An Open Letter To South East Governors’ Forum: Freedom Comes In Many Ways

BY EMEKA ASINUGO

Dear SE Governors,

I was constrained to write you this letter after carefully watching Nigeria’s political developments over the years as they daily unfolded.

Many of us, Igbo sons and daughters who were forced by situations in Nigeria to migrate to Europe, America and elsewhere are worried sore that the security of life and property, especially in the northern parts and by extension the entire country, has continued to pose serious challenges to our political leaders that seem to defy solution.

We are worried about the inability of our political leaders to fix the national economy and appreciate naira value.

We are concerned about the seeming unwillingness of our political leaders to fully integrate Nigerians socially, for instance, by making the study of the three major languages, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba compulsory at the primary school level in all schools across the country. In such a way, the bridge would have been built across tribal sentiments and in less than two generations, Nigeria would be on its way to achieving true nationalism.

We are concerned that general uneasiness in the country is being manifested in several ways, despite government’s intervention efforts, and it is worrying.

As the political leaders of the Igbo nation, I do not need to remind you that all Igbo at home and in the Diaspora are looking up to you to salvage them from the circumstances that have sandwiched and trapped them in the enclave they call their country. Progressively going forward in the spirit of one united and prosperous nation has become a herculean task for them because the low or no value some people in the northern parts of the country have determined to place on human life, the lives of fellow Nigerians, is at great variance with the values and aspirations of the Igbo, and going back is just impossible. They are stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea.

Sadly, some of the simple ways the federal government should have addressed these issues were lost to tribal politics and our people have continued to suffer as a result. These issues are captured in the first and second volumes of my book “The Presidential Years: From Dr. Jonathan to Gen. Buhari”, published by Austin Macauley of London, and can be purchased online from Amazon, eBay and other major online bookshops.

As the political leaders of the South East Zone of Nigeria, I hasten to remind you that when the founding members of the South East Governors’ Forum, Chimaroke Nnamani of Enugu, Chinwoke Mbadinuju of Anambra, Achike Udenwa of Imo, Sam Egwu of Ebonyi and Orji Uzor Kalu of Abia sat for the first time, they pledged to work together, irrespective of their political leanings, for the interest of the larger segment of South East communities.

At that time, critics of the Forum alleged that the governors were not doing enough to develop the zone. They failed to attract the attention of the federal government to the deplorable condition of infrastructure in the zone, especially the roads. Even as we speak, most of the federal roads in the South East have remained nothing but death traps and many people are worried about why their South East governors have not deemed it necessary to go beyond rhetoric to, at least, embark on the repair or modernization of these roads themselves and get a refund from the federal government if there are provisions in the law to that effect.

Even judging from the now moribund joint economic ventures in the South East zone, such as the Cooperative and Commerce Bank (CCB), the African Continental Bank (ACB), the Nkalagu Cement Factory, the Anambra Motor Manufacturing Company (ANAMCO) and the Emene Floor Mills, among others, most Igbo at home and in the Diaspora are of the opinion that their governors need to be more proactive in their quest to improve the lot of the South Easterners they represent by reactivating some of these unifying ventures or building new ones.

What they expect is that a strong debate on the review of the Nigerian constitution of 1999 which was drafted by the military purely for the benefit of the north should keep resurfacing until something tangible is done to abrogate it completely and a working constitution drafted by civilians, the elected representatives of the people, is in place.

It has indeed become necessary for the leaderships of the Nigerian government to consider returning to the letters of the constitutional document which Nigerian leaders negotiated with the British government between 1957 and 1959 that granted Nigeria independence.

It was on the basis of that constitution that the three regions agreed to acquire independence as one united country. It was the foundation of what came to be known as a united Nigeria. It was a negotiated constitution. If the three regions had disagreed on the contents of the constitution, there would have been no Nigeria as it was at independence.

In 1966, the military invaded the political growth of Nigeria and aborted its democratic evolution. They discarded the negotiated constitution and introduced one that was not only un-negotiated but one they insisted was un-negotiable, and still expected Nigeria to remain united – possibly by force because they had the gun, and that was important or so it seemed at the time!

The negotiated constitution gave considerable autonomy to each of the three regions. Each region collected its own revenue and contributed an agreed percentage of its gross earnings to the central government. Each region was in charge of its roads, education, medical services and rural infrastructure.

But when the military came into the political arena, they turned the table upside down, weakened the regions economically and strengthened the centre. Like the one party system that the army is, all authority flowed from Abuja, in terms of finance and in terms of security.

The imposition of its constitution on Nigerians by the military would have been unacceptable to the leaders of the three regions at the time – Sir Ahmadu Bello, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo – and many well meaning Nigerians would agree with this.

The current constitution was drafted by the military under General Abacha and was skewed to favour the north. Before then, the regions were federating units. There were four different constitutions – the federal constitution, the eastern constitution, the northern constitution and the western constitution. That was to the extent the regions were autonomous at independence.

Each region had its own ambassador in London. He was known as the Agent-General while the federal ambassador was known as the High Commissioner. M. T. Mbu was Nigeria’s High Commissioner in London at independence. The ambassador for Eastern Nigeria was Mr. Jonah Achara. That of Western Nigeria was Mr. Omolodun. And for Northern Nigeria, it was Alhaji Abdulmalik. These were the four men who were regarded as ambassadors of Nigeria in the UK by the time the country had independence in 1960.

But now states have been created in place of regions. And even though that seems to have complicated issues more, the creation of zones by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida provides an escape route from that stranglehold that was the 1999 constitution.

My take is that we can still manage to come by something close to the regions. Each of the zones General Babangida created during his tenure as military president can now be regarded as a region so that instead of the four regions the country had at independence there will now be six regions. The same level of autonomy can be given to them as was given to the regions before and after independence in 1960.

The north can then carry on with their northernisation or Arewanization policy. The East can embark on their Eastern or is it Biafranization policy and the West on their Westernization or Oduduwanization policy. They meet at the centre. They meet at the centre to agree on their democratic norms and values in the knowledge that true democracy must be negotiated by the federating units. Anything short of that is military imposition and it is not generally acceptable to many knowledgeable Africans.

What the Igbo expect is that the second Niger Bridge should be in place before the termination of the Buhari tenure.

What they expect is that their SE governors can liaise with foreign investors to get light railway trains shuttling between and connecting the major cities of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states.

What they expect is that when the Igbo say they are the best in business they should prove themselves right. If the Igbo are known to develop other communities, other countries, why are they unable to develop theirs? That is not something to be proud of, and it is down to the political leaderships of the SE to turn around the vision and focus of the Igbo to begin to look inwards.

I am being emphatic here about railway transportation between Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo and the intra-links between their cities like Owerri, Okigwe and Orlu in Imo, for example. Our SE governors should map this in their head and see what the zone would look like with these facilities in place.

All eyes of Igbo elites at home and in the Diaspora are on you governors. They expect you to buttress the role the National Assembly would play especially in the struggle to decentralize authority from Abuja and give zones a financial autonomy that would synchronize with the original documents that gave independence to Nigeria.

It is against this background that the governors of the South East zone should decide to pursue issues affecting their people through regional integration. This calls for an honest pooling together of resources. You can arrange for any country or business enterprise to partner with you on transportation. Our people need a network of railways that would connect major cities in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo with their state capitals, even if they are light railways.

It is unnecessary to keep agitating for a break-up of Nigeria if our people can develop their communities on their own. They would have literally broken up without breaking up – which is the best policy for South East in their circumstances since the end of the Nigerian civil war.

Take a look at Great Britain today. There are four nations that make Britain great: England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Each of them has complete autonomy. They have their currencies. They have their parliaments. They have their flags. They run their systems on their own. And they all subscribe to a central government and that is what makes them great. South East governors can insist on that pattern of relationship in Nigeria. Then, the Igbo will not see themselves as living in bondage any more. Freedom comes in many ways.

Emeka Asinugo is a London-based journalist, author of “The Presidential Years: From Dr. Jonathan to Gen. Buhari” and Publisher of Imo State Business Link Magazine

Salma Okonkwo Honored At 5th Ghana Women Of Excellence Awards

Salma Okonkwo. Image: Salma Okonkwo

BY MICHAEL ANSAH

ACCRA (GHANAWEB)--Puma Energy Board Chairperson, Mrs Salma Okonkwo, has made headlines again for being recognized at the fifth Ghana Women of Excellence Awards.

Mrs Okonkwo’s recognition is in honour of her outstanding contribution to the country’s energy sector.

She was honoured together with some 23 other women at the event held in Accra recently for contributing in diverse ways to the development of Ghana.

