THERE IS A STORM COMING

Strive Masiyiwa

Series: The eagle in a storm (Part 1 – Intro).

The new year opened with turmoil in the Chinese stock markets as prices fell dramatically, leading to a global selloff. In just one week, global stock markets lost over $2 trillion US dollars! Other news in the global markets saw the price of a barrel of crude oil fall below $35 per barrel, down from a high of $62 per barrel less than 12 months ago. That’s down 50% in 12 months and 71% in 24 months!

Since the beginning of last year, 2015, the price of copper has fallen by 30%; iron ore is down by 42%; platinum has also been a disaster, losing more than half its value from less than three years ago. Agricultural commodities have not fared much better on global markets. Last week the South African rand hit an all-time low of 16:1 against the United States dollar and it’s still falling!

Your small business in Harare, Lagos or Nairobi may not have anything to do with China, or with any commodity like oil, iron ore, or platinum, so you might be asking yourself, “What’s that got to do with me?” Answer: EVERYTHING! It has everything to do with you, and its impact is going to be very personal… Brace yourself, there’s a storm on its way!

You might even be sitting at your desk as a civil servant, or supervising children at school as a teacher, or upholding the law as a policeman; or maybe you’re a pensioner, and you’re also saying to yourself, “I’m not in business; I don’t know anything about these things, so what’s it got to do with me?” Answer: EVERYTHING! It has everything to do with you, and its impact is going to be very personal… Brace yourself, there’s a storm on its way!

You look at the sky and see rolling black clouds. The wind is picking up and you say to yourself, “A big storm is on the way.” Even though rain isn’t yet falling, you know the signs of a heavy rain storm and that you must button things down and secure yourself properly. Or maybe you’re one of millions on the continent today suffering another rainless sky, for months on end, putting your fields, crops, livestock, perhaps your whole life at risk…

These are “signs” in weather conditions. Those who are experienced in such things can usually say with a degree of certainty that a storm is coming. However, if you do not understand these matters, or you blissfully decide to ignore them, you’ll suffer a serious drenching or worse.

In business economics we also have signs, and we’re seeing these warning signs right now. They’re not any different from the black clouds and the wind, or the clear sky and the drought. They’re all linked. The stock markets of China and New York may seem far away, and global commodity prices and exchange rates may seem irrelevant to your village, but they’re linked to the real economy in which you live and work!

The next 12 months or more will be very tough, particularly in emerging markets. Many African countries will find it hard going. Consequently, it will be tough for citizens, especially those who are most vulnerable. The weaker your country’s economy going into the storm, the tougher it will be. Similarly, the weaker your company or employer, the tougher it will be…

__There is a storm coming.

Now let me tell you about the flight of the eagle. Prophets and Kings of the bible world absolutely loved watching this majestic bird. They believed the eagle is the only bird that flies during a storm. It’s developed a flying technique (a skill) they call “mounting” the wind (as though it were climbing a stairway). The eagle has so mastered the storm that it not only flies during storms, but can find opportunities to prosper; it can actually use the storm to its advantage.

Even in these storms, those with the correct mindset will prepare themselves. They will train themselves to understand the times, and learn to prosper in its headwinds… they will mount on wings as eagles!

Yes, it’s going to be very tough, and for some of you, tougher than anything you could have imagined, but you must not be discouraged or wearied. And when you come through it, you will be much better at what you do. Just don’t be afraid, and don’t panic. In this series I will remind you of some of the things you must do to prosper like the eagle.

This year we must be serious, very serious. Africa expects it of us.

To be continued. . .

Dr. Pantami: The Nigeria’s Future Asset.

Comr Doji Doji
24th August, 2019

Congratulations on your well deserved appointment as the Honourable Minister of Communications Technology. I pray you make Nigeria great.

Nigeria as a country is faced with so many challenges both naturally and artificially and the most disturbing one is that which we created for ourselves. Nigeria has never been in trouble than now. The enemies are all awake plotting against Mr. President day and night.

Nigeria is bigger than one man, stronger than one tribe. This country can only be matched to our collective responsibilities.

Mr. President alone cannot drive this nation forward to the land we’ve been dreaming of. A greenish pasture promised by our passed heroes.

Dr. Pantami is the most outstanding performing officer in Information Technology industry. As the Director General NITDA he was among the very few best appointments Mr. President made so far.

Even though we have never met in person but his performances and human relations are excellent. Almost incomparable to none among Mr. President’s appointments.

But to call a spade a spade, you’re just starting this journey my Honourable Minister, the road is narrowly and thorny. We all know Dr. Pantami as an outspoken Information Technology Officer, a very rare gem, a computer guru with credentials that speak volume. A man with proven integrity.

