I remember April 22 1990 vividly. I was set for church service with members of my family on that Sunday morning when a friend called; he wanted me to tune to my radio as there was a coup in the country.
I tuned on my radio but what I heard was no coup speech. Even with my limited understanding of Nigeria, I came to the conclusion that this was nothing but a declaration of war! What to do in far away Yola with my little children? I sought divine intervention, pretended there was nothing a miss, dropped my family in the church and sped off.
At the Governor’s residence in Yola, I met the Military Governor, Group Captain Salihu Abubakar and some other top government officials discussing the strange developments. The military chaps present with our governor knew the officer making the declaration of war. They gave sketchy details of his career and expressed surprise at his rather bizarre action.
I also knew him. Gideon Orkar was the young lad we called Gwaza when we attended Apir Primary School together. His father, Mr. Orkar Chi was from Yaikyo village and our teacher at the Primary School. Gwaza went to Gindiri while I went to Bristow, schools that were run by American Missionaries. His senior brother, John Ngusha Orkar was a Phd student in America at the time and the missionaries sent him to teach our class at Bristow African history.
As I listened to Gwaza’s long, winding, senseless speech, I kept asking myself what could have turned my childhood friend into such a bad boy. Is it the injection we were told they administer on soldiers that turned his head?
His father was a God fearing and peaceful man-same with John, the historian. How could a child from such a Godly background declare war on his country, just like that?
Gideon Orkar was a Tiv man from the middle belt of Nigeria. His rambling declaration of war in Nigeria tried to advocate a case for the middle belt and the south. He was obviously trying to cash on the good will of the middle belt struggle of the late fifties and early 60’s. But he got it all wrong.
The middle belt struggle which was led by JS Tarka, a Tiv man did not call for dismemberment of Nigeria. The British charged him to court for ‘levying war against the Queen of England’ – the first and the last Nigerian to be so charged – but the charge could not hold. The call for a middle belt state was rational, patriotic and popular because the old north was too large and unwieldy as an administrative unit. In fact it dwarfed the other two regions put together thus making the federation lopsided and unsteady.
The decision by Orkar and his group to expel Sokoto, Borno, Katsina, Kano and Bauchi, states that have a predominant Muslim population from the Federal Republic of Nigeria was an indication that the coup was against Islam. On the other hand, the middle belt struggle of Tarka accommodated Muslims. In fact, when Ibrahim Imam, a Muslim and radical politician from Borno could not contest elections in his home state, Tarka brought him to Benue, gave him a Tiv name and a constituency where he contested and won. My big brother and friend in my Yola days, Ibrahim Jalingo, a Muslim, was National Secretary of the UMBC. No, the middle belt struggle of Tarka and the Tiv was not a struggle against Islam. It was a struggle for the fundamental human rights of all oppressed people of the north – Christians and Muslims.
If Orkar’s declaration of war on Nigeria was against the tenets of his family and his ethnic group, where did he get the poisonous idea? A few days after the failure of the coup, the names of the other coup makers were published. One name there – Col Nyam – caught my attention. I thought he was a Tiv man as Nyam means meat in the Tiv language. But he turned out to be a man from Cross River State. When he got wind of the imminent failure of the coup, he took to his heels and fled. I understand Gwaza had a chance to tow that line of cowardice but decided to face the music.
Col Nyam has never regretted the havoc he and his group caused the corporate existence of Nigeria by their lunacy of April 22 1990. From his exile, he kept rationalizing and even justifying the insanity of April 22.
On his return to Nigeria after state pardon, he has neither renounced the madness nor apologized to those who were unfairly murdered by his group. I understand he made peace with General Babangida whose bedroom he invaded that night and nearly killed the man and his lovable wife. If Babangida has forgiven him, that is their own problem. The man has been overwhelmed by his name that is literally translated to mean a man with a big heart.
Some of us who have no other country to run to and have no big hearts still have one or two issues with Col. Nyam and his promoters. Does he believe that this country is for all of us, Muslims, Christians, believers in various African traditional religions?
From all his pronouncements in exile and return to Nigeria, he appears not to give a damn about Nigeria as one country.
If he does not believe in Nigeria, why did President Goodluck Jonathan put him on a panel to discuss the future of Nigeria? And having watched him trying to engage Comrade Adams Oshiomole in a boxing bout in public, what stopped the President from giving him the sack?
Did the bad boy let the cat out of the bag, perhaps too soon?

