Thoughts on Nigerian Federalism. by Kayode Ogundamisi

Thoughts on Nigerian federalism
By Kayode Ogundamisi

Federalism is described as the system of government built under the understanding and foundation that those who make up the federating unit will share power and also recognise, accommodate, preserve and promote the distinct identities of the ethnic nationalities that make up the larger political union, their rights to resource control, freedom, justice and equity amongst many other, heated debate on the issue of federalism is ounce again coming up amongst Nigerian political elites, discussion forums and the media.
The orchestrated misunderstanding of “federalism” in Nigeria is in the propagation of corrupt practices in the ranks of the ruling elite. Thus mechanisms such as “rotational presidency” “quota system” and others are put in place to guide their tendency to plunder, enrich and entrench their caprices.
The symbolic gesture of a “Yoruba presidency” for instance did produce General Olusegun Obasanjo who in practical terms represented the interest of the core of first the “Hausa-Fulani political elite” and then the “Yoruba political and economic elite” and Obasonjo delivered his promise not to the suffering oppressed class of the “Hausa-Fulani nor the suffering oppressed class of the Yoruba or any other ethnic group in Nigeria. He created billionaire friends leaving the vast majority of all the ethnic nationalities be it Yoruba, Fulani, Husa, Nupe, Igbo, Ijaw, Ibibio and other Nigerians in worst situation as they were under a Hausa-Fulani presidency. In the same vein former Hausa-Fulani Presidents General Sanni Abacha, General Ibrahim Babangida and others - did not make life any better for the average people in all parts of Nigeria and Northern Nigeria is worst off in socio, economic and infrastructural development. Thus Federalism should be viewed from a class perspective.

Whilst the average Nigerian discusses federalism vis-à-vis the competitiveness of the geo political zones, the promotion of development in all regions of the Nigerian federation and what can enhance good governance, the Nigerian political elites are thinking of federalism in terms of how to enhance their greed, ambition and lust for power.

The first step in our quest for true federalism is for politicians, policy makers and opinion molders to first understand the importance of federalism as it relates to good governance rather than how it facilitates equitable access to the infamous opportunity to plunder the national resources amongst the elites of the ethnic nationalities that make up Nigeria . Thus there must be an alignment of understanding between the rulers and the ruled

Nigerians can not shy away from the obvious need to renegotiate the bases for our nationhood. Running away from the issue keeps our country roaming around the orbit of a treacherous infamous vicious cycle of political infamy and economic profligacy. The “we the people “inscribed in the Nigerian constitution should be expunged forthwith.

A renegotiation of Nigeria is the first step towards a truly Nigerian Revolution. We should be courageous about the reality that all the various constitutions operated from the moment the British packaged us together till date are nothing more than reinventions of the conquest document imposed on the people before Nigeria was created. Before then, it did not matter if you were from the North, South, West or East; pre colonial Nation-States had sovereign relationships, fought wars, resolved crisis and related as equal partners.

The Kingdoms in the North, South, West, East are what in modern days could be referred to as States with sovereign rights, distinct borders and constitutional governments either in a parliamentary form as in the Old Oyo Kingdom, or the Oligarchy in the North or the collegiate system in the east. The fact that the British Colonial masters characterized our system as “crude” and “native” does not make an amalgamation without consultation with the people right. We must renegotiate our nationhood but with the resolve that Nigeria must not disintegrate.

If the Soviet Union can renegotiate with her federating units, South Africa dealt with her post apartheid era, we can tackle our problem head long. I do not see any reason why we cannot honestly seat down as a people and re-negotiate Nigeria on the bases of equal partnership; a partnership that must be in the overall interest of the poor people of our Country. Our constitution is a unitary document disguised with misrepresentations of federalism and it should not come as a surprise because even as students of history we know that the people who make Nigeria were never and have never been genuinely consulted when those documents are drafted and imposed by the rogue minority in power on the hapless majority.