We have no doubts in your capacity and we all believe that you will deliver more than the way you developed NITDA in few years.

As you set the ball rolling please kindly be reminded that there are people waiting conveniently to see your failures, there are naysayers and they will do everything possible to see you embarrassed in the eyes of the world.

Please note that, Nigeria’s only solution is ICT and Innovation. However, our prayers and good wishes are always with you round the clock.

You see, this country is resistant to change and innovation is change. ICT (digital economy) is a liberation of a resource based economy to the knowledge based which is automatically a change and that is why it is considered as a herculean task when establishing a friendly relationship between Nigerians and technology.

I held office of the Special Assistant to the former Governor of Bauchi State on Information Communications Technology. An appointment that lasted for 1 year and 5 months (January 2018-May 2019).

Actually, I read Agricultural Economics in University of Maiduguri and just five months after my NYSC I found myself in a totally different world. Firstly, I’ve never been in government and secondly I’ve never been in partisan politics. All my writings have been against the baby policies of the state government.

So many people were waiting to see my weaknesses from both closest people and those we met online. I’d heard so many voices from ghost speculators whispering to my ears about the dangers ahead. The obstacles that I must pass through before succeeding in my office.

I was completely lost in my first three months of assignment and that was the reason I wrote “The Grandaunts of Governor Abubakar’s Academy.”

People have been calling and texting that they’re missing my articles. Little did they know that I was preparing myself offline.

All my focuses, time, talents and energy were invested in preparing myself to handle that task. I didn’t want to fail the governor in whatsoever way. It was then I realized that Bauchi state was in the state of ruination because anytime I go to conferences I meet people that their story shook the fiber of my whole being. “So apart from Lagos, Kaduna and Enugu states other states are crawling when it comes to ICT?” A question that spun around my head multiple times.

Bauchi state has never been a commercial hub, no substantial amount is generated through the state’s IGR and we only have a very few moribund industries and some scanty white elephant projects in the state started and abandoned to key in into technology industry.

I was about bringing in Paystack to Bauchi state to generate e-revenue for the state government when we left office.

But at the end within a year or so I did my best, I left the office of the Special Assistant on ICT with the following achievements:

i. Two websites for the state government.

ii.Two slots from Indian high commission to study ICT course fully funded in Nigeria.

iii. Got collaboration with the Embassy of China in Nigeria even though we’ve not successfully completed what we wanted to achieve.

iv. I left Bauchi State Government House with an 80% completion stage of free Wi-Fi internet facility.

v. 20% completion stage of e-commerce platform.

vi. Worked up to 65% in reviewing and upgrading Secondary Schools’ curriculums to insert some digital courses.

vii. Hosted the northeast Wizkid Computer Competition.

viii. Proceedings with Nigeria Communications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT)

ix. I got a National Award for Bauchi State Government on e-government Implementation Program presented to me by Dr. Adebayo Shittu the former minister on communications at the 2018 National Council on Communications Technology meeting in Ogun State.

x. I facilitated this year’s 2019 NCCT meeting to be held in Bauchi State even though we are not in office today but I’m still happy. And the list continuous.

My Honourable Minister am still sad that we have thousands of youths who doesn’t know how to turn on and off a computer successfully. What a challenge!

What scares me the most is whenever I see NITDA as one agency under Ministry of Communications Technology. There are many such as Nigeria Communications Technology (NCC), Galaxy Backbone, Nigeria Communication Satellites etc.

It is on this crucial note I wish to submit that, the work ahead is challenging and time consuming as such I humbly advise Honourable Minister to be more determine and focus.

Let me leave you with the following submissions:

I. Nigeria’s ICT and Innovations problem are the state governments.
They Invest little in ICT and Innovation most especially in the northern part of the country.

II. Lack of ICT facilities in our secondary schools and high institutions is alarming and is causing too much challenges in the learning processes.

III. While embarking this digital economy’s journey, there are too much unnecessary taxations. FIRS in collaboration with your ministry should do something about it so as to encourage cashless transactions.

IV. Each geopolitical zone should have at least a modern state of the art ICT and Innovation Secondary School and a University for ICT and Innovation.

V. Federal government should invest more in capacity building.

VI. Taxation on Telecommunications industries should be revisited.

VII. Federal, State Governments should collaborate with security agencies to provide a wide coverage of communications services most especially across the boarders to tract and bring to end insecurity in the country.

VIII. Both Federal and State Governments should imposed a mandatory digital literacy to all the civil servants, failure to that should cost them promotions.

IX. Federal government should invest enough resources in artificial intelligence (AI).

X. An ICT Talent Hunt should be initiated for youths as Youth Empowerment Program Initiative.

XI. ICT Expo and Electronic Fair should be hosted timely across the country to provide a very friendly environment for technology market to thrive well.

