Monday, 13 March 2017
Sunday, 12 March 2017
Friday, 10 March 2017
22 athletes for Special Olympics Games in Austria
PHOTO: Magazine Nigeria
Twenty-two athletes will depart on Monday to represent the nation at this year’s Special Olympics World Winter Games. The humanitarian event would hold this month between 14th and 25th in Graz and Schladming in Styria, Austria.
Special Olympics Nigeria athletes are scheduled to compete in two indoor sports, which include Floor Ball and Floor Hockey. The nation body is an affiliate of Special Olympics International, a global non-profit organisation.
Speaking at the sent-forth occasion, the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Special Olympics Nigeria, Mr. Victor Gbolade Osibodu, said arrangements are in top gear for the athletes and nine officials that include a medical doctor for a successful trip.
According to Osibodu, the nation’s affiliate had to partner with South Africa’s body to train the nation’s coaches and athletes in readiness for the games, which are new to Nigeria.
While, charging the athletes to give their best at the Games, he said: “There is always an ability in a world of disability. We are grateful to the Lagos government for permitting us to train at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, the Edo State government that sponsored an athlete and is committed to developing an environment that allows more athletes from the state to train and participate and to our other corporate sponsors for all their support.”
Also giving her remark, the National Director, Special Olympics Nigeria and Head of Delegation, Naomi Saliu-Lawal, said the athletes deserve praise for their conduct and great skills shown during training.
“It is an awesome sight and to think that these are sports new to Nigeria and seeing how far we have come…”
Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2noThzN
PDP welcomes Buhari back to Nigeria
PDP
The Ahmed Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), while welcoming the return of President Muhammadu Buhari from his medical vacation in the United Kingdom, urged the Presidency to be more open to Nigerians in the management of his health conditions.
In a statement signed by the spokesman of the committee, Dayo Adeyeye, the party said:
“Nigerians deserve to know the health status of their President and how it is being managed.”
It also commended Acting President Yemi Osinbajo for the manner he conducted the affairs of the country while Buhari was away and urged him to continue to work assiduously to lift the country out of the debilitating economic recession.
“To achieve this, all hands must be on deck. There is, therefore, the need to reduce political tension and bring all Nigerians together,” the party stated.
Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2mvkYtc
Monday, 6 March 2017
Prison decongestion a national priority, says CGP
Ahmed Ja’afaru.
The Controller-General of Prisons, Ja’afaru Ahmed has said that decongesting Nigerian Prisons has become a national priority.Ahmed also described as “bold and innovative” the collaboration between the Nigerian Prison Service (NPS), Prisoners’ Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA) and the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to decongest the Prisons.
Speaking at a three-day capacity building workshop in Lagos for members of the Penal Reform Media Network (PERMNET), a component of the Prison Reform Project (PRP), Ahmed said he was confident that this latest initiative “will yield very positive results by drastically reducing the remand population in the prisons.”
Represented by Mr. Joseph Usendiah, Controller of Prisons (Administration), the Controller-General urged the participants to show “utmost commitment” towards the realization of the goals of the programme, adding that Nigeria “cannot afford a situation where over 70 per cent of the prison population is non-convicts.”
Speaking earlier, the acting Executive Director of PRAWA, Mr. Yinka Lawal said the project is designed to address some of the key challenges hindering the Nigerian Prison Service from delivering on its key mandate to reform, rehabilitate and re-integrate prison
inmates.
“The Prison Reform Project (PRP) is designed to run until March 2019 and is aimed to improve the knowledge on the nature and demographical characteristics of awaiting trial prisoners in targeted prisons in Nigeria as well as enhance the quality of data collection and use of prison statistics,”he stated.
Subsumed into the larger “Security and Justice Reform Programme (SJRD),” the Prison Reform Project aims to improve access to justice for Awaiting Trial Persons (ATPs) in the targeted prisons in Lagos, Kano and Enugu states.
It will also increase awareness, implementation and replication of good prison/correctional practices in Nigeria as well as increase the number and quality of legal representation for awaiting trial prisoners in targeted prisons in Nigeria.
Aside from promoting administrative and judicial interventions aimed at reducing the duration in custody and number of pre-trial detainees, the project is designed to promote good prison practices in Nigeria through the replication of global best practices in correctional institutions.
Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2lW0NSr
Check that unsafe act!
PHOTO: Oxfam America
No one is above mistakes. But some errors are so severe and are only better imagined. For instance, anyone who in an attempt to escape traffic at close of business, fails to remember to shut down his/her workstation and put out the air-conditioner in the office, is capable of blowing up a whole facility and is not fit in the oil and gas industry, where safety is of paramount. This is obviously an unsafe act.
Crude oil and its ‘sister’ hydrocarbon gas are highly flammable organic liquid substances, and excellent source of energy found below the Earth’s surface. Hydrocarbons are helpers if well-handled. For example, crude oil is a central part of modern life and the world’s most important energy resource. We rely on it in many ways as fuel to prepare the food we eat, generate the electricity which is distributed to our homes and in the workplace for our lightings, computer use, etc. It is also the raw material from which other important products are made, about 90 per cent of all transportation fuels come from crude oil. On the other hand, if hydrocarbons are handled hazardously they could be man’s worst ‘enemy’.
