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New drug epidemic and FG’s quick-fix solution

Law & Society Magazine
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New drug epidemic and FG’s quick-fix solution

“Prohibition kills, education saves lives” ― Dominic Milton Trott, The Honest Drug Book: A Chemical & Botanical Journey Through The Legal High Years

Nigeria is fighting wars on many fronts and as the days go by, it does not appear that there is any end in sight. While Boko Haram insurgency which the government claims to have technically ended is still claiming lives and herdsmen attacks are turning erstwhile arable lands into rivers of blood of slain farmers, what is arguably the biggest rage in the country right now is the love for psychotropic substances by Nigerian youths. Unfortunately, this silent rage has been ignored for too long.

It took a few minutes documentary by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to jolt us back to acknowledging a malaise we have lived with all these years; one that has eaten deep into our already battered lives and wrecked countless homes.

While the country is carrying on as if all is well with our youths, thousands, perhaps millions of lives of young Nigerians are wasting away mainly due to addiction to these substances. What, however, makes this case of dependence on hard drugs ironical is the fact that while a number of street kids and young adults are hooked, a lot of other victims are children and wards of the well-to-do in the society. 

Otunba Lanre Ipinmisho, a former Director-General, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) spoke with us on these issue and more. He spoke with lillian Okenwa and Eke Ojim. EXCERPTS

Sir, is government’s ban on codeine the appropriate step to take in dealing with the issue of drug abuse? Some pharmaceutical companies were even shut down in the wake of the ban though they have since been re-opened.

Everybody still pretends about this problem. Even people whose children are battling drugs in their homes. Some of these children are threatening the lives of their parents, and some parents have been killed. In Abuja alone, I know of three cases, let alone Kano State. Therefore, is government fighting drug abuse now? No. I say emphatic no, because you don’t fight what you don’t know. How much of drug abuse does the government know? One or two stories that they are being told? That is not how much we are under the attack of drug abuse in Nigeria. 

So, what do I suggest? On three occasions, I have talked to the management of NDLEA and asked how they expect government support in this battle if they do not present the drug situation in Nigeria to them in a graphic way? I advised them to make sure they present the drug situation on ground to the Federal Executive Council, FEC. and see who will say it is not a priority. It took only a 30 minutes story on BBC and people are panicking; and the government is taking some funny actions. Imagine if NDLEA has taken that step; taken interviews and pictures and forwarded them to the FEC.  Go and check their annual budget, you will see that the government has no plan to fight drug abuse. How many contractors go to NDLEA? Because they know that it is not a government priority. 

Secondly, banning cough syrup with codeine, at least shows that these people even listen some times. But it has no real effect as there are too many options. Banning itself is one step, but enforcement is difficult in Nigeria, because of the level of corruption. The police will now see it as another avenue of making fraudulent money. So, the government has just opened another avenue of ‘chop’ for law enforcement personnel.

“It took only a 30 minutes story on BBC and people are panicking; and the government is taking some funny actions. Go and check their (NDLEA) annual budget. You will see that the government has no plan to fight drug abuse. How many contractors go to NDLEA? Because they know that it is not government priority.”

There is nobody who wants to buy cough syrup with codeine content that will not get it. The only thing is that codeine sellers will make it more expensive. The ban on television will not stop an addict, even if you hide it in the mother’s stomach. 

If you open my bathroom door, you would see that it’s been broken several times by some boys that were brought here for counselling. So, I’m not talking of theory, I’m talking of something that I see and do all the time. One sat here, and said to me, ‘oh, you are a Sheik. Okay, but I’m God whom the Sheik prays to. ‘The boy’s father was here crying. I insist on serious advocacy because there are alternatives to codeine and all. During an advocacy campaign a parent once said, ‘ah, you have not mentioned Maggi yet (food seasoning). She said: ‘I caught my security guard with six cubes of Maggi from my kitchen and insisted he must tell me what he was going to do with them. He said they put it inside malt drink and it makes them get high.’ 

Have I told you about old newspapers? From a stack or pile, just pick the ones underneath, light and smoke; it will get you high. What about, solution, petrol, smells emanating from soak-away pit? They actually crack open soak-away pit to inhale the odour. Zakami and Agama lizard dung?

This issue requires a more holistic approach. And what is the approach? What is it that will appeal to these children to listen to counselling on drug abuse? Now, on my own, I have been to all these universities around here; because I have seen prevalence, and what you see that confronts you is that almost every student carries a bottle and more than 70 per cent of those bottles are not water. They contain mixtures of all sort of things even if it appears clear like water.  Hence, it is not something we give ceremonial attention to and expect that we are solving problems. No. It requires a more serious attention than that. 

There is an inter-governmental agency on drug abuse which hardly meets now, because they are not funded, it should be resuscitated so that if the Ministry of Health’s representative is talking from the angle of health other representatives will speak from the peculiarity of their own sector. Actually, it’s a health issue. It’s not a criminal matter. That is why people accuse law enforcement agents that they arrest people with cough syrup and fail to lock them up. No they can’t lock him up because it’s not a criminal offence. The addict is someone who needs help. So, you need to take him to a rehab centre.

