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Jun
6
This Blog Supports Barack Obama
Filed Under Opinion | 2 Comments
Image by jmtimages via Flickr
I started paying close attention to Barack Obama when it became obvious that he was a serious contender for the Democratic Party ticket. And I liked what I saw. What is there not to like about him? A combination of intelligence, good looks, and an almost rock star-like appeal sure makes him demand your attention whenever you see him talking on the TV. Someone on a listserv to which I belong – a listserv of academics – said that it would be a good thing to finally have an American president who speaks good English. Mr Obama’s appeal is not just that he speaks good English but that he seems to be a cerebral candidate; for one whose credentials in national politics are not that impressive, standing in his current position must have demanded a lot in character indeed. The match of accessibility to the media and the dignity with which he has carried himself through the campaign has earned him much respect in the media
For Blacks and more
A friend has said that his support for Mr Obama is based simply on the fact that he is black. Imagine how much good it would do for the psyche of the African American to realize that no ceiling exists for them anymore. What other barrier would there be to break after one (or ones kind) has attained the highest possible position in the United States of America? I share this opinion myself, and so does The Economist. They said this much in their May 10th – 16th edition, in an article Briefing Black America. For the rest of America, the kind of hope Mr Obama represents presents a refreshing picture. And how much tamer can the image of America get if they had a black president whose middle name is Hussein? There is hardly anyone with whom I have talked who does not think that America deserves the kind of change that Mr Obama does not just promise but that he actually embodies.
A lot more still
Yes, he has got the ticket now, but that is just the beginning of the race. We all know how dirty and dramatic American politics can get. The opposition will go through his past with a very fine comb. It is arguable that less would be found than if the comb were to go through Mrs Clinton’s; but there is always something to find. They will make a lot of his inexperience in matters of national security, an area that is considered to be Mr McCain’s forte. They will also make issues about his sins of affiliation – remember the Reverend Jeremiah Wright issue(s)? Questions about his patriotism will be raised, just like it was done with the flag-pin issue. But I hope the main issue will be reduced to policies. And I hope this is the case for the sake of America. Mr Obama has brought out Americans who are traditionally apathetic towards politics. Just like Mr Al Gore’s movie about climate change educated the average American about the topic, it is hoped that this would be a stage for the education of the American public about the policies of their country. That is hoped especially since the two contenders are strong personalities.
This will be a closely-watched race, partly because of the personalities in the race, but also because it comes at a particularly opportune moment, a moment that combines a near-depression in America with a global food crisis. This attention will not be surprising if one sees the slightest connection between the current global crisis and recent incidents in the United States. This may be a good time for people to learn more about America.
And mating
The choice of a running mate will also be crucial in the race. Many have written about the advantages of an Obama-Clinton ticket (to think that only a couple of months ago Mr Clinton was suggesting a Clinton-Obama ticket), just like many have written about the disadvantages of such a ticket. I am just a blogger who has no idea about the inner workings of the Democratic Party so I shall not attempt any discussion of the merits of the combination; all I can hope for is that Mr Obama gets the right running mate. A person who will appeal to the section of the party that does not see Obama as their representative, but who does not come with Mrs Clinton’s baggage, a baggage that incidentally includes a spouse who is a former American president.
This sure is a race to watch with relish. And I will be doing this in the following months.
May
23
Mein Kampf, and Assorted Thoughts about Deutschland
Filed Under Experiences, News, Opinion | 2 Comments
Image via Wikipedia
The topic used to be taboo in Germany… mere mention of the name even gets people cringing. But it seems the Germans are learning to deal with their history. I just heard the news that some German movie makers are making a film of Hitler’s early years. They are even naming the movie after Hitler’s anti-Semitic book, Mein Kampf. It is thought that the movie will be controversial, just like other German movies that have been made about Hitler – you remember Die Untergang?
Not limited by the past
I think it is good when people are able to get to grips with history, and to examine it closely enough to get more comfortable with it. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that a Nazi past is something to get comfortable with; I can only imagine how that affects the way people think about the ways others perceive them. Yea, that was twisted and convoluted, but it is just like I can imagine the feeling to be. But then, a subject that is taboo, and that nobody ever wants to talk about, or even think about, is not easy to deal with.
