The heart is the engine of very human being. It also plays that significant role in shaping our actions and inactions in the mold of our social interactions, our tolerance level, and accepting people the way they are. In the Holy Bible in Luke chapter 6 verse 45, its states “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”

For every human action and inaction, there are motives. For being kind, and also being irrational or wicked. That is the fundamental principle of life. Have we wondered why there are so much strife and hatred in the world today? Have we paused to ask ourselves what the issues are?  This brings me to the concept of altruism, and how it can solve a whole lot of societal problems.

The Hizmet movement has at the core of its values what is called irthar, the Islamic term for altruism, which means preferring others over oneself. Some might be wondering why I decided this line instead of the usual happenings in Turkey since the July 15th coup attempt. I figured out that I had dissipated so much energy on these issues without mentioning the probable causes of President Erdogan actions.

So, in deep thoughts, the concept of altruism struck me, and I placed one and two together and understood Erdogan’s actions against the Hizmet movement. I must state that the Hizmet movement is being persecuted not for plotting a coup or instigating violence of any sort. But simply because Erdogan has lost every sense of altruism there is, and he is no longer the neighbour next door that he pretended to be in the early stages of his administration.

As a start, Fethullah Gulen’s preaching and writings have the concept of altruism as the central theme. He emphasizes that “people with pure hearts will at the same time be full of feelings of beneficence and compassion toward humanity. And instead of living for themselves, they will try to make others live in the real sense by awakening their hearts to God.”

This altruistic attribute is what welcomes you upon encounter with a Hizmet, movement participant. This is so not because there is a creed somewhere that stipulates and religiously demands that, but because the Qur’an draws attention to the virtue of ithar (altruism) as follows: “…They prefer others over themselves, even though poverty be their lot” (al-Hashr 59:9). Erdogan’s actions are the opposite of the spirit of irthar despite claiming to be an advocate of religiosity.  But I promise not to dwell on Erdogan and his atrocities in this article.

Altruism is anchored on five pillars, and they are as follows:  Sacrificing one’s soul in God’s way (for God’s cause), being able, when it is necessary, to renounce a (rightful) claim to leadership or similar top position for the well-being and unity of society, preferring the welfare of others over one’s own, allowing others to benefit from one’s knowledge and ideas without expecting anything in return, giving to others out of one’s income-this includes responsibilities for the giving of the prescribed and voluntary alms (zakah and sadaqa), and showing warmth, speaking soft and kind words, being of use to others. These are some of the values of the Hizmet movement, hence the emphasis on dialogue, love, and tolerance.

Fethullah Gulen in his writings and teachings has suggested altruism as the antidote for the various conflicts ravaging the world. And that was why it is such a hard-sell to insinuate that a man who has spent over 50 years of his life preaching and teaching the values of peace, mutual respect, and altruism as being the mastermind of the coup in Turkey. And he says “Today, we desperately need the spirit of altruism, which is very closely related to faith, the religious life of the heart, being close to God, compassion, and helping others live in the real sense. What we need today are chivalrous souls who will push aside the world and its contents which appeal to fancies and desires; souls who will solely live for the sake of making others live, and will pray as such:”

And the life he has lived readily buttresses this concept. For instance, He has never had personal wealth to the level of sponsoring educational projects. Even though the impression in some quarters is that Fethullah Gulen owns most of the schools and hospitals operated by Hizmet movement participants. Far from it, I bet you he doesn’t even know some of the owners of the institutions or has met them before. These are only people his teaching and writings have inspired to place premium and invest in sound and quality education. On very many occasions he has been quoted to have said “I have no power, capital, or army—only an unstoppable love and enthusiasm for service. All I can do is explain this, tell those who will listen, and suggest.”

In a nutshell, the world would be a better place if we can imbibe the spirit of altruism.” Today, a transcending responsibility that falls on our shoulders is to rekindle the altruistic desire to let others live in the hearts of our fellow citizens…” Fethullah Gulen

The text of President Barack Obama’s farewell speech Tuesday night in Chicago, as prepared for delivery.

___

It’s good to be home. My fellow Americans, Michelle and I have been so touched by all the well-wishes we’ve received over the past few weeks. But tonight it’s my turn to say thanks. Whether we’ve seen eye-to-eye or rarely agreed at all, my conversations with you, the American people – in living rooms and schools; at farms and on factory floors; at diners and on distant outposts – are what have kept me honest, kept me inspired, and kept me going. Every day, I learned from you. You made me a better President, and you made me a better man.

I first came to Chicago when I was in my early twenties, still trying to figure out who I was; still searching for a purpose to my life. It was in neighborhoods not far from here where I began working with church groups in the shadows of closed steel mills. It was on these streets where I witnessed the power of faith, and the quiet dignity of working people in the face of struggle and loss. This is where I learned that change only happens when ordinary people get involved, get engaged, and come together to demand it.

After eight years as your President, I still believe that. And it’s not just my belief. It’s the beating heart of our American idea – our bold experiment in self-government.

It’s the conviction that we are all created equal, endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It’s the insistence that these rights, while self-evident, have never been self-executing; that We, the People, through the instrument of our democracy, can form a more perfect union.

This is the great gift our Founders gave us. The freedom to chase our individual dreams through our sweat, toil, and imagination – and the imperative to strive together as well, to achieve a greater good.

For 240 years, our nation’s call to citizenship has given work and purpose to each new generation. It’s what led patriots to choose republic over tyranny, pioneers to trek west, slaves to brave that makeshift railroad to freedom. It’s what pulled immigrants and refugees across oceans and the Rio Grande, pushed women to reach for the ballot, powered workers to organize. It’s why GIs gave their lives at Omaha Beach and Iwo Jima; Iraq and Afghanistan – and why men and women from Selma to Stonewall were prepared to give theirs as well.

So that’s what we mean when we say America is exceptional. Not that our nation has been flawless from the start, but that we have shown the capacity to change, and make life better for those who follow.

Yes, our progress has been uneven. The work of democracy has always been hard, contentious and sometimes bloody. For every two steps forward, it often feels we take one step back. But the long sweep of America has been defined by forward motion, a constant widening of our founding creed to embrace all, and not just some.

If I had told you eight years ago that America would reverse a great recession, reboot our auto industry, and unleash the longest stretch of job creation in our history . if I had told you that we would open up a new chapter with the Cuban people, shut down Iran’s nuclear weapons program without firing a shot, and take out the mastermind of 9/11 . if I had told you that we would win marriage equality, and secure the right to health insurance for another 20 million of our fellow citizens – you might have said our sights were set a little too high.

But that’s what we did. That’s what you did. You were the change. You answered people’s hopes, and because of you, by almost every measure, America is a better, stronger place than it was when we started.

In ten days, the world will witness a hallmark of our democracy: the peaceful transfer of power from one freely-elected president to the next. I committed to President-Elect Trump that my administration would ensure the smoothest possible transition, just as President Bush did for me. Because it’s up to all of us to make sure our government can help us meet the many challenges we still face.

We have what we need to do so. After all, we remain the wealthiest, most powerful, and most respected nation on Earth. Our youth and drive, our diversity and openness, our boundless capacity for risk and reinvention mean that the future should be ours.

But that potential will be realized only if our democracy works. Only if our politics reflects the decency of the people. Only if all of us, regardless of our party affiliation or particular interest, help restore the sense of common purpose that we so badly need right now.

That’s what I want to focus on tonight – the state of our democracy.

Understand, democracy does not require uniformity. Our founders quarreled and compromised, and expected us to do the same. But they knew that democracy does require a basic sense of solidarity – the idea that for all our outward differences, we are all in this together; that we rise or fall as one.

There have been moments throughout our history that threatened to rupture that solidarity. The beginning of this century has been one of those times. A shrinking world, growing inequality; demographic change and the specter of terrorism – these forces haven’t just tested our security and prosperity, but our democracy as well. And how we meet these challenges to our democracy will determine our ability to educate our kids, and create good jobs, and protect our homeland.

In other words, it will determine our future.

Our democracy won’t work without a sense that everyone has economic opportunity. Today, the economy is growing again; wages, incomes, home values, and retirement accounts are rising again; poverty is falling again. The wealthy are paying a fairer share of taxes even as the stock market shatters records. The unemployment rate is near a ten-year low. The uninsured rate has never, ever been lower. Health care costs are rising at the slowest rate in fifty years. And if anyone can put together a plan that is demonstrably better than the improvements we’ve made to our health care system – that covers as many people at less cost – I will publicly support it.

That, after all, is why we serve – to make people’s lives better, not worse.

But for all the real progress we’ve made, we know it’s not enough. Our economy doesn’t work as well or grow as fast when a few prosper at the expense of a growing middle class. But stark inequality is also corrosive to our democratic principles. While the top one percent has amassed a bigger share of wealth and income, too many families, in inner cities and rural counties, have been left behind – the laid-off factory worker; the waitress and health care worker who struggle to pay the bills – convinced that the game is fixed against them, that their government only serves the interests of the powerful – a recipe for more cynicism and polarization in our politics.

There are no quick fixes to this long-term trend. I agree that our trade should be fair and not just free. But the next wave of economic dislocation won’t come from overseas. It will come from the relentless pace of automation that makes many good, middle-class jobs obsolete.

And so we must forge a new social compact – to guarantee all our kids the education they need; to give workers the power to unionize for better wages; to update the social safety net to reflect the way we live now and make more reforms to the tax code so corporations and individuals who reap the most from the new economy don’t avoid their obligations to the country that’s made their success possible. We can argue about how to best achieve these goals. But we can’t be complacent about the goals themselves. For if we don’t create opportunity for all people, the disaffection and division that has stalled our progress will only sharpen in years to come.

There’s a second threat to our democracy – one as old as our nation itself. After my election, there was talk of a post-racial America. Such a vision, however well-intended, was never realistic. For race remains a potent and often divisive force in our society. I’ve lived long enough to know that race relations are better than they were ten, or twenty, or thirty years ago – you can see it not just in statistics, but in the attitudes of young Americans across the political spectrum.

But we’re not where we need to be. All of us have more work to do. After all, if every economic issue is framed as a struggle between a hardworking white middle class and undeserving minorities, then workers of all shades will be left fighting for scraps while the wealthy withdraw further into their private enclaves. If we decline to invest in the children of immigrants, just because they don’t look like us, we diminish the prospects of our own children – because those brown kids will represent a larger share of America’s workforce. And our economy doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game. Last year, incomes rose for all races, all age groups, for men and for women.

Going forward, we must uphold laws against discrimination – in hiring, in housing, in education and the criminal justice system. That’s what our Constitution and highest ideals require. But laws alone won’t be enough. Hearts must change. If our democracy is to work in this increasingly diverse nation, each one of us must try to heed the advice of one of the great characters in American fiction, Atticus Finch, who said “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

For blacks and other minorities, it means tying our own struggles for justice to the challenges that a lot of people in this country face – the refugee, the immigrant, the rural poor, the transgender American, and also the middle-aged white man who from the outside may seem like he’s got all the advantages, but who’s seen his world upended by economic, cultural, and technological change.

For white Americans, it means acknowledging that the effects of slavery and Jim Crow didn’t suddenly vanish in the ’60s; that when minority groups voice discontent, they’re not just engaging in reverse racism or practicing political correctness; that when they wage peaceful protest, they’re not demanding special treatment, but the equal treatment our Founders promised.

For native-born Americans, it means reminding ourselves that the stereotypes about immigrants today were said, almost word for word, about the Irish, Italians, and Poles. America wasn’t weakened by the presence of these newcomers; they embraced this nation’s creed, and it was strengthened.

So regardless of the station we occupy; we have to try harder; to start with the premise that each of our fellow citizens loves this country just as much as we do; that they value hard work and family like we do; that their children are just as curious and hopeful and worthy of love as our own.

None of this is easy. For too many of us, it’s become safer to retreat into our own bubbles, whether in our neighborhoods or college campuses or places of worship or our social media feeds, surrounded by people who look like us and share the same political outlook and never challenge our assumptions. The rise of naked partisanship, increasing economic and regional stratification, the splintering of our media into a channel for every taste – all this makes this great sorting seem natural, even inevitable. And increasingly, we become so secure in our bubbles that we accept only information, whether true or not, that fits our opinions, instead of basing our opinions on the evidence that’s out there.

This trend represents a third threat to our democracy. Politics is a battle of ideas; in the course of a healthy debate, we’ll prioritize different goals, and the different means of reaching them. But without some common baseline of facts; without a willingness to admit new information, and concede that your opponent is making a fair point, and that science and reason matter, we’ll keep talking past each other, making common ground and compromise impossible.

Isn’t that part of what makes politics so dispiriting? How can elected officials rage about deficits when we propose to spend money on preschool for kids, but not when we’re cutting taxes for corporations? How do we excuse ethical lapses in our own party, but pounce when the other party does the same thing? It’s not just dishonest, this selective sorting of the facts; it’s self-defeating. Because as my mother used to tell me, reality has a way of catching up with you.

Take the challenge of climate change. In just eight years, we’ve halved our dependence on foreign oil, doubled our renewable energy, and led the world to an agreement that has the promise to save this planet. But without bolder action, our children won’t have time to debate the existence of climate change; they’ll be busy dealing with its effects: environmental disasters, economic disruptions, and waves of climate refugees seeking sanctuary.

Now, we can and should argue about the best approach to the problem. But to simply deny the problem not only betrays future generations; it betrays the essential spirit of innovation and practical problem-solving that guided our Founders.

It’s that spirit, born of the Enlightenment, that made us an economic powerhouse – the spirit that took flight at Kitty Hawk and Cape Canaveral; the spirit that that cures disease and put a computer in every pocket.

It’s that spirit – a faith in reason, and enterprise, and the primacy of right over might, that allowed us to resist the lure of fascism and tyranny during the Great Depression, and build a post-World War II order with other democracies, an order based not just on military power or national affiliations but on principles – the rule of law, human rights, freedoms of religion, speech, assembly, and an independent press.

That order is now being challenged – first by violent fanatics who claim to speak for Islam; more recently by autocrats in foreign capitals who see free markets, open democracies, and civil society itself as a threat to their power. The peril each poses to our democracy is more far-reaching than a car bomb or a missile. It represents the fear of change; the fear of people who look or speak or pray differently; a contempt for the rule of law that holds leaders accountable; an intolerance of dissent and free thought; a belief that the sword or the gun or the bomb or propaganda machine is the ultimate arbiter of what’s true and what’s right.

Because of the extraordinary courage of our men and women in uniform, and the intelligence officers, law enforcement, and diplomats who support them, no foreign terrorist organization has successfully planned and executed an attack on our homeland these past eight years; and although Boston and Orlando remind us of how dangerous radicalization can be, our law enforcement agencies are more effective and vigilant than ever. We’ve taken out tens of thousands of terrorists – including Osama bin Laden. The global coalition we’re leading against ISIL has taken out their leaders, and taken away about half their territory. ISIL will be destroyed, and no one who threatens America will ever be safe. To all who serve, it has been the honor of my lifetime to be your Commander-in-Chief.

But protecting our way of life requires more than our military. Democracy can buckle when we give in to fear. So just as we, as citizens, must remain vigilant against external aggression, we must guard against a weakening of the values that make us who we are. That’s why, for the past eight years, I’ve worked to put the fight against terrorism on a firm legal footing. That’s why we’ve ended torture, worked to close Gitmo, and reform our laws governing surveillance to protect privacy and civil liberties. That’s why I reject discrimination against Muslim Americans. That’s why we cannot withdraw from global fights – to expand democracy, and human rights, women’s rights, and LGBT rights – no matter how imperfect our efforts, no matter how expedient ignoring such values may seem. For the fight against extremism and intolerance and sectarianism are of a piece with the fight against authoritarianism and nationalist aggression. If the scope of freedom and respect for the rule of law shrinks around the world, the likelihood of war within and between nations increases, and our own freedoms will eventually be threatened.

So let’s be vigilant, but not afraid. ISIL will try to kill innocent people. But they cannot defeat America unless we betray our Constitution and our principles in the fight. Rivals like Russia or China cannot match our influence around the world – unless we give up what we stand for, and turn ourselves into just another big country that bullies smaller neighbors.

Which brings me to my final point – our democracy is threatened whenever we take it for granted. All of us, regardless of party, should throw ourselves into the task of rebuilding our democratic institutions. When voting rates are some of the lowest among advanced democracies, we should make it easier, not harder, to vote. When trust in our institutions is low, we should reduce the corrosive influence of money in our politics, and insist on the principles of transparency and ethics in public service. When Congress is dysfunctional, we should draw our districts to encourage politicians to cater to common sense and not rigid extremes.

And all of this depends on our participation; on each of us accepting the responsibility of citizenship, regardless of which way the pendulum of power swings.

Our Constitution is a remarkable, beautiful gift. But it’s really just a piece of parchment. It has no power on its own. We, the people, give it power – with our participation, and the choices we make. Whether or not we stand up for our freedoms. Whether or not we respect and enforce the rule of law. America is no fragile thing. But the gains of our long journey to freedom are not assured.

In his own farewell address, George Washington wrote that self-government is the underpinning of our safety, prosperity, and liberty, but “from different causes and from different quarters much pains will be taken.to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth;” that we should preserve it with “jealous anxiety;” that we should reject “the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest or to enfeeble the sacred ties” that make us one.

We weaken those ties when we allow our political dialogue to become so corrosive that people of good character are turned off from public service; so coarse with rancor that Americans with whom we disagree are not just misguided, but somehow malevolent. We weaken those ties when we define some of us as more American than others; when we write off the whole system as inevitably corrupt, and blame the leaders we elect without examining our own role in electing them.

It falls to each of us to be those anxious, jealous guardians of our democracy; to embrace the joyous task we’ve been given to continually try to improve this great nation of ours. Because for all our outward differences, we all share the same proud title: Citizen.

Ultimately, that’s what our democracy demands. It needs you. Not just when there’s an election, not just when your own narrow interest is at stake, but over the full span of a lifetime. If you’re tired of arguing with strangers on the internet, try to talk with one in real life. If something needs fixing, lace up your shoes and do some organizing. If you’re disappointed by your elected officials, grab a clipboard, get some signatures, and run for office yourself. Show up. Dive in. Persevere. Sometimes you’ll win. Sometimes you’ll lose. Presuming a reservoir of goodness in others can be a risk, and there will be times when the process disappoints you. But for those of us fortunate enough to have been a part of this work, to see it up close, let me tell you, it can energize and inspire. And more often than not, your faith in America – and in Americans – will be confirmed.