Let me start by saying that the title of this contribution is not mine. It is the title of a chapter in the book “Eye Witness to Power” written by Professor David Gergen. Certainly if you watch CNN and perhaps other American networks, Professor David Gergen may not be new to you. He is one of the leading pundits on American politics. So what is interesting about this gentleman? Well he is basically what in countries like Nigeria would be called AGIP (any government in power), but perhaps, David Gergen is not the typical AGIP, as his approach to politics may be different from what we know in other countries.
I came across the book under discussion in 2008 during a conference in Boston, organized by the American Political Science Association (APSA).
After purchasing the book, I met a former Nigerian minister at the house of a friend, who by coincidence was pursuing a postgraduate degree at Harvard University, and was taught by Professor Gergen. After a brief discussion about the book, while enjoying the hospitality of our host, who provided a superb tuwon shinkafa and miyar taushe  (pounded rice and vegetable soup), which even as a Bakano (someone from Kano), I must confess that I enjoyed the delicious food provided by our host from Zaria, whose house has become an assembly point for Nigerians in Boston.
The former minister said that “Eye Witness to Power” is a must read for everyone trying to understand the challenges of leadership. I couldn’t wait longer to finish the book. I do not necessarily agree with everything that Professor Gergen said in the book, especially his comparison of Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan. But the meat of the book is in the last chapter which is the subject of this article.
David Gergen had the opportunity to serve four American Presidents: Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Regan and Bill Clinton as an adviser. After retiring from government, he took a Professorial Chair at Harvard University’s school of Government. Part of his contribution was to write this book which essentially is a summary of his experience in the White House. The last chapter of the book, “Seven lessons of leadership” is his thesis on the qualities a leader should possess, and the lessons to learn from the hassles of leadership, if the leader is to be successful, based on what he observed from the four leaders he served.
I chose this topic because of the politicking one is seeing in different African countries. Since many, if not most African leaders are products of Western educational system. It is perhaps important to remind them about their role and responsibility using the language they understand and the countries they look up to.
The first leadership lesson of leadership according to Professor Gergen is that “leadership starts from within.”
From what Professor Gergen observes, a leader should understand himself first. According to him one thing he observes is that American Presidents are well read, and “politically savy” yet those of them who failed were the architects of their downfall.
“The inner soul of a president flows into every aspect of his leadership far more than is generally recognised” said Professor Gergen.
“His passions in life usually form the basis for his central mission in office”, he added.
Here it is interesting to note that the personal characteristic of a leader stems from his character, upbringing and interest. One question I would like to ask is whether political parties, and other stakeholders consider the passion of a politician before giving him the chance to lead people?
Of course I can be academic here looking at the reality in African nations, but that does not take away the relevance of the question, because inadvertently, the interest of the leader and his passion in life would have bearing consequences in the way he leads.I found one example cited by Gergen about Bill Clinton. He stated that despite what Gergen described as “the flows in his character,” Bill Clinton is well read, and during meetings, he normally makes reference to issues he reads about countries, his travels and the rest, which sometimes can checkmate advisers who would like to mislead the leader.
So use your judgement to weigh the consequences of having a leader who is not well read, and does not understand the world we live in. The example of Bill Clinton’s successor is still fresh in the memory of the world. One interesting issue mentioned by Gergen at the end of the first quality of leadership is that “No one can succeed in today’s politics unless he or she is prepared to fall on a sword in a good cause.”
To be continued
(Views expressed in this and other opinion articles are strictly personal)

