHEBE (Nov. 1930-March 2013)
2021 Edition

By Olohy Ejembi

Since my last tribute to you, Achebe, things are getting ineffably worse everyday in the country you left. The rots in the country are engendered by what you identified in 1983 with Nigerian leadership - the country is impeccably unfortunate in its leadership. You said that the problem with Nigerian leadership “is the seminal absence of intellectual rigour in the political thought of our founding fathers”. Nigerian leaders today, in addition to total lack of intellectual rigour in leadership, completely lack empathy in their feelings towards the country and its citizenry. Inclination “to pious materialistic wooliness and self-centered pedestrianism” is piquant to their nature.

Achebe, a lot has happened since you left us in this bramble forest called Nigeria. You wrote sometime ago about the poor choice of using Unity and Faith as the central message of the Nigerian Coat-of-arm. As you feared, our leaders have 'United' in one 'Faith' and have sold the poor masses and taken their inheritances. And it's never a new story to keep reminding you about the unequivocal level of social injustice in the country.

You said that Nigerians are not “particularly evil or wicked”. However, it's arguably not true that Nigerians are not “particularly evil or wicked”. Now our forests are no longer used for hunting of wild animals or for game reserve. They're now used as human zoos by kidnappers. The leaders in Nigeria sent barbarians into our forests to terrorize the poor and kidnap them; they have made farmers handicap so much that they live like castaways in their own communities. Kidnapping is now the most payable job in the country.

You wrote that there was country. Achebe, Nigeria now is a country that was in the past. Although Nigeria has never been a country in a real sense of it, but there used to be a geography called Nigeria. Since you left, Achebe, that geography no longer exists. The Nigeria you used to know is now an illusive entity which includes any part of the world that a Fulani exists. And it now excludes any part of the former Nigeria that doesn't have a strong and unique affinity to the Fulani race.

Achebe, you wrote that “The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to responsibility”. Of course Nigerian leaders are not responsible leaders. However, it seems it's not because they are not only willing to, but because they do not have the ability to be responsible. Somewhat, Nigerian leaders seem to lack progressive spirit which is the hallmark of development. Irresponsibility is a natural disposition akin to Nigerians - here indiscipline and corruption are accepted as a virtue of smartness.

Achebe, as you saw before you left, Nigeria keeps decaying everyday. And it seems the problems are destined to compound everyday. Recall that you wrote that Nigerians are not famous with “mental rigour”. It's so very true. There are no people in Nigeria to confront the problems. Leaders of Civil Society Organizations that are supposed to confront the problems keep acting like hungry dogs, instead of being people whose actions are engendered by anger over social failures and injustices. Civil Society Organizations' leaders in Nigeria only rise up and bark whenever they are hungry for their own share of the national cake. Once a crumb is thrown to them, they share it among themselves and go back to their kennel until they become hungry again.

Achebe, the hero of Patriots, we want you to come back and tell Nigerians with the words of David Cameron that they are fantastically corrupt; come back and tell Nigerians with the words of Lord Alfred Denise that among them bribery and graft are accepted and stealing is a virtue. Code of morals is abandoned in public places. Morals are only remembered and accepted when in the church or mosque, but rejected elsewhere. Come and tell them how they place priority on self and other primordial sentiments against laws, institutions and the state. in Nigeria patriotism is seen as mystical phenomenon that is impracticable.

We need you to come and remind Nigerians that they dearly promote tribalism, false image of themselves, lack patriotism, lack discipline, lack social justice, and have a leadership style that naturally promote corruption and mediocrity. Hence we have a system that is a direct opposite of the style of leaderships that promote development.

OH, ACHEBE, WE MISS YOU!

THE SOLUTIONS
By Olohy Ejembi

It's no news to say that there is plethora of problems in Nigeria. Problems that stem from poor leadership and/or human negligence. As Achebe wrote, there is nothing wrong with our land and climate, because we have enormous natural and human resources. The trouble with Nigeria is the unwillingness of our leaders to rise to responsibility and personal example. That's why some us wish we could reach out to all children in this country and build in them a different mindset - a mindset that promotes the social values concerned with social welfare and happiness for everyone. Until such social and human values are built in the minds of Africans we may remain bestial and thereby impoverished.

