Dressing to Kill

You are conscious of how insidious the city is, how its many parts can creep up on you, good and bad and ugly. You have not allowed the city to snatch questions from your lips, or at least you know how to pick your respondents. You make sure to carry about the words, ‘I am not sure’, in your front pocket. No one says they don’t know in Abuja. When you ask, they just make up the stuff they don’t know in the most assured tone they can manage, carried on the wings of the most distant accent they can conjure.

“Do you know what a life partner is?” you ask, reading from an article she just drew your attention to on the internet.

She doesn’t give you that I-can’t-believe-you-don’t-know-this look. She just pauses for the few seconds it takes her to turn her wisdom into English which is her third language.

“Well, I think it means people who live together but are not married. Not like just boyfriend. It means someone you share your life with.”

Suddenly you realize you should just have googled the thing. Your eyes pretend to continue reading but instead you are counting how many weeks you have spent together in the same house, sharing your lives and cooking and washing in turns. You would have advised anyone else to go slow, but in this matter you seem lost, almost impervious to your own natural instincts. You find ways to seek assurances that you are not choking her out of love. And she says to you in as many ways as you ask, there is nowhere else she would rather be.

On your way to the swimming pool you warn her that you will be wearing flip-flops, the kind some people refer to as bathroom slippers. You find the reference, especially by pretentious Abuja people who declare you a sinner for wearing them anywhere outside your bedroom, irritating. Growing up in Kaduna, everyone wore flip-flops, to walk around, to the shops, to the market. And no one called them bathroom slippers. Just slippers.

She smiles and slips her pretty miniature feet- the most proportionate feet you have ever seen- into her yellow flip-flops for the fifteen minute walk to the pool. You are used to being invisible by her side when you walk- she is the attractive pale-skinned one, and you are just the big black man by her side. The eyes today all follow the same sequence: they stare at her, then look at her clothes and when they get to her feet, they suddenly look at you. The horror in their eyes is so clear you can reduce it to words:

OK, maybe she is a foreigner and doesn’t know that in Abuja you don’t wear bathroom slippers to walk in the streets of posh Abuja, but you? What is your excuse? How could you do this to her, bring her into permanent disrepute? How could you, you miserable cretin!

You smile and explain why, for a change people are looking at both your feet instead of her face. It comes to you as odd that in a country with so much poverty, people are so unforgiving of ‘badly dressed’ people- people would rather drive themselves deeper into poverty than give off any sign that they are poor. Which you think, is probably why you find scores of expensive second-hand SUVs creeping in and out of every backwater slum in Abuja.

On your way back, the growing darkness gives your feet cover. Not that you need it but you can now return to being the invisible black man. You stop to buy some items at a busy pharmacy on Adetokunbo Ademola Way. A well dressed woman in a bright orange boubou, headtie and veil stops you. She looks like any of the posh shoppers trying to find her way to her car. You smile the half, tentative smile preceding a legitimate inquiry.

The woman leans in and whispers from her shiny lips: “Please can I get like N1, 000 from you, I need to…”

You lose the smile and walk off angrily, dragging your partner with you. This woman knows the script. Dress to kill, even when you’re a professional beggar outside a supermarket.

The Abuja Cricket Club is Better than People Realise – Chris Newsom

The Cricket Club of Abuja (CCA) has been given the thumbs up for ensuring that the game of cricket remains active in the nation’s capital.

Chris Newsom, speaking on behalf of the British community after a friendly cricket match between the UK, Australasia and CCA members, said they were initially unaware that there was such a club in Abuja.

“We didn’t even know the cricket club was here and the (Abuja) cricket club is better than people realise”, he said.

The match, which was won by the Australians, was played to mark Waitangi Day, a New Zealand national holiday and witnessed some great bowling and batting, notably from Saad Butt, the captain of the Abuja Club.

“If you were watching carefully, you would see a couple of good players from the Abuja Cricket Club who are regulars here. Most players here have been playing for 20 years,” said Newsom.   
 

Speaking on the Nigeria cricket team’s chances at next month’s Cricket World Division Five Championship in Malaysia, where Nigeria will hope to qualify to the money-spinning division four, Butt believes the team has the talent to deliver.