Not that easy, really
Sometime ago, a German housemate, his Turkish wife and I were discussing over dinner. Somehow we ended up talking about the War. The husband stood up shortly after that and went into his room, saying that he wanted to go watch football. As he left, his wife told me that he did because he was not comfortable with us talking about the war. My housemate is over 50 years old, but this also happens with the younger folk. In a sense, I understand the touchiness of the subject for them; sometimes, the perception of Germans that people often think that they are racist is not unfounded. I have been asked by many people in Nigeria about how I cope with those bloody Germans who are all racists. I simply tell them that I don’t encounter that kind of reception.
Even westerners
In a funny way, that is the kind of reaction I get from Germans from the western part of Germany, the former West Germany. I live in the former Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR) – the former East Germany – and whenever I am in other parts of Germany, it often happens that when we talk about where I stay westerners ask how things are there. Many think that Nazis march in the streets of eastern cities. Ha… I remember someone telling me that many people refuse to put the word wieder – which would roughly translate as ‘again’ or, more succinctly, ‘re’ in English – in front of Vereinigung – which means unification. That is the official word for re-unification, the bringing together of the two Germanies. She told me that the wieder displays an emotion that many Germans from both parts cannot claim to have. You can only be happy to be re-united with people you really want to be with, and are comfortable being with.
Enough of the rambling. I am happy that people are ready to look at the past, like this new movie shows. I hope that sometime soon, when people are going to Germany, they will not be warned that Germans will clamp up at the first mention of The War; I also hope that it will be a subject that can come up in normal everyday discussions.
May
18
Myanmar and the Responsibility to Protect
Filed Under Opinion | 7 Comments
China has had her mistakes too, no doubts. Ready examples are the cases of the 1975 earthquake in Tangshan, where over 250,000 people died because the magnitude of the incidence was kept under wraps, and the cover-up of the SARS outbreak. China seems to have indeed learnt from her mistakes.
What now?
The Economist has suggested it, just like I had thought about it, that countries that have ships close to the country could force aid on the country. Even Bernard Kouchner, France’s foreign minister, has hinted at it. I didn’t even realise that there was an international principle of ‘responsibility to protect’ until I read the story. The principle was agreed upon in a United Nations summit in 2005, and it says ‘that the international community has a responsibility to act when these governments fail to protect the most vulnerable among us’. Now may be the time to test the resolve of global leaders. If the Burmese government continues to be obstinate, and to sacrifice the lives of Burmese citizens, that option should be taken up.
May
14
I had discussed the poor state of journalism in Nigeria just a few days before then with a journalist. It is interesting to see the wide income gap between reporters and their editorial bosses. Some reporters earn as little as 50 thousand naira a month – and many of them are MA degree holders – while the editors, apart from getting money from politicians who want favourable reports, have all the perks enjoyed by their counterparts in, say the banking sector. Of course, this means that over time, those who are good and are really interested in journalism are discouraged from pursuing careers in journalism simply because they cannot get an income from the sector. And those who stay have to resort to accepting ‘brown envelopes’. By the way, I was an intern in a newspaper house at some point so I have first-hand knowledge of how this works. At the end, journalism becomes a tool for the promotion of certain interests – don’t worry, I know that it is so all over the world, but it is sometimes disgustingly so around here – either because the editor has been bribed so that the paper does ‘features’ on certain persons or issues or kills a story, or because the reporter has been offered a brown envelope so that they present a favourable point of view. It also leads to simply making news stories out of press releases.
(Click to enlarge)
L-R, Mr Dapo Olorunyomi, Chief of Staff of EFCC; Representative of the Dutch embassy; Mr Muraina of ThisDay; Mr Adebayo of FRCN; Mr Akinlabi of Tell; Mr Badmus of Channels TV; and Mr Dewar, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria.
This background info makes the works that were rewarded at the ceremony even more impressive. The winning entry in the prints category is a series of stories on Iyabo Obasanjo, whose name keeps coming up like the proverbial bad coin in corruption cases. The series of stories were written by Mr Muraina Olufunso of ThisDay newspapers. The prize for the photo journalism category went to an entry from Mr Ademola AKinlabi of Tell. In the radio broadcast category, the prize went to Mr Solomon Adebayo reporter with the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Abuja, who did a story on the Abuja Environmental Protection Agency and hawkers in Abuja. The series of reports he did showed depressing levels of corruption in the Environmental Protection Agency, even up to the point that some workers in the agency kept private, illegal detention centres to hold hawkers who refuse to bribe them. The report led to the intervention of the police force, the release of the detainees and the arrest of the officials. It was even more impressive that the entry was from the state-owned radio network.