It is the second time in less than four months that Mrs Okonkwo has been honoured at the Ghana Energy Awards in 2019 as a professional who has defied all odds to succeed in the male-dominated industry – the oil sector.

Salma Okonkwo is one of the most highly respected business executives in West Africa’s oil and gas sector, a citation presented to the Puma Energy boss read in part.

Who would have thought, me a former tomboy, often scolded for one mischief or another, would be nominated by my peers as a woman of excellence, truly, we serve a miracle-working God, an almost-emotional Mrs Salma Okonkwo said.

As an advocate for women being able to pursue their dreams and ambition, she said in today’s world where the fastest growing sector of entrepreneurs were women on the continent of Africa, it was only right that they created what was needed to achieve success.

Mrs Okonkwo said she was working with young women to bridge the gap to resources and alternative capital to help them forge ahead and take their rightful positions in the market place.

As women adorned with the title of women of excellence, it is our duty to unite and pave the way for Ghanaian women to become empowered to successfully function in the national development of our beautiful country, she said.

We must motivate, encourage and provide a roadmap for navigating, she added.
Mrs Okonkwo earned a license to operate as an official oil marketing company in 2008.

Since then, she has expanded her holdings and created the UBI Group, an integrated energy solution provider with five subsidiaries. In 2014, Salma sold 49 per cent of the UBI Group to Puma Energy which provides the company, technical and operational infrastructure.

In 2016, UBI Petroleum became Puma Energy Ghana. She remains the Chairman of both Puma Energy Ghana and the UBI Group of Companies,” the citation explained, among other things.

A leader in energy development, Mrs Okonkwo is one of the most highly respected business executives in West Africa’s oil and gas sector.

She is also the co-founder and board member of Blue Star Exploration and sits on the Board of Directors of Makmera Upstream, an upstream exploration company and Nahid’s Properties, a real estate development company.

She is currently developing plans for a massive solar farm in the country and has received a mandate from the government to distribute that energy when ready, through the national grid.

She is an entrepreneur and a philanthropist who believes in excellence, hard work, the potential of Africa and aims to be a driver of prosperity in Ghana.

Isi Nri Museum Opens To The Public

Image via ABS Radio.

SAM EKWE, EDITOR

ENUGWU-UKWU (THIS DAY LIVE)--On March 13 2020, all roads led to Enugwu-Ukwu, the paternal head of Umunri clan for the official opening of Isi Nri Museum. The Museum is located at Obu Okpalanakana in Uruekwo village, Enugwu-Ukwu. The opening of the Museum was performed by Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State and it attracted the cream of Nigerian Society from far and near.

Some historians have traced the origin of Umunri clan to Israel many centuries ago, to a man called Eri, who was the fifth son of Gad, who, in turn, was the seventh son of the biblical Jacob. Nri Kingdom is the oldest kingdom in Nigeria. It was founded around 900 AD, by the progenitor Eri, the son of Gad. According to biblical accounts, Jacob had Leah as his wife, who begot four sons for him. When Leah noticed that she had passed child bearing age, she gave her maid, Zilpah to Jacob to wife and through Zilpah, Jacob had a son (among others) named Gad. Gad then begot Eri, who later formed a Clan known as Erites, as recorded in Genesis chapter thirty, verse nine and chapter forty-six verse sixteen (30:9 and chapter 46:16), as well as in Numbers chapter twenty-six from verse fifteen to eighteen (26:15-18). Eri was therefore among the twelve (12) tribes of Israel through Gad.

During their stay in Egypt, Eri became the high priest and spiritual adviser to Pharaoh Teti, the 5th dynastic king of Egypt around 2400 BC. During the Exodus, which marked the beginning of mass movement of the tribes of Israel, the tribe of Eri was among the tribes that left Egypt following the injunction from God to the Israelites as recorded in Deuteronomy chapter twenty-eight from verse fifty eight to sixty eight (Deut. 28:58-68).

Some of these tribes founded settlements in the Southern part of Sudan where they established the “NOK” culture which is similar to that of other cultures like Nri, Samoa and Jukun in Northern part of Nigeria. Others who could not remain in Southern Sudan travelled further south till they arrived at the confluence of Ezu and Anambra rivers and settled there. When Eri arrived at the confluence of Ezu and Anambra rivers, he had two wives first wife begot him five sons with Nri as the first son.

When Nri, one of the sons of Eri came of age and discovered that he was endowed with enormous spiritual powers, he decided to migrate to establish his own domain and moved from where his father, Eri lived at Obu Gad in Otutunzu Aguleri at the confluence of Ezu and Anambra Rivers and followed the Ezu River bank until he got to Amanuke in the present Awka North Local Government Area. He spent some time in Anamuke before he moved further and arrived at Nkpume Onyilienyi, a massive progenitor rock at the present UgwuAwovu Village in Enugwu-Ukwu, where one mast of Anambra Broadcasting Station’s transmitting station is currently located. It is also in this vicinity that Nri had his five sons, with Okpalanakana-UkabiaNri, the father of Enugwu-Ukwu as the first son, followed by Okpalariam, the father of Nawfia; Okpala Aguiyi, the father of Enugwu-Agidi, Oruora who died without a son during inter communal war and then Ifikuanim, the father of Agukwu-Nri and Akankpisi.

Nri also had one daughter Iguedo who got married and gave birth to many children including Awkuzu, Nando, Umueri, Ogbunike etc., generally referred to as UmuIguedo. In search of more conducive area of settlement, Nri located a lake at Diodo at the present Agukwu-Nri. He then moved with his last son, Ifukuanim, close to the lake while his first son Okpalanakana and his other brothers remained at Nkpume Onyilenyi in Enugwu-Ukwu. It was from here that the two other brothers of Okpalanakana migrated, first Okpala Aguiyi moved and founded the present Enugwu-Agidi and Okpalariam founded the present Nawfia.

Inspite of this migration and dispersal, the Nri children had continued to maintain cultural affinity. For instance, in those days, the death and burial of any Nze title holder in Umunri would attract all the Nri children who would gather to perform the burial rites.
Again, the present Nkwo Enugwu-Ukwu which was then called Nkwo Nshi was named by Nri himself, provided designated sections for each linage at Umunri where they did their enterprise on Nkwo market days.

It will be recalled that in those days, major rituals activities in Umunri clan were conducted at Obu Okpalanakana. Some erudite scholars like Professor M.A Onwuejogwu, IK. Ogbukagu, Dr Ifeanyi Okafor, Rev. Fr. R.A Arazu and others in their research work on the history of Nri kingdom have acclaimed Okpalanakana, the progenitor Enugwu-Ukwu, as Okpala Umunri.

Igwe Ralph Obumneme Ekpeh, Eze-Enugwu Ukwu na Igwe Umunri since his ascension to the throne ten (10) years ago has been making concerted efforts to quicken the unity of Nri people scattered all over Igbo land and beyond. This will start with the unity of the core Nri people of Enugwu-Ukwu Nawfia, Enugwu Agidi, Agu-Ukwu and Akankpisi. We will then extend our relationship to other Nri descendants including Dunukofia, represented by Ukpo, Amawbia, Enugwu-Ezike, Adazi Enu, Oraeri, Ogboli Ibusa, OgwashiUku, Awka, Nibo, Amesi,Akweze, Umuawulu, Nise, EnugwuAborUfuma, to mention but a few. For example there is in Uruekwo village Enugwu-Ukwu today the OfeEzike section from where the Enugu Ezike people in the present Enugu State migrated.

Recently, the Igwe-in-council and the Enugwu-Ukwu Community Development Union (ECDU) instituted the Umunri colloquium as part of the annual Iguaro of His Majesty Igwe Sir Ralph Ekpeh, Eze Enugwu-Ukwu na Igwe Umunri. The Umunri colloquium, a high powered intellectual and cultural discourse, brings the four sons of Nri clan into the planning, execution and participation of the event. Enugwu-Ukwu, the first son of Nri, has also built a magnificent Museum at Obu Okpalanakana. It is at this Obu, which is located at the present Uruekwo village Enugwu-Ukwuthat he settled and had eighteen male children through whom eighteen villages were established in Enugwu-Ukwu.

The Museum is expected to house artifacts and monuments that will help recreate the unique and mystic nature of Nri, through its hegemony that has spread to many parts of Nigeria. This is in addition to housing a conference centre and a library. It is important to inform Ndigbo that the significance of Enugwu-Ukwu, the first son of Okpalanakana as the head of Umunri Clan has been reflected in the fact that in 1958 late Igwe Ositan Agwuna was crowned Eze Enugwu-Ukwu. Soon after, in 1960 the traditional rulers of Umunri clan: Enugwu-Ukwu, Nawfia Enugwu Agidi and Agu Ukwu gathered at the Umunri Court Hall in Enugwu-Ukwu and unanimously elected Osita Agwuna as the Igwe of Umunri. This ceremony marked the beginning of traditional rulers of communities in Igbo land taking the title of Igwe. There was none before then.