“They are preparing well. I have been watching them and just like the last time they got promoted to division five, they play really well and they have huge confidence. But if they believe in themselves to at least stay in the same division then they definitely have a good chance of qualifying. They have the players and skills of a division five, at least.”

Chris agrees that cricket is developing in Nigeria, especially with the team’s promotion last year to division five, “which sounds like a tier way down but for a small cricket community and country, that’s doing pretty well.”

The Nigeria Cricket Federation President, who also doubles as the President of the Abuja club, Emeka Onyeama, says matches like this will definitely increase relations between Nigeria and other countries.

“We’re using cricket as a platform to improve our relationship with other countries and I can assure you that what is going on today will bring more for cricket in Nigeria,” he said.

Emeka also discussed the impact the match has on Nigerian cricket. “Using platforms like this to promote and improve cricket in Nigeria, they (other countries) can bring us equipment and come on playing tours. As a matter of fact, one of the Australian guys has already promised to bring his team over here, which is a good thing for us.”

The 2014 ICC World Cricket League Division Five will take place from 6–13 March 2014 and Nigeria will battle with host Malaysia, Cayman Islands, Guernsey, Tanzania, and Jersey for the first and second positions, which secure qualification to Division Four. Third and fourth placed teams will remain in Division Five 2016, while fifth and sixth will be relegated to Division Six 2015.

More pictures below:

Chris Newsom (right and in glasses) and the rest of the team

President of the Cricket Club of Abuja Emeka Onyeama (in red and black T shirt) thanking the players

President of the Cricket Club of Abuja Emeka Onyeama (in red and black T shirt) thanking the players

The ongoing match

 

The UK, Australasia and CCA compete

The UK, Australasia and CCA compete

A plaque commemorating the match

 

Weaving a Living

The craft programme that empowers low-income women in Abuja to make a living from re-purposing scraps of cloth, by Chinelo Onwualo

On the ground floor of an uncompleted building in Katampe Extension, just beyond Asokoro, twenty women sit patiently on stools and mats whilst their children and a handful of chickens scurry around. They are adorned in colourful hijabs and wrappers amid a dreary landscape, and are part of the Village Weavers Project, a craft programme that teaches disadvantaged women in Abuja how to create table mats and rugs from discarded scraps of cloth.

They have gathered to collect their earnings from their latest sale, and as their names are called out, each woman steps forward to receive her money. Though the amount varies – from as high as N25, 000 to as little as N1, 200 – the bundles of cash wrapped with elastic bands are received with gratitude. For many of these women, the project is more than a source of income for their families: it is also a haven of friendship and support.

The project was started in 2010 by Ella Smit, the German wife of a United Nations employee, as a way of providing underprivileged women in the city a sustainable income. Mama Biu, a 50-year-old divorced mother of seven, was one of the first women to learn to weave. Originally from Kaduna State, she used to earn her living from making and selling savoury snacks like kose and massa. Speaking through a translator, she notes that the project has transformed her life.

“I was living in the back of Miss Ella’s house and she used to see me as she was passing by,” she says. “My life has been turned around [since joining this project] and now my children have been going to school and I am even building my own house.”

Mama Biu went on to teach the skill to other women in her Kudroma village community, including her own daughter. Many of the 35 women who make up the members of the project were taught by her and often come to her for advice. The women earn on average N15, 000 per month which they use to supplement their husbands’ salaries and send their children – particularly their daughters – to school.

“This project shouldn’t stop,” says Mama Biu, emphatically. “It should keep going forward. Miss Ella has left, but I pray that it continues.”

A Challenging Craft

The scheme has since grown from an informal network of friends and family to a registered non-profit organisation. It echoes similar village weaver programmes in Thailand and Armenia where poor women in rural and urban centres are taught how to use locally available materials to create a variety of goods such as mats, rugs, carpets, bags and dolls.

“It is a sustainable social enterprise,” says Amarachi Igboegwu, the co-founder and project director. “We use business ideas to give them the skills to make money, then we help them sell the products.”

But the initiative is not without its challenges. As a small-scale start-up it is still struggling with issues of organisation and structure.