Mine sure has been. Over the course of these eight years, I’ve seen the hopeful faces of young graduates and our newest military officers. I’ve mourned with grieving families searching for answers, and found grace in Charleston church. I’ve seen our scientists help a paralyzed man regain his sense of touch, and our wounded warriors walk again. I’ve seen our doctors and volunteers rebuild after earthquakes and stop pandemics in their tracks. I’ve seen the youngest of children remind us of our obligations to care for refugees, to work in peace, and above all to look out for each other.

That faith I placed all those years ago, not far from here, in the power of ordinary Americans to bring about change – that faith has been rewarded in ways I couldn’t possibly have imagined. I hope yours has, too. Some of you here tonight or watching at home were there with us in 2004, in 2008, in 2012 – and maybe you still can’t believe we pulled this whole thing off.

You’re not the only ones. Michelle – for the past twenty-five years, you’ve been not only my wife and mother of my children, but my best friend. You took on a role you didn’t ask for and made it your own with grace and grit and style and good humor. You made the White House a place that belongs to everybody. And a new generation sets its sights higher because it has you as a role model. You’ve made me proud. You’ve made the country proud.

Malia and Sasha, under the strangest of circumstances, you have become two amazing young women, smart and beautiful, but more importantly, kind and thoughtful and full of passion. You wore the burden of years in the spotlight so easily. Of all that I’ve done in my life, I’m most proud to be your dad.

To Joe Biden, the scrappy kid from Scranton who became Delaware’s favorite son: you were the first choice I made as a nominee, and the best. Not just because you have been a great Vice President, but because in the bargain, I gained a brother. We love you and Jill like family, and your friendship has been one of the great joys of our life.

To my remarkable staff: For eight years – and for some of you, a whole lot more – I’ve drawn from your energy, and tried to reflect back what you displayed every day: heart, and character, and idealism. I’ve watched you grow up, get married, have kids, and start incredible new journeys of your own. Even when times got tough and frustrating, you never let Washington get the better of you. The only thing that makes me prouder than all the good we’ve done is the thought of all the remarkable things you’ll achieve from here.

And to all of you out there – every organizer who moved to an unfamiliar town and kind family who welcomed them in, every volunteer who knocked on doors, every young person who cast a ballot for the first time, every American who lived and breathed the hard work of change – you are the best supporters and organizers anyone could hope for, and I will forever be grateful. Because yes, you changed the world.

That’s why I leave this stage tonight even more optimistic about this country than I was when we started. Because I know our work has not only helped so many Americans; it has inspired so many Americans – especially so many young people out there – to believe you can make a difference; to hitch your wagon to something bigger than yourselves. This generation coming up – unselfish, altruistic, creative, patriotic – I’ve seen you in every corner of the country. You believe in a fair, just, inclusive America; you know that constant change has been America’s hallmark, something not to fear but to embrace, and you are willing to carry this hard work of democracy forward. You’ll soon outnumber any of us, and I believe as a result that the future is in good hands.

My fellow Americans, it has been the honor of my life to serve you. I won’t stop; in fact, I will be right there with you, as a citizen, for all my days that remain. For now, whether you’re young or young at heart, I do have one final ask of you as your President – the same thing I asked when you took a chance on me eight years ago.

I am asking you to believe. Not in my ability to bring about change – but in yours.

I am asking you to hold fast to that faith written into our founding documents; that idea whispered by slaves and abolitionists; that spirit sung by immigrants and homesteaders and those who marched for justice; that creed reaffirmed by those who planted flags from foreign battlefields to the surface of the moon; a creed at the core of every American whose story is not yet written:

Yes We Can.

Yes We Did.

Yes We Can.

Thank you. God bless you. And may God continue to bless the United States of America.

If you are the serious type who cares about healthy conversations online, you need to go through these ideas, commit to them and that way you can better enjoy your time on Twitter/social media.

1. Create your own space:Be intentional about who you follow. If you are really picky, be intentional about who follows you by using the ‘private’ option for your account. That way, potential followers need your permission to follow you. If you have control over this, you may not even need the next 6 skills to get by.

2. Know When To End An Argument before it starts: Okay. The truth is, controlled environment or not, once your account starts dealing with thousands of followers and/or mentions, you already know control is already lost. Once people are lost in a crowd, it is always very hard trusting them to behave in a way that’d make their parents proud. You have to recognize those who are there just to disagree with everything you have to say, even when you mistakenly call them “rational.” Once you make an assertion and you see them mention you, your best response to such people? Ignore them. They just argue for the sake of it, not for the sake of improving the conversation or learning anything new. If you tweet, “I don’t like waking up before 8am on Sundays,” they are likely to go, “why are you discriminating against Sunday? Is it because Sundays are Christians?” You dig? No. It doesn’t make sense? Yes. That’s the point.

3. See the end from the beginning: Before you send a private message, imagine that message being leaked. Picture the effect on you. Then send it, edit it, or delete it. It is not just about trusting the recipient, things happen, people lose their phones, phones get hacked. So before you send those photos of yours, are you sure they are cool enough to be seen on all the blogs? Lol. Whatever. You got the point.

4. Avoid conversations that never end; You must recognize such conversations and make up your mind not to contribute to wasting a limited resource; time. Don’t join conversations on whether the wife should pound yam or cook for the husband. Avoid conversations like who’s better? Messi or Ronaldo? Pele or Maradona? Except you have the time to burn, do not join these arguments because they never end. They are pointless because they are based on emotional points more than they are based on statistics, facts or rationality. You can join an Arsenal v Tottenham argument, it is already a dead one, Tottenham always finish behind Arsenal.

5. Read conversations through; never join a conversation after seeing just one tweet. I know most of the above points have been about others being trolls and often irrational, you don’t want to be that person. So, do your best to understand the conversation before you add your own “I too know” to it.

6. Except if necessary, avoid changing your handle: More often than not, people lose the spark and brand value once they change their handle from the already recognized (and trusted?) one. If you must change your handle at all, at least announce the change to your followers. I find myself following accounts today that I continue to ask myself, ‘when did I follow this one?’ Trust me, not because someone went from ‘smart’ to ‘used to be smart,’ they just happened to change their accounts without letting us their ‘subscribers’ know.

7. Unfollow, mute, or block: I used to block trolls, not anymore. I refuse to acknowledge the existence of a troll. When you mute them, they are not aware that you are aware of their existence. And by muting them, you keep them out of your space. They still mention you, but you no longer see it. Except you decide to. When you block them, some of them even use the report as a badge of honour, that you took a second of your life to block them! An account I already muted sent a nasty tweet my way but I didn’t get to see it until another account I follow added <<>> to the tweet. I fixed the problem by unfollowing the said account, then muted it too. I forgot to inform the bearer to return the favour by unfollowing me. They can always return the favour at their convenience. Life is easier when you choose what you want to see and what you don’t want to. See, on many counts, social media is like the physical space? Would you argue with an irrational person out on the streets with thousands? So, why do we do this every minute online?

There is more but if you know the above, you will always be fine on Twitter – at least – and you can always find your way around social media once you clean up your space, away from trolls and irrational trouble makers. The job of spreading liberty, freedom and love around the world does not have to come at the expense of your own peace of mind and happiness.

© JJ. Omojuwa

On that 30th April 2014 when diverse citizens gathered to march in solidarity, no one could have imagined that any out of our 219 Chibok Girls abducted from their secondary school in April 2014 would remain in captivity of terrorists 1000 days after the tragedy. One recalls pictures of distressed parents supported by local hunters foraging through the path they were told that the terrorists had hauled away their daughters. Meanwhile, their government was missing in action cynically indifferent to the cries for help.

One of the parents said he was desperate to find his daughter by walking off into Sambisa Forest before the Nigeria Army prevented them, because the future of the entire family depended on that daughter finishing school and taking care of her siblings. How can we not be moved by such decisiveness on girls education in a region that topped both then and now, the chart of poor school enrollment and worse parity ratio of four boys for every one girl in school compared to the rest of the country?

Nations that have bothered to know the value of having all their girls in school have since discovered the multiple and diverse benefits. More than ever before in history, the economic health of a country depends upon the skills, knowledge, and capacities of its people. Research validates that countries which have made dynamic progress in the last century, are also the ones that help each of their citizens – male and female- to acquire the human assets of values, skills, knowledge and capacities that education bestows.

In addition to the obvious productivity and income earning benefit to the girl-child and their families, some of the data that validate a diverse range of benefits have global relevance. According to UNESCO, the “Children of mothers with secondary education or higher are twice as likely to survive beyond age 5 compared to those whose mothers have no education. Improvements in women’s education explained half of the reduction in child deaths between 1990 and 2009. A child born to a mother who can read is 50% more likely to survive past age 5″.

We are products of the values that shaped us. A Value that some of us imbibed while growing up is that nothing makes a female child inferior and so nothing should keep them from being educated. Those of our parents that held strong to such value bequeathed them to us by sending us to school despite our being female. Like the parents of the 219 ChibokGirls, our parents overcame all barriers that are known to limit educational opportunities available to girls around the world or even more specifically, our various regions in Nigeria.

For the forward thinking parents of the abducted girls, they desired that their daughters would not be part of the statistics of out-of-school adolescent girls. A recent report on Girls Education in Nigeria by the United Kingdom’s British Council found that in the North East, 54% of adolescent girls are out of school. In the North West, it is 53%, in the North Central, it is 21%, in the South South it is 9%, in the South West 6% and in the south-east, it is 4%. The ChibokGirls parents understood that at an individual and family level, the benefits of offering education to their daughters outweighed the associated social, cultural, religious, physical risks and economic constraints.

What they did not imagine as part of that calculus was that the physical risk to life for those who dared to show up in their Chibok school has risen substantially to certainty. Boko Haram terrorists are driven by the hideous determination to make knowledge abominable thus challenging our civilization. None of our ChibokGirls parents could however have imagined that neither their own government nor those of the rest of the world would defend the dignity of endangered lives of their children if anything like abduction happened.  None of those parents could have imagined that the lives of their daughters would not be protected by the Nigerian nation-state which has a constitutional duty of providing for the security and welfare of citizens- especially its young ones. None of those parents could have thought that having their daughters show up from their various schools in that local government to take their certificate examination with peers in that Government Secondary School Chibok,  would become a fatal choice between being educated or staying alive. 

Doubly tragic is that as we mark #DAY1000 since the worst nightmare of those Chibok Parents materialized, two successive governments have completely failed to be as bold as the parents of our missing ChibokGirls. From the initial self-preserving coldness, indifference, mockery and tentativeness of the immediate past administration to the “cannot-be-taken-for-their- word” hubris, lethargy and inertia of the current one, any discerning observer can see a common thread. It is the same we-don’t-give-a-damn atti tude that is making their successors who assumed office on the back of a strong promise to commit their utmost to rescuing the girls within six months in office;  to repeat history.

What is the cause of this empathy-deficit toward citizens by those that govern,  regardless of their political symbol and hue? The disconcerting answer is that among our political class,  citizens – whether dead or alive – have no bearing on the incentives that drive the quest for the right to govern them. Unlike those countries where leaders set their country Development vision on their citizens’ values, knowledge, skills and capacities, our own “rulers” place their stewardship quest not on the lives of citizens but on the certainty that oil will flow. Oil will flow and the public purse will flourish whether a citizen dies or is missing.

The logic is simple: As long as the proceeds from oil are guaranteed, the nation can afford to leave its children with terrorists for any length of time. For as long as oil flows and with that, the proceeds, the cutting short of any Nigerian life has no effect on the country.  It therefore has not mattered as much to any of the two successive Governments of Nigeria that losing our ChibokGirls is a loss to our national stock of human capital. That our Governments prolonged the time it is taking to give justice to children who were abducted in the course of their search for knowledge is a statement on the things we value.

Should any think this assertion to be farfetched, all they need do,  is, compare the swiftness with which our governments -regardless of which political crew run it- responds to any threat to the flow of oil in the Niger Delta. For our governments, the cynicism towards citizens- who with a certain measure of education are converted to human capital- is that they are of less value than a barrel of oil. 

This is where the parents of our ChibokGirls have more than a lot to teach our political leaders. These parents may not have any “political clout” – part of the reason that many adduce for the way their daughters have been neglected by our government– but they know something that our political rulers are yet to grasp: No commodity but our human beings like Chibok Girls, other abducted citizens, hundreds of Nigerians needlessly killed in distressed conditions in the North East, Mainland and South Kaduna, Agatu, Aba, Enugu, Onitsha, Jos, Keffi, Abuja, Lagos and such other places, can guarantee us the swift passage to economic development.

The slight redeeming prospect of the President Muhammadu Buhari led government as far as the specific matter of ChibokGirls rescue goes, is that in the last three months, it has managed to bring back 24 of them mostly through negotiation with their terrorist abductors. For our freed school girls and their peers in all the internally dislocated peoples’ camps in the North East, it is the duty of the Government’s – Federal and State- to place a premium on their education and skills acquisition to ensure that Nigeria speeds up the accumulation of our human development scores. The education of the girl-child benefits not only the girls and their families but their communities, states and nations. 

Following its inauguration in May 2015, the administration was trapped in more than 15 months of numbing indecisiveness on how to rescue our ChibokGirls, whether through military option or by negotiation with the terrorists. Twenty one of them were eventually released on 13th October 2016 to our Government by the terrorists and embraced by their exuberantly joyous parents. Just a few days ago, another one of the girls returned, having been accidentally found among terrorists and their victims that the Nigerian Army captured. She returned after 997 days in the stronghold of terrorists clutching an innocent baby,  rather than the certificate her parents hoped for when they took a risk to send her to school.

The tragic irony is that one of the reasons parents send their girl-children to school is to help delay marriage and child bearing while they acquire life skills for a better life. Rukiya Abubarka Gali’s parents while rejoicing at the return of their daughter yesterday, must be regretfully wondering like not a few other parents, whether it was worth it after all, to have made the choice for knowledge for their daughter.

That DAY1000 is upon us with still more than 80% of our Chibok Girls still captives of terrorists, the only person that can assuage their deep regret is the President and the Federal Government of Nigeria. The way it can do this is to ensure that not one more day goes beyond the one thousand days of suffering of our young daughters. This Federal Government must realize that the more it makes promises and fails to immediately back them with decisiveness and results-focused actions, it risks completely eroding its fast depleting stock of credibility and goodwill.

The inability and perhaps unwillingness to learn from mistakes is reason this Federal Government has again relapsed into inertia, lethargy, contradictions and silence on the status of its public pledge last October that another 83 of our girls would be back “soonest”. Our ChibokGirls have always been a symbol of several other victims without identity that are captives of our common enemies or those whose lives were wasted needlessly across the country. Now is the time for our President to find the courage to accord the highest value to the Nigerian life regardless of their region, religion, ideology, political persuasion, social and economic status above any other thing in this country. 

We must not allow more deaths over and above 18 of the brave mothers and fathers who sent their girls to school.  The hope of those deceased parents and the ones alive  was that their girls would go on to become part of our more enduring capital. They did so, trusting that their Government cares about the dignity of life. It is time for the remaining 195 daughters of these courageous parents  who voted for girl-child education to return. 1000 days are already too long. Mr President, we want more results! It is time to bring back home our girls now. And alive!!

“….. Ochonu once asked el-Rufai for a job and got turned down. He has been unable to put behind him that incident, but the truth is that at that time, el-Rufai could not provide him a job because only candidates with technical and numeracy skills were required. Available facts indicate that el-Rufai informed Ochonu and others with non-numerate and or science based degrees that they did not meet the criteria. Though Ochonu left for the US where he has done rather well, he has been unable to hide his disdain for el-Rufai mainly because of the latter as inability to bend the rules to suit primordial personal interests.”

“Moses Ochonu, as an Associate Professor of History works on a project that focuses on “non-Muslim consciousness to counter perceived Anglo Fulani hegemony”. His focus and project fit into today’s Nigeria that is terribly divided along ethnocentric and religious lines following the April 2011 political gerrymandering that has inflicted unprecedented damage on the fragile unity among the diverse ethnic nationalities of Nigeria.” Ajayi O. Olowa

My attention has been drawn to a publication by Moses Ochonu, a professor of African History at Vandervelt University USA. The article in question which appeared in Sahara Reporters of Tuesday 26^th December 2016 and Premimium Times, is a continuation of a bunkum he started since early 2000, the culmination of which we see now in this recent one on the southern kaduna killings to the extent that he makes a serious allegation against elrufai that he has embarked in a genocide. As far as I am concern this is a gravest allegation which should not be taken lightly.

However, before I go into details, the two quotations in the prologue have actually said it all. They have not only display the true motives of Moses Ochunu, but also summarised the historical background of his deportment; and the rationale for his mudslinging, diatribe and long-running malignity against Elrufai. And without the above revelation (that he wanted Elrufai to give him job at FCT), it would have been surprised to see that this Prof has dedicated his whole academic life to criticizing every moves of Elrufai from his days at BPE to date.

Be it as it may, there is no gainsaying the fact that Nigeria is faced with myriads of security and economic challenges, most of them inherited from the previous administrations. Kaduna state has had its own share of these security challenges in most parts of the state.

Addressing this myriad of challenges and putting the state on the path of greatness is one of the cardinal points on which the El-Rufai APC campaign promises hinged on.

Since coming to power, Mallam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai and his deputy, Barnabas Yusuf Bala, have faced, head-on the daunting task of addressing the root causes of security challenges being faced in the entire state. Every one of us in the state is aware that El-Rufai inherited rural banditry, violent attacks, and reprisals in southern parts of the state, cattle rustling and robbery in Birnin Gwari and other parts as well as rampant cases of kidnapping along Kaduna-Abuja expressway and other parts of the state. Suffice it to say that these cases are not only peculiar to Kaduna state; there have been attacks by suspected herdsmen in Benue, Nasarawa and Zamfara states.

While farmers-herders conflicts are not new to Nigeria, the attacks in Southern Kaduna have drawn the attention of many with many voices speaking against the attacks. It is a good thing for all well- meaning citizens to come out against evil and wicked acts such as these but using the pains of those victims affected to gain politically or for any other selfish and sinister motive is wickedness and inhumane to say the least. Sadly, many have taken this path. That will be left to God and posterity to judge but where these people breach the constitution, the law enforcement agencies will be the right institutions to address them in accordance with the law.