The Piper Alpha tragedy is an illustrative example of an unsafe act which the world is yet to recover from. Piper was a large platform whose explosion was caused by putting a condensate pump out of service by removing the pressure safety valve (PSV) for maintenance and blind installed loosely, as bolts were hand-tightened by day shift, (permit-to-work system was inadequate) & without a formal hand-over to night shift (a non-compliance to company procedure). The night shift operators in ignorance started the condensate pumps (in the unsafe-condition unknowingly created by day shift) and leakage occurred after the pump was re-started, resulting in the release of a large amount of condensate (high pressure gas). This created an explosive vapor cloud which found an ignition source and the gas compression module exploded.
The firewater drench system, which to some extent might have curtailed the explosion and fire, did not operate because it was kept in manual as automatic was disabled, in view of safety of divers working underneath the water, due to the possibility of divers getting sucked in to firewater pump pressure in operation. The only option was the manual activation to mitigate the catastrophe, but could not be achieved due to the explosion and fire. The escape routes from the modules to the life boats were impassable. The explosion disabled communication system centered on Piper, and other platforms continued production of gas unknowingly supplying additional fuel to the fire at piper. Helicopter rescue was impossible because of smoke, wind and flames. The disaster killed 168 people in the platform of the North Sea close to Aberdeen in Scotland.
The Piper Alpha disaster was an eye opener and key triggers for safety improvements in the petroleum industry (which includes offshore installations). For instance, International Energy Services Ltd. (IESL), an indigenous engineering company offering services to the Oil and Gas is committed to safety with its vibrant, Health, Safety & Environmental Management System (HSE.MS). The company has successfully executed series of engineering design projects, including offshore installations & FPSO’s which have been successfully fabricated and are now serviceable.
Our people need to be sensitised on the importance of safety. The following dangerous acts are commonly observed in our diverse rich society; receiving and making calls while driving, buying fuel into cars while engine is running, smoking at filling stations while buying petrol into car (probably unaware the action is making up for the triangle of fire), fuelling of gasoline generators while the machine is in operation.
Similarly, some car owners neither check the water-level in the radiator of their vehicle nor gauge engine oil and transmission oil before starting their cars in the mornings. Likewise most people don’t carry out visual inspection of their tires, as many accidents today are as a result of worn-out tires. Most people don’t have fire extinguishers in their homes, and most extinguishers in our cars are expired and are simply there to deceive law enforcement agents. Other unsafe actions in our society are builders getting approval for their design from appropriate authorities and then cutting corners by adding more floors to the building during construction, thereby compromising the integrity of the structure/s which in most cases collapse during or after construction, killing its occupants. There are cases of artisans; working at heights without putting on body harness, working at construction site/ factory without the necessary personal protective equipment (PPE), welding without eye goggles and many more.
Although some institutions, amongst which is the Institute of Safety Professionals of Nigeria (ISPON), are doing everything possible to sensitise Nigerians on need to be safety conscious and stay safe, their effort is yet to yield the desired result as awareness level is still very low perhaps due the level of illiteracy and poverty.
Government can support the cause of safety by coming up with strong legislations that will promote safety and create awareness. Safety violations should be taken very seriously, and the penalties for violating safety laws should be quite severe.
Oyedokun is an engineer.
Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2lW4Ca5
Russelsmith bags Chevron’s safety award
RusselSmith Group
RusselSmith Group, a leading Integrated Oilfield Services company, has bagged a recognition certificate in acknowledgment of projects concluded without recordable incidents over a one year period (January 2016 to December 2016) for the Nigeria/Mid Africa Strategic Business Unit of Chevron Nigeria Limited.
At the presentation of the certificate, which took in Lagos, Chevron Nigeria Limited lauded RusselSmith for quality and safety-focused service delivery on projects executed within the period.
The event tagged, ‘Chevron Contractor Line Management HES Forum, also witnessed other contractors recognized for excellent service delivery.
This commendation comes just after RusselSmith’s recent celebration of the attainment of 3million man-hours with zero LTI in 2016. It reaffirms RusselSmith’s commitment to excellent service delivery as an ISO 9001:2008 certified Integrated Oilfield Service Solutions provider incorporated to serve the needs of the global Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Industry.
In over a decade of its operations, RusselSmith has blazed a trail as a leader in innovation and quality in the oilfield services sector, with the introduction of several new technologies and the attainment of important milestones.
In addition to Chevron Nigeria Limited, RusselSmith’s customers include other oil and gas giants Shell, ExxonMobil, Nigeria LNG and Total E&P.
RusselSmith has three main business divisions – Aerial Inspection Services, Topside Asset Integrity Management Services and Subsea Asset Integrity Management Services.