Does the NDLEA have a rehab centre? 

No. They do not have. What they have are cells where they lock up people and say addicts have stopped using drugs and that they have started reading the Quran and the Bible. That is not how rehabilitation is done. A rehab centre is more comprehensive than we think in Nigeria. It is a more comprehensive thing than just locking someone up.

“Parents’ availability for the upbringing of their children is very key to fighting drugs. As we speak now, there are children that will never touch alcohol because they see that in their home, it is an abomination…”

The first thing you do in a rehab after the administrative step of registering the person is, he goes for a test and then for the talks.  When you finish with the talks, you put him in another place where he gradually tries to live without drugs. It’s a very difficult period. After that you take him to the next step where he can look back because during the talks, he really can’t look back. All that he is concerned about is where will he get the next drugs from. So, after 90 days, depending on each case on its own merit, you now release him and you still don’t leave him like that because this is someone who has been on drugs for years. 

How do you then cut the demand in the instant situation?

Parents have serious roles to play. When we were growing up as children, there were children that smoked the native mat. It has hole inside like cigarettes. You light it with matches and hide to smoke. Why were we hiding in those days? Because we knew that we must not be seen.  Parents’ availability for the upbringing of their children is very key to fighting drugs. As we speak now, there are children that will never touch alcohol because they see that in their home, it is an abomination. They have never even bothered to ask why, but they know that it is a no-go-area. Whereas there are homes where each of these boys have cartons of cough syrup and codeine and no parent has entered the room, and he knows that no one is going to enter and therefore needs not to be careful. Even the cars these children ride have all the equipment for smoking marijuana. It is just for you to look in one day and see what your son is doing. 

How many of these children have dropped out of school for several years and they keep lying. There was a couple that went to see their child in the UK. They didn’t prepare for the shock that they got. They went with a colleague from their office to check on the boy. The school authorities said they had no student by that name. Meanwhile, he had called the preceding week telling them how well he was doing at school. Eventually, they got a Nigerian who had finished from the school about three years earlier. He said, ‘yes, this boy was with us. He didn’t finish and he has been rusticated, though I can get somebody who knows where they smoke.’ By the time the father got there, of course, he didn’t even recognise the father.  That was all they got for all the thousands of pounds sterling they have been sending to England.  Parents need to pay more attention to their children. They think that they could use money and material things to buy off the children. The moment they see the child is unhappy, they pump in more money, and his friends are already aware that he is the supplier of money. And one thing with drugs is that the more, the merrier. You can’t stay in your room and be making the wild dances alone. It won’t make sense unless they are people who are looking at you.  We used to have about 168 porous borders when I was at NDLEA. I don’t know but it must be more now. On these 168 porous routes, nobody would ask you, ‘where are you going or coming from?’ 

What is the way forward out of this problem?

We still require the Federal Government and private individuals to invest in rehabilitation centres. 

What is the role of religious and traditional institutions in the battle against drugs? 

In the north which I am more familiar with, the north has a terrible culture of silence. That has affected the religious organisations that are northern based. When they have a problem, people in the north that constitute membership of those organisations, don’t discuss it. There is a culture of silence. In the north, they would rather gossip about a problem. And this they need to stop! You bring up children collectively so that everybody in the neighbourhood can have their peace. So, I believe the religious organisations are beginning to wake up to their own responsibilities with regard to drugs. I have been going from one mosque to the other as well as from one traditional ruler to the other, trying to awaken them to the dangers of this problem. Luckily, the people I have spoken to have also been going through hard times with their children and wards on the issue.  You would see an Emir that is afraid of entering his own house because of the havoc drug is doing in the house. So, I believe a more holistic approach is for non-governmental agencies to wake up and for relevant government agencies to wake up to their responsibility. But how would they wake up to their responsibilities when government is not treating it as a matter of priority?    Admission into universities now should include test for drugs.  University authorities should insist that students, who test positive to drugs, should go and clean up, and then come back. 

Why did you say earlier that drug addicts are not criminals? 

No. They are not criminals; because the law says that there must be action backed by intention. How would you convince a law court that somebody who is drug addict has an intention to commit crime? He cannot form an intention. Secondly, the United Nations had long come to the conclusion that it is a medical issue. Thought it may be behavioural, but it’s a medical challenge. L&S

“The mentality and behaviour of drug addicts and alcoholics is wholly irrational until you understand that they are completely powerless over their addiction and unless they have structured help, they have no hope.”
-Russell Brand: Actor, Comedian, Author

What the Law Doesn’t Know About Suicide

Ibe Ikwechegh
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What the Law Doesn’t Know About Suicide

Most of us insist that it is wrong to take one’s own life. We conceive both a religious and a moral ‘duty’ to maintain life. Christianity abhors suicide as contradicting its doctrine of sanctity of human life and Koran expressly inhibits it. In this sanctity, there is no difference between murder and suicide. This Christian sentiment, more than anything else, must have influenced English moral development and consequently the English Common law development.

Blackstone thinks that both God and the King were violated by suicide, for who commits suicide ‘invades the prerogative of the almighty and rushing into his presence uncalled for and for the king who has an interest in the preservation of his subject’.