The winning TV entry, which was also the overall winning entry, is from Mr Deji Badmus of Channels Television. The report was on the Police Equipment Fund. It showed different layers of corruption, layers too nuanced to write about in this short space. Suffice it to say that the report was really impressive, in the coverage of the issue, and in the presentation of the efforts of the reporter and results of the investigation.
At the end of the programme, I asked Mr Steve Aborishade, the coordinator of the awards, why there was no prize for online journalism. He replied that there was only one entry in the category. I promised to post about it and to encourage bloggers to submit entries for the next edition. Bloggers, even if you are not in Nigeria you can still submit an entry here.
Apr
29
Josef Fritzl and Bowling Alone
Filed Under News, Opinion | 6 Comments
I had been waiting to read about this from the small circle of blogs that I regularly visit, but it wasn’t until this evening that I read from Akin’s blog about the most shocking and disturbing story I have ever heard. It is so shocking that each time I see it on TV I feel a strange crawly feeling on my skin. I guess beasts live among us, in the guise of humans, but I didn’t think that this kind of beast existed. Or who could have guessed that a person had his own daughter locked up behind electronically-secured doors in his own cellar, was regularly visiting her for sex, and had seven children by her? It is so outrageous that I felt that each comma in the last sentence should have been replaced by an exclamation mark.
That is really strange indeed, but a more dumbfounding thing is that nobody, not even Josef Frizl’s wife, was aware of what was going on. Presumably, Mr. Frizl had been delivering his daughter of their babies, buying supplies for them, including babies things, a large quantity of food supply etc. etc. and nobody noticed anything different, anything suspicious. I think this says a lot about many advanced European societies, where the lack of interest in ones neighbour’s business is seen indeed as civility, something to be praised.
Ha, I remember Robert Putnam’s works on social capital, where he lamented that Americans were ‘bowling alone‘, a metaphor for the increasing I-mind-my-business-you-mind-yours lifestyle, and for a decline in associational life. Although I disagree with some of his conclusions, I would like to point it out that one gets a Mr. Frizl when associational life becomes jaundiced, and people get so atomised that the real unit in the society is really ones family.
I cannot pretend that my imagination is wild enough to deal with what might happen to the children. My hope is that the Austrian social service is well equipped enough to deal with the challenges of helping the children gain a semblance of normal life.
Feb
20
On Wife Bashing
Filed Under Experiences, Opinion | 7 Comments
I had been thinking about writing about this for a while, but due to work I have not had the time to do it, until now, that is. I got to Nigeria to learn that a friend who got married and whose wife gave birth while I was away was a wife beater. I was really scandalized because I could not understand what could make a man beat up his wife, especially up to the point that she is bed-ridden. Another friend told me that one of our mutual (female) friends who slept at the couple’s house during one of those nights told him of the issue. She – our mutual friend – was begged by the wife beater not to tell any of us about the situation. Of course, it was the devil’s work, abi? Because of this, my friend, who was told of the situation, could not call the wife beater to order, because this would jeopardize the friendship between our mutual friend and the wife beater. Yea, you could wonder how important a friendship with a wife beater could be but, like the case always is, it is complicated.
Shortly after I heard about this I visited and stayed with one of my friends. He and his girlfriend were living together. While I was there they had a bad quarrel that did not result in any kind of physical assault – I am grateful for that because I don’t know what I could have done if it had – but the girl packed up her things to leave my friend’s house. I tried to be a good friend to both of them and tried to help settle the issue. My friend’s girlfriend called me aside and told me that my friend had beaten her a couple of times. She had not told any of his friends about this. At that point I stopped any attempt to reconcile the two of them because I thought that it was probably good that she was leaving anyway. I went to my friend to ask about this and he told me that they had a fight. Later, he admitted that he did beat her. I told him that I was happy the girl was leaving. About a week later, I learnt that she had moved back in with him. The only thing I could do was to tell him that if I ever heard that he beat her I would personally attend to the situation. But that is assuming that the girlfriend tells me about it.
