Deep Thought

 Nigerian Youths and Nation’s Future: A Waiting Time Bomb? II By Prof MK Othman https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zVegN26I0oCfJ5QuV6q8QfPV2z_vdVVh/view?usp=sharing   As a corollary to my article of last week, readers may recall the question I posed; how do we contribute to preventing the detonation of the imminent “time bomb”, which may consume all of us? Youth and children are the most vulnerable part of society. Children are like a cleaned whiteboard; whatever is ascribed on it appears; good or bad. There are so many writers on this blackboard; parents, teachers, peer group, environment, society, and above all destiny. As responsible parents, it is our moral responsibility and parental obligation, within the societal constraints and abilities to see that the right lessons using correct procedures are taught to our children. We must be mindful of and keenly interested in what our children are doing at all times, whom they are associated with, and how they spend their active an...

 Nigerian Youths and Nation’s Future: A Waiting Time Bomb? By Prof MK Othman https://drive.google.com/file/d/11xgmUF4bvD-IevewiTBhpsctJt9VIoLY/view?usp=sharing As of the time I am writing this piece, Friday, March 26th, 2021, the current population of Nigeria is 209,840,702. This population estimate is based on Worldometer (software application) elaboration of the latest United Nations data. In the last fifty years, the Nigerian population has escalated at a geometric proportion. Data available in the 2012 revision of the World Population Prospects by the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat indicates that the Nigerian population in 1950 was only 37,860,000 compared to 159,708,000 in 2010. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 44.0% while between 15 and 65 years was 53.2% and above 65 years was only 2.7%. Nigeria has an average birth rate of 850 babies per hour and an average death rate of 280 pe...

 Re: Kaduna State, El-Rufu’i and His Political Shrewdness   https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U8i2itEp7gmNuPTS9f-ZoK7pPpN16jlk/view?usp=sharing My piece with the above caption generated multiple comments; several commendations with few condemnations. This is normal considering the personality of El-Rufa’I who executes his agenda with passion. After the 2015 election, when El-Rufai’I assumed duty as the democratically elected Governor of Kaduna State, he did something differently, instead of starting new infrastructural projects; he completed the projects he inherited. Before completion, as a professional QS, he reviewed the projects with excellent outcomes; lower cost, and higher quality for the same job, and contracted to the same contractors of his predecessor to execute.  The State unprecedentedly benefited from this benevolent leadership style. There are areas, El-Rufa’i might have erred; his delay in the appointment of Emir of Zazzau caused anxiety and tension. The de...

 Nigeria’s Nationhood: Shasa, Food Blockage and their Lessons Prof MK Othman Right from pre-independence to date, the question of Nigeria’s unity has always been on the top agenda of our nationhood. As always, we play ostrich instead of facing the painful reality of our existence as a nation and how to strengthen and reinforce the weak pillars supporting our nationhood. Our hypocrisy went beyond the bound when some years back; we stopped teaching history as a subject to our primary school kids. It was only after serious agitation, the teaching of history was brought back about two years ago. Why are we afraid to talk about our past? Historically, Nigeria is the product of the amalgamation of northern and southern protectorates made by the then British Colonial Governor Fredrick Lugard in the year 1914. That single, simple, and perhaps a 5-minute act of the Governor without due consideration and consultation of the people living in the two British Protectorates produced our nation. ...

 Kaduna State, El-Rufu’i and His Political Shrewdness By Prof MK Othman https://drive.google.com/file/d/158gqzkFrXF4MQ73KLD4hWMUN0VwZOkKI/view?usp=sharing Kaduna is the heartbeat of the nation, a veritable home of Kaduna Mafia who used to make and unmake the nation depending on the direction of the nation’s leadership and the interest of the Mafia. In the 1980s during my undergraduate days, an Army Major of about 40 years of age was appointed as the Governor of Kaduna State. We were bewildered how a young military officer could administer the state. A few years earlier, the state was almost made ungovernable under the leadership of the first democratically elected governor, Alhaji Balarabe Musa of blessed memory. Musa was a highly radical personality and a highly rated disciple of sagacious radical, late Mallam Aminu Kano but was challenged until he became the first governor to be impeached, no thanks to unseen hands of the Mafia. Musa did not fight alone; ferocious-looking, vastly...

 Nigerian Global Image: Celebrating Great Nigerians in Diaspora https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AaqrNGmgbN5q-PLf6N1lA5v4OS7dMPue/view?usp=sharing The saying “on the same level, half-full is better than half-empty” depicts the global image of Nigeria. The equation, happenings at home; bad governance exacerbated by kleptocracy and massive insecurity, and few dedicated hardworking Nigerians are balanced by few bad ambassadors and multiple dedicated Nigerians abroad. No matter how bad we feel about our country, we should be comforted by watching and hearing about dedicated and honest Nigerians excelling both at home and abroad. This makes us feel our Nation's developmental trajectory is trending towards “half-full” rather than “half-empty”. Who are these great Nigerians who make us proud? In the diaspora, we have every reason to celebrate three among several other great Nigerians who are daily laundering and projecting an admirable image of our motherland. The first among these Nigeri...