However, individuals that have genuine conscience and are humane have become the true hope of many in this blessed continent turned into bramble forest. Therefore, we must play our parts in helping the willing children and youths to acquire sustainable skills and knowledge. Those of us who come from poor background, but were able to educate ourselves without the assistance of any persons or organizations, have stories to tell to the less privileged to spur their confidence in themselves. However, as we motivate them with our stories we must also share our connections with them. I understand that, though motivational speeches are greatly effective, we can build greater opportunities for people if we connect them to the people that help us or people that can help them - that is, it'll be better if we can get people to help them, even though we tell them how they can help themselves.

In helping the less privileged I don't believe in sharing materials things to them. The best thing is to give them opportunities through the acquisition of applied knowledge and/or skills. We live in a part of the world where government is an illusive institution, and its stories are like those of fables which endlessly never come to pass. Hence, we must help upcoming youths to become self-reliant, to develop a new mindset, to imbibe new values, and to create a new projection of a better world. And like the Chinese do, practical and applied knowledge or skills should be optimal.

Hg

Just because I pasted the poster below on my story some people are sending me defiant messages made to violate the truism of the assertion. Take it or leave it, truth is truth.

The most myopic of them is the one who said that "a man with only one wife cannot make a good leader as he lacks sense of coordinating multiple views and controlling multiple home issues and judging between love ones". But the govt, the society and the standard of living in the western world is better than other parts of the world, but leaders don't marry two wives - in fact one with two or more wives is never trusted with any public office in most developed world.

I think these responses coming from the point of view of selfishness that keeps Africa underdeveloped. As a saying goes, he that cannot be trusted with one can never be trusted with two; a man who is not satisfied with one wife can never be satisfied with whatever resources or positions he gets. That is why African leaders always wanna stay in power for life, bcoz they are never satisfied with definite term in office; that is why they keep stealing money even though they are paid humongously, bcoz they are never satisfied with what they get; and that is why they keep exercising unconstitutional power bcoz they are never satisfied with the power the constitution gives them.

Charity begins at home. If one wife is not enough for a man in his house, nothing will be enough for him as a leader in his office.

Nigeria's Crises Could Be Worse In Future: Can We As Individuals Be Different?

By Olohy Ejembi


It's no longer a news to talk about the threatening growth of Nigerian population. Nigeria currently has the seventh largest population in the world and it is one of the fastest growing, at the rate of 2.8% per annum. Last year, the country's population was estimated at 200,962,417 and it was producing in excess of 13,000 babies per day. At this current rate and advancement in technology, it is projected that Nigeria will surpass the population of the United States by 2050 to become the third most populous country in the world, next to China and India. In the next 10 years, the population of Nigeria will reach 258 million and she will remain one of the youngest countries in the world with a median age of just 19 years.

With the way Nigeria has been like a dead boby, decaying every day since its Independence, we don't need to ask ourselves whether its government is planning to build an economy that will feed the third largest population by the year 2050, or whether the government is generating jobs that will match the over 13,000 babies per day. In fact, its pettish, sentimental and nepotic politics shall increase overwhelmingly.

Nigeria is resignedly waiting to be grouped among the worlds poorest countries like Haiti and Burundi, because its government is not ready to stem this population explosion or build a better country. The army of budding unemployed population may surpass two-third of the population by then.

Therefore, can we as individuals, on our own, do something to minimize these threatening projections? Can we as individuals improvise a solution that we can promulgate in our families, our private schools, our private organizations, our local communities, etc. to produce a class of well-informed and self-sufficient youths that will build a society which will be better than the projected Nigeria? What judgement will posterity hold about us? Will posterity judge us as people who knew about a worse future and did nothing to change it? Let us try to do something to prepare our children, our families, our colleagues, our communities, etc. against this future that Nigeria is about to enter.