This historic event is recorded in the Archives of the Eastern Region of Nigeria.

As the Isi Nri Museum is formally declared open tGovernor Obiano, another great son of Eri, the Enugwu Ukwu Community, traditional head of Umunri Clan pledges its willingness to avail all visitors to the historic town and Isi Nri Museum the traditional blessings of Nri our progenitor including our enduring rich customs, culture and tradition. The most significant tenet of these is that all men are born free and equal. Individual growth in the society is by personal achievement. There is nothing like slavery or Osu caste system in Umunri clan; whoever and wherever it is practiced elsewhere should come to Umunri Clan and be cleansed.

Written by a committee of Enugwu-Ukwu researchers and edited by Sam Ekpe.

Rep. Sam Onuigbo Donates Examination Materials To Schools In Abia

Sam Onuigbo. Image: Facebook.

BY LINUS EFFIONG

The member representing Umuahia North/Umuahia South/ Ikwuano federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Chief Sam. Onuigbo has donated examination revision materials to students in his constituency. Onuigbo made the donation of examination revision materials to students in his Constituency, at Kolping Event Centre, World Bank Housing Estate, Umuahia.

Speaking at the event, held he said it was in fulfilment of the promise he made to the youths and it was meant to improve their studies. “I have always been interested in the provision of quality education for our young ones. That is why my journey through life has always been highlighted by the offering of several scholarship opportunities to young people from primary, secondary, tertiary, and even post-graduate levels,’’ he said.

The lawmaker said since 1999, he had facilitated the construction of a block of three classrooms at Obuohia Ibere Community Primary School, which was followed by the establishment of a secondary school in his community.

“My conviction is that a conducive learning environment will help our young ones do better and continue to excel and maintain Abia State’s enviable position as the state that has consistently come first in the country in the West African Secondary School Examinations over the years.

According to him, this year, he has procured registration forms for students who wanted to sit for the West African Examination Counci l(WAEC) and Joint Admission and Matriculation Board(JAMB) examinations.

SOURCE: DAILY TRUST

The Unforgettable Stanley Macebuh

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Stanley Macebuh (1942-2010)

BY TONY NNACHETTA

I believe that I first encountered, not met, Dr. Stanley Macebuh, as he then was to me, somewhere in Enugu in 1977 or early 1978. He was yet a fresh name and as I read his column, the freshness of his distinct style intrigued me in equal measure with his peculiar surname. To me, here is a puzzle published weekly on the pages of the venerable, stodgy Daily Times, the old and unrepentant medium that I considered too old to bend or so harbour this kind of writer and his views. I had found that the man is supposedly sporting an Igbo heritage too. His reputation was budding and we spoke briefly. His accent was un-Nigerian and he had an aura which appeared natural and invited you to speak your mind. I did perhaps with sparks in my eyes, thrilled on meeting this revolutionary man then unknown to the Enugu crowd, in the flesh. We chatted about his recent writings, the military and their heavy-handed guide of our transition journey.

This must have been in relation to the no go areas of the 1977/78 Constituent Assembly. On reflection, this was no staple conversation for your typical undergraduate keen to impress our brand new intellectual and I guess it surprised him that I was not a Political Science major.

Our paths never crossed again but I recall that the week the Daily Times thundered one of its most famous editorials, “For the Avoidance of Doubt” in 1979, if my memory serves me well, my thought was on Dr. Stanley Macebuh (as he then was to me) for the cultured language and definitiveness of logic I speculated that he may have contributed to that piece of record. It was a stirring response to garrulous members of the ruling class masked as federal legislators. It must be 1983 when my own Eddie Iroh took me along to “some meeting in Ilupeju” where he is discussing a newspaper project and he endeavoured to convince me that he could leave his high profile career in national television to return to his print writing because the man talking to him is called Dr. Stanley Macebuh.

Months later, I, myself, was privileged to join history and write articles and analysis on both the only two business pages of the very maiden edition of The Guardian. Dr. Stanley Macebuh asked for me and I told him it would be difficult to leave my current employment to run the business desk and that I would only write with my inverted surname as nom de plume. He kept chuckling at the “Tony Attecann” byline and much later, “Joe Kadiri from Broad Street” It is a measure of the man that in an era when fax machines had not become standard, one had to handcarry his written contribution and travel, yes travel, from Broad Street and Victoria Island all the way to Rutam House in part homage to the unadulterated chutzpah Dr. Stanley Macebuh brought to the table.

As I looked around The Guardian those days, you could see and feel talent walking and working. I became a regular visitor also partly in solidarity with the several brilliant persons Stanley had brought under that roof some of whom are my dear friends till date. He would lead but make it appear easy and collegial. His impatience with cant was encapsulated in the seminal introduction of the simply Mr. Policy which rocked the Nigerian society for a year or so and the very tight language of the first Guardian years. By the time he was to leave The Guardian and move to his new office closer to me, he had become very close to me and emerged in my lexicon as the Bossman, a usage a few other friends of mine adopted. The Bossman could laugh at himself which I told him was one of his great strengths. I can still see him shaking at the shoulders in his peculiar laughter rhythm.

The others being an eye to talent, his fascinating intellect and his ability to restrain you with the most economical of words from proceeding on a course of action: “Leave it, I say, just leave it” to which he would add a grunt for effect. This pacificist trait has now gone all through his life and times and added to little regard for money as a store of wealth meant that the Bossman, ordinarily a man without guile, was unable to join any conspiracy or club by any other name, to look out for himself in several other ways in a malevolent world. I recall a true and bad example of this in a tripartite transaction for which I held an instrument which minutes before presentation was locked out at the entrance on the day BCCI was closed down in London. The Bossman was unperturbed and the funds never recouped.

Could he have been a sterner person and flourished such that the callow writers in the hours after his passing on would never have described the size of his bank account in the same breath as his towering achievement as a renaissance man? Perhaps, he could have compromised himself at the Obasanjo Presidency or struggled to remind President Yar’Adua that they shared a house and several meals and go way back in an earlier era? No, not the Bossman, a man woven by nature leaving out greed and envy, full of innate dignity without a bulk of ego. He remained true to himself, detached and stoic.

It is most likely the case that in the not too distant future there will be many who will be lost in search of Stanley Macebuh claim to fame. Quite easy to assist them: First, as the Latin would say, circumspice, look around you. Take a quick excursion on the practitioners of print journalism and in particular the purveyors of column and opinion writing today: You can separate them into the school that learnt directly from Stanley Macebuh, the others that successfully imitated him and the rest. He could be said to have been let down by this or that circumstance.

Many are known to have realised very belatedly that they could afford to offer the Good Lord a bottle of aerated bottled, chilled water if only they could decipher it was for the Lord and not just their irritating neighbour as the Good Book told us. That lesson will continue to ring in our ears. Stanley’s passing on is painful in a peculiar sense and but as himself, the Bossman would say in that pitched exception to his tone, “my friend… just leave it”. Fare thee well my friend, God grant you rest and may your kind increase.

First published May 2010.

Nnachetta, erstwhile commissioner for information and strategy Anambra State, served as a visiting member, The Guardian Editorial Board.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

Chika Confronts Music 'Industry Games' With Candor & Confidence On Her Major-Label Debut

Chika. Image via Time

The rising 23-year-old Alabama rapper aims to tell her story as a queer, Gen-Z woman in rap who is growing and learning more about herself each day

BY J'NA JEFFERSON

Chika has always been aware of the power of her words, and she continues to hone in on that gift to make a difference. The 23-year-old Alabama-bred rapper (born Jane Chika Oranika) got her start in the game writing and performing slam poetry since she was young. After dropping out of the University of Southern Alabama to focus on her music career, she’s steadily carved out a lane of her own as a "professional truth-teller" with "a pen that's tactical."

After inspiring Internet freestyle crazes like 2017’s #EgoChallenge promoting body positivity and self-acceptance, Chika was catapulted into public consciousness in 2018, when she self-uploaded a freestyle aimed at Kanye West after his doting and incessant tweets about Donald Trump. Over the Chicagoan's iconic "Jesus Walks" beat, Chika says what we were all thinking, with lines such as "It don't matter how much money you got or you lack, when that check clear, don’t forget your children are still Black, and your music has been wack, and your views are movin' back…" She's also covered relevant topics ranging from Pride (she remixed Ed Sheeran's "Shape Of You") to strict abortion laws ("Richey Vs. Alabama").

