"WHAT are you eating?" "What does it look like?""Corn"."So, do you have any problem with that?" "How can anybody be eating corn in the first week of a new month? You'd give people the impression that you are broke". "I don't know whether you have seen the newspapers carrying the photograph of the American President eating a corn, and playing mouth organ with it. If President Bush can eat corn, so who am I?"Ha? Are you comparing yourself with George Bush? Do you think you are eaten the same kind of maize? Don't deceive yourself, my friend". "You have serious problems. This is the season of maize. Corn is corn whether it is eating by President Bush, or an ordinary man". "The difference you are refusing to note is that the corn in President Bush's mouth is fresh. In America, you can eat fresh maize all the year round. In Nigeria, you eat maize only when it is the season for maize, simply because our farmers have no storage or preservation facilities. I have tried to taste this season's maize too, but I cannot get anything fresh. What I am offered is so hard and tasteless. So, please, don't even compare your maize with the one in the mouth of President Bush!" "Rome was not built a day. The thing to do is to provide support for our farmers and help strengthen their capacity. But if your don't mind, can we discuss something more serious? Worrying about the difference between the corn in my hand, and the one in President Bush's mouth is not a major issue for me. I don't care whether George Bush eats corn or not." "But you in fact made the underlying serious point " the need for government to support local farmers. Every government pays lip service to agriculture. And yet nothing is ever done. Agriculture ought to be a priority for government " to create jobs, feed the nation and create wealth". "Well, I have bad news for you." "Go ahead. I am not surprised. Every encounter with you must involve a piece of bad news or even worse." "Instead of dealing for example, with the plight of farmers in the country, or other problems, President Obasanjo has unilaterally given a loan of $45million to Ghana and Sao Tome". "Oh my God. I read the reports too. The thing is not just scandalous, it is offensive and provocative. The President says he had to give out the loan in line with Nigeria's commitment to the spirit of good neighbourliness and assistance to our African brothers". "I beg. Spare me. But are you surprised? The man is the President of Africa. This is the kind of price that we pay for having a President who is also the President of Africa". "He did not even bother to consult the National Assembly". "No. It is not for him to consult the National Assembly. It is for him to seek the approval of the National Assembly, which means that it is only the National Assembly that has the powers to determine whether or not Nigeria should grant loans to other African countries". "This is a case of gross misconduct". "But the National Assembly is treating it with kind gloves. They merely complained, and then, endorsed the President's decision. What they need to do is to cancel the grant, and reprimand the President seriously for behaving like a tyrant.". "Reprimand?" "I don't want to say what you have in mind. I won't go that far". "What does it matter? The simple truth is that what we have is a rubber-stamp National Assembly: Have you not heard that they are asking that they should be financially independent? They want to receive their allocation as first line charges". "I am not surprised. Why? But if we give out loans at this time to Ghana and Sao Tome, what do we want our creditors to think? We will send out the wrong signal and confirm the existing impression that we are not a serious country. Look. President Obasanjo has been going round the world begging for debt rescheduling. He even offered to resign his position if that will force the creditors to reconsider our debts. Now, what is the logic in a debtor-nation, carrying on like a Father Christmas". "Precisely the problem. Our foreign policy process is skewed. Foreign policy is about national interest, as defined by domestic interest. Every nation looks out for itself in relating with other nations, even when pretending to be benevolent. Nigeria's foreign policy stands this logic on its head. We prefer to please others and displease ourselves". "We gave away Bakassi to Cameroun. We lost our men in Sierra Leone and Liberia while other nations looted the diamonds. We are keeping Charles Taylor and speaking of honour while the international community is refusing to give us any credit. I mean, I don't understand." "I don't either. Ghana is a better country than Nigeria. It is safer, better run and more respected. So, why should we finance Ghana's gas project? If Ghana cannot pay for its own part of the West African Gas Project, then, too bad. Sao Tome is one of the poorest countries in the world. It cannot even pay its debts. So, it won't pay the $5 million that President Obasanjo is lending to it. The other month, Nigeria had to help restore that country's President to power when he was ousted in a coup". "Well, that is okay. Nigeria can do that. I don't have any problems with that". "But that should not mean our turning Sao Tome into the 37th state of Nigeria. The President says Sao Tome has emergency needs and I say physician, heal thyself. The whole of Nigeria itself is an