Our moral value in Nigeria is no different, even while oblivious of English moral impulses and common law. In many traditions of Nigeria, suicide victims were buried in dense forests to show our disdain for their ‘ill choices’.

We must at least accede to this very thing that laws are habitually reflective of the morals, values and opinion of society. If there are instances in which law and morality parley, it is in the instances of the laws against suicide and its attempt. And so against this backdrop, the words of the Nigerian law saying that any person who attempts to kill himself is guilty of a misdemeanour punishable by one year imprisonment, must also be understood.

But have we really preserved our lives because of this legal duty to do so together with the sanction that ‘butters’ it? Does the law re
Ibe Ikwechegh the lAW & yoU What the Law Doesn’t Know About Suicide ally think that our efforts to nurture life and keep it emanates out of any sense of duty to the law or fear of punishment? Does the punishment serve any useful purposes?

Duty carries with it the connotation of unwillingness, burden and drudgery. The task of living is not such. We love our lives. We cherish them and do all within our powers to preserve them. It seems more likely to just say that we strive to live because we love our lives and are predisposed to keep it, with self preservation being our mentor.

We preserve our lives as law requires but not necessarily in fidelity to law as it is to inclination and desire. This inclination subsists as long as we enjoy life, as long as the relish for it remains or at least as long as good hope abides. 

But it could happen that adversities and pain will take away every sweetness to life. Can the law really sustain any effort to preserve life in such moment of eerie darkness in which no light of hope is ever cast?

It is perhaps then that no philosophy would offer any more profound meaning or exert any more direct influence than that which assures man that ending pain is nothing but both a rational choice and an expression of autonomy. It is this pragmatic philosophy that the law is up against.

To criminalise suicide then seems analogous to criminalizing despair, disillusionment, depression and disease all which are completely outside the realms of duty. It is possible that the Church of England saw this as far back as in 1958 when it examined issues concerning criminal prosecution against persons who attempted suicide and published a book titled ‘Ought Suicide to be a Crime’ which documenting their report urging that attempted suicide should cease to be a crime.

Like some oxymoron, the law has not asked us to take better shelter from the things that put us at risk of suicide nor is it watching out for any of our lapses in that respect. In legislating on suicide, the law draws a blurry line between an omission and a commission. We can omit to take all necessary steps to preserve life, to cloth the body or to medicate for illnesses but we may not actively take a positive step to end our lives.

Beyond indistinct lines of passivity and activity, we suspect that the law sees suicide as behaviour. Those who commit suicide are not in the common run of criminals. The aim is not to harm anyone else but to end their own pains. Except in cases of mental diseases, accident, and drug use, a great number of those who commit suicide pass through the process of darkness, despair and resolve. There is something about cause and effect which is resonant with suicide. The law which focuses on effect and response

“One of the easiest things in life is to judge others. One of the simplest things we can ever do is to tell how wrong people are. One of the most thoughtless things we can ever do is to show people their faults unconstructively. It is always so easy and common to do such things but, before you do that, find the uncommon reasons for the faulty life.Yes! before you do that, identify how to correct a faulty life and before you do that, think of what drives and invokes the joy, slothfulness or the melancholy in people. Until you go through what people have been through, until you experience what has become a part of people, until you understand what drives the real interest of people and until you become fully aware of the real vision, aspirations, desires and the needs of others, ponder before you criticize!”
–Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

and blind sighted to causes will remain ineffectual in addressing the problems.

At the centre of most suicide is depression. Yet depression only in the eyes of the law may not meet the threshold of insanity, enough to provide exculpation. But depression is as bad as insanity, depriving us of the volition to sound judgment. As lately as in 2014 , the World Health Organization for the first time saw suicide as a disease and by that brought it within its scope of affairs. Invariably, the law chooses to discriminate and punish for the disease of depression and spare malaria and glaucoma.

Suicidal instinct longs for love, for emotion, for genuine human sympathy, for touch, for a heart to heart talk and understanding which cannot be provided for by criminalizing it. Charles Edward Garman, who was professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy at Amherst, taught that ‘it is the contact of mind with mind that is the only condition of a human life’. We must add that it is a vital therapy for suicidal instincts. A common thread among people who committed or attempted suicide is that either they could not share their grief or their grief was never understood. A mechanism for this mind to mind scheme for solving suicidal problem is not something beyond the realm of the law. Units can be developed at work places, schools and other of such didactic institutions to deal with the emotional demands of citizens. Rather than criminalize suicide, the law probably needs to criminalize lack of care for suicidal people and bad press on something so profound.

Our punitive law for attempted suicide does not square up well with our criminal justice theory of punishment. It does not protect society since no one else is supposedly at risk except the attempter who is both the criminal and the victim. There is no evidence that it deters future attempt. After Ogunwande was arrested for his attempt to kill himself at the Lekki toll bridge, he attempted a second time while in police custody. Rehabilitation is a ‘fleeting illusion’, for any effective rehabilitation must address the specific rehabilitation need. Lastly, to say that it is retributive is to insult the question. Retribution ‘demands an eye for an eye’, and perhaps with this thought, one Titilayo Momoh said to the Ebute-Meta Magistrate’s court, ‘I never tried to kill anybody, it is myself that I wanted to kill’.