According to Senior Executive Vice President of RusselSmith, Kayode Adeleke, “We are fully committed to safety and world-class service delivery standards at all times. Our mission is to promote a culture of excellence. That is our cutting-edge approach.”
Adeleke also noted that the adoption of high safety standards by more Nigerian companies would ultimately improve the overall quality of service delivery and reliability in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2mvfUFo
Anxiety as Ademola, others file ‘no case’ submission
Justice Adeniyi Ademola (right) looks away from the camera while appearing before an Abuja High Court on Tuesday.<br />PHOTO: LADIDI LUCY ELUKPO
The Federal Government has closed its case in the on-going trial of Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the federal high court, Abuja, his wife, Olubowale and an Abuja-based Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Joe Agi.
Although, list of witnesses was long and as such, would have taken longer time to exhaust, the order for accelerated hearing obtained by the defendants quickened the trial process.
The defendants have applied for accelerated hearing to enable them clear the charges of corruption brought against them by the Department of State Security Service (DSS), and in his magnanimity, the motion was granted by Justice Jude Okeke of High Court of Abuja.
The judge had consequently stood down several other cases to give desired attention to the hearing of Justice Ademola’s case. Justice Ademola and his wife were arraigned on an 11-count charge bordering on conspiracy to receive gratification as well as receiving gratification of N30 million from Joe Agi and Associates, between March 11 and March 26, 2015.
Agi, however, was not in the original charge but was brought in following the amended charge from 11 to 16 counts. His ‘sin’ was allegedly that of offering a BMW Saloon car 320i valued at N8.5million to Justice Ademola through his son, Ademide, as gratification in the exercise of his official functions as the judge of the Federal High Court of Nigeria.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria was also alleged to have paid N30 million in three trenches to Justice Ademola in March 2015, through his wife, Olubowale. They have pleaded not guilty to the charges. However, for the curious minds, who were wondering why Agi was not named in the original charge, the explanation offered by the prosecution counsel, Segun Jegede, was that the prosecution had decided not to join the 3rd defendant (Agi), so as to avoid delay in the trial.
In any case, at the exhaustion of the prosecution witness list, which extended from 16 to 19, the defendants have filed a ‘no-case’ submission, which would be adopted at the next adjourned date of March 15. Agi’s counsel, Jeph Ejinkonye, stated that there was no need to call defense witnesses in his client’s trial.
To save the court’s time, Justice Okeke had ordered the defence counsel to file and serve the court and one another with relevant processes on the motion before the March 15. According to Ejinkonye, both the testimonies given by the witnesses and the surface value of the charge have not been able to establish a prima facie case against his client and others.
Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2lWg2dZ
Sunday, 26 February 2017
Police arraign suspected fake doctor over alleged defamation
Okpeh
The police have charged Mr. Martins Ugwu Okpeh before the Federal Capital Territory Magistrate’s Court for alleged defamation of character and injurious falsehood.
It would be recalled that Okpeh, 44, was arraigned before Justice John Tsoho of the Federal High Court last year over allegation of serving under the Ministry of Health as a fake doctor.
The prosecution counsel, Victor Nwadike, told the court on Friday that the extant matter was reported to the Inspector General of Police through a written petition by one Prof. Abdulsalami Nasidi of 28 Cairo Street, Wuse 2, Abuja.
According to Nwadike, the defendant between January 2016 and February 2017, published on his Facebook and WhatsApp pages that the complainant was a thief and a looter.
The prosecution added that the defendant had also told people that the complainant embezzled funds earmarked for the fight against Ebola virus and other diseases by the Federal Ministry of Health.
The counsel alleged that the defendant maliciously published different write-ups on his Facebook and WhatsApp pages with the intention of damaging the reputation of Nasidi, an offence, which contravened the provisions of Sections 392 and 393 of the Penal Code.
When the charge was read to the defendant, he pleaded not guilty. Subsequently, the defence counsel, Dominic Anyiador, asked the court to grant his client bail, as the offense was bailable.
However, Chief Magistrate Azubike Ukeagwu granted the defendant bail in the sum of N500,000 with two sureties. The matter has been fixed for March 27 for the prosecution to call its witnesses.
Another victim of alleged assault by Okpeh, Kehinde John protested outside the courtroom. John, a retired director of the Ministry of Health, accused the defendant of circulating false information against him, aside threatening his life.
Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2mtCJqu
Emir of Argungu urges farmers to repay loan
The Emir of Argungu, Smaila Muhammadu Mera, has urged rice and wheat farmers who received loans in the state to repay them to enable others to benefit from the scheme.
Mera made the appeal in his palace when some dry season farmers received a loan from Maslaha Seeds Limited in Argungu.
The monarch told the farmers not to collect an amount that they could not pay back.
‘’You should also take note that the farm inputs and the cash that you are collecting are not gifts, but loan assistance which must be paid back as agreed,” he warned.
He appealed to the youths to embrace farming as a means of livelihood and prayed for a bumper harvest and the country’s unity.