It was indeed a bleak Christmas for people of Goska in Kaninkon and the government of Kaduna State is sad about it and has since condemned the attacks and sympathized with the people while strengthening security in the area. The government has stressed its commitment to see the end of the perpetrators.

But in his characteristic manner, as revealed in his previous publications where he promotes divisions, Moses insinuated that there is a war to exterminate people of Southern Kaduna and the governor of Kaduna is sponsoring it. He even likened it to the unfortunate attacks in Agatu, Benue state. But the question is who is at war with the people of these communities? What is happening is part of a plethora of security challenges facing Nigeria; insurgency in Niger Delta, Cattle rustling and Killings in Zamfara, Armed robbery in Birnin Gwari and kidnapping in many other places in Kaduna metropolis where high profile individuals and politicians were victims as well as other parts of the country. It is sad that Southern Kaduna issue has lingered since 2011.

And in his attempt to disown History that he studied and earns a living teaching, (and I wonder what kind of History Moses is teaching his students), he denied existential facts linking the crisis of Southern Kaduna with April 2011 post-presidential elections. These were facts established by the 70-man Peace and Reconciliation Committee set up by the Late Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa which established that the crisis is directly linked to the April 2011 elections.

As the chief Security Officer of Kaduna state and one who wants to see the end to these security challenges, El-Rufai set up the General (Rtd) Martin Luther Agwai’s committee which arrived at similar conclusions. The report of the committee which was submitted on the 1^st of February, 2016, also established the existence of a feud between foreign herdsmen and Southern Kaduna communities. The reports stated that some transhumance Fulani pastoralists were affected by the April 2011 post-presidential crisis during which many lives were lost and properties destroyed.

The month of April marks the beginning of the raining season in Southern Kaduna and central Nigeria and, therefore, at that time, the transhumance Fulani were on transit back to the Northeast, Northwest, Chad, Niger, Cameroun, as well as Senegal and Mali. They were compensated by the government on the loss of their cattle and to pacify them not to come for revenge on that account. So also were other victims of the crisis assisted or compensated.

As a professor who studied history, Moses Knows that conclusions are only drawn on the strength of available facts but he is doing a disservice to the Academic Discipline of History by twisting facts, providing misleading information as he is used to, and raising languid arguments that are devoid of solid premises while drawing conclusions that lack logical strengths and evidence.

While he goes on to play his game of promoting sentiment and hatred,  Moses should know that the El-Rufai led government will continue to handle what he is elected to do which is provide leadership to the people of Kaduna state. On this, the government will not be deterred or distracted

Preachers and promoters of hatred, divisions, and confusions will never prevail over good intentions. This is because God and all good people in the state will join forces to overcome these forces of evil, and by the grace of God we will see the end of these criminals.

If Moses and his likes are concerned about the conflicts that is claiming lives, apart from their condemnation of El-Rufai and using the media to conflagrate the embers of hatred, what meaningful suggestions have they ever posited, how have they helped the people they claimed to be supporting?

A question for Moses Ochonu, do you have respect and value for history even if its facts stands somewhat opposed to what you stand for? Are you denying that there was an outbreak of violence immediately after the presidential elections in April 2011,  are you contesting that Fulanis were killed as well as their cattle during the crisis, would you deny that immediately after the outbreak of post-election violence, the attacks and counter attacks escalated in Southern Kaduna? It will be sheer mischief to ignore such facts, particularly by someone in the academia and even a professor who teaches African History.

Moses Ochonu has joined the group of those who massacre well known evidential facts of history by twisting facts and propounding unfounded lies and fallacies. There have been attacks in the immediate aftermath of 2011 post-presidential elections in Kaduna after which President Good luck EbeleJonathan set up the ShiekShehuLemu Committee. One more action taken by the Federal Government was to set aside money to compensate those who suffered loss from the crisis, compensations were paid and herdsmen also suffered the loss of cattle that the government of Kaduna paid.

Naisr El-Rufai did not legitimize revenge and has vowed to always arrest those involved in reprisal attacks on innocent people. El-Rufai has always called on people to report cases and issues to the constituted authorities in their areas such as community, traditional rulers or law enforcement agencies. He has been working with the FG and all security agencies to tackle the restiveness in the state.

While people have their constitutional rights to freely express their views, those who peddle lies should know that posterity and God will judge them. El-Rufai will continue to do what he thinks and knows is right and his allegiance is to God his maker and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The governor and his cabinet are deeply committed to the oath of allegiance they took to uphold the constitution of Nigeria. Protection of lives and property is topmost in their minds. And this, the governor will pursue with all seriousness without letting baleful people to distract him from this obligation. He is working assiduously with all security agencies to not only apprehend criminals carrying out these evil and wicked acts but also make them and their sponsors face the wrath of the law.

Ochonu relishes presentation of disjointed facts and information, and conclusions in order to portray the Governor of Kaduna state as supporting the killings going on in Southern Kaduna by criminals, which drapes from the reasons I quoted above. And his tendentious analogy portraying Nasir El-Rufai as a Fulani supremacist who supports Fulani terrorists to carry out genocide in Southern Kaduna is hardly surprising too, giving the above quote also. It is not different from what Moses is known for; that is promoting divisions and encouraging sectionalism especially among the different sections of the populations in the north.

That is what his book “Colonialism by Proxy: Hausa Imperial Agents and Middle Belt Consciousness in Nigeria” and other publications sought to achieve.

Had he beckon the sense of history , a simple search through contemporary history and check on the profile of Nigeria politicians would have revealed to him that there are few politicians in Nigeria today whose political appointees, partners and associates are drawn from different sections of the country other than Nasir El-Rufai. This is incontrovertible and it has been El-Rufai’s tradition and principles.

Hinging his demonization of El-Rufai on the attacks of 24^th and 25^th December in Goska, and the government measures taken to curtail security it, Moses disowned history and massacred well known facts and evidence just to paint El-Rufai as a failure and one who encourages the killings in the region.

But the real facts of his penchant for demonization of Elrufai have just been revealed. His own is not a genuine interventions but an attempt to settle a personal score. He feels the only way to get Even with Elrufai for refusing him job is to constantly write bad about him. But while the Prof has taken that self-vocation, he is indirectly smacking the pedagogy he’s riding on. He is creating an image of intellectual vacuity for himself, for how can you relegate your academic life to constants criticism of single personality?

Mukhtar Garba Maigamo,

A Public Commentator, Conflict Resolution expert lives in Kaduna State.

** The views, sentiments and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the position of Omojuwa.com

The InsideMainland.com‘s 2016 list of ‘Lagos Mainland Most Inspiring Personalities’ is a compilation of men and women who, against all odds, thrived in 2016 and whose professional and social endeavours served as an inspiration to members of communities of the Lagos Mainland.

Since the turn of the year, these personalities have continued to extend their personal achievements, but their motivation to stay the course and push the envelope in their sphere of influence is the key reason for being on this list.

The InsideMainland.com team, which is dedicated to reporting events on the Lagos Mainland, believes it is critical to celebrate these individuals, not only we need to have them do more, but so that many others will be inspired to create their own story of achievement.

From Prince Ogaga and Stanley Oghenerukevwe, Ajegunle’s resilient fashion entrepreneurs, to street music mogul Olamide Badoo who runs one of the biggest music label in the country, to charismatic youth advocate, Dayo Israel who is vying for the Lagos Mainland Local Government chairmanship position and Hon. Jimi Benson, the popular Ikorodu lawmaker whose innovations have directly impacted positively on the members of his constituency, here are the Mainlanders that inspired us in 2016 in no particular order of importance.

1. Jimi Disu
   

A keen advocate of communal development in Lagos State, Jimi Disu is the voice of reason for the average Lagos residents, especially those on the Lagos Mainland. His candid commentary on public affairs on radio is well listened to within the seat of power in the Lagos State.

In 2016 alone, Jimi Disu has through his radio shows – The Discourse and Front Page News, fearlessly questioned some of government policies and actions. One of such battles was against the State Government’s shut down of communities to enforce the ‘environmental sanitation’ exercise. He inspired those who took the case to court to stay their course until the policy was revered later this year after 21 years.

2. Hon. Jimi Benson

Born Babajimi Adegoke into the popular Benson family of Ikorodu, Lagos, JB as he is fondly called, built a career that has taken him through both the private and public sector with a proven track record in public administration.

As part of his plans aimed at communal development, Hon. Jimi Benson who represents the Ikorodu Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives initiated different people-oriented projects in 2016. Among such projects is the iCare Foundation solely funded by him which operates the iCare Food Bank where the elderly ones get monthly food items.

Furthermore, as part of Hon. Benson’s pet project, 80 beneficiaries graduated in the first phase of the #StartUpIkorodu three-month Accelerated Skills Acquisition Programme (ASAP) in November 2016.

The applicants were tutored by seasoned facilitators on a three month skills acquisition programme which covers areas such as information technology, fish farming, computer graphics, computer programming, among others.

These aforementioned projects alone sets the lawmaker apart from other politicians on the Lagos Mainland.

3. Chude Jideonwo

Born in Surulere axis of Lagos, media and Public Relations expert, Chude Jideonwo is a young man who has grown to be a force to be reckoned with in his career. His goal is to inspire young people across Africa through his youth-targeted platforms such as Y!Africa, Y!Naija, The Future Project Africa, among others.

Despite his countless achievements, his friendliness and humility is impeccable. In 2016, Chude and the Red Media, a company he co-founded was prominently featured on CNN’s Inside Africa platform for their stride and continuous growth of the brand and the impact on the African youths.

4. Hon. Abiola Gbenga

At only 28 years old, Hon. Abiola Gbenga was sworn by the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode as the Sole Administrator of Agege Local Government alongside 56 others across the State, in June 2016. He currently the youngest Local Government Administrator in Nigeria.

But don’t let the age, and calmness deceive you, Hon. Abiola Gbenga exudes undiluted confidence and eloquence. This single achievement is truly an inspiration to youths on the Mainland and across Nigeria.

Hon. Abiola Gbenga set the notch higher in December 2016 when he donated his monthly pay – the sum of Two Hundred and Ten Thousand Naira (N210,000:00) – to three students who graduated top in the annual Agege Local Government vocational training programme. Watch out for this young polician!

5. Seyi Taylor

If you are an avid Twitter user or a Techie, then you must have heard of or encountered Seyi Taylor. Although he graduated as a Medical Doctor, he has grown to become an authority in the Nigerian Technology and Digital media ecosystem.

Seyi is the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of the Big Cabal (owners of Zikoko, Techcabal and Radar). His name and company has been featured on major platforms like Financial Times and Bloomberg.

Seyi who resides in Ikosi on the Mainland, continue to extend his influence in the tech space by setting out to create a band of young world-class developers in Lagos. He also connects them with employers around the globe who are in search of top tier talents.

6. Dayo Israel

A restless polymath and disruptive innovator as he succinctly describes himself, Dayo Israel is one of the leading youths on the Lagos Mainland today.

A chairmanship aspirant vying for the post of Lagos Mainland Local Government, Dayo Israel has successfully hosted various community-based programmes all through 2016. In August 2016, Dayo organized a three weeks intensive skills acquisition and mentoring programme where 10,000 residents of the Mainland Local Government, including school leavers, students, artisans and unemployed adults who intend to learn to be self-dependent were trained.

A globally recognized personality with over 15 years of professional experience in international development having worked with organizations such as The United Nations, British Council, Save the Children UK, UNICEF, in various capacities, Dayo was selected by the United Nations to represent all delegates to the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children on a special CNN Live Interview. Also, he was specially invited by Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh to a private reception at Buckingham Palace as a result of his contribution to Africa Diaspora Development.

Also, Dayo Israel in 2016 renovated the All Progressives Congress (APC) party secretariat in Lagos Mainland. Similarly, he surprised many when he surprised a homeless family by renting and furnishing an apartment for them. During the process, a relative of Dayo also offered to pay for the rent for another year and while Dayo financed the fish business of the man in question.

Dayo has also secured the support of influential politicians such as Senator Oluremi Tinubu, Former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Mrs. Sarah Adebisi Sosan, Mrs. Orelope Adefulire, among other several others in his quest to become the first citizen of the Lagos Mainland Local Government.

7. Olawale Adigun

A graduate of Mass Communication from the Lagos State Polytechnic, Olawale Adigun is the Head of Sports of urban radio station, Top Radio 90.9 few years after he first interned at the station.

Starting out as a radio OAP, his career has now progressed to TV appearances as he now features on different sports programmes both on satellite and terrestrial stations.

Olywal as he is fondly referred amongst his peers against all odds scooped the prestigious Nigerian Sports Award for the Sports Journalist of the year (Radio) 2016 beating the popular Murphy Ujemba of Brilla FM among others to the most coveted prize. As a result, the focus driven Ogba resident has grown into a household name.

Currently, his radio programmes – Back to Back Sports, Sports Café, and Lets Talk Nigerian Football – has created the needed avenue for youths who desire to talk sports across the community giving them the opportunity to test their ability via the medium.

Some of those youths who fondly revere Olawale publicly include his protégé, Adeshina Peter, Adepoju Tobi, Joseph Bassey, Olawale Quadry, alongside his gang of radio journos.

8. Kenny Blaq – Kehinde Peter Otolorin

For Ejigbo based Kenny Blaq, 2016 was the breakthrough year. Despite the increasing competitiveness of the comedy industry, Kenny Black distinguishes himself through his brand of music and comedy shows.  From his rib-cracking performance at Ali Baba’s January 1st concert and AY Live 2016, to winning the Naija FM Comedian of the year award, the talented comic act was a speaker at the TEDx Ikeja and was also the only comedian that performed at Darey Art Alade’s ‘Love Like a Movie’ Concert.

The young man can be aptly described as the next big thing in comedy.

9. Olamide YBNL

Born as Olamide Adedeji, the rapstar cum label executive has never been shy of his Bariga roots. As a matter of fact, his works has put the once dreaded community on the world map for positive reason. The superstar, now residing in Magodo, has been an inspiration to youths of all classes.

This year alone, Olamide won the Nigerian Entertainment Awards (NEA) Album of the Year, City People Entertainment Awards’ Rap Artist of the Year, and Rap Act of the Year.

Away from that, established mainland youths such as Lil Kesh, Adekunle Gold, Young John among others all owe their successes to Olamide’s creative ingenuity and the opportunity he afforded them to showcase their talents.

Gearing up for the third edition of his forthcoming show, Olamide Live In Concert (OLIC) III, Olamide has announced he is set to release his sixth studio album titled ‘Glory’ today, December 26, 2016.

10. Eva Etese

Organizing a food fair in a community as large and diverse as Festac is no easy feat, but that didn’t perturb community blogger, Eva Etese. She proved her passion for community growth when in November 2016 she hosted the Festac Food Fair, the first of its kind in the Festac community.

Eva embarked on this mission in a bid to help local food vendors – and other community businesses – thrive despite the nationwide recession.

The Food fair served as platform to connect small business owners with prospective customers which is the first of its kind in the history of Festac.

11. Simisola Ogunleye – Simi
    

Born in Ojuelegba and now residing in Magodo, Simisola Ogunleye better known as Simi is truly a pure-bred Mainlander. Popular for her sonorous vocals and storytelling style of music, Simi made major waves this year.

Her hit single ‘Love Don’t Care’ gained widespread international attention in 2016, same year she was awarded Female Artiste of the Year in the 2016 City People Entertainment Awards.

Additionally, she proved her dexterity as a talented sound engineer when she mixed and mastered Adekunle Gold’s 16-track debut album entitled ‘Gold’ – save the song ‘Sade’ – which was released in July 2016.

12. Dayo Akintobi

Dayo Akintobi is the publisher of Ilupeju Today, a community themed newspaper that focuses on Ilupeju axis of Lagos under the Odi-Olowo Ojuwoye Local Government area.

Since the inauguration of the newspaper, Dayo has through the platform told exclusive stories and also thrived communal issues that require the urgent attention of the government of the day.

As a result of this, he has grown into a force to be reckoned within the community and also an inspiration to other members of the community.

Presently, Dayo’s newspaper, Ilupeju Today ranks as one of the widely distributed community newspapers which also has the recognition of the Lagos State Government.

13. Davidson Obennobo

20 year old Davidson Obennobo made history in 2016 when won the ninth edition of the Aquafina sponsored Elite Model Look Nigeria and also became the first overall winner of Elite Model Look from Africa.

Following Davidson’s win in Nigeria, he represented the country at the 33^rd edition of the Elite Model Look World Finals in Lisbon becoming the first black man to win the most coveted prize as the overall winner.

The Elite Model Look is considered as the gold standard in the fashion and modeling world and Davidson emerged winner with international contracts worth €150,000 (you are free to calculate that against the Naira at 1$-480).

His feat at the World Finals proved that Mainlanders apart from brains and knack for success, also have the swags, talents and looks to succeed at the world stage.

14. Demola Olanrewaju

Born and bred in Surulere, Lagos, Ademola Olanrewaju aptly known in social media circles as Demola Rewaju is one of the most vocal voices on governance and communal development in Nigeria.

Now a resident of Oko-Oba, Agege axis of Lagos, he is a creative writer and presently the political analyst and strategist of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). A youthful Demola looks set to be the poster boy of a rebranded PDP (if they ever do rebrand) as his leaning supports a professionally-run political party. He was actively involved in all the PDP electioneering in 2016 across the country.

on the side, he runs a portal where he dishes out thought provoking articles, opinion posts, and other notable activities that has gotten the attention of key decision makers in the public and private sector.

Also via his social media platforms, Demola engages youths and continually educate them in issues relating to governance, politics, economy, education and many more.

As a result, Demola who describes himself as ‘sapiosexual’ and idolizes late writer and critic, Bola Ige, is well celebrated for his advocacy for community developmental growth across the Lagos Mainland.

15. Olabinjo Olanrewaju – Onyabo Vigilante Head

Mr. Olanbinjo Olanrewaju is the Provost Marshall of local vigilante group, Onyabo, headquartered in Ikorodu, Lagos. Since the creation of the group several years ago, Lanre, as he is simply called has been at the fore front of fighting crimes such as cultism, armed robbery, rape, kidnapping, and land grabbing among other illicit acts in Ikorodu community.

