Tag: Nigeria

The Sustainability of The Nigeria Lockdown.

Nigeria like many other African countries always like to take a cue from their European counterparts forgetting about the practicability of the model employed.

The Chinese government, on the one hand, deployed the lockdown method to curb the spread of COVID-19 although draconian in the implementation which yielded the desired result. The Europeans, on the other hand, assessed their environment and culture and came up with the concept of social distancing as that’s the most suitable in an European western configuration.

The government envisaged and identified the negative social-economic, and financial impact of the stay at home order and then rolled out palliatives in form of financial relief to cushion the effect of the financial strain on an average family during this precarious and perilous times. The government understands that mental health could deteriorate and begin to sink into mediocrity as human beings are considered social animals, they set up phone lines where people can reach out should the need arises to speak with a psychologist.

When I heard Nigeria adopted this formula I quickly embarked on some irresponsible rhetorics regarding the workability then I re-evaluated the scenario and concluded that we’re headed in the wrong trajectory.

Firstly, the vast majority of the populace live in extreme poverty thereby making an average housing look like a luxury. This vast demography settle in a nucleated, congested, and unhealthy environment where social distancing measures is seemingly impracticable.

Secondly, a large chunk of the population live hand to mouth meaning they can only feed if they work on a daily basis. The lack of database which has been the major drawback of our economic development has made it impossible to roll out financial relief adequately. Trouble and anarchy looms as people have started flouting the lockdown order, these individuals do not have a choice as they’ve been left with their faith, the basic needs like electricity, social security, employment opportunities, infrastructures, etc are absent and in some cases non-existent.

I do not understand a government that would implement a lockdown and not have a robust plan for the most susceptible individuals like a Door- to – Door feeding strategy and the provision of basic amenities. Sadly, in a nation like Nigeria, a copy and paste strategy like the case of their European counterparts cannot work as the financial and economic impact is more likely to kill than the virus itself. It’s about time they went back to the drawing board.

By Akintayo J. Akingbade

Email : Akintayoakingbade@gmail.com

22 April 2020
The Scam Industry

Scam is a multifaceted; multi-billion industries with no headquarter yet have several thousands of staffs across the globe with ever puzzling creativity to make victims vulnerable, unconsciously thirst and subject them for exploitation.

Scam has gone by several names known and unknown. For instance, con artist, scam artist, Nigeria 419, yahoo-yahoo among others. It is a fraudulent act to twist victim’s minds, gain their confidence in order to use it against them, exploit their emotional vulnerability and devoid them of all forms of thunderclap of realization of what is truly going on until it is already too late. They creep into people’s lives as a harmless friend but are master planners who would maximize the information they are able to gather from you against you without giving you a hint. It is arguably believed that the first wave of this criminal act came from Nigeria with popular tag 419 was carved out from the section of the Nigeria criminal code which outlaws the practice.

Scammers use anything and everything possible to achieve their goal cat-fishing with deep and elaborate research with checks and balances to feed their victim fantasy and eliminate their doubts. They work in stages using loneliness, depression, or losing a partner as tools while their personality is being tailored to fit their victim’s need. They are everywhere with overwhelming attention to offer, highly romantic, sometimes posing to be older and financially buoyant.

The next face is the real game-changer, it is known as the grooming stage where they use all the information gathered to infect their victim’s brain by exhibiting themselves as the perfect answer for their preys’ wishes and prayers. It is a calculated brainwash mechanism preceding a convincing story either of their large some of their money trapped somewhere or an inheritance that is not accessible or a situation that need to be attended to, before you can be reunited but a bit overwhelming for them which would require you to pay fees, charges or taxes to release such fund. They may also use the trust-guilt mechanism on you, asking you for your bank account details to help them make some transfer from your country to theirs using your details.

Secrecy further makes the exploitation possible as many victims don’t report the crime, not even to their friends and family in order to avoid criticism on their gullibility and sometimes shame due to their emotional involvement with a virtual friend.

11 November 2019
Plane: A symbol for success or A mere means of transportation?

In 1903, the Wright brothers invented and flew the first airplane, this was recognized as “the first sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight”.

Why was plane invented?

Airplanes are important because they are capable of transporting parcels as well as people to the other side of the world in less than a day. Airplanes deliver quick supplies to remote locations in emergency situations and restock military operations. Airplanes also improve medical care by quickly moving patients from rural areas to large medical centres and transporting organs to distant locations for transplants. Before the advent of safe and convenient travel by airplane, journeys took much longer and were more difficult. That’s why invention of airplanes was considered important.