We look forward to see more grey hair Dr.

You carry with you, Honourable Minister my very best wishes.

Thank you.

The Yammering of Political Opponents in Bauchi State.

Written By: Comr Doji Doji
26th August, 2018.

Just like president Buhari, governor Abubakar is naturally a good administrator and not a hanky-panky politician.

Not long ago, the governor made it publicly clear that, “we are not here for the sake of being here” which is synonymous to the seriousness in business or it can also be best relate to the business is now unusual.

In 2016 for instance when the state was going through the most trial time of administrative disequilibration as a result of resource mismanagement by the previous government, majority of his aides took the advantages of the situation and started planning some jiggery-pokery activities in order to undermine him in the eyes of Bauchi citizens. And of course they succeeded even though the cabinet was reshuffled they achieved their target because the governor wouldn’t go to any gathering or attend celebrations without people welcoming him with showers of stones and chant “Bamayi! Bamayi!!.” This is what a leader gets when he is just in leading and run a government free of rodents and old suckers.

One thing that is certain and helped him won the public interests was his ability to pour cold water onto the troubling oil. Despite all that were happening, the governor remained calm, well composed and focused. He possessed this quality I called a “political-tense-absorber” that can allow his skin pores absorb any political tension and solidify it into an oily substances that can be applied to turn a subconscious mind into consciousness.

The yammering started in the late 2017 when the governor recorded huge achievements that shocked his opponents, it was then the state started smelling the aroma of dividends of democracy, hundreds of road kilometers were constructed, more than a thousand primary and junior secondary schools were constructed/renovated, agriculture was given much consideration and today our own Bauchi fertilizer that used to be an assembly ground for animals is now feeding the whole of northeast. What a great leader!

Because he refused to play ball with them and milk the state treasury like they used to do, governor Abubakar is very arrogant so they would say.

Had the governor together with his cabinet operate the government on a dining table with his fork cutting his own share and piercing the knife into the heart of the state treasury, the roads wouldn’t have been constructed.

Had he responded to the micky-mouse critics that set the state on fire, the economy wouldn’t have improved.

Had the governor wanted to acquire ill-gotten wealth, more than a thousand primary and junior secondary school blocks wouldn’t have been constructed/renovated.

Had he wanted to keep mum on the money given to him to clear the backlog of salary, the civil servants wouldn’t have celebrated this Sallah merrily.

The governor pay much attention to education, he allocated the highest percentage of the budget to education and today, several government own senior secondary schools are undergoing renovations. This is something that has never happened to good people of Bauchi State.

As the political opponents are yammering, the governor is working day and night to make Bauchi state return its lost glory.

May the soul of Sir. Abubakar Tafawa Balewa continue to rest in peace for he has born a replica.

The Bauchi APC, 11th August By-Election and the Oppositions’ Chicken-Talking.

By: Comr Doji Doji
8th August, 2018.

It is crucial to grab this golden opportunity to pray for senator Ali Wakili, may his soul continue to rest in peace. Senator Wakili was among the five vibrant senators that made the house bubble. Anyone to be elected among the contestants we have now is far behind the late senator in terms of good representation, this is the most hard and bitter pills that time has forced us to swallow. The late senator has contributed a lot and his name had travelled across the minds of Nigerian people. He was indeed the true son of Sir. Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. May the memory of Sen. Wakili continue to remain with us.

Let me painstakingly pen down some crucial words this morning even though I’m in a haste to get to the office in time, this is as a result of series of insinuations and chicken-talking by some people in town that go round selling bags of lies about the APC candidate Hon. Lawal Yahaya Gumau that he is this so-so and that so-so for just little amount of attention in order to shoo away the electorates from voting for him on the 11th August.

Well, let me be sincere with you and tell tell you the hard truth, these people are not really fighting against Gumau nor Buhari, they are against governor Abubakar whom hard sworn to work based on the interest of the state and not some few selected self-centered and egocentric individuals. In fact, governor Abubakar is not suppose to be the governor of Bauchi state but the president of Nigeria because of some unique qualities that he possessed, he has the ability to pour cold water onto the trouble oil that is why today, Bauchi state is the most safest state in Nigeria, the economy is leapfrogging and improving by day, so they are not fighting Gumau as an individual or because Gumau is from the APC, they are against APC because governor Abubakar is from the APC and whoever emerges as the APC candidate for this by-election, these people would do the same.

Is voting Gumau on 11th August the best decision?

