Cops-Out: Thanks to Boko Haram #Bokoharam #Police

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."
--Martin Luther King, Jr.

I choose to begin this blog with a controversial tittle with the above quote to mourn the deaths of many that have died since the insurgence of the faceless group ‘Boko Haram’, though I have being thinking before now, but the death of the mobile police man, on Tuesday, 14th February, 2012 in Kaduna state, brought out my silent thought, to thinking out loud, ‘how can unintelligent people (vast personnel of Nigerian Police/security outfits) deal with intelligence gathered by trained and specialized security outfits around the world(Interpol, CIA, FBI & SSS)’.  

The on-going terrorist concern around the globe has brought even the mighty US security plans to questions, and Nations around the world are getting the best minds and heads to run their security, on both fronts: sourcing and execution. But back at home in Nigeria, it took boko haram that can be compared to a ‘boys scout’ outfit to expose the known vast corruption in our security formation. This corruption has been going on for years; from the process of recruitment to actual management of these personnel’s. It is no longer news that half of the men/women of our security outfits are not sound in character and learning, go around during recruitment exercises you hear of tales of thugs and school dropouts just walking to a business centre to fix up a school leaving certificate for themselves; you hear of stories of people paying over a #120,000 to get enrolled; boys & girls that do not even know what is human rights, some cannot take down your statements when you come to the station and  so boring to be with; even as I write this I do not mean to insult the integrity of the many of them that are committed to their jobs, but of a truth the vast majority of them do not, some might argue that the high level of unemployment has contributed to this pseudo-life. Security men are supposed to be people that have the passion to do the job, not necessary because of the money, because they are the list paid, especially the police, check out your statistics anywhere in the world; but passion is the key, that makes them acquire the necessary skills, even if they lack paper qualification, however here in Nigeria, the passion is lacking across all sector of the society.              

So as we continue to mourn the loss of life’s of both uniformed men and non- uniformed men; and the great concern from the international community, from the USA, to Germany and France, UK and Russia, all promising to help us out with intelligence, but the questions is who will execute such intelligence, is it the unintelligent men/women of both the armed forces/Para-forces, I doubt it?

Even as we call for reform in the oil sector, our security formation needs to be reformed; the citizen too must help the system, by enrolling only if they have the passion to guide and secure life’s, not primarily because they will be paid, but the joy of serving humanity.  The government too must ensure that all this short-cut processes in recruitment are stopped, processes of checking validity of credentials should be introduced, and after all they clear politicians/high political appointee during their security check on them, why not on applicants to their formation.

There are many thoughts running in my head now…. however I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives…and many that will still be lost, if unintelligent men keep running our INTELLIGENCE UNIT.          

Ash Wednesday! A Call to National Repentance #Lent

Jonah 3:1-10

“…He rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.” v6

Today marks the beginning of an important event in the Calendar of the Universal Church of Christ, it is Ash Wednesday. It is the first day of the penitential season of lent, the ceremony of placing ashes on the forehead as a sign of penitence. These ashes obtained from burning of palm front from previous Palm Sunday celebration.

Ash (residue) is solid residue of combustion. And combustion is a process of rapid oxidation or burning of a substance with simultaneous evolution of heat and, usually light. Please note the process that brings the ash, evolution of heat & Light; our Christian call is to give out heat (energy) & light to others, while we ourselves reduce to ‘ash’.

Dear as the Church marks Ash Wednesday 2012, it is not about inscribing of crucifix on our foreheads that matters (though cool with people that take it); it is the issue of dying unto Sin, so that our lights will so shine before men and bring Glory to God the father. There is also something worthy of note, it is the recitation of the Priest as he places the blessed ashes on the foreheads of the congregation: “Remember that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return”

From the bible verse (Jonah 3:1-10) we saw the King of Nineveh realizing this, when him and his subject where convicted of their wickedness. They fasted from the heart to the outside; God heard them and changed His mind from destroying them. A lesson for us as we begin Lent! Fast from the heart to the outside!         

Nigerians especially Christians Our deeds should leave the level of being good to become righteous, then issues like corruption, nepotism, tribalism and  unpatriotic acts will be history.  

CORRUPTION DESALT #OccupyNiaja

Nigeria is endangered with many unresolved problems, but the underlining nature of corruption is troubling. The physical presences of the damming effects of this monster can be seen and felt by even the lunatic on the street, inmates in the prison all whose welfare funds    has been stolen, it has led to slow movement of files in offices, police extortion at check points, and slow traffics on the highways, port congestion,electoral fraud, poor public services like electricity, medical, ghost workers, amongst others. The issue keeps reoccurring in both informal and formal discussion in Nigeria and it will hardly go away!

Though corruption is a universal problem, and it’s as old as man, because ancient civilization had traces of widespread corruption from Roman Empire the Greek dominance to the British reign.  However it is not equal in every society, especially those that allows the rule of law to operate.

Since it’s a global phenomenon, it is then not peculiar to Nigeria, however its apandemic in Nigeria (and in many other African and Asian nations); and this is worrisome because the leaders as well as the followers are corrupt, but most at times hands are pointed only at the leadership.With this blame game on for many decades;the question should be can Nigeria overcome the challenges of endemic and unabated corruption facing us?

An unresponsive public service and a public procurement system (public financial management system) that seems to largely work in favour of “politically connected” individuals, have also contributed to the high incidence of corruption in Nigeria.

The answer is Yes even with the extensive legal, policy and institutional framework for the fight against corruption in Nigeria, though this framework faces a number of challenges including misinterpretation and misunderstanding of the legal, policy and institutional framework, capacity and resource gaps and a lack of political goodwill against corruption.