Rehabilitation, deterrence, incapacitation, retribution and all other of our theories of punishment run aground in suicide. Criminalizing suicide attempt may at best intensify the effort so as not to fall short of its goal.

The weak still deserve the sympathy and the help of legal institutions and the law. Indeed the law must apprehend the moral, social, psychological, and philosophical underpinnings of the problems of suicide and create institutions of help and succour and not only ones for vilification and punishment. L&S

Moroccan Dining

kirsten Okenwa
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Moroccan Dining

Lunch, called rada, is the main meal in Morocco so it’s also the largest and often includes several courses, according to Raphael Chijioke Njoku, author of “Culture and Customs of Morocco.” Most families eat the  midday meal at home together before going back to work. The meal starts with green vegetables or salads called tapas, which are followed by tajine, a stew or soup. Hard-boiled eggs, bread, lamb or chicken and couscous are common parts of a Moroccan lunch as well. Breakfast, called futo, usually includes bread, jam, butter and olives, and dinner, called asha, is usually leftovers from lunch.

Sharing Food

In the Moroccan culture, many people believe in “Al Baraka,” which refers to a type of spiritual energy that occurs when families join together to eat, according to a 2013 article published in “Morocco World News.” This means that some Moroccans eat collectively, even going so far as to share food from common bowls. While some people in Morocco dish food onto individual plates from a bowl placed on the table, it’s part of the eating culture for everyone to take bites from the same dish without placing it on a plate.

Typical Moroccan Meals

If you love spicy, aromatic foods, then Moroccan meals are for you. Rich in healthy spices including cinnamon, ginger, cumin, and caraway, local ingredients, such as olives, figs, and dates, are often used to prepare lamb and poultry stews. The Chef Amanda Mouttaki notes, “ Moroccan food is known for the complex blending of spices, slow-cooked home-cooked meals, and generous portions. But that doesn’t mean you have to have loads of extra time to make a delicious Moroccan meal.”

Here is Amanda’s Moroccan salad recipe:

MOROCCAN CARROT, CHICKPEA, DRIED FRUIT AND ALMOND SALAD Barely adapted from 101Cookbooks Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

For the dressing: 1 teaspoon cumin seeds 1 teaspoon coriander seeds 1/3 cup olive oil 2-3 Tbs fresh lemon juice ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste

For the salad:

2 large carrots

2 cups cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed if they´re from a can

6 dried apricot halves(or mangoes), sliced

4 black dried figs(or dates), sliced ¼ to 1/3 cup sliced, toasted almonds Fresh mint and dill, coarsely torn or left whole

Directions:

For the dressing:

In a skillet, heat seeds over low heat for 1 or 2 minutes, until fragrant. Transfer to a mortar or grinder and coarsely grind.

In a jar mix the rest of the dressing ingredients and add the ground seeds.
Reserve in the fridge while making the salad.

For the salad:

Peel carrots, and with the vegetable peeler, make long ribbons, letting them fall onto the serving plate. Add chickpeas, a few tablespoons of the dressing and mix lightly with your hands, mounding a bit. Scatter the dried fruits and herbs on top, drizzle more dressing, add toasted almonds and serve. L&S


Courtesy: dewfieldtravels.blogspotcom /2017/11/moroccan-dining.html

Smart Ways To Improve Your Memory

Ladidi Sabo
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Smart Ways To Improve Your Memory

You’ve heard it all before: Loved ones constantly reminding, stressing and even insisting that you should be living and eating healthier. You might have chosen to selectively tune out those messages and instead go for the foods you most craved at the moment, or continue in the lifestyle you are used to. After all, you are advanced in years and, if these habits brought you thus far, what new tricks can the young teach this old person? Truth is, senior citizens can feel great everyday and stay healthy well into the future by fostering a nutritious lifestyle. You can also be mentally alert and banish the worry about declining memory. But what makes some individuals experience memory loss over time while others remain sharp? Genes contribute to how intact our memories stay, but so too do lifestyle choices.

Eating a healthful diet, getting regular exercise, keeping an eye on our cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels, and not smoking have all been shown to protect memory. In the same way that muscles become stronger with use, memory and cognitive skills do too.

There are many steps that you can take to harness the power of your brain’s ability to change and improve your memory. Here are Law & Society Magazine staff tricks to help you fire up your brain’s recall and retention.

  • EAT A BRAIN-BOOSTING DIET

The body needs fuel to function properly, and this holds true for the brain, as well. Eating the right foods and avoiding the wrong ones can be an effective strategy for powering your brain and keeping it fit and healthy for life.

Memory-improving foods

Although a diet that emphasizes eating “real” rather than processed foods, avoiding trans-fats and sugar, and eating healthful fats will help to fuel your brain and memory, certain foods outweigh others for their benefits.

Here are some foods that recent research has hailed as memory boosters.

Walnut consumption is associated with improved performance on cognitive function tests for memory, concentration, and speed of information processing.