In 2016 alone, the Onyabo group led by Olanrewaju arrested more than 150 cult members as part of the efforts to ensure sanity returns to the once peaceful Ikorodu community.

Olanrewaju and his team have foiled several cultist attacks as well as arrested prominent members of the various cult groups wreaking havoc in Ikorodu and its environs.

16. Cheta Nwanze – Chxta

Magodo based Cheta Nwanze better known as Chxta in social media circles initiated the popular #HistoryClass as a response to Nigeria’s removal of history from its school curriculum. Chxta currently reviews the headlines on Smooth FM, Lagos, with his unhinged candour loved and hated in the same breath by his listeners. Yet, his commentary on local, regional and national issues are believed to be largely unbiased.

in 2016, Cheta through his SBM Intelligence, undertook researches into some of Nigeria’s most troubled regions. His works were referenced by influential national and international media organisations.

As an author, Chxta has written various articles, opinions, as well as contributed to important topics that got the attention of key decision makers in the public and private sector.

17. Megan Chapman

Although of British descent, Megan who resides in Yaba when in Lagos, is one of the few individuals who are in the fore front of advocating for a responsible advancement of waterfront settlers across the Lagos waterfronts.

In 2016, Megan and her colleagues through the Just Empower Initiative, organized different workshops, engagement programmes and also staged various peaceful protests to advocate for the rights of waterfront settlers in Lagos.

Recently, Megan and her team protested at Alausa to call for the revisal of the the eviction order and planned demolition of waterfront structures across Lagos State.

18. Tayo Nathan

It takes real guts to pursue a career in the highly dominated Nigerian fashion industry considering the influx of international brands and the dominance by established brands. While the industry continues to grow in leaps, only a courageous few like Tayo Nathan could take the bold step of venturing onto the the trade.

First winning the Farouz L’Original fashion contest, Tayo Nathan who lives in Ketu, Lagos, ventured into the industry in 2012 has weathered several challenges – great and small – to arrive where he is now. He has since participated at international fashion shows such as the London Fashion Week.

In 2016, Tayo was among the elite fashion designers selected to showcase their collections at the annual Heineken sponsored Lagos Fashion and Design Week.

Since launching his T.I. Nathan brand, Tayo has worked with international and established celebrities such as Noble Igwe, Richard Mofe Damijo – whom he styled for his milestone 20^th anniversary in the movie industry – Ramsey Nuoah, OAP Akah, Dice Ailes, among others.

Through his fashion brand, Tayo engages various youths across the Mainland where he affords them the platform to express their creative talents.

19. Adekunle Kosoko – Adekunle Gold

2016 was a big year for singer-songwriter and graphics designer, Adekunle Kosoko, popularly known by his stage name Adekunle Gold. Just two years after the Magodo based YBNL star shot into prominence with his single ‘Sade’, Adekunle Gold has really come a long way.

His album ‘Gold’ released in July, 2016 was a massive hit. Although it was released three days before the original scheduled date, it peaked at number #7 on Billboard’s World Album Charts for the week of 13 August 2016.

Also, the graduate of Lagos State Polytechnic won the awards for Best Song and Best New Act to Watch in the Nigerian Entertainment Awards (NEAs) 2016.

20. Dolapo Oni
    

Dolapo Oni is an Africa-focused Energy analyst and also the Head of Energy Research at the Ecobank Group.

Still in his youthful days, Ebute-Metta based Dolapo who joined Ecobank in 2012 is responsible for research and market intelligence on the energy sectors of countries in Sub Saharan Africa.

As a result of his resourcefulness and unbeatable knowledge of African energy market, Dolapo has grown to be one of the most sought after energy analyst across Africa. He has featured in all the high level discussion platforms and has been referenced by mainstream national and international media platforms such as CNN, CNBC Africa, Channels, Bloomberg, among several others.

21. Paul Kehinde
    

Surulere, Lagos resident, Paul Kehinde is a Nigerian power lifter famous for his record breaking feats since he ventured into the sports. The 28 year old power lifter competed in the men’s 72 kg power lifting event at the 2014 edition of the Commonwealth Games where he won the most coveted gold medal.

In 2016, the bundle of talents who is not deterred by his physicality became the toast of many across the world after he twice smashed the world record with a 220 kg lift in the men’s power lifting category in the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games held in Brazil between 7 and 18 September 2016.

As a result, Kehinde broke his own world record in the category beating Peoples Republic of China’s Hu Peng and Egypt’s Ibrahim Shaaban to the gold medal in the process.

In fact, Kehinde who was untouchable during the games, effectively competing against himself, lifting 210kg after opening his account at 205kg and going on to lift a world record of 218kg. Roared on by the spectators, Kehinde was buoyed as he smashed the world record lifting 220kg in the process.

To cap an amazing record breaking year, Paul Kehinde also beat superstars such as Nigerian footballers, Odion Ighalo and Kelechi Iheanacho, sprints star, Seye Ogunlewe and Bose Omolayo to emerge winner of the 2016 edition of The Future Awards Africa Prize in Sports.

22. Emmanuel Oyeleke

A photographer and tech enthusiast, Emmanuel Oyeleke is an inspiring individual whose childhood began with the quest to find fulfillment in developing computer applications which he excelled at until his passion for photography took him over.

Emmanuel has spent the past few years paving his own path with camera in hand, learning new things, living fully and taking on new challenges each day.

He was amongst the few photographers that participated in the 2016 edition of the annual Heineken sponsored Lagos Fashion and Design Week.

In 2016 alone, he has worked with influential personalities such as Mai Atafo, Toke Makinwa, Tosin Martins, Yemi Alade, DJ Spinall, etc. not leaving aside his photography work with other amazing brands ranging from magazines, fashion designers, international beauty brands, event planners and NGOs.

23. Laila Rahman – Leylarh Cadne

Born Laila Rahman, Leylarh Cadne is one of Lagos and Nigeria’s most sought after make-up artistes. She is famous for her compelling make-up videos popular among enthusiast, brands and her followers.

Leylarh shot into prominence after her team won the Fayrouz L’Original show in 2014, an occasion that preceded the release of her make-up look book which blew a lot of her followers away.

In her career, she has worked with faces such as Fade Ogunro, Zainab Balogun, Aphrodija, Stephanie Coker, DJ Cuppy, Toyin Jalapomo of Ndani TV as well as entering into a partnership with popular fashion platform, ThisDay Style for the various editions of her make-up projects and Bold Magazine.

In 2016, Agege-based Leylarh has taken her craft a notch higher by recording make up videos as well as other instructional projects, which have inspired huge followers who continued to learn and be influenced her progress.

24. Prince Ogaga

Born and brought up in Ajegunle axis of Lagos, Prince Ogaga has continued to inspire young residents of Ajegunle for over 15 years. This year, he and his business partner, Stanley Oghenerukevwe, successfully hosted the second edition of Ajegunle Fashion and Design Week, which attracted big names in the Nigerian fashion industry. The event also provided the platform for young models and designers across different parts of Lagos to showcase their skills.

25. Stanley Oghenerukevwe

A partner to Prince Ogaga, Stanley teamed up with his colleague in 2004 on a mission to ‘change the face of Ajegunle’. 15 years later, they have made an evident mark in their community, with countless initiatives like the Ajegunle Fashion and Design Week and other Skillpreneurship training programs aimed at improving the lives and well-being of members of the community.

FULL LIST here.

Dear President Muhammadu Buhari,

What have we done to you?

When I say ‘we’ I mean Igbo people, those ones from the South Eastern part of Nigeria – that place you have deliberately refused to visit since you became president in 2015.

What have we done to you?

Before you assume I am one of those wailers who do not see anything good about your government, let me give you some background.

Sometime in November 2014, I was in Abuja for a meeting, and coincidentally my father was in Abuja too. I went to say hello to him and I met some of his friends. We were all drinking and talking when the 2015 elections came up. I mentioned that I was supporting Atiku for president and one of them took me on. He asked me why I would support a northerner over ‘our’ own and I reminded him Goodluck Jonathan wasn’t Igbo. I also mentioned that even if GEJ was from Ohafia, our hometown, I still would not support him because I did not like how he was running the affairs of the nation. I listed all the things GEJ hadn’t done for Igbo people, and Nigeria as a whole and assured him that Atiku would do better. He asked me why I was so sure, and I told him I had met Atiku, listened to him speak passionately about Nigeria, read his plans, how articulate and feasible they were, and I was convinced he would be a fantastic president for all.

My uncle (that is what we call our father’s friends) smiled and told me he admired my zeal. But he said he didn’t trust northerners, because of history. He brought up the civil war, the marginalization of Igbo people over time, and said even if Goodluck Jonathan wasn’t Igbo, he was safer than a northerner, and his presidency would not hurt us in the east. I was irritated by his reason but I masked it. I thought he was being backward, recalling a civil war that ended in 1970. I thought he was regressive basing his votes on tribe. My assurance that Atiku would be a president for all Nigerians may have been condescending, but, yeah, I told him that and he wished me goodluck (no pun intended).

Fastforward a month later, you won the APC primaries, resoundingly too. Everybody knew I was a huge Atiku supporter, and I had my personal reservations about you – circa HOS 1983 – 1985, PTF Chairman 1994 and how you’d seemingly not done a lot to improve the world around you since you left power. But I also had a personal belief that rewarding someone who had performed woefully with my support/vote would be sending a wrong message to other politicians – that they can do what they like and we would vote them anyway. So, I pitched my tent with you. My uncle, relatives and friends who understood my campaign for Atiku were flummoxed. What was I doing campaigning for you, a former dictator? I told them I believe 30 years was enough to reform any individual and the Buhari of 1985 was no longer the Buhari of now. I told them you were a reformed democrat, incorruptible, stern, a former soldier who would decimate Boko Haram, and so on and so forth. I showed them that photo of you smiling in Isi Agu – you looked so good.

As expected, I received a lot of abuses and insults from my people. If my father was not the traditional ruler of my hometown, maybe I would have been banished too. Some friendships I had degenerated and ended because of my support for you. But it didn’t matter. My slogan then was, “#IHaveDecided to vote out GEJ”, and I did everything in my power, online and offline, to see him go.

March 28^th, we voted. And you won. And I was ridiculously happy. Change had come, and while I knew things would get hard – because of all the weeding and hard-resetting that were bound to happen – I was positive the suffering would be temporary and the enjoyment, permanent.

If GMB wins: Nation will enter HARD-RESET mod. Things will shut down. Cleansing will begin. 1 or 2 years of darkness, then Light (hopefully)

— Chidi Okereke (@Chydee) March 28, 2015

A lot had been said during the campaigns, certain ethnic groups had been polarized and I thought the first thing you would do as president was to reunite the nation.

Boy, was I wrong?

I cannot count the number of messages I received when you said:

“(Going by election results), constituencies that gave me 97% can not in all honesty be treated, on some issues, with constituencies that gave me 5%. I think these are political realities. While, certainly there will be justice for everybody but the people who voted, and made their votes count, they must feel the government has appreciated the effort they put in putting the government in place. I think this is really fair….” 

I tried to rationalize it by saying the statement was misconstrued. I mean you mentioned that everyone will get justice and all. But I won’t lie, that was when doubts began to set in. Then you delayed in appointing ministers, and when you finally did, the list had me like ‘mogbe’. But that is not even why I’m writing you this letter. I want to talk about the people who gave you 5% of the votes you received in 2015. And I ask again, sir:

What have we done to you?

Oh wait. Are you actually angry that we only gave you 5% of the votes? Sure you must know that in every nation, certain regions will vote A while others vote B. And that is alright. But soon as a president is elected, he or she goes to work mending fences, building bridges and reuniting the nation. That is how it is done sir. I’d have thought you would know that, and try to assure South Easterners that you will be president for all – especially after the crude 97% vs 5% statement. I thought you would have maybe visited – Imo State at the very least, seeing as Governor Rochas is in same party as you. Okay, while a visit would do a lot to foster a relationship, it really isn’t that big a deal. Frankly, most Igbo people I know do not really care for visits. We would have appreciated infrastructure projects in our states though. We may be educationally advanced (relatively), but we lack certain infrastructure. For a start, the 2^nd Niger Bridge would have been great. A port in Anambra would have been awesome too, to take some pressure off the Lagos ports and reduce cost of getting goods to our merchants in the east. Okay, if those are too much, how about roads sir? Surely those are not too much. Last time I visited my village, I spent too much time driving from Portharcourt to Ohafia. In fact, the road to my village (which is in the same LGA as the Goodluck Jonathan Army Barracks) is now so bad, we have to pass a dirt road through another village before we get to ours. This costs us 3 times the time the normal road would have. No, the State Government cannot fix it because it is a Federal Road.

You see sir, we are not asking for too much. We are not asking for a refinery like the one in Kaduna. We just want good roads. But if you won’t do this for us either, how about you use your Commander in Chief powers and instruct the security agencies to leave us alone? How about you ask the Army, Police, Customs and Immigrations people to allow us travel in peace?

There is a reason Igbo people love traveling home for Christmas. It is a yearly ritual that would not end any time soon. These tweets by my friend Ugo is brilliant background on why the average Igbo person may live in a rented apartment in the city, while he/she owns a mansion in their village, where they go to ‘chill’ every holiday.

God bless you immensely @UgoTalksAlot God bless you real good. pic.twitter.com/PIyOlZBlrA

— D O D O (@godNae) December 24, 2016

But in the last few weeks, travelers going to the East from Lagos and other south-western states have been harassed, bullied and ripped off their hard earned money at road blocks mounted by Customs, Army and Policemen.

I have heard that these security agencies, particularly the Customs sometimes seize the bags of rice our people travel with. Those not ready to let go are made to cough-out from N5,000 to N20,000.

As if that is not enough, there is like a roadblock on every other kilometer in eastern states. I mean, you could drive all the way from Lagos to Delta and encounter 10 roadblocks in total, but between the Niger Bridge and Imo State, you would encounter over 70 checkpoints mounted by Police, Army and/or Customs. Travelers are made to face harrowing traffic jams because of these roadblocks, harassed by the uniformed men and sometimes extorted.

Pardon my language sir, but this is madness!

Again, what have we done to you?

Why are there so many security men in our land? Are we a threat? Last time I checked, (apart from the lack of federal benefits), the only threats we are facing in the southeast is the menace from herdsmen. Why do these soldiers not just round up all the herdsmen and put the fear of python dance (whatever that means) in their hearts? Why mount ridiculous roadblocks, intimidating and making life difficult for our people? Are they checking for bombs? That will be funny because we all know where bombs are being detonated in Nigeria. How there are no roadblocks mounted every mile in the north (where thankfully the terrorist menace is reducing) but there are roadblocks everywhere in the south-east gives the impression that you want to push us to the wall.

Sir, what have we done to you?

Know what, I’m tired. Whatever we have done to you, we are sorry sir.

Please ask your men to reduce the roadblocks and stop harassing citizens who just want to visit their families and make merry, despite the recession we are in.

Another day, we will talk about Nigeria as a whole, and on that day I will show you this tweet.

GMB is not a God. My vote for him is one of hope, that things will get better. If he flops, I will passionately campaign against him in 2019

— Chidi Okereke (@Chydee) March 28, 2015

See testimonies from my fellow countrymen, who are agitated by this mistreatment of Igbo people. I hope you do something sir.

Regards,

Chidi Chydee Okereke

One of the most popular words associated with modern day governance at any level is ‘democracy’. The entire concept behind this word was first practiced in classical Athens and Greece in the 5th and 6th century when the people came out to “put” their representatives in office since everyone couldn’t govern at the same time. The practice meant power of the people in which every adult could influence group decisions. This therefore empowered an individual to directly influence outcome of elections and ultimately quality of governance and service delivery. Going beyond this point to more recent times is the definition of democracy by a onetime President of the United States of America, Abraham Lincoln, which presents it as being the government of the people, for the people and by the people. This perhaps captures the totality and efficacy embedded in this pattern of governance stating what should be the obvious in terms of enabling the average franchised individual to decide who represents their interest at different cadres of administration.

Over the decades most countries have come to adopt this system of governance due to the magnitude of power citizens have to continuously assess performance and delivery by their leaders and the compelling mandate leaders on their part have to ensure effective and efficient administration is felt by the citizens. For this reason such citizens have the right to periodically make changes that seek to protect their interests by virtue of their votes. Indeed this may be considered the most powerful tool which the citizens have. For this reason the citizen or voter may just be considered the most important force in the entire electoral chain because his decision determines to a large extent what becomes of the political entity in subsequent times. Little wonder the two candidates in the recently concluded American Presidential election, Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton did the needful to gain acceptance among the most powerful umpires- electorates. On 8th November 2016 Americans therefore decided whom they think best represents their interest in the White house- Donald Trump. Of course the two aspirants had divergent views on a number of issues and separate programs on their manifesto; the principal factor was in these aspirants seeing that their ideas for the future America after November 8 favourably capture Americans.

While it may be suggested that the American Presidential election shouldn’t form the basis for comparison when talking about Nigeria, it is also vital to point out that several common features are shared by the two countries, some of which include- system of government, tenure of office for elected public officials and type of legislature. These are sufficient enough to be used as basis for comparison. As a keen political observer issues such as immigration, defense, equality, security and human rights formed the core of campaign manifesto of the two aspirants and on November 8th the people came out to decide who their preferred candidate was. While many had predicted and thought Hilary Clinton will emerge winner judging from outcome of pre-election polls, the world was to be put in a state of utter consternation and bewilderment, billionaire businessman, Donald Trump had won the keenly observed American Presidential polls and even certain religious pundits had missed it in their “revelations”. How on earth could this have happened? What exactly went wrong? At what point did Hilary miss it? At what point did Donald strike the cord? Who exactly where those that voted for Donald Trump? Could there have been any form of malpractice or irregularity? Would Donald Trump now fulfill some of the coarsely communicated campaign “messages” he had for several months maintained? What becomes the fate of Clinton and women at large in the American society? What will Trump’s foreign policy agenda look like? What becomes the fate of millions of illegal immigrants who are resident in the US and have known no other home? These instantly became just a few of the questions that formed the core of discussions which held sway globally shortly after the polls. The most important thing however was that Americans had chosen their desired leader.