As much as one would like to detach oneself from comments on Nigeria politics, it would amount to self censor for one to see a clear danger being nurtured and promoted by the self-acclaimed largest political party in Africa and the ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and remaining silence or sitting on the fence.
It is no longer news that PDP went asunder, dividing into two on the day it held its special national convention a couple of months ago.
Of course, talking about the circumstances that led to such balkernisation would amount to belabouring the issue, but the obvious resort to lampooning the nation’s judiciary in any form portends danger which the party itself cannot run away from.
Of course, for the purpose of this piece, when one talks about PDP, one is referring to Bamanga Tukur led PDP.
Tukur and members of his National Working Committee (NWC) went to town with celebration the day a court of competent jurisdiction declared that his faction was the genuine PDP.
Two scenario played out from the point the court affirmed the authenticity of Tukur PDP and yesterday, Monday’s announced suspension of Baraje and some members of the new PDP from the party.
The first scenario was when the court delivered a judgment affirming that Tukur is the authentic national chairman of the PDP. From the moment that court declaration was made, the Tukur PDP would not want to hear of any gathering of anybody, including the G7 governors anywhere on the Nigerian soil. Police men were used to even enter the confined sitting room of one of the governors were a meeting was being held, to stop the meeting. All that happened in spite of the constitutional provision that allows for freedom of association and gathering among others. And the fact that the governors were not in any way disrupting any public peace!
To Bamanga Tukur, harassing even governors in the name of court ruling, a few hours after such ruling was made was perfectly in order.
The second scenario came as an opposite of the first and it tested the maturity of the Bamanga Tukur leadership. That was another court ruling that reinstated Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who was part of the break-away PDP, as national secretary of the mainstream PDP, i.e. Tukur led PDP.
Since the judgment was delivered by the appeal court, Tukur PDP has been restless and ruthless. While his leadership went swiftly to implement the first court ruling that favoured his side, he went gaga and dares even the court which asked that the sacked Oyinlola should be returned to his post as national secretary.
Besides turning the running of the party into a kind of master-servant relationship or a large private corporation (where he is the chief executive handing down disciplinary measures on the ‘bloody’ subordinates’), Bamanga Tukur has finally shown his lack of decorum and respect for the views of others, even the court.
It is even laughable that the PDP suspended Oyinlola who in civilized democracy, where the rule of law and court ruling is respected, should be back in his office, even if supreme court later rules that he should remain sacked as secretary.
It is ridiculous for a person to be suspended from the party to which a competent court of the land has, currently, legally asked to be its national secretary, and when there is not yet a move by the party leadership to respect such court ruling.
Is it a case of choosing which court ruling that should be respected and implemented with gusto and which one to reject with impunity and contempt? Where would that kind of impunity lead Nigeria as a nation to?

In the midst of the unsavoury debate over the rightfulness of a six month’s extension of emergency rule on Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States, I hope the government is listening to Governor Ibrahim Geidam’s mantra for curbing the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East.

Nigerians of various hue, including parliamentarians who gave a go-ahead for the extension of the emergency rule have been asking the question over and over again if this rule had provided the answer for violence. We are daily witnessing acts of violence involving robbery, decoitry, kidnapping, and murder everywhere. In the North and other parts of the country, people are amassing illicit arms and ammunition. The forces of hate and violence are becoming more and more entrenched, almost becoming impenetrable to the security force. With the deadly onslaught of Boko Haram particularly in Borno and Yobe, Nigerians have every reason to be skeptical about the strategies in place for curbing insurgency and crime.

Until it chose a nationalistic approach to the problem, the administration at the centre had dismissed suggestions of security lapses out of hand, and pushed conspiracy theories against political opponents in the North. Things have now eased up a great deal. The government no longer jumped the gun with name-calling before it became clear who is to blame for incidents of terror. May be they have begun to put national interest first.

News Agency of Nigeria quoted a member of the House of Representatives, Honourable Goni Haruna, (APC, Yobe) decrying the six months extension, saying “100 percent of the state, including myself and the Governor (Ibrahim Geidam), say no to the extension of emergency rule in the state”.

He said since the emergency rule was declared, the people of the state had come under severe attacks by the Boko Haram group.

He further stated that the state had been unable to provide the dividends of democracy to its people because much of the resources available to the government was being spent providing security.

The Governor in his reaction asserted that it was not the extension of emergency rule that would end insurgency but a full-throttled army push to quell the Boko Haram. To do other than this, he said, would amount to “motion without movement”.

In the opinion of the Governor, members of the insurgent group were in possession of superior weapons than the army. He then advised that “the Federal Government must provide high caliber arms and weapons to succeed in the fight against terrorism. Until the country’s security outfit is fully equipped with more superior arms, equipment and reinforced manpower, we may have slim chances of winning the fight against terrorism.”

This is a new and dramatic turn in the entire debate. It brings to the fore, the issue of the responsibility of leaders to the armed personnel they send to fight for the country. In this war against insurgency, what is often forgotten is the thousands of men (and women) who gave up, and are still giving up their lives to see Nigeria is united and safe. It is to this issue that Gov. Geidam spoke. His was a clever speech that resonated will with many in the region.

Politics in Nigeria can get tweaked and twisted and this happens all the time. But no right-thinking government can risk a situation in which its army is the under-dog in this kind of war. Army’s reputation for their ability to restore law and order whenever the police fails continues to take a big hit in, not only the North-East but in North Central States of Plateau and Benue. No national army wants to be the under-dog in this kind of situation and our leaders must act to reverse this.

