The national grid collapsed three times last month and twice this month. This year, it has collapsed at least 11 times. This underscores our long-standing struggle to have a consistent power supply, even if not for the whole nation, at least for those fortunate enough to have access to the few megawatts produced by the so-called “Giant of Africa.” While last week, Niger Republic was able to add no fewer than 18 megawatts to its national grid in just four months, Nigeria, with an installed capacity of 16,348MW, achieved only 5,313 megawatts as of September this year. Our travails with…
Author: Hassan Gimba
When ideas, statements, or policies emanating from one source are opposed to one another, conflicting or inconsistent, then we have contradictions. I want to start this with something that has been bothering me for years. It made me propose that it be featured on the cover of Leadership Friday in 2016 when I was promoted from its editor to managing editor (content). I was so peeved by it, but my then Group Managing Director (GMD), Mr Cletus Akwaya (now publisher of Daily Asset), overruled me. I was concerned by the contradiction in our educational system. A student may get eight…
Several people, including Nigerian leaders, have said that democracy, as a form of government, has no better alternative. And why not, if democracy is all about a system of government in which the governed freely participate in electing their representatives? Nigeria has had a go at practising democracy even before its independence from Britain. From independence, we practised it fully for six years, though it was the Westminster system, bequeathed to us by the colonisers. It got its name from the central London area hosting the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Westminster model, which Nigeria started with, is a system in which there is…
My recent visit to the holy city was the second time I was there, courtesy of the benevolence of Honourable Mai Mala Buni, the governor of my state, Yobe. The first was when I was practically wheeled there as a result of a debilitating illness that required first-class medical treatment. The recent visit was for a follow-up treatment, and happily, my doctors attested to my improved health condition. The governor has made it a state policy to provide free medical services to anyone who can come to Yobe State. To that end, he has upgraded the state health system to…
“The trade of governing has always been monopolised by the most ignorant and the most rascally individuals of mankind.” — Thomas Paine (1737-1809) Last week, we examined how certain leaders tend to overlook their inadequacies while scrutinising the failings of others. We likened them to individuals whose cerebral configurations had been exchanged with those of donkeys upon their ascension to leadership. Consequently, one may never succeed in restoring their cognitive faculties, no matter how fervently one endeavours to reboot their senses. One such leader endeavoured to persuade his audience that Nyesom Wike’s appointment as a minister in an opposition party…
There is a phrase that has gained widespread currency across the world: “Physician, heal thyself.” Not many know it is a biblical proverb and a direct quote from Jesus (AS). He said, “You will surely say to me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself’: do here in your country what we have heard was done in Capernaum.” This phrase is similar to another quote from Jesus in Matthew 7:3-5: “Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbour, ‘Let me take the…
“This was a lynching. Make no mistake, this was state-sanctioned murder of an innocent Black man. Governor Parson had the responsibility to save a life, and he didn’t. When DNA evidence exonerates a man, capital punishment is not justice—it is murder. Trump, McConnell, and the conservative Supreme Court justices now have blood on their hands.” – NAACP President Derrick Johnson, reacting to the execution of Marcellus Williams. Last week, an election for the Governor of Edo State took place. Winners and losers have since emerged. All political parties, especially the two giants—All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)—sang their songs, but that of…
In a crowd, Chief Superintendent of Customs (CSC) Abdullahi Aliyu Maiwada stands out—a towering figure whose presence commands attention. Tall and huge, he embodies a blend of formidable stature and gentle demeanour, demonstrating that one can be intimidating yet approachable. What captivates me most is how this gentle giant has seamlessly taken the reins of the service’s public relations from a lineage of exceptional officers. His challenge was substantial: following in the footsteps of remarkable PR managers like Alhaji Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, the current Comptroller General of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) is not a tea party. Adeniyi has significantly…
Yes, we are at war! This much we said last week. But the curious and sad thing is that Nigerians don’t seem to know or don’t want to know, and our leaders don’t seem to care. Our security agencies, whose activities are akin to the movement of wavelengths, continue with the aura of “everything is all right” when the trajectory is low, only to chase after those fighting Nigeria when the trajectory shoots up. When they are at their lowest, it is the law-abiding citizen who gets the short end of their “might.” The real bad guys hold sway in…
I was supposed to continue my discourse on Yobe State, its creation, its leaders, and their styles. However, the sad news of last week has made me drop it for another time. We were hit with the sad news of the massacre of scores of people by Boko Haram in Mafa, a village in Tarmuwa local government area of Yobe State. Mafa is close to Shekau, the town that was unfortunate to be the birthplace of Abubakar Shekau, the notorious murderer in the name of religion. Surrounded in the mosque by the bandits just after the Asr (four o’clock) prayer, all those,…