I know that there are people who are not troubled, because they believe that the world will end before then. I hear that around me everyday. But I will like to remind us that this year marks about 1,987th year, beginning after the death of Jesus, that Christians began to mark as the end times, but the world goes on. We recall reading the part of the bible where the Thessalonians stopped farming and planting because they believed that the end had come. Let us do our parts to change the world, instead of resigning for end times, or it will get worse just as it got for the Thessalonians and the end never came in their time.

We should be happier if we can change the world today, even if it will end tomorrow.

THE ROLES OF AN INDIVIDUAL IN BUILDING A FUNCTIONAL AND HAPPY SOCIETY.

BY
OLOHY EJEMBI

Let me start with this: a society is defined by its people, not by its govt. A government is simply an agreement by the people in a society to design an organized system. And for this system to function completely depends on individuals in the society. We should know that stereotype is not an attribute of any government, but the common attribute of individuals in the society. Therefore, whatever our country is, whatever Nigeria is, is what we as individual made it to be.

To say that the current socio-economic outlook in Nigeria is challenging is not a new story. Our fast growing population at nearly 3% and the unenviable position of Nigeria as a country with the highest number of poor people in the world are alarming. In 2018 unemployment rate, according to National Bureau of Statistics, was 23.13%. Alarmingly it has been estimated that by 2050 only Nigeria and Togo would have 40% of all the poor people on earth. This is not a good story at all. It means that more than 2/3 Nigerians will live in poverty; if we are 300m, for example, more than 200m will be poor.

In this reflection, we must take a resolute position now to either remain victims or victors in the nearest future, by realizing that it is our responsibility and opportunity as individual to create the present and the future we want to see. Government is just a mere abstract aspect of the society. We as individuals, are the concrete objects, the rocks of the society that can build a functional, solid and happy society that we desire.

Seriously government is just an abstract system of the society. If you go to Aso Rock you won’t see government, you will only see you and I; if you go to National Assembly you won’t see government, you will only see you and I; if you go to your states and enter the so called Government House, you won’t see government, you will only see you and I; if you go to America you won’t see government, you will only see its citizens; if you go to UK you won’t see government, you will only see its citizens; go to France, go to China, go to Russia, go to Germany, go to any parts of this world, you won’t see any governments anywhere, you will only see their citizens. There are no any governments anywhere; you and I are the government we talk about. So, when it is said that the government of so or so country is good, it simply means that there are good people in that country. It’s only where the people of a country are good that the country can be good. If Nigeria is not a good country then we Nigerians are not good people – we simply don’t do what is good.

That is it! If we do good we shall see good. It is on this background that an American president once told his people that they should not ask what the country could do for them but what they could do for their country. I believe this was the idea Buhari’s first tenor intended to capture in a very simple sentence: “Change begins with you.” Meaning: it’s my responsibility, it’s your responsibility, to build the society we desire to have. And that is very true.

Let me tell us an anecdote. I was born in hamlet. A place where nothing much was heard about government. There were no roads, there were no schools, and there was no healthcare. There were no people that were working with the Local Government, neither with the state government nor with Federal Government. Everybody was a farmer. But there was something interesting about this community. In a literal sense of it, there was no hunger, there was no extreme poverty in any family. Curiosity might have pushed you to ask how already. But this is how it was. Though the people came from different places to reside in this community, if there was any weakling or anyone that was sick among them, the people would cater for him/her by helping the person concerned on his/her farm. They would go to the person’s farmland and cultivate it for him/her – sometimes in an organized manner in group, sometimes individually. In this way, there were no people lacking among them. That is how a good, functional and happy society is built.

That is the way we must treat one another as individuals if we must come out of the present predicament that Nigeria is in and have a prosperous future. Let the strong help the weak. Let the rich enrich the poor. Let those who know how orient the ignorant. Let our leaders, our politicians do politics of grooming and mentoring: politics of grooming that provides followers with opportunities, and politics of mentoring that leaders rise to the challenges of personal example to serve as role models; politics of grooming that motivates all people, in spite of differences, to work together as one, and politics of mentoring that projects the true aspirations of the people.

