THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, March 3, 2013
SUNDAYMAGAZINE 39
Language on parade
Dancing On Insecurity On Our FISCCAL Cliff By adidi uyo
HEN I was devising the acronym, FISCCAL, I equivocated about what the letter “I” should stand for on this symbolic, multifaceted cliff that Nigerians of various hues never tire of dancing upon. Given the state of our country’s electricity supply, water supply, road system, or what have you, I had entertained the idea of letting the letter stand for “Infrastructure.” But, as they say, if there is no body, what would the legs carry, for “infra,” as those who savour that popular Latinate phrase, “infra dignitatem,” must know, means “below.” The point is, if there is no corporate body, no entity, called Nigeria, would we be talking about the conditions of its existence? For that reason, “Insecurity” readily got the nod, because we could say that insecurity pertains to the entity as a whole, whereas infrastructure pertains to the legs. Catch my drift? “Insecurity: UK Warns Citizens Against Travelling To Nigeria”? This is a headline in The Nation of February 27, 2013. The lead of the news story reads: Britain advised its citizens on Wednesday against travelling to several regions in Northern Nigeria, after an increase in attacks blamed on Islamist militants and the abduction of several foreigners earlier this month, Reuters reports.” Do you blame the British Government for caring about the safety of its citizens? The government is not behaving differently from many Nigerians. I have my doubts about such a position, if you ask me, but to many Nigerians one
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development that epitomises the insecurity of Nigeria today is the existence and operation of the Islamist fundamentalists known as Boko Haram. To be sure, it is none of our business here to debate that issue. But the fact of the matter is that there is insecurity in the land, and foreigners and Nigerians, alike, are dancing it, everyday. It is beyond us to question the motive of those who talk about insecurity in the land, and we ask you to only appreciate the language with which they dance on the phenomenon. Consider this statement, for example: “The country was not just under an ominous cloud of insecurity but its citizens were also victims.” That was a statement credited to Major General Muhammadu Buhari, by the National Publicity Secretary of his party, following the attack on the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero. The tone of the headline of a news story in The Punch of February 23, 2013 captures how Aso Rock saw the general’s statement: “Buhari’s comments on Emir’s attack reckless — Presidency.” “How to save Nigeria from collapse, by Yoruba leaders,” is the headline of a news story in The Guardian of August 31, 2012. The lead of the story reads: “Nigeria’s skewed federalism and insecurity were among the critical issues discussed by Yoruba leaders on the platform of Yoruba Assembly, who gathered yesterday in Ibadan, Oyo State.” And the third paragraph of the story has it that: “As they deplored the state of insecurity in the country and the violent activities of Boko Haram in the North, the leaders resolved
to set up vigilance (sic) groups in all South-West states to protect their people against crimes and violence.” We started the rhetoric on insecurity with words from abroad, and we might well end it with a foreign personage dancing on it right here on our soil. “Poverty fuelling Boko Haram Insurgency — Clinton,” rang one headline in The Nation on February 27, 2013. In the lead of the story sits resplendently the “I” word of interest: “Former United States President Bill Clinton on Tuesday canvased ways through which Nigeria could effectively deal with Boko Haram insurgency and other forms of insecurity in the country.” What do you know? It seems the former president did not put his fingers on the right button, going by the comments of most of the readers online. Let’s take just two. “This is wrong, Clinton,” fired back the first reader. “There is poverty in the south also and they have not taken arms to invade and kill innocent Nigerians.” And the second reader weighed in riffling an analogy: “that is like telling us that poverty was the reason Osama bin Laden attacked America. Please, Clinton, always say the truth.” It is not our fashion here to determine the truth or otherwise. But you may be able to do something like that by weighing the words of this headline in The Nation of January 15, 2013: “North’s insecurity is self-inflicted, says Sultan.” The lead of the news story reads: “The President General of the Nigeria Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, yesterday said insecurity and other problems facing the North are self-inflicted.”
Senator John Shagaya (left), director general Bureau of public procurement, (Bpp), emeka ezeh, Captain IBB International gulf Club, Tony azogu, former Captain of the Club, paul erokoro and rtd general aB Mamman at a public procurement practice in nigeria, Challenges and prospects at the IBB gulf Club, abuja. pHoTo: pHILIp oJISua.
Osun NOA Launches Campaign On Examination Malpractice HE Osun State Director of National Orientation Agency (NOA), Apostle Samson Adeyemi has advised pupils, students and other stakeholders in education sector to imbibe the Nigerian core values of integrity, honesty, patriotism and hardwork advising them to shun examination malpractices. Adeyemi said this during the campaign on raising integrity standard in the conduct of examination in the Nigerian education system with the theme: “Eradicate Examination Malpractices” held at the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) Hall, Osogbo. He observed with dismay that there have been cases of collu-
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sion between parents and candidates, supervisors, invigilators and even law enforcement agents to cheat. He stated that the issue of examination malpractices has been a long standing one, hence the need for NOA to call on all stakeholders to find a solution to the menace, which is eating deep into the fabric of education in the country. The Deputy Governor of the State of Osun who also doubles as the Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Otunba Grace Titi Laoye-Tomori noted that examination malpractices is fast becoming the rule rather than the exception and often time,
the system is compromised through the collaboration of desperate parents, corrupt government officials, lazy and illprepared students who want to pass the examination at all cost. While commending NOA on the timelines of the campaign, she said: “It is time to return to the crucible as prosperity will not forgive us if we fail to do something now. The National Orientation Agency (NOA) appears to be the perfect Federal Government Agency that would help us carry out the crusade and or, war against corruption and indiscipline in the society. Notwithstanding, the task ahead is not for NOA
Members of Credit Bureau Limited (CrC)and nigerian Institute of Management (nIM) with Tunde popoola, Md/Ceo, CrC (3rd left) and Chief olawale-Cole, Chairman of Council, nIM (4th left) during a courtesy visit to CrC.
Head Consumer Insight and Credit and risk Management, First City Monument Bank(FCMB), Mrs ronke atkinson (left), Star winner in the promo, Mrs olubunmi adediran, Ceo, Inteciti Media, Yinka Johnson and Ceo Sportsvision, deji omotoyinbo during the presentation of prize to participants of FCMB novel football entertainment programme in Lagos.
Doregos Reward Students T
HE Doregos Private Academy was a place to be recently as the school gave out prizes and awards to deserving students and members of staff. At the event, Bruce Gbolahan, a Form Two student carted home the most awards, 25 in number. He said: “I try to concentrate on my studies and do my best but I am sure other students will also try to win the awards but I read hard to remain the best. I also engage in extra curricular activities that help me build a strong mind.” He commended his teachers and parents who contributed to his development and restated his commitment to his academics. Executive director of the school, Tokunbo Doregos said that reward for hard work would motivate the awardees and other students to do better next time. He said that the schools
has continued to do well in the West African School Certificate Examination (WASCE) by constantly engaging the students in activities that would help them make appreciable progress in their studies. “What we are here to do is give quality education to the students. We also have budget for activities like the JETS programme where the students have the opportunity to showcase their engineering skills,” he added. He called on the parents to support the school by giving the best to the students, assuring that the school fees would be affordable at all times. The school’s acting principal, Oluyeni Faleke said the event was put together to honour and reward intelligent, honesty and well-behaved students, as well as, dedicated, diligent and deserving teaching and non-teaching members of staff.
Head Marketing operations, Sona group of Companies, Bharat Vaswani (centre), with euro global Foods and distilleries sales team at the Silverbird Valentine’s Couples dance in Lagos