He explained: “Over 20 famers-group have benefitted from N7.5 million loan, in addition to the 1000 bags of fertilisers, which were given to them for between N8000 and N8, 500 per bag.”
The assistance also included “25 pumping machines, which were given to them at prices ranging from 40,000 to 45,000, depending on the grade.”
The proprietor of Maslaha Seed Limited, Senator Muhammad Saidu Dansadau, explained to the farmers that the loan was interest-free, which must be paid back from the proceeds of their harvests.
He promised to support them with high quality seeds and routine visits by extension workers who would monitor and advise them on modern methods of farming.
Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2lVt0vm
Saturday, 25 February 2017
Excerpt from Niyi Osundare: A literary biography
The Gift of a Pen
Not a man who travelled frequently, given his overwhelming love for his work on his farms, each time Aguntasoolo Ariyoosu Osundare made the rare trip to Lagos to buy Christmas gifts for his family and himself, he brought home a few new and exciting things – things that were not readily available in the rural though multi-ethnic and multicultural town of Ikere Ekiti. Though a repository of tradition and culture, he was also very much a man of new things. It was from one of his journeys to Lagos that he brought home a gift for his young boy, Oluwaniyi, who was just in the third year in elementary school. The gift was a fountain pen. He called his young son to his room, showed him the pen, and said, “I have brought this for you to use when you have advanced in your education. It is a pen. I do not know how to use it, but I know its power. I use the hoe to scratch the earth for a living; but you will use the pen as your own tool. The way I see the world today, the future belongs to those who are able to scribble black things on the white surface.”1
For the boy Oluwaniyi, the gift of the pen was the beginning of new things and exciting aspirations. It was a recognition of his bursting curiosity and enthusiasm for the supreme art of writing. It meant his parents had been observing his habit of picking pieces of paper from the ground with the intent of poring over them. They had been observing how he used his mother’s eyebrow pencil to make curious scrawls on paper; how he picked up charcoal from the fireplace and used it to scribble all manner of things on his mother’s door and on walls around the house. They had also been making sense of his endless precocious questions about life, about things that went on around him. His drive to unravel the mystery of western education, as it were, commanded people’s attention, and gave his father immeasurable satisfaction. In his mother’s words, “Many people watched Oluwaniyi and told me he would go far in life.”2 From the very moment his father showed him the pen, his nights were populated by thoughts of when he would grow up and reach a point in his educational career when he would own many pens and wield them with the consummate competence displayed by his teachers. The gift of pen with its attendant symbolism would remain indelible in Osundare’s mind and trigger the poem “Scribbling Hoe” many years later in A Nib in the Pond, his third book of poems. One of the striking things about this poem is Osundare’s way of seeing his father, the farmer, in the metaphor of the pen – an instrument that so dazzled the farmer, which the farmer so desired that his son should live by:
The farmer/ pens the pages of earth/ with the nib/ of a forge-fresh hoe/ scribbles mounds/ between margins of blooming corn/ cursives paragraphs of legumes/ in ruled furrows/ his barn is a library/ of nourishing seasons.3
Osundare’s father instinctively knew his son would live a life of “nourishing seasons” like him but through the power of the word in the praxis of western civilisation, in the glorious prospects of modernity. It was, in fact, what had prompted him to buy the fountain pen. He was enchanted by what he knew of western intellectualism, perhaps the result of the forceful instinct in him to recognise that besides Yoruba culture and epistemology there was another system from a distant land that was sweeping across his society, and he had to come to terms with the new system that could so powerfully change human society. Modernisation was fast conquering existing ways of life. He understood it to be part of that distant knowledge that needed to be acquired. He knew that knowledge was trappable by pen and paper and collectable in the safety of the book. Books became, for him, the profoundly magical repository of knowledge; his desire for it was passionate and whole-hearted. A man of great lyrical virtuosity, he was fond of singing this oriki iwe (praise song) for the book:
Adakeja (The one who fights in silence)/ Arodudukedudu (The one who swells with mystery)/ Amarifowiketere (The one who says it all without uttering a word)/ Awilanafotolasile (The one who predicts tomorrow yesterday)/ Adubulegungbaoke (One who, while lying down, climbs a thousand hills)/ Unundidu sa geere loju un fifun (White spots gliding smoothly on white surface).4
Chances were that he had been planning to acquire a fountain pen for his son; that he had even researched it, as was his habit, by asking those who were already educated – he liked to befriend the few educated young men in the town and ensure that his son learnt from them. Aguntasoolo Osundare had a powerful instinct about the future. His children all remember his predilection for reading the weather, for making impressive predictions about the nature of farming seasons. A tall man (like his tall, outspoken and witty mother), he would stand on a clear spot on his farm, which was usually on a hilly ground, look at the sky and the movement of the clouds and gauge the amount of rain Ikere-Ekiti would see for many days to come.