And yes it’s been a chequered history of constitutional experiments first from the colonial masters, to the post colonial civilian government and then series of military regimes through to post military civilian governments. All that’s been done at each point in time has characteristically been to service the machinations of the various ruling elites. Indeed the four constitutions written by the colonial masters reflected the intentions of those in power, thus, we refer to the Clifford, Richards, McPherson and Lyttleton constitutions’ as travesties that were all crafted to subjugate the ethnic nationalities that make up Nigeria; none reflected the needs, aspiration and unique diversity of our people.

A hurriedly drafted independence constitution failed under three years, You are all familiar with how the different military regimes, danced from unitary to federal and so on and so forth but none with the honest mission of resolving the National Question. Over the years, as we continue to shy away from reality, Nigeria predictably heats up to the boiling point. We’ve had the Biafra/Nigeria Civil war, series of religious and cultural riots and mass killings in the north, the OPC crisis in the west and its attendant deaths, the emergence of groups such as MASSOB, the introduction of Sharia Law in the North and the militancy in the Niger Delta amongst every other conflict flash points nationwide.

Sadly, our inability to re negotiate the way forward is as a result of the bankruptcy amongst our political leaders, thus we label anyone who raises the issue of True Federalism as wanting to break up Nigeria . It is clearly not a crime to call for the restructuring of Nigeria along the geo political divide. In as much as I personally feel that we may not be able to compromise our indivisibility, we have come a long way as a Country. Our long enforced marriage does not preclude the need to look at long term progressive revolutionary options that will weaken the centre, turn off opportunists and bring governance close to the people.

Acknowledging that we have a flawed Nation-State is the flag off point for the Nigerian revolution. Issues such as corruption, lack of transparent credible elections, poverty, mistrust, bad governance and others vices are bye-products of a people who care less about the character of the Nigerian state but more about their selfish interests.

The campaign for the convocation of a truly Sovereign National Conference that will resolve issues of, Resource Control, creation of Local Governments, State Police, ceding of overbearing federal government control of state Resources to the States and federating Units, a confederation that will work and strengthen the diverse nature of our Country is must continue.

We need a federal system that works for all Nigerians irrespective of tribe, religion, race or creed. Thus the energies of groups/alliances in opposition should be channeled not just to capture political power and perpetuate more of the same failed tendency of ignoring the core of our problem but adopting the PRONACO document with a view to expanding it and involving the Nigerian electorate.

Rejection of all the negative aspects of the constitution that first of all reflect the thinking of our colonial masters, the military and also the greed of the ruling elite that does not have the interest of the people of Nigeria is an emergency.

The federating state governments should continue to challenge the overbearing power of the federal government; the introduction of Sharia legal system by the states of Northern Nigeria was one of such steps. The creation of local governments by the Lagos State government and its continued challenge in court is a welcome development at enriching our federal system even as we look for that constitution that will truly reflect our unity in diversity.
Meanwhile, resolving the issues surrounding true federalism will not suddenly resolve the issues of corruption, bad leadership, electoral fraud, crime, marginalization just to mention a few. No it won’t, but at least we can localize the issues and resolve them side-by-side our nation building efforts. We cannot let our moment pass us by. It will only take a brave leader with vision to tackle the founding root of this macabre dance we call living.

Henry Okah! Niger Delta Amnesty and Failed Promises!

Niger Delta amnesty and failed promise!

Did I just see Henry Okah on Al Jazerra channel describing the amnesty programme of the Nigerian government as nothing but a stage managed play? scripted by the corrupt segment of the Nigerian ruling elite for the benefit of those who will control the multimillion dollar fund made available to those the government will hand pick to supervise the amnesty deal?And are we not witnessing the outcry by many a “former commanders” and foot soldiers of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta and its allied partners who are now called “repentant militant” it was on the same Al Jazerra a self proclaimed “General Boy loaf” called on the international community to press on the Nigerian government to fulfil its promise of “given me the house they promised me in Abuja”, “put my children in school” and guarantee a “life savings”.Suddenly the issue is no longer about the ordinary people of the Niger Delta, when was the last time you heard anyone talk about “environmental degradation” when did you hear anyone speak about “oil spillage”? Oh or suddenly the spillage dried up and the Niger Delta women and children can now go swimming and fishing as the case may be. Or Shell , Chevron suddenly became socially responsible and the Joint Task Force transformed into a “friendly force of occupation”