Before the return to Democracy in 1999, the military were seen as the perpetrator of corruption; though many agencies have been identified as corrupt in Nigeria, like PHCN, NNPC, Police, Government Public service rendering organization, and the educational institutions. And the Police were leading the chat, however with the events of oil subsidy bringing many dirty acts in the oil sector to the fore-front; it shows that the corruption in the Police is a child’s play.

However this discus is not about which organization is the highest, or how we got here but to show that the Nation can overcome challenges of corruption facing public financial management. The pattern of the fight against corruption so far is taking scapegoating and character assassination, however experience suggests that there are risks to addressing corruption through scapegoating and character assassination. For the fight against corruption to make impact, Nigerians general population must be re-orientated to a better value system.Most especially the re-orientation of the young people to a good value system should be a top priority in this anti-graft war.Because Nigerians have for long been living on the survival instinct (winners takes it all).

Next having armed the citizens with ethics and virtue, the nation should then set out to reduce personal gains to corrupt behavior with introduction of sanctions (tough penalties on the culprits). Enacting tough rules with strong enforcement can deter corrupt behavior. The grantingof too much discretionary powers to public officers in position to grant favor to others (businessmen in particular), such as officer who issue out licenses and passports. There is the temptation to be corrupt when the officials who have a lot of power are themselves poor, so their renumeration package should be healthy enough.

With the availability of many laws/legislations to fight corruption in Nigeria (including those crafted by the international organizations), already, what just remains is full implementation. But the most importance is the political will, to fight corruption in home countries as noted by Peter Eigen, chairman of the watchdog group, Transparency International.Robert McNamara remarks at the end of the Second Global Forum on Fighting Corruption and Safeguarding Integrity at The Hague May 31, 2001, is the crux of the matter; that every country has to determine its own priorities on the war against corruption. But each society should focus on concrete actions that can yield measurable results, and publiclyreport whether results are being achieved.

“ARTICLE ONE THE NEED OF A GLOBALIZE WORLD WITH DIVERSITY”

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights—adopted by the United Nations (UN) in 1948—gave human rights a new international legal status.  Though the level of successes achieved so far has not really met our dreams of a developed peaceful world, most especially in Africa, Asia & the middle-east however the glaring positive impact of this declaration in the United States of America and most part of Europe shows that the fathers of human rights were rights in saying that a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of universal peace and all round development.

For me the most useful article of the over thirty human rights declaration of 1948 is Article 1 which states that: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.  It is the foundation of all human rights.

For over a century, the world in the wake of globalization and industrialization, as being calling for peace and friendship, which is the greatest oil for sustained global community. Everybody in the global community wants to live in peace, no matter their philosophy, colour or religious belief, however the trait to this wish, is violence which is brought about by intolerance, or lack of respect for other peoples culture and belief. 

Peace however has been linked with education, a UNESCO maxim “Since war begins in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed”. We are living in a world of Panasonic speed, yet threatened with avalanche evils.  But article one of the universal human right declarations if taught and imbibed in the minds of the people, holds the key to achieving the intended aim of enacting this rights; universal peace and development.    

The summary of the article is brotherhood; lot of things have made men to neglect tolerance and respect for other people’s culture, religion, ethnicity, colour (racism), Government action, insincerity of developed nations to poorer nations, family crisis and the media, which has been the brain behind most intolerance acts.  Brotherhood is synonymous with unity for a common purpose, feeling and sympathy.   

The wind of change can only come from the heart of human beings. Like said by the World greatest pop singer Michael Jackson, Starting with the man in the mirror is the surest way of recreating our form world into a paradise of joy…especially at times like these when prejudice and hatred have turned our lovely planet into a place of suffering.

With the spreading fire of democratic values around the globe, based on the universal human rights, which can only work in the presence of  the rule of law, and rule of law can only be achieved when All human beings know they are all born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

 

POVERTY AND ILLITERACY: A PATH WAY FOR HIV #CrowdOutAIDS

Oh! What a mournful paradise

I have made the world to be

It’s a paradise that suits my plan;

It wasn’t my making, I was a lonely strange

Coming to town, I saw many paths, all marked with names.

I saw wealth with his twin brother education

I knew from instinct, they won’t be of help to me.

Gazing up, I saw two twin road marked poverty and illiteracy!

Before I could even approach them, they beckoned me from afar!

Come take a smooth ride with us;

If you were in my shoes what will you have done?  

There and then I met one of my life long comrades

They have been of great assistance to my cause,

They have made me stay longer than planned,

Spread faster and almost get to 1/3 of the world population.

Oh! Poverty and Illiteracy, how I wish you remain for life

So that my mission to make the world dissolute is achieved

Please help me talk AWARENESS to keep quiet,

Because she is ruining my plans

Let economic reforms and life skills development knows

They can’t out mask me, so they should keep quiet.

Each day, I wake up, to see more people being faithful

More youths trying to use condoms properly or delay sex until marriage

I just keep asking poverty, why do you leave awareness alone? Seize his funds!

Oh while are you allowing life skills letting off my hook, many young people

That would have been my victims if they have been let to continue with unproductive lifestyle.

How I wish you could see my expression right now,

Not to be like an ungrateful friend,

I need to appreciate your efforts (Poverty & Illiteracy)

You guys are doing a great job in the third world countries and developing Nations.

As it stands now, my stay can only be threatened, if kings and princes of this Nations

Wake-up to the fact and their responsibility of caring for their poor subjects

If those aware, learned and elite joins hands with their kings to bring knowledge

To their subject, only then will my exist be eminent

And if I don’t leave town completely,

I would go to the back burner like every other epidemic that was in town before me!

(This poem was first written in 2002 Oni, Isaac for a CRN competition)