As earlier stated it cannot be considered grandiose juxtaposing all of these with Africa and particularly Nigeria. This comparison presents sharp contrast which calls for very serious concerns. In very recent times and within the present democratic dispensation a couple elections have been held cutting across the presidential, national and state houses of assembly, governorship and local government councils. In particular emphasis this writing has been necessitated due to the elections which have conducted between February 2015 and November 2016. It instructive at this point to recall events which occurred prior to the 2015 Presidential elections in which the candidate of the APC didn’t turn up for a debate for reasons still unknown. This to many political observers was an affront and open disregard of electorates and a mockery of the magnitude of stewardship the office of the President bestows on its key occupant. Humorously within the same country this to some others was a way of showing acceptance and endorsement as whether or not he turned up for the debate he would still win. Yet this gesture to some others was perceived as preconceived arrangement to subject their “brother” to some sort of ridicule and lay him as an easy lamb for sacrificial slaughter. The gravity of any debate set up for Political aspirants cannot be undermined as this provides the vehicle through which thoughts, insights and desires of the aspirants are tested and brought to bear when placed paripasu with those of their rivals within the same atmosphere.

Although it may be instructive to reiterate that Nigeria is a heterogeneous society with its citizens being faithfuls of varied number of religious beliefs and causes, these divisions in fact have seemed to pose a large part of the problem. Especially for campaign purposes politicians are usually in the habit of emphasizing the need for unity in diversity which in actual sense may be a complete misnomer in itself and seldom occurs. It is worrisome that the average Nigerian electorate takes into cognizance the religious and tribal affinity he or she has with the aspirant and completely trivializes the candidates’ portfolio of past efforts in administration at any level, importance of competence and zeal for purposeful service delivery. All of these are thrown into the trash and enthroned with the mendacious desires of giving such very important mandate to one with whom they share a similar tribal or religious connection. How ridiculous!

We need to understand social class and its place in electoral victory. The Rich care less about who becomes the leader since they enjoy a certain level of comfort that seldom gets affected from administration to administration because infact in many cases they “anoint” such leaders before they are put forward and are of course a very minute number, those of the average class seek greener pastures and are desirous of a more improved lifestyle. As such they have a level of responsibility in who emerges as the leader. While they form a sizeable number, they can garner support for the leader projected to them as their messiah, influence group decisions and outcome because they are usually educated and enlightened, though they can’t anoint leaders. The poor are in the vast majority of those who form the citizenry. They are sparsely educated, have very meager means of income, have retired to a life of abject lack and penury, obviously look haggard and emaciated due to decades of poverty, have no iota of self-worth and can barely afford the basics of life, do not even understand who their real enemies should be and so go after killing petty thieves but worship and adore with so much sacrosanct idiosyncrasy political and religious leaders who rob them blind at every given instance. All of these hold sway in Nigeria and may continue to hold sway.

It’s ironic but true. While the decision to choose credible leadership is one that requires very extensive use of words in convincing electorates towards winning their support as it is done in many countries, the media was awash with sorry pictures of laughable products and food items which were used as baits towards getting the support of electorates- obviously the poor. Products such as branded t-shirts, face caps, key holders, books, pens were distributed, while food items as branded bread and bean cake balls popularly called “akara” was prepared and given to people. What an insalubrious situation! People selling their destiny for mere edible commodities! What a country! What a pitiable pisma disma (in the words of a former federal legislator). Since the politician gave you gifts and food, perhaps he has fulfilled his side of the bargain even before getting into power. So what more can be required of him! It’s therefore insane for anyone to demand accountability from such public office holders who can obviously not be accused of any act of perfidy.

To say that Nigerians are among the most educated people on the surface of the earth is not in doubt. What is questionable here is how analytical people can get in talking about the problems, like they always have anyway. Very often are solutions which are proffered stuck to. Regrettably it should be known by the eggheads who occupy leadership positions in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that preparations for the next elections should commence as soon as the current elections are concluded. However we have repeatedly had situations where elections were postponed due to the unpreparedness of the electoral body and other supporting agencies. Cases which come to mind here are the 2015 general elections and the just concluded gubernatorial election in Edo State. For very many reasons INEC should understand the complexity associated with conducting elections in a country like Nigeria and put in measures to portray preparedness. Yet, with the passage of time and caliber of people in the commission the same scenario keeps re-occurring. For how long!

My friend once said “law makers are usually the biggest law breakers”. His statement may not be far from the truth. What happens in Lagos during election campaigns for the purpose of publicity is a complete contrast from what the state critically promotes. While monitoring the conduct of the last two general elections in the state it was observed that campaign posters and banners of political aspirants were used in “decorating” major streets and roads around. This in no small measure continues to create a society of excrescence which the state itself struggles to contend with. What’s more disturbing is the braggadocios temerity with which some megalomaniac politicians who had held various positions display these banners and posters for a return to power. Yet it is intriguing that these politicians more often than not get “re-elected” into power. So who elected them? Who gave their mandate for their return to power? Who are those that fueled the entire campaign process? What was contained in the manifestoes of these politicians that made them clinch power again? Too many questions with very few answers. Ordinarily it should be clear to the electorates that a person who disregards laws of the land while contesting will do worse when he has the keys of power entrusted to him. Therefore it shouldn’t come as a surprise when we see cases of flagrant disregard of laws, court orders and summons, intimidation, thuggery and high-handedness being displayed.

Nigeria’s power situation has continued to defy all solutions. Various individuals have occupied the position of Minister of Power- both those described as technocrats, academics and politicians. Yet nothing has happened. Absolutely nothing! All we keep getting are excuses and re-assurance. Yet again for how long? This same issue has now crept into elections. A device known as card reader which should ordinarily make the electoral process fast, smooth, easier and more transparent is usually part of the objects of much debate. All manner of debates both for and against its use during elections have been advanced. But two things are pertinent- firstly, what is the main hindrance to its use? Power! Secondly, why has its use continued to be discouraged? Corruption and electoral fraud! Ironically a lot of Nigerians know this, yet they still vehemently vote for those that won’t even allow the most infinitesimal level of transparency during elections take place. In addition to right to life, right to own property, another right which shouldn’t be taken from an eligible person is the right to vote. This right as subtle as it may be considered accounts for the possibility of all other rights being respected or trampled upon. All because the individual has been disenfranchised from performing his or her civic responsibility.

Kingsley Ohajunwa is a Nigerian writer. Reactions to this and other articles of his can reach him via kingsohajunwa@gmail.com

This is indeed a fascinating topic and a product of great research work. I decided to undertake in this research work to put in public space a motive expressed by the Turkish President, Recep Erdogan to extend his clampdown on Hizmet movement affiliated institutions as he has done in Turkey in the aftermath of the failed July 15th Coup. And with sheer disregard for the sovereignty of other countries, especially in Africa.

For a start, it is pertinent to shed light on the Hizmet movement and its activities. The Hizmet movement is a civic initiative rooted in the teachings of internationally respected Islamic scholar and writer Fethullah Gülen. It is a faith-inspired, non-political, cultural and educational movement whose basic principles stem from Islam’s universal values, such as love of the creation, sympathy for the fellow human, compassion, and altruism. Fethullah Gülen describes it as “a movement of people united around high human values”.

Three thrust anchors their activities globally, and these are love, tolerance, and peaceful co-existence. And what do they do essentially? Its members build schools and hospitals and they also engage in inter-faith works and charity. That is the Hizmet movement for you and nothing more.

Since 2013, there has been a demonization of the movement by President Recep Erdogan. For him, the Hizmet movement must be decimated, the schools and hospitals belonging to members of the movement be either confiscated or close down. This much he has done in Turkey in the aftermath of the coup attempt which he flatly accused Fethullah Gulen as the mastermind. But without any tangible evidence.

He made a request to the government of United States of America for Fethullah Gulen to be extradited, but his request was turned down for lacking in evidence. Fethullah Gulen has been living a reclusive life in a remote settlement in the United States of American since 1999. Those in the know of his activities says the 75-year-old cleric has been managing his failing health and out of circulation on the advice of his doctors.  Fr. Thomas Michel, a former Secretary for Interreligious Dialogue for the Society of Jesus stated in one of his articles on the failed coup that “For those who know Gülen personally or have had contact with the open-hearted and idealistic members of the movement, claims of subversive “terrorism” seem incongruous.”

But the Erdogan regime in Turkey would hear none of that. It has lost count of the number of schools, universities, media houses and hospitals belonging to Hizmet movement participants that have been closed down. So much so that international civil society organizations like Amnesty International and others have cautioned the Turkish authorities, and also, questioned the motives behind the unjustifiable clampdown on private investments.

President Erdogan hasn’t relented in his desire to decimate the Hizmet movement and its affiliated institutions. And one of his point of call is to African countries because he thinks African leaders can be influenced easily or hoodwinked to replicate his line of action towards the Hizmet movement affiliated institutions in their countries.   As a prelude to his request, Erdogan visited African countries including Nigeria in the months preceding the coup attempt and the motive was clear. He wanted the countries where Hizmet movement participants have investments to be closed. But the response he received wasn’t pleasant from most of the countries.

Alas, the failed coup provided that opportunity for him to further advance his agenda. And he reached out to almost all the African countries again, thinking this time around he has a more justifiable reason for the failed coup attempt.  For the case of Nigeria, it sparked outrage from the intellectual community, religious community and civil society organizations. He wanted schools and hospital to be closed. But the Nigerian government was emphatic in its response “this is an internal matter, and we have our rules and regulations. Besides, there ought to be evidence to back your claims.” And the rest is history.

Obviously disappointed, President Erdogan went for low-hanging fruits in Sudan, Somalia, and Guinea Conakry. I say low-hanging fruits because the countries mentioned above to an extent depend on financial aids from Turkey. In the case of Somalia, where it has spearheaded international reconstruction efforts after decades of war and instability, that closing the institutions was not a difficult decision.

In Kenya, Turkish authorities have pressurized the country to close down academic institutions even before the coup, but this request was turned down. In the case of Germany, the response the Turkish government was what it ought to get and an example to other countries where such demands have been made. Mr. Winfried Kretschmann, premier of Baden-Wuerttemberg, said

“I think it is not on at all for a foreign state to interfere in our internal affairs. We are responsible for these institutions and no one else. We will judge these schools with our discretion, and we are aware of nothing negative about these establishments.”

The Indonesian experience is also worthy of mention. Cabinet secretary Pramono Anung said. “Indonesia is a democratic country and will always prioritize democratic and active politics. Indonesia’s internal affairs remain Indonesia’s responsibility that includes anyone who has officially received the recognition of the Indonesian government. They will be governed by Indonesian law.” Same was the case in Tanzania Uganda and other countries.

The government of Turkey has gone ahead to establish a foundation called Maarif Foundation. The Maarif Foundation is a subsidiary of the Turkish government that was created by President Erdogan to take over the schools and institutions owned by members of the Hizmet movement in an attempt to extend his clampdown and purges outside the shores of Turkey.

The Maarif Foundation is currently reaching out to almost all African countries for these institutions to be transferred to them. And if such request isn’t forthcoming, he resorts to propaganda in the form of issuing a press statement on what hasn’t been agreed or discussed, ostensibly to influence the countries or create a false impression.

Recently, the President of the republic of Benin, Mr. Patrice Talon visited Turkey on a one-day state visit. After the visit, President Erdogan held a press conference saying that the President of Benin Republic has agreed to nationalize the schools and institutions belonging to Hizmet movement participants in Benin Republic and handover them to Maarif foundation to manage. Whereas this wasn’t the case, as the relevant authorities haven’t issued any statement to that effect.

It was the same gimmick he attempted to use in Chad when a delegation from Maarif foundation paid a courtesy visit to the country. The meeting ended on a pleasant note with no such item as transferring ownership of schools to Maarif foundation. But the Erdogan propaganda machinery went to press to speak on behalf of the Chadian authorities and possibly to influence their line of thought.

Two things are imperative here. What is the sense in advocating for the transfer of investments of private individuals to a government backed NGO? Is President Erdogan indirectly telling African leaders that his empire in Turkey extends to African countries hence the outrageous demand? From the preceding, it is clear that President Erdogan has little or no respect for African nations hence this anomaly. I also beg to state here that the politics of Turkey should be left in Turkey.

It is bad enough that he has closed down over 2099 schools, dormitories, and universities in Turkey belonging to Hizmet movement participants as the aftermath of the coup attempt even in the absence of any credible evidence linking Fethullah Gulen to be the mastermind of the coup. Does he need to insult the intelligence of others? It is quite unfortunate.

Ocheja is an expert on conflict and security studies and an alumnus of the Nigerian Defence Academy.

Hillary didn’t win the USA presidential election and Trump is now the president-elect. While many are understandably upset, as individuals we have to move forward. But there is a deeper underlying issue that we need to shed light on as well as provide a case for Nigeria to position itself as we move forward. It’s the issue of the middle class.

There are strong economic reason behind many of what we are observing on the global scene. This piece is not written as an opinion to the US election. The goal is to provide a fresh perspective to current developments. The intention here is to elaborate on less undiscussed yet critical factors shaping what we observed during the US and that government all over the world should pay critical attention to especial developing nations like Nigeria. What we saw first demonstrated in Brexit and more recently in the US election outcome are results of what has been accumulating for many years. Although globalization played a significant role, the core issue has to do with how the middle class has gradually been hollowed out of the global economy. You would have heard many government lay emphasis on the middle class. The Canadian government released its budget in March 2016 and called it “Strengthening the Middle Class”. Despite all the progress recorded globally in the past decades particularly from 2001 to 2011 with nearly 700million people stepping out of poverty, a significant number have plunged back into low income earners. According to Pew Research Center analysis, though there was growth in the middle-income population from 2001 to 2011, the rise in prosperity was concentrated in certain regions of the globe such as China. The middle class barely expanded in places like India, Africa, Southeast Asia, and Central America. Directly connected to the middle class issue is labour wages or labour shares.

To grossly simplify it, labor share is the ratio of total compensation of employees – wages and salaries before taxes, plus employers’ social contributions – over a national product or income aggregate.  It is a measures the fraction of national income accruing to labour. Both adjusted (after factoring things like family non-paid work, etc) and unadjusted labour shares in selected G20 countries (international forum of leading industrialised and emerging economies accounting for 85 per cent of world GDP and two-thirds of its population) have declined steadily in the past decade. Figure 2 shows this vividly. While labour has continued improve in productivity (with corresponding total factor productivity increase), real wages and compensation have not change as much. The majority of the gains from increasing productivity has been accrued to capital gains. Globalization brought about reduction in the isolation of countries in terms of cross-border trade and investment. Aided by aided by information technology, globalization allowed for the integration of people, companies, government, politics, culture and society in such a way that specific regions. Some regions have been able to build on their comparative advantages and with some elements of mercantilism become production power house. China is one of such countries.

On December 11 2001, after a 15years endeavour, China joined the WTO to become its 143^rd member and further integrating the country deeper into the global economy. China has made an all-out effort to raise the level of science and technology by implementing various international trade policies. China’s Ministry of Science and Technology and its former Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation proposed the strategy of “Trade Vitalization through Science and Technology” in 1999, which contributed to the increase of high-tech trade and the application of high technology to upgrade domestic industries. Since its WTO accession, China has further devoted much time and efforts at reducing and in some cases totally removing trade barriers. China eliminated import quotas, licenses, some designated trading practices and other non-tariff barriers. Automobiles, chemicals and electronics industries which were subject to strong government protection before are likely to experience restructuring due to the dismantling of trade barriers. China also committed to open trade within the service market sector such as banking, telecommunication and insurance allowing foreign investors where they were non-existent before. The newly emerging industries, like telecommunication, banking, insurance, and professional services will be flooded with foreign competitors equipped with leading technology and management skills, and future opportunities for technology transfer exist in these industries.

These developments in China had remarkable trickledown effect on the global economy. Keep in mind that China had the population base to run these emerging structures and reforms (I wrote on demographic advantages for countries with high population here). China quickly gained the most-favoured-nation (MFN) by WTO member due to the exchange for service related offerings that normalized trade relations. Most other trading partners have eliminated restrictions on imports from China which helped promote China’s labor-intensive exports in a large number of industries. Before china joined WTO, global profits shares received by labour was 60% while capital received 40%. Post WTO accession for China result in labour now receiving 40% of global profit while Capital receives 60%. Yet in America, China’s single biggest trading partner, sentiment towards the country has turned starkly negative. In a recent poll, 61% of Americans said that China’s recent economic expansion had been bad for America; just 15% thought it had been good.

As shown in Figure 3.2, China’s international trade volume has grown fast in the last 20 years with an annual expansion rate of 18.1%. It climbed from 20.64 billion dollars in 1978 to 2.56 trillion dollars in 2008, indicating the increasing opening-up of the Chinese economy.

As shown in Figure 3.3, China’s share in global trade and its global ranking have increased steadily since 1979. In 2008, China took up 7.9% in the global trade, and its global rank in terms of trade value was No. 3 (ranked after the U.S. and Germany).

The above analysis suggests that one of the most remarkable aspects of China’s trade performance was the rapid shift in the composition of exports from resource- and labor-intensive products to capital- and technology-intensive goods. China’s trading structure changed its focus from primary products to light industry and textile products in the early 1990s, and to machinery and electronic goods with high technology now. Processing operations have contributed significantly to the improvement of China’s manufactured exports with massive technology transfer through intermediate goods (see Figure 3 below). It provides evidence that the technological upgrading of China’s international trade has led to the building-up of highly internationalized and competitive industries including the electrical machinery sector.

There are a few questions that arise at this point? Has globalization only favoured China? Should we discontinue globalization and label it as bad as are already beginning to do? Or is the trend towards globalization inevitable? We have to figure it out somehow.

Here are my reasoning for Nigeria as we move forward:

1. There should be a massive investment in specific sectors where the country is endowed. Targeted sectors with targeted policy measure. Nigeria should position itself as comparatively advantaged in these sectors and build global competency and market for its products. This will take a huge effort undoubtedly but a government with a strong resolve and outstanding economic team can make this happen.

1. Total factor productivity (TFP) growth and capital deepening – the key drivers of economic growth – are estimated to jointly account for as much as 80 per cent of the average within-industry decline of the labour share in OECD countries between 1990 and 2007. One possible explanation has to do with the diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICT), which in turn has created opportunities for unprecedented advances in innovation and invention of new (increasingly cheaper) capital goods and production processes. This has boosted productivity but also allowed extensive automation of production and high substitution between capital and labour. Nigeria needs to do two things here. Find ways to attract capitals and build its ICT base. Foreign capitals will be difficult to attract if there is not security and stability. ICT can be a quick win for Nigeria because it has young, tech savvy generation that provide a huge talent pool that can provide long-term economic gain.