 Pathways for Transforming Nigerian Potentials https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SZ-MhJDT96ZQwwfaLdVHpdueDGvSvNGk/view?usp=sharing In the midst of hopelessness and desperation, a kind of situation many Nigerians are facing today, no thanks to persistent but ferocious insecurity and economic adversity; it is prosperous to think deeply on how Nigeria can be made great. Yes, all great nations of today passed through similar challenges yesteryears. Nigeria cannot be different.  USA, United Kingdom, China and the rest, all had their most trying times, barbaric era and tumultuous insecurity challenges at one time or the other. Today, these countries are seen as the most awesome and lovely climes, which many are aspiring to visit. History has documented chain of events on how each of these countries moved from abyss of misery and squalor in years back to boisterous and prosperous nation of today.  So, how can we change the ugly trend to flourishing one in Nigeria?  Do we hav...

  Road Accidents in Nigeria: New Norms, FRSC Looks the other Way By Prof MK Othman https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CZjEQtx7S4WQNd0wFQFy5EUfCCVZx4pi/view?usp=sharing At the rail crossing of Tsafe town, Zamfara state on my way to Sokoto, a stern looking Road Safety officer who demanded my vehicle’s particulars accosted me. After examining the particulars, he demanded Triangle and Fire Extinguisher and was promptly given. When he found nothing amiss, he tried to operate the Extinguisher and, in the process, broke the pressure head. We looked at each other and he profusely apologized.  While the scene was being played, an overloaded commercial car passed with passengers, and goods were crammed in three times the vehicle capacity. The Road Safety officer pretended not to see the vehicle by looking the other way. I collected my particulars and drove away without uttering a word. Another time, a Road Safety officer stopped me in Funtua, Katsina state, and demanded to see my driving ...

 Costs and Consequences of COVID-19 in Nigeria https://www.blueprint.ng/costs-and-consequences-of-covid-19-in-nigeria/ Since the end of the World war in the 1940s, nothing has devastatingly impacted all facets of human endeavors within ten months like Covid-19. As I am writing this piece, Tuesday 9th February 2021, loss of human lives has globally reached 2,320,497 with over 106 million active cases while Nigeria recorded 1,673 deaths and 24,083 active cases out of 140,391 total cases. And the counting continues on daily basis.  Socio-economic and political fronts were affected beyond imagination. COVID-19 tested the resilience and doggedness of over 200 affected countries and some almost crumbled on their knees. COVID-19 has no regard for the country’s high level of development as seen in America and the United Kingdom. The mightiest and smallest were both tested by COVID-19 with unforgettable results.  COVID-19 Pandemic is certainly a global challenge that negatively af...

  Nigeria’s Calamitous Movement: Who is Safe? https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tcTYB91AEVEX7pD0Tq1uwclOkgnj4MfP/view?usp=sharing In Nigeria, the bullets of insurgents, bandits, and assassins have cut down the low and the mightiest in cold blood, more often than not, without an iota of provocation. Sometimes, a whole village is sacked, tortured, maimed, killed and their women raped for just a “heck of it” making one wonder and ponder about the purpose and the aim. Three groups of terrorists are holding and squeezing the nation making it move in a calamitous manner. In the northeast, Boko Haram is calling shots. With the possible exception of Maiduguri town, no town or village is safe in Borno state. There are several “no-go” areas in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states. From 2011 to date, about 37,500 people were killed and 2.5 million displaced people in the Chad Basin and the entire northeast (https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/boko-haram-nigeria) Among the high-prof...

 Trump Second Impeachment: The Beauty of Democracy By Prof. M. K. Othman https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-9Xn9hEPmFB-tNjqY7bfb9NhyKGQh6jj/view?usp=sharing Right from the very beginning, Donald Trump's presidency was, perhaps the most unpopular within and outside the USA. The world was wishing the presidency to expressively finish without an ugly incident and a chance for a second term. True to type, President Trump did not disappoint those who felt, America, this time around America would be led by a tough-talking, fearless controversial, dogged, and decisive personality.  Trump's presidency stirred controversy from the time he ascended to power till the end. Within 24 hours of taking over the mantle of leadership, Trump’s cabinet members accused the media of framing photographs of the inauguration in a way that appeared to understate the crowd size. The media was accused of “shameful reporting”. On Jan. 21, 2017, the day after the inauguration, hundreds of thousands of women...

  Joe Biden Presidency: Light at the End of the Tunnel? https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d_iAly1Fn_jFTphXLKhGBKXBV6co0sB4/view?usp=sharing Love it or hate it, America is not only a great nation but also an important country that the world cannot do without. So, an important issue like the American presidential election is a global concern to all and sundry. Events in the White House in the last twelve years reminded me of the novel I read in my undergraduate days more than three decades ago. The novel is titled “The Man” written in 1966 by American best-selling author and screenwriter, Mr. Irving Wallace. The novel fantasied about the emergence of Douglass Dilman as the first black President of the United States through an expected accident. Dilman was the President Pro Tempore of the Senate from where the Presidency devolved onto him. As President Dilman mantled the throne, he was enveloped by three burdens; his office, his race, and his private life. Dilman was committed to uphol...