Connect with us

News

OPINION: Oloyede’s Tears And Nigeria’s Horror Scenes

Published

on

By Festus Adedayo

In May, 2016, a young man got abducted by three men. They drugged him and gouged out his two eyes and testicles. According to the Daily Sun of South Africa, police later found the “fresh balls” of the victim in one of the suspects’ refrigerator. It was a suspected case of Muti. Andrew Kenny, a South African newspaper Op-Ed writer, penned it. Kenny was bothered by mounting cases of what he called desecration of humanity, as demonstrated by rampant cases of Muti killings. In Muti, the human victim’s body parts are harvested for rituals. In the piece he did for the BizNews newspaper, Kenny made a vivid portrait of what he called “a world of horror and fear” which he said Cyril Ramaphosa’s country had slipped into.

Advertisement

If Nigeria of last week was a fallen combatant and an epitaph in its memory needed to be written, it will be that poetic, idiomatic expression, “when it rains, it pours.” When unpleasant things happen, they appear to come in quick succession or clusters.

Nigerian horrors are a legion. Some of them came on parade last week. The first was the ruckus generated by the results of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB’s) Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). Apparently overwhelmed by glaring evidence of wrongs in the results, JAMB Registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, at a press conference, admitted that indeed, there were system glitches caused by one of JAMB’s two technical service providers and which occurred in 157 centres nationwide. This invariably affected the results of 379,997 candidates. JAMB linked the discrepancies to faulty server updates in its Lagos and south-east zones. In the process of confirming the glitches, Oloyede took ownership and responsibility for them and ostensibly saddened, he went emotional and shed tears.

Then the Nigerian horror occurred. It is the elephant in the room whose ubiquity has, for almost a century now, ruined ethnic relations in Nigeria. To be specific, it is the age-long phobia for and acrimony against selves among Igbo and Yoruba people. Oloyede and his Yoruba team deliberately failed the 379,997 candidates, majority of whom were Igbo, the narrative began. Nothing would appease those persuaded by that obvious rant. How did a Professor of Islamic Studies come to head JAMB? Some others asked. Victims of the technical glitches became weaponized as synecdoche, as a part representing the whole. They figuratively stand for the unceasing “war” between Yoruba and Igbo. So many tropes were built in its service.

Advertisement

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR: OPINION: Aso Rock, Voodoo Statistics And My friend, Al Venter

Though horrific, using ethnicity as lens of relations between Igbo and Yoruba didn’t start today. As aptly put by James S. Coleman in his Nigeria: Background to Nationalism (1958), “from the beginning, Azikiwe’s newspapers glorified the achievements of individual Ibos at home and abroad, but seldom gave publicity to the activities of prominent Yorubas; they claim, on the contrary, that Azikiwe carried on a sustained program of character assassination against them.”

The exchange of acrimony between Yoruba and Igbo became so rife during Dr. Okechukwu Ikejiani’s time as Chairman of the Nigerian Railways with allegations that he filled the Railways with Igbo. Ikejiani was appointed in 1960. The Yoruba harangued Ikejiani terribly through their newspaper press, the Daily Sketch, especially over his claim of having a DSc from Toronto. Same happened during the VC contest of the University of Lagos in 1965 between incumbent, Prof Eni Njoku and Prof Saburi Biobaku. It degenerated into verbal abuses and exchanges of ethnic bile. As it was then, so it is today.

Advertisement

The harbinger of this ethnic horror between Yoruba and Igbo is the January 1966 coup when Nigeria’s federal structure was unitarized by the military. From then, Nigeria has not recovered from the blow of Aguiyi Ironsi. It has since then been superficially practicing federalism in context but in content, fully runs a unitary government. I went into history to situate the ancient animosity between the two ethnic groups, in the bid to show where the rain began beating the two ethnic groups. Only a federal system in content will cure the incurable malady of mutual hatred between the duo. It is becoming glaring by the day that no preachment can stop this “war’.

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR: OPINION: Umo Eno, Oborevwori And Okowa’s Political Harlotry

As the “war” was being fought, another horror slid in. Patriot Professor Pat Utomi was dragged to the Federal High Court by the Department of State Services (DSS). His crime? He called for and formed a shadow government. Utomi’s patriotism has overtime been assessed from ethnic prism. An Igbo from Delta State, Yoruba, especially those of the persuasion of the Nigerian president, have denigrated his civic engagement of a stagnating federal government whose feel is nil in the lives of the people. The DSS alleged that Utomi’s shadow government was akin to usurping executive authority.

Advertisement

The DSS case against Utomi is a demonstration of the rot in Nigeria’s practice of democracy. Rather than destabilizing the Nigerian state, what Utomi seeks is to canvass the other view. There is no doubting the fact that, in the last two years, the persons in charge of Nigeria’s federal power have performed grossly inadequately. In the shadow government call, I do not see Utomi asking that Tinubu’s effete arrangement should be collapsed. What he offers is a counter formation from which the Tinubu dross can learn. To tenants of Nigeria’s Hammer House of Horror Villa, dissent is criminal and civic engagement, an anathema. The question to ask the DSS is, at what lamentable point did offering civic alternative wear the toga of a coup? When did an alternative opinion constitute national security threat? What is more threatening to Nigeria is the stagnation, and I dare say, regression of Nigeria under its current taskmasters. Utomi’s only crime is his power of re-imagination, his effrontery to have another view.