As Obama told Americans, if there are poor people around us, it should matter to us even if they are not our relatives; if there are people that cannot pay for their healthcare around us, they should be our responsibilities even if they are not in our homes; if there are school-age children around us that are not going to school, it should bother us, and help them to get education even if they are not our children. For the true wealth of a man is not the amount of the resources he has, but the number of the people he helps; and the true security of a man is not the number of armed forces around him, but the number of the people who celebrate him as a good man.

A good man is one who is patriotic.

A good man is one who has sense of responsibility.

A good man is one who has sense of accountability.

A good man is one who rises to the challenges of personal example.

A good man is one who seeks peace and harmony.

A good man is one whose quest is to build a functional and happy society.

Nigeria currently has the seventh largest population in the world and it is one of the fastest growing, at the rate of 2.8% per annum. The countrys population is estimated at 200,962,417 and it is producing in excess of 13,000 babies per day. At this current rate and advancement in technology, it is projected that Nigeria will surpass the population of the United States by 2050 to become the third most populous country in the world. In the next 10 years, the population of Nigeria is supposed to reach 258 million and she will remain one of the youngest countries in the world with a median age of just 19 years.
The questions we need to succinctly ask ourselves are:Is Nigeria planning to build an economy that will feed the third largest population by the year 2050? Is Nigeria generating jobs that will match the over 13,000 babies per day?

If we dont stem this population explosion, we will be waiting to be grouped among the worlds poorest countries like Haiti and Burundi, and the army of budding unemployed population may dwarf Boko Haram.

Join us in the campaign to save Nigeria, Africa and the world as a whole. Join us on Facebook @Initiative for Poverty and Conflict Solutions (African IPACS)
http://www./905389653172458/

The article on the opinion that Atiku deceived PDP and Nigerians to serve as Buhari's proxy in the last election generated many questions from readers. (read the article here https:///P9NzV8eSJ6 and the review here https://www.facebook.com/100000345379051/posts/2265344513487039/?app=fbl) The common question from readers is on why Atiku did so. Well, as Joe Akatu, an ancient singer, says, o'kela j'eyinu ē no ka; man has a reason for saying or doing whatever he does. The plan simply is to make Atiku President in 2023.

1. What Atiku is doing now is to make those who do not understand the game develop sympathy for him, as many have developed already because they think APC rigged the election against him. This false belief which has made them to follow Atiku out of pity will spur many to compensate him in 2023 by voting for him.

2. The Yorubas want d ticket in 2023 and the Igbos want it too, and North will not drag it with them in APC. A Yoruba or an Igbo aspirant will pick it, but like they just did to PDP in picking Peter Obi whom many Igbos did not like as PDP VP, the cabal will help someone whom Yorubas or Igbos will not like to win the primary election. Or they will make sure Igbos and Yorubas quarrel sternly over the ticket. If this happens, many will get angry and vote PDP, Atiku. And we know very well that North will never vote anyone against their brother; so Atiku who will be a Northern candidate in PDP - which North will make sure he is - will be voted

I have written earlier that North still want to be President in 2023, and the grand plan is to win with Atiku. The cabal will make sure they do everything that will make us think that they're frustrating Atiku - they will make Atiku seem to many as a perpetual enemy of the cabal. There will be many deceits and distractions intended to make Nigerians follow Atiku out pity.

By this, Atiku is a goal in 2023.

#Olohy Ejembi

A TRIBUTE TO CHINUA ACHEBE
The Nigerian problems that you, oh Achebe, were so worried about, yet expressed with optimism, are now worst than ever before.

Nigerian leaders are still unwilling to rise to responsibility and to personal example. In fact they are now very proud of their poverty of leadership.

The tribalism that you lamented so much about is now decorated and sulted with a much more danger: religion with its concomitant descriminations and divides.