I will not repeat what went through my mind when the idea of amnesty for the militants in the Niger-Delta was initially mentioned by the president. Many turbulent years in the struggle for the well-being of a great nation naturally influences my judgment of what the government says and what it truly intends to achieve. But all the same a lot of Nigerians and myself included did want the government to succeed and was hopeful that the government even if it is failing in all its agenda will at least succeed in the agenda of resolving the crisis in the Niger Delta. But alas we got hopeful to soon.I have closely monitored the implementation of the amnesty granted to militants in the Niger-Delta and many times anxiety has left me breathless; sick with trepidation. For so many reasons I’ve concluded that the mind of the average Nigerian politician is as fickle as the propaganda that gives him the audacity to rig his way to power and put Nigeria and her resources at her service.

Slowly but surely, the creeks emptied themselves out, weapons were submitted and now the fighters are on stand-by waiting for the next line of action. Meeting, endless inconclusive meetings have now taken over as the next line of action. What In the world are they now talking about in these meetings that they didn’t have enough time to talk about when the methodology and timeline for the amnesty were being worked out? Is it possible that from the on-set no one sat down to work out details of the processes and procedures necessary for the transformation of the so called restive people into resourceful citizens?Why do successive governments get to play the same brand of mischief with the same intensity and cunning? Could there be some mysterious secret initiation and orientation process that government leaders and officials go through to furnish them with what it takes to perpetuate such massive falsehood? And why do Nigerians always only grumble through it all and then animatedly talk about their suspicions coming true when at the end of the day the charade is seen for what it is and government of course fails to deliver on its promises?The saddest truth that has ever been told about the Niger-Delta is that very few stake-holders involved in the search for peace in the region are interested in seeing an end to the crisis. Governments from the federal through to the local levels are absolutely not interested in a peaceful resolution of the crisis. Too many vultures relish and flourish in the deaths that spoil the region, making it one of the richest wastelands in the world. The filthy politics and destructive leadership practiced by our governments can only thrive in an equally unwholesome environment.After all, most of today’s millionaires in the region are not descendants of legendary business men whose enterprise pre-dated colonialism. They are either crafty politicians and bureaucrats who negotiate for and corner resources meant to appease the people and develop the region or fearless men and woman who bully their way into the myriad of negotiating rooms where unscrupulous multi-national businesses and their cohorts in government pay them for the rights to drill billions of barrels and only account for a tiny fraction of it. And I am waiting for the day MEND will turn its anger at the local vultures, those Niger Delta Citizen who enslave the people of the Niger Delta and the common man who would never have a voice in an environment of violence, intimidation and chaos.Thus will you now call me cynical for suspecting that because it is now so difficult to out rightly steal public money, the amnesty was just a grand plot to get money out of the treasury and not a deliberate process in the search for peace in the Niger-Delta? And are the endless meetings not suppose to provide a clearance for time to perfect the scheme for the next phase of misappropriation?And now they feign shock and concern at Henry Okah’s judgment of the current situation. Isn’t an idle mind the devils workshop? Shouldn’t idle stranded fighters want to go back to the life and job they’ve always known? Besides, governments at the states could be missing their bulky monthly security votes they spend at their discretion.

The arms merchant must get back to business; there are more sophisticated weapons to sell. Before the creeks become war camps and arsenals again and hostilities escalate, the politicians and their cronies would have stolen enough money to abandon Nigeria and live lavishly in Europe or anywhere they fancy.I need Nigeria to prove me wrong this time; I desperately need to be proven wrong. We must not permit the charade being acted out to be played out to the end. We must all get involved; we may not all be from the Niger-Delta but no Nigeria can truly live well and in safety while the region is being torn apart. That joke and charade called amnesty should be for the benefit of not just the young man with the AK47 and his Bazooka but for the ordinary people who live in the hinterlands of the Niger Delta. The new expensive four-wheel drives now nicknamed “amnesty jeep” is not the freedom Isaac Adaka Boro, Ken Saro Wiwa and others paid the supreme sacrifice for. MEND must reMEND itself and the Nigerian government get off the TV and move machines to re build the Niger Delta.