Throughout the years, her abilities have won high-profile fans such as Erykah Badu, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ice-T and Diddy, and as jam-packed as her rise has been, she’s just getting started. In 2019, she was featured on JoJo's track "Sabotage," and was featured as a musical guest during Lena Waithe's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" hosting stint. She dropped her vulnerable, retrospective track “High Rises,” as well as the Charlie Wilson-assisted song "Can’t Explain It,” which finds her fantasizing about a magnetic woman who she can’t stop thinking about, all while seamlessly interpolating Tamia’s classic “So Into You."

Chika's upcoming, major-label debut project Industry Games (dropping March 13) aims to tell her story as a queer, Gen-Z woman in rap who is growing and learning more about herself each day. It's designed to be intentional, poignant and honest in its content, all attributes encapsulating the approach she took when creating her first EP, 2017's Full Bloom// A Poetry.

"The time that went into 'Industry Games,' was a year of my life, last year specifically," she tells The Recording Academy. "I think that I fleshed out a lot more about myself with this project. You get more of my thought process, and the way my brain actually works––I get to share how crazy and hectic it gets in my brain sometimes. [Laughs.] You hear me versus my ego on it, and what that sounds like for me to be this soft-spoken person, but having a bigger ego, and having to defend certain words."

The EP's title track showcases Chika's ability to spit rapid-fire verses about potential roadblocks on her journey ("I can hear the snakes, they hissing, trying to break my mission/'Cause I know who I'm about to be"), while "Songs About You" finds her reflecting on her endearing persistence despite the naysayers who tried to keep her down ("I know ain't got no hourglass figure, but I can get smaller, while my pockets get bigger"). Whether she's musing about the state of the world or the state of her personal life, Chika is all about telling relatable stories, and people are listening.

"I have those songs [on the EP] where I get to talk how I've been affected by being in the industry, how you lose friends, seeing how it changes the people around you, and how it changes you," she continues. "And even the very beginnings of my story, the first rap songs that I wrote. [The song] ‘Crown’ shows the very beginnings and the decision of me choosing to do rap as my career, but every song is about how I've had to adjust in different ways."

While some rap fans may look for bumpin' beats in lieu of thought-provoking lyrics, Chika makes sure to provide both. She notes that she was raised in a Nigerian (Igbo) household, so the way she approaches songs and production directly correlates to her upbringing, with heavy reliance on "syncopation, percussion and rhythm." The song "Designer" off of Industry Games is about a "very sad situation" regarding lost love and friendship, but the thumping production, mixed-in melodies and pitch changes help make those hard-to-swallow conceptual pills a bit easier to digest ("Even in those moments that aren't fun in life, you have to take the good with the bad," she explains of her musical methods).

What are the "industry games" Chika thinks are the most prevalent today? She believes that the way the media spins stories is "messy for no reason" and hopes that one day, truth will prevail over what she sees as trivial content.

"We still haven't gotten to a point where [artists are] as comfortable with publications as we should be, people have their own mentality and their own thoughts surrounding you," she explains. "Having to undo that and rewrite that... it's a task. Even in talking about my body, and that being such a non-issue, and the media being like, 'Ooh, how do we feel?!' As soon as you provide the floor for conversations like that, whatever gets the clicks, [that’s] ultimately an issue I've been having to deal with."

While she can’t always control the powers that be, Chika ultimately hopes that artists can work to be more honest in the presentation of their work to the masses, in order to spread positive images for fans and consumers.

"Kids are listening," she notes. "We can actually provide ways for them to cope with the things that we're talking about, and stop romanticizing all the negative things… Let's feed the soul instead of just destroying it and finding company for this misery, you know what I mean? That's what I think we can do as a unit, just uplift people. If there are bad things, try to find ways to speak about it in the right way."

Since her career began picking up steam, Chika does note that she’s become a bit more "skeptical" and "cynical." However, she’s aimed to take control of her artistry and personal life, while still enjoying her accomplishments. She took a break from social media for a time in 2019, writing how she needed to focus on life outside of algorithms and negativity.

"I was too interested in [my social media engagement], and I needed to focus on the life I created for myself," she explains. "I was able to untangle those things in my brain that may have led me to having a lot of depression and anxiety, providing context that, honestly, no one's forcing me to make anyway. That's myself holding me to a standard, and I'm glad that I took that time."

In coming to terms with her life’s changes since her rap rise began, she also has to thank her day-ones, who have helped her with experiencing the growing pains that come with major transitions. She met her friend and "big brother," rapper Wale, when she was a teenager, and she applauds him for “[being] there every step of the way.” She also shouts out English musician Duffy, who reached out to her as a fan of her work in 2017, and has encouraged her ever since. Amidst a heartbreaking revelation from the musician after years of silence, Chika says they’ve been close and supportive of each other no matter what.

"[Duffy] really encouraged me when I needed encouragement, which was beautiful," she says of the "Mercy" songbird. "I made a statement about how she had told me her story around the time when she discovered me [in 2017]. It was incredible seeing her come out [with her experience] the way she wanted to, and in the timing that she wanted to. She's an angel of a woman, she's very sweet, she's a fighter… I can't even find the words."

While she continues to learn more about herself and the music industry she was thrust into, Chika is making sure to take her experiences and her impact in stride. On Industry Games' poetic "Balenciagas In The Bathroom," she mentions how she never dreamed that one day she could be someone's idol. However, with a catalog that aims to preach the truth and open up the world to necessary conversations, it’s apparent she’s already on her way.

"I've had to adapt and process what my life looks like now, and where it will go," she concludes. "I'm more grateful for a lot of things that I have, because of the ways that it took to get them. I've definitely grown up a bit."

SOURCE: GRAMMY

INTERVIEW: ‘Nweze’s Dissenting Judgment Will Haunt Us As Nation For A Long Time’

John Baiyeshea


Alex Enumah interviews Mr. John Baiyeshea, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) on the recent Supreme Court on the Imo State governorship election

Would you say that the Imo governorship final verdict by the Supreme Court was a convenient escape route by the court to redeem its image?

The Court just decided to insist on its ‘finality’ posture at the expense of Justice.
I truly and sincerely believe that the Court knew that a mistake was made in the judgment that removed Ihedioaha. But I think they had great difficulty reversing themselves so soon, probably thinking of the image of the Court in the international community. It seems to me that Justice was sacrificed on the alter of some mundane and hidden considerations.

Having established several past precedents, why do you think the Supreme Court refused to reverse itself?

The answer to this second question is same as the answer to the first question. Supreme Court found itself in a ‘culdesac’ or a ‘dead end’ of some sort. It just decided to stand by its earlier judgment (even if it was wrong). That is why Justice Nweze in dissenting judgment said the judgment will haunt us as Nation for a long time. It is as if our long established jurisprudence on election matters has been turned ‘upside’ down. We, in the legal profession ,know that we have serious legal issues to contend with now and in future election cases. Nothing is sacrosanct anymore. The Bayelsa judgment too has the same ripple effect.

How do you think the Ihedioha case will affect future litigants in similar circumstance?

I adopt my answer above for this question.

The Supreme Court recently imposed unprecedented heavy fines on counsels. What other measures should the Court take to forestall abuse of court processes, particularly by politicians?

Well, the issue of imposition of heavy fines on the senior lawyers for approaching the Supreme Court to review its judgment is unprecedented and frightening. Actually, no Lawyer should be happy about that because it could have been anybody. The question whether or not the application for review was an abuse of Court process is judgmental. That is what the Justices said. I personally believe that whether they were right or wrong to come to that conclusion, time will tell. But one thing I am sure of is that there is no unanimity of opinion on that issue in the legal profession. So, the debate will go on for a long time.

God who is ultimate Judge, and he is the Almighty one that will eventually have the final/conclusive say in the matter.

Are you concerned that elections, in many instances, now appear to be decided by the courts and not the electorates?

The trend of the decision of the Supreme Court in the cases of Zamfara, Rivers, Imo and Bayelsa, cannot add value to our democratic and electoral processes in this Country. Any judgment that changes the will of the people expressed in voting at elections, through such judgments is what I refer to as ‘judicial shortchange’. It is doing more harm than good.

What is your take on the dissenting judgment by Justice Centus Nweze?

The dissenting judgment of Justice Centus Nweze was bold, courageous, factual and truthful.
I foresee a situation in which that minority judgment will one day (very soon), be not just the ‘majority’ judgment, but it will be the only (celebrated) judgment.

Should the right of a litigant be sacrificed because the Supreme Court is final?