Lutein found in kale and spinach, as well as avocados and eggs, may counter cognitive aging and improve learning and memory.

Avocado improves cognitive function in tests evaluating memory, processing speed, and attention levels.

Cocoa and chocolate enhance working memory performance and visual information processing, and they counteract sleep deprivation-related cognitive impairment. Dietary cocoa flavanols have also been found to reverse age-related memory decline.

Caffeine — equivalent to five cups of coffee per day — reverses memory impairment in mice bred to develop symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.

Peppermint tea significantly improves long-term and working memory, as well as alertness. Fresh mint leaves can be found in several markets. It can be brewed by pouring boiled water over few leaves in a tea cup.

  • GET PHYSICALLY ACTIVE

If you want your memory to stay sharp, it is important to keep active. Exercise increases oxygen levels in your brain, reduces your risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes — which leads to memory loss — decreases levels of stress hormones, and increases the effect of helpful brain chemicals. Working out also facilitates neuro-plasticity of certain structures in the brain, which enhances cognitive function.

Aerobic activities such as running, swimming, walking, hiking, aerobics classes or dancing may help to boost brain power in people over the age of 50. In an analysis investigating brain health of the over 50s, researchers found that aerobic activity and resistance training such as free weights, weight machines, resistance bands; combined to boost brain power. Aerobic activity improved cognitive abilities, while resistance training enhanced memory, working memory, and executive function.

  • TAKE A NAP

Do you think that enhancing your memory will be challenging? Think again for you can nap your way to a superior memory. An hour-long nap in the afternoon could be enough to improve your cognitive abilities.

Adults need 7–9 hours of sleep per night to maintain physical and mental health. Sleep helps us to solidify and consolidate short-term memory to long-term memory. After sleep, people tend to improve information retention and perform better in memory tests. Skipping the recommended amount of sleep, however, interferes with the brain’s ability to form new memories. Sleep may be a trouble-free way to improve long-term retention of information. Participants of a study who slept between learning sessions could recall 10 to 16 words on a memory test, while those who had not slept only recalled 7.5 words, on average.

Other research found that in adults aged 65 and older, taking an hour-long nap in the afternoon improved performance on cognitive tests compared with individuals who did not nap.

Those who took shorter or longer naps, or who did not nap at all, exhibited declines in their mental abilities equal to what would be expected of a 5-year age increase.

  • KICK BACK AND RELAX

Chronic stress has an adverse effect on the brain. Over time, stress destroys brain cells, damages the hippocampus, and is linked with memory loss. Managing stress can therefore be one of the best ways to protect your memory.

Meditation and listening to music may be effective strategies for relieving stress and reversing early memory loss in older adults with cognitive decline.

Understanding Nothing

Barbara Zerfoss
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Understanding Nothing

There are fundamental keys to unlocking the door to success. They are so simple that most people never discover the combination. Why is that? As we grow, we often leave creativity and simplicity behind and start to look for answers in complexity. However, those who are most successful have discovered a foundational principle of success: there is no genius in complexity. In fact, Abe Lincoln said this, “I’m sorry I wrote such a long letter. I did not have the time to write a short one.” History has proven that…the greatest discoveries often come from the simplest of forms. In fact, most breakthroughs come straight out of “nothing,” coming to light while the inventor was simply being present in the world.

In fact, most people naturally have a fear of “nothing” and feel most comfortable and safe holding on to what they already have or what they already know. No matter what the past holds for them—good or bad—it is where they are most at home. Their box is their security, and the walls around them give them plenty of opportunity to admire barriers.

This is why most people find it easier to stay put or simply change or add on to what exists, rather than creating what could be. It’s why people or businesses stay stuck or simply achieve incremental improvements, rather than breakthroughs. It’s what keeps people from discovering their unique purpose, from seeing a vision of the future and creating a life they were truly meant and desire to live. The past is a powerful force filled with stories. It is constantly working to draw us back into the comfort zone.

New experiences or going out on a limb can make us feel uneasy, often causing a type of paralysis within us. Yet, if we can form a new relationship with “nothing”—if we embrace a blank page as a wonderful opportunity to design what we want our future to be—we will have access to unlimited potential.

Excerpt from the book The Power of Nothing

Dilemma of a Robber

kirsten Okenwa
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Dilemma of a Robber

What do I give you, O robber?  
To make you sleep with ease at night;  
And dream of peace with prosperity,  
And dream of the dignity of labour,  
Of your mind inventing good,  
And your hands in useful employment.  

What do I give you, O robber?  
To make you drop the guns that scare and hurt,  
And take from men their life’s delight.  
You take their pride and complete joy,  
Stripping them their finery and wealth,  
And laugh as they shiver in fright.  
You laugh aloud as old men tremble,  
And young girls hang their heads in shame.  

What do I give you, O robber?  
I teach, and you don’t listen,  
I sing, and you don’t hear,  
I plead, and you walk on.  

Your heart is cold to mother’s cry;
Her gentle instructions you ignore.  
You forget that one day soon,  
The Judgment-Angel will return  
To catch you quick, and pay you full  
For all your harm and cruelty.  