The young Osundare, being the first son, was always with his father on the farm whenever he was not at school. So he often stood beside his father when he read the weather, wondering what powers the man had to predict the rain with such instinctual accuracy. Osundare recalls that the weather had never taken his father by surprise. Not even the future of his boy would take him by surprise either. In Osundare’s words, “he was looking forward to the time I would be able to do two things: read and write his personal letters for him, and write my own book.”5
Born in Time of Famine
QUIET and unassuming, Fasimia (from the Yoruba word Ifasimia, meaning “Ifa has followed me this far”) Osundare watched her son’s incredible love for knowledge and knew that he would fulfil her husband’s dream of having a child who would competently pursue western education – the practice of modernity that had unceasingly fascinated her husband as long as she knew him. She was full of gratitude to her gods, especially the goddess Osun, that the boy was not only growing well, but he was also inclined to realise the dream of the family. With exceeding fear and anxiety she had carried him for nine months in her womb.
Before Osundare she had had two children who died in their infancy. The death of a first child for the young Fasimia in her Yoruba traditional society came with a pang and with uncertainties; the death of the second child logically worsened her trauma. When she conceived a third time, her constant prayers were initially for the pregnancy to stay, especially given the famine that had struck the entire Ekitiland.
Osundare’s mother recalls that “There was so much famine that literally you had to sell a human being to buy food. A bowl of gari would cost a fortune.”6 This was in the 1940s. But she had a strong and reliable husband, a man whose preeminent preoccupation was farming, an experienced watcher of the clouds who had probably already foreseen the famine. It was however an intense famine, which belied all smart calculations and humbled all successful farmers. Aguntasoolo and Fasimia Osundare prayed hard. Ikere people made supplications to all the deities, especially Olosunta, lord of the skies, divine guardian and protector of Ikere from the beginning of time. In addition, the Osundares and the extended Ile Asa family took theirs to Osun, the goddess of fertility and mercy, who would never wait and see her people starve, the goddess after whom Aguntasoolo Osundare was named: Osun da mi lare (Osun has declared my innocence; the spirit of Osun River is on my side).
Running past the frontage of Osundare’s family house is the Aodu, a stream which takes its source from Olosunta hill and empties its water into Osun River, like a liquid thread between two divine looms. A thin, dirty string during the dry season, Aodu swells into dreadful flood with the coming of the rains.
Although, as Fasimia recalls, the famine was the worst to hit Ikere-Ekiti in her lifetime, Osundare’s household, including the unborn Osundare, survived it. Like most babies, Osundare chose to come in the night. It was around 9:00pm on 12 March 1947 and the world was very dark, thickened by the rain forest surrounding the town and the imposing rocks protecting it. The moon did not accompany the poet of Moonsongs to the world. Fasimia Osundare recalls that the labour did not take long. Thankfully, she was delivered of a baby boy. She had already contemplated the name of the child. She wanted to call her child Oluwasanya (God has compensated me for the earlier losses). Evidently, she had not got over the anguish of losing her earlier babies. And such a name which expressed gratitude to God was a way of lobbying Him not to take the new one away as well. Her husband, however, had a different name, on which he insisted: Oluwaniyi, meaning “God has honour”. But the name Oluwaniyi was to wait until many years later; the new boy was called Olomi (one whose essence is water), in honour of the goddess Osun whose gift the boy was believed to be.
The connection between River Osun and the Osundare family went deep into ancestry. Frequently, that connection manifested in the form of the river’s intervention in the life of the Osundares. There was a time the otherwise healthy boy Osundare took seriously ill. Fasimia Osundare was alarmed; here was another death and she would not take it, could not stand it. Like a stung tigress, she walked the length and breadth of Ikere-Ekiti, even beyond, calling at the doors of all babalawos (diviner-physicians) and women who could cure her boy.
Everything failed and she grew more horrified. Then she turned to River Osun as her last resort. She was set to collapse into the river, which, as the name Osundare translates, had surely known of the family’s innocence. Either Osun healed her son or took her and her son away. As long as she knew she had not committed any sin or taboo to deserve all the losses that had hitherto plagued her life. Uttering words of supplication, she bent, took water from the river and gave the boy.
Osundare recalls the story: “I was told they gave me some to drink, used some to bathe me and poured the rest on what is called awuje, the very centre of the head.”7 Surprisingly, the boy instantly regained his health, and in no time, he was kicking. In gratitude to River Osun, Fasimia presented the river goddess with an eyele (pigeon) and seven kola nuts. Her son had justified the meaning of his name, Olomi; water was not only his essence, it had become his rescue. Osundare, as a child of water, was barred from swimming as he grew up for fear the river spirit might decide to take back her gift. Fasimia would again invoke Osun later in her life when Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans almost took the life of her son.