Yet, another. Let us not dwell on the horror of how Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, prematurely jumped the gun to diagnose the mass failure in JAMB before Oloyede burst his bubble. He subsequently appeared to the rest of Nigeria as a confused man. While his ministry, perhaps in the name of the Nigeria First initiative of the federal government, seems to want to stop the Bilateral Educational Agreement (BEA) scholarship scheme which he inherited, should it be done retroactively? Under the BEA, Nigeria sponsored some students to Russia and some other countries on scholarship. Recently, the ministry seems to be making moves to stop BEA while its engagement with those on its scholarship scheme still subsists. Methinks the most sensible thing to do is to stop subsequent engagements but not to leave students currently on the scheme in the lurch. This violates the principle of fairness. It is only in military regimes that actions are taken this retroactively.

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR: OPINION: Tinubu’s Àjàntálá Son

Advertisement

Yet, another. Yes, Nigeria has a pandemic of ritual killings like the Muti of South and Southern Africa, but the revelation last week by Aminu Jaji, a member of the House of Representatives from Kaura-Namoda/Birnin Magaji Federal Constituency of Zamfara State, ranks like a news from the House of Horror. It is a social signpost of the worsening security situation in Nigeria. According to Jaji, armed insurgents now feed newborns in captivity to their dogs.

That blood-curdling revelation should galvanize Nigerian authorities into action. Bandits and terrorists are taking over the levers of power. As the week was winding down, the gladsome news that the Federal Government had established a national forest guard system filtered into the airwaves. About 130,000 armed operatives will be recruited to man Nigeria’s 1,129 forest reserves. Each state is to recruit between 2,000 and 5,000 forest guards based on their capacity for this project of curbing the escalating insecurity across Nigeria. That is one exemption from the horror stories that laced our last week. However, it is not without questions. If the states are to employ their own guards into the scheme and pay them, how is the initiative federal? What happens to states like the Southwest which have their own security network called Amotekun? Some of the Amotekun operatives keep an eye on the forests.

The week before, GovSpend, a civic tech platform which peers torchlight into the spending of the FG, gouged out another horror. According to it, between July 2023 and December 2024, the Tinubu government spent the sum of N20.3b to maintain Nigeria’s presidential fleet. The president’s recently acquired sky octopus, an Airbus A330, which cost Nigeria over $100m, was taken to South Africa for a remodeling that will cost Nigerians multiple of millions of dollars. When government calls for belt-tightening and its Capon lives like an oil Shekh as this, it becomes a dissonance that doesn’t resonate with the people.

Advertisement

Like the Muti of South Africa which bothered Andrew Kenny but which the elite chattering classes ignore and probably enjoy, we must be bothered by the horrors of Nigeria. We must speak up about them and change these narratives that have become a refrain in our daily lives.

Advertisement

News

FG Unveils Revised Curriculum For Basic, Secondary, Technical Education

Published

on

Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Said Ahmad

The Federal Government said it completed a comprehensive review of school curricula for basic, senior secondary and technical education aimed to make Nigerian learners “future-ready.”

The Ministry of Education disclosed this in a statement signed on Friday by its Director of Press and Public Relations, Boriowo Folasade, and made available to newsmen on Sunday.

Advertisement

Folasade said the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Said Ahmad announced the curriculum on behalf of the Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Alausa, while speaking in Abuja.

READ ALSO:FG Shuts 22 Illegal Tertiary Institutions

According to the minister, the review was carried out in collaboration with key education stakeholders, including the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, the Universal Basic Education Commission, the National Senior Secondary Education Commission and the National Board for Technical Education.

Advertisement

The new framework is designed to reduce content overload, improve learning outcomes, and ensure Nigerian students are equipped with skills relevant to today’s global demands.

Prof. Ahmad said the exercise went beyond merely trimming subjects, stressing it focused on improving content to promote deeper learning and reduce overload for pupils and students.

Under the revised structure, pupils in Primary 1–3 will study a minimum of nine and a maximum of 10 subjects; pupils in Primary 4–6 will take 10 to 12 subjects. Junior secondary students may offer 12 to 14 subjects, senior secondary students will take eight to nine subjects, and technical schools will offer nine to 11 subjects,” the statement read.

Advertisement

READ ALSO:FG To Disburse Interest-free Loans To Farmers, Small Businesses – GEEP

The revised curricula will reduce content overload and create more learning time for students,” Prof. Ahmad said, adding that the changes reflect the government’s commitment to delivering quality, practical and relevant education in a rapidly changing world.

The Ministry of Education commended stakeholders for their role in the review and said implementation will be accompanied by strict monitoring to ensure a smooth transition across schools nationwide.

