From Lagos to Zaria; A Journey Through Nigeria's Heartland

This is a recollection of the sights of a road trip from Lagos City to Zaria a small university Town in Kaduna State. Again my recollection of the journey is fuzzy for i was half a asleep for a sizable part of the odd 14 our journey.

The journey starts off at around 7.00 AM. Aboard a luuuxirous bus, technically what Nigerians call a bus wouldn't fit the description of a bus in Kenya but rather a bigger Nissan Matatu. We aboard a big Cross-land carrier your Nigerian equivalent of Molo Line or something of the sort. For 6500 Naira we are sorted for the rest of the journey. Astonishingly though cross-land carrier provides each traveller with a base ball cap with their label all offer it. The journey begins with the driver complaining that the luggage is to heavy for his vehicle. " I be say now dat the load on the passengers, be two heavy for my vehicle, de vehicle na use two much petrol, aaa aaa," the driver says.

We set off for Zaria at around 8.00 A.M. I immediately dip my fingers into some tasty jollof rice and some plantain. As we travel I savour the beautiful panorama that are the Nigerians lands, acres and acres of beautiful green equatorial vegetation are certainly easy on the eye. We travel through the city of brown roofs (Ibadan), I can almost imagine Chinua Achebe penning one of his books in one of the houses, I am also quite perturbed that Achebe is not that big a writer in Nigeria as is Ngugi wa Thiong'o as he is in Kenya.

We travel through Nigerian Central states states such as Kogi Oyo and such. As we travel I see huge banners carrying murals of this or that Governor or messages like, "Kogi your home of business, peace and prosperity." Hardly a few miles pass by without I seeing a sign board with Dangote, this or Dangote that, apparently Dangote is the richest black man alive today, *coughs* in uncertainty.

I see rivers, eat galla and notice hawkers selling petrol and diesel on the roadside. We are still travelling aftr sunset and well into the night. My hosts wake me up just in time to catch Kaduna lights around 9.30 A.M. We now have to travel another odd hor before we get to Zaria.

We get to Zaria and I am tired as hell, our accommodation is reserved at the University Gymnasium. The driver though stops at the University Mosque. Amidst all coaxing he will not bulge and will not go past the university mosque. We tell him that the agreement was for him to take us at the university gymnasium. "When I be come to this University now this be nah University gym." He replies. The driver apparently leaves us like a pack of stranded mice in floodlights, We have to look for alternative transport for the two mile journey from the university mosque to the university gymn.

The Mellinnium Development Goals and their flawed foundations

A story of two pregnant men.

This is an unplanned reactive post, little planning went into the creation of this post and it is superficial to say the least.As I was traveling home from Nyahururu at a shopping center called Kasuku two men board the Matatu, what the Nigerians call a bus and the English call an omnibus. One of the men is heavily laden with some luggage, they both hugle with the makanga over what fare they will pay to Shemba(a district hospital in Ol-Kalou town.

I am in the Matatu, to death and asking when i will get off, so when the two men make acquaintance and start conversing freely i am delightfully happy to eavesdrop. It turns that both of them are going to visit some in-patients at the District Hospital. "Ndathie kuona mutumia wakwa akomete Shemba thutha wa kuhorwo kana mucie" "(I am going to see my wife who is in hospital after giving birth at home)" on of the men tells the other. "Ona nie ndathi kuona sister ya my wife ahetwo kana no anie mutimia wakwa ari na mathina o ta maku aforcirwo gutwarwo Naikuru." "(I am going to see my sister in law but my wife had a similar situation and had to be transported to Nakuru," the other man consoles him. "Kana karicirwo gatakinyite na kararwa gatinio gikonyo ni atumia metwo kumuciarthia, rio kari incubator ine. " "(The baby was born pre-maturely and and developed complications after the women who came to help her give birth cut her umbilical chord," the first man continues.

I soon realize that I am almost alighting but not before listening to the two men go on and on about how expensive it is to take care of a patient at the District Hospital.