Having noted this, it is important that the engagement with the insurgents is not reduced to the level of bullets and guns alone, as many have repeatedly said. Even after making much hue and cry about human rights violations, civil society groups and most of the citizens do appreciate the good work of the security agencies. There is no known method yet, by which heavily-armed insurgents can be contained without a resort to arms even in situations of self-defence. But beyond this, government policies should begin with honest intentions to aim at changing the lives of the poor inhabitants of these strife-torn areas. As everyone agrees, poverty lies at the heart of all the violence. In addition to the creation of job opportunities, education and socio-economic empowerment, government should start taking the right messages to the people.

Do poor Muslims want to fight poor Christians or fight poverty? Do poor Beroms want to fight poor Fulanis or fight poverty? With civic education using radio, classrooms, churches and mosques, political and other social gatherings, poor Nigerians will come to know that the battle we have to fight is to become richer, not to shoot at or slit one another’s throat.

At the time General Yakubu Gowon was overthrown in 1975, the most glaring evidence that he had lost control was the choking congestion at almost all Nigerian sea ports. Then, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, (the same PDP man of today) was the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Ports Authority.

The government had ordered more cement than the facilities at the ports could cope and as ship after ship kept coming without discharging its cargo, everywhere was blocked and other essential imports suffered. Nigeria was gradually coming to a halt.

Gowon complained loudly after his overthrow that he imported the cement on expert’s advice and it was unkind of Nigerians to hold him responsible for the mess. General Gowon never named the experts who advised him to flood the ports with cement but I am sure the culprits know themselves.

The problem with the President today is that he is resistant to fresh good advice. He is stuck with old ways and as the time worn saying goes – ‘those who refuse to learn from history are bound to repeat its mistake’.

The PDP has invented a novel formula of sharing public office. From the Presidency down to the office messenger, everything is done by allocation. This narrowly defined theory gives no room for health, competence, comportment and relevant experience for the beneficiary of the job at hand.

Not too long ago, the party allocated the Presidency to the north and it ended up in the bosom of a very sick man. Tragically, he died in office before the time allocated to his region was up. The north hoped that the southerner who held brief for him would follow the allocation formula and step aside. But believing in his goodluck, the man stayed put.

But for President Goodluck Jonathan, his legendary good luck does not appear to translate into good luck with his men and even women. After he won the 2011 presidential poll, he decided to set up his party structures. Everybody knows that even though he denied during his jockeying for the office of President that the PDP had an allocation formula for public office, he stamped his foot down that the chairman of the party was for the north. Coming to the north, he specifically insisted on allocating the office to Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.

Some of us saw wisdom in this allocation. Bamanga came around with a rich cv. Not only did he serve at the ports with a string of achievements, he had a vibrant three month stint as a governor; he was once a viable presidential aspirant, a cabinet minister at the federal level and an international business man. We saw in him the capacity to turn the PDP around from what one of his predecessors described as “a rally” to a vehicle for mass mobilization. We even predicted that he could bridge the yawning gap between the president and the north. Whether he has been able to achieve all the lofty ideals that those of us who support him said he would is left for the public to see. Personally, going by what I see happening in the PDP today and President Jonathan’s ranking with elite politicians in the north, I feel the Bamanga whom I served in the good old days of Gongola has discredited my credentials as a columnist and political pundit.

Even then, given Bamanga’s credentials, the president was right in his hope that the chairman would stabilize the polity so that we could share some fresh air with him. Things did not work out as we thought. Still, the president clings on to Bamanga – his man.

In certain cases however, the president inflicts injury on himself by allocating jobs to the wrong persons. Some weeks ago, the chairman, national Population Commission, Chief Festus Odimegwu resigned. That to me is not the news. The news is that given Odimegwu’s background, the president went ahead to allocate the job of national head count to this man. He had a first class degree. That is true. He distinguished himself as a brewer of intoxicating alcohol. That is true.

Nothing of this man’s background prepared him for the census chairmanship which is a high tension political office in Nigeria. In fact, his only national political act in life was to plunge his alcohol company in the campaign to change Nigeria’s constitution to ensure that Obasanjo became Nigeria’s permanent President. The company realized the danger in this gamble and shoved him aside.

The danger for Jonathan is that by the time Odimegwu left office as Chairman of the census commission, he gave many politicians in the north the impression that he was employed by Jonathan to wipe out whatever advantage the north has in the polity. He was the President’s man.

And then you cast your mind back to the late Gen Azazi. This is the General who was in command in Kaduna when the armoury of the Nigerian army there was burgled and the arms taken to Niger Delta militants who were waging a ferocious war against the Nigerian army. There was a security report to President Yar adua implicating him in the treasonable act. Yar adua retired him quietly but on his death, Jonathan appointed him National Security Adviser. How could a man with such a track record be relied upon when it comes to national security issues?