A petite, introverted but vigilant woman, not anywhere near her husband’s height, Fasimia was professionally involved in cloth-weaving, helping on her husband’s farm occasionally. Baby Osundare, on his mother’s back, often played with her hair, while she worked, singing along. Like her husband, she had a deep flair for music. She sang songs either to herself or to her baby at work time and at relaxation time. Osundare as a teenager came to deeply cherish the oriki (Yoruba traditional praise song) his mother sang for him in order to make him feel good or to spur him into doing what he ought to do. He would later recall one of the oriki songs his mother used to sing for him:
Oh this is my son/ This is my favourite son/ Son of Osun, the flowing River whose water/ Spreads blessings across the earth/ Son of the little hut which breeds the gentle giant/ Son of the elephant which pulls up the tree with one hand/ Son of the lion, king of the forest/ Son of the great father whose yam is as big as the mountain/ Oh, no little space can contain you
No little space can contend with your fortune/ You are born to travel the world/ Your legs are strong.8
Fasimia Osundare was a constant source of traditional poetry for her son who, as predicted in her song, would grow up to travel the world as a renowned poet.
He Had a Drum Called Bata
WITH his passion for farming, Aguntasoolo Osundare spent most of his time on his farms. The usual practice was for the entire family to go to the farm in the morning and return late in the evening. Baby Osundare knew his father’s farm even when he was still in the cradle. When he attained school age, he had to go to school. His future was in schooling. For the pupil Oluwaniyi, one half of the day was spent in school where he learned to read and write and the weekends and holidays were spent at his parents’ farms where he constantly renewed his contact with nature and with the traditional wisdom that came from his parents. He grew up in a polygamous family so the farm was always full of people, especially during the yam harvest season or during many of the tedious sessions on the cocoa farm. Osundare’s closest companion at this time was his half-sister, Omoidu (meaning ‘black child’, a name she got as a result of the depth and beauty of her skin when she was born; she later took on an additional baptismal name, Victoria). She was older by three months and prodigiously wise and hardworking.
Aguntasoolo Osundare, as his family and friends remember him, had tremendous bravura and vivacity in anything he chose to do. His sense of artistry was deep and he interpreted the world to his children through proverbs and wise sayings. His humour and open-mindedness earned him popularity and the name Ariyoosu (One in whose presence we rejoice as we do at the sight of a new moon). But it was by far his skills in drumming and singing that drew people to him. He was a descendant of the Asa clan. Asa is the assistant of Olukere, the spiritual head of Ikere-Ekiti. It is a clan that has continued to be the repository of the cultural heritage of Ikere-Ekiti in matters that concern the worship of Olosunta, the rock revered and worshipped by Ikere people. Aguntasoolo Osundare’s skills in drumming, singing and other cultural displays, therefore, had an ancestral root. Fasimia Osundare says, “My husband was very lively and humorous. He loved both the old and the young. He was always invited to sing and dance when people had things to celebrate. He had a drum called bata.”9 By all accounts, he was an oral poet who commanded the respect of his people.
It should be pointed out that the qualities, even attitudes, of a hardworking farmer and those of an oral poet, in some African traditional societies, do not go hand in hand. A farmer sees himself as the serious type, engaged in a more noble profession of providing food and wealth; and, as a result, regards the oral poet or griot as effeminate. Poetry and music are regarded as a domain for women or men who are too lazy to engage in masculine occupations such as farming, fishing and hunting, or in a manly pastime such as wrestling or esoteric arts. This is remarkably depicted in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart where the character of Unoka serves as a foil to that of his son Okonkwo. Okonkwo, priding himself as a real man, is in a perpetual fear of being seen as resembling his father in any form because his father is a mere flutist, an artist, and therefore a never-do-well. But the reverse is the case with Aguntasoolo Osundare who distinguished himself as a farmer and a musician and entertainer. He was said to fit easily into any group, either of children or adults, of women or men. One of his favourite sayings to his children was, “I’m not afraid of offending older people but those younger than I am because I don’t know what they would turn out to be tomorrow. You outlive the older ones and their grudge, but the younger ones will outlive you and keep remembering your offence against them.”10 He played his drum, sang and danced to the delight of all.
At one moment he would be seen in merriment with people; at another moment he would be seen on his farm, working, compelling his children to work, his countenance that of a tough man. One would not expect a strong sense of discipline from a man who played so much with children and adults alike, cracking jokes. His children remember him today as not only a severe disciplinarian, but a man of strong will. He always chose the most difficult part of the land for his farm. It was, for him, the most fertile part. Osundare recalls that in most cases his father’s wives literally dragged his father off his work to rest and eat. He hardly got tired. He would frown and bawl at his children for getting tired easily. While walking with their father to the farm, they could incur a knock on their heads if they stumbled and fell on the treacherously rugged road. Father would insist that the children fell down because they were not careful enough.
For the child Osundare, every moment with his parents fired his curiosity. They were the greatest influences on his life. For music and song or traditional poetry and wisdom, he had an inexhaustible source. He played with his father’s bata, an instrument that would feature prominently in his future poetry. He also learnt the art of spontaneous rendition from his father and mother. He followed his father to performances, learnt from him, and to his father’s great delight, took an interest in drumming and singing as well.