After the money is shared out, the women give their names, ages and states of origin so that they can receive official identification cards, as membership in the project is going to be more tightly controlled. To encourage higher quality creations, mats that are irregularly shaped or that cannot be sold after four months are returned to their creators. And recently, the revenue distribution system was reworked to allow the project to keep a little more money for its expenses. The women now get 70 percent of the profits from their sales rather than the initial 90 percent.

“We have no funding,” says Ms. Igboegwu. “But I see it blossoming into a sustainable social enterprise. We empower women with skills that they can monetise so that they can build healthy families, because we believe women are the bedrock of any society. Hopefully, as we get more funding we can grow it.”

Finding a market has also been a challenge for the project. The products range from N500 for a small table mat to N4,000 for a full-size rug. “For the average Nigerian, this is just out of their range,” says Ms. Igboegwu. “So we sell to expats and high-income Nigerians because they understand the value of it.”

Making the rugs and mats isn’t easy either. They are thick, colourful creations held together by the same type of thread used by leather workers. Mama Rabiu, a 45-year-old mother of ten from Katsina State, notes that weaving the mats can be time-consuming – particularly when one has to juggle childcare and housework. A table mat of 40 x 30 cm can take a whole day to make, while a living room rug of 110 x 100 cm can take three to five days.

“The thread can cut your hands, especially the sides,” she says as she displays her shredded cuticles. “Sometimes I can be working up till 3am in the morning.”

Her daughter, Shamsiya Buhari, 16, has to find time between school and her chores to make the mats, but she has few complaints. Sales of her mats and rugs have helped her pay her own school fees, transportation, uniform and books. “I want to be a nurse,” she says, dreamily.  “And I can do it with what I’m making here.”

To purchase a mat or rug:

Website: www.villageweaversproject.org

Email:   villageweaversproject@gmail.com

Phone: 08169856709 (Amara) or 07038051042 (Esther)

More pictures below:

A weaver at work

---

The women gather to collect their earnings

---

An example of a completed mat

---

Mama Biu displays her work

As Abuja Hosts Shape Africa 2014

Cape Town hosted the inaugural Shape Africa in 2013, and what a spectacle that was. This year, the party is coming to Abuja and with Nigeria never coming short when it comes to rising to the occasion when it matters most, Shape Africa 2014 will register as one of the best gatherings of young people from around the continent.

Before there was Shape Africa, there had been the World Economic Forum and its World Economic Forum for Africa that will be hosted by Nigeria for the first time. Members of the World Economic Forum, Global Shapers, organize Shape Africa around the events of the World Economic Forum for Africa.

The Abuja Hub of the Global Shapers has the singular honour of hosting this year’s Shape Africa. In the spirit of Nigerian unity, the other hubs from around the country, (that is, Global Shapers, Kano and Global Shapers, Lagos) will be part of the planning and execution of the historic sessions of Shape Africa 2014.

It is understandable to see team members of the Abuja Hub of the Global Shapers look all pumped up and ready to go. An opportunity to host their peers from around the continent is not something they’d get a chance to tick on the calendars every year. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and it is obvious the Abuja Hub has taken this particular bull by the horn.

Bold Solutions will be the theme of the sessions because the essence of the gathering would be about channeling each delegate’s mental and physical presence towards providing clear, implementable bold solutions to Africa’s many complex socio-economic and political problems.

Think of it as a Social Lab. The solutions will be focused around four pillars: Entrepreneurship, Education, Technology and Agriculture. It is obvious to see why these are essential to progress and development on the continent. If Africa gets it right around these four pillars, Africa Rising will move from the pages of glossy magazines and from the mouths of speakers of the many Afro-centric conferences to being a common reality, not just in select African cities but all around the continent’s known and unknown villages and forgotten streets and corners.

There would be room for games and other forms of entertainment. Young people cannot gather without an excuse to shake-off the mental burden of providing solutions to complex, age-long, continent-wide issues. It would be an exotic cultural mix as the best of Nigeria’s diverse cultures comes in contact with Africa’s best. Anything is possible, and we should expect many seeds and ideas to sprout, bloom and bear fruits in years to come.