This week, Yobe State will become 33. On August 27, 1991, President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida sliced Yobe State out of the old Borno State, which was itself carved out of the North Eastern State that was hewed from the Northern Region. The IBB regime thought it better to situate its capital in Damaturu. The British chiselled this sleepy, hazy, whistle-stop settlement out of the Alagarno district as a colony in 1902 when they conquered the Bornu Empire. It was no more than a little big village. Yobe, then a largely agrarian state, has been lucky to have governors who, at their paces…
This article was first published in December 2017 and repeated with minor changes a few times. I am repeating it because I find it very relevant and perhaps it may make us view Nigeria first over many of the things that pull us apart. Why should a citizen hail a leader today but wail tomorrow when a different leader does what he hailed yesterday? Or why should he wail today when just yesterday he was hailing a different person doing the same thing? Hailer and wailer are new terms in our political lexicon. Just as ‘men and women of timber…
This was first written on March 17, 2024, with a different headline. Perhaps we may still find it relevant in these trying times. Last week, we read how the signs are not looking good for a nation like ours that wants to be reckoned with internationally. We concluded by asking the federal government to look at ways to reduce the cost of governance and the unimaginable take-home pay of political leaders and redirect the excess towards production. And we emphasised that we must become a productive nation that eats, drives and wears what it produces. We also urged anyone genuinely interested…
This was published on 10/05/2024, precisely five months ago. Was I clairvoyant? No, the signs were there for all to see. Did anybody give a hoot? Hmmmmn! Well, here is a repeat. I do not want to believe that in a country of nearly 250 million people, I am the only one who thinks there is a gathering of ominous dark clouds over our dear country beginning in the North. I cannot afford that foolish and lazy thought even if I wanted to dream so, because it is that type of thinking that brought us to this sorry pass. Yes.…
“Unlike the stomach, the brain doesn’t alert you when it’s empty.” – Arabic proverb. There are many tales about how the tortoise got its cracked back. One with various versions stands out. It is the one in which the tortoise had two geese as friends. In the Buddhist scriptures, the tortoise fell from the sky and split in two as the geese were taking it to their home in the Himalayas. According to the story, the geese held a stick in their beaks while the tortoise grasped it in its mouth. But while passing over a village, it opened its mouth to…
The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) and the Northern Awareness Network (NAN) have strongly condemned comments made by former Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung. Dalung had accused the current administration of President Bola Tinubu of incompetence and ineptitude, which the youth groups view as an attempt to incite violence and civil disobedience among the youth. In separate statements on Sunday, Yerima Shettima, President General of AYCF, and Salifu Suleiman, Chairman of NAN, criticized Dalung’s remarks, describing them as reckless and shameless. They highlighted Dalung’s own questionable track record during his tenure as Minister of Youth and Sports, accusing…
This is the continuation of the article of last week, republished as a result of our current “search” for a more viable political system. It should be noted that they were first published over three years ago. In Nigeria and Presidential Democracy: Any Better Alternative? (1), we touched on how cries of marginalisation permeate the air. Partisan interests are placed above national interests while divisions along ethnic and religious lines have become the norm just as the struggle for power and its retention have taken a “do or die” dimension, affecting almost everything, including the neutrality of the judiciary, the…
This was first published on September 23, 2019. Considering the recent moves to return Nigeria to regionalism, I see the need to repeat it. Since man became aware of himself and realised that whether by mutual arrangement or contrived by nature, there are always leaders and followers, communities fashioned out ways and means in which to live together under organised systems to regulate and conduct their affairs. From primitive father figure leadership to the animalistic instinct of the strongest leading the flock, man has experimented with many ways in which to live in harmony with one another and with the…
NGO is the acronym for Non-Governmental Organisation and as the name suggests, they are non-profit bodies formed to carry out non-governmental functions and thereby fill gaps that governments and even the private sectors could not affect or where their impacts are minimal while the needs are necessary. They are meant to be agents of development, more especially at the grassroots level, while engaging the citizenry with a deliberate agenda to awaken their awareness and desire for positive social changes that would enhance their quality of life while driving them to make their world a better place. Non-governmental organisations are supposed…
In the past few months, there has been some incessant din over the plight of education across the country, how deplorable it has become and concerns over how to bring it out of the shambles it has been shovelled into as a result of long-term negligence by those who should nurse it after benefitting from it. Many of us who were in this part of the world before 1980 knew what schools were and how governments went the whole hog to make them qualitative while making the academic environment so conducive. The managers of education did not compromise quality and standards for they were aware that any pupil with the right foundation…
