I don’t know the last time you walked on a curvy lonely road lined with trees on both sides. A road where birds render songs with the passion of a music maker. That kind of road that reminds you of stories of love.
Walking on the road is experiencing the warmth of the womb of nature. The trees and their leaves scent like a glorious morning.
On this road I saw a child walking wearingly, searching for the place to find her needs. From her frailed look, she had walked miles.
I was shocked to see a child on the road. She was relieved when she saw me. I took her hand and asked where she thought she was going. She told me there is a market where she will buy the things her parents cannot afford.
I told her there was no market in that direction. She said if she didn’t find one, she would build one and start a trade. I told her nobody will buy from her as no one comes to the road except those who have planted seeds in the womb of nature.
I told her to take me to her parents for us to negotiate a new path for her. She was not interested in my admonition. She continued her journey, like I was an obstacle on her path.
I yelled at her, “You are going towards a violent river.”
She turned and yelled back, “Leave me alone. I have to go to that river to learn how to fish.”
“You will be drowned,” I warned.
“I will not be drowned. I can swim,” she assured me.
She fends for herself because her parents cannot take care of her. She is on her own.
She has taken her destiny in her palm and has plunged into the river. As she dares the river, those in the corridors of power grow poverty. Somebody had better do something before the venom in her becomes the snake that stings the light out of the future.
From the 2021 report of Grand View Research, Inc.,the global coconut bye-product market size is expected to reach 95.64 billion dollars by 2025. If farmers, investors and government deepen coconut production and value chain, Nigeria stands
to make about 20 billion Naira yearly through exports.
In 2019, Indonesia was the largest exporter of coconuts in the world, followed by Thailand and Vietnam. The three countries held about 23 per cent share of total exports, while Cote d’Ivoire, Malaysia, the Netherlands,
Mexico, Guyana and India, all together, made up 17 per cent of the total exports.
Despite the huge potential, total local production could only meet about 20 per cent of the national demand, making Nigeria a huge importer of coconut. In December 2021, the Director-General of the
By championing the idea of Judicial Commissions of Enquiry to look into the atrocities of SARS, government plans to imprison the people. Government intend to trap the people, then unleash the chain, and lock the door, and throw away the key.
Do not fall for it.
The reform of the police is a function of the structural redefinition of the state. It cannot be resolved by a Commission of Enquiry or the National Assembly - SARS. The Assembly has been consumed by greed. It cannot do good.
The character of the police is a derivative of the values that guide the state. The actions of the police that birth the rising protest is an interpretation of the character of the state. The killer SARS is a representation of Buhari’s character.
#ENDSARS: A SENATE PRESIDENT IN DIRE NEED OF EDUCATION
From the reaction of the leadership of the Senate, the ongoing agitation for a new Nigeria loses its essence following the acceptance and implementation of the “demands” of End-SARS-Movement.
I arrived at this interpretation after reflecting on the Thursday 15 October 2020 call by the President of the Senate, Mohammed Lawal for protesters to stop the movement to redemption having gained the confidence of government to disband the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).
Speaking in the senate, he argues:
“The government has responded, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad has been disbanded. All the five demands of the protesters have been accepted... I believe that when protesters’ demands are met, their goals should have been achieved. Therefore,
Members of the political leadership class in Nigeria are not selfish for pursuing their own good but because of their hatred of the common good. They are dead to the people because they live only for themselves.
This is the reason Nigerians must watch carefully the ongoing process to reform the police. Such a leadership cannot effect reforms in the general interest. They will engage in fireworks to show they are responsive.
They will come up with committees for reform, running from pillar to post to impress their angry people. Once tension is doused the situation gets worse. VIGILANCE!
To improve the character of this leadership requires courage and the conviction that a new order is possible.
Britain handed over the command of the Nigerian army to indigenous soldiers in 1965. The outgoing General Officer Commanding (GOC), Major General Welby Everald had preferred Brigadier Babafemi Ogundipe to succeed him,
but his recommendation was rejected leading to General Aguiyi Ironsi, the most senior officer taking charge of the army.
When another opportunity came for Ogundipe after the bloody July 1966 coup, he was overlooked again because it was felt he will not be able to control
soldiers from the north who were not ready to take orders from a Head of State of southern extraction.
The executioners of the July coup are Murtala Mohammed, Theophilus Danjuma, Martin Adamu, Shittu Alao, Musa Usman and Joe Garba and others. After a successful coup they wanted