From the Mss; Poems about Nigeria.

Credit: kirstenokenwa.blogspot.com

Why Do people hate?

Law & Society Magazine
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Why Do people hate?

People often wonder, why people hate? Is it because it is easier to hate, than to love? Or is it because they’re afraid of not getting loved back? Does it just make them feel better about themselves? I’m not writing this to give you an answer on why people do hate, I’m writing this to give insight on what I believe the answer could be. To hate something doesn’t take much. If you believe it is easier to hate than to love, then it won’t be too difficult for you.

Loving something or someone takes courage, hating someone doesn’t. Honestly, I believe it’s just being lazy if you’re hating just because it’s the easier way out, but is it all worth it in the end? Would you rather have people hate you back, than love you back?
No one likes rejection, it’s human nature; but that is also no reason to hate. Being afraid of not being loved back has a lot to do with taking chances. Yes, it can be risky and maybe quite embarrassing, but life is about taking chances and if you don’t, you might miss out on something that could’ve have made you a better person. 
Having low self esteem can prevent people from loving and being loved. For people who deep down don’t like themselves, it’s easy for them to hate. They have it set in their minds that hating something or someone will make them feel better about themselves. For some, it’s just being arrogant, but for others it’s just their life style. Calling someone ugly will not make you prettier. Calling someone fat will not make you any skinnier. Picking on someone smaller than you will not make you any bigger as a person. Hating someone, will not make you be loved.
Hate, “to dislike somebody or something intensely, often in a way that evokes feelings of anger, hostility, or animosity.” Now that you know the meaning, and three reasonable explanations on why people would hate; the question is – why do you?

There is still hope for Nigeria!

Law & Society Magazine
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There is still hope for Nigeria!

I got this story from a Whatsapp group and couldn’t resist sharing it here. Its lessons are invaluable considering the bitterness, hate and animosity that has today plagued many Nigerian hearts.

Yesterday in Gwarinpa (Abuja), I dropped my car at a carwash and decided to use the opportunity to do some little shopping. I flagged down a Keke NAPEP and directed the driver to Bakan Gizo store on 1st Avenue. Done with my shopping, I flagged another Keke NAPEP and asked him to take me to 3rd Avenue. He said he was not taking that route, but after some seconds he said I should get in and he would drop me somewhere close. I did and he zoomed off. 

On getting to the T-junction by Drumstix he stopped and said I should cross the road and take another keke to where I am going. I then dipped my hand in my pocket and brought out money, but he said no. “I just wanted to help you,” he said in Hausa. I was shocked and I said, “no, take your money.” He said no again and then added: “It is not because I don’t need the money but I have decided that from time to time, I will help some of my passengers by not collecting money from them, that’s why I said even though I wasn’t going toward where you are, I will shorten the distance for you.”

I was speechless. He drove off and left me beside the road still holding the sorry-looking N100 meant for him. This guy would probably go and sleep in one uncomfortable room (if you know how and where most Keke NAPEP drivers sleep in Abuja) but yet he insisted on helping. He probably doesn’t eat the quality of food I eat, or has what I have, but he is richer in good deeds.  

And the icing is that he doesn’t select who gets his good need. He is a Muslim and I am a Christian but what matters to him wasn’t my religion or ethnicity, but just to help a fellow human being. He is not the richest man around but he is still helping out of the limited resources with him. In his lack, he is still showing kindness. He is not using his lack as an excuse not to help, no. He is not waiting until he gets millions before he helps. At the end of the day he would sleep with a peaceful heart full of satisfaction for such selfless acts. God bless him!

I have been so challenged and my views toward kindness to others have further been redefined and strengthened by this simple Keke NAPEP driver. 

There are still good Nigerians out there. A lot of unsung heroes and patriots with good hearts for Nigeria and humanity. 

The triumph of an orphan

Lillian Okenwa
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The triumph of an orphan

He hoped to be a judge someday, may be at 45 and possibly retire at 65. In the meantime, he was enjoying his time in the courts arguing cases. He was satisfied with his work at the Ministry of Justice. Then it happened. At the age of 36, he was invited to become a Judge. And that was nine years earlier than his projection, but he would have none of it. He stoutly resisted the invitation because he just wasn’t ready. Then his seniors prevailed on him. A very convincing proposal did it. “There is a backlog of cases in the North-East, so we want you to help. When the backlog is cleared, you may go back to the Ministry,” said the proposal. That sounded fair enough. But, he never returned again.

He started off as an acting Judge; not full time Judge. After the first six months, instead of returning him back to the ministry, his name was taken to Lagos for a substantive appointment. And so began a journey that saw him in judicial office for a little over 33 instead of the 15 years he originally hoped for.

On June 12 2006, Hon. Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais, retired after serving for 26 years as a Justice of the Supreme Court, and 11 years as Chief Justice of Nigeria. Battling emotions on that day, he narrated the story of how a poor orphan boy rose to become the longest serving Justice of the Supreme Court and second longest serving Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN).

Counting his blessings, Uwais recalled that after losing his father at the age of six, it was his mother’s second marriage to a headmaster that precipitated his going to school.