But it is not just his men that are heavy baggage to carry. When it comes to women, the President likes them rough. For example, what the hell is Stella Uduah doing with two expensive bullet proof cars? Is she on her way to war torn Damascus? Even Saul had a change of mind and name on his way to Damascus. He graduated from Saul to Paul. As a good Christian, Stella should confess her sins so that she will be forgiven.

After the disastrous House first public hearing by the House Committee, it is a surprise that instead of firing the liar, the President even took her to the holy land! From what transpired on that day, it is clear that the Minister breached all the laws in her bid to have the two cars.

Stella and some of the President’s men have served their principal very poorly. They are making him very unpopular. The President himself is not helping himself by keeping them on board.

In 1975, Gowon lost power because of developments on the high seas. In 2015, another man may lose power because of the happenings in the air.
(Views expressed in this and other opinion articles are strictly personal)

The controversy surrounding the purchase of bullet-proof cars by Aviation Ministry parastatals will be useless if at the end of it lessons are not drawn for the future.
In fairness to the government minister in the middle of it, Mrs Stella Oduah is not the first, nor the only one throwing her weight around, asking heads of MDAs under her to buy this or that thing. All ministers order the chiefs under them to buy them cars, maintain their homes and offices and at other times provide air tickets and foreign exchange whenever the need for foreign travel arose. Those who don’t do this must be ministers who preside over MDAs that are non-lucrative. But cash liquidity is feature aviation and transport parastatals.
The question then to ask is, is it right that they are doing this? The answer is absolutely “No!”
Those chiefs know that they are doing wrong things; they are in fact jail-able in accountable situations, yet they can’t resist the ministers because they live in constant fear of being fired. If you as chief won’t  oblige, there are many willing subordinates to show that with you out of way, they are ready to do the minister’s bidding 100 percent.
The epidemic nature of the malfeasance however notwithstanding, you will still find a few chiefs, here and there, who are ready to say “No” to the minister and damn all consequences.
More than 20 years ago, the Sunday Triumph which I edited at that time did a story on a heroic chief who fought his minister and won. The Minister of Mines and Power whose name I will not mention summoned Engineer (Alhaji) Hamman Tukur who was under him, serving as the General Manager of the defunct National Electrip Power Authority, NEPA and asked that cars be bought for him.
Tukur responded on the spot, asking the minister to name the sub-head ( meaning  which budgetary provision) under which the money would be obtained. The minister was furious. He did not expect a parastatals head under him would show such “impudence.” He looked at Tukur and asked him to retrace but the GM was adamant.
He looked at him again and said “is this the stubbornness or arrogance for which the Fulani are known?” Tukur, unmoved by this blackmail retorted that this was nonsense, asking the minister in return whether his tribe or ethnic group had been licensed by Allah, their maker to steal what belonged to the public. End of discussion!
Back in the Ministry, the minister embarked on a course of action to discipline the “errant” GM of NEPA.
The permanent secretary fired a query, delivered through the Director of Power. Now at this point, Providence decided to make an entry into the matter. As I try to recollect the story as told by the Sunday Triumph in an article headlined “WHEN THE WHEELS OF GOD TURN AGAINST INJUSTICE..”, Armageddon was let loose on the management of the Ministry of Power and Steel.
First, it was the Permanent Secretary. He suffered a major stroke and was rushed out of office and the country for urgent treatment.
The Director of Power in reality was no more than a go-between, conveying the minister’s angry words to the GM. He nevertheless had his own share.
In an attempt to cross the street to buy either bread or oranges, his wife was hit by a vehicle and died as a consequence.
The bullying minister had a plane crash barely a few days after this confrontation. He broke an arm and a leg when the small aircraft chartered to take him to Kaduna crashed on landing at the airport.
The big masquerade hiding behind the Minister in all of these going on, the Secretary to the Government, SGF at that time soon thereafter  had a ghastly motor accident between the airport in Kaduna and the township. He was fractured in five different parts of his body.
By this time, fear had gripped the entire government. But as Tukur said in a reaction, he had no hidden or secret power to use against anyone but the he knew that God or Allah was always on the side of the oppressed.
The story as told at that time was that the President, General Babangida, whose sense of humor no one could beat at any time called for a fence-mending meeting with Engineer Tukur.
The GM was then offered a year-long break to further his education at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, NIPSS.
When he finished and returned to take over at NEPA, he was promoted to the post of Permanent Secretary, PS in the ministry.
Thereafter, he became the PS in Petroleum before he voluntarily retired.
Engineer Tukur belonged to a generation that had painstakingly laid the foundation of this federation. They opposed greed and theft. They believed that it was wrong for public officers to serve narrow ends as has become the norm these days.
From the cavalier and disinterested manner in which the Minister Oduah’s case is being handled by the government, it is clear that there is a disconnect between the administration and vocal segments of the society that inform public opinion.
Similarly, all that we are seeing in the parliament by way of inquisition may not be to provide solutions or sensible lessons to meet the  challenges but to promote drama and income for a few.
As a people and a country, Nigerians have themselves not displayed the kind of resolve required to make for the change that would pass on the country’s leadership to selfless and patriotic persons.
Today, if Engineer Tukur, Gen. Murtala Muhammed, Ahmadu Bello, the Sardaunan Sokoto, Prime Minister Balewa, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr Azikiwe and individuals like them would dare to contest elections, they will not win any vote. Nigerian people mostly vote for GARRI.
In an ideal situation, Ministers caught in the on-going situation concerning the bullet-proof cars should have since resigned their position to limit the damage to their career as politicians and the government in which they  serve. Minister Oduah has no legacy anymore in that ministry. The success she claims to have achieved reforming the aviation industry has since been erased from the memory of the public by the on-going crisis. All they remember and talk about her is bullet-proof cars.
Officials like Hamman Tukur entered the public service to give something to the nation. They had commitment and they had character. That was why some of them could look at the face of a wrong-doing minister and say “no!”
Politics has now made public office a gate pass to money and power. Even in the parliament, the temple of democracy, a Senator stood there to announce that there were robbers and criminals in its membership. It is however known that he was forced later to recant.
Every country needs a committed set of people, a sense of purpose and pride. That is why small countries such as Japan, Singapore, Israel and United Arab Emirates have achieved national development. Nigeria has to put its leadership  beyond the hegemony of thieves masquerading as reformers. And to do this, political parties should search for potential Ahmadu Bellos, Ziks, Awos, Balewas-leaders who think, not of themselves alone but of the larger society.
Let this be an important outcome of the BULLET-PROOF BMW cars.
(Views expressed in this and other opinion articles are strictly personal)