After I alight i have food for thought. My re-collection of my undergraduate studies is really thin but i remember though that there was the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) noble goals in themselves. Among the goals, One explicitly claims that it aims to end or reduce maternal mortality. "Isn't that great? Yes of course, sorry again for answering my own rhetoric question.

The two men come back to mind, they are two young men barely older than I am, married with everything seemingly going on for them. Both however shrugged the comfort of hospital delivery for home-birth. Kenya would have lost two productive and young Kenyan women. Apparently the assumption that people choose home delivery is because of inaccessibility also erroneous, for Kasuku township is barely 20 Kilometers away from the District Hospital and it costs 30KSHs (approx 0.40 US$D) on a Matatu. It is also erraneous to assume that it cost constrain keep mothers away from hospital delivery, giving birth in Kenya is as cheap as 2000KSHs around 30 US$D, this effectively reduces to 1000KSHs after cashing in a government voucher worth 1000KSHs at delivery. While i acquiesce that the above costs could be mortifying for most of the country's rural and unemployed folk, it is definitely possible to raise the amount with if the goodwill to do so was present.

The question that begs though is why do most Kenyans and Kenyan women especially so in the 21st century shrug off hospital delivery for home delivery. The answer so is simple; the MDGs are just that, goals. The answer though is simple, how many of the rural folk know about the MDGs? How many of the rural folk know what the goals envisaged by the MDGs are? In most cases policy makers both government and non-government actors toast themselves to and wine in exquisite hotels discussing the milestones that have been achieved with regards to the MDGs. With approximately three years to go to the benchmark the year 2015, it is apparent that only modest achievements of the MDGs will be realized. The onset of this ominous situation lay in the very foundation of the MDGs, at the initial stage really gullible planners did not seek ways to allow for participatory approaches to achievement of the goals. Had participatory approaches been used at the very onset, individual people would have been at the very forefront towards championing a cause for the achievement of the goals. We now have an ugly situation where governments and myriads of non-state actors ignorantly assume that they can direct large scale planning for capable of leading people towards the promised land of MDGs.

Africa's Hopes Needs Young Spirits

Back then when i used to go to church, quite rightly when i used to tag along as my mother went for service, i remember a fervent sermon by one emotional preacher. It was about a man whose name was Job, Job was undergoing through a lot of tribulations, from losing his family and his wealth there was one trait that stood poignant above all else during his period of trial. Now my knowledge of the bible is really scant*now do not misunderstand me i have read a lot of religious literature* from the informative Awake and The Watchtower though I am not a witness. From the fervent sermon i remember a verse like "Arise, shake off the dust and go" for those well versed in the bible please re-quote the verse in its original form.

Jobs, predicament can be likened to our continent, beautiful Africa. Although most people acquiesce that Africa is indeed rich, she as continent has be beleaguered by myriads of problems from being plundered for gold, and her people to being involuntarily ruled by foreign masters to having her hopes dashed by shortsighted post-independent leaders, read Boigny,Mobutu, Nkrumah, Nyerere, the ever annoying Mugabe to name just but a few there is one thing that Africa has never lost; her soul.

within her soul lies an unbridled hope, a burning desire to seize her destiny, to see her dreams come to fruition. These though shall not come to be if they are Africa is left in the hands of adulterated spirits, that is why we, we the young that are young at heart must seize our shared mother and protect. For Africa's rebirth will be midwifed by young spirits.

