Daily Times Nigeria Friday, March 15, 2019
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Editorial Commentary
Ajimobi, Okorocha, Ganduje: An Unfolding Story
Times Guest Columnist Azu Ishiekwene
It’s incredible how eight years have ended as a twoword parable: constituted authority. That’s what Governor Abiola Isiaka Ajimobi would be mostly remembered for – the epigram from his encounter with students of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH). That episode was perhaps one of the most catastrophic PR disasters of Ajimobi’s eight-year tenure. A teacher’s strike over the status/funding of the school two years ago left the students stranded for nearly one academic year. When the governor finally met them, all he needed to do was to climb down from his high horse and show some empathy. Tell them he felt their pain and frustration, and what he was doing to end it. Tell them that anyone of them could have been his own children and the last thing he would wish was for his children to be out of school for one year, no matter what the problem was, with still no end in sight. Soothe their pain, calm their nerves and come down to their level. He did not. Instead, as tensions flared and a few in the crowd taunted him, he railed back like a village headmaster, desperately looking for a scapegoat or two among the students to give a few strokes of the cane on bare buttocks. How dare the students challenge “constituted authority!” Never mind that it took this “constituted authority” nearly one academic year to discover that its own university was shut down. Ajimobi yo-yoed with the idea of unleashing the police on a few vocal students in the crowd, then pulled back when he saw he was playing with fire. But it was too late. The video went viral and the governor earned himself a new name, a moniker, which I’m told even cabinet members use to mock him behind his back: constituted authority. Later the same year, the governor expanded his battleground to include the Olubadan in a suicidal political mission to downgrade the palace to his Boys’ Quarters and make the Olubadan just one of the numerous tenants. Whatever the governor’s rationale for tampering with the chieftaincy laws, the malicious intent was not going to be forgiven easily in a state with a long memory, a sharp tongue, and a deep, unashamedly old-fashioned attachment to its myths and traditions. But Ajimobi still didn’t get it. Not even after the initial ruling by the court that he was out of order and many highpowered representations to dissuade him. He stuck to his guns and increasingly assumed an air of infallibility. He had, in fact, done what Napoleon could not do, so where was the mountain left to conquer? He is the first governor in Oyo State’s history to have a second term. And this historic feat had created a certain sense of self-assurance and immortality that banished that intuitive sense of danger, sometimes vital to selfpreservation. The primary question was always, who’s next to conquer? In that sense, the demolition of the music studios of Yinka Ayefele, after the governor’s personal assurances of amnesty to the distraught Mrs. Ayefele who begged Ajimobi in tears in the Government House the night before the bulldozers moved in, was just a blip. There was nothing too hard for the governor to do. Insiders said the governor came only inches from demolishing the fence of Tribune newspapers in Imalefalafia, brushing aside attempts to restrain him each time, with the reminder that even if he turns out wrong in the end, “It’s not my money that will pay for restitution. It’s government money!” The summary of Ajimobi’s eight-year tenure is that he did not know how to talk – and worse, he did not know how to listen. I wish I could say it in elegant English, the Ibadan way. If he killed himself by not knowing how to talk, he might have been redeemed from the political dead by listening before choosing a candidate to carry the party’s flag. Unfortunately, even that potentially redemptive act, became the final nail in his own political coffin. This is not how it was meant to be. After years of turbulence and rancour, which left Ibadan as a glorified village and most parts of Oyo backward for decades, the coming of Abiola Isiaka Ajimobi as governor was supposed to be a breath of fresh air.