Abuja is ready to host 50 young African leaders coming from Cape to Cairo, from Banjul to the Suez. Young Nigerians from across the country will be part of a mix that seeks to help bridge the gap among Africans, outline solutions for the continent’s most pressing needs and in many ways begin many paths to friendships that one would be unwise to bet against in their possibility to redefine African unity in line with the dreams of the founding fathers of the African Union.

Shape Africa 2014 is in May but you won’t blame me for being excited already, why do you think I am packing my bags to return to Abuja? So then, who wants to come to Abuja with me? This land can take us all. Come over here.

 

By Japheth Omojuwa

Oil Revenue Leakages: Another Chance for Nigeria

(Originally Published in 'El-Rufai on Friday' for People's Daily Newspaper)

The Presidential Economic Team of 2003 to 2007 which I was privileged to be a member had a running joke - that the NNPC was an independent federal republic on its own; totally separate from and way superior to the Nigeria we all worked for! This joke was our way of criticising the way and manner the NNPC not only sells crude oil as an agent on behalf of the government of the federation as in its enabling law, but even then felt entitled to spend as much of the proceeds of sale as it deemed fit. The NNPC had begun then to be a law unto itself, outside our national laws and above the constitution, hence our joke. Recent revelations of oil revenue leakages have confirmed that this is a joke that has turned into a macabre reality. Our nation's finances are in grave danger of becoming zero due to the conduct of a rogue institution that has become more powerful than its principal under President Jonathan's watch.

For a country dependent on oil revenues for most of its income, Nigeria cannot claim to have exercised the closest scrutiny on this vital resource. At least not in recent times. As bad as this gross neglect has been, it is surpassed by the failure to seize the moments that have also been presented to the country in recent times to restore some sanity and integrity to the collection and remittance of revenues. The conversation around the sudden explosion in the fuel subsidy payments from N300bn in 2009 to over N2 trillion in 2011, the protests around the removal of petrol subsidy in January 2012, and the subsequent investigations into the scandal regrettably did not coalesce into a new deal on revenue management or sanctions for the beneficiaries of the obvious fraud!

Another such opportunity to clarify compliance with the constitution, law and due process in the collection and remittance of oil revenues has been presented by the rolling revelations made by brother CBN governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. It is a moment the whole country should seize, so that public confidence can be restored in the operations of the NNPC and integrity of the revenue remittance process. But to get there and understand the issues clearly, let's summarise the constitutional position, the law and the factual contentions.

Our constitution is very clear in sections 80, 81, 82 and 162 in requiring that all revenues are to be paid into the federation account for distribution to various tiers of government in accordance with the provisions of the constitution and the revenue allocation act. No institution or person can spend a kobo on fuel subsidy or pipelines repairs from these revenues without the funds being first paid into the federation account, and then subjected to due appropriation by the National Assembly.  Any spending outside this lawful framework is a case of an agent not accounting honestly for proceeds of sale to a principal. In everyday language, that illegal conversion is called theft, pure and simple, and in violation of the constitution. No one, whether it be NNPC or the Jonathan spin-masters should be allowed to obscure this clear legal position.

Now, what are the facts surrounding the latest case of non-remittance of federation revenues?

In a letter to the president in September last year, Sanusi expressed concerns about the non-remittance of $49.804 billion, monies due to the federation account from crude oil sales. Until December when the letter became public, neither the presidency nor the NNPC responded to the issues, believing like every other instance of corruption allegation, the matter will die a natural death over time. Internally, within the Jonathan administration, no clear action was found to have been taken to cross-check the veracity of CBN's concerns about the NNPC owing the federation account some N8 trillion.

The NNPC demurred only when these concerns became public, insisting it was not owing the federation account. When all the parties - CBN, NNPC and the Federal Ministry of Finance - met to reconcile accounts, it was agreed that indeed some funds had not been accounted for and may need further reconciliation. The outstanding sum amounted to $10.8bn (according to NNPC and Ministry of Finance on one side) or $12bn, according to the CBN. Further to this, the NNPC then came up with another afterthought - that it had spent the $10.8bn on gasoline and kerosene subsidy payments, repairs of vandalised pipelines and operational costs.  It did not appear that anyone believed the NNPC, on its use of the money, its right to withhold the money in the first place and its initial denial of owing the federation account.