It is not just that the right of a litigant is being sacrificed by the finality of the Court. Justice is being sacrificed. If people are not convinced that Justice has been done, then the Supreme Court itself cannot be happy and must be concerned that it is not serving the people well. After all,the Court’s ultimate relevance is that it is looking after the welfare and wellbeing of the Nation. There is too much criticism of the Court’s showing in recent times. So,the Court must do a critical appraisal with a view to making necessary adjustments.

With signal from the Supreme Court can we conveniently say that the Judiciary is the last hope of the common man.

SOURCE: THIS DAY LIVE

TINA TURNER MUSICAL: These Charlotte Area Actors Never Met

Nkeki Obi-Melekwe, who grew up performing in Union County schools, said Tina Turner has “boundless energy I can relate to.” Image: Manuel Harlan via The Charlotte Observer

BY LAWRENCE TOPPMAN

Daniel J. Watts and Nkeki Obi-Melekwe have a uniquely satisfying relationship.

On Wednesday and Saturday afternoons, he insults her, throws a cymbal at her, pulls her by the hair, slaps her, chokes her and punches her. She bites his ear, kicks him and knees him in the groin. An hour later, they’re holding hands.

That’s how things go in “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical,” now playing to near-capacity houses at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York. Watts stars as volcanic Ike Turner, Tina’s abusive husband, in his ninth Broadway show but the first where he’s created a leading role. Obi-Melekwe steps in for top-billed Adrienne Warren on matinee days, because no sane actress would do this taxing performance twice in nine hours. (The show ends with a 12-minute mini-concert.)

How did two actors from Union County end up side by side at the curtain call of a Broadway hit? That’s a strange story — two strange stories, really — but their shared heritage makes them comfortable together. British director Phyllida Lloyd, who made her own Broadway debut in 2001 with “Mamma Mia!,” saw that when she cast them.

“I was looking for actors whose personalities and qualities went beyond their acting talents, people who look beyond ‘What is my next role?’ and think of the world,” she said. “That Nkeki and Daniel come from the South means they have a special understanding of the world from which Tina and Ike came. (Tina grew up in Tennessee, Ike in Mississippi.)

“Daniel is a person of the greatest integrity, a caring and passionate man — an instinctive actor and musician without any vanity who helps to lead the Broadway company, but in a discreet way. Nkeki is a force field —she is so magnetic she makes you believe she’s actually creating Tina’s choreography in front of your eyes. I have to remind myself sometimes that she is so young and just setting out in the profession.”

Though Watts and Obi-Melekwe never knew each other growing up, both were buoyed by supportive family members and single-minded in their determination to perform. Here’s how they reached their goals.

THE MAN FROM INDIAN TRAIL

Between 2006 and 2019, Daniel J. (for Joseph) Watts appeared in eight Broadway musicals that racked up 21 Tony Awards. If you remember seeing him in any, you are likely a member of the extended Watts family, a classmate from Sun Valley High School or maybe a CPCC Summer Theatre veteran who worked with him in the 1990s.

That’s no longer true. As Ike Turner, he has become a star by projecting sinister seductiveness through the first act of “Tina.” (Ike gets only one brief scene in Act 2.) New York Times critic Jesse Green wrote: “Watts is terrific delivering his gleaming menace.”

How does a genial human being, one raised in an atmosphere of love and acceptance, find the core of Ike’s rage? How does the guy Obi-Melekwe said “has a brotherly quality toward everyone he meets” play this bitter loner?

“Hurt individuals hurt individuals,” Watts explained. “Ike grew up in the pre-Civil Rights South in the ‘40s with a lot of trauma: a father killed by a lynch mob, an abusive stepfather, one wife who left and another who ended in an asylum. The world told him who he was and who he would not be. He wrote one of the first rock songs (“Rocket 88”), but he would never be allowed to be Elvis.

“I started going to therapy a couple of years ago to find out what anger I was holding onto. I grew up in the South around the Confederate flag, and kids called me n----- when I was a kid. There were times I wasn’t positive if I was being treated equally, because I was black. My dad wasn’t around. You can try to put your pain (somewhere) — Ike put it into music — but maybe that’s not enough. Theater and dance were my outlets.”

Watts’ life has differed from Ike Turner’s in two crucial ways. First, he can articulate deep feelings, most recently in an ever-evolving, one-man autobiographical show called “The Jam.” (He did it at the Public Theatre in January.) That makes sense, as he committed to acting after watching John Leguizamo in a similar endeavor titled “Freak.”

“I had been writing as an outlet since I was 11 or 12: stream of consciousness stuff, poems, stories. I saved everything. In 2011, I was touring in ‘Aladdin’ in Seattle — I was supposed to be a carpet, but they cut the carpet — and had nothing to do. I started going back through my old material … and subtitled the show ‘Only Child,’ because being an only child (shaped me).”

Second, supportive women urged young Watts forward and kept him focused:

“I always knew I was loved. My mother (Artez) broke her neck to make sure I had what I needed; she understood the necessity of keeping me busy in a positive way, with dance and basketball and baseball and soccer. All my grandmother cared about was love, and she adopted every friend I had as a surrogate grandchild. Sue Mead, my French teacher in high school, has been to every production I’ve done, except ‘The King and I’ in Rock Island, Ill.”

They watched him grow dramatically, from a 1997 “Big River” at CPCC Summer Theatre — as the smallest cast member, he hid inside a log to roll it across the stage — to plays at Elon University, where he graduated in 2004.

Two years later, he joined the ensemble of “The Color Purple” on Broadway. Until “Tina,” he was always in the ensemble on Broadway, or a swing available to cover many roles, or an understudy, or a replacement in a small solo part. Through “The Little Mermaid” and “Memphis” and even “Hamilton,” that seemed to be enough.

BROADWAY KEPT CALLING
“Everything is timing,” he said at 37. “I didn’t know how to get out of the ensemble and didn’t believe I would. They’re safe. By the third year in New York, I was making the most money I had ever made. I never stayed in a show more than six months, and I liked to keep things moving. The artist in me couldn’t stay put: I would go on to something else (such as regional theater), my bank account would suffer, and I’d find my way back to Broadway.

“Around ‘Hamilton,’ I got tired of that pattern. I was not on Broadway for three years after that and worked a lot in television. If I was going to come back, it had to be on my own terms.”

Adrienne Warren, who met him during a brief run of “The Wiz” in 2009, believed him ready for something big and put his “name in the hat for ‘Tina’.” Bernard Telsey, casting director for “Tina” and countless other shows, had met Watts on “The Color Purple” and kept him in mind for something substantial.

“I did some research on Ike and thought, “I know this guy, and he might be fun to play,” Watts said. “For all his wickedness, there’s a human being in there doing the best he can, but his best is subpar. An audience can disassociate itself from a monster and not think, ‘That might be me.” But I wanted people to be able to see themselves to some degree in Ike Turner.”

THE WOMAN FROM WAXHAW

Her first name means “one who owns the future” in the Igbo language of her father’s native Nigeria, and the future arrived last spring in London. At 22, Nkeki Obi-Melekwe was hired to take over the title role of “Tina” six nights a week when Adrienne Warren departed.

The girl who’d gotten serious about theater just seven years before would have to carry a hit musical in the West End. She was trying to rise to that occasion when she met the 79-year-old icon she played.

“I was nearing my opening and had learned all the lines and songs and dances — it was quite a whirlwind — but I didn’t know what to do with any of it,” she recalled. “I had all this information, and I knew who this person was, but I didn’t know how to make her someone I could relate to. Then she invited me to her home in Switzerland. (Turner, now a Swiss citizen, lives near Zürich.)

“Getting to meet her lined everything up for me. I think of myself as spiritual. I believe in many things — karma and God and gods — and she’s a Buddhist. I didn’t know how to talk about Buddhism with her, but she was excited to hear that I would like to chant, and we did. The way she kind of enveloped me in her spiritual realm … I can’t describe it.”

Obi-Melekwe hadn’t cared about acting at all until middle school. Her parents, Obiajulu Melekwe and Bernice Obi-Melekwe, moved to North Carolina from the Bronx when she was 9, and her dad got a Ph.D. from the School of Nursing at the University of North Carolina.

Little Nkeki watched the Disney Channel and thought idly “I could do that.” She made her stage debut with three lines as narrator number four in the Marvin Ridge Middle School “Beauty and the Beast,” then moved to Cuthbertson Middle School and played Grace Farrell in an eighth-grade “Annie.” Her father’s insistence that she watch the movie “Fame” was about to pay off.

She landed in the high school theater program at Central Academy of Technology and Arts in Monroe. There she won acting awards at N.C. Theatre Conference and Southeastern Theatre Conference as the Lady in Red in Ntozake Shange’s “For Colored Girls.”