Emergency Ward. We are a country of emergencies. We have our own serious problems. Imagine what Nigeria could do with $45 million". "Pensioners have not been paid". "Our hospitals have no drugs or facilities". "Teachers and civil servants are being owed salaries. "State governments are asking for more funds" "Universities are without libraries, and research grants". "Ha. No. No. No. We have serious problems in this country". "The President knows". "I am not sure he does". "I was reading a report in which he was describing how he managed to survive in prison". "He is a lucky man. There are 45,000 other human beings in Nigerian prisons today who are suffering, and finding it difficult to survive. If he had spent the $45 million he is using to do Father Christmas to improve the state of Nigerian prisons, every prisoner in the country would see him as a hero. They will appreciate the fact that he, truly remembers". "In Taraba state, the prison is so congested, some prisoners are being kept inside containers". "Containers?". "Yes, containers. Those metal boxes made famous by importers". "Human beings inside containers in this African heat?". "Oh yes. The thing to note is that life is not that bad in either Ghana or Sao Tome". "You know when people accuse the Nigerian government of cruelty towards Nigerians, I usually don't know what to say". "Is it just government? Even, we, the people, as Nigerians are very cruel, wicked and inhuman. If I were a foreigner living in Nigeria, I would never take Nigerians seriously". "Don't say that. Why? Every country has its own problems." "Like cannibalism? Did you read the story about the shrine in Anambra where 50 bodies and 20 skulls of human beings were found? With some man-eaters calling themselves priests, and cultists trying to explain how the skulls got to their shrine? When I read the story, I felt like weeping and vomitting". "The Anambra State Commissioner of Police actually wept. The sad thing about that story is the disclosure that there are similar shrines all over the country. Shrines where human beings are killed for ritual purposes, their body parts are sold, and their skulls are kept in an evil museum... Human beings like you and me". "I wonder what Ngige, the Governor of Anambra would say. This was the same shrine where he swore to an oath with the Uba group. I recall he had said he went through the ritual clutching his Bible. Did he rely on the Bible because he saw the skulls in the shrine? And if so, why did he not report to the police?" "Or could he be the one who has not tipped off the police about the shrine? What kind of democracy do we have if our leaders are members of a cult of cannibals?" "Whatever it is, the police must get to the root of this discovery. Who are those human beings who have been turned into ordinary skulls? Is there a way of establishing their identities? Where else do we need the kind of Liberation Raid of Anambra? The British found only a headless torso in River Thames, they called it Boy Adam, and through diligence and commitment, they have traced Boy Adam to his place of origin and his murderers. The incident at Okija Shrine must be seen by the Nigeria Police as a special challenge". "And government too. A country where ritual killers are so bold as those Okija priests and cultists is doomed. It is a reflection of the kind of value that we place on human lives". "The Sun newspaper published the photograph of those skulls". "I could not look at it". "We are an Otokoto country. We are surrounded by the likes of Clifford Orji. You know one of the arrested priests told the police that he is a very big man in Lagos". "I won't be surprised if the fellow is also a big man in a church". "Only God can forgive us in this country". "You should beware of blasphemy. Besides, too many people have been using the word, forgive too loosely these days". "Like Shagari who says he has forgiven General Buhari who toppled his government in 1983. Even President Obasanjo says he has forgiven Abacha". "But Umaru Dikko says he is not ready to forgive anybody". "Before you know it, those Okija priests and cultists would soon start asking for forgiveness". "From who?" "Of course, the police and Nigerians". "No, They should go and meet the people they killed first, and ask them for forgiveness in the world beyond". "And to think that we are a very religious country". "Only the Almighty knows those who are serving Him". "Ah. Na wa". "Very serious". "What a country!" "What a people!" "In Sokoto, the state government has just raised tuition fees to be paid by non-indigenes attending state-owned schools". "The Sokoto Governor is imitating his colleague in Zamfara state. When Zamfara state introduced a similar divisive policy, we protested but nothing happened. And yet we say we are one country". "I think you now see why we cannot have an image project. Every other day, something bad occurs in our land". "Well, one good thing has happened in Oyo state" "Which is?" "Alhaji Adedibu has promised to leave Governor Ladoja alone. Both men have agreed to give peace a chance. The fight is over, the swords of hate have been set aside." "And you believe that?' "Well?" "You wait until something is also uncovered in Oyo state as in Anambra." "Like what?" "I don't know. In this country, nobody ever knows what will come next?"
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