This is the question I found dancing on the lips of electorates in almost all the spots or joints that people gather to argue and debate on which candidate is the best that deserves their votes. And to some people, the question is rather confusion, headscratching than easy to answer type of question. Well, I am not voting Gumau because he is from APC, I will vote for him because I want to protect the interest of this country, whoever is there for me to shape the road that will take my children to brighter future is whom I will obey. Its politics anyway, but the person that gave me his assurance to protect me and ensured the safety of my urborn children come what may is Buhari and voting APC in this coming by-election in Bauchi south is highly indispensable to the successful tenure(s) of president Buhari.

There is something very important that our people are not aware of, the grave mistake that Bauchi people would make is to vote for any party but APC because the fear is, the consequences of this action will affect Buhari and it will be the most unforgivable sin that Bauchi people will ever commit to Nigerian people as a whole.

The president was in Bauchi just recently to sell the APC’s candidate Lawal Y. Gumau whom the opposition had pledged to stop from entering the green chamber. This shows you how important this office is to the president even though the popularity of him is natural, it comes like snow and cover even the most hottest part of the deserted island but he has to visit Bauchi to request the good people of Bauchi state to vote for APC on 11th August, 2018.

While they are busy scrapping and nagging, APC is sniffing the aroma of victory.

MARYAM

By Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde
She is not representative of our women.
If we look at them through her prism, we are not just to them. They tolerate us so much. Whatever their position in society, they condescend to the traditional level of housewives, doing whatever would satisfy us, which we take for granted and hardly acknowledge.
I am saying ‘we’ emphatically because I know yours truly is among the leading culprits here. They deserve our silent prayers for abundant reward in the hereafter, even though most of us find it very difficult to even say thank you to them when they serve us food or water. Allah ya biya ku dangin nono.
Of course they have their shortcomings, like we do. But sure, murder is not among them. The murderous act of Maryam can best be located in the domain of our shared inhumanity that could be triggered by so many things which drive us senseless, including wealth, drugs, love, hate, mental sickness, etc. These things have created such deviants before even in the traditional, peaceful northern homes where different persons were victims: sometimes a step child, sometimes a co-wife, sometimes the husband himself.
After coming this far, a distance of 56 years and experiencing so much, I will still grade our women ‘A’ averagely. That does not exclude the Maryams that would surely deserve an F.
Let this gruesome incident not make us lose sight of the millions of our ‘A’ grade sisters, whom I would never change for any other.
‘Danmama’

22 November, 2017

GREAT THINGS WE NEGLET

It’s clear everyone feels special when appreciated for their good deeds, personality or the goals they achieved. Few people may not have big things to give, but they can give out small things in great ways.
Yea, a simple sorry can avert calamity, a please can open a locked heart and a simple thank you shows you are humble. All these words are very little, but never underestimate their powers.
I wondered why a lot of people find it difficult to use those words while addressing some very important issues. I’ve encountered some people who would rather wish to die than say “sorry”. It’s even harder for some family members to use these fine words among themselves.
Pronouncing those words is not difficult, but saying them is.

They are not expensive but worth more than gold.
So, why stress yourself trying to give out bigger things whereas there are little things you can give out in great ways.
Admit you are sorry when you are wrong. Find the need to say please and never forget to say thanks.
#Goodness.

#FastFowardAfrica.

BAUCHI STATE AND THE POLITICS OF CATS AND DOGS.

Written By: Comr. Doji Doji
6th October, 2016.

(We need politics without borders in Bauchi State).

I am missing Adamu Adamu right now, he is busy carrying out national assignment and also Dr. Aliyu Tilde whom retired from writing to business.
They left us on this field all alone, their writings would have saved us from this drama but here we are today. Just a very few of us, very young at age blabbering and writing articles mumbo jumbo.

It is natural to have our differences here and there but it is cowardice to allow sentiments to grow deep into our bones.
Are we in the same country at all? Haba!!! We should be more than that in terms of politics.

It is natural in democracy to have disagreement, any politician wants the best for his own people and as a result of that love and competition a dispute erupts, they themselves wouldn’t know the time this dispute will erupt, they only see it in the news.
There are certain group of people that their income ipoliticians ting fire on our leaders, only through that their food can be put on the table.
These people have succeeded during the tenures of Ahmad Adamu Mu’azu, Isah Yuguda and Kaura and now they systematically modernized it, shaped it and cooked it. It is now everywhere in the market, with your 10MB you can buy it on internet. It is called “Abuja Vs Bauchi Politics”.

And as a result of Abuja Vs Bauchi politics, many of the best minds of my generation are being destroyed by madness, insatiable thirsts for money, consumed by self deception.
They have now turned into rancorous preachers and seeking knowledge and wisdom from gaggle of political bosses.

Primordial sentiments have now become their breakfast, launch and dinner cooked by those unrepentant political perverts.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose but the steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people’s lives, we must take back the glory of our Bauchi State again.