‘IT’S MY LIFE’
“I don’t think I realized theater was going to be my job until my senior year of high school,” she said. “I wanted be a writer, a journalist, a public health doctor, a teacher. Performing was just a hobby that turned into a more serious hobby. I’m still getting used to the idea that theater isn’t a hobby anymore — it’s my life.”

She made that transition at the University of Michigan, after Charlotte director-choreographer Linda Booth showed her how to audition for colleges and vocal coach Susan Roberts Knowlson fine-tuned her voice. She sang “Let It Go” for a halftime show at a Michigan football game, starred in multiple musicals and graduated in 2018. Within a year, Phyllida Lloyd cast her in that London production of “Tina.”

At the time, Lloyd told Playbill Magazine, “This role must be one of the most demanding in world theater and requires a human being of exceptional gifts and massive inner strength. Nkeki has both. Nkeki just has that thing — ferocious power — without which you can’t even think of playing Tina.”

Asked about that, the actress laughed.

“Guys I’ve dated have said, ‘You are simultaneously a 13-year-old girl and a 30-year-old woman. You have the energy of both.’ I have always been told I have a certain maturity, but I also feel like someone who’s going through puberty at times.

“In researching Tina and watching her and then speaking to her, she has this kind of ageless quality, this boundless energy I can relate to. That’s what I try to capture onstage.”

SOURCE: CHARLOTTE OBSERVER

Ekweremadu On State Police

Ike Ekweremadu. Image: Twitter

BY GABRIEL AMALU

The flurry of meetings by governors of the southeast, south-south and northeast zones, to establish regional security outfits, akin to the south-west experiment, was predicted by this column. Last week, as the legislative assemblies in southwest states were simultaneously passing the security network bills, otherwise known as Amotekun, the governors of south-south met in Asaba, to plan a regional security initiative. Of note, the media projected the Amotekun laws as not authorising the bearing of arms by the security outfit.

Each state will subsequently apply to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to authorise its outfit to bear arms. Of course, by the provision of the Firearms Act, Cap F28, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, the IGP has powers to authorise the bearing of certain categories of arms, while the authority to bear more sophisticated firearms can only be granted by the president. So, the arms with which the various mutating security outfits will use to defend their states will depend on the discretionary powers of federal office holders, not law.

Well, Amotekun, according to knowledgeable insiders may also rely on traditional methods, like charms and magic, to defend and ward off armed bandits, and kidnappers. I look forward to when eminent office holders, visiting the states in the region, would ask the regular police to hand over their protection to these security outfits relying on charms and amulets. Well, in fairness to the promoters of the zonal security network, the outfit will also gather intelligence for the police and other security agencies.

But will the proposed state security outfits and the touted collaboration deal the needed heavy blow to the high level of insecurity across the states in the country? I doubt. While this column is not an authority in African mysticism, to gauge the efficiency of charms, amulets and magic; my father who worked with the correctional services, before fakes took over our everyday lives, (may God rest his beautiful soul) told me that such things were ineffective when government wants to enforce law and order.

Going forward, a more plausible answer to the grave challenges of insecurity trying to torpedo our dear country, should be a further amendment of the 1999 constitution, the Police Act, and the Firearms Act, to allow a shared policing power between the federating units and the central authority. Why state governors are excitedly working hard to convince the people they govern that oranges and apples are one and the same, instead of demanding for powers to buy apples, which they know is what is needed by their people, beguiles this column.

Perhaps, the art of governance includes playing the ostrich? Interestingly, the former deputy senate president, and the senator representing Enugu West, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has presented a bill seeking relevant amendments to enable the federating units – the states, share policing responsibility with the federal government. Except the governors are merely grandstanding about confronting the crisis facing them as chief security officers of their states, they should all latch on the Ekweremadu bill, to deal the challenge a heavy blow.

Of note, sections 214, 215 and 216, of the 1999 constitution (as mended), which provides on the Nigeria Police Force, is very jealous of the creation of another police force. Section 214, magisterially provides: “There shall be a Police Force for Nigeria, which shall be known as the Nigeria Police Force, and subject to the provisions of this section no other police force shall be established for the federation or any other part thereof.”

To completely emasculate and embarrass the federating units, section 215(4) first provides: “subject to the provisions of this section, the governor of a state or such commissioner of the government of the state as he may authorise in that behalf, may give to the commissioner of police of that state such lawful directions with respect to the maintenance and securing of public safety and public within the state as he may consider necessary, and the commissioner of police shall comply with these directions or cause them to be complied with.”

But in a proviso, the power seemingly donated by the constitution was desecrated. It says: “Provided that before carrying out any such direction under the foregoing provisions of this subsection the Commissioner of Police may request that the matter be referred to the President or such Minister of the Government of the federation as may be authorised in that behalf by the President for his directions.” Such a nebulous provision, can be relied upon by the commissioner of police, for instance, when a state government wakes him up, that a village is under attack by herdsmen.

To make this anomalous proviso secure and inviolable, subsection (5) provides: “The question whether any, and if so what, directions have been given under this section shall not be inquired into in any court.” So, while the establishment of an alternative police is unlawful, if the president and his IGP decides to make the governor of the state miserable with respect to use of the federal police in the state to maintain security of lives and property, the constitution provides them opportunity to lawfully do so.

To put concrete on the emasculation of the federating units to provide reasonable security by themselves, the Firearms Act seals their fate. Of the three categories of firearms, referred to in sections 3, 4, and 5 of the Act, the governor cannot authorise the licencing of any. Section 3, which deals with category of firearms in the schedule part l, authorises the president to issue licence at his discretion, while section 4 which deals with personal arms, listed in Part ll of the schedule.

It is with respect to the firearms listed in the Part lll of the schedule referred as muzzle loading guns, that the Commissioner of Police is expected to consult with the governor to issue licences. How the regional security outfits will use the muzzle loading guns to confront the bearers of AK-47, not to talk of the self-loading RPGs which has flooded our country is anybody’s guess. To compound the dire security situation, the ineffective security networks and absence of federal police in the remote villages across the country, makes the villages sitting ducks for the dare-devil criminals working to upend our country.

Mallam Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State acknowledged his helplessness some days ago, when 51 indigenes of his state where mercilessly massacred by bandits. While his apology is appreciated, uncharacteristically, he didn’t offer a solution to the menace. Perhaps, apologies will now replace the condolences we have been used to getting from ineffective state authorities. To change the paradigm, the bill sponsored by Senator Ekweremadu, makes a lot of sense.

ACADEMIC: FUTO Develops Indigenous Recycling Technology

BY CHIDI NKWOPARA

OWERRI (VANGUARD)--The Federal University of Technology, Owerri, FUTO, says it has developed indigenous technology for recycling wastes into marketable and useful products. 

The institution’s Vice-Chancellor, VC, Professor Francis Eze, who disclosed this weekend, while addressing parents guardians and the 4,841 matriculating students of FUTO, also announced that the project has already received a boost.

“This initiative of turning waste to wealth, received a major boost last week, when the University signed a memorandum of Understanding with the Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited, on reclamation and recycling of plastic wastes”, Eze said. 

He was optimistic that the collaboration would deepen the University’s waste recycling programme, especially in their current effort to generate electricity from heterogeneous waste. 

His words: “As we pat ourselves on the back for the appreciable progress of our University, a lot still needs to be done in the area of provision of facilities and infrastructural development.

“On our part as the University Management, we have ensured the provision of facilities within the limit of available resources needed for teaching and the overall wellbeing of our students.” 

The VC lamented that “insufficient funds have adversely affected our ability to upgrade facilities and implement some of our novel ideas.” 

Professor Eze said that extortion of students, sexual harassment and sale of grades, is highly prohibited, as any staff found culpable, would be sanctioned, in line with our regulations, adding that “to demonstrate FUTO’s commitment to the fight against sexual harassment, the Governing Council has approved the University Sexual Harassment Policy, which is aimed at discouraging any form of unhealthy sexual relationship between staff and students.” 

He also warned that the University does not condone any act or unethical behaviour that could breach the peace of the University or bring the esteemed image of the University to disrepute. 

The VC warned the fresh students that the University often wields the big stick to sanction students convicted of examination malpractices, robbery and cult activities, either through outright expulsion or rustication for one or two academic sessions. 

“Currently, some students, who were found culpable of various offences, have been expelled from the University, while others are serving punishment of rustication. I plead with you, to avoid acts and behaviour that could terminate this golden opportunity you have, as a student of this University”, the VC cautioned the new students.

ABUCHI ILOANYA: Enterprise And Growing The Abutex Brand

Abuchi Vinbcent Iloanya. Image: Facebook

Abuchi Vincent Iloanya started and established the Abutex Food Equipment company some four years ago, headquartered in Alaba International Market, Lagos State, after he gained ‘freedom’ or graduated from a master he served for six years. He was under his big boss as an apprentice, like many young Igbo boys do, learning the rudiments of the food equipment business.