1. The high substitution between capital and low-skilled labour and complementarity between capital and high-skilled labour. Other scholars have advanced the possibility that, within this context, technical change could be even labour-replacing, in the sense that technological progress takes the form of machines replacing tasks previously performed by labour. In turn, this would especially reduce job opportunities for low-educated workers and, in practice, dampen the aggregate productivity of low-skilled labour. Nigeria need to progressively work on improving the quality of its labour force. This touches briefly on education reforms. More critical is the angle of skill acquisition and training for low-educated workers so that they can survive the technical deepening facing almost all industries today. Skilled (technical) labour supply should increases faster, thereby increasing incentives to create capital goods complementary to skilled labour, technical change would remain biased against the unskilled.

Seun Oyeniran is a’Going Global’ Responsible Leadership winner (http://ow.ly/siKWg ), economist, sustainable development advocate and believer that many great things can happen in our lifetime.

Tweet to @seunoyeniran

E-mail: seunoyeniran@yahoo.co.uk

References:

The Labour Share in G20 Economies, International Labour Organization Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development with contributions from International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group, Report prepared for the G20 Employment Working Group, Antalya, Turkey, 26-27 February 2015 https://www.oecd.org/g20/topics/employment-and-social-policy/The-Labour-Share-in-G20-Economies.pdf

International Trade and its Effects on Economic Growth in China by Peng Sun Liaoning (Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau (LNCIQ)) and Almas Heshmati (Korea University and IZA) Discussion Paper No. 5151 August 2010 http://ftp.iza.org/dp5151.pdf

“A Global Middle Class Is More Promise than Reality.” Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project. Kochhar, Rakesh. N.p., 2015. Web. 27 Nov. 2016. http://www.pewglobal.org/2015/07/08/a-global-middle-class-is-more-promise-than-reality/

“The Inconvenient Truth Behind Donald Trump’s Victory.” Zero Hedge. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2016. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-11-11/inconvenient-truth-behind-donald-trumps-victory

Williams-Grut, Oscar. “SILICON VALLEY CEO: People Are ‘lashing Out’ Because Technology Is Destroying More and More Jobs.” Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 2016. Web. 27 Nov. 2016 http://uk.businessinsider.com/zuora-ceo-tien-tzuo-on-globalization-populism-trump-brexit-fourth-industrial-revolution-2016-11

With 18 international experts on family and children’s rights, from 18 different countries, an International Not-for-Profit Organisation, UFUK Dialogue Initiative had lent her voice to promoting rights and privileges of children in Nigeria, when it organized a 2-day International Conference on Children’s Rights and Family in Abuja-Nigeria.

Even though children all over the world are seen as the leaders of tomorrow, millions of them across the world suffer, treated with reckless abandon and impunity, or sold into child slavery. The need to ensure these future leaders are protected and catered for, the United Nations General Assembly on the 20th of November 1989, adopted the Convention on the Rights of Child (CRC). Similarly, the then OAU Assembly of Heads of States and Government adopted the African Union Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child in July 1990. And Nigeria ratified both Conventions in 1991 and 2000 respectively.

The International Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) defines a child as “a person below the age of 18, and urges all governments to increase the level of protection for all children under the 18, regardless of their race, religion, or abilities, whatever they think or say, whatever type of family they come from”

“It’s in line with these proclamations and to further advance the rights and privileges of children in Nigeria, that UFUK Dialogue in collaboration with Arigatou International Prayer and Action for Children, the African Union (AU) and the Journalists and Writers Foundation (JWF) organized the 4th International Family Conference on Children’s Rights and Family in Nigeria,” says Mr. Kamil Kemanchi, the president of UFUK Dialogue Initiative. “UFUK Dialogue intends to open the ground for an academic discussion for the full realization of the rights and capabilities of children” he further added.

The well-attended conference which held at the main auditorium of the Nile University of Nigeria had representations from the government, private sector, religious organizations, civil society organizations, students, parents, and guardians.  Some of those in attendance were the Wife of the President who was represented by the wife of the Governor of Nasarawa State, Hajia Mairo Al-Makura, harped on the need for children to be accorded their pride of place in the society. “This conference is well-intended and highly useful. We all know that the family is the first place of contact for children and whatever they become is always a product of the influence of family” she stated.

There was also representation from the wife of the Senate President, Mrs. Toyin Saraki., Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs Princess Adejoke Orelope was represented by the Deputy Director/ Desk Officer (Youth) Mrs. Olaopa, O.M. and the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hajia Khadija Bukar Ibrahim was represented by the Director General of Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) Prof. Oshita O. Oshita

Senator Binta Masi Garba Chairman Senate Committee on women affairs who was in attendance, in her remark, stated that, “it is essential that a child must be helped, supported and protected against labour exploitation, violence, kidnapping, ill-treatment, molestation, and we all have a role to play” she further averred that parents, guardians, the community and religious institutions must play a part in an attempt to revive the communal upbringing of our children”

The organizers of the event, UFUK Dialogue Initiative agrees less. Mrs. Ayse Yigit, the coordinator of women affairs of UFUK Dialogue is of the opinion that UFUK Dialogue understands the role of the community and family in the lives of children, that is why it brought under one roof 18 international experts on children and family to the International Conference on Children’s rights and family, to provide intellectual answers to some of the burning issues that concern children, and the various factors inhibiting their progress in the society.

“UFUK Dialogue has been in the forefront of promoting peaceful co-existence among Nigerians. This year, we decided to do something different, which is looking at the family and family value system” she stated.

UFUK Dialogue Initiative was founded in 2011 in Nigeria with the mission to foster interfaith and intercultural dialogue, stimulate thinking and exchange of opinions on supporting and fostering democracy and peace all over the world and to provide a common platform for education and information exchange.

Also in attendance at the conference were representatives of the Sultan of Sokoto, the president of the Christian Association of Nigeria, as well as the representative of Bishop Hassan Mathew Kukah. The speakers at the event were Mr. Ignacio Socoas, director of International Relations of the International Federation of Family Development, Mr. Iyad Dweika, co-founder of Ramallah Centre for Human Rights Studies and Mr. Daniel Binge, a lecturer at the Federal College of Education, Pankshin, Plateau State.

Mr. Ignacio Socias in his presentation titled Children and Youth Well-Being, is of the opinion that effective measures are needed to support the psychological well-being of children and youth with sensitivity to family situations. “the world is still falling short in its promise and commitment to ensure the right to a safe childhood.”

Other speakers at the conference are Ms. Asma Shadid Kazi, an assistant professor at the Lahore College for Women. She delivered a remarkable paper on Children’s Education.  Another speaker at the event was Yusuf Ozdemir, adjunct professor of education at the Meviana Rumi University; Turkey gave a paper titled “Home Visit’s Effect on Child’s Behavior and Academic Improvement.”

“the status of the child at home and the communication typeset by the parents are two of the major factors that affect the child’s success. In a family, centered socialization process, children gain more skills and manners from which they draw behaviors and patterns that they must pursue. Therefore, it is crucial that family lives support school lives.”

Professor Tawanda Runhare of the department of educational foundations of the University of Venda, South Africa, delivered a paper on the traditional child rearing beliefs and parenting styles and the implication on human developmental needs. “poor parental upbringing, especially erratic parental discipline; parental rejection or low parental involvement in the life of the child can be predictors of social maladjustment or anti-social behavior of the child in the future.”

The International Family Conference is a biennial international academic conference which is organized by the Journalists and Writers Foundation (JWF), which holds general consultative status at UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Its aim is to stimulate interdisciplinary and cross-national collaborations and approach to various family issues.

“at JWF, we think sharing best practices from all over the world and expanding on those best examples for family policies is crucial to keep the family in the core of women empowerment and human rights discussions,” says Nuray Yurt, the vice president of JWF. “I would like to express gratitude to UFUK Dialogue Initiative and Nigeria for hosting the 2016 International Family Conference” she added.

The event also pulled together dignitaries from other countries, and they include; The Minister of Civic Education, Culture & Community Development in Malawi, Dr. Annie Patricia Kaliati MP, the Ghana High Commissioner to Nigeria, Williams Azumah Awinador Kanyirige, The Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, His Excellency Miguelangel Della Vecchia, and The Ambassador of Ecuador, who was represented by the Deputy Head  of Mission, Mr. Jaime Campas.

Also in attendance, were His Royal Highness Dr. Olusegun Salau Oba Yoruba of FCT Abuja, His Royal Highness EZE Dr. Nwosu Ibe Igbo Abuja, His Royal Highness Alhaji Umaru Mohammed Sarki Hausa Abuja, The Vice Chancellor of Ndjamena University Chad Prof. Ali A. Ifaggar, Programme Manager of Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Programme (NSRP) Dr. Ukoha Ukiwo, The Executive Secretary of National Universities Commission Prof.. Abubakar Adamu Rasheed, and the Chairman of First Surat Group of Companies., Mr. Hikmet Coban.

Other speakers at the conference included Muhammad Obaidullah, an assistant professor of Islamic studies at Manarat International University, Bangladesh, Henelito Jr Sevilla, adjunct professor and associate dean for administration and public affairs at the University of the Philippines Asian center. And Alexander Schuster, an Adjutant Professor and Lecturer in Law at the University of Trento. He is also the European coordinator of the EU co-funded project “Rights on the Move-Rainbow families in Europe.

Reverend Hans Ucko, the co-chair of the Council for Prayer and Action for Children New York, in his presentation “The Family and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, emphasised on how the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) underscores the important role of the family in raising the child and in respecting and protecting children’s rights”.

He further harped on the roles and duties of the government in supporting the family, and the potential role of religious leaders and faith communities as advocates for children’s rights.

I was close to tears as the results were coming in, I couldn’t believe what I was watching, I felt the world was ready for a woman President. I knew within me that the most qualified Presidential candidate ever was Hillary Clinton. Results from Ohio, Florida, Michigan et al shocked me.

This made me think and set myself for a moment of a sober reflection. Why did Donald Trump (a complete outlier) win?

 Some reasons popped inside my head.

1. Silent Trump vote

There really was a silent Trump vote that the polls failed to pick up on. The nationwide polling average gave Clinton about a 3-point lead overall, and the state-by-state polls indicated that she would win at least 300 electoral votes but the polls were as wrong as the pundits. Obviously, showing problems with the polls’ methodologies.

It seems equally reasonable to conclude that many Trump voters kept their intentions to themselves and refused to cooperate with the pollsters.

The extraordinary role of FBI Director James Comey in the presidential campaign cannot be underestimated either. Two weeks ago Clinton seemed on the verge of winning a double-digit victory but Comey’s Oct. 28 letter to congress which announced that the FBI was reopening its investigation into Clinton’s State Department emails, changed the momentum of the race. Clinton retook the polling lead at the end of last week, but the final polls masked the lasting damage that the Comey letter had done to her campaign.

Whatever the ultimate explanation for the polls’ failure to predict the election’s outcome, the future of the polling industry is in question after Tuesday. Trump’s astounding victory demonstrated that the polls simply cannot be trusted.

2. Celebrity beat organization

A longstanding assumption of political campaigns is that a first-rate “Get out the Vote” organization is indispensable. The conventional wisdom in 2016 thus held that Trump’s lack of a grassroots organization was a huge liability for his campaign but as it turned out, he didn’t need an organization. Trump has been in the public eye for over 30 years, which meant that he entered the race with nearly 100 percent name recognition. Trump’s longstanding status as a celebrity enabled him to garner relentless media attention from the moment he entered the race.

One study found that by May 2016 Trump had received the equivalent of US$3 billion in free advertising from the media coverage his campaign commanded. Trump seemed to intuitively understand that the controversial things he said on the campaign trail captured the voters’ attention in a way that serious policy speeches never could.

Most important of all, he had highly motivated voters. Trump’s populist rhetoric and open contempt for civility and basic standards of decency enabled him to connect with the Republican base like no candidate since Ronald Reagan. Trump didn’t play by the normal rules of politics, and his voters loved him for it.

Trump’s victory would seem to herald a new era of celebrity politicians. He showed that a charismatic media-savvy outsider has significant advantages over traditional politicians and conventional political organizations in the internet age. In the future, we may see many more unconventional politicians in the Trump mold.

3. Populist revolt against immigration and trade

It will take days to sort through the data to figure out what issues resonated mostly deeply with Trump’s base.

However, immigration and trade seem virtually certain to be at the top of the list. Trump bet his whole campaign on the idea that popular hostility to liberal immigration and free trade policies would propel him to the White House.

From the beginning to the end of his campaign, he returned time and again to those two cornerstone issues. In his announcement speech, he promised to build a wall on the Mexican border and deport 11 million unauthorized immigrants. He also pledged to tear up free trade agreements and bring back manufacturing jobs. From day one, he made xenophobic and nationalistic policies the centerpiece of his campaign.

Critics rightfully condemned his vicious attacks on Mexicans and Muslims, but Trump clearly understood that hostility toward immigration and globalization ran deep among a critical mass of American voters.

His decision to focus on immigration and trade paid off in spades on Election Day. It’s no coincidence that Trump did exceptionally well in the traditionally blue states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, all of which have large populations of white working-class voters. Previous Republican nominees such as John McCain, who embraced generous immigration policies, and Mitt Romney, who advocated free trade, never managed to connect with blue-collar voters in the Great Lakes region.

Trump’s anti-immigration and protectionist trade policies gave him a unique opening with white working-class voters, and he made most of it.

4. Outsiders against insiders

Trump will be the first president without elective office experience since Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s. Eisenhower, however, served as supreme allied commander in Europe during World War II and had unrivaled expertise in foreign affairs.

So how did Trump make his lack of government experience an asset in the campaign?

The answer lay in the intense and widespread public hostility to the political, media and business establishments that lead the country. Trust in institutions is at an all-time low and a majority of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction. The angry and volatile public mood made 2016 the ultimate change election.

Amid such a potent anti-establishment spirit, Trump’ vulgar (the most populous being ‘ grab em by the pussy) , intemperate and unorthodox style struck voters as far more genuine than the highly cautious and controlled Hillary Clinton. As the brash and unpredictable Trump positioned himself as an agent of change, Clinton seemed like the establishment’s candidate, an impression that proved fatal to her campaign. Indeed, Trump used Clinton’s deep experience in the White House, Senate and State Department against her by citing it as evidence that she represented the status quo.

Ironically, Bill Clinton won the White House 24 years ago using a similar anti-establishment strategy. In the 1992 election, he successfully depicted incumbent President George H. W. Bush as an out-of-touch elitist. Eight years later Bush’s son, George W. Bush, employed the same tactic to defeat Vice President Al Gore. And in 2008 Barack Obama successfully ran as an outsider against John McCain.

Trump is thus the fourth consecutive president to win the White House by running as an “outsider” candidate. That is a lesson that future presidential candidates forget at their peril.

Donald Trump has won. The world must move on, it is a hard pill to swallow but we have no option other than to support the incoming President.

God bless Nigeria!

God bless America!!

God bless the world!!!

Jake Corleone, single, is a financial and political analyst. His twitter handle is @hitee_

This topic is probably one of my best in recent times because it is as a result of real life encounters. And somewhat a response to a certain Huseyin Oztunc, who has been spreading outright falsehood on the Hizmet movement in Nigeria. For starters, Mr. Huseyin Oztunc is not a Nigerian, and his recent outburst is an affront to us as a people and tantamount to repeating what the Turkish Ambassador to Nigeria Mr. Hakan Cakir did when he requested that the government should close down Turkish schools in Nigeria.

I will start on high-note. The Hizmet movement is not a cult. The participants of the Hizmet movement are not terrorist. The Hizmet movement philosophy does not encourage any form of violence, let alone coup plotting. The Hizmet movement is anchored on love, tolerance, and peaceful co-existence. Mr. Huseyin Oztunc should please take note of this paragraph.

I decided to start on this note because a lot has been said and written in recent times on the activities of the Hizmet movement and Fethullah Gulen since the July 15th coup attempt in Turkey. Recall that the Turkish envoy in Nigeria Mr. Hakan Cakil made a horrible request for the closure of Turkish schools and hospitals in Nigeria belonging to a group of private Turkish investors who are inspired by the philosophy of the Hizmet movement. I was really dumbfounded because I could not understand the rationale let alone imagine if Nigeria was a part of Turkey under President Erdogan. I was glad that the Nigerian government vehemently turned down the request on arrival.

Back to the issue. The Hizmet movement is characterized in two distinct way. One is that it is not a structured organization and two it is always for good. Hizmet movement is not a formally structured or centrally-run organization, even though they have a presence in over 160 countries.  The absence of a central planning body which tells the participants what to do is another reason why the dynamism of the Hizmet movement puzzles observers who cannot understand how diverse people working autonomously in various locations can achieve outcomes that are coherent and mutually supportive. How is this possible? They have their inspirational sources from the teachings of respected Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen. They make a start with whatever means they have at hand in whatever situation they find themselves. They say: “Our duty is to strive and it is God who wills and guides the outcomes from our striving.” That explains how a group of investors came to Nigeria in 1998 and started the Nigerian Tulip International Colleges (NTIC) in a rented 2-bedroom apartment. And today, the NTIC schools have recorded tremendous successes with schools in Abuja, Lagos, Ogun, Kaduna, Kano and Yobe states. Over the years, they plowed back profits made into establishing the Nile University of Nigeria and the Nizamiye hospital through very legitimate and transparent means. This is very different from other foreign nationals doing business in Nigeria where profit made are expatriated back to the country of origin. I can’t readily tell how much was invested in the other NTIC schools and the university, but I know of the Nizamiye hospital that cost a whopping $20 million with state of the art facilities and hugely experienced Turkish and Nigerian medical personnel. The Nizamiye Hospital is a world-class medical facility. And I have to mention that the hospital amongst other services has a complete open-heart surgery team resident here, led by Dr. Mustafa Kirman, a renowned cardiovascular surgeon from Turkey who is credited to have performed over 15, 000 heart surgeries with 99 percent success rate.