His father allowed him to play with other children, to listen and watch other people and to generally benefit from the cultural dialogue necessitated by the increasing number of people from other ethnic groups in Ikere-Ekiti. The Hausa came from the far north, often with whole families, the husbands operating the micro business of selling tea and/or steak (such a person is usually referred to as maishayi or maisuya), the wives selling the Hausa native bean cake (akara Gambari). The Tiv, the Ebira, the Idoma, the Agatu and the Igede came from central Nigeria, mostly settling down in Ikere-Ekiti as farmhands, providing all kinds of manual labour in addition. The Igbo and the Urhobo on the other hand, who came from other southern parts of Nigeria worked mainly in the palm groves, the former mostly engaged in the production of palm wine, the latter of palm oil. The child Osundare also saw the world through the eyes of these diverse peoples and took pleasure in sharing their languages and cultures. Fortunately, many of them had children of Osundare’s age, a situation which facilitated this cultural and linguistic exchange and exposed him so early in life to the beauty and complexity of these different languages and cultures, and one that would have a lifelong impact on him as a writer, teacher, scholar, and multicultural humanist. The hilly town of Ikere-Ekiti, sandwiched between the pyramidal rock Oroole and the sacred, spread-topped Olosunta, embraced these peoples and more. It was a time of harmony. It was also a time of diverse festivals.
• Professor Egya teaches African Literature at the Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida University, Lappai, Niger State.
Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2miRAHP
Odumakin: I do not see FEC, NASS doing the needful regarding section 144
Yinka Odumakin
Yinka Odumakin, National Secretary Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afeniferen told SEYE OLUMIDE, that there is no justification for anyone to start calling for the resignation of the president on the ground of ill heath.
What is your take on the controversy surrounding the absence of the president?
Here is nothing wrong with anybody being sick, as we are all mortal. And it would be wrong for anybody to wish another human being dead because he is ill. As Pastor Tunde Bakare would say, only God knows who will die first between the patient in the Intensive Care Unit and the Doctor treating him. I think what has brought about so much controversy about the absence of the President from the country since January is the primitive approach with which his aides have been handling the issue. Instead of them coming straight to inform Nigerians on the true state of Mr. President’s health, they were doing otherwise, which generated empathy for the leader of the country.
The manner they handled the issue whipped up anger. They told the nation lies upon lies. First they said he was going on a 10- day vacation during which he would do his medical routine. He left about four days ahead of the scheduled time.
Next they said he would not return at the end 10 days, which he ought to have come back because he had to wait for some medical reports. It took 22 days for those reports to come. The details of those reports have now necessitated an indefinite stay in London.
In between these were all sorts of photo exhibitions, assurances from guided tourists that the president is hale, hearty and witty. Yet he didn’t return to do the job for which he is elected. The only reason why there has not been the kind of reaction we had when the late president, Umaru Yar’Adua’s handlers staged low quality film, was speaking was because the President did the most sensible thing by handing over power to his vice, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo before he left the country. This is the only difference between the two episodes.
Do you think section 144 of the constitution can work out in this circumstance?
I don’t see section 144, which deals with setting up a medical board easily coming to play in this circumstance. First, the leadership of the National Assembly that should activate that section is already part of the London Safari. It was actually “hale and hearty” until the Senate President added “witty”. On what basis can the same people now activate section 144 for a “hale, hearty and witty” man? Even if they were not part of the show, they must first receive a letter from 2/3 of members of the Federal Executive Council, to the effect that the President is unfit and this can never happen in Nigeria, even for a president that is certified dead. But beyond that is the clumsiness of the 1999 Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria. Section 144 talks of constituting a medical board to examine the health of a sick President, but section 145 says once a president transmits a letter to the National Assembly that he would not be around, the Vice President would act for him until he sends a contrary message.
Therefore, a President can send a letter to the National Assembly a week after his inauguration, take a new wife on cruise and return on the day his tenure would end without committing any offence, as per section 145. It does not say how long he can be away for. It is worded as if the President is a sole owner of a supermarket.
Do you foresee any stalemate in the country over this issue?
The only stalemate I foresee is the power tussle that will ensue if he tarried longer than necessary, as the cabal would now see this as an opportunity to run a superior parallel government in the absence of the President. There would be a lot of “as previously approved by the president.” There would be many “the president said “ what he did not say. They would put his signature on blank sheets and begin to fill in what suits their fancies. And they would be saying he would arrive very soon, so the Acting President would not be independent in his actions. Ultimately, this would factionalise the government with internecine battle for control, ensuing and leading to a fractured polity.
Do you trust the party, National Assembly, FEC to do the needful?
Politics would never allow the party, FEC and the National Assembly to move near section 144. The absence of nationhood complicates issues. The mentality of “it is our turn” or “it is our power “ would so much heat the polity in a situation where it becomes necessary to do the needful, though we pray it doesn’t get to that.
Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2lbF0VI
With praise fiesta, women celebrate family the naija way
Efik/Ibibio women performing at the event
It was an amazing and delightful evening of praise, as the Good Women Fellowship of The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Lagos Province 44, Praise Tabernacle, Surulere, Lagos, celebrated its maiden edition of Praise Fiesta with the theme ‘Love & Praise: the Naija Way).’ The event, which began with praise and worship, ushered the congregation into an atmosphere of thanksgiving and worship.