In an emotion laden speech, he catalogued several hurdles he encountered before getting a scholarship to study law and eventually rose through the ranks in the Civil Service of the then Northern Nigeria.

The former CJN, equally reminisced that amongst those who enrolled to study law in 1960 with him was Hon. Justice Mustapha Akanbi, former chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission (ICPC). 

Though modest in listing his successes in office, Uwais disclosed that he introduced the special sitting of the court in September to mark the beginning of the legal year and have new Senior Advocates sworn in.

In 1998, he was able to convince General Abdulsalami Abubakar, as military Head of State, to appoint more Justices of the Supreme Court, and for the first time ever since the 1979 Constitution came into operation, the Court got its full complement of 16 Justices. He also introduced three terms for the Court in the legal year, during which arrangements of panels changed.

Born on June 12, 1936 in Zaria, Kaduna State, Justice Uwais will be remembered for making many remarkable imprints on the court and indeed, Nigeria’s judicial system.

 The one-time CJN who had the privilege of being the first alumnus of the Nigerian Law School to occupy the exalted position of the Chief Justice of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, got to the apex court at age 45; the age at which he had hoped to become a High Court judge.

His court amongst many notable judgments will be remembered for expanding the political landscape by allowing the registration of new political parties by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in November 2002.

Elevated to the Supreme Court on August 15, 1979, under General Olusegun Obasanjo, then military Head of State, his first case was the popular 12 two-third case between the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, of the then Unity Party of Nigeria, (UPN), and Alhaji Shehu Shagari, of the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN). 

Still very fresh at the court, Uwais who was at that time nicknamed “baby of the court” for his youthful appearance, was invited by the then Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Atanda Fatai-Williams, to join the panel that decided the appeal which today is a cause célèbre.

This was because Justice George S. Sowemimo, who later became a CJN himself, declined to be part of the panel. His excuse was that he convicted Awolowo in the 1960’s in the then Western Region.

Justice Uwais attended Tudun Wada Elementary School, Zaria, in 1946 before proceeding to Zaria Middle School in 1950. He was at the famous Barewa College, Zaria -1952-1957, and later proceeded to the Institute of Administration, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, 1960 – 1961.

From the Institute of Administration, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, he left the shores of Nigeria to London where he enrolled in the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

While at the School of Oriental and African Studies, he undertook the programme at the Inns of Court School of Law, Council of Legal Education, between 1961-1963, and between 1961-1962, Uwais was a student of Gibson and Weldon College of Law, London.

In 1963, he enrolled at the Council of Legal Education, London for Bar Finals and was called to the English Bar at the Middle Temple in July 1963.Two months after he returned to Nigeria, he enrolled at the Nigerian Law School for a vocational training that lasted three  months (September – December 1963).

“His court amongst many notable judgments will be remembered for expanding the political landscape by allowing the registration of new political parties by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on November 2002.”

He came to be Pupil State Counsel, Ministry of Justice for the Northern Region in 1964 and Senior State Council within the same department by 1969. He joined the bench as Acting High Court Judge for the North Central, Benue-Plateau and North-Eastern States of Nigeria in 1973, and received the permanent position the following year.

In 1976, he became Acting Chief Justice of Kaduna State, and in 1977, went to the Federal Court of Appeal. He was elevated to the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 1979.

In 1991 he was appointed Acting CJN, and then became substantive CJN in 1995.

About a month after he assumed office as CJN, Uwais pledged to do his best.

 He told a gathering of his friends at a dinner in Kaduna on January 15, 1996, that: “I am aware of the ills that afflict the judiciary. I am duty bound to do my very best during my tenure of office; to meet the expectations of all the citizens.”

He served as Chairman – Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the Awards of Contracts by the Military Government of North-Central State, Jimeta Disturbances Tribunal amongst many others.

He has also been an Honorary President of the World Jurist Association since 1997. His recognitions through national honours include – the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON), and the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON.)

He has two wives, Hajiya Saratu Ahmed, whom he married in 1960, and Hajiya Maryam Isa Wali, married in 1988.

Former Chief Justice Uwais served under five Chief Justices viz: Sir Darnley Alexander, Atanda Fatai-Williams, George Sodeinde Sowemimo, Ayo Gabriel Irikefe and Mohammed Bello.

 In 2010, the retired CJN was voted first runner-up, News- watch Man of the Year for his leadership of the Electoral Reform Committee, whose report ruled discussions nationally all through 2009. He dominated political discussions across Nigeria throughout 2009.

“My interest right from school was to study law. I was looking for scholarship to do that because to study law then, you would have to go to England. In fact, my father died while I was 6-year-old. So, I was brought up by my mother and she couldn’t afford sending me to England. So, I had to look for government scholarship.”

Having retired as CJN on June 12, 2006 he returned to national prominence again scarcely a year and two months later. On August 28, 2007, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, inaugurated a 22-member Electoral Reform Committee (ERC) which he chaired, to “examine the entire electoral process with a view to ensuring that we raise the quality and standard of our general elections, and thereby deepen our democracy.