You belived that Nigeria was a country. But did you know? Its leaders don't believe that it is a country at all. They never govern it as a country is governed. They are now extremely parochial and selfish; patriotism is a taboo in Nigeria.

You lamented that "indiscipline pervades our life so completely....that one may be justified in calling it the condition par excellence of...Nigerian society". Of course, now it is the excellent lifestyle in Nigeria; discipline is nowadays seen as a sign of weakness.

Now the country you left behind is not just corrupt, but fantastically corrupt. However, if one dare say that Nigeria is corrupt he will be either called a fool or someone without faith; unlike in your days when you blatantly said that "anybody who can say that corruption in Nigeria has not yet become alarming is either a fool, a crook or else does not live in this country", no one tolerates such critical statement nowadays in Nigeria. Citizens have accepted corruption as a part of Nigerian heritage so much that anyone who speaks against corruption in Nigeria is seen as someone who is psychologically corrupt instead.

You knew how we portayed "false image of ourselves" in Nigeria. in fact, that has entered another worrisome stage. It is one of the most acceptable characteristics one must possess to be taken seriously in this country. No criticism is welcomed even by 'ordinay Nigerians'; they tell you to pretend that all is well, and accept everything in faith in the name of "remain positive, prayerful and put faith in your country, and never criticize your country."

We miss you, oh Achebe! Last Thurday marked the sixth year you left us, and now Nigeria is a "shithole country". The country has failed two fold than it ever did in your generation. And now everybody has joined in dancing to the new deplomatic song by the West titled "Political Correctness". Could you imagine that the Wole Soyinka whom you so much respected was seen dancing eulogically to the rhythm of an incompetent leadership because of "June 12" (a trivial thing that does not contribute anything to national development)?

Achebe, we want you to come back to tell Nigerians as you did before that "Nigeria is not a great country. It is one of the most disorderly nations in the world. It is one of the most corrupt , insensitive, inefficient places under the sun....one of those that give least value for money. It is dirty, callous, noisy, ostentatious, dishonest and vulgar. In short, it is among the most unpleasant places on earth."

Please, come back, prophet Achebe and tell Nigerians more about their shameless and callous ineptitude!

By
Olohy Ejembi
ej.olohiuj@gmail.com

08

have u read Atiku's petition? full of inconsistencies and so many issues that have never created any effects in d past. The writer of d article was Atiku's supporter until after the election when he realized that Atiku fooled Nigerians

*THE CONSPIRATORIAL POLITICS AND THE BETRAYER OF PATRIOTISM: WHAT PDP AND NIGERIANS DO NOT KNOW ABOUT ATIKU*

When Nigerians were campaigning against Atiku that he would sell the country, they never knew that he had sold Nigeria already; it was just a medicine after death. Up until now, many Nigerians live with the illusion that Atiku lost because of their votes against him. In fact, Buhari's die-hearts were burning Atiku's posters after the announcement of the election result. In spite of the obvious rigging there are people that are happy about it going that far because they never wanted Atiku to win. They do not know that Atiku did not come this time to win the election but to protect Buhari’s interest. Atiku only deceived Nigerians by moving to PDP to pick the Presidential ticket by all means so that he could prevent any other person who could be a strong opponent from contesting against Buhari. I know this does not make any sense to you, does it?

Seriously, he is just a Buhari’s proxy in PDP. You maybe thinking at this point that "but Atiku has been contesting". I have not said that he has not been contesting. And who knows if Buhari has been using him as distraction, or to reduce his opponent’s votes because Buhari’s supporters are those that will never vote any other person unless Buhari is not contesting. The proceeding paragraphs substantiate why Atiku is no more than Buhari’s proxy.

First and foremost, let me remind us the roles Atiku played in Buhari's election in 2015. It was reported that Atiku made gargantuan contributions to Buhari’s campaign in 2015. Hence he must have a link with the “cabal”. It was said that he gave huge amount of money to Buhari for his campaign, and it is on record that Atiku’s media asset was transferred to the campaign. The Director of Media, APC Presidential Campaign Council then, Malam Garba Shehu, was handed over to the party campaign team from Atiku Media office, and the deputy director of Atiku media team Mr Paul Ibe was also part of APC media team plus other key members of Atiku’s group. In politics as it were, Atiku’s role in Buhari’s election in 2015 would mean that he has a very big share in Buhari’s administration. So, he wouldn’t leave Buhari that early to contest against him. We are suspecting that there could be a plan to handover to him in 2023 as compensation.