Of course, he wanted to be like his master but had a different idea on how the business could be fine tuned to keep in line with the demands and pace of the digital age. He knew to keep with the evolving markets, he had to employ the Information and Communications Technology approach which he embraced with both arms. Then Jiji and OLX presented him the opportunity he wanted.

“My business expanded long time ago using Jiji and OLX for marketing tools. But it expanded and blew the moment I started using Instagram. Instagram has been a blessing to me, I won’t lie.

Instagram brought my business out there and connected me to so many big people in the society. Celebrities and politicians all patronize me, all thanks to my mentor, Mark Zuckerbek,” he said in a recent interview.

The business, grew in leaps and bounds because Abuchi Iloanya, beyond making use of social media tools applied the best ethics of business which is evident in their vision and mission statement.

“A passion for professional equipment. We are passionate about our each and every piece of our equipment. Our highly trained technicians are constantly working to develop new and more
efficient systems and processes.

All our machinery either meet or exceed international standards.
A long-term approach for our products. Each product purchased from Abutex comes with a long term commitment. We fully support all our machinery and back that up with warranties on all parts,” says a statement in their vision and mission booklet.

Abuchi Vincent Iloanya, the Managing Director of Abutex Food Equipment company was born in Onitsha, Anambra State, Nigeria on March 11, 1992. He is a native of Awkuzu in Oyi Local Goverment Area of Anambra State.

His company, Abutex Food Equipment company is Nigeria’s leading company in industrial kitchen equipment, with headquarters in Alaba International Market and an ultra modern showroom in Lekki Phase 1, all in Lagos.

He has also won many awards as an entrepreneur, including Abutex’s 2013 quality system certification. His company, Abutex has developed competences in a wide range of world standard quality products,complete services and self-innovation. From mixers to ovens,cooking equipment to refrigeration, Abutex Food Equipment has carved a niche for itself,

He finished his secondary school in 2008 at Showlight International School, Onitsha Anambra State but couldn’t go for university education because of financial difficulties. He has one elder sister and three younger brothers.

SOURCE: THE NATION

Full Statement By Emeka Ihedioha After Supreme Court Decision

Emeka Ihedioha

Dear Ndi Imo and fellow Nigerians,

On Tuesday 3rd March 2020, the Supreme Court of Nigeria gave a ruling rejecting our application to set aside its earlier judgement of 14th January 2020 on the Imo State governorship election. This is certainly not the outcome we wanted or we worked so hard for and I know how disappointed you must feel. While it is disheartening to note that your desire to introduce good governance has been halted, at least for now, it is also gratifying that our modest efforts have not gone unnoticed. I, therefore, feel a sense of pride and gratitude for the wonderful energy and commitment that we deployed together to secure the mandate that has now been brazenly stolen from us.

Permit me to use this opportunity to thank all those who played one role or another in this historic quest for justice and truth. I must thank members of the diplomatic community for voicing their concerns for the stability of our country. I commend the Chairman and Members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for their vanguard role and leadership during this period. 

In particular, my special thanks go to all Imo citizens for their uncommon support, solidarity, and collective outrage. Never have people been so united and committed to a cause. You prayed, fasted, marched, protested and even cried. You sacrificed your time, resources, and endeavour for this just cause. On this matter, the people of Imo State collectively rose to demand for justice and fairness. Imo people rose up in defence of their right to elect leaders of their choice. Our people resoundingly rejected oppression and power grab, defied imposition, injustice and tyranny. I salute Imo people for this display of courage in the face of oppressive state power.

I will forever be in the debt of Nigerians of all walks of life, across ethnic, religious and political divides, senior citizens, journalists, civil societies, ordinary men and women of good conscience, who added their voice to condemn the injustice done in our case. These are people unknown to me personally but who could not bear the illogic of turning number four to number one on the basis of a fraudulently procured result, and appealed to the Supreme Court to save itself and our judiciary. 

Whatever may be the personal injury I suffer as a result of the miscarriage of justice, my main concern in this whole tragic episode is not about me. It has always been about the implications this judgement could have for the future of our democracy and the right of the electorate to have their votes count. If institutions that are critical to the entrenchment of the rule of law could thwart the wishes of the people in a cynical manner, where lies the future of our democracy? That was why I sought a review of the Supreme Court judgement. Even though justice was not served at the end, the well-articulated dissenting judgement delivered by His Lordship, Justice Centus Nweze, has vindicated our stand. I am sure that history and posterity will be kind to him.

To those who are rejoicing about their successful political fraud at the expense of Imo people, as well as their collaborators, let me leave them with the immortal words of the late journalist, Dele Giwa: “No evil deed will go unpunished; any evil done by man to man will be redressed; if not now then certainly later; if not by man, then by God for the victory of evil over good is temporary’. We believe that God will render the ultimate judgment. He has been with us through this peaceful struggle. And our future is in His hands.

In conclusion, I wish to express my appreciation to members of our legal team who pushed the frontiers of electoral jurisprudence to advance our constitutional democracy. I wish also to thank my team of committed colleagues who served in various capacities during our administration. It has been a great privilege to serve the people of Imo State as Governor. I am proud to have been the recipient of their genuine mandate. I will forever cherish the support, solidarity and cooperation given to me during my tenure. My belief in the ultimate triumph and supremacy of the will of the people remains intact. I pray God to bless and reward all those who stood firm on the path of justice and fair play.

On a personal note, I accept trials and difficulties as part of life as they enable one to become wiser and more sympathetic to the plights of others in similar circumstances. But I am firmly resolved NEVER to give up on the struggle for a better Imo State. And for a better governed Nigeria. May God bless Imo State and the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 

Thank you and God bless.

Aba: Generating Billions, Groaning Under Infrastructural Decay

Aba Enyimba City

BY LINUS EFFIONG

Aba, popularly known as Enyimba City, the commercial city of Abia State and industrial hub of the entire South-East and Nigeria, is variously described as the Japan of Africa. But despite the commercial activities in the city, which rakes in millions of naira on a daily basis, the state of infrastructure in the God’s Own State is very poor, to put it mildly. It is no longer news that almost all kinds of commodities, including shoes, bags, leather wears, clothing etc, are manufactured in Aba, just as there are many small and medium enterprises, and all kinds of engineering fabrication.

Unfortunately, there are no good roads to transport manufactured goods and other services. Sadly also, streets and roads in the city, which are in deplorable conditions, are infested with dirt, including artificial marshes and mountainous roadside refuse dumpsites. Unlike what it used to be, almost everything in the city contradicts its commercial status. Basic social and economic infrastructures are elusive in Aba. Aside Faulks Road, which was newly fixed to link the Ariaria International Market, almost every important major road leading to business and industrial centres in Aba are in deplorable conditions.

Important roads within the city, such as Ngwa Road, Port Harcourt Road, Ohanku Road, Obohia Road, Omuma Road, Ohazu Road, Cemetery Road, Eziukwu Road, Uratta Road and many others, are now nightmares, with adjoining streets rapidly becoming horrible ghettos.

To further worsen the situation, beggars are seen at every major entrance, relentlessly making life difficult for pedestrians and demonstrating a culture that is alien to the indigenous people of the land.

As one enters the city through Uyo, Port Harcourt, Enugu or Owerri routes, one encounters deplorable roads, annoying activities of touts, especially at the popular Bata Junction, unorganised street trading, dirt and smelly environment. 

Unfortunately, major industries have disappeared from the industrial city, with most of them relocating to neighbouring states, where there are better environments, security, people and business-oriented governments. 

A member of the Abia State Executive Council once said if the revenue generated in Aba was properly accounted for, the state could realise over N2billion monthly from the city. 

When our correspondent visited Aba, it was observed that the condition of the city was worse than what is obtainable in slums and war-ravaged countries in Africa. Vultures were seen openly scavenging on heaps of refuse, which were found at almost every junction. Piles of human waste also littered many streets. 

Reacting to the situation in Aba, Comrade Omeku Udensi Uche, the national secretary of Easy Life Initiative for Rural Youths, wondered if Abia State had a government, noting that everything is fast decaying. Uche said, “One of the problems I have with this government is that they equate infrastructure with only roads. We are talking about things that make life easy and businesses to thrive. These include roads, good health and even the transport system. 

“Majority of the roads are now dead traps, like what we see on Port Harcourt Road. For the very first time in Aba, it is under the regime of Okezie Ikpeazu that an important road like Ngwa has entered a deplorable state that cannot be described. 