The most significant aspect of the Hizmet Movement is its interfaith work. UFUK Dialogue Initiative in Nigeria, falls into this category. It has a mission to foster interfaith and intercultural dialogue, stimulate thinking and exchange of opinions on supporting and fostering democracy and peace all over the world and to provide a common platform for education and information exchange. They have demonstrated this in various ways. For example, on a yearly basis, UFUK Dialogue Initiative organizes seminars, conferences and round-tables on various issues bordering on peace, love, interfaith understanding and other topical issues. A good example is its annual Dialogue and Peace awards in honour of laudable contributions in fostering dialogue, peace, mutual understanding in Nigeria. Among the long list of awardees are the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, the Sultan of Sokoto, Sultan Said Abubakar, renowned Islamic scholar Sheik Ahmed Lemu, Bishop Hassan Mathew Kukah, and others too numerous to mention. These are great personalities in the Nigerian space, and they have come to understand what the Hizmet movement represents.

Recently, UFUK Dialogue organized an international conference on countering violent extremism through love and tolerance. This well-attended conference was in conjunction with the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution. And the positive takeaways cannot be over-emphasized. The principal goal of UFUK Dialogue Initiative is to promote peace in the world and contribute to a peaceful coexistence of the adherents of different faiths, cultures, ethnicities and races. This much they have demonstrated in Nigeria. UFUK Dialogue is not left alone in this charitable initiative.

Its sister organizations like the Nigerian Tulip International Colleges (NTIC) the Nile University of Nigeria, and the Nizamiye Hospital have been rendering services in Nigeria through the NTIC Foundation, which is more of the corporate social responsibility arm of the First Surat Group.

In 2016 alone, the NTIC Foundation distributed over eight thousand (8000) stationery packages to schools in the six area councils in the federal capital territory (FCT). The NTIC Foundation caters for a myriad of needs and social deprivations in the society. The project revolves around initiatives designed to heal the sick, feed the hungry, provide succor for orphans, protect entire communities against preventable diseases, provide nutritional support for poor households, among others. And they have been consistent in this regard over the years.

What about the socio-economic benefits of activities of the Hizmet movement participants in Nigeria through their various investments in schools, hospitals, and foundations? This fact also cannot be overemphasized because hundreds of Nigerians are in their employ and interestingly, whatever is realized as profit from these investments are plowed back to the system. This has been the tradition since 1998, and this fact can be readily verified by the relevant authorities.

This is hugely at variance with what the likes of Huseyin Oztunc and his co-travellers in Turkey and the Turkish embassy in Nigeria wants Nigerians to believe. They have gone as far as labeling the Hizmet movement a terrorist organization (FETO).  As I mentioned earlier, the Hizmet movement is not some structured organization that has a hierarchy. Far from that, it’s just a philosophy that is aimed for the good of society, that is inspired by the very respected scholar and writer Fethullah Gulen.

Fethullah Gulen is known worldwide for his teachings and writings. He has written extensively on various subjects that have received commendations. Worthy of mention is the book “Toward a global civilization of love and tolerance.” This book was a best seller. It was translated into 27 international languages. The book emphasized two things; “one is a call to Muslims to realize that Islam teaches the need for dialogue and Muslims are called to be agents and witnesses to Gods universal mercy. The other is an invitation for non-Muslims to move beyond prejudice, suspicion, and half-truths to arrive at an understanding of what Islam is.”

This is the person that is being accused of plotting a coup. And the people he inspires are terrorists? And if this what terrorism is about, I think the world would be a better place. I expect Mr. Husenyin Oztunc and his co-travellers to come up with something else.

“The path to success is to take massive determined actions” – Tony Robbins

The perception Nigerian have of summits and conferences is that of networking, all talks, some delicacies and it ends there. It is not that the ‘talks’ aren’t valid and loaded with potential solutions; it is rather the will to act that we continually have a problem with.

As the major discussions and break away sessions happened at the NESG yearly summit, a ray of hope seemed to shine on my face. Seeing President Buhari, vice President Osinbajo, ministers of the federal republic and the private sector sit and talk about various Nigerian issues and the way forward, you’ll just see how important the #MadeinNigeria theme should be to us all.

At the end of it all came the summary of the summit. It captured everything from the various sessions and discussions. Five key sub themes were highlighted and put forward by panelist, industrialist and government officials as key areas that need attention. NESG summed these themes into a ‘Will of progress’. I prefer ‘wheels of progress’ because when each wheel moves, it in turn drive the other. The wheels are set as motor gears, each independent but interdependent.

The NES22 ‘Wills of Progress’ mentions the following.

• The need to change our our attitude and behavior to already existing made in Nigeria attempts (products, services, technology and mentality).
• The next gear on the will was on the need to establish a surefootedness and clear communication of policies to engender investor and citizen confidence which should be driven by a well articulated National Development Plan which sets our developmental priorities, choices and paths straight and is accessible locally and internationally for anyone willing to invest. A clear example is taken from the Rwanda success story.
• The need to improve the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ in Nigeria was charged to the presidency as a front burner.
• On finance, the summit suggests the development which allows banks provide long-term capital for on-lending as well as a review of things excluded on the FOREX Market.

• On technology, the summit is of the opinion that having tech hubs and corridors laden with tech infrastructures in key cities alongside creative industrial parks and alternative sources and renewable energy should be the next priority.

The full breakdown is available on the NESG App when you download it (app download link – http://ow.ly/FTc4305NZph).

Talk is cheap, the ‘wills of progress’ should really be what they are – A WILL! Not just from the government or the NESG but from all of us. In the meantime NESG maintains it will continue to meet and discuss and call relevant stakeholders.

ON our part as an individual, we owe it a duty to reach out and challenge the government, NESG and most Importantly the media, so everyone is kept on their toes to deliver on what #MadeinNigeria truly entails i.e. economic growth and self sustainability.

Godfrey is a banker, data analyst and loves commenting on political and societal issues.

Youths are claiming they are no longer the leaders of tomorrow, that they are the leaders of today. Their claims and agitations have only succeeded in falling to the deaf ears of the ruling class, who are arguably fathers and grandfathers. It seems there is a reason for them not paying attention to the wails of these youths; does a father stop a child from leadership responsibilities in the family when he or she is old enough to put legs into the shoes?  The answer depends on the actions and inactions of the father, if the father is living an exemplary life that the child has gained immensely from, then there is no problem at all, as the child only continues with the right steps that have been laid. But what happens when the father is doing otherwise? He wouldn’t want the child to come in, so as for the bad legacy not to continue. But then, won’t the child grow again?

 Our leaders seem to be afraid they are not teaching the right lessons to the coming generation, and as such are afraid the coming in of youths my take the worse turn. The question then is, are the youths cladded in the ways of these fathers? If they are, am afraid these fathers are right with their assumption, but if they aren’t, what went wrong? How did the change come about? Corruption has not only tattooed the fabric of Nigeria, it has dyed it that there is almost no space for changes to come in. The problem is one that we don’t know if changes can occur again. In the times of thought, a man who is also a father stepped forward to help us out, as he believes dyes haven’t stained the fabric of this country completely, and as such he wants to come in to bleach the stained part of the fabric. Bleach? Yes, he said he wants to reshape the country. Would this at least create another perspective for our youths to see things rightly? So that they may thread the good path of selflessness, patriotism and compassion!

During the president’s election campaign in 2015, he vowed to fight against corruption and insecurity if elected to office as the President of Nigeria. The youths among other Nigerians, who wanted the right pictures to substitute the wrong ones in their frame taught it was only wise to give this man a chance, and then he was given the power to lead the country blessed with over 160 million people and her plenitude of mineral resources. Since his inception, the anti-graft war has remained unshakable, as he is doing everything in his capacity to bleach the stain on our country’s fabric. It would be necessary to ask at this point if the President is actually fighting corruption or corrupt persons. The reason for asking this question is to know if President Buhari intends not to smell corruption during his tenure alone, and to only leave office for it to come alive again, just has a fatigued man would come alive after a refreshing session with Chivita fruit juice.

There has being a number of cases reported, like the $2 billion arms deal that wasn’t used for its cause, also, the case of the former chairman of Pension Reform Task, AbdulRasheed Maina who was charged with alleged embezzlement, misappropriation and looting of police pension funds, and the invitation of Femi Fani-Kayode by EFCC for alleged #800 million campaign funds of the PDP among others. These are proves that the President is fighting corrupt figures and not corruption. Nobody is saying this is wrong, but what is important here is that the branches that are being cut off could sprout again, if the trees to these branches are not taken care of. Corruption is now an institution in Nigeria, and should be treated as one. Let the foundation of corruption be looked into, not its roof. If the hands of a number of people are cut-off successfully without structures causing corruption being looked into, then the government in town has failed in its promise to make Nigeria a corrupt free society.

The recent check of the judicial arm of our country has been drawing in a lot of comments. A part says the procedure that was employed in the investigation of the judges doesn’t follow the rule of law. This party feels the judges are not ordinary people though not above the law, thus, should be investigated if need be through the right channel. The other class to which many others fall into believe there is absolutely nothing wrong about the way the judges have been checked, saying nobody is above the law. These people are particular about why the arm that sees to corrupt offenses and other crimes would be involved in corruption. So they feel if these people are guilty, they shouldn’t hide under any law but dance to the tone of the music. Where are we going in Nigeria? What are the youths discerning from all these episodes?

Tijani Sheriffdeen is an undergraduate student of the University of Ilorin.

In 2015, I tested a hypothesis on youth entrepreneurship which I had held onto for quite a while. My question was whether we can foster and enable entrepreneurial ideas in young Nigerians than what currently ails. I decided to test this hypothesis at Lagos State Model College, Meiran in collaboration with Covenant University’s Hope Foundation Center. We set out to train students on how to write business plans, pitch business ideas with the AWP Network providing seed funding for this initiative. Out of the 300 entries we received the panel of judges selected the top three ideas. The AWP Network’s agenda was to take this a step further by connecting students who participated in this program to existing innovation hubs so that they can continue to work on their business ideas, refine their strategy and make it a minimum viable product in the marketplace. Well, the winners received the funds and surprisingly, gave the funds to their parents for “safe-keeping.” The students put their entrepreneurial ideas on hold and are focused on completing their education. I am curious to know why both cannot happen at the same time. Perhaps it is the intense cultural emphasis on education or the ingrained idea that excellence or success means completing a higher education.

I shudder to think: what if Michael Jackson put his genius on hold and did not start producing music until he completed a Master’s degree program at 25? How about Lebron James; imagine if he held off on basketball until he completed his Ph.D. program. What about Bill Gates? Or Mark Zuckerberg whom many young Nigerians admire so much and desire to be like as seen from his recent visit to Lagos and Abuja. I remain curious to know if Innovator Peter Thiel paid young Nigerians not to go to college and provided them with an opportunity to develop and pursue their business ideas, as he does with the Thiel fellowship program, would their parents allow. The truth of the matter is that many young Nigerians are discouraged from entrepreneurship and innovation until they have completed a higher education program and are confronted with an unfavorable job market. It is then that entrepreneurship is explored as an alternative. This should not be. Entrepreneurship needs to be nurtured, fostered and not only practiced in survival mode.

Nigerians are extremely competitive. In the United States alone, census data recognizes Nigerians as the most educated immigrant group. Nigerians are amongst the top doctors, nurses, lawyers, and engineers in the diaspora. However, we lag behind when it comes to startups and fostering entrepreneurial ideas as we are risk averse. In the context of community and economic development, and despite infrastructural challenges, business education and entrepreneurial ideas ought to be fostered early on.

In 2012, 4 Nigerian girls developed a generator that runs on urine. The girls received enormous publicity for their invention at the time. However, I am pushed to ask: Is anyone working with them to make their product a minimum viable one? Or will the girls have to wait until they obtain a Ph.D. and get married before they continue to explore their entrepreneurial ideas? Why do many young Nigerians have to wait until they complete a higher education and are in an unfavorable job market before embarking on an entrepreneurial journey? What will it take to change this culture that discourages entrepreneurship and innovation at an early age?

Certainly, Nigeria is not the United States. Nor is Nigeria considered a first-world country, but can be best described as an emerging economy. Peter Thiel, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Lebron James – don’t yet exist for us but we do have a few successful innovators who can help to inspire our youths on entrepreneurship and innovation. It is important that parents encourage business ideas and innovation in their children early enough so that it becomes ingrained, not as an alternative but as a path to economic freedom.  This is not an easy task. It also does not mean that entrepreneurship equates to street hawking or that parents will raise an “out of school” child. Both processes can and should co-exist.

Parents should not wait until their children have attained a postsecondary school education and are confronted with an unfavorable job market or at a job where the company never pays salaries on time before exploring entrepreneurship – this should change. When one is young is exactly when they can take the risks needed to make a change; be entrepreneurially disruptive and innovative. Schooling should be a worthwhile experience. Primary and secondary schools should look to establish innovation labs to encourage students to become more entrepreneurial. The school and the child could come up with a revenue sharing model should a student’s product become a viable one in the marketplace. The private and public sector can work together with schools to strengthen curriculums, establish a student-focused Innovation Lab Competition or a business plan contest for primary and secondary school students. The future lies with our youths. We need to do more to encourage, support and foster their “naïve” business ideas early on.

Mary Olushoga is founder of awpnetwork.com, a platform powering small business success for African entrepreneurs. Olushoga holds a bachelor’s degree from Union College in Schenectady, New York, a Master of Science Degree from Baruch College and has served as a public policy fellow at the University at Albany, Center for Women in Government and Civil Society. 

Olushoga is the 2016 winner of the African Youth Excellence Award for her leadership in business and public service, a Vital Voices Global Leadership Fellow, an IndiAfrica Young Visionary Fellow, a Women4Africa International Media Woman of the Year, a Crans Montana ‘New Leader’, the first-ever GOOD Maker/Oxfam America International Women’s Day Challenge Winner, a Nigeria Leadership Initiative (NLI) Associate, an Oxfam America Sisters on the Planet Ambassador and participated in the Sub-Saharan African Women In Public Service Fall Institute.

Olushoga has featured on BBC World News, Black Enterprise, iwantherjob.com, sheinspiresher.com, YNaija!, omojuwa.com, Sahara Reporters.com,  AFK Insider, Applause Africa, BusinessDay Nigeria, The Guardian Nigeria, The Nation Nigeria, ARISE TV, BET Networks, and presented her work on women entrepreneurs at the UK House of Lords, Duke University, Yale University, Union College, the Columbia University Africa Economic Forum, the United States Department of Labor Strategy Meeting on Inclusion, Entrepreneurship, and Disability, W!se Institute, the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, the United Nations ECOSOC Youth Employment Forum, and the Rockefeller Foundation Tech Salon. In addition to this, Olushoga writes for GE Ideas Lab, SciDev.net, The Guardian Nigeria and the Huffington Post.

The AWP Network is proudly recognized as one of the leading organizations supporting African Women in Technology.

Teachers are in the centre of the educational configuration, but they are denied, deprived and depressed. To redress the situation, teachers must attract a genuine professional status and be paid a special salary scale to address their social and financial disenfranchisement. – Raheem Adesegun

Teachers no more want to accord and assent to the saying that their rewards wait for them in heaven, they ask how they would at least leave meaningful lives before they get to be rewarded later in heaven. One important question to ask is, are teachers generally treated the same way? According to the American National Educational Association, depending on the state, high school teachers in the United States get as much as $48,631 while the best paid 10 percent in the field made approximately $86,720, while the bottom 10 percent made $37,230. This among other proofs shows that Nigeria is one of the countries that treat the noblest profession unjustly.

The Director-General, National Teachers institute (NTI), Dr. Aminu Ladan, points out that Nigerian teachers are de-motivated in Nigeria because their remuneration is abysmally low. Speaking at a symposium organised to mark the World Teacher’s Day in Abuja, Ladan said “in the past, teachers were motivated and had no option than to perform, but today, teacher’s pay is so low that most of them barely put food on their tables by the time they settled their children school fees, utility and medical bills, yet they are expected to perform magic. These set of people are those who nurture other professionals at being the best at what they do, so unfortunate they beg to be paid for the noble job they carry out.

One would begin to ask if the underpayment of teachers is one of the reasons why the standard of education has fallen in recent time. The truth is, the fall in standard of education is not unconnected to the fact that teachers are underpaid. Even when they are supposed to be paid the meagre wages and salaries they get, they still have to protest and shout on top of their voices. Just as a student would concentrate in class when so many things he/she feels should be in place are being met, a teacher would also put in his/her best when things are met at the appropriate time. What is expected of a teacher who hasn’t been paid for months?

Public schools are now poorly patronised because many feel teachers don’t carry out their responsibilities effectively and efficiently again, but then, how would they? When they are not being paid well? Even those who want to fulfil all righteousness still get cut back by the lack of instructional materials to help students learn. Out of every 10 students, only half of them want to become a teacher, even that half is still not convinced teaching is the noblest profession. There has been cases of teachers slumping in class while teaching, they get checked and are diagnosed for malnutrition. What do we say?

It is unarguable that teachers are the closest models to students after their parents. This makes it imperative for teachers to show the best of examples. Some teachers don’t get to dress well, since the little they get cannot cater for their wardrobes. When teachers don’t dress neatly, how does a student dress smartly? So, the financial disenfranchisement of teachers affects so many things. A times they come to class transferring aggression on students due to the closest reasons of unpaid salaries among others, tell me how the students understand in this type of condition.

Just as the above has been affecting education adversely, the influx of people into the educational sector is also one of the elements that have been affecting the standard of education. A recent survey carried out by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) rates the teaching profession as the highest employer of labour in Nigeria, garnering a total of 70,183 people from the employment market. People who finish and find no job find themselves in the classrooms doing the same thing some people are trained to do, no wonder our educational sector remains unmatchable. To improve the standard of education in Nigeria, the classrooms shouldn’t be the workshop of just anybody; it should be for the trained teachers. Also, these trained teachers should undergo retraining exercises from time to time; this would in the real sense improve the standard of education in Nigeria.

To whom less is given, more cannot be expected, if our teachers are remunerated well for their building actions, the products of their actions would be incredible and startling. They wouldn’t only be enthusiastic but would take up their jobs dutifully and would be sure they are opened to checks from their employers. Teaching is the noblest of profession and should remain as such.