I see mammoth crowd of voters smiling but no eyes to see the good out of their ballot papers, I see fire on the mountain.

I will just keep keeping on, I will keep pushing until we restore the glory of our darling state.

Please let us reflect once more again, let us reposition ourselves, we should revisit our faculty of thoughts so that we will be humans once more again. The solution to this problem lies on our own hands.

There is something that I want to make clear here, this issue of politics of cats and dogs that we operate won’t take us anywhere but will keep us stuck to one place, we will spend a century but if we cannot organize ourselves, settle our differences, we will end up of being losers, we won’t achieve a single goal but rather continue to wallow in our self imposed bastardized political theory.

Let us take a journey across the other northern states, to be honest with you, we are the only state that has great people in big offices right now, INEC, Air force, Custom, Education, Speaker, NNPC and to mention but the reality that is on ground right now, our people are not more than almajiris all as a result of no having cooperation among our leaders.
We won’t go for protest, hell no. God forbid, this is an internal crisis but all that we can do for you is to pray for you so that you can see the light, come home and settle, come home and save Bauchi State.

>—-THE WAY FORWARD——>

The fact is we all know what is right and wrong but we are yet to know what is good for ourselves.
Whenever you come up with solution people will start saying he is backing this and he is against that, we are just trying to be on the fence so that our leaders would come and rescue us.

Below are my humble suggestions, our politicians should consider them please:

*. A committee should be created and without dilly dally to arbitrate between the two parties.

*. Instead of holding surreptitious meetings, why not making it public so that peoples’ opinion can be welcomed, so that together we can save our state.

*. The masses should not allow some group of people to mendaciously convince them whether Abuja or Bauchi politics is better. There is only one Bauchi, we all are Bauchi. Those that want to divide us are nothing but political mmeretricious.

*. In this case of mutatis mutandis, each party should come with a project, so that even if they are to continue fighting like cats and dogs, let them fight us with community development projects so that we the people can decide which section is better.

*. Traditional rulers should come into this matter, serious and matured negotiations need to be done at the urgency of our request.

*. Our intellectuals should come back fully equipped with their pen, we want to see Bauchi State great again.

*. And finally, our leaders should fear Allah, we are suffering as a result of this dog eat dog politics, please pity us and settle your differences so that our people can enjoy the fruits of democracy.

Thank you all
God bless you.

IMPORTANCE OF GIRL CHILD EDUCATION IN NIGERIA.

Written By: Comr. Doji Doji

Bauchi State.
2nd October, 2016

(And as a nation, we are now paying the social injustice we did to our then girls, we deliberately deprived them from their right to education).
Happy Independence Day to our Chibok Girls, am sure you now know what this country can and cannot do for you at 56th.

Did President Buhari mentioned anything like girl child education in his speech? My eyes are not seeing clearly these days. But if he didn’t, someone somewhere should kindly remind Mr. President that building nations is impossible without quality education to our women, someone tell him that we are scared of recession because it brings food to develop our muscles, what about education that can strengthen our spiritual muscles?

“…….Throughout findings that I searched, Nigeria has the largest number of illiteracy in the world and majority of them are Hausa girls from northern part of the country, a girl in north part of this country has 95% chance of having less than two years of education”.

I will not waste much timhelcancing education to all of us, it’s importance and impacts. As long as you can read and write, no emphasis is required from me on the importance of education. But for the girl child education, I can spend a lifetime shading more lights on the importance of girl child education. Some may ask me why I won’t go for boys but girls? The reason is simple, I see great hidden potentials in girls.

Let me borrow few lines from Kidjo, “Everyone wins when children — and especially girls – have access to education. An educated girl is likely to increase her personal earning potential and prepare herself for a productive and fulfilling life, as well as reduce poverty in the whole community. Investing in girls’ education also helps delay early marriage and parenthood. Our booming economies in Africa need more female engineers, teachers and doctors to prosper and sustain growth.” – Angelique Kidjo.

Let me quickly mention some importance of girl child education:

.* Reduces inequality
.* Increase productivity and earnings
.* Drive economic competitiveness
.* Poverty – reducing effects
.* Improve health and nutrition
.* Lower infant and child mortality rates
.* Lowers maternal mortality rates
.* Protects against HIV/AIDS infections
.* Creates intergenerational education benefits.

Just close your eyes and open your mind for a minute and visualize the current situation that we are now, with the fact that there is a thin line that divides PDP and APC, still APC is looking for Ngozi Okonjo Iweala.
She is a highly respected influential global leader, economist, policy maker and thinker on finance and economic development. This is what Wikipedia said about her, and that is the fact.
Then come and think of our current finance minister Mrs Kemi Adeosun and the role that this woman is playing on our economy.