Quite common
I really had no idea that wife bashing was that common until I talked about this with a female friend who told me that it was very common, even on university campuses. See, I grew up in a family where the mother was very independent. She, to a certain extent, did not give any of her children the impression that women were meant to depend on men, financially and otherwise. I simply cannot imagine what would happen if my father ever tried to beat my mother… I really find it unimaginable. So, for me, it was especially scandalous to learn that my friends were actually beating their women. I still am trying to wrap my mind around the idea, and I am not doing a very good job of it at the moment.
Certain things are worse than, or at least are as bad as, sleeping with other women
This is not, in any way, to justify cheating; it is mainly to expand the meaning of the term. I, along with my closest friend, am adding to the ‘cheating’ list 1. deprivation of ones family of ones income (formally know as squandering ones salary on drinking and, yes, on ‘carrying’ women), this especially in, but certainly not limited to, situations where the woman does not have an employment, or earns much less than the man. In situations where the woman also has an income as good as, or even better than, the man’s the man still owes it as a duty to the family to pool resources towards acquiring, and maintaining, mutual belongings (ha… I should have studied law!)…
and 2. beating up ones wife.
Nigeria is currently legislating against some kinds of dressing. The major sponsor of the bill has said that ‘indecent’ dressing contributes to incidences of rape, pitching the responsibility in cases of rape at the doorstep of the victim. I am wondering whether she might add wife beating to the effects of ‘indecent’ dressing. Yes, the last statement sounds absurd, but just as much so as the assertion that ‘indecent’ dressing leads to rape. A country that recently criminalized homosexuality is not creating an environment in which women can safely seek redress in cases where they are mistreated by their men. These things just lead one to ask exactly how the representatives of Nigerians perceive women, who are at least half of the people they represent. But then, what does one expect from a country in which a former president has been publicly accused by his son of sleeping with his (former president’s) daughter-in-law?
Jan
13
E-Waste, Toxins and Cancer in Africa, any Clue?
Filed Under Idea, Opinion | 3 Comments
Headaches and Nausea
Those who grew up in
And Maybe Cancer Too
Listening to this story made me think about a discussion I recently had with Professor Francis Egbokhare of the Distance Learning Centre,
The point of the Pure Water comes home closer when one considers
The Issues
There is a serious increase in cases of cancer diagnosed in China, and it is increasingly pressed to pay attention to it. At least tests are being carried out to find out the level of toxins in soils, plants and persons, even if the reports of the tests are never publicly available. I wonder whether our governments in Africa are paying attention to these issues. If anyone knows about any organisation or government agency – in any African country – that work on this they should please leave the name and address of such agency in a comment. And if there is nothing happening I wonder when we will, and how we can, start making the government pay attention to the issues. I am also interested in the position of African countries on e-waste management. I think it is time we started talking about things that may not appear now, but that might end up complicating our future and that of later generations.
Dec
28
Nuhu Ribadu, Okiro and a Policy Course
Filed Under News, Opinion | 7 Comments
Mr. Okiro says that Mr. Ribadu’s name is the second, according to seniority, on the list of police officers who are to attend the course. Therefore, he says, Ribadu is to attend the course. When asked about this, Nuhu Ribadu said that he had not been informed about any course.
Reactions
The main reaction of Nigerians has been one that assumes that it is a way to get Mr. Ribadu out of EFCC. I am partly of that persuasion myself. Some things are simply about timing. EFCC has not exactly been living up to the expectations of Nigerians since Mr. Yar’Adua became president, and hearing that the leader, whose reputation is linked to any successes that the EFCC might have had, is going to be off duties for a year does not exactly make Nigerians any more comfortable. It is quite easy to say that an institution should be bigger than an individual, but in a country where institutions are generally weak, one is not exactly wrong if one still links an institution to a personality. This is especially so when the institution is as young and sensitive as the EFCC.
Some analysts also think that there is hardly any way that the Inspector General would announce this without the knowledge of the president. Although people have acknowledged President Yar’Adua’s slowness, the general opinion has been that he has been clean. This might just be a thing that changes the minds of people towards him. But then, Yardy, in his characteristic taciturnity, is not expected to comment on this.
Dec
18
Unwanted Babies
Filed Under Opinion | 2 Comments
Babies on the dunghill…
I asked my mother about how children end up in orphanages. She said that it was largely because many of the kids were abandoned. I further asked about how common it is for children to be abandoned. She told me that it was really more common than people realise. She told me that a kid was found a couple of days ago at a dunghill close to a panel-beater’s shop. The baby was eventually taken to the local federal hospital where my mother works.
