Biafra II?

About 4 months ago, while I was participating in an internship program at my uncle’s law firm in Port Harcourt, I saw a woman in khaki pants and a green shirt stamp up the staircase that led to the office complex the firm was located in. She was in a furious frustration, apparently, the road that led to her destination has been blocked for more than 3 hours by broken-down trucks, destroyed by the deplorable state of the roads.

Each step she took, she punctuated with lamentation and individual flurry of hissing. Then she arrived at my uncle’s firm breathing hard and mouth poised like a loaded gun, just waiting for an unsuspecting victim to enter her radar. Unfortunately, the firm secretary did with the question ‘What happened?’

And she began.

“You people better start supporting for Biafra, because I can’t take this thing anymore. What is this nonsense? I’ve been sitting on this road for more than an hour, Buhari will not fix it, Nigeria will not fix it, Biafra will fix it. You people support Biafra – o!”

I was baffled, then amused then consequently worried. I, of course, had been hearing and feeling the direct effect of the IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu and his minions with their propaganda machine; using illicit radio transmitters and illegal newspaper publishing. But I thought that it was probably some ‘jobless people’ looking for how to bring notice and money from the government. However, that lady’s lamentation on that hot Thursday afternoon made me wonder how many more common folks held this pro-treason mentality. So being me, I set to work to do some investigation.

After doing some interviews (of course, I cannot disclose names), I came to realize that a substantial number of persons were in support of this southeastern secession once again. Although all of them confessed that they did not want another civil war, but a peaceful secession that was denied to them in 1967.

I will have to agree that the civil war of 1967-1970 was an avoidable one, and one that many have claimed to be the battle of a bloated ego between Chukwuemeka Ojukwu and his northern counterpart Yakubu Gowon. Should we now put the events that led to the pogrom under the lens of a critic microscope we will discover that the Igbo people, very much unlike the southerners now, had no choice. It was either leave or be killed.

The real cause of the Biafran war was not as many people believe, from the moment that Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu plotted a coup against the government of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and the assassination of Sir Ahmadu, but it’s root is from the very moment the Igbo people became the most elite race in Nigeria. The nature of an Igbo man (or woman) is a competitive, open-minded and self-sufficient as is simply demonstrated in their ruthless business sense. Unlike the northerners, who were the least educated at that time and the westerners who were tied down by religion and loyalties, the Igbo people were the most accepting of the colonial master’s education and they competed to oust themselves in the spotlight. By the time Nnamdi Azikiwe had launched his monumental newspaper The West African Pilot propagating and fighting the rule of the British in Nigeria, many of the other Igbo intellectuals had established themselves in key positions in the government and economy of the country.

After Ghana saw their independence in 1957, the pressure on Great Britain to release Nigeria multiplied by twofold and Nigeria saw their independence in 1960, sailing into a parliamentary system of government with Tafawa Balewa at the helm winning the majority seat of the government. Chinua Achebe in his book There Was a Country, stated with reference that the election was rigged by the British to favor the North. This conclusion makes a lot of sense, because it was the only way Great Britain could put a check on Nigeria despite their absence.

Now, with Tafawa in power, a lot of crisis broke out just before the coup of January 15^th 1966. These catastrophic events led to Nzeogwu’s semi-successful coup. Semi-successful, because Aguiyi Ironsi who was the highest-ranking Igbo military man at that time caught wind of the operations and thwarted Nzeogwu’s offensive from the capital in Lagos. Many of you might wonder why Nzeogwu and Ironsi didn’t work together since they were both essentially cultural brethren, but in truth, Nzeogwu was only an Igbo man by name since he was born in Kaduna and spoke Hausa even better than he did Igbo.

With Tafawa dead, Ironsi in power and Igbo people dominating leading sectors in the country, there was upheaval in the north. Fear now drove the northerners and a countercoup was masterminded by Murtala Muhammed and Theophilus Danjuma, causing the death of Ironsi and the regime of Yakubu Gowon.

Then the killings began. No one stopped the bloodshed that began in the north, leading to the death of about thirty thousand Igbo people. The Igbo people were being driven in hordes back home and the country stood by and watched.

Ojukwu, who was the military governor of Eastern Nigeria at that time was forced to take action and after a meeting with some chosen notables, they agreed that after all their efforts to nationalism and one Nigeria, Nigeria had now turned their backs on them and they had to defend themselves with a secession.

Most of what transpired after that is common knowledge. The death, pillaging, looting, bloodshed, rape, raids, starving and political bias on an international level is etched in black and white all over history books.

The reason Biafra failed then was because of one thing and that was support, for their cause was a legitimate one. A Holocaust that threatened the very survival of an ethnic group cannot be countered in any other way in my personal opinion.

Now, a bunch of hooligans are agitating for something that they have not the will or the power to see through. Much after the rehabilitation of the Igbo people, they feel that now is the perfect opportunity to secede.

It’s quite ironic because even the Igbo are fighting amongst themselves, and their ethnic rivalry is now so intense that they are even nepotistic. A man from Abia cannot work in Owerri, it’s become that bad.

The federal government is trying to resolve the issue before it blows to epic and irredeemable proportions. What I hear now is that Kanu is on the run and the government is hot on his tail.

I will admonish all you would-be Biafrans to stop following in the footsteps of a thrill seeker.

This is what war in Nigeria looks like

FASHION IN NIGERIA -FikisArchive

Nigeria is Africa's most populous country, there are numerous tribes and ethnic groups which wear their own style of garb.Fashion in Nigeria has always been diverse. It depicts the cultures and traditions of many ethnic groups and even religion. Nigeria has over 300tribes which have their own fashion culture. Ways of dressing in Nigeria changes from tribe to tribe, which allows a variety of style to put on for different events and places. 

During the pre colonial era, Nigerians wore their traditional attire to every event and at all times. In colonialism Nigerians began to wear Western clothes, especially to schools and those with government jobs. With time Nigerian fashion began to reflect it's independent status through their dressing. We were back to wearing our traditionally made outfits in urban areas, to work and even church. The Legendary musician, Fela Kuti, in his song "Gentleman" made fun of Nigerians, who rejected the cultural way of dressing and had inferiority complexes about their non-western cultures and lost thier roots, acting as though they were better than everyone else. Late in the 90's Nigerians dressed in a traditional outfit to work or foreign countries would fall out of place, but today it is fairly uncommon for Nigerians to wear Western suits/clothes to work or any occasion. 

The top three ethnic groups in Nigeria are the Hausa/Fulani(the largest ethnic group), Yoruba and Igbo. For the Hausa/Fulani men, they wear a wide sleeved robe called "babban riga" which is a floor-length robe with very long sleeves which have to be folded up to expose the hands, it's the the equivalent of the Yoruba's "agbada". The women wear colorful wrappers-"abaya" with matching blouses and bread accessories around the neck, the wrists and on their heads.

The Igbo traditional wears are designed to display their modest culture. The women wear wrappers some of which are designed for casual events and for formal events wear expensive clothes often imported. The men usually wear cotton wrappers, shirts, sandals as casual wear and better material wrappers for formal events. They. wear caps and heavy beads and sometimes carry a walking stick. 

The Yoruba's are known for their exquisite clothing and are a very stylish people and very conscious of their looks . Their traditional attire indicates status and wealth. They can sometimes be too dressed for an event. Examples of their traditional attire are; 

• Gele - This is a traditional Nigerian cloth which women wrap around their heads. There are many variations of how they wrap it.
• Agbada - For formal events Nigerian men often wear a robe called an agbada over their clothes.
• Buba - A Buba is a loose fitting blouse with long sleeves and a neckline that is either V-shaped or round. It usually falls a little below a women’s waist. Men can also wear a buba.
• Iro - Iros are long wrap-around skirts. The rectangular skirt is worn by wrapping it around the waste and tucking it in at the end.
• S(h)okotos - Sokotos are trousers that are loose-fitting with a drawstring used to hold them up.

Today theses traditional attire have been transformed into modern looks and have become trends and styles that everyone irrespective of which ethnic groups' attire wants to wear them. Local made fabrics like ankara,lace,aso-ebi,aso-oke,gele,adire and so on have been embraced by all within Nigeria, Africa and Western countries. These fabrics come in different styles that can be worn for formal and casual events.   

Thanks to Nigerian fashion designers, Nigerian fashion publications like—StyleHouseFiles.com, Genevieve, Thisday Style, Bellanaija.com etc and style enthusiasts, fashion in Nigeria has received wide acceptance and recognition from the international world. These designers understand that Nigeria fashion is an integral part of the people of Nigeria, most of them opt only to use Nigerian made fabrics for their designs. They make use of African inspired fabrics to promote the beauty of our cultural way of dressing. Which is very attractive to the Western world. Apart from Indian people and a few other nations, Nigerians are the only people that have styles that depict their tribe. 

These designers make clothes in modern styles acceptable in the Western world as the general trend of fashion for people of all shapes and sizes and compel you to dress in the local fabric. 

For some they pay homage to heritage and design philosophy of fusing cultures from a contemporary perspective, thereby creating a collection of Afropolitan pieces. From their choice of fabrics ton designs they tell cultural related stories. These designers are here to stay and blaze a trail in the fashion industry in Nigeria and globally. 

The fashion industry in Nigeria is a fast rising one, it is very competitive just like any other business and this makes working in the industry healthy and interesting for those with passion for fashion. The fashion industry faces alot of challenges ;mediocrity, lack of adequate electricity supply, quality clothes, and so on. Nigerian fashion designers are still at the follower stage in terms of creativity. Where just because the English design is nice and trending they repeat it in ankara or copy a part of some top designers idea. Most people aren't doing it out of passion but because everyone is creating a fashion line they feel they should too. Also some Nigerian fashion designers aren't ready for global competition because they are engaged in made-to-measure while foreign designers concentrate on ready-to-wear. They also have problems with finishing and lack of originality. 

The fashion industry needs support from the government, to make a fashion sector in the economy just like they do with energy, power and agriculture. This will encourage people to buy Nigerian! 

Fashion in Nigeria today hasn't just provided various stylish looks but has unified Nigerians and  has been used to preserve and promote culture.

      

Garium Sulphate (Saturday Special)

Garri (or gari) is a popular West African meal, popular in especially in Nigeria. There is almost no family in Nigeria that doesn’t offer garri to members and guests. And honestly, Garri is one of the only things all Nigerian cultures now have in common. It’s a filling meal and it is carbohydrate rich ideal for making people plumper and fatter (as in many Nigerian cultures looking robust is a sign of wealth.) Personal experience with garri has taught me about its ability to save lives. I know of Sunday afternoons in school when you’re about to drop from hunger, only to remember that plastic bag of garri you have stashed somewhere in your closet. Nigerian youths and undergrads have nicknamed garri garium sulphate. It may be consumed with milk, sugar, suya, groundnut, kulikuli, coconut, fried meat, fish (raw, cooked or fried) and the list is endless. Some take it as a form of snack, others have it as real food. It may also be “transformed” and consumed as ‘Eba’, that is when it is prepared with hot water and eaten with soup. Garri has numerous benefits as it increases vitality in consumers.

Garri might also have some negative eye effects. There is cyanide in garri that causes a decrease in eyesight. But this can be reduced with proper processing.

For all of you that don’t know…
WHAT IS GARRI?
Basically, garri is dried and fried cassava powder. Cassava is peeled, grated and soaked. The water is then pressed out of it and dried leaving a fine powder that can then be fried with palm oil (or without). After frying garri with palm oil it becomes yellow this is the magic behind what we all call yellow garri; it’s still the same cassava. The white garri is simply not fried with palm oil.

WHERE IS GARRI FROM?
Garri’s name actually originates from the Hausa tribe of northern Nigeria. Garri meaning powdery foodstuff. The availability of garri as a travel-ready meal made it a necessity for powder storage among travelers at that time. Yoruba people call it eba and Igbos call it utara although now the Igbo name is no longer as popular as it must have been in the past. Because I haven’t heard any Igbo person near me use it.

SO… HOW DO WE EAT THIS POWDER?
Well, it depends on you. I already stated in the first paragraph what you can eat with garri. But if you want to make the standard garri meal you have to add boiling hot water and turn the mixture until it hardens. Ideally then you can eat with any soup of your choice. Or even stew as some Yoruba people do.
Another common way people eat it is to just get cold water, sugar and peanuts and add it to the powder and enjoy yeself.

S.T.Y.L.E!- FikisArchive.

Well we all have an idea of what style is, we see it every day and in everything around us. But in the fashion world, there's so much more about style that we don't know of. Sometimes we try styles we think works for us probably because another person tried it and you see it on tagged ‘slay’ on Instagram. Style is personal, it's being fashionable in not only how we dress but how we do things.  

I know you all want to look good at that wedding or party or board meeting or any kind of event. For the ladies, they want guys looking "that way👉 " and whispers of envy from fellow ladies and the guys want to be classier than Jidenna!  

Do you find yourself in constant rejection and isolation when you put an outfit together for any function? Or find yourself feeling very uncomfortable? Or people never say they like your outfit or shoes? …Wanna know your sense of style and what works best for you? I've got your back! 😉  

So, first things first; UNDERSTAND YOUR BODY. Your body carries your style, it’s the canvas and you paint on it with your dresses, accessories and shoes! You need to understand your body shape and size plus your skin color. Once you get this sorted you can easily get clothes that work for your and that you're comfortable in. If you're big you shouldn't get shirts sized small to avoid wearing tight clothes and looking like the Michelin logo😅! Buy shoes your size and shaped well for your feet. Slim feet for skin and pointed shoes while larger feet for rounded shaped shoes so you don’t have slabs of skin jotting out (unless you get something that fits like a glove).

HAVE ESSENTIALS, BUY WHAT FITS (👓⌚👞💄👝👒👕👖👚). After knowing what suits your kind of body, go through your clothes and select those that you need, do away with the ones that don’t. You must have the essentials for your style. Dresses for simple looks, parties, work and others. All kinds of shoes, accessories too are important! When buying clothes, buy what fits you. Buy what you can look good wearing and comfortable in. Don't get something because your friend or a celeb got it. It might not work for you how it does for them. It is possible to stick to a particular pattern of dressing and adopt it as a ‘style’.

CRITICALLY FOLLOW TRENDS AND BASIC RULES. Following trends is an easy way to always look stylish. That way your outfits never go wrong...it shouldn't if you follow 'em well. Also, the basic fashion rules are guidelines that every novice should follow before becoming independently stylish. The rules will make you know which colors to match and not to, what can be paired and what shouldn't be. 

UNDERSTAND COLORS. Colors don't only beautify an outfit, they play deeper roles in style. Colors have to do with personality and can tell your mood(😊😞) to your audience. It also carries emotions and can alter how you feel. So, when planning an outfit consider the colors and the event plus, your skin color too. The color wheel comes in handy for this. 

USE THE SOCIAL MEDIA, TAKE PICTURES. These are two very common ways to becoming stylish. In fact, these are the two ways I became stylish. I would always go on Instagram, blogs and other social. Platforms just to see what's trending, how guys are dressing and I'd just copy and I discovered what works for me😁. Taking pictures of yourself in outfits you slain in and screenshots of others can also help (being photographed while being stylish is the ultimate). So, don't just stay online chatting and watching unnecessary videos and start finding stylish people to follow. You'll also be needing a FASHION IDOL(S), yeah, your father, mother, celebrities could be your role model, but they're not enough you need fashion role models, stylists, designers, even models.  

       Hop to this and you'll get hands clapping👏 and jaws dropping in awe😲!

How Much an Education Really Costs

How much an education really cost?
The question is detrimental, paralyzin' my thoughts
Parasites in my stomach keep me with a gut feeling…
- Dubbed from How Much a Dollar Cost by Kendrick Lamar

N 11,480,000 ($ 36473) is the rough estimate of the price of my tuition fees alone since primary school till when I left my A-level program last year. This sum total is not included with additional charges like books, extracurricular activities and educational items or stationaries. It is a whole lot of money if you ask me.

Many people can argue that it is understandable that you have to pay so much to get quality education for your ward. Yes, I guess it is understandable that you have to be able to cough up forty thousand dollars so your child will be able to spell their name properly and grasp basic mathematical formulas and apply literature fundamentals.



All the schools I went to up until last year have been private schools. I understand that you might say ‘Oh, but it was you that chose to go to a private school.’ Before we continue down that road I’ll remind you my dear reader, one of the fundamental laws of successful negotiation is having the upper hand. Whether you choose to accept it or not private schools and public schools put forth offers to the Nigerian fee payer. The fee payer in turn looks at both offers, checks his bank account and compromises according to the amount he sees there. If he doesn’t have too much he opts to pay for the public school because at least he can get a semblance of education for a fair price, but if he does have a stronger substantial income he opts for the higher quality but more exorbitant option: the private school (at least in normal cases).

Truth be told, the eleven million naira spent on my basic and secondary education is nearly not as much as the twenty million a few of my other mates have confessed to have spent. So, I began to ask myself, is this normal? Is it normal to pay 40 – 80 thousand dollars to get a proper education?

Unilag Main Gate

To a certain extent it is normal to pay so much for a private school education. In the US, the price of a private high school tuition per year is within the range of 6000 – 35000 dollars. However, the difference is that you can still get a quality education from a public school for 0 – 300 dollars a year. It is a psychological bullying at least to be forced to pay so much to affirm your ward’s wellbeing and at worst it is an infringement of a child’s constitutional right to education.

Enough with basic education… let us delve into the wrynecked world of Nigerian universities. The good news is that unlike the case of the primary school and secondary schools; the fee payer has a better choice. There is still a fair amount of debate that argue in favor of public schools in this realm. I have conducted surveys and it is safe to say that it is a 50 – 50. Both institutions have their ups and downs in nearly roughly equal amounts.

When considering the price of education many people don’t consider other sacrifices except money. For example, there have been cases of sexual exploitation with girls (yes, in both private and public schools), there have been issues of ‘pay-to-pass’ and whatnot.

Emotional sacrifices in terms of poor standard of living in public schools all over the country. There have been reports of horrible public toilets in the University of Lagos. With people even having to resort to using buckets as makeshift toilets. Then the ever-persistent break out of cultism, so bad that students are robbed off their electronic devices on gunpoint. In some extreme cases, cultists fight even during examinations. However, these problems are not solely public schools’ there was a cultism break out in ABUAD just last year as well that led to the arrest and detention of many innocent students. Making them officially ex-convicts for almost no apparent reason.

The price of education is quite a lot if you ask me. To what end? Only to leave school as a software engineer that doesn’t even know what JavaScript is or as a lawyer with the mentality that the law is ‘too serious’.

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?
Truth is we have to up our game, Nigeria.

All Heroes Don’t Wear Capes: Ken Saro-Wiwa

Ken, his father and his two sons

I probably first heard of Ken from my father. At that time, and the majority of my younger life it was just another name, just another activist, just another nationalist.

Until I got to meet him.

I met Ken Saro-Wiwa and his son a few days ago in Port Harcourt one rainy evening. He was presented by his son as a dandified man in Italian suits and refined music taste. It wasn’t to end there, after spending a few minutes getting to know him, Ken was also a well-read man, a writer, a politician and a stubborn womanizer.

His character was one of a wry sense of humor, describing himself as ‘A man who holds up a mirror to society. And society didn’t like what they see.’ This statement can be directly related to his long list of enemies that eventually brought forth his demise.

Ken’s son explained to me that his father was never really transparent about his worth. So, getting it very clear about how rich he was a problem. Although I did find out that he owned a house near London, some property in Port Harcourt and Wikipedia described him as ‘a successful businessman’. As a firm condemner of corruption, he wasn’t as wealthy as the average Nigerian politician.

Little did I know that Ken’s stubbornness could inspire me. He created MOSOP (Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People) in an attempt of activism for our birth kingdoms to stop the exploitation of Shell Oil in the land. He told me that ‘The flames of Shell are flames of hell.’ Because the company destroyed the environment of our home flouting many environmental laws and pouting a toxic lip service to the rest of the world.

So, it surprised me that one man single-handedly decided to rise and fight a multinational corporate giant, a myriad of private enemies and a military government in order for him to realize happiness, comfort and beauty for his people. You might say what you like but MOSOP was and is still Ken Saro-Wiwa’s entirety brought into being in a single legal movement.

Unfortunately, his son Ken Wiwa, made it clear to me how much his family suffered because of his father’s cause. The death of his brother Tedum was and still is speculated by Ken as a political assassination and not a ‘heart attack’. Despite that paranoid outlook, the most obvious forms of discomfort came in the psychological tortures of a father being imprisoned by an insecure tyrant (Sani Abacha) and a family split matrimonially because of alleged murder.

Ken understood the power of the pen. He told me that he never saw writing as a means of money-making it has always just been a weapon. A political weapon designed to fit its users in subtlety or brute strength. His son told me that “In a lecture he delivered to the Association of Nigerian Authors in 1993, he declared that ‘The writer cannot be a mere storyteller, he cannot be a mere teacher; he cannot merely X-ray society’s weaknesses, its ills, its perils. He or she must be actively involved in shaping its present and its future.’”

Ken became a martyr, and a legend with his death. I wish I could say that he achieved more in his death than he could do alive but I feel that that would be a wrong conclusion. He was a man who was capable of moving mountains and his death had removed those strong arms.

Even though presently MOSOP tries to live up to Ken’s legacy. The shoes are too big to fill.

Ultimately, Ken achieved what he wanted. Shell Oil no longer extracted in Ogoni and no oil company will till all the spills are cleaned up. That is unless post-Ken MOSOP decides to do something rash and change that.

You can meet Ken and his son too. Read In the Shadow of a Saint by Ken Wiwa

Young Ballers: The Story of Grassroot Football

Football has been the most popular sport in Nigeria since anyone can remember. Ever since the victory in the Under-17 FIFA World Championship (now known as World Cup) in China 1985, the state has never been regarded with the same eyes anymore in the sport. We are currently rated 39th in the global football today. There are more than 50 international recognized players from Nigeria in Europe. All with very interesting and distinct stories about how they made it to their current positions.

But it is not made players that are my focus today; it is the grassroot players (the champions-in-the-making) and the toils they have to undergo before they can realize their dreams from the opportunities presented to them.

The problems still remain the same dirty streak that has been prevalent in most of my posts. Corruption, nepotism and indifference. Ever since the 20th century that introduced to the world legends of football from Nigeria like Kanu Nwankwo, Jay-Jay Okocha and Stephen Keshi (R.I.P) there has been a lag in the progress of national football because of the lack of true talents among our ranks today.

From my findings, talent is not enough to get you to the big leagues. You need to have the money, you need to have the connections and support. So, what about people that don’t have access to these things? Fraudsters guise as freelance scouts looking out for young players giving them hope, but only to force them to realize some money that they can steal and disappear with.

Meeting one of such young players you come to see how real the struggle is. There is nothing more frustrating than putting you all into something, only to be overlooked because you do not come from the same village with the person who has the power to put you where you are supposed to be.

The Nigerian leagues are not the ambition of any young Nigerian footballer. This is obviously because of the lack of standard in terms of welfare, transport and funding. It is near madness to owe players that are putting hard work into entertaining people and realizing another man’s dreams.

The cliché scenario is when people save up a lot of money and travel out of the country (usually to England) to see if they can be try make it into trials in the hopes of being spotted and recruited. This is nearly always futile because of racism, discrimination and stark bad luck.

It is safe to say that there are a few good football academies like Emmanuel Amunike’s Football Academy in Lagos and Diamond Academy in Umuahia, Abia state. But before you can be considered to be able to join these academies you need to have a profile. And to get a profile as a young player it usually means having to represent your country in one of the major tournaments (World Cup or Cup of Nations). If you’re lucky enough to be spotted by the team scout, then you can be allowed to play under trial.

Before one can build their profile, you have to play for your country. Unfortunately, almost all true talents don’t make it because they have to pay travel fees by themselves or even worse: all the available spaces have been bought out. The government doesn’t help. I heard of a young player who was asked to raise 500,000 naira within the space of 2 days to be able to represent his country. He couldn’t do it, and all his days of training has been flushed down the drain.

It should also be considered the squalor of living in some substandard academies. Lack of health care, lack of proper training, lack of food. Although some of these academies provide a home and a hope for many of the young ballers, they should live up to a certain standard because whether they like it or not it is a matter of life and death.

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?
I would have said, ideally, that a fund should be raised by the government to see to the sponsoring of extremely talented players. Or even better, raise public academies in states to provide for these youngsters. But then again, the money will only be looted in the vicious cycle of corruption.

However, setting up a board to ensure the continuous quality of academies in Nigeria is a good goal. Therefore, if an individual cannot afford to train young boys, then they shouldn’t start the business in the first place.

Mini Biographies: The Modern Nigerian Woman (Featuring Osila Obele-Oshoko)

                                       

There are few things that are more interesting than the topic of feminism in Nigeria. In a country with relatively high women abuse and firm cultural doctrines. The same doctrines that have often been criticized in being a huge foundation of the itemization of women.

However, with globalization and modernization, the woman is now given an ample opportunity to speak for herself and disagree from the enslaving laws that have been twisted to shackle her. But the opportunity is one thing, the real question is whether the society will let her seize the opportunity.

The importance of women has been undermined, even though any normal man can give you a firm anecdote on how important she is, the society as a whole will not echo that chorus. It is like the individual and the society are two different and alien entities.

An average modern Nigerian woman is a mother, a worker, a housekeeper and so much more. She has to juggle being all these and at the same time meet the demands that the society has placed on her.

However, it is not all Nigerian women that have seen their gender as an issue. Some have said that it is a matter of psychology and perspective. One of these women is Onene Osila Obele-Oshoko who was the first Executive Chairman of Rivers State Board of Internal Revenue appointed in 2012.

Osila grew up in Agbonchia Eleme as the first daughter in her family. She attended Port Harcourt Primary School (one of the top schools in that time) and consequently went to Federal Government College, Benin. She studied accounting in RSUST (Rivers State University of Science and Technology) and came out to be the first female chartered accountant in Eleme.

It wasn’t that she faced no obstacles in her climb towards success; she confessed to me that she had some family members that tried to talk her dad out of the idea of going to school. But her father never budged. She said “It never got to me.” She also went on to say that even while in school, there were discouragements from her peers. People would say “Why are you wasting your time, why don’t you get married?” But once you know what you want, all that talk is nothing but noise.

She worked in All States Trust Bank as her first official post-graduate job. Osila shared a short story of her meeting with her future boss with a female friend of hers. She said “While I was trying to tell the man my qualifications. My friend was giving him some ‘physical suggestions’.” So, if she had misbehaved like her friend did, and she met the man later on in life, her reputation will be damaged. “It’s all about how you carry yourself. Women have this mentality that you have to use your body to get what you want.”

Osila says that even during work, the issue of gender didn’t serve as an obstacle. She expressed in clear words “There is no gender in the payroll.” If there were gender issues she says she never paid attention to it. “Everyone has a purpose, you should focus on that.”

She expressed that even if such blatant sexism is directed at her, she will not hesitate to fight it. “There was a time I was in the airport. And I was on the line, and this Hausa man came and tried to shunt the que. I stopped him and said ‘where are you going?’ and he replied disdainfully ‘You’re even a woman.’ I raised my hand to slap him…”

Pregnancy also shouldn’t be an excuse not to work according to her. Osila while pregnant for her baby went ahead to register in a hospital near the bank so she could easily zig-zag her way from work to post-natal care. Taking a proper leave of absence only when it was the right time to deliver her child. She breastfed her baby for 18-22 months as is the norm. “Work hasn’t stopped me from raising a child. I have to find a way to multitask.”

Osila says that she lived in Lagos for 21 years before she was headhunted for her post in the RIRS. “I don’t know how they found me. I worked in Afribank as the head of Crediting Management before I was called.” She was referred by a superior who had said that “She can get the job done.” Although she didn’t get along with him because she was intolerant of anything not up to standard even from her superiors.

“The cause of many women not being able to thrive in the modern society can be blamed on illiteracy and fear.”

Onene Osila Obele-Oshoko

Fool’s Gold

I remember I once had friends of three.

Young, naïve and fun were we.

Born were we in the depths of the tree

Of love, friendship, happiness and glee.

Despite our joy and rapture,

We were not free of the threats of capture

Of the spindly arms of Problem’s fracture:

Our lives were not of an honest stature.

Friend the first had a mother sick of cancer;

Friend the second was a crippled dancer;

Friend the third was in the debt of a gambit prancer;

We were dead poor and gold was our only answer.

So it came like a windfall,

When the wealthy merchant’s chest had to fall

From his weary horse just before the stall

That led to my grandfather’s hall.

There was a tossle and a scramble.

Friend the third slew the second with a stone to the head in the short hustle.

While I looked over the first’s dead body clenching a bloodied knife’s handle.

The good in our lives had been snuffed like a wicker candle.

We closed our innocence with guilt, but we had to open that chest.

So fiddling with murder stained hands we laid to rest

The lock that had put us to test.

So that we may never find again God’s nest.

In the bosom of the box,

Stood life’s greatest paradox

Our hearts became rabbits trampled by an ox;

The gold was only a single shilling pox.

Litter Nation

One of the main problems I’ve been meaning to attend to is the issue of filth in Nigeria. There are only a handful of genuinely clean streets in many major cities and towns. The litter comes in all shapes and sizes but everyone knows the root cause of junk in Nigeria. You and I.

Indeed, we are a litter nation. I happened to be in a bus with a woman that was eating agidi (the really oily one) and it was dripping wet with palm oil. So after her glorious meal she decided to tell the conductor (passenger hustler) that she has to throw the oily mess away through the window. Fortunately, the conductor had the sense not to take it and asked her to keep it. Then this very typical Nigerian woman dropped the wrap on the bus floor and washed her hand on the mess. ??? It’s repulsive, especially if you are the one sitting next to such ogre. Really! You can’t wait till you see a dustbin?

Let’s assume that this woman had taken something cleaner… say she took Gala (industrialized sausage roll) and decided to hand the wrap to our conductor to throw away. The man would have taken it and thrown it out. And there are thousand other buses and cabs doing the same in the same city. The end result is the littered streets you see everywhere.

But there are actually two major types of filth on our streets. There is the impromptu litter and there is the dunghill. The impromptu litter has been expressed vividly in the Gala example. Or in the average pedestrian getting rid of his plastic bag on our roads. But it doesn’t just end there; there is this really backward mentality I’ve noticed many people have for gutters. A gutter is a path created for water to run through for everybody’s comfort. It is not a junk yard. The filthiness of gutters are so legendary, it is considered the worst of luck to fall into one of them. In fact, many old popular jokes involve people falling into those water ways.

 

The Nigerian Gutter

There is one interesting thing I discovered during my investigations on impromptu litter; I discovered that arguably half of the litter was the famous pure water sachet. There are of course many obvious answers to why the pure water makes up the most litter. It is cheap water, and all the filthy people need cheap water.

 

Pure Water Sachet

Then there is the dunghill. The dunghill has a life cycle (just like the butterfly). First the dunghill is created when everyone in a community agrees that a particular part of the street is for dumping garbage (egg stage). Then everyone dumps their garbage and the dung hill is growing rapidly (larva stage). Some dunghills are fed so much so fast that they grow fat and bulky and in some habitat they have been known to take some swallow vital parts of the road (pupae stage). Then finally, when the dunghill appears to be causing direct harm to its location someone takes it upon themselves to burn it (adult stage). In some rare scenarios, the dunghill is kidnapped by the government to be incinerated elsewhere. The dunghill always leaves some tiny eggs in that location in the form of an empty pure water bag or the Gala wrap for the cycle to begin again.

 

A Young Dunghill Growing from its Egg

It’s nearly ironic how many Nigerians are the causes of their own problems. Staying in a dirty environment not only has an obvious health effect of the indigenes of that area but it also has a negative psychological effect. Leila Glen from www.busyclean.co.uk has written that dirty places causes people to be more prone to stress, depression, poorer relationships and poorer productivity.

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?

Eliminating the various species of dunghills before the egg even develops is one way. Also, the provision of more public waste bins in strategic locations will most likely stop the average pedestrian from throwing things on the ground.

Like I mentioned earlier, most of these things are our fault. If that agidi woman was brought up in the same family I came from, throwing junk out the window would be an abomination. Endeavour to start a change from your side. Brighten your corner! It is a problem of negative socialization.

The government should also start to fine people for littering. That way the vast majority of policemen can find something else to do aside begging and stealing. It doesn’t end there, the government can also provide more street cleaners alongside with litter policies.

The Second Step – Recap

An amazing 14 days have gone past and the adventures keep climbing higher. I have learned and taught all my readers many amazing things about life and Africa.
This second week was associated with more of online research than field work. But I promise to get the content very original starting tomorrow.
Once again, thank you for your time, and patronage. Special thanks to the U.S.A for being the second highest country (after Nigeria) viewing my blog on a daily basis.

Happy Sunday,
Obarian

Juxtaposed Jollof Rice

The jollof rice is arguably one of the most common meals in not only Nigeria, but key parts of West Africa. I can boldly tell you that no formal or informal  celebratory event is complete without our jollof rice.

WHAT IS JOLLOF RICE?

I have a hard time defining what jollof rice is and I don’t think I even understand what Wikipedia is saying. And Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary is so inadequate nowadays it’s nearly appalling. So if you don’t know what jollof rice is eat it at your nearest restaurant and you’ll get a definition.

WHERE IS JOLLOF RICE FROM?

It’s from West Africa. Its origins are cause of heated debate between Nigerians and Ghanaians. But there is an even greater chance that the jollof rice didn’t come from either one of these countries, it might have originated from the then Senegambia. From the Wolof; they are also referred to as Chelofes, Galofes, Lolof, Jolof, Olof, Volof, Wolluf and Yolof tribe and language. There are also more arguments that it is impossible for a dish to become so widespread from that particular source, so theories that the Mali empire that often introduced new culture with their trade introduced this rice to other West African countries. However, all these are speculations. It is to be noted that all countries have different variants of making this jollof rice.

So…

WHAT ARE THE INGREDIENTS OF NIGERIAN JOLLOF RICE?

1.       Rice

2.       Tomato (canned or fresh)

3.       Pepper

4.       Onions

5.       Spices (curry, thyme, knorr etc.)

6.       Groundnut Oil

7.       Meat stock (Or any stock you have) Meat stock is basically the water that was used in boiling meat. It is good for adding flavor to your dishes.

8.       Crayfish

HOW TO MAKE JOLLOF RICE

1.       Put groundnut oil into your pot and heat.

2.       Slice onions and put into the heating oil.

3.       Blend your fresh tomato crayfish and pepper until it has turned into a fine paste then add into your oil. Or if you’re using canned ones, you can just add the ready-made paste into the sizzling oil.

4.       At this point you are free to add your spices, including meat stock into the mixture.

5.       Then you can focus on boiling your rice. Parboil it so the starch comes off and then sieve it and add some salt.

6.       After allowing your sizzle to sizzle for a short while you can add proportionate water (proportionate with the rice so the water boils away just as the rice is cooked) with some spice (salt and pepper to your desired taste).  

7.       Add your rice, cover the pot and let it cook. Once it’s done the water would have dried up and the food should be ready.

A Cat in the Nigerian Home

Today I bought a cat, a 2.4 feet (excluding tail) Bengal cat that was shivering in its cage in a pet store. The initial plan was to buy a bird cage and leave, but this cat caught my attention not only because it was a cat, it was also a cheap cat. I made the impulsive decision and bought the cat alongside with the cage and left and I must confess that I have spent majority of my day trying to adjust my cat to the house. However, this didn’t stop me from doing my usual investigations into controversial matters in Nigeria and today I want to focus on the unconventional Nigerian pet called the cat.

There are many legends and superstition surrounding cats in Africa and these are especially negative in Nigeria. The Tsavos (Kenyan tribe) have a positive view on cats, considering that they believed only those of royal bloodline and god/goddesses can manifest themselves in such graceful creatures. It was reported in Tsavo Man-Eaters case that a pair of male lions without manes and larger than most other lions slaughtered a group of railway workers constructing the Kenya-Uganda railway. Historic witnesses have said that the two lions must have been reincarnates of dead kings that have come back to stop European exploits in their land.

 

Tsavo Lions Depiction in Field Museum of Natural History

Another African tribe that has a positive view on cats is the Ancient-Egyptians, whom have attributed the Mau cat to the goddesses Isis and Ba’at. Isis as the goddess of motherhood, nature and magic and Ba’at as the goddess of cats, protection, joy, dance, music, family

Bast (Ba'at)

However, as we leave northern and eastern Africa and delve further west the stories begin to change. The Ewe people make up the major ethnic group in Togo (32%), third largest in Ghana (14%) and minorities in Southern Benin, Ivory Coast and Nigeria. The Ewe people consider the cat a delicacy and eating the cat head is said to bring good luck and prevent them from dying in a foreign land. Even with this Ewe people’s sway in Ghana, the average Ghanaian associates the cat with evil and witchcraft. Seeing a black cat in one’s dreams is considered a bad omen.

In Nigeria specifically there are many people who are uncomfortable with cats, echoing the belief that they are associated with demons and agents of evil forces. I know for one that Nollywood has contributed a gigantic deal into this belief, but who can blame them? The culture of a Nigerian will reflect somehow somewhere.

In June 2016 there was a report of a cat who transformed to a girl at dawn in Ibadan around Ring Road. It was said that she was smelling poignantly of animal excretions and was seen in the store of a house at that area before the sun came up. Of course, no one had any pictures of this ‘transformation’ but they said it transformed to a young girl before they could kill her. Report was from www.informationng.com.

With all these negativity surrounding cats, it is no surprise why the average Nigerian will not want to invest time, food and money into keeping them. However, dogs are very popular in Nigeria with nearly 70% of household communities owning one or more at one time or the other. However an approximation of 60% of Nigerian dog owners gets dogs for security purposes. A cat will not provide you security, so it defies logic for the cat to become more popular than a dog here.

My short time with Iyré (my Bengal cat) has proven to be truly a nice and fulfilling adventure. He loves roaming the house and has gotten accustomed to people touching him. I am sure he will come to be a loved member of the family if he is not already.

The Lion Crossings all over Nigeria

You know those white lines across the road? Yes, the ones that divide the breadth of the road. Yes, the one that somebody near you has called ‘Tom-Tom advertisement’. Yes, the one in the picture above you. It is called a zebra crossing because it is usually characterized with white stripes (typical of the zebra) and the major point of these marks are not to advertise a mint-based candy or to signify that that is where to stop your car. Rather, on the contrary, it is made to place priority on the movement of pedestrians (trekkers) on the road. So if a vehicle is approaching and you need to get to the other side of the road, all you have to do is place a foot on the marks and the driver that sees you (unless he is blind or ignorant) will stop and allow you to go. Why do most people ignore it in Nigeria? I mean, it makes sense and it sounds easy to use. Two major reasons:

1.       LACK OF AWARENESS:

According to the experiment I carried out today 6 out of 10 average Nigerians don’t know what the sign is for. Whose fault? You know me; I always blame everything on colonization. But today it is not only Great Britain’s fault for introducing all these alien ideas to the Nigerian; it is also our personal faults for not enquiring. And guess who else is on my blame list today again? Of course our one and only unfailing Nigerian government! I was speaking with a wise man a few days ago concerning this topic and he said ‘What will it take for the Ministry of Transport to launch awareness programmes on the media?’ Indeed, what will it take? A billion naira? No, it doesn’t cost that much. Oh shocker.

 

Ignorance is Bliss

Another institution on my blame list (no, you won’t escape too) are schools. If someone is a graduate of a university in Nigeria and sees a zebra crossing but still ignores, it doesn’t take up to two Who Wants to be a Millionaire questions to know that it is either the person doesn’t know what the sign is or the person is on booze. I must admit that in this case we want to only narrow it down to the latter. Civic education is the name of the subject that should cover this in schools. I will also mention that originally civic education was added to our curriculum in 2003 for primary and junior secondary in the form of social studies or what have you. But around 4 years ago it was made mandatory in the WAEC exam. A good move, a smart move, hopefully this will help to curb this our problem of ignorance (ignorance including the lack of knowledge of all other road signs (including orange light means get ready and not go)). The government cannot and should not implement something as important (but alien) as this and leave the common man to figure what it does on his own.

2.       FEAR

There was a good reason I named this article ‘Lion Crossing’. And this is because any pedestrian half as smart as I am knows that using the zebra crossing on a general highway in many parts of Nigeria can mean death or near-fatal injuries. Don’t believe me?

Those who risk using Zebra Crossings on highways, believing them for what they are without care may well be killed by vehicles

An unidentified young girl penultimate week took the risk of her life and abruptly ended it on the Zebra Crossing opposite the Ikeja Army Cantonment, Onigbongbo, Ikeja, Lagos.

Copied from http://allafrica.com/stories/200110290160.html. I wish I could give you the full story but unfortunately you have to subscribe to see it. If you have the time to do so just follow the link.

There so you have it, the first problem leads to the second. People don’t know what it is, and kill other people. People know what it is but are afraid to get killed.

In all other advanced countries and some secluded parts of Nigeria, the stress free, easy to use zebra crossing is a respite for us. It makes us pedestrians feel secure on the roads and gives us a sense of importance in comparison to our counterparts mounted on moving machines. It also saves time and energy as we don’t have to wait for the vehicles to stop zooming past before we can move.

OK, MR. ITK WHAT IS YOU AIM?

I am an Obarian and a Nigerian and I am just trying to make common sense.

The Notorious African Hair

The Afro-Textured hair, the hair of the Blacks, the pride of the Blacks and the bane of the ‘responsible’ Nigerian. There is one thing all of us Nigerian teens can attest to about all the generations from our parents’ upwards and that is the stark negativity they feel about our trends. They are so bent on culture, so bent on being ‘right’ and ‘natural’ and so most importantly bent on cutting your hair every Friday afternoon. Matter of fact, it is so bad that staff in certain ‘international’ schools in the country use rulers to measure boys’ hair strands when the opportunity presents itself. Universities (like the University of Ilorin) demand that boys keep their hair short. Which raises the question: ‘What is so notorious about the African hair?’

As usual I did my investigations and questionings and as usual I have found many interesting details. But first let me give y’all a brief biological and historical story of the afro-textured hair.

It was in Africa that the first major emigration started; then the early humans (hominids) began the great migration to different parts of the world. This would mean that all the early humans were most likely alike at that moment, the same color of skin, the same texture of hair (some scientists have argued that all the hominids hair type was the afro-textured) and the same culture. The people that stayed in the land of Africa would turn out to be our greatest ancestors, and evolution, climate and adaptation will play its role on their bodies and allow them survive in their chosen regions. So due to the excessive UV rays in sunlight, high temperature and the savannah regions the afro-textured hair allows for better body temperature regulation. It is to be noted that all hair in the world is made from the same material, but the difference from the afro-textured hair is just the distribution of lipids. Enough of the science talk.

Over the course of time African civilizations came to love and respect this hair of ours, keeping it, grooming it and adorning it. The Bantu Fang tribe of now Gabon (Cameroon and some parts of the Republic Congo as well) boasted an asymmetrically styled afro-textured hair with beautiful beading embroidery. It was a sign of wealth, a good fashion and grooming this hair was free (also nearly sacred) and often carried out by beloved friends, clan members and family. Early Nigerian art represented our civilizations (including the men) of those days adorned with beautiful hairstyles if and when their sometimes bald heads are not covered in a cap.

 

Fang Man

So why is the modern elderly Nigerian society against this trend? It is cultural; it is our identity, so why are they contradicting themselves?

The answer is something that has always been a torn in my flesh and that will be colonization. Our bastardized culture has lost many key things that were once seen as ‘small’ or ‘insignificant’. The grooming of hair was firstly industrialized as foreign ideals of beauty and the acceptable standards changed because of socialization, globalization and colonization.

Famous Nigerian Comedian: Basket Mouth

The dreadlocks are often associated with the Rastafarians of Jamaica are also seen as one of these socially unacceptable norms in Nigeria. The Rastas are of the belief that the smoking of cannabis is a sacrament with beneficial properties and their movements have often caused conflicts with Jamaica as a whole. The negativities that have become tied to the dreadlocks of the Rastas have somehow managed to permeate into the Nigerian culture and soil that hairstyle. But that can never be more wrong. In Nigeria, some children are born with naturally locked hair and are given a special name: "Dada". Yoruba priests of Olokun, the Orisha of the deep ocean, (also) wear locks. Actually if an Igbo man wears the Yoruba ‘Dada’ how else can he further nationalism? In the real sense, the Rastas took this hair from Africa we didn’t take it from them!

Although the death of Philando Castile an African-American who was murdered by a policeman (for no reason) was alleged to match a description of a suspect. You’ll never guess his hairstyle. Dreadlocks!

The afro-textured hair was also an iconic form of protesting in the United States of America, as Blacks used the hairstyle to propagate African-American Civil Rights Movement and a sense of finding identity with themselves as the then acceptable standard was that the straighter less kinkier hair was more ‘professional’ and much more ‘serious’.

 

American Activist: Angela Davis

Reading Chimamanda’s book Americanah revealed to me more on the topic of hair and its power of identity. When Ifemelu (the main character) decides to stop relaxing her hair and go ‘natural’ she feels more of a sense of purpose and takes better control of her life. In earlier parts of the book it was also revealed that her mother had long natural beautiful hair that made people ask if she was partly not from Nigeria. The fashion was that beautiful hair is the one that looks less African. What?!

I have been speaking solely socially, how bout we look at the African hair’s notoriety from the professional aspect? The average Nigerian male lawyer cannot keep an ‘unacceptable hairstyle’ because any elderly stereotypical judge that sees him will not have a good first impression. And if you want to learn anything about Nigerian courts today, you should know that first impressions never change. You wouldn’t want your lawyerly first impression to be ‘scoundrel’ would you?

Here’s what Barrister F.O Chumu (Esq.) has to say regarding this issue of law and hairstyle:

‘It doesn’t really affect legal practice, but it says so much about the individual. In Africa, yes, within our own culture a hairstyle has something to do with how society classifies the individual.

‘And as a lawyer in Africa or anywhere on Earth you are regarded as someone that is noble, someone that is honorable, someone that should be decent. And then there are hairstyles that defeat or represent a class of people. Like the musicians, they keep a particular kind of hairstyle. Like the fashionable individuals, the “fashionists” they keep a particular kind of style. The footballers as well, there is also this kind of style they keep to reflect who they are or to attract fans.

‘But the legal man is supposed to be somber. He’s not supposed to solicit for attention. So I think a somber hairstyle will best fit a lawyer given that there are some ethics he is supposed to live by.’

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?

Stubbornness. Know your culture, love it and don’t let anyone push you over something as personally important as a haircut. If you feel that your hairstyle is unique to you, stick with it, our frizzy, springy hair was made to grow and you can grow it.

The only thing notorious about the African hair is combing it.