“It is unfortunate that an Ngwa son cannot at least work on Ngwa Road as a legacy. Our hospitals are glorified mortuaries. They are not eve clinics. “When you get to the General Hospital in Aba, you will only see painted structures with zero medical facilities to meet the standard of a rural clinic. People in Aba spend quite a lot on sanitation for nothing. 

“In few weeks time, if you go to Ifeobara, where the government claimed they have built 5.6km underground water channel that would collect water from the basin near Ukwu-mango to Aba River, you would see how flood has sacked the people there. This government is not sincere. God is watching them and whatever they do. 

“Everywhere is littered with refuse and smelling because positions for environmental agencies are used to settle those who helped them to win election.’’ Also speaking on the situation in Aba, Dr. Coleman Oduputa said, 

“It is unhealthy and deadly for humans, especially children, to breathe a corrosive matter. It is extremely hard to rate the level of risk to health from the dirty environment in Aba. It will soon become disastrous.

“You cannot dismiss the possibility of infections from water, land and air pollution. People eat and drink in such environment. From what I have seen so far, if nothing is done and fast too, infections of all kinds would be the order of the day. 

“Diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, malaria and typhoid will be more common and severe than ever. Even people like truck pushers who walk barefooted inside such places risk contacting tetanus as well.” Also, Pastor Chisom Oriaku, a resident of Uratta Road, which adjoins Port Harcourt Road, said the lives of residents were in a serious danger. 

“The lives of people who live along Uratta and Port Harcourt roads axis are in a very big risk. We have been crying, but nobody seems to care about us. Things are getting worse. I believe you passed through that heavy refuse dump that has taken over Port Harcourt Road. 

“It has been there for over six months and nobody is doing anything about it. It has taken over several metres of that road. People there still pay sanitation fees to the state government, yet they cannot breathe in good air. 

“Everywhere is smelling. Before you can move from Crystal Park to Aba Main Park you will spend over an hour in what shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes. They promised and gave a date when the road project would be completed, but right now, we don’t know what is happening. 

“The contractor has disappeared. This road has been under what they termed re-construction for the past two years, and they have done absolutely nothing so far. Everybody’s life is in danger. We are calling on the government to save lives before an epidemic spreads like wildfire.’’ Speaking further, Oriaku said, 

“The smell is too much. We have parked our vehicles because we are in trouble. Some boys have resorted to hiring pumping machines to pump out water from major roads into adjoining streets, just to create paths for motorists. 

“The re-construction of Uratta road, which was said to be under the Ecological Fund of the Federal Government, came because of flood issues here, but those who claimed they were working on the road abandoned the main problem, which is drainage, and people are exposed to flood during the rainy season. 

“They opened that drainage for about two poles and abandoned it again for no reason. They are not doing any job on Uratta Road. They are just playing and making jest of people who live along streets like Onyike, Jaja, Ahuronye, Eme, Mathew, Nwaogu, Ibenji and Railway Avenue. These places are better described as disaster zones, and nobody is coming to the aid of the people.’’ 

Also speaking, the chairman of Civil Liberties Organisation, Aba zone, Prof. Charles Chinekezi, called on the state government to rescue Aba before it is too late. 

“Aba is the most important city in the southern Nigeria, along with Onitsha, but the level of infrastructural decay is embarrassing and worrisome. 

“But truly, the present day government of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State inherited a lot of anomalies. Maybe that’s why they are overwhelmed and don’t know where to start. 

“If you look at our refuse disposal method you would see that the agency in charge has not been able to control refuse flow in the city. There are few receptacles and collection points. 

“Mountainous filths have taken over major streets and visitors usually wonder about the kind of human beings who live here. 

“Everybody is embarrassed, including those in government. The decay in Aba is heavy and completely unacceptable, and I think we can do something about it. 

“I recognise the efforts of this government so far, but it will be necessary to state clearly that their efforts keep us yearning for more work. 

“However, recently, the governor had a meeting with the contractors handling state projects in the last four years and gave them ultimatums. I think they will follow that up. 

“The only way the governor can come out of the blame is to ensure that whoever is handling projects here completes it, and anyone who fails to do so should face the law 

“The governor can do better than what we are seeing, but when you have some persons whose characters cannot be properly defined working against you in the guise of working for you, there will be problem,’’ Chinekezi said.

A resident of Obohia Road in Ndiegoro axis, Mr. Shedrach Ofodile, blamed both government and Aba residents for the city’s rapid decay. He noted that both parties were not helping matters. 

“The situation has become so pathetic that roads which were motorable 10 years ago now have weeds and mountainous refuse dumpsites and artificial marshes, with musty smell oozing out with reckless abandon. 

“This decay has given criminals and social deviants the opportunity of converting some of these once bubbling areas into their safe haven. Illicit drugs are being sold in those areas, which have become absolutely difficult to police and secure. 

“I have totally lost hope in this government. In a state where the payment of workers’ salaries sounds like a kind gesture, then the re-construction of roads and setting up good sanitation system are certainly a luxury they can’t afford for the citizenry,’’ he said. 

Also, a retired lecturer and landlord in the area, Chief Hilary Ebo, said Aba was fast becoming a big slum. 

“What baffles me is that the current governor has all it takes to end this mess, but I think God is just angry with Abia State and has not favoured us when it comes to leadership. 

“If that is not the case, then tell me who could have solved this problem if not Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, who has seen it all and knows it better than everyone. 

“He was a deputy general manager of the Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA). 

“As I speak to you now, there’s no refuse receptacle on Omuma Road. They cannot bring in receptacles here because there’s no road. It was not so 10 or 12 years ago. 

“When a government fails to provide social and economic infrastructures like roads, health centres and things as minor as refuse receptacles enough to cover certain areas, then such government may have indirectly certified environmental pollution. 

“Tell me how and why criminals will not convert a major road that is deplorable from beginning to the end into their own? We have never had it this bad,’’ Ebo said. But Sir Richard Anaekwe, a resident said, 

“The decay in Aba didn’t start with Ikpeazu. In fact, the creation of Abia State is the worst thing that happened to Aba. From 1999 to 2007, Orji Uzor Kalu tried, but he could have done better. From 2007 to 2015, former Governor T. A Orji was a disaster to Aba. Every motorable road in Aba went bad under him. 

Under Ikpeazu, it has been a theatre of drama. His method is a tricky one. He has left every part of the city littered with projects he knows very well he will not complete. 

“Ikpeazu knows that the Osisioma flyover is a waste of time and money. He should have channeled that fund towards completing the Port Harcourt Road. But he chose to let people sing his praise for starting the first ever flyover in Abia. When he flagged off the reconstruction of Port Harcourt Road two years ago, he promised it would be completed in 18 months. 

“The deadline has elapsed, with few kilometers of drainage as the achievement there. He knocked down peoples buildings in Osusu Road, Port Harcourt Road and some shops at Immaculate Avenue, yet, nothing has happened there.’’ 

Reacting, the Abia State Government, through the commissioner for information and strategy, Chief John Okiyi Kalu, said the recovery plan of Aba was in phases. He said government had successfully completed the first phase, which includes Faulks Road, through to the Ariaria International Market. According to him, there are three units of roundabout at Brass junction, Express junction and Okigwe Road junction. 

In the public record of the Abia State Government, this project is ongoing, but not all the components have been fully executed. With more than 70per cent of the 9.6km road executed, according to the record, Governor Ikpeazu opened the road temporarily in 2019 to give President Muhammadu Buhari a seamless passage to the Ariaria market for the purpose of commissioning the Ariaria Independent Power Project attracted by his administration and executed by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) of the Federal Government. 

After the president’s visit, the governor considered closing portions of the road to enable Setraco execute the laying of asphalt on the road, but decided that doing so would hurt the business of the traders who were gearing up for the Yuletide. He directed Setraco to return to site late in December 2019 when the traders must have travelled for the season. But the company appealed that their workers would also close for the season by December 22, 2019, to resume in January 2020. 

Governor Ikpeazu directed the contractor handling the ongoing Osusu Road project to ensure that he delivered enough drains to carry storm water from Osusu, Omuma and Faulks Road areas of the city. That has been successfully executed and Setraco is set to connect the Faulks Road drain pipe through Osusu. 

The commissioner said Governor Ikpeazu was determined to delivering sustainable dividends of democracy to the people of the state. 

It was, however, learnt that the infrastructure deficit in Aba and Abia State as a whole has never been the inability of respective governments but more because those projects, especially roads, were rushed for political and momentary applause; hence they didn’t last long. Instead of embarking on new projects, subsequent administrations are known to reconstruct the same roads. 

It is hoped that the present Abia State Government would change the narrative in Aba, the commercial nerve of the state.

SOURCE: DAILY TRUST