Why Middle East/North Africa Revolutions are Hard to Replicate in sub-Saharan Africa

Why Middle East/North Africa Revolutions are Hard to Replicate in sub-Saharan Africa
when I published the aforementioned title on my modest blog, Gaddaffi was still very much in power, administering Viagra to his mercenaries and dogs of war. Saleh was not in a hospital in Saudi Arabia and Al Asad was still shelling his Syrian citizens. The post really was a foreshadowing of what would be. For now Gaddaffi and his diabolical friends have be run out, Al Asad will eventually leave and Saleh will never recover. Indeed this is a victory for freedom and sub-Saharan Africa will free itself one day.
The Arab spring, or Arab awakening or Islamic awakening as Press TV Iran so often calls is quite peculiar in character and form. The question though that begs most ominous is; can this people led peaceful mostly peaceful revolutions like what happened in Tunisia and Egypt be replicated and elsewhere in Africa (Sub-Saharan Africa)?
The most obvious would be a NO. We then have to provide a case by case analysis in order to discover why people led revolutions might be unsustainable to replicate in in Sub-Saharan Africa. The most important factor is cultural though. Northern Africa and the Middle- East by extension with the exception of Israel comes' from a background of homogenous Arabic culture which is reinforced by the fact that the Middle-East is largely Islamic. Well there are pockets of orthodox Christians in Egypt, Lebanon and Syria but then these religious minorities don’t have significant populations to form multi-polar pockets of culture in the above countries. This claim is further reinforced by the fact that sectarian violence and hostilities between Sunni and Shias is not as pronounced in Northern Africa and countries closer to the holy land. This though is not the case in sub-Saharan Africa, sub-Saharan Africa is characterized by myriads ethnic cultures that at times are conflicting at least or sub-Saharan African countries have more than one ethnic community. This situation is further exacerbated by the fact that ethnic identities are important Loci for political organization this therefore means that these ethnic identities view each other as competitors rather than co-operate in efforts to bring meaningful social-economic change in sub-Saharan Africa sovereign states.
Another factor that undermines the social-political organization of the populace in Africa south of the Sahara is the lack of economic homogeneity. The Middle East has well defined economic classes with the Middle class being big enough and politically vibrant obviously this strength of the middle class though comes about from oil revenues that support decent income, education and living standards of people. North Africa has higher literacy ratios than sub-Saharan Africa with literacy levels averaging above 70% for almost all Middle-Eastern countries; the only exception though is Libya where massive sections were deliberately kept illiterate by Muamar Gaddafi. This economic homogeneity of economic classes heralds a populace that is both economically empowered and literate both key ingredients in the development of subjective political cultures among populations.
Sub-Saharan Africa is different in that the middle class is not as politically vibrant. The middle class in itself is divided into distinctive lower Middle and Upper Middle classes. The later class is comfortable with life and enjoys relative decent standards of life; they thus view any involvement in active political protest as self-endangering. The poor in Sub-Saharan Africa are too poor to be politically organized thus they are often used as political tools at the hands of political elites marionettes rather than as a source of different political dispensations
The other reason though absurd is that Sub-Saharan Africa is chronically food insecure. Rather than this catalyzing political revolution in Africa similar to the 1779 French revolution this acts to hamper revolutions. This is because man’s basic concern is survival only when a man’s basic needs are mat does he then begin to think of a wider set of goals that include political freedoms. It also has to be taken into account that the Middle East is an extensively urbanized and that political revolutions mostly emanate from urban populations is not something to be taken lightly.