Now to the main gist….

A plane is simply a means of transportation.

Dear Africans, 24 hours in Ukraine, United States of America, United Kingdom is same as 24hours in Nigeria, Ghana, we only experience time difference, please stop putting pressure on your brothers and sisters in diaspora. Depression is real. (more…)

11 October 2019
Be the change, start recycling

Nina is hungry, exhausted from balance sheets and her nagging boss, drained in her sweat and above all, she is stuck in a terrible traffic. Well, this is a usual thing if you live on the mainland and work on the Island in Lagos, Nigeria.

As she let her mind wander and glanced around in a hysteric manner, she observed a group of tired men hurriedly drinking from sachets bags (locally called pure water), which they landed on the ground after few seconds of quenching their thirst. Then, she gazed through the watercourse (gutter) that separated the road, it was filled with plastics of different shapes, colors, and sizes. She saw bottles, cans, disposables plates, plastic spoons, and sachet bags, nylon bags, etc…

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3 June 2019
Nigeria Election 2019: Igbo, Hausa Tensions?
There had been agitation across the nation during the preparation for the Nigeria presidential election slated for February 16, 2019, which got postponed to February 23, 2019, by the electoral commission. The incumbent President, Muhammadu Buhari got re-elected and set to be sworn in on June 12, 2019. Even though there were several propositions of rigging by members of the two major parties across several polling units, it cannot be denied that traces of hooliganism and violence were considerably seen in some states which led to the loss of lives and damage of properties.

It was a notable occurrence that the returning president could not win in any South Eastern State despite his gigantic winning in the North. Regardless, this puzzle is not out of context in any election settings as it has reflected in several election processes in the past. Meanwhile, his party remains the runner up across the Eastern region which means several thousand voted for him even in the East.

In 1914, Sir Frederick Lugard suggested that the two British protectorates: Southern and Northern will be under one single governor general. A few years later in 1939, the southern protectorate will later be divided into two provinces Western and Eastern. For the country was divided in such a way that the North had slightly more population than the other two regions combined which eventually marked the beginning of three geographical regions that formed along tribal lines, the Hausa and Fulani to the North, Yoruba in the South-West and Igbo to the South-East to create the present day Nigeria.

Should it be considered as a fallacy of hastening generalization to draw out a conclusion that, there is a rigid marginalization coupled with an embittered rivalry between the Northern and Eastern people of the nation following the results of the elections? Understanding that after the colonial period, Nigeria suffered a continuous regional tension, caused by ethnic competitiveness, educational inequality, religious extremists, violent insurgencies and economic imbalance, with the South complaining of northern domination, and the North feared that the southern elite was bent on capturing power. ¹

This lead to the Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Biafra War from July 1967 to January 1970 which was caused by the attempted secession of the South Eastern province of Nigeria as the self-proclaimed Republic of Biafra. Immediate causes of the war in 1966 included a military coup which resulted in General Aguiyi-Ironsi, an Igbo, assuming power as President, followed by a northerner-led counter-coup, the control of the lucrative oil production in the Niger Delta and the killings of over 80,000 Igbo people in the North of which half of them children. Could it be said that this coupled with the violent conflicts/killings in Southern Kaduna and Benue involving Christians mostly farmers attacked by Hausa-Fulani Muslim herdsmen may have fueled bitterness towards the present government of Muhammadu Buhari?

Our aim is not to dwell on the past but to reiterate that, “No sacrifice is too much to avert chaos, prevent any further incidence of criminality, protect human lives and spare the lives of the country,” as stated during the forum of former governors in vanguard news on July 20, 2017. The sacrifices start with the use of information at our disposal. Planting and building on seeds of contempt and hatred will not in any way help the country. The president has a burden of responsibility on the nation, not on the area that voted him in or his tribe.

References:
1. Britannica. com
2. The roots of Nigeria’s religious and ethnic conflict by Moses Ochonu
4 March 2019
Nigeria at a juncture

The right to information is the core of any good society, government, and economy; this is necessary for the prevention of malpractices, misconduct, abuse of power, violation of rules and illegal activities. In the Western world, the government is held accountable for all deeds in the past, present, and future because they know, that this shows respect and empower their citizens. By informing citizens adequately, they know when and how they should cast their votes, and most importantly gives them a chance to speak out against all sorts of injustices.

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4 February 2019