…and at the motor park
I further wondered how it was possible for a person to be pregnant and give birth without anyone knowing. My mother then told me the story of a particular lady. The lady was staying in the home of a couple, sleeping in the same room with the couples children. The mother woke up during one night to hear the cry of her child in the room the lady shared with the children. She got to the room, found that the lady was not there, took care of the crying child and decided to check where the lady was. She checked the bathroom and found traces of blood on the ground. She traced the blood from the bathroom out of the house to a motor park close to the house. She found the lady holding a child, still unbathed, about to leave it at the park. My mother told me the story to illustrate that it was possible to be pregnant without it actually being exactly obvious.
What are the causes?
Why do people have kids that they can’t keep? According to my mother, it often happens when the mothers have tried to abort their pregnancies and have not been successful. Why are they not successful? I think it is because they do not consult experts when they try to abort their pregnancies. Why is that? Because abortion is illegal in Nigeria. Well, that is not exactly true. Abortion is not illegal in Nigeria, but one needs to get the signature of two medical doctors who are willing to say that the pregnancy endangers the life of the woman. But that is not a solution for most of the women who abandon their children. That group is largely made up of women whose main reasons for not wanting to raise a child are economic.
What to do right now?
I really find it hard to think of any solution to stop women from abandoning their babies, but I can think of a way to make sure the babies abandoned do not die. Sometime ago I watched a news item about a hospital in Germany where is it possible to leave unwanted babies in such a way as to make sure that one is unobserved, but that someone is quickly alerted that a baby has been left at the stand. The mother can leave unobserved; the baby can stay alive.
If we cannot change the economy ‘right now’ what can we do? I think the kind of system that the German hospital has would definitely be a good place to start. I also think that pro-choice clinics should be available in Nigeria. Of course, that needs legislation. I don’t know how that can be swung right now but I strongly think they should be available. And there should be a massive campaign in the media to inform people in such desperate situations about where they can get help. At this point, I wonder what on earth those well-funded NGOs that work on family health, women issues and allied fields do. I think there certainly are issues other than HIV.
Nov
22
Taxing Copper in Zambia
Filed Under News, Opinion | 6 Comments
“With a gun onto our head”
This information is from a BBC programme by Maurice Walsh on taxation. Mr. Walsh interviews Edith Nawakwi, the finance minister when the mining deals were negotiated. Ms. Nawakwi describes the situation under which she assumed the position of finance minister in 1997 as one in which they were losing the equivalent of a million dollars a day from the mining sector. On her first day at work she signed the papers of a loan of 50 million dollars, The money was used to pay the salary of mine workers. Because copper prices were low, and the government was losing money, the IMF and the World Bank ‘advised’ the Zambian government to get rid of the mining companies. The government was obviously in a disadvantaged position during the negotiations that eventually led to the privatisation of the mines.Ms. Nawakwi says:
Here is a country, you have no money, and the only people who can give money are the World Bank and IMF, and the creditors. And your colleagues wil say, Madam, we are not giving you any money. Get rid of your assets which are making you lose moey because you will be saving a million dollars a day if you don’t have that mine. And truly, I want you to understand that whatever has happened to this country, I think the 1990s were the worst. It was like Zambia was really negotiating this agreement with a gun onto our head.
Of mistakes and more mistakes
The main problem was that no provision for a change in the tax regime whenever there was an increase in the international price of copper. When Maurice interviewed a representative of the mine workers, he answered only very few of the questions he was asked. And when the current finance minister, Ng’andu Magande,was asked, he counselled patience, saying, “Copper investors have been investing in the last three four years…. While the prices have been going up, we have not achieved the production levels that we had in the 1980s. So while people might say the copper prices have been going up, the production level has not increased as much as the price, because the investors are still investing.” Hmm… I readily complain about resource curse, but I find it appalling when a government minister does not drive a hard bargain with the mining companies, especially as it is widely known that the price of copper will not stay high forever.
Nigeria?
After listening to this documentary, I was interested in knowing the details of the deals between Nigeria and the oil companies. Actually, this post was written partly because I am interested in finding out exactly how much oil companies pay to Nigeria. I am sure that someone has done - or is still doing - a PhD on the topic. So please, anyone who has any information about the details of the deal between Nigeria and the oil companies should please leave it as a comment. And anyone who is an expert on Zambia should please leave some information that might help us better understand the situation with the mines.
The information on the mines in the post was got from here
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