The CBN is obviously one of those not buying the NNPC's explanation. This week, the apex bank raised the figure of non-remitted funds to $20bn, including the $12bn outstanding from the reconciliation. The balance includes $6bn worth of crude oil NNPC shipped for the NPDC, its upstream subsidiary, and another $2bn from "third-party" financing.

What has been lost in the emotions unleashed by these series of disclosures are the substance of the issue, and the caveats inserted by the CBN governor. His letter to the president and public statements are drawing attention to the non-remittance or non-repatriation of funds to the Federation Account. There was no claim then that these monies are missing, at least not yet. That will be beyond the CBN's brief. But as the banker to the government, the CBN is within its mandate to declare what sums it has received in relation to the funds expected. The onus is thus on the NNPC to explain why these monies have not been remitted or why they cannot be remitted, and point to the laws that permit them to so act. Anything other than this is admission of theft of federation account proceeds and the 36 states and their local governments should act to recover the amounts, if the Jonathan administration does not.

It is my view that the NNPC have to quickly refund the amount or prove the numbers wrong. It cannot take comfort on the brittle ground that the sums said to have not been remitted have fluctuated. It has not convincingly explained why it held on to monies belonging to the Federation Account, and why it used the monies for its own purposes without the lawful authority of appropriation by the National Assembly. Every kobo not credited to the country or not properly accounted for by an agency of the government violates the constitution and the law.

I do not believe that we have sunk so low or that our moral prisms have so contracted as to consider $10bn - nearly a third of the annual federal budget - as too puny to worry about. A kobo of public funds not properly accounted for should bother us, because a person that can steal a penny will steal billions if opportunity presents itself. We should rather aspire to live in a country whose revenues do not leak, leaving us free to concentrate on value-for-money in government investments and expenses.

The Federation Account belongs to the federal, state and local governments, and the quantum of the balances it contains should concern every Nigerian. Many of the 36 states are rightly concerned that the explanations offered imply that the NNPC can practically shortchange them at will. The conduct of the NNPC thus distorts the revenue allocation formula, already weighted too much in favour of the Federal Government. It must be in the interest of the FGN and the NNPC not to allow the perception to fester that the NNPC has indeed become a state within a state, protected and reinforced in its law breaking by a corrupt and benefitting Jonathan government.

As a minimum, that would entail thorough scrutiny of the NNPC accounts which have not been audited since 2005, if only to avoid legal entanglements with state government who are at liberty to sue for the non-remitted funds. The National Assembly has to ask the tough questions regarding the legality of the strategic alliance agreements between the NNPC/NPDC and Atlantic Energy and other fly-by-night 'indigenous operators' with not track record other than connections to the Villa. It is a serious matter when a CBN governor goes public with the charge that "these agreements merely serve to transfer revenue due to the Federation into private hands" - yet another clear, more serious case of theft of federation revenues by a private firm, facilitated by the NNPC.

Citizens should put pressure on all elected officials that amidst these contentions, Nigeria will emerge with a transparent, rigorous and effective oil revenue collection and remittance system. While awaiting passage of the much delayed Petroleum Industry Bill, the NNPC should in the interim be compelled to remit all funds first, and submit verifiable claims for reimbursements later, after due appropriation by the National Assembly. In the meantime, we should thank the CBN and its  courageous governor for providing the facts and figures, and the opportunity to introduce real transparency in the very opaque oil revenue remittance regime of Nigeria. The ball is now in our court to ensure that this case of financial malfeasance is not swept under the Jonathanian table!

The Anatomy of a Presidential Speech

The days preceding Nigeria’s independence anniversary celebration are particularly fertile for critics of the government (most Nigerians that is). To be clear, there has never been a shortage of public indignation over the state of the nation. The siting of projects is questioned, contracts are said to be inflated, public officers are assumed thieves. Nigeria is ours to plough, to plunder, and to pull down.

Only the jolly mood accompanying the independence celebration is an occasion to remind of all that is or has been wrong with the country: Boko Haram, bullet proof cars scandal, ASUU strike, Apo killings, fuel subsidy scam, the 53 gold-plated iphones, electoral fraud, and other real and imagined ailments.