Advertisement

The ministry did not give an exact date for rollout, but said the new curricula will be phased in with oversight from relevant agencies to guarantee effective adoption.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

News

Over 23,000 People Still Missing In Nigeria — ICRC

Published

on

The International Committee of the Red Cross says more than 23,659 people remain missing in Nigeria, leaving 13,595 families in anguish, most of them women struggling with uncertainty and hardship.

Protection of Family Links Team Leader of ICRC in Damaturu, Mr Ishaku Luka, disclosed this on Sunday during activities to mark the International Day of the Disappeared.

Advertisement

He said 68 per cent of those still searching for answers were women, while 59 per cent of those missing were minors at the time of their disappearance.

According to him, Yobe State alone accounts for 2,500 cases, the majority recorded in Gujba Local Government Area.

Behind every missing person is a family living in pain, uncertainty, and economic difficulty.

Advertisement

READ ALSO:‘Court Of Corruption’ — Obasanjo Knocks INEC Chairman, Judiciary In New Book

The anguish is compounded by legal, administrative, and psychosocial challenges. These families deserve acknowledgement, care and support,” Luka said.

He explained that the issue of missing persons was one of the most devastating consequences of armed conflicts, disasters, and migration.

Advertisement

He urged parties to conflicts, authorities, and communities to take greater responsibility in preventing disappearances.

Sharing ICRC’s interventions, Luka said by June 30, the organisation had collected 451 new cases in Nigeria, and closed 515 cases.

Luka added that the organisation had facilitated the reunification of seven separated children with their families.

Advertisement

READ ALSO:FG To Earn N180bn From Fire, Cassava Investments – ICRC

Every day, worldwide, we help reunite 20 people with their families. Every hour, we help clarify the fate of two missing people. Every minute, we help four separated persons contact their loved ones,” he added.

Head of ICRC Sub-delegation in Damaturu, Mr Rashid Hassan, said families of the missing should not be left alone in their struggles.

Advertisement

Time does not heal. Acknowledgement, answers and respect do. Families must know that their loved ones are not forgotten and their demands are heard,” Hassan stressed.

He said the ICRC, working with the Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS), had provided mental health and psychosocial support, livelihood assistance, and orientation programmes for families of missing persons in Borno and Adamawa states.

Hassan urged authorities to fulfill their obligations by clarifying the fate of missing persons, protecting the dignity of the dead, and addressing the economic and social needs of the affected families.

Advertisement

READ ALSO:Why Super Eagles Coach, Peseiro’s Contract Should Not Be Renewed’

He also called on society to show solidarity, avoid stigmatisation, and support the resilience of families searching for answers.

Globally, Hassan said, more than 94,000 people were newly registered as missing in 2024, bringing the total to 284,400.

Advertisement

He stressed, however, that the figure represented only a fraction of the real number.

As we commemorate this day, we renew our commitment to advocate for the rights of the disappeared and to push for continuous efforts in searching for answers.

“No family should live with the torment of uncertainty,” Hassan said.

Advertisement

(NAN)

Advertisement
Continue Reading

News

Ex-TVC’s ‘Your View Host,’ Afolabi-Brown, Admits Ignorance In Past Criticism Of Peter Obi

Published

on

… narratives how she once considered suicide

Former Your View host, Morayo Afolabi-Brown, has said her past remarks about former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, were made without knowing much about him or his record in office.

Advertisement

The veteran media personality, in an interview with Chude Jideonwo, explained that her comments on the Labour Party presidential candidate at the time were not based on personal familiarity with his record.

“It was because I did not know him. After I made that comment, people called me and said, ‘Morayo, do you realise that when he was governor, he actually served us?’

“So that was him. I said, ‘Oh, I did not know,’” she said.

Advertisement

The broadcaster also opened up about her battle with depression, recalling how she once considered taking her own life.

READ ALSO:Your View Host, Morayo Brown, Resigns From TVC

“I was depressed. It got so bad that I thought I was suicidal. I just left everything behind.

Advertisement

“I remember just walking on the express, hoping a car would hit me. It was that bad,” she revealed.

Afolabi-Brown explained that she decided to step away from Your View after the show’s tenth anniversary, saying she had long harboured the thought of moving on.

It was when we were 10 years old that I knew it was time to move on to the next thing.

Advertisement

READ ALSO:Ghana Threatens To Suspend DSTV Licence Over Price Hike

I’ve been harbouring that thought for a while, but I just didn’t know to what or where, you know.

“But I think last year, I got that light bulb moment,” she said.

Advertisement

Brown further narrated how she was sacked from TVC until her identity became known to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

People now call Asiwaju, ‘Do you know whose child was sacked?’ He said, ‘I’m not aware.’

READ ALSO:Naira Abuse: Don’t Condemn Tompolo Over Mere Allegation, Says EFCC Boss

Advertisement

He said, ‘This is the Alao Aka-Bashorun’s daughter. That’s when he knew it was me,” she recalled.

On controversies during her career, she revisited the uproar that trailed an on-air interview in which she was accused of calling her husband a pedophile.

According to her, the First Lady’s intervention helped her make peace and publicly apologise.

Advertisement

Her exit from Your View, she noted, marked the end of her 12-year journey on the breakfast show.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending