The Conference Will Not Be Televised 

Conference of confusion, destiny of a people destroyed

Thrust in a harsh world where heaven is a distant dream

Budding ambitions cut off, scions roaming the streets in angst

Delegates with leprous fingers, fail to douse the fire

Who dares cast the mountain in the sea as men toil on its slippery slopes?

The conference will not be televised!

Founding fathers dreamt of utopia

The children, from a nightmare arose confused

Islam from the north, Christianity from the south

Foreign totems, without roots, became seeds of corruption

A young nation, thrown into the lion's den

Without angels to lock the lion's jaws

The nation of our imagination never birthed

Looking up to heaven unstable on our feet of clay

Men suffer in silence, without a caring God

The conference will not be televised

The hope of nationhood, subsumed in parochialism

Without roots the tree withers, without hope a man falters

Grasping at snapping straws, we descend into the abyss

Our generation who can save?  Our house on fire.

The conference will not be televised!

Not at the banquet table, for we eat our cake in a cage

Not in soiled halls of state, where hate is our fate

Not in ivory towers, for demons of miseducation hover

Not in orgies of worship, for we gather in a sinking ship 

But in the streets, alley ways, plains, hills and valleys

Where men shall prove their mettle

With freedom and justice as guiding lights

And not rest until the best is wrested

The conference will not be televised!

From the north, the caliphate thunders in arrogance

Lacking coherence, the south cowers, content with slavery

Bereft of strategy, filled with fear, they fall on their sword

For morsels from the master's table their birthright forsaken

The conference will not be televised!

First shall be last and last shall be first, the snake biting its tail

Patriots must defend the nation, against government power

To create justice at all cost, the way of the just

Where are the patriots and who are the just?

As panels of justice, create pains of injustice

Who dares go before us, to cross the red sea?

The conference will not be televised!

Our leechy army is asleep, terror unleashed

For three dead youths a true nation goes to war

Thousands killed and our army sleeps

From their sheltered lives, leaders refuse to see

They refuse to feel our pain but are frightened by our rage

The conference will not be televised

Prepare for the inevitable, the house is on fire

Stars are dimming and the moon is bloody

Boko haram is the symptom of a deep malady

Our deep contradictions throw up horrendous diction

Do or die - no middle ground - a dose of their medicine

Take up positions to defend what is left

Only the patriot and the just shall stand the test

Not only for this unfortunate nation but for Africa

The conference will not be televised

No NTA, Cable TV or worldwide web to dim our vision

To restrain our hands or confuse our resolve

The conference will not be subject to manipulation

No flags raised, none lowered, no tedious singing and signing

No white knights from her majesty, no gloved hands

No plastic smiles and plated epaulettes saluting at the dais

For blood shall run to wash away our doom because

The conference will be live!

Inspired by Gil Scott Heron  

Nigerians do not hate corruption, only its consequences

The issue of corruption is so over flogged within the geographical entity called Nigeria that you can be forgiven for thinking the flaw is peculiar to the country.  Corruption is worldwide and it ultimately benefits the rich, rulers and corporations to the detriment of the ‘common people’. It is easy to adduce the problems of Nigeria to corruption and fail to see that most people in the country do not really view it as a problem but a means to an end. Nigerians kick against corruption only when they suffer from its consequences in aspects of their lives such as power, fuel, health, education, etc. The same people can however be crassly corrupt or corrupting when it benefits them, even if the benefits are temporary. The enjoyment and active encouragement of temporary relief through the popular ‘fire brigade approach’ instead of asking for and implementing long-term plans is the bane of our national development.

Nigeria is still largely a paternalistic and illiterate society with cultural tendencies that lend themselves to encouraging ‘lucky’ individuals to provide for the ‘less fortunate’. The ‘less fortunate’ never ask why they are not fortunate and assume their position is preordained. If you tell the average Nigerian that corruption is responsible for over twenty years of lack of power, stable fuel supply and general backwardness he/she may hear you and nod in agreement but would not understand how they have contributed to the situation. In Nigeria, the term ‘bread winner’ takes on a debilitating connotation because a single individual with means may find himself or herself taking care of the needs of nearly twenty people including his or her immediate family. Under such barrage of neediness it is somewhat difficult to meet all expectations without trying to secure more resources. It is at this point that most individuals fail; whether rich or middle class, because they tend to want to live up to expectations. They either try legitimately to diversify their sources of income or choose the easier route of exploiting loopholes within the Nigerian bureaucracy to enrich themselves. The latter choice is the favourite course and the one that is almost universally adopted.The concept of ‘oga’ tends to accord respectability to individualsthat Nigerians think are sources of their livelihood or bribes. These ‘ogas’ can do no wrong and when they are accused of corruption,their stigmatization is stymied by petty parochialism such as; na only him dey steal, or na because him be Moslem or Christian, or because him be Yoruba, Hausa or Igbo, etc? Excuses and support for classless corruption is easy to come by in Nigeria. Years ago; I witnessed a well-placed person in the civil [nothing civil about it] service caught red-hot-handed on national TV trying to bribe a government official. When he finally came back home after his release on bail, people were going to his house to ‘commiserate’ and to ‘pray’ with him! The triumphal entry into his hometown of disgraced IGP Balogun a few years ago is a case in point that we generally do not hate corruption.People waited along the road as if Nigeria was about to get a second shot at being independent from Britain. The former IGP probably knows how to ‘shake body’ anytime he is home and the potentates in his hometown knew what they gained during his time in office. Corruption is for the most part actively encouraged by Nigerians whenever they can get a willing conduit in the form of a ‘bread winner’ at the national table.

Those in power understand that to keep the nation in their perpetual grasp there must be an institutionalized patriarchy where resources flow from very few hands to the desperati below. The only condition is that people must be pauperized both in mind and body such that they are ready to sell their souls. People are today mesmerized by material possessions, especially as dictated by western tastes. We love our Guccis, Calvin Kleins, Samsung TVs, I-Phones, Dubai-type houses, PatekPhillipes and Rolexes without putting any effort towards how we can manufacture ours. This fits into the world’s economic system as dictated by the corporatocracy and encouraged by the international monetary system. When you go to any so-called state funded primary or secondary public school in the country today and then drive back to the hallowed halls of our legislature – you need not ask why the country is in such terrible state. The leaders exist in their own parallel universe that is far from the realities on ground. 

Nigerians have paid and are still paying a huge price for institutional corruption because when national assignments become secondary to the personal gains of an individual, the assignment would either not be carried out or done poorly. National assignments that affect the lives of Nigerians are seen as golden opportunities for self-aggrandizement. For example, the power generation and the subsidy scam probes were headed by legislators. The ‘lieslators’ however threw the greater good away and embraced covetousness by accepting bribes and scuttling any meaningful resolution of the reason why money spent on power and oil subsidy have yielded only darkness and endless queues at filling stations. There are roads in Nigeria that have not been rehabilitated since the civil war. Contracts have been awarded but the intention was not to build or rehabilitate roads but rather to fill pockets and maintain the balance of political power and influence in Nigeria. Corruption is so lucrative that ‘religious’ leaders actively encourage it as ‘open doors’ and ‘breakthroughs’.  The clergy is ready to guarantee you a place in heaven if you pay for it with a round sum of cash here on earth. Everyday avoidable tragedies are blamed on ‘blood sucking demons’. We rely on prayers to prevent car accidents and air disasters when simply building better roads, traffic rule enforcement, stringent air traffic rules and equipment would suffice. Armed robbers operate for hours on federal and provincial roads as if we are living in a war zone. It has become easy for foreign elements to bring the country to its knees because they are able to get succour and encouragement from within the country’s elites and security apparatus. 

Buhari has said ‘either Nigerians kill corruption or corruption kills Nigeria’. As for now, corruption is winning. It is killing widows and desecrating orphans. Men can no longer be men and women are losing their virtues. The little educational training we get in the country only prepares us to be slaves rather than masters in the world economic order because it fails to address the fundamental question of who and what is a Nigerian. As corruption seduces Nigerians to look for stomach infrastructure the collapse of the superstructure is inevitable.

jrotimibgood@gmail.com

The N-word

The N-word has gained an unsavoury reputation in the western world today that has led to sporadic social stigmatization of public figures that use the word flippantly, especially in the United States.Though a few notable men and women have been publicly vilified in a vain attempt to portray American society as post-racial, this is not the whole story.  It would be difficult to eliminate racism in western society because it has been the basis of interaction between whites and non-white people for centuries.  Racism is one of the fruits of a carefully cultivated garden of white supremacy which confers on whites undeserved advantages that would be difficult to give up voluntarily.

Let us dig a little deeper.  What does the N-word really mean and why does it have such an explosive connotation when used by white people?  The word 'nigger' which is a variation of the Latin word Niger or 'black' gained its dark aura during slavery when men, women and children were reduced to possessions and chattels to be stolen, traded, branded, degraded, humiliated, mentally and emotionally destroyed and labelled the N-word as a description of who they are, or forced to be, in relation to their white masters.The word became synonymous with black slaves but perhaps as an unconscious attempt to remove its sting the slaves began using the word to address themselves too. Today, hip-hop and gangster-rap have taken the meaning of the word to another level by differentiating between Niggaz and Niggers.  Niggaz describes successful black people, especially rappers and the second is the hated word.  

With the abolition of slavery and the gradual assimilation of blacks into the mainstream of society the N-word became less used by whites.  Though some progress have been made in eliminating the vestiges of slavery in the western world, black people in most countries where they are minorities still endure being second and sometimes third class citizens.  It is this mental and often physical oppression that blacks react to when called the N-word by those they perceive as their tormentors - in this case, white people.  The black man has a higher probability of being put in jail, undereducated, hunted down like an animal, live in poor neighbourhoods with less amenities and unacceptable insecurity in the United States.  Blacks constitute about 13.6% of the population but make up nearly half of the prison population in the United States. Most incarcerations are for minor offences for which whites are unlikely to be arrested. It is no surprise that blacks react violently when called 'nigger' or 'boy' because in a moment of self analysis and historical antecedents the plaintive wails of the slave plantation is echoed by the slave master in that one word.  Black people are simply reacting to over 500 years of oppression that seems never-ending. 

What are we to do with the N-word and how do we as blacks rob it of its sting? Though other races have derogatory labels applied to them, these names do not appear to carry the same stigma as the N-word probably because we, more than any other race have been denied our God-given rights, human rights and civil rights taken for granted by others.  However, we must pull ourselves up and show that we are more than a derogatory word.  I have always maintained that the freedom of the black man can never be guaranteed by the constitution of the United States or any so-called United Nations charter. Because those documents were never written with blacks in mind most details dealing with race are either proclamations or amendments that are subject to many interpretations.

The freedom of the black man lies in Africa.  The continent of Africa is the only place that belongs to the black man and nothing can change that. Until we cast away our differences, embrace our uniqueness, study our history, develop pride in our values as a people, every black man from cape to Cairo, and beyond would continue to be a nigger.  Most posters in public places of the 'developed' world [airports, train stations] and television depict African faces when they portray starvation, poverty and disease. It is easy to look down on someone who appears unwilling or unable to help himself.  Our governments, educational institutions, infrastructures, health care system and transportation remain underdeveloped and a culture of overarching corruption, tribalism and religious bigotry have combined to derail Africa's quest for progress and development. African leaders have remained parasitic and clueless without rhyme or reason, acting mainly as hostages of powers outside the continent for personal benefit.  Politicians rarely rise above self-seeking while the occasional statesman is ridiculed, imprisoned or murdered.  Given such an unflattering atmosphere, Africans themselves tend to suffer inferiority complex when juxtaposed with the so-called developed countries.  

When African leaders stop emphasizing differences [to gain pyrrhic advantages] amongst Africans and begin to harnesses the natural and human potential of the continent there would be something else to offer other than cheap labour, oil and raw materials for the industrial machineries of the 'developed' world. The N-word would become less annoying and instead of its sting striking deep into our psyche and bringing out the worst in us, it would bounce off and fall down lifeless. We would no longer be puppets of the IMF, the World Bank or stranded on welfare lines but co-participators in bringing about a new world order that caters equally to all citizens of the planet.  The N-word would then become totally irrelevant because it describes no one and like a mirage ahead on the road of life, would eventually be found to be nothingness. 

Joseph can be reached at jrotimibgood@gmail.com

The Nigerian National Assembly and its Brains

According to keen observers, the National Assembly needs a shot in the arm or 'Braintashi' which is a play on the word describing some inane local aphrodisiac. The writer assumed, with some cogent reasons that the national assembly members have been exhibiting some rather bizarre behaviours that were unbecoming of their responsibilities to the Nigerian people.  But contrary to the national assembly members being brain-challenged, they are one of the smartest people in Nigeria. The only problem is that their smartness has not been used in constructive ways. If a set of guys, can keep pulling wool, over the eyes of over a hundred million people for this long, without meaningful challenge, there must be something they are doing right - for themselves.

In reality, Nigeria's national assembly has little to do with the ideals of nationhood or transparency in governance - they only go through the motions. In a country where selections supersedes elections, where cunning supersedes honesty and where money and power are the chief aims for seeking political office, brains do not matter, only right alignment with entrenched power brokers. Governance becomes a theatrical absurdity where the detestable becomes the norm. Corrupt politicians strut the corridors of power in Nigeria because they represent some of our inherent weaknesses as a nation; while the occasional statesman is lost in the picture. It takes brains to outmanoeuvre your party and colleagues to become Senate President while forcing the President to come to terms with the equation. 

After each 'election' cycle, the national assembly members hardly think of immediate legislative steps to save a drowning nation. The first order of things involves haggling over leadership, allowances and who gets into the most lucrative committee. They behave, as a pride of lions, fighting over a large kill where hierarchy, order and rules are jettisoned resulting in grown men and women slugging it out physically with torn dresses and bloody noses. At the ugly feast, politicians try at all cost to get positions that guarantee the best return on their political investment. They work the most delicate balance between reality and facts, political correctness and lies while trying to placate benefactors behind the scenes. 

In the halls of the national assembly, the brain is a weapon of self-aggrandizement instead of statesmanship. Assembly members; investigating fraud, develop strategies to obscure the truth by being more fraudulent than the accused. The public school system lies moribund, thereby destroying the chance of millions of children ever becoming relevant in the world. But assembly members earn the equivalent of five years [if not more] schoolteachers' salaries as sitting allowance. Well, what do they care? Their children are citizens of other countries so they have no incentive to improve the nation's schools. They can fly out of the country to treat common colds, so why bother about the healthcare delivery system in the country. Their itinerary shields them from the sun's heat, dust and rains as they move from air-conditioned homes in air-conditioned cars to air-conditioned offices with minimal traffic. They only come out of their comfort zones when looking for votes that do not count. Yet, Nigerians celebrate them. They hide under high-sounding borrowed ideals from the western world when it comes to their privileges but deny any responsibilities for solving the country's woes.

National assembly members are brainy in what they do but deliberately brainless in what they ought to do. And unfortunately, Nigerians are complicit in this travesty.

Joseph can be reached at jrotimibgood@gmail.com