Tijani Sheriffdeen is an undergraduate of UNILORIN

In recent years, we have been repeatedly told that education is being commodified and how it is a right and not a privilege. Nordic countries are cited as examples of countries where free education is obtainable and students in South Africa (SA) cannot understand nor accept why this cannot be implemented in their country. Are these students to blame? In a country where there is a high sense of entitlement since the end of the apartheid era and with high level corruption reported in government every day, are their demands not legit for education to be rightly prioritized?

The ruling party, ANC in their freedom charter released in 1955 promised free education to South Africans and even recently in 2013 as part of the communique from the 53^rd ANC national conference resolution held in Manguang stated that “the policy for free higher education to all undergraduate level students will be finalized for adoption before the end of 2013”. This is 2016 and nothing of such has been implemented. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in the past days since the students intensified their protests for free education pointed out that free education is an impossible promise and called on the ruling party to re-visit the freedom charter. It is therefore worth mentioning that we are in changing times and what was obtainable years back might be impossible today and in years to come.

The Nordic countries defined education as a civil right, not a private investment nor a commodity. Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Finland and Norway funded their free education policy with tax payers money which some of them soon realized was un-sustainable hence it was abolished by Denmark in 2006, Sweden stopped this policy in 2011 and non-EU students who want to study in English would start paying tuition fee from 2017 in Finland. Iceland and Norway government have also tried to abolish free tuition for international students but were met with stiff opposition from student representative councils who opined that this would sooner or later be extended to local students. The cost of funding higher education is very expensive and government alone cannot bear this cost hence the need to amend policies of free education in these Nordic countries.

A look at the state of public higher education in Nigeria just goes to show that education being highly subsidized by government is not sustainable neither is free education because this will only promote a dip in quality of education provided by these institutions. The state of the residences in public higher institutions of learning in Nigeria are deplorable at best and accessibility to e-journals for research is impossible, equipment are not available for research and so on. This is the situation in many other African countries and this is the edge South African universities has over these countries and this has made it a top destination of study for Africans who want quality and yet affordable education which can be compared to that obtainable in developed countries.

The South African economy narrowly avoided recession in 2016 and providing free education might be impossible for the government to accede to just now. What the government can therefore do is provide loans and scholarships for the poor who genuinely cannot afford the tuition fees. While Merit based scholarships and National students financial aid scheme (NSFAS) loans are available, needs-based scholarship should also be made available by the government for students too poor to assess the NSFAS loan. The master-card scholarship is a good example of a needs-based scholarship as it caters for the poor whose families cannot sponsor their education. Majority of students who get the merit based scholarships are from privileged backgrounds and they will easily oust students from townships who did not receive same quality of secondary education as the privileged children.

There is need for a robust debate around the issue of free education amongst all political parties, private sector and stakeholders in the educational sector so that this project of South African universities competing favorably with universities in developed countries does not disappear in coming years due to inability to reach a consensus able to sustain the project.

Dolapo Oladiran

(PhD Student, University of Pretoria)

dolapoladiran@gmail.com

Kaduna State is reputed as having the third oldest University in Nigeria and the only Aviation Technology Institute in West Africa. This is in addition to the fact that the state is home to at least 2 other Universities, 2 Polytechnics, 6 Colleges of Education and 4 Research Institutes that focus on diverse fields from water to leather and agriculture to health.

The presence of these institutions has helped the State build a reputation as being a melting pot for people from all over the country who come to study. It is in fact this reputation that informs its slogan as Nigeria’s Centre of Learning. Unfortunately, this reputation is fast becoming a thing of the past.

The Kaduna State Government in recognition of the dangerous decline of the state’s educational sector has decided to prioritize education. It has demonstrated this by the adoption of practical measures that include the provision of specialized scholarships, a large scale teacher recruitment exercise that provided for an additional thousand teachers in March this year, the procurement of teaching aids and a review of curricular with a view to bringing it more in line with current realities.

The Free Education Policy and the School Feeding Program were introduced in January 2016. Since then, enrollment rates have soared from about 1 million pupils prior to the commencement of the free feeding program, to about 1.5 million pupils presently.

Indeed, the cost of running a program with such a large number of beneficiaries costs the state government a lot of money.  At the cost of N1.8billion monthly, the School Feeding Program provides one meal a day to every public school pupil. There has been criticism of the program and some have argued that such an expense may be misplaced.

However, Kaduna knows that for it to become truly great again, its citizenry must be educated to the extent that everyone can contribute in intellectual value and practical know-how to the state’s development. Besides this, the continued operation of the School Feeding Program underscores the very high priority accorded to education and nutrition. Statistically, the guarantee of a free meal has been shown to be an incentive for school attendance among impoverished children.

Unlike most free education policies where a levy is charged for school uniforms and study materials, the Kaduna Free Education Policy comes complete with appropriate uniforms, school furniture and study materials at no cost to either the pupils or their parents.

Even better, the State seeks to expand this policy as soon as revenues improve such that all levels of Primary and Secondary Education are absolutely free. When this is done, it will ensure that a lack of resources can no longer be excuse for non enrolment. Currently, most Local Government Areas in Kaduna State have about 57.3% non enrollment rates due to a variety of factors including associated costs. By eliminating these costs the Kaduna State Government aims to eradicate the barriers to formal education amongst its populace.

In addition to all of these, school renovations are currently ongoing to make them more habitable and conducive for learning. About 1080 schools are currently being upgraded with modern teaching facilities, boreholes for safe and steady water supply and modern toilets to improve sanitation.

To make room for the increased enrollment rate occasioned by these upgrades, Kaduna has identified 12 model schools for total upgrades that go beyond furniture supply, borehole and toilet construction.

The current structures of these 12 schools will be rebuilt to allow for multi-storey buildings and boarding facilities including hostels and better equipped libraries. It is perhaps most exciting that 6 of these 12 schools are all-girls schools. This is in keeping with the Government’s commitment to promote and encourage girl child education and equal opportunities for both sexes.

A second chance program that aims to reintegrate girl-child dropouts is also being implemented; the program begins with monitoring dropout rates, weighing the reasons, incentivizing the drop out girl child to return to schools with the provision of bursaries and other study materials.

In spite of these lofty ambitions and efforts, you will be forgiven if you are not completely sold on their long term prospects. As we have witnessed time and time again, the problem with Nigeria is not an inability to introduce ambitious measures, the issue really is one of sustainability or the inability to pursue them to some sort of completion. The Kaduna State Government has a plan to forestall this and ensure that its education advancements are permanent.

On the 11th August 2016, the State sent a version of the Child Rights Bill to the State House of Assembly for consideration before the Governor’s assent, among many other provisions, the bill will include punishments for parents and guardians who do not enroll their children in schools. The hope is that this would help deter parents from keeping their children at home or denying them an education.

The challenges to the education sector are numerous but the Kaduna State Government through the measures mentioned above is looking to improve them, curb the rapid rate of non enrolment among pupils and live up to its potential as the learning capital of Nigeria.

Bashir Sanusi wrote in from Zaria, Kaduna State

Friday 19^th August, 2016 may turn out to be a historic day for efforts to promote healthy relations between the major faiths. On that day, dignitaries gathered in Kaduna for the commissioning of the International Center for Peace and Inter-Religious Harmony. The centre is at the instance of the World Council of Churches and the Royal Aal Al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought.

The Center for Peace and Inter-Religious Harmony located on Jabi Road in the heart of Kaduna received great leaders who have been in the forefront for the struggle to attain peaceful co-existence in Nigeria. Leaders like His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abukakar III, His Eminence, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, Archbishop of Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, the President of Christian Council of Nigeria,  Most Rev. Emanuel Udophia, and its General Secretary Rev. Yusuf Ibrahim Wushishi, the Secretary General of Jama’atu Nasir Islam, Dr. Khalid Abubakar Aliyu, Rev. Israel Akanji who stood in for the President of Christian Association of Nigeria, Rev Samson Ayokunle, Dr Usman Bugaje, Engr Samuel Salihu, former Secretary General of Christian Association of Nigeria, Rev. Joseph Hayab, spokesperson of Northern States chapter of Christian Association of Nigeria and other religious leaders were present on that day.

The significance of siting the center in Kaduna State is highly strategic, as Kaduna State has had its fair share of deadly ethno-religious crises since the 1980s. The center, mainly seeks to systematically document interfaith relations to inform national and international policy-making. The center will also fight and campaign against the manipulation of religion for political and economic gains that has plunged our dear country Nigeria into endless cycles of killings.

The Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, without mincing words said:

“My assignment today, is quite simple. I am to launch this important centre and I will do so very quickly. The second is to thank World Council of Churches and the Royal Aal Al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought for deciding to locate it in Kaduna. We are grateful and we do not take this honour lightly because this centre could have been located anywhere but in your collective wisdom you choose to locate it in Kaduna, we are very grateful.”

Highlighting the importance of the center, Governor El-Rufai who expressed optimism and belief in the initiative briefed the August visitors in August, the history of Kaduna town, saying, “Kaduna is a young city. In July next year by God’s Grace we will be celebrating 100 years of the creation of Kaduna. But it has a rich history. It used to be the only planed city in Nigeria because Laggard signed the first town planning order in Nigeria in July 1917. It used to be the only cosmopolitan city in Nigeria where every Nigerian and indeed every foreigner could consider his or her home without fear of being discriminated against on account of his ethnicity or religion.”

On the painful side of the history, the Governor continues, “Unfortunately since 1980, Kaduna has gone through 12 rounds of violence associated with ethnic or religious differences that have led to the death of about 20,000 people and the destructions of properties worth billions. As if that is not bad enough, our people are divided. The city of Kaduna is roughly divided across the river Kaduna. Most Christians live across the southern side of the river, and most Moslems live across the northern side of the river. This is the legacy we have inherited. This is not the Kaduna I grew up in. And this is why this centre is important to us. It is both a statement recognising the division in Kaduna but also an indication of hope that will unit our people and Kaduna will be great again.”

Renewing hope in the initiative, he further opined, “For me being at this centre, it is an honour. The Government of Kaduna State not only appreciates the centre being here but also gives every support necessary to make it a success. In our government policies, decisions and actions, we have been de-emphasising these differences.  For instance, we found that the government has two bureaus of Islamic Affairs and Christian Affairs separately, we dissolved them into one because we believed that these two religions have very little differences between them and it is our duty to compel them to work together so that they would understand one another.

“We believed that because of the legacy we have inherited, a bit of social engineering is necessary to bring our people to work together again. We are working on that programme of social engineering but we are not being helped by religious leaders because religion has become a business. It is no longer matter of spirituality and life after dead any more, what we have seen is that religion is a business. And those that profit from this business can only do so if they bring division.

“I hope this is the new beginning that will see the Christian Association of Nigeria, the Christian Council of Nigeria, Jama’atul Nasir Islam, and the other religious organisations, not only de-emphasising differences but promoting commonalities within our diversities; promoting peace rather than violent solutions to problems; and help in working with government by de-emphasise the divisions that some bad imams and pastors profit from. This is the biggest challenge we face. And we must learn from the well from the experiences of others. Our hope is that this centre will make a significant contribution in getting there. And as I said, we as a government of Kaduna State will work with this centre to ensure that its message of peace and inter-religious harmony is taken to another level.”

The Sultan in his remarks said commissioning of the center is a message to the world amidst several misrepresentations:

“This is an opportunity for us once more to tell the whole world that we have our own little problems in Nigeria like any other parts of the world, but we are not fighting and killing each other every other day of our life. Coming together as Moslems and Christians to forge once more a bond of relationships, understanding, commitment; standing by our holy books is a very great statement for everybody to know that we mean what we always say and we keep on preaching peace. This centre is supposed to be a centre for peace and harmony. And whoever has a problem, no matter how big you think that problem is, if you take it up to appropriate places and sit down and dialogue, you will find solutions to these problems.  Taking up arms and saying very hot words that will engender conflict do not help us.”

The Sultan who also stressed the efficacy of dialogue concluded by saying “I think the best thing we must do for our religions and humanity is to find a way to bring them down in order to talk. And I believe dialogue is the best option in any conflict resolution, not the use of force. We have seen countries where heavy machineries and weapons have been used but they have never seen peace. We have seen the world where people are killing one another but there is no peace there. And people are fighting to entrench a system that they believed is the best but still there is no peace.

“Are we saying that when Muslims are killing Muslims it’s okay? Don’t we come together and save humanity? Or are we saying when Christians are killing one another it’s okay? Don’t we come together and save humanity? We believe it is not so. That is not the teachings of our holy books. That is why I think this centre is different from others because we want to make it a centre focus and a centre where people can now come in to find out what has been happening. When people do have problems, which are normal, please reach out to this centre we will get to the bottom of the problems. You should take it to the highest authority; whether at the Federal or State level, and see how we can bring peace to the whole of our communities.”

The General Secretary of World Council of Churches, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit who delivered an emotional speech also had this to say at the historic event:

“In the midst of the struggles and pain of our world the World Council of Churches is seeking to journey on a pilgrimage of justice and peace, with our member churches, with our fellow Christians, but also with members of other faiths and all people of good will. This day is a significant one of this pilgrimage. We have come here as pilgrims, Muslims and Christians, to seek the will of God for justice and peace. We came four years ago and shared a vision of a centre here; today we see the vision has become reality.

“So this centre, and the constructive effort and work that has been undertaken for its establishment, is part of a story, the story that our faiths, both Christianity and Islam are both deeply committed to enabling their adherents to be, in the name of God, agents of peace for the repairing of God’s world and the honouring of human beings created in the image of God. My daily prayer, taken from the Song of Zechariah, a Prophet honoured I believe both by Christians and Muslims, ask God, ‘to guide our feet in the way of peace’. In the opening of this centre I believe that we have taken some steps forward on this vital way. I believe that just as any conflict and religiously motivated violence in Nigeria, ultimately has to be solved by the Nigerian people themselves, so also in relation to this centre, it is vital that representatives of Nigerian Christianity and Islam take the lead role in the direction of its work and development.”

Rev. Tveit who highlighted the structure of the center explains:

“First that the Centre is, and needs to be seen as, genuinely interreligious, by which I mean in this case, that it is owned and administered, and publicly seen to be owned and administered, by the Christian and Muslim communities on an equal basis. The Board of Management is made of both Christian and Muslim leaders 50/50 per cent and the goal and intention is to ensure that the staffing of the Centre, which will need to bring in a variety of expertise, will also represent the two religious traditions on an equal basis. The second aspect which I also believe is fundamental is that, though the Centre rightly has the word ‘International’ in its name, and both the World Council of Churches and the Royal Aal Al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought intend to continue to be supportive of its work, it is vital that our local Nigerian partners, the Christian Council of Nigeria and the Jama’atu Nasril Islam are and are seen as playing the leading role in the management of the centre and the direction of its work. The world will be looking at you and see how to take inspiration from what you are doing here in Kaduna, to address religious violence elsewhere in the world. Through what I have heard from you today, I am convinced that you can be a sign of hope to the world.”

I will end this review by reiterating the commitment and determination of the Kaduna State Government under the leadership of Governor Nasir El-Rufai in working assiduously towards ensuring inter-religious harmony and peace in Kaduna State.

Aruwan is Governor El-Rufai’s Spokesperson, aruwans@gmail.com, @samuelaruwan

Anticipation is building across Nigeria’s technology space as the call for entries for this year’s edition of the Etisalat Prize for Innovation enters its final week.

Tech geeks and innovators alike it seems, cannot wait to see the quality of entries that will be submitted for the 2016 edition of the Prize; and most of these enthusiasts expect a keen competition this year similar to those of previous editions.

The call for entries which opened in July will officially close on September 9. To submit entries, visit: prizeforinnovation.etisalat.com.ng . Winners will be announced in November 2016

Etisalat Nigeria, initiators of the Prize had announced the call for entries to the 2016 edition of the Prize as a demonstration of the essence of innovation to the advancement of technology entrepreneurs in Nigeria.

The prize which is part of Etisalat Nigeria’s commitment to promote mobile broadband penetration in Nigeria is designed to reward innovations that can encourage mobile broadband utilisation in Nigeria and Africa at large.

Chief Executive Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Matthew Willsher said the Etisalat Prize for Innovation is a reflection of the character of Etisalat in promoting and nurturing talent, since the platform would extend the conversation on the revolutionary impact of innovation and technology as it addresses social challenges the country.

The 2016 Etisalat Prize for Innovation will be awarded in two categories: Most Innovative Product/Service category which is worth =N=5,000,000 and Most Innovative Idea category worth =N=2,000,000. Both winners and the top 10 finalists will receive training at the Enterprise Development Centre of the Pan Atlantic University, Lagos.

1. To say that I was imposed on Edo people is unfair. I have been part of the renewal process since 2009.

2. I and my colleagues working with the Governor  designed the blueprint for comrade Adams Oshiomhole administration.

3. Knowing full well that youth employment is a major remedy to security breaches, we will link our security approach to industrialization, youth training, skills acquisition, civil construction and our robust public works programme which is aimed at generating over 20,000 direct employment in the first three years.

4. All I have done in my life is creating jobs.  Edo needs someone who can pull resources together. We will attract investments

5. If you have not financed or built anything you cannot start now. APC govt has met its obligations. APC has built infrastructure across the state.

6. In the past 8years, we’ve built about a thousand kilometres of roads, and investors can now access some remote parts of the state

7. We restored order,accountability and responsibility in Edo state after 8 years of PDP plundering

8. Through the provision of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Loans at single digit interest rates, we will encourage micro and small businesses to grow, medium enterprises will become large companies on the long run. This will create over 50,000 jobs as we intend to support over 20,000 MSMEs in the next 4 years.

9.Currently the electricity demand in Edo State is over 450 mega watts. We want to generate 20% of Nigeria’s electricity from plants sited in Edo State. We will attract more investments in large and small scale through electricity generation and working with the BEDC, we will ensure that more power is available for domestic and industrial use. We will also ensure that areas not previously connected will be linked with the electricity grid.

10.We will provide the enabling environment for women to achieve their highest potential by taking our women empowerment initiative beyond the phase of empowering women. We will empower society as a whole through the women because when we strengthen women we are empowering our domestic economy. We will advance government services when women occupy leadership positions.

11.In addition to providing access to Medium and Small Scale Enterprises financing for our young entrepreneurs, we will focus on the development of our youth through investments in sports, arts and crafts. Our key target will be to link these talents with resources to become globally competitive and access to markets to unlock their inherent potentials.

12. My Government will invest in training and capacity building of the civil service within a broad plan of refocusing the service to meet the 21st century governance demand.