Ajimobi had 26-year private sector experience and was a cosmopolitan as they come. He did not seem encumbered by the provincialism and identity politics that were the albatross of a number of his predecessors. A one-time senator and two-term governor, how benefitting it would have been to crown his modest achievements in infrastructure with another ticket to the Senate and a successor to carry on his work. But that is not to be. Instead, for some time to come, his tenure would be a standard reference in Sunday school on the perils of pride and the vanity of hubris. Ajimobi is not in entirely without comfort, though. Rochas Okorocha, the outgoing governor of Imo State, is facing his own moment of truth. After eight years of Iberiberism, a homegrown political philosophy which lavishes the state’s treasury on family and in-laws, while using what is left to build statues and honour crooks. Okorocha is finding out the hard way that foolishness digs its own shallow grave. At a time when he would not pay salaries or pensions, he found money to create Africa’s longest Statues Street, lining up images of whoever he fancied, as if the people would eat statues for their labour. When teachers were on less than half salaries, Okorocha still found enough money to make large billboards, with pictures of himself in benevolent smile over a state in misery. In the summer of 2015, he famously celebrated his visit to the U.S. on Buhari’s entourage by erecting a large billboard in Owerri, with a picture of himself smiling sheepishly before former President Barack Obama. The lowest points for me were the times when school children whose teachers were on half pay and whose parents didn’t know where the next meal would come from were brought to perform for the governor and to sing his praise. It was iberibe on a whole new level. Apparently, the fellow doesn’t not know it’s over now; or maybe he knows but just lacks the grace to accept it and compassion for the long-suffering people of Imo. Okorocha still put himself forward to represent Imo West in the Senate; his son-in-law as candidate to succeed him; and his wife as the state’s matriarch-in-chief. When it became clear to him that his bid had failed, he put a gun to the head of the returning officer – the same way he has held Imo at gunpoint for eight years – to declare him winner. Let’s see how far that gets him. If the All Progressives Congress (APC) ever sits down to take stock of the 2019 election, it would find that in a number of the states where it lost – or could still lose – its governors were the party’s worst enemies. The only exception, perhaps, is Plateau, where the governor’s obsequiousness in handling the herdsmen-farmer’s clashes could cost him his second-term bid. As Governor Abdullahi Ganduje’s fate hangs by a thread in Kano, it is clear that he is not the oracle that he pretended to be. His attempt to humiliate and depose Emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi over the so-called dodgy palace expenses; his spectacular fallout with his former boss, Rabiu Kwankwaso; and the controversial video of him lining his pocket with wads of dollar bills, have eroded his popularity and diminished any modest achievements. After last Saturday’s election, thanks to an extraordinarily courageous and professional commissioner of police, Mohammed Wakili, it must have dawned on Ganduje by now that the one million people who voted for Buhari on February 23 did so not at the governor’s behest, but in spite of him. Whatever Ganduje promised Buhari or thinks Buhari owes him, he forgot that in Kano politics, it’s charity and honesty, above all. That’s how it’s been since Aminu Kano. Kano does not follow the crowd; it creates its own crowd and makes its own choice. It voted Buhari not because of what he has done or not done, but because Buhari promised to jail thieves. Now, voters are pointing him to a piece of red meat in the Kano Government House. The wind that swept away Ajimobi in the south west and claimed governor Okorocha’s senatorial ambition in the south east, has just arrived in Kano. It’s hard to see how Ganduje will survive it.