Olabode George-(GCOFIPN) BEYOND PARANOIA

Chief Olabode GeorgeWhen things happen in our own unique Nigerian way, you find yourself doing a systematic check on yourself just to be sure that the fault is not from you. What has happened is of course absolutely crazy and you’ve got to be sure that it is the occurrence and the people who orchestrated it that are crazy and not you.
This has become such an impulsive ritual that even when Bode George got his Nigerian Sentence during the week I had to do a massive check with myself and fellow Nigerians to be confirm that it wasn’t me that had gone crazy. And even as I write I pray earnestly that at worst the ridiculous sentence is for real because it’s highly possible that in the books Bode George is an inmate at the Ikoyi prison while indeed he’s somewhere in Europe living large and garish. Or to make it a little real he could decide to live at home in the island and sneak into prison at dawn so that amebos can see, hangout with the wardens in the cozy parts of the prison and sneak out again at night. While we may not be able to reverse the sentence and give him what he truly deserves for being such a brazen fraudster, we can only hope that the little he gets goes to him. Thus, in as much I oppose oppression of any kind, I’ll break my own rules and hope that Bode George and his accomplices get to go through the initiation rites other convicts go through during their early days in prison; the beatings and bullying that others go through on arrival. Don’t ask me how I got to know about the prison rituals I lived it many times in Jos Prison as an official of the University of Jos when the National Association of Nigerian Students was worth the name attached to it. And I know about the SSS detention centre in Shaginsha Lagos, I have been a guest of the SSS underground cell in the middle of nowhere on the outs skirts of Abuja. I have had a taste of several police detentions. I am so proud of the trauma as they testify to a sacrifice we have have to make for our nations. But I feel pain that Swagger man Bode will not see the prison we saw, he will never partake in the ritual of a new comer. He will be in a “special cell” in Jos Prison it is known as “B ward” Bode’s alter ego Olusegun Obasonjo spent some months in that cosy cell. I onlyt could admire it as I stroll around the yard of the colonial Jos prison in those days. I feel sad. The big mans cell in Nigeria is home away from home. Uncle swagger Bode will be laughing at us all. The common man steal bread in Idumota market, we shout “Ole! Ole! Ole! And get him a “necklace” (used tire) we get petrol and roast him alive. Powerful men like Bode George Is to spend 913 days for stealing N84bn at the rate of N92m per day. Nigeria ! One country ! One law for the mighty another for the less priviledge. What an outrage but then “half justice” is better than none, at least we can call him Olabode George. GCOFIPN (Grand Convict of the Federal Ikoyi Prison of Nigeria). Kudos to the brave judge.Olabode George is a key player in the destruction of our country and a mastermind behind the misrule that now creates most of the criminals we have in prison today. That’s why it is only right that he gets a taste of his own medicine. For years men like Bode George have maintained their stranglehold on the nation; wheeling and dealing, unleashing terror on the people like predators on the prowl in some lawless jungle. Even predators in the jungle live by their rules. They are not wasteful. They don’t kill what they don’t need! Terror is a violation that not only aggrieved groups or persons are capable of committing against a others; leaders like the thieving manipulating George, irresponsible Yar’adua, con Ibori, and their ilk before them do rain terror on Nigerians killing them with poverty, lack of adequate health care and the basic necessities of life that any good government must provide for the people. The EFCC must give us reasons to believe that this is indeed a conviction in spite of its deficiency and not just another smart way of kicking dirt into our eyes. Our politicians and their cronies in government are deft at insulting our intelligence and getting away with it while we sit back grateful for the charade they just acted before us. Isn’t it possible that this conviction is just a decoy that’s supposed to appease us while an even greater evil is being done somewhere? The burden of survival is depleting our sense of history and we quickly forgive and forget because we’ve got no mental/moral energy left to fight. The EFCC must prove to Nigerians that this gawky victory is not a ransom for others awaiting trial and definite conviction. We must be able to see the way forward in all this; yes they go to prison but what about the money they got through the scam? Will the money be recovered? How will it be recovered? What is being done to recover it? While we will try and encourage ourselves to get over the fact that a man gets a two and a half year sentence for fraud that’s worth billions of naira it is important those who by fraud or by merit now find themselves at the helm of affairs in our great country to realize the fact that Nigerians are waking up! Waking up to the call for complete change in the way our great country is managed. People will be held accountable for their deeds; even after they are dead and gone! As the tears of suffering Nigerians whose lives they cut short to enrich theirs fall on the ground, even the dust they must return to will war against them!
Kayode Ogundamisi

Killing our citizens softly! The primary healthcare mess in Nigeria.