THE RAT IN COTONOU

I am at Murtala Muhamed airport in Lagos. It is chaotic to say the least, the least apart from a father who was miserably failing to control an autistic boy who was scaring everybody at the airport. (I sympathize with him though), and a ceiling that kept falling off, I was a very bothered that I would miss my flight.
I get to security check, the security guy throws one look at my passport and asks, “What happened to your eyes, do you smoke?” “Of course I don’t,” I reply. He goes on to ask for my fingers and checks for tar stains, of course he finds and grudgingly tells me to walk off. Am wondering if smoking is illegal in Nigeria. I head of for gate E4 where am supposed to board my plane. I find out that the plane missed the gate, I run to gate D2 where the plane is like a commot.
Aboard the plane and a commotion ensues behind my seat. A middle aged woman obviously speaking in a heavy Yoruba tongue. She is wailing. A guy sitting next to me, I think his name is Samuel Ikechiejieku, who plays for the Kaduna Hearts and is on his way to play professional soccer in Oman, explains that the woman is agitated because she has seen a rat aboard the KQ plane.
Everybody started speaking excitedly at the same time. We fly off to Benin’s capital Cotonou, the woman is still agitated, others join in her conversation, the elite among speak in English and the rest of them in Yoruba, or some other native language from Nigeria. Two camps emerge one says that the rat is Nigerian and the other says that the rat is a Kenyan rat. We land in Cotonou after ten minutes and have to disembark the plane so that he they can fumigate the plane. We are held in a holding bus, the discussion continues. A Nigerian gentleman is busily explaining to a couple of Chinese girls that the fuse is about the rat on plane. After understanding the gist of the fuse one of the Chinese women comes with a mind racking interjection.
“May be the rat just wants to go to Nairobi,” She says. Of course an extrapolation of that statement would have all sorts of different meanings. Try figure out one.

7 things that Nigeria is addicted to.

Social scientists describe a being of disorientation as a result of being in a new socio-cultural environment as “culture Shock”. That being the case I was in Nigeria for the better part of last week. I am documenting on this modest blog things that might generally make a Kenya disoriented in Naija land. By and large I think Nigerians and Nigeria as a country are addicted to the following things.
1. Power generators; in Naija land every home has its own petrol run power generator. The norm in Nigeria is that every home runs on this generator and the electricity company provides backup power. I guess that would make Kenya Power look like saints. But again we could understand this as the price of a liter of Petrol (gas) is 65 Naira, something that loosely translates to 35 Kenyan shillings.
2. Pepper; my god! If you want to ever die of gastric discomfiture, try Nigerian bitter herb, peppered food. I actually shed a tear the first time I dipped a morsel of Amala, into the stew and pushed it into my mouth. I bet Nigerians could pepper their tea if they could. Tongue in cheek I actually think Nigerian food is wholesomely great. They out-feed us in every aspect and that is why they outplay us to in the football field.
3. Title; Nigerians like titles a lot, now your average Nigerian undergraduate will proudly tell you that his is the “President” of the Sociology and anthropology club. In Naija students’ government is big business or should I say big government. At Ahmadu Bello University, apparently the biggest University in sub-Saharan Africa, the Student Union President drives self in a Subaru Legacy, provided for by school. Now Ahmadu Bello has a stand-alone campus that is aptly named “The Great Kongo Republic. May we should have “The Great Bondo Republic as well”.
4. Big cars; ohooh! Now the average car on a Nigerian road is not a Vitz, an Ist or a Demio, or any other car model that gives you the satisfaction of owning a car while you actually do not own one. Your average Nigerian car is the V-Boot, Pidgin for big car. Now a V-boot is a Lexus, a BMW X5, a V6 or any other big car that is generally big and runs on petrol. Diesel is actually more expensive than petrol which is incredulous isn’t it?
5. Smart phones; greaaaaaat! I guess Apple, Research in Motion, Nokia and other smart phone makers had Nigeria in mind when developing their products. A Nigerian owns an I-phone, and blackberry some other small phone for texting and calling mum and dad. The cost of using a blackberry for a month is actually 3000 Naira, approx. 1700KSHs in Kenya it’s around 1000KSHs; do we Kenyans own that many a Blackberry?
6. Rice; Nigeria is a rice eating nation; rice is a staple food in Nigeria, from Jollof rice, to fried rice, to mashed rice. Given that Nigeria does not grow any of her own rice this compounds an already complex situation of Pakistani rice importation. The positive though is that Nigerians are not as conservative as we are when it comes to food. That is why we go hungry and they do not.
7. Higher education; Nigerians like being educated and super educated, which is good, everybody wants to become a doctor a professor well that is good in itself but I generally think an economy needs low level skilled workers willing to work for something more than a pittance for balanced economic growth. (forgive my usage of the word pittance)