Editorial

THE Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ogbonna Onovo is reported to have requested audience with his Camerounian counterpart at the latter's convenience - more or less - to discuss the killing and harassment by Camerounian security forces of Nigerian citizens who have opted to stay in the Bakassi Peninsula now ceded to Cameroun under the 2008 Green Tree Agreement. It need be recalled that this agreement provides, among other conditions, that the area should not be militarised, and that Nigerians who choose to stay behind rather than re-locate to Nigerian landspace are to be treated as legal residents with applicable rights and privileges.  

IN the bid to raise the financial strength and production capacity of entrepreneurs in the country, the Federal Government and the Bank of Industry (BoI) have extended capital fund of N10 billion and N58 billion to the textile industry and 675 enterprises. Besides, Nigeria has generated $900 million from her non-oil exports in the last three quarters of 2009.

SHAKESPEARE it was that wrote: "When beggars die there are no comets seen; The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes." This statement, made by Calphurnia, Caesar's wife, in Julius Caesar (II, ii, 30-31), references the long standing belief that important events in human lives are somehow signalled by omens in the natural world. Yet, on December 11, 2009 when such a prince in the academic community paused in his earthly sojourn, no comet blazed the news. Prof. Olusegun 'Teju Oladipo, husband, father, friend, mentor, and above all, philosopher extraordinaire left the world after a brief and sudden illness.

THE two-week Copenhagen Climate Conference organised by the United Nations (UN) ended on Saturday, December 19, without adopting a legally binding accord. That was a big disappointment to a world that was expecting something positive. But the conference managed to reach a political decision to "take note" of a U.S. brokered agreement without formally approving it. The failure of leaders to agree on a legally binding treaty marked a step backward in the urgent need to address the worsening impacts of climate change. They would now continue to wait indefinitely while the polluters act in a way that pleases them.

AT the December 11 Colloquium on Nigeria sponsored by Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and led by famed novelist, Chinua Achebe, the most provocative presentation was made by former U.S. Ambassador Princeton Lyman. He decried the complacency of Nigeria's elite regarding the country's vulnerabilities. According to Lyman, being the most populous African nation and a major petroleum exporter were no longer doing the country much good as it was becoming increasingly "irrelevant" in continental and international affairs.

No illustration of the hard times the average Nigerian is going through can be more vivid than the report that hundreds of the country's citizens are indiscriminately offering their blood for sale. And this is not for humanitarian reasons as the act may first suggest, but purely out of desperation to survive. For example, some adult males in Ilorin, Kwara State have resorted to offering their blood for sale at diagnostic laboratories in the state capital. Some of the donors do this two or three times in a month, raising concerns about their own health and safety. Ordinarily, haematologists encourage people to donate blood, but not at the expense of the donors' well-being. Doctors usually recommend sufficient time for recovery, coupled with intake of rich diet, all of which the poor donors in the reported cases consider a luxury. Many of this underprivileged Nigerians live on cigarettes, alcohol and kolanuts. They often appear pale and unwholesome, thereby posing a health hazard even to the patients who receive the blood that they donate.    

FROM December 15-16, 2009, at the Banquet Hall of the Golden Gate Hotel, Abuja, experts from diverse backgrounds brainstormed on the way out of the woods for the power sector in Nigeria. This was at a workshop with the theme "24-Hour Electricity for Nigerian Homes and Businesses through Small Hydro Power." The workshop was organised by Continental Capital Ventures Ltd, an Ibadan-based science and technology company, in collaboration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation's (UNIDO) Centre for Small Hydro Power.

THE Nigerian author, Ben Okri in his book, A Way of Being Free, said, "There are many ways to die, and not all of them have to do with extinction. A lot of them have to do with living. Living many lies. Living without asking questions. Living in the cave of your own prejudices. Living the life imposed on you, the dreams and codes of your ancestors". I quite agree with him. The author did not make specific reference to any nation, race or continent. But any time I read this piece, it seems to me as if he is addressing Africans. Because I think Africans are dying in so many ways, in ways that many of them do not know. And some of them who know, do not care. Or they think that the situation is too bad to make a change.

AS the 2011 election year approaches, intense lobbying and underground campaign works have begun in earnest. By early next year more pronounced political activities would become noticeable across the country. However, there is an imminent constitutional crisis yet unresolved. To avoid an Andy Uba-like Governor-in-waiting scenario and the attendant protracted litigation with some instituted legal actions looking like a scene from Icheoku, we need to know now what positions would be legally contested in 2011.

IN a related editorial last week, we drew attention to some of the utterances of Mr. Odein Ajumogobia, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, in which he downplayed the horrific devastation of human, plant and animal life caused by gas flaring in the Niger Delta. We warned that what is at stake is how to avert a looming catastrophe that cannot possibly wait for the Minister's proposed long-term solutions.

When I was on postgraduate study at the University of Ibadan in 1991, in line with my tradition, in the evening, I would go to The Seat of Wisdom Chapel to pray to close the day which began with morning Mass. Often, after praying, I would hang around the Church premises to savour the campus greenish scenery and the up and down movement of students.

"Ha. How time flies.. Another year don dey end be dat o." "You sound surprised. When a year starts, it must end. Me I no dey too worry myself about dat kin tin." "It was a tough year. But not quite what you will call annus mirabilis." "Anus mirabilis" "That was how the Queen of England described the year 1999." "An-us mirabilis. Every year in Nigeria is an-us mirabilis, my friend, if you understand what I mean. I can't remember when last a year ended in this country and the people had cause to celebrate. Na lie. Na so so gnashing of teeth. It is a miracle that we are alive"