Killing our citizens softly! The primary healthcare mess in Nigeria.

By Kayode Ogundamisi

Professor Babatunde Osotimehin is Nigeria’s Minister of Health, I don’t know the schedule of the minister but I have a humble suggestion for him, the professor should take time off his very busy schedule of addressing international forums and visit some of the rural areas in Nigeria and see for himself the gory details of what happens when a government abandons its people. One of the legacies of the ministers in the Umaru Musa Yar'Adua government in Nigeria is the length of time they spend outside Nigeria. Thus it is no longer unusual to walk along major European cities and meet Nigerian ministers conducting everything but the affairs of state. Their seeming lack of knowledge and understanding of what is going on in the nook and crannies of the country means the difficulty in their different ministries look ordinary and nothing unusual to them and their advisers.

I have listened to Nigeria’s minister of health PROFESSOR Babatunde Osotimehin. He is a frequent visitor to the United Kingdom and loves international forums. And it is quite commendable to see our minister “network” with the who is who in the international community; I would have been hoodwinked by the smooth talking professor, the professor earlier in the year called on Nigerian physicians in the Diaspora to return home and showcase their talents he particularly challenged Nigerian medical practitioners in the United States of America to “return home” I completely agree with the minister that all citizens should in one way or the other volunteer time and resources to develop the country but the minister should show a good example and take the lead. He should start by doing something worthwhile to encourage Nigerians in Diaspora.

I accompanied some German based Nigerian medical team to Nigeria in august of 2009. Private citizens who visit the country unnoticed, to help out in the hinterland and communities that appear to have been wiped out of the map of Nigeria by the Nigerian government. The professor should please take time off and visit the following health facilities; I have seen them and they are a painful travesty of what primary health care delivery should be.
In Kano state we visited health facilities in Waraw, Tsanyawa and Bagwai, Birnin Magaji in Zamfara, Ibeju Lekki in Lagos, Nkpor in Anambra state and Ikare in Ondo State Nigeria and these health centres are junky medical showrooms visited by people who have no alternatives, knowing that they even lack the resources to go to bigger neighborhoods’ where they can find private hospitals that are well above their range financially.

I am not a medical expert but you do not have to be a professor of medicine, or a practicing medical expert to notice the presence of anything but functional healthcare facilities at the most important level of healthcare delivery in our country. Primary health care delivery in some cases is offered in dilapidated buildings, and in other cases very well built fancy structures that are cursed with the absence of skilled health workers, functional equipments and grouchy poorly motivated health workers. At the level of these communities, the poor level of awareness of the importance of healthy living is as a result of inability of health workers to provide health education to the people.

The federal government has of course dumped the responsibility of health education on the shoulders of international aid agencies. Furthermore, the result of World Bank policy is the decision to replace the provision of drugs with the national health insurance which is available only to civil servants who form about 10% of the total population of Nigerians while the local governments who are meant to provide drugs are stretched to the limits. Besides massive corruption drains funds meant for primary health care delivery and never mind the government’s promise to raise the total budget for health to 15% of; Nigerians could survive a bit if the current allocation was spent on them.

I am hoping that by the minister would read this, and resolve to give primary health care the required attention. Relying on the opinion of sundry consultants in the assessment of our current health situation and the performance of the ministry of Health is irresponsible.
The minister should knuckle down and get involved in what is happening in his ministry. He should personally know whether Nigerians can get attention when they need it.
He should know whether the health centres and hospitals have the technical and human capacity to provide this attention. He should know what it takes to replace the travesty we call health care delivery with a system that is empowered in all ramifications to work.