Why both the former and the present presidents chose females to head their finance ministry?. Is because there is something great from inside a woman heart, she can steal of course but very little unlike us men that steal, steal and steal to our limitless satisfaction. If only Okonjo and Adeosun can come together, trust me they will undoubtedly do the magic and take this country out of this so called recession.

This alone has shown how importance educating a girl child is, but we wasted billions of naira on the so called poverty eradication campaigns. The root of poverty is illiteracy and women that suppose to come to our aid now are illiterates innumerably in number abandoned in rural areas.

Let me ask you this queation, what if the woman that has idea to bring us out of this recession is somewhere there enslaved with thirty children on her lap in a village that only God knows where?

What if only Nigeria had invested huge amount of money on women whom are now our grand mothers and mothers, we would have had enough policy makers, influential leaders, positive change agents and we would have had saved CHIBOK GIRLS, because that illiterate woman that gave birth to “SHEKAU, the mafia” had it been she was educated, she would have sent him to school and became a professor even in Kanuri language, at least things would have been better. The lackadaisical attitude of government and our traditional rulers brought us this kamikaze nightmare.

Developed countries that are now far in economic development have about 45% if not 50% women as their policy makers, special advisers, and that had uplifted them up because those women have increased the productivity rates, and contributed to democratization immensely.

In our country, one woman won gubernatorial election and we went through hell and removed her, what a shame that we are now celebrating a woman chairing a local government in Kebbi State. We have a long way to go.

We keep on depriving women from acquiring education which is their right, we always see them as burden, some even have the belief that investing in girl child education is a waste of resources. And now, our girls are been married at earlyage, some are been abused, raped and they face all sorts of intimidation from all angles, where are we heading as a nation?

The children selling groudgroundnuts and pure water in the markets are girls, those rushing at military check points are girls, those that sells their body for food are girls. Chai……, and we want to see change?

According to a project, Literacy and gender-focused school management in Northern Tanzania and Northern Nigeria by Engendering Empowerment Education and Equality, United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative, and supported by ActionAid in Senegal, May 2010, Nigeria has one of the largest out-of-school populations in the world. National education figures based on the school year ending in 2006 present a National Education Ratio of 59 per cent for girls and 68 per cent for boys with a GPI of 0.86 (UNESCO, 2009).

However, data for Nigeria as a whole masks the huge inequalities between states, and most significantly between the southern states and the northern states. The latest UNESCO Global Monitoring Report (2010) illustrates this by showing that a Hausa girl (the majority of girls in this project in Nigeria are Hausa) has a 97 per cent chance that she will have less than two years of education. Education management in Nigeria also poses difficulties as the education system is highly complex with responsibilities divided between Local government area, State and Federal government.

As girls are not educated they remain dependent on their family before marriage, on their husband after marriage and on their children after the death of their spouse. This is the main reason for the unpleasant condition of women. So if girls will be educated, they will no longer be dependent on any one and they can do a lot for their uplift.

Most of the problems of society can be eradicated by educating the girl child. marriage at a very young age leads the women to conceive repeatedly, which affect their health badly. Most of the uneducated women do not know about the various contraceptive measures. Even if some know they feel hesitant in using them. It results in more growth of population and worse condition of women.

Thus, the state in which female literacy rate is more like in south western part of this country, population growth is less. The menace of child labor also has significantly been out of practice because the women became aware of their rights and privileges.

Women are exploited in every sector, especially if they are uneducated, because they cannot demand their rights. Most of the women lack unity and work in unorganized sector.

If they were educated they would have been knowing the rules and regulations and working in an organized sector getting the benefits of public schemes.

If women are educated enough they can get training for setting of small scale industries, they can know the procedure of getting loan, get the knowledge of market availability of raw material and labor, new policies of the government, procedure to register new product and knowledge about import and export goods.

If their standard of living will be improved. it will indirectly uplift the level of society. If they can be financially strong they will take proper care of their children and provide them good education.

I humbly offer my suggestions to Mr. President, State Governors and our traditional rulers to please reconsider the impacts of women in our policy making.

We should put girl child education as our top priority, so that this nation can move forward.
We should invest more and give out scholarships to our girls most especially those in the rural areas so that we can have great thinkers on economic development.

This government if possible should create a ministry of girl child education, so that those in IDPs can acquire quality education, our state governors should see girl child education beyond just providing them with uniforms and sandals but fighting against early marriages, rape and malnutrition.

Thank you all.
God bless you.

A UNITED OR DIVIDED KATAGUM?

A UNITED OR DIVIDED KATAGUM?

(internally bleeding)
Don’t insult my intelligence please, you have all the rights to call this a rigmarole piece of writing but before that, open your mind and shift sentiments aside.
Whenever I see Katagum as it is today, and people go on with their self-imposed balderdash ideas insisting that, the only way forward is when Jama’are, Gamawa and the likes accepted their sons or nobody, this will take us nowhere but to keep us in the same position, the same  political cycle and slow economy.
I hate it like a hot potato in my mouth to see us like this, should we continue  this way? We are politically divided, and still want our freedom?
Elders that suppose to unite us have succeeded in creating climate of fear and showered rains of disinterest party among us, and they have gagged up our mouth by imposing the culture of silence on us, they have compelled our writers, journalists and thinkers surrendered from the public space.
Students from primary school to tertiary institutions have fought against each other, there is no quality understanding between village priest and town idiot, our rights have been sold to politicians, whoever try to bring katagum to one place will end up being intellectually molested and all in the name of politics.
Azare people don’t like Sen. Babayo Garba Gamawa and Gamawa people don’t like Alh. Yayale Ahmed or Hon. Pharuq Mustapha. What’s wrong with us? And it is the same story in Jama’are and Itas, Zaki and Shira/Yana.
As I am writing this piece, Sen. Bashir Mustapha (Shettima) may his soul rest in peace came and whispered to my ears, ” shiiii Doji, Katagum cannot become one and united until Katagum elders embrace Gamawa, Zaki, Jama’are, Itas/Gadau and the rest as their legitimate sons and daughters, Katagum cannot go on without people of Katagum showing love and respect to one another, a new Katagum might be born but the old mother must be impregnated with unity and selflessness” as I turned to my right, there stood only my long speakers. I then wept, what a hero! Shettima will undoubtedly remain our unforgettable hero.
But, what went wrong?
It is due to our selfishness, we all want something, somehow somewhere, our youths wander around like naked bullets in sambisa forest, our women no longer engage in society revival, we all want something for our family.
Let me tell you something my fellow Katagum men and women, sentiments have grown too deep into our bones like cancer and the most irritating part is that, most people are still asleep. Unemployment is becoming stronger by day like lassa fever but what to do, huh? Today, Katagum is at war with her children politically, Gamawa is shooting and Shira is repelling, Zaki is ever ready to attack and Itas is busy quarrelling with other opponents. Haba, this cat and dog situation is too disturbing.
My dream of hope……
God created us and left with us a brain and mind, they were not here to balance our body weight but to use them and  measure, balance our thoughts, to reason with logic and also to reflect. I’m here today for you all  people of Katagum, we know we have made mistakes here and there but it’s never too late to wake up once more again, let us all come closer and stay united, I know we all have our own differences but let us come and deal with them.
I have a dream that one day we will overcome our differences…
I have a dream that one day a dead tree will rise and the grass will follow it like a slave following his master…
I have a dream that one day, new intellectuals will be born out of sentiments and selfishness…
I have a dream, that here in Katagum, people would sleep and wake up under one umbrella but not that of PDP…
I have a dream, our youths will do away with political brouhaha and embrace hard-work and start micro businesses.
I have a dream that one day, all the seven local governments under Katagum will listen and obey only one voice.
Do we want a united Katagum where we will train our youths on vocational activities, and send out girls to acquire quality education or a divided Katagum where hatred and selfishness will continue to thrive? The choice is ours.
Thank you all and God bless Kat

THE DOCTORING OF A NATIONAL BUDGET

This last week, Chris Araga, a United Kingdom-based Nigerian, with whom I grew up in Kwara State was distressed about news coming from home and the way Nigerians reacted to it. Araga is one Nigerian whose passion for fatherland, even I, who reside here, cannot match.

Before the general elections last year, this man spoke in at least two public events where Nigerians in London met to discuss their country. Not just that, since the unfortunate kidnap of the Chibok girls in April 2014, Araga and another Nigerian, Charles Kehinde Alasholuyi, have maintained a daily campaign for the return of these girls. It is an uncommon passion for a country whose loyalty to its citizenship is questionable.

Almost on a daily basis in the past couple of months, this brother of mine and I would find something to discuss about Nigeria. What we can do to make it better, how to improve the quality of citizenship and what have you.

So, when news filtered in last week that the 2016 appropriation bill presented by President Muhammadu Buhari to a joint session of the National Assembly on December 22, 2015 was missing, we found another matter for contemplation.

His shock was with the trivial way in which a lot of Nigerians took the news of the confusion about the budget. He couldn’t understand why anyone would make jokes of the situation like we did. In his bewilderment, he sent me the following: “…someone said we should just print a new copy of the budget? In their view, what is the problem here? Why the fuss…” He was plainly flustered by the reaction of his compatriots to this issue. But then, should Nigerians make themselves happy?