For the past four years, I have been insisting that our problem and even need now is not about salary increment but about being a productive nation that produces what it needs and uses what it produces. This would galvanise our economy and strengthen the naira. With a strong currency, ₦30,000 is more than enough as a basic salary. Just imagine the naira to be equal to the dollar and there was a time when ₦60 was equal to $100. Here I have reproduced an old writeup on this topic. There is no Nigerian that will tell you he is not aware of the…
This write-up is not new. It was first published on January 18, 2021. Considering his recent court case, I find it relevant to republish it today. Those familiar with novels, especially before the advent of the internet, can remember a famous novel recalled in my headline. The book, The Way The Cookie Crumbles, first published in 1965, is one of the ninety or so thrillers written by Rene Lodge Brabazon Raymond, better known as James Hadley Chase. Ordinarily, a cookie represents many things, ranging from the inanimate to the animate, but The Way The Cookie Crumbles in Chase’s novel means “how things worked or panned out.” It is a…
What is happening in Kano should be of concern to not only the Kanawa or Northerners but to all Nigerians. Kano, as we all know, is the heartbeat of the North. If Kano is economically buoyant, it cascades down to the rest of the North and reflects on the nation’s GDP. Conversely, any chaos or breach in security will affect other parts of the North, thereby stretching the capacity of our security agencies with all the attendant consequences. This is why the ongoing ”Game of Thrones” in the ancient city of Kano should concern every Nigerian. There were some misgivings in some…
This writing was first published on 6 July 2020, then May 16, 2023. With changes of leadership soon at the federal and state levels, I see it as relevant. The first part in particular. However, do we forget the lessons in the second part? The world is changed by your example not by your opinion – Paulo Coelho, Brazilian Lyricist and author of The Alchemist. Allah (SWT) said in the Qur’an that He does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in their hearts. It is a verse widely quoted out of context by people…
Let us face it and tell ourselves the truth, bitter as it is: all patriotic Nigerians conversant with happenings among our elite class will be disappointed with the sordid behaviour of most of them. And their behaviour is further putting a strain on the fabric that holds the country together. In the first place, they never consider justice or fair play. Many of them have a grandiloquent idea of being chosen, especially by God, and blessed above everyone else. Their regard and consideration are, therefore, only to their ilk. This is why they never think it is the right thing…
“One of the shrewdest ways for human predators to conquer their stronger victims is to convince them steadily with propaganda that they are still free.” N. A. Scott, American author. Every human being currently living on earth came to this world and saw the United States of America posing as the cradle of democracy, a bastion of freedom and a citadel of human rights. For those of us in Africa, especially West Africa, and particularly those along the coastline, that America ruptured family cohesion, ties and lineage by forcefully taking our able-bodied forefathers and enslaving them, was either forgotten, forgiven, or…
In my last two write-ups, I narrated my sojourn to Saudi Arabia, where I ended up at the Makkah Saudi-German Hospital in search of Medicare. After extolling the virtues and efficiency of the Saudi model, I asked the pertinent question: Why can’t we replicate the model? I went as far as requesting state governors to build one each in their states and engage the Saudi-German Hospital to run it for them for some time. It was just after the publication that I came across a statement by Katsina State Governor, Dr Dikko Umar Radda, who said that his state had gone very far in terms of health delivery and…
Two days after I started taking the medication prescribed by Dr Heba, I could lift myself out of the wheelchair and walk about. By the fifth day, I walked into the hospital, gingerly, but surely, and came face to face with Dr Heba, who was not even surprised to see me on my feet, on her way to buy a cappuccino, I guessed. We went to the waiting area and waited to be called in to see her. She soon returned, holding a cup of her drink. She asked me certain questions and, after taking my vitals, sent me…
I never thought I could attend the Eid prayer held on 10th April, a day after I clocked the definitive age of 60: I have now joined the senior citizens’ rank. Not being confident I could attend the Eid prayer seems an understatement; for actually, in February, the way I was feeling within me, it was looking to me that I would not witness Ramadan, not to talk of participating in the Eid marking its end. I easily get exhausted from the littlest of tasks, making me always gasping for air to fill my lungs. It reached a stage where…
The chickens, the saying goes, always come home to roost. But some people would prefer to be Shakespearean by quoting the insightful words uttered by Marc Antony in William Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar, “the evil that men do lives after them while the good is oft interred with their bones.” The first is a long-established English idiom that was used as early as 1390 AD in Chaucer’s The Parson’s Tale. It means that wicked deeds or words return to trouble their originator. In the second, spoken at Julius Caesar’s funeral, Mark Antony, referring to Brutus, Caesar’s murderer, was saying that…