The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), was established in 1992 with the main aim of ensuring sustainable primary health care in all noon and crannies of the Nigerian federation, Mr Minister your agency is as of today not fit for purpose, beyond the regular radio jingle and the millions of naira dolled on media houses and spin doctors, the NPHCDA should connect to ordinary Nigerian’s.

Beyond rhetoric, Nigerian health practitioners home and abroad should rise up and confront the orchestrated deficiencies that are killing our people all over the country. Some of those in the Diaspora come in trickles with their colleagues to provide free medical services where it is badly needed. May God empower more of them to do same. These volunteer could become foreign legions that will visit the rural health centres and provide time and facilities.

It bears re-emphasising that we must make the health ministry more accountable. To make matters worse, we have that fraud called interventions by the United Nations Development Fund; in Ikare for instance where three different health centres are reported to have been built for the community, I was terribly shocked and disappointed. Between the United Nations and their local partners some one must take responsibility for the lie that’s called a health centre.
Our inability to make our government accountable is giving those in office the courage to do whatever they want to do and more painful is the fact that those in the rural community have little or no voice. No avenue to cry out. If we continue to define our “development” on the bases of the number of sky scrappers and 10 lane roads coming up in Lagos and Abuja. Or the number of international forums our minister’s attend or the laughable statistics we exhibit out on daily basis to a gullible section of the local and international media, then we are more or less a nation with a greater percentage of unwell population.

It is dreadful enough that we cannot provide our people with a the basic needs in life , even as basic as clean water, accessible road network, corrupt free institutions, a lasting and transparent electoral process, at least we should not burden our local communities with slow death, that farmer in Northern Nigeria should not have to worry about treating a snake bite, the Niger Delta woman in the riverside area should be able to seek advice from a health care assistance close to the river bank. The Ibeju Lekki bus conductor should have a place to go to effortlessly for health advice. Ordinary Nigerians do not ask for more, they see local schools become glorified poultries, open greeneries that used to be the meeting points for youths to interact are taken over by uncaring elite and primary health care is now added to the list of “hard to find hard to get”.

London “Kpeke” life and the Nigerian High Commission in the United Kingdom.

London “Kpeke” life and the Nigerian High Commission in the United Kingdom.

By Kayode Ogundamisi

The life of the Nigerian is a very complicated one; somehow the evil we are challenged with at home seems to follow us everywhere we go. As life at home increasingly became a grind and the massive brain-drain syndrome depleted the ranks of our professionals, the expectation was that hell was being left behind and the destination abroad was paradise. Whereas for some this is true, for a lot of Nigerians, this highly besought paradise is becoming another hell hole.

Nigerians in the United Kingdom are reported to be topping a million or more and are said to be the “fastest growing ethnic minority group in the United Kingdom”. It is common these days to meet a larger segment of the Nigerian community describing themselves as “Nigerian British “ a catch phrase for identifying Nigerians with British nationality or as some would put it British people of Nigerian descent. Of course they sure have dissolved themselves into the British society and now we easily refer to Seal, Sade Adu, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sophie Okonedo, Lemar the soul singer and other’s as British acts even though the Nigerian blood flows deep in them.

Slave trade and colonialism consolidated the British Nigerian link, with London being the “host city” to Nigerians; the British home office describes London as the home of the largest Nigerian communities and possibly the largest oversees Nigerian communities in the world outside Nigeria. I call them Nigerian communities because we have taken tribalism with us and so within the broad Nigerian community you have cultural and even social groups that segregate.

The South London town of Peckham is the home of the largest overseas Nigerian community in the world. Yoruba the language of ethnic Yoruba people in South West Nigeria is widely spoken in London in particular the Southern London Boroughs’. Name any Nigerian food and you can get it in a jiffy and in abundance, either from the Dalston market, Peckham market, Finsbury Park and the many Nigerian shops springing up in every nook and crannies of the city of London. Nigerian clubs and food restaurants are on the rise and it is noteworthy that Nigerians are reported to own the highest number of African restaurants in the United Kingdom with the city of London accounting for majority of the eateries.