My own immediate concern was that rather than see it as a matter of immense national dishonour, a lot of our compatriots had regrouped into their sentimental cocoons.

One of the arguments presented by those who are fiercely loyal to President Buhari is to lay the blame at the doorsteps of Senate President Bukola Saraki. In the imagination of these people, Saraki, having swam against the tide of his All Progressives Congress in attaining office, must have orchestrated the disappearance of the bulky document just to embarrass the President and his party.

Supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party argued that the situation indicated that Buhari and his team were out of their depth on the economic front. They felt that the administration had realised that the budget it presented in December was unrealistic and that rather than walk back to the National Assembly tail between legs to retrieve the budget, the Presidency found a way to help itself by smuggling the document out of the parliament.

I thought that none of these should be the primary concern of Nigerians. I opined that the occurrence of such an event was sufficient to dampen any itch for cantankerous partisanship. And that whatever might have happened to the budget, the greater culprit would be the absence of functional systems and institutions in Nigeria rather than the partisan garb that we were adorning this with.

 

but such is the inclination in this country lately, the quality of public debate here is at a disheartening poor. Our reaction to issues has become habitually knee jerk with some living in incurable naïve optimism while others have adopted a perpetual cynical posture. The result is that we are unable to distinguish between adoration for individuals and loyalty to country, oblivious of the danger we invite when men are stronger than institutions without interrogation.

Take the argument about deference to the rule of law, for instance. Nigerians are unable to reach a consensus about the need for the rule of law to guide the current onslaught on corruption.

Criticisms have recently trailed the refusal of government to allow some of those on trial enjoy the bail granted them by law courts. Some other people argue that none of those who are alleged to have stolen monies meant for the purchase of arms to prosecute the war against insurgency in the northeastern part of the country should be able to plead the rule of law. “Did they remember the rule of law when they shared the money?” They would ask.

ut in doing that, we make a total mockery of the very essence of democracy. My Black’s Law Dictionary defines the rule of law as: “A legal principle of general application, sanctioned by the recognition of authorities, and usually expressed in the form of a maxim or logical proposition called a ‘rule’… The rule of law, sometimes called the supremacy of law, provides that decision should be made by the application known as principles of laws without the intervention of discretion in their application.”

The effect of the foregoing is that the country is governed by a set of rules to which all parties have agreed to subject themselves. At the moment, the country’s constitution provides that accused persons are presumed innocent until proved otherwise. It also leaves the decision as to the guilt or otherwise of accused persons to the courts. The courts are also guided by a set of rules which determines whether an offence is bailable or not. If the rule says that an offence is bailable, and an accused is admitted to bail by any court, no one should stop such an accused from enjoying the bail. If the law changes in future to the effect that we should systematically dismember corrupt people, that becomes the rule even if repugnant.

SEE ALSO:  Lagos Assembly passes 2016 Appropriation Bill

The rule of law therefore compels the President not to stand in the way of those who have been granted bail just as it compels Government Ekpemupolo, also known as Tompolo, to appear before a court which has subpoenaed him. In the event of a failure to appear before a court, the rule of law allows the same court to issue a bench warrant for his arrest no matter where he may be in the country. Nigerians must be clear about this and shun every shred of partisanship when issues that revolve around the sanctity of the rule of law are concerned.

It is the failure of the citizenry to reach a consensus on the supremacy of the rule of law no matter whose ox is gored that encourages those we vote into office pull the wool over our eyes and take us for granted in pursuit of personal agendas.

So on Tuesday, Saraki read a communication from the President asking the National Assembly to work with a corrected version of the bill which he had sent and discard the version he presented in December. This was close to one week after Saraki insinuated that President Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly, Senator Ita Enang, “doctored” the first document and attempted to “smuggle” the new version into the hands of the senators.

The President’s letter conceded that there had been some corrections but underplayed the events of the last one week when he euphemistically said, “It appears that this has led to some confusion.”

But we should let Mr. President know that Enang’s alleged fly by night method puts the country in ridicule and sweeping that under the carpet runs against the ethics of his office. Especially when there are legitimate ways in which this budget could have been withdrawn.

It is curious though that Saraki would so easily give away Enang as he did last Thursday. It is not clear whether the shot was fired to hurt the Presidency in furtherance of the evident crisis of confidence within the ruling party.

And if our people were not so star struck and split in their appreciation of issues of national importance, we would be demanding explanations from the Presidency and the National Assembly for the shenanigans of the past few days.

As it appears, whoever perpetrated this unheard of action gets away without as much as a slap on the wrist even in the form of a public apology. But the country and its people will bear the indignity of the action.

– Follow me on twitter: @niranadedokun

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THERE IS A STORM COMING

Source: THERE IS A STORM COMING