It would then be asked, what is the occasion? What are we celebrating? With foreign aid, it is argued that Nigeria is not truly independent and that the festivity is a ruse, an attempt by corrupt government officials to get on anniversary celebration committees and award themselves contracts.

The ambition of the critic is to douse the celebratory mood, all with a deep sense of commitment to country. They call for sober reflection, a period of mourning for lost opportunities to make Nigeria Utopia. Until we get there, there should be an embargo on collective jubilation. And the older the country gets, the more sacrilegious the attempt of starting a carnival.

The presidential speech writer is in a strait. He can neither deny the unflattering facts nor admit to them. He needs to generate sufficient ideas to address the catalogue of public grouses. A presidential speech is an attempt to tally the triumphs against the failings. It is the president trying to convince the nation, in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that there is course for rejoicing.

‘If we look back over the years, we can say confidently that there is every reason to celebrate.’ This quote from President Goodluck Jonathan’s 2013 Independence Day address is a prologue to justifying the occasion. And he would go on to support his assertion with soggy evidence.

As activities for the grand finale of the Nigeria centenary celebration come together this month, the speech writer would once more be in need of bright new ideas. Though the occasion has peculiar slurs hurled at it―the questioning of Nigeria’s unity for instance, which frames the centenary celebration as an illusion― the presidential speech writer, except he is fatigued, is advised to dust up old independence speeches and adapt it to current realities.

He should acknowledge the situations but deny complicity in engendering it. Corruption is not uncommon in other parts of the world. Nigeria does not even make top ten on Transparency International’s 2013 corruption perception index. Take solace in the universality of unrest. Terrorism is a worldwide challenge and a natural disaster about which nothing can be done; well, except prayers.

Use the phrase ‘Fellow Nigerians’ randomly. It is assuring. It imbues with patriotism the marginalised (most Nigerians) who have begun to doubt their nationality, and are wondering if they are not Nigerians, seeing as they are yet to get a portion of the national cake.

Take a cue from President Obama; whip up empathy with mention of the dreams and labours of our founding fathers, as he does about service men.

Count our blessings: our perseverance, our vast natural resources, our enterprise, our teeming youth population, etc.

Admit that Nigeria is a work in progress, that we are not there yet, but we are not where we used to be. Buttress this claim with examples of the administration’s achievements: the economy has improved, we have created over five million new jobs, power supply has significantly improved across the country, and so on. Give credit to Nigerians (teachers, artisans, market women, farmers, civil servants).

Insist that Nigeria’s ‘unity’ is the greatest thing that could ever happen to any group of diverse people. Because we are forty, we are at the fools age, still living, because it is our diamond jubilee, because it is the eve of our centenary, it is our centenary, it is post centenary and we are still together despite the problems bedevilling us...

Make promises. Reiterate previous promises. Reiterate the administration’s commitment to fulfilling these promises.

 

By Ladi Opaluwa

Daniel ‘Danosaur’ Jibril of Kiss FM Abuja Dies

Popular Kiss FM Abuja DJ Daniel Jibrin, popularly known as Danosaur, died on Tuesday night in hospital  

A statement released by Kiss FM Abuja confirmed the news: "We received with shock the news of the passing away of our drive time presenter, Mr Daniel Jibrin AKA Danosaur from his family last night with the utmost shock and disbelief.

“We all at 99.9 Kiss FM will surely miss Daniel in so many ways, but will most especially remember him for his disarming smile, cordiality with all staff and his very valuable and professional contribution to the station during a very critical phase of its restructuring.

Daniel had been working in radio for many years and was a presenter at Ray Power Abuja before joining Kiss FM, where he was a producer and presenter of the‘321’ evening show until his death. 

He was also a music artist and had signed a management contract with Iroko Records. The label also released a statement which said: “The news of his death is still a shocker to everyone who knew the lyrically-sound Hip-pop figure with a northern swag.   

“Danosaur went the extra mile in promoting all the songs of the other artistes on the label since he was a radio personality. He was truly more of a friend/brother than an artiste and the entire Iroko Records team will definitely miss him dearly.”

There were unconfirmed reports that he died following complications from a fire accident.