In spite of these economic activities, It cannot be said to be all rosy for the Nigerian community in the UK as the numerical advantage they have as not been translated into a political force. Nigerians until recently are not known to be united when it comes to issues affecting the home land. However, we anticipate gradual attitudinal changes as groups are now networking; the advent of social network sites such as face book, twitter, bego and others are increasingly facilitating the capacity of various groups to network. We’ve got a long way to go though in comparison with the influence wielded by the Somali or Ghanaian community.

The Nigerian High commission in Northumberland is just less than 5 minutes walk from the famous tourist site, Trafalgar square, but the high commission is never a place Nigerians look forward to visiting for any kind of business. Even though the old rug at the reception area has been replaced with a more presentable one the disposition and efficiency of the staff of the high commission is a far cry from what it should be.

When Nigerians encounter problems here in the United Kingdom, the high commission is the last place they want to go to as officials will never respond to enquiries or call for help. Instances abound, chronicling the indifference of the high commission to the plight of Nigerians. The customary joke that goes around is that if you want to have a feel of how things work in Nigeria just visit the Nigerian high commission in London; bureaucratic bottlenecks, extortions, delay in issuance of travel documents, the list goes on. Ironically the high commission is quite efficient when it comes to issuing visas to foreign nationals visiting Nigeria.

In fact, the high commission is commonly referred to by Nigerians as the “western union” arm of the thieving Nigerian ruling elite, with allegations that the embassy is being used as a cover to transfer stolen money from Nigeria into the United Kingdom. It’s stunning to see how diplomatic staff spend valuable time running errands for visiting Nigerian officials even when in most cases their visits are private. Little time is spent addressing the needs of ordinary Nigerians.

Nigerian are a huge percentage of inmates her majesty’s prison; Holloway prison is filled with Nigerian women some who are mainly victims of circumstances and others who are slammed in for drugs, fraud, cyber crime or immigrations problems. The high commission does not have a case worker who visits these prisons as it is done by other embassies in the United Kingdom. It is never the business of the High commission; even in clear cases where Nigerians are victims of miscarriage of justice ,no help is forthcoming.

To get the bills paid and put food on the table, Nigerians have now established the “Kpeke” business. “kpeke” is a coinage from the sound a coin makes when you drop it in a bowl and that is the term some Nigerians use to describe the job of toilet assistants in night clubs. The rise in the number of Nigerians who have no alternative and now make a living as toilet assistants in the UK is alarming. The job is so humiliating that the attendant is subjected to between seven to eight hours in the toilet without formal pay. The reward for cleaning the toilet is expected to come from the coin dropped “kpeke” in a bowl. So the sound of each coin brings a reassuring smile to the attendant. Now because tipping is not obligatory some may just spend a whole night with little or no money to take them home.

That our citizen have to resort to this way of life is an indictment on the way we have mismanaged our country turning able bodied and very well educated men and women into toilet attendants in European cities. Add to this the provocation of watching politicians and public office holders who come in and out of the United Kingdom and spend money like crazy. Nigerians in the United Kingdom see family members of Nigerian public office holders’ ride expensive cars that even British citizens only see with mouth agape in advertisements. They open glossy Nigerian magazines and see how fellow Nigerians boast of millions they have not earned, stolen wealth! Sadly, rather than get angry they pray to God to be able to join them and if they fail to join them, they pray that someday their children would rise and be like those who enslave them. They flock the ever increasing Nigerian churches springing up in every nook and crannies of inner London boroughs’.

It’s a shame that Nigerians rarely get effectively angry in the United Kingdom; we moan about the situation of things at home, rain curses on the President of Nigeria Umoru Musa Yar’adua, his godfather James Ibori and other’s and then ask for when the next party will be taking place in Peckham or when the next Nigerian artist is coming to throw a big concert. We then gather our earnings from, the “kpeke” business, thank God for his mercies, put on our best attire from Primax or M&S and move to the party and dance like we’ve got no worries because tomorrow will never come. Then, non Nigerians will look at us, shake their heads and retort “Nigerians, they deserve the kind of government they have”.