Second, recall the amount Atiku spent just to win the PDP primary election. He never spent half of what he spent in the primary election for the general election. That was deliberate. Since their aim was just to prevent anyone who could become tough opponent against Buhari, the “cabal” released humongous hard currency for Atiku to use and entice selfish delegates to vote him. After winning the primary election, PDP never saw any money close to that again from Atiku for the general election. The excuse that was coming from people was that “He is afraid of spending because Buhari may send EFCC after him”. Why didn’t they send EFCC after him when he displayed an unprecedented amount of money in hard currency during the primary election? They just did not know that Atiku finished his job at the primary election venue.

Third, did we know why Peter Obi was their best choice as Atiku’s running mate? The greatest quest of a ruling party is to destabilize oppositions. That was exactly what they succeeded in doing to the Igbo PDP elites when they chose Obi. They knew that brother Peter’s style of politics pukes many Igbo politicians so much that they will never agree with the choice of him. So, when Igbos were saying that Atiku never consulted them before picking Obi, they were just displaying naiveté as that was calculated by Buhari’s strategists. Peter’s choice was made towards disunity among the Igbos, and it succeeded in doing so.

Lastly, let us look at the core campaign promises by Atiku: Restructuring and Privatization. Apart from these two promises, Atiku did not say anything further in his campaign than the Mumbo-Jumbo about jobs creation. It was Peter that was busy adding shadows to the existing darkness in his quest to tell Nigerians that he knows the game to make the economy better. He did not know that Atiku only chose him in order to tear PDP apart in Igbo land. The restructuring proposed by Atiku was a mere wishy washy. There is no Northerner, even an Almajiri that will agree to restructure Nigeria not to talk of Atiku who controls national resources in the name of Dangote and others all over Nigeria. And his promise to privatize NNPC was a kind of testing Nigerians to hear what they would say so that, if the reactions are positive, they (the cabal) would begin plans towards privatizing it by selling it to Atiku’s boy, Dangote. This made many naïve Nigerians to campaign against Atiku that he would sell Nigeria, whereas he had sold Nigeria already to Buhari and his cabal before then.

As it were, deceit protects deceit. Whatever we hear now, whether about Atiku going to court or Northern elders/leaders begging Atiku to bury the hatchet for the progress of the country or Buhari's threat to arrest Atiku and his supporters, etc, is just a cover up. It is because of this kind of deception that made Abba Moro, former Minister of Interior, and now the Senator-elect for Zone C of Benue State Senatorial District, to say that peripatetic politicians should not be given appointments and party leadership not to talk of party tickets. He called them “food is ready politicians”, and they are actually ready to do anything for selfish reasons. Most of them, whenever they move from one party to another, incite problems in the party, because many of them are paid agents sent in by the ruing party to destroy the structure of oppositions. This is exactly what Atiku represents in PDP, but I know that many will doubt it.

Today, world over, leadership is failing. According to The Global Risks Report 2018, “This generation enjoys unprecedented technology, scientific and financial resources….and yet this is perhaps the first generation to take the world to the brink of system breakdown” politically, economically and environmentally. This failure or breakdown is fueled by the rich. They keep destroying the economy because while the poor get poorer the rich get richer. As reported by Oxfam International, “our broken economies are funneling wealth to the rich elite at the expense of the poorest in the society”. Hence, Atiku who enjoys great benefits from this kind of condition can do anything that will deteriorate Nigerian government and economy beyond repair. The more Nigeria fails the greater people like Atiku becomes, therefore, he is very satisfied with Buhari's incompetency.
By OLOHY EJEMBI
ej.olohiuj @gmail.com