Last week, the World Islamic Economic Forum in London, the first time such Forum took place outside the Muslim World, showcased how Islamic financing is growing around the world. According to the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, Islamic finance is growing fifty percent faster than conventional financing. Of course, more need to be done to strengthening what is gradually appearing to be an alternative to the conventional model.
But of more interesting from the speeches of different world leaders was a statement from the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr Nawaz Sheriff. Mr Sheriff who lamented the state of the Muslim world, and how far the Muslim world is left behind. He showed what needed to be done to revive its hitherto compelling spirit, which greatly contributed in scientific and technological advancement of the world.
According to the speech by Mr Sheriff, in the middle ages, Muslim scientists produced ninety percent of the literature the world over, yet at the moment, Muslim scientists produced just one percent.
The message of Mr Sheriff was clear, for the Muslim world to regain its position globally; it has to revert to what made it to be ahead of its contemporaries in the past.
Just a quick look at the list of Muslim scientists and their inventions as listed by the website
www.famousscientists.org, you would see the likes of Abu Nasr Al-Farabi, known as  Alpharabius, Albattani known as Albatenius, a famous mathematician and astronomer, Ibn Sina or Avesina famous for his contribution to medicine and philiosphy, Ibn Battuta, Ibn Rushd also called Averroes, Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khawarazimi, famous for the invention of Arabic numerals and Algebra, Omar Alkhayyam, Abubakar Alrazi “considered one of the greatest physicians in history” according to the famous scientists website; Jabir ibn Alhayyan “the father of Arab chemistry known for his highly influential works on alchemy and metallurgy,” Ibn Ishaq Alkindi, also called Alkindus “who is known as the first of the Muslim peripatetic philosophers.” Ibn Alhaytham (Alhazen), “Arab astronomer and mathematician known for his important contributions to the principles of optics and the use of scientific experiments.”
The remaining scientists include Ibn Zhur (Avezoar) “Arab physician and surgeon, known for his influential book.
Al-Taisir Fil-Mudawat Wal-Tadbeer (Book of Simplification Concerning Therapeutics and Diet),” Ibn Khaldun, a historian, sociologist and economist and the author of Muqaddima, an important work thought to have influenced the work of later Western philosophers like Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber and Herbert Spencer, and Ibn Albaitar “botanist and physician who systematically recorded the discoveries made by Islamic physicians in the Middle Ages.”
These are just a selection of the famous Muslim scientists who contributed to the development of science and technology that is sometimes ignored or even assumed such contribution never existed. It does not even include such giants like Imam Attabari, who is both a scholar of Tafseer (Quranic exegesis) and a medical doctor, or the likes of Imam Al-Ghazali whose contribution would make you hide your face in shame when you see what some of our universities are producing as professors.
But this is the past; we have to think about the present. The Muslim world does not lack the people who will conduct research and regain the glory of the civilization that was once the leading light of the world. What the Muslim world lacks are the institutions that support the development of these scientists to produce the knowledge that our world will continue to desire.
The Muslim scientists of the past were successful because of the support they received fr om the State and through philanthropists who understood that for a civilization to stand on its feet, it has to be mounted on the pedestal of knowledge. Research has shown that the Muslim world led the way in the past, because of how endowment funds (Awqaaf) and other philanthropic activities supported people to study and produce the best literature without worrying about the hassles of life, which may take away their attention.