In the report he turned in on December 11, 2008, the ERC made profound recommendations that kept electoral reform on the front burner throughout 2009.

He also distinguished himself under Obasanjo’s second coming between 1999 and 2007. For example, in 2001, the Supreme Court gave a landmark ruling on resource control by oil producing states, especially the seaward boundary of littoral states which helped to identify which resources are on and off-shore. This finally settled the dispute between states and the federal government over the ownership of oil resources.

Also important was the nullification of the Electoral Act 2001. The National Assembly passed the bill into law but smuggled some provisions into it, the most controversial being the tenure elongation of local government chairmen from three to four years.

Consequently, the 36 state governors challenged the Act in court. The Supreme Court declared the tenure extension unconstitutional. Not only that, all the objectionable aspects of the Act was expunged, thereby paving the way for a new law, the Electoral Act 2002.

Uwais checkmated former President Obasanjo’s unilateral amendment of the revenue sharing formula in favour of the federal government, and removed the first line charges it used to enjoy.

In deciding a case instituted by the states against Federal Government, the Supreme Court said the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), should be allowed to determine the revenue formula.

The non-observance of the constitutional provision on Joint State Local Government Account by the Federal Government was also resolved by Uwais’ court. Under the 1999 Constitution, revenue accruing to local government councils should be paid into the Joint Account from where it would be disbursed to the Local Governments.

Some states respected this constitutional provision while others flouted it. On its part, the Federal Government released funds directly to the Local Governments.

Following separate suits instituted by Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ondo, Osun and Ekiti States, the apex court ruled that the parties should uphold the constitutional provision.

Since he retired in 2006, over eleven books have been written in his honour. This makes him the most celebrated former CJN.

But did you know his Lordship was also a journalist?

He said: “I was a journalist too. I joined the Ministry of Information of Northern Nigeria in 1959 as Publicity Assistant. Our job was to issue press releases of government activities and to cover tours of the then Minister. If the minister was to go out on tours, you are responsible for giving publicity to all that happened during the tour.

“While I was with the Ministry of Information, I applied for a scholarship and that was how I succeeded in getting the Scholarship to study Law at the institute of Administration in Zaria.

“I left after I became a lawyer. I had to be transferred from the Ministry of Information to the Ministry of Justice as pupil state counsel. While working as a journalist, each one of us had a camera to take pictures that would match the story.

“I left secondary school in 1957. In 1958, I worked with the Nigerian Tobacco Company (NTC) in Zaria. Then I left there to join the Ministry of Information as Publicity Assistant.”

The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.

– Vince Lombardi

Can African artists blaze the trail?

kirsten Okenwa
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Can African artists blaze the trail?

By Kirsten Okenwa

The world watched as the Obamas unveiled their portraits during a ceremony at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, on February 12, 2018 in Washington, DC. It was a show of the artistic prowess of two African-American artists who were commissioned to create the art. Mr. Obama’s portrait was painted by Kehinde Wiley, an established African-American artist whose father is Yoruba from Nigeria, and his mother an African-American. Michelle Obama’s portrait was by Amy Sherald who became the art world’s latest sensation.

There are many more African artists creating cultural gems within and outside Africa. In June 2018, Yinka Shonibare, a British- Nigerian artist at his prestigious show in London, asked, “Can political art be beautiful? Can beauty itself be a form of resistance? Mr. Shonibare’s new exhibition was curated at the Stephen Friedman Gallery in London.

The exhibition, Talisman in the Age of Difference, features works by artists mostly of African origin, ranging from rising talent to established players. Those with work in the show include the 2017 Turner Prize winner, Lubaina Himid; Kehinde Wiley, who recently painted Barack Obama for the National Portrait Gallery in Washington; the Egyptian artist Ghada Amer; and Marlene Dumas from South Africa.

 Shonibare is known for sculptures and installations that engage with the history of colonialism and globalisation. He is a member of the Royal Academy of Arts, and, in his work, he has restaged classic 18th century paintings with headless mannequins wearing brightly coloured, African prints. In 2012, he installed a giant ship in a bottle on the empty fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square in London that also featured richly patterned, African-style textiles for the vessel’s sails. Shonibare said that the exhibition was a reaction to “the resurgence of extreme right-wing politics and xenophobia across the globe” and in the spirit of African resistance.

“Neither being out of time nor belated, contemporary African art strategically inhabits a third epistemological space by being in time,” wrote Okwui Enwezor and Chika Okeke-Agulu in their 2009 book Contemporary African Art Since 1980. In mind of that, they suggest considering contemporary African art as “a tapestry of overlapping, contingent, and incommensurable spaces of production whose features change and blend into new aesthetic systems and artistic cultures as they interact with and absorb diverse influences, both in situations of engaged exchange and in critical resistance.”Some people reason that African art is not art in the Occidental sense. It is not valued for its beauty but for its spiritual effect. The idea of individual originality is foreign to it because it is made according to static forms and traditions passed down through the generations by anonymous artists. Despite multiple interpretations, African art and African artists are blazing the trail. Around the world in museums of art, African art is framed as a contemporary art form in its own right, not just an aesthetic enabler for a century of Modern artists.

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