OUR POSITION Stemming the upsurge of malnutrition among children Without mincing words, education and awareness are the first steps to understand and solve any problem. But the problem of malnutrition is not an exception. The ranking of Nigeria among countries with the highest number of children suffering from malnutrition definitely calls for concern. Nutrition has a powerful influence on growth, development, and the productive life of every individual. Optimal nutrition at each stage of the life cycle is therefore a fundamental human right. Furthermore, nutrition is linked to most of, if not all, the Strategic Development Goals (SDGs) and the right to food, adequate nutrition, and healthcare are fundamental to achieving the SDGs. Malnutrition is the lack of proper nutrition, caused by not having enough to eat, not eating enough of the right things, or being unable to use the food that one eats. Over-nutrition is also malnutrition. In children, malnutrition thrives when children go hungry or feed on monotonous diets based on highly processed carbohydrates, little fresh vegetables and no fruit. According to a report by the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) on malnutrition burden in Nigeria, stunting, wasting and underweight rates have worsened in the country when compared to the same survey in 2015. The MICS in 2017 puts Nigeria’s stunting rate at 43.3 per cent, as against 32.9 per cent in the 2015 survey. It shows that in 2017, the rate of wasting was 10.8 per cent, while in 2015; the figure was 7.2 per cent. The study also shows that underweight rate in the country was at 31.5 per cent in 2017, while in 2015, the rate was 19.4 per cent. Global records recently showed that while stunting and other forms of malnutrition have reduced worldwide, from 198 million to 151 million people, the burden is presently increasing at an alarming rate in West and Central Africa, from 22.8 million to 28.8 million people. Incidentally, ignorance of what is adequate diet, poverty and lip-service to strategic plan of action on nutrition by the Nigerian government has affected the intake of nutritious food in Nigeria. A review of trends in economic growth, health and nutrition in Nigeria indicates that the country is undergoing rapid socioeconomic, demographic, nutritional and health transitions. But under-nutrition has continued to be persistently high and remains a challenge. Lately, the media is full of statistics about how Nigeria is home to the highest number of stunted children in the continent, percentage of wasted and under-weight children. Unfortunately, the statistics do not result in the adoption of essential family practices. It does not stop badly cooked food being served in private homes, restaurants, hotels and boarding houses. Dishing out statistics is not solving the problem of inadequate-nutrition. Too often we choose our food for reasons of convenience, taste, availability and social acceptance. We prefer to love sugar and fat as kids. Many eat rice consistently for as much as thrice a day. Nutrition is the intake of food, considered in relation to the body’s dietary needs. They are likely to have poor nutritional statusparticularly insufficient micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) which are essential for building good immunity, enabling efficient metabolism and full body functioning. It is, therefore, desirable to address and remove the conditions that make malnutrition thrive. We are of he opinion that advocacy need to become loudest on the importance of taking adequate care of pregnant women with adequate nutrition and for the women to practice exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months after birth. Exclusive breastfeeding is said to reduce 50 per cent of killer diseases in children. The practice of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of life and the introduction of adequate complementary diet till the first two years of life are key to child survival and optimal growth. It is also crucial that individuals adopt a nutrition-
based approach to food choices and eating habits to avoid the long-term effects of lifestyle malnutrition. In essence, this means changing from a diet high in animal products, refined and processed foods to one that is rich in fresh, wholesome foods, especially fruit and vegetables. Another thing that needs advocacy is the promotion of natural foods, because they contain “life forces,” which is defined in terms of minerals and vitamins. Call them what you like, the fact remains that only the fresh foods, whether they are fruits, vegetables, milk, flesh or grains have their maximum quota of these life-giving elements. From the afore-mentioned, our objective against malnutrition will be better achieved if we focus on addressing issues of status of women, the care of pregnant mothers and children under two, breastfeeding and importance of adequate nutrition and health. This is where telecommunication companies as well as the mass media should come up with public education on how to achieve optimum nutrition. Sadly too, lifestyles have changed for the worse and not many Nigerian homes have gardens and poultries from which adequate protein could be sourced for consumption particularly, in the urban areas, which is why the urban poor languish more in malnourishment. Mass poverty, no doubt, remains a major hindrance to life lived in abundance by Nigerians. We therefore submit that while it is the duty of government to see to the welfare of the citizenry, families should give adequate attention to their children and their feeding habits. There should be home gardens where vegetables are planted even in the urban areas. Education of course, is key. The Ministries of Health, particularly, at the state level, should use local languages on all media platforms to sensitise people on how to give children balanced diet, using nutrient-rich local foods. We believe that this development will reduce malnutrition among children to barest minimum.
S I G N AT U R E Publisher
Folio Communications Plc
Acting News Editor Henry Omunu 08033047507 The opinions expressed in the articles published in this newspaper are solely those of the authors. Articles may be reproduced, provided that the original source is indicated.