In fact, other civilizations learned about the institution of Waqf fro m the Muslim world, a point that was made clearly by Tim Wallace-Murphy in his book:

“What Islam Did for Us: Understanding Islam’s Contribution to Western Civilization.” Wallace-Murphy explained how the West learned f rom the Muslim world on how to establish these endowment funds, a factor that critically contributed in the development of institutions like Oxford and Cambridge.

Unfortunately, the institution of  Waqf has been neglected or at best thrown to the background in the Muslim world, and reviving it, and making it to function in line with current challenges will contribute greatly in producing the Muslim scientists that can bring back the lost glory of the Muslim world.

(Views expressed in this and other opinion articles are strictly personal)

The recent formation of Nigerian Online Publishers’ Association (NOPA) in Lagos came at the right time when mushroom online publishers with jaundice knowledge of journalism are springing up daily, thanks to access to the modern communication technology, even by nincompoops.
As a matter of fact, at no time the popular communication dictum which says, “Comments are free” comes into play than now, especially as the society is not only free but reels in democracy.
The world has moved so fast and close-knitted that the instruments for the dissemination of information are at the fingertips of every other person.
All that is required by anyone to publish news and news items now is adequate knowledge of internet technology. In other words, many people, especially, highly mobile and bubbling youths who have acquired ITC knowledge from universities and other tertiary institutions, have suddenly found online publishing both lucrative and fun, and in some cases, an opportunity to do mischief.
One central truth that runs across this class of young energetic people is the fact that they know nothing about journalism and its tenets. It doesn’t matter that Journalism is regarded as an open, all-comers profession; some form of decorum need not be sacrificed at the altar of the openness.
These are the emerging publishers who mainly copy or lift stories and other news items from newspapers or professional editors running the same online and slam them on their sites. Indeed, it is common now to read, word-for-word from such junks, news items already published either in newspapers or professional online media. They don’t even know what is called editing or re-writing, to give new flavour to the news items so copied or lifted.
Even though the chairman of newly formed NOPA, Malachy Agbo, Publisher of The Citizen was frank to admit that the Association has no power to sanction erring publishers, but there is no running away from the advice of President of the Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE), Femi Adesina that poor editing and disregard for journalism ethics should be discouraged in this new journalism technology.
If this category of junk journalists or online publishers is bad, the ones that do not have regard for truth, accuracy and balance as well as the ones that come out daily with poor, third-rate English, even among the ones published by some lazy Journalists, would be regarded as laughable.
While on that, there is this young man publishing an online simply because he can design website, but who cannot put together a simple sentence in English! He either lifts news items from newspapers or other social media and, if he is to write, he ‘spoils the language.’
Agreed, this form of journalism is still at the infant stages as all jack and harries go into it, the Malachy-led NOPA needs to start thinking beyond ordinary on how to weed out the junks and sanitize the journalism profession, irrespective of the instrument for the purveyance of information.
What the Association may insist on is the need for the practitioners not only to be professionals but to ensure strict observance to the journalism’s standard which makes truth sacred.

This is a very difficult period for many families, but it is even more so for the whole country, dealing with insurgency and kidnapping. I see a silver lining in the sky though, with Nigeria’s Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar now in the United States of America asking that this country be helped.

That is the right way to go. Nigeria needs international help because we just have been waffling and digging ourselves deeper and deeper into the hole.