Convener of the praise concert, Pastor (Mrs.) Temitope Emovon, wife of the pastor-in-charge of the Province, Amos Emovon, said at the opening, “I want to give all the glory, worship and praise to God because He deserves it. The essence of this gathering is to kick out the devil from our homes. Today, we are saying we need peace in our homes and the only way to do so is by expressing love to our husbands, children and everyone around. This is why we are here.”
Different ethnic groups in the country were represented at the event, as the women were colourful attired in their ethnic traditional wears. They included Hausa, Delta, Edo, Igbo, Yoruba, Ibibio/ Efik among others. The event also featured awesome and breathtaking performances from the children who did many scintillating choreographic steps.
Families were celebrated, especially the husbands by their wives and children. Love letters, written by wives to their husbands, were displayed on the projectors and read aloud to the hearing of everyone.
Also, awestruck the husbands were presented with beautifully packaged boxes of cakes and hard copies of their love letters by their wives, as confirmations of their undying affection and appreciation. It was, indeed, a memorable event.
Pastor Amos Emovon thanked the congregation for attending the first edition of Praise Fiesta, particularly the women for making the event possible.
Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2lmnGy0
Saturday, 18 February 2017
Southeast APC denounces Nnamani as national leader
Nnamani
The Southeast zone of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has denounced the selection of former Senate President, Ken Nnamani as the National Leader of the party in the zone.
Briefing newsmen at the end of the zonal meeting, Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr. Chris Ngige and the National Vice Chairman, Chief Emma Eneukwu said the party constitution did not provide for such position.
Ngige said: “There’s no such position in our party constitution. No clause or section of the party constitution provides for such position in our party. It’s a storm in a teacup; we don’t want that to cause disunity. So, this is a non-issue at all; it is just that the press made it look like a mountain out of a small molehill.”
Ngige stated that the party leaders extensively deliberated, as well as, call to order those championing the issue to be guided by the constitution, stressing that what mattered to the party presently was not leadership, but how to win elections.
Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2l7HLKI
Saturday, 28 January 2017
Responsibility: Your response to natural abilities Iis your response to greatness (Read full details)
Davids. PHOTO: Youtube
It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities – John Mason
Responsibility is the price for greatness. Although greatness starts with a God-given dream, you have a role to play to make that dream a reality. You can’t fold your hands and expect that things would work out. According to Steven Covey, the word ‘responsibility stands for: ‘response – ability, i.e. our ability to respond to situations. This is an intriguing fact – too many people spend valuable time reacting negatively to situations; they focus on the things, which did not work for them e.g. a poor family background, lack of education, etc. and make excuses at every opportunity. An excuse is never a valid reason.
One of the greatest Presidents of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt, suddenly got stricken with Polio. But this did not stop him from pursuing his political ambitions, as he ended up being the 32nd President of the United States of America, even though he was on a wheel chair. He chose not to allow his current situation affect his dreams. Your response to situations would determine how far you go in life.
The Bible also offers us several examples of men, who conquered and overcame. One of my favourite characters is Joseph, a young man betrayed by his brothers and sold into slavery in a strange land, far away from his birthplace. It seemed like Joseph’s dreams had been dashed, but he carried on and didn’t react to the negative situation. Eventually he was able to fulfil that dream in a strange land.
Are you discouraged? Have your dreams been dashed or broken? I want to tell you that you are made of the stuff that champions are made of. You need to be aware of your responses, even when things don’t go the way you expect.
I urge you to read Joseph’s story in Genesis chapter 37, 39, 40 and 41. The path of greatness is full of obstacles, so you must be determined to keep forging ahead. You cannot control your circumstances all the time, but you are fully in control of your reactions or responses to them.
I have no doubt that you are destined for greatness, but God has made you a custodian of your own destiny, and so, you must take full responsibility, as nobody else will. How you respond to events today will determine how you end tomorrow.
“Work” is the tool, which has been committed in your hands, regardless of your employment status (employee, employer of labour or self- employed). As a student, your academics is the tool in your hands. If you are searching for a job, there will always be opportunities to put your hand to work –you can put your skills to work in your local church or your community. Be responsible, be diligent and you will reap the benefits in due time.
Below, Proverbs 22:29 gives a clear picture of the result of being diligent.
“Do you see any truly competent workers? They will serve kings rather than working for ordinary people” NLT.
Diligence precedes promotion. The ability to create a profitable cause is within you. Don’t wait.
I pray that God gives you the grace to realise your responsibilities and assignments and the strength to respond, as you should. May you walk in your God-given purpose in Jesus name. Amen.
I would love to hear from you; @yemidavids, pastoryemi@globalimpactng.org or visit www, globalimpactng.org or The Goodland, Ifako Bus Stop along Ogudu-Oworo Expressway, Lagos. @Globalimpactng. See you next week!
Responsibility: Your response to natural abilities Iis your response to greatness
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