Look at it this way. If we had spent the enormous quantity of newsprint and quality Radio/TV air time the country has used in the last two weeks discussing the ASUU strike, Boko Haram or kidnapping instead of the mismanagement of the Ministry of Aviation and the actions of one person, Ms. Stella Oduah, I  bet you some distance will have been covered in finding solutions. It’s clear to the world by now that we are not just serious.

I have a colleague who has not spent a night in his father’s house in the village for four years. This is a ritual he cherished a lot each time he came home from his the country of residency in Europe. Kidnappers would be happier with him in the village than family members if he goes there today.

Another of my friends who lives in Abuja says among the many tricks he plays against kidnappers to go  to his mum and dad is to sneak into the village late at night. Early the following morning, he excuses himself to visit a nearby uncle. He sneaks out of the village because to say bye-bye means to put someone on notice that he is leaving. He could run into a kidnappers’ ambush.

If you notice it, most high society weddings and burials have moved from the East and the South-south and from Boko Haram ravaged states of the North-East to Lagos and Abuja.

Kidnapping for ransom and terrorism have taken a centre stage and are major factors in planning meetings and social events. They are key in deciding when and where you travel around the country.

I was in Delta State recently for this year’s  Editors’ conference and chose a tour group to the hinterland to see how much impact enhanced oil revenues had made to the life of the ordinary people. I was impressed by so much development activity taking place. I was however taken aback by the many well-built homes in towns and villages whose owners have moved to safer places in Lagos and the North. They make  a terrible eye-sight. Many local officials who can afford it hire houses for their mothers and fathers away from their villages and have them on internal exile in safer towns. Some traditional rulers have equally moved, ruling their subjects from  the safe distances  of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and other places.

A group of armed pirates last Wednesday attacked an oil supply vessel off the Nigerian coast  and kidnapped the Captain and Chief Engineer, both United States citizens and the debacle is still on.

In recent times, hostages takers in that volatile region and the sea boarder have virtually seized citizens of all nations-Indians, Phillipinos, Labanese, British, Russians, French- just about everyone. It is a sobering thought that the  kidnapping of ” high value” Nigerians has itself become  routinised; we have become so used to that aspect to the point that it no longer warrants the  type of  frenzy we are witnessing in dealing with the Americans.

When a Nigerian of value is taken, family members are taught the correct line of action, which is that they keep the police out of it and negotiate and pay. It goes without saying that this has angered the security services in many instances but but there are also reported cases where they are the ones who point at this line of action. They simply blindside it.

The difference this one makes is that Americans are involved and the United States isn’t just another nation: it is the world’s only remaining super-power. That’s why every arm of the security services, especially the Nigerian Navy has been all action. All nations around the globe know that no one is allowed to mess around with American lives.

As President of Panama, Manuel Noriega, a rogue leader had done so so much to anger the neighboring United States but the sharpest case of American ire was ignited by the kidnap and rape of a female citizen by a Panamanian soldier. This culminated in the invasion of the Latin American country by the U.S army whose biggest prize was the overthrow from power and seizure of that errant nation’s leader. Noriega has since completed a prison term upon conviction by the U.S  justice system and has been handed to France who had planned to put him under yet another trial.

The latest incident in the Niger Delta has brought into sharp focus around the world Nigeria’a widely-seen failure to effectively deal with violent crimes and acts of terror.

Apart from poor governance, it has indicated two other challenges this country faces: a lack of leadership and the inability of the country’s security agencies to impose their competence on the domestic issue of insecurity.

While this is going on, the administration is using ethnicity and religion to cover unethical behavior as we are witnessing in the recent scandal involving the Minister of Aviation.

From reactions to the recent kidnap and the fact of the Gulf of Guinea becoming the world’s most dangerous waters,there is the prospect of growing U.S- and global- impatience with terrorism, sea piracy and kidnapping scourges, leading possibly to bold, if not unilateral action in the event of this country’s continuing lethargy. This, as is being hinted, could include a go-it-alone effort to rescue their citizens.

In many ways, the situation at the sea border mirrors the state of affairs inside the country.

In spite of the huge cash pay-outs, mouth-watering contracts, oversea scholarships and jobs, ex-militants in the region have persisted with their violent agenda, targeting the army, police, foreigners, oil pipelines  and all facilities. The recent arson claimed by the militant group MEND at the Warri Refinery is a case in point.

It is clear that violence pays in the region as it does in many parts of Nigeria. If militants, extremists and criminals can get away with violence, there is absolutely no incentive for peace.

Only a resolute leadership determined to to purge the scourge of violence and extremism can save Nigeria from this state of destruction.