26012020 - How bad an example was set in Zamfara

PAGE 34—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 26, 2020
Men have all the opinion
Candid View
With
MagnaFaith Krimi
+1 (202) 718-9278
magnafaithmedia@gmail.com
Ifound that the Nigeri
an woman doesn’t
have a choice to work,
not work, have kids, not
have kids. There is a systematic
attempt to erase every
glimpse of hope that opinions
should not be down to
the individual.
You see, the woman who
understands her role, place
and status within society often
finds herself in situations
where she is seen as a rebel.
A woman can be a wife to
a man, mother to children,
daughter to parents and
possess an immensely strong
disposition. That woman
can be beautiful, highly independent
and be the kind
of woman who dances to the
tune of her own drum. In Nigeria
today, when a woman
is a non-conformist and
refuses to be treated like crap
she is vilified, but when a
man does the same, he is
cheered on by society and
dubbed as a trailblazer. In
other cases where women
are not vilified, they are objectified,
some are stigmatized
and even ostracized
from society for issues that
would be okay if it were related
to men.
Do we take up weapons to
begin to defend ourselves or
do we leave our fate to the
men who so disregard and
sometimes despise us.
A case in point would be
how Roman writers portrayed
Cleopatra as a harlot
and cast as someone who
manipulatively used her
sexuality to control powerful
men like Julius Caesar
and Mark Antony. She was
hardly referred to or mentioned
in terms of her intelligence
and excellent capability
as a politician. I mean
this woman was ruling one
of the most powerful kingdoms
in history and yet was
mostly spoken about in
terms of her sexuality. While
they wrote about her from a
condescending perspective,
Cleopatra strove to protect
her territory and her country.
Amotekun: The way to go
When the Yoruba na
tion launched the
southwest security
network, code-named
Amotekun everybody knew it
was a project that would stand
the test of time. At its formative
stage, no noise was made
about it. Discussions were
quietly done, recruitment and
purchase of vehicles were
done quietly until the project
was ready to be launched and
everybody across party lines
was involved including traditional
rulers, the elites and ordinary
people. There was unity
of purpose and almost all
the Yoruba agreed to it.
Even other ethnic groups
concurred and some muted
the idea of coming up with
similar project.
The voices of dissent that
rose from the centre were swallowed
with evidence of civilian
JTF and Hishbah police
that operate in the north. Even
the Attorney General had to
swallow his words.
At the end, Amotekun is here
to stay.
And just at the time
Amotekun got a positive nod
from the federal government,
something sinister happened:
Popular trado-medical practitioner,
Alhaji Fatai Yusuf
popularly known as Oko
Oloyun was murdered.He
was killed on Thursday when
his convoy was attacked on
the Igbo-Ora-Eruwa road by
gunmen.
The attackers reportedly
shot at his convoy from thick
forest, resulting to his death
Nigeria accounts for 50% of
glaucoma cases in Africa — TCF
A
By Michael Eboh and
Fortune Eromosele
medical foundation
and eye hospital in Nigeria,
the Tulsi Chanrai Foundation,
TCF, has raised the
alarm over the rising incidences
of glaucoma and other
eye diseases in the country,
stating that Nigeria accounts
for 50 per cent of Glaucoma
cases in Africa.
Addressing newsmen in
Abuja, the foundation also
stated that Nigeria holds the
record for the largest number
of patients with eye cases in
Africa.
Strong women with high
levels of self-esteem are consistently
portrayed as temptresses.
They are not appreciated
for their desire to fulfill
purpose, intelligence and
work ethic. Women have tolerated
decades of smear
campaigns, as their male
counterparts seek to discredit
them in the struggle for authority
and dominion whether
within work environments
or family settings.
Women who are intelligent
and scholarly have unnaturally
and unfortunately become
a threat to society.
Some communities are
working to change the narrative,
some communities
have begun cheering women
on, of course not a high
percentage. Howbeit, a good
percentage of society now
understand where a woman
might be coming from and
are supporting to allow
changes made to the existing
structure. Mainly government
structure.
The changes that are so
desired by working women
around the world may not
entail the complete disruption
and the radical change
of the status quo. However,
very many purposeful women
are aiming at generally
improving the political and
social conditions of all women
within their microcosmos.
Women who are pragmatic
and take advantage of
their beauty and appearances
where needed should not
be nailed to the cross as
good-looking people enjoy
from injuries sustained from
the bullet.
Amotekun is a project that
came in season.
Somebody asked if the Igbo
could come up with a similar
thing and I said no, that the
Igbo don’t have that kind of
unity of purpose and don’t
ever agree on anything. The
person reminded me that the
southeast governors claimed
the Yoruba stole the idea from
them and had even operated
Bakassi Boys across the southeast
states. I told the person it
must be a slip of tongue to say
Amotekun was stolen from
southeast governors as the
Igbo don’t agree on any issue.
In fact, I made it clear that
the Igbo cannot be as discreet
as the Yoruba as they would
have blown it open from the
formative stage and create
room for sabotage of the
projects as some of the southeast
governors and other
groups would start paying
Emphasizing the need for
glaucoma care pathways for
early detection and treatment
to prevent blindness, spokesperson
for the TCF, Dr. Deepak
Kumar said it was estimated
that 1.1 to 1.4 million
adults in Nigeria have glaucoma,
most of whom are not
aware that they have the disease.
He noted that the high prevalence
and high rate of blindness
confirm glaucoma to be
of public health importance
and should become a priority
among healthcare planners
and policy makers.
Kumar maintained that one
in every 20 Nigerians aged 40
years and above has glaucoma,
and one in five at risk of
being blind, while he highlighted
the fact that there are
approximately 8,500 people
aged 40 years and above with
glaucoma per million population.
According to him, 50% of
glaucoma cases in Africa are
from Nigeria and 8% of glaucoma
cases was secondary, with
over half of these following procedures
for cataract, particularly
couching, which is still widely practiced
in Nigeria despite very poor
visual outcomes.
“This underscores the need for high
quality, affordable and accessible
eye surgical services,” he said.
As parts of effort towards fighting
the scourge of blindness, he stated
that the foundation which opened
its services on 15th January 2019
and was formally inaugurated by
His Excellency, President Muhammad
Buhari, on 11th July 2019, had
conducted over 124,000 free eye surgeries
such as glaucoma and cataract.
However, he noted that the foundation
had treated 20,000 outpatients
and offered up to 70 per cent
free eye care services to the poor and
less privleged.
Also speaking, Director, Chanrai
Group Advisor, TCF, Kannan
Narayanan, said in an effort to reduce
the rate of blindness and eye
problems in Nigeria, TCF had conducted
96 rural eye camps screening,
adding that it has screened over
14,000 persons.
Women must be
allowed to make
decisions for
themselves. Maybe
with help and
admonishment
from the men in
their lives
an enormous social advantage
in most societies
around the world.
Paul Mulwitz a Retired
Electrical Engineer, Light
Plane Pilot and an amateur
Builder, stated in a response
quote on that “Pretty people
are spoiled from the first
time they interact with others.
They are the first chosen
to be on teams on the
playground. They are desired
and treasured as
friends by nearly everyone.
School teachers call on the
first and give them high
grades no matter how poor
their performance”
Greg Holley, on the other
hand, wrote that “Beauty
pushed too hard becomes
sex and sex can easily eclipse
personality. Intelligence
pushed too hard becomes
elitism and elitism is aggressive
and gross.
We all try to look and
sound as good as we can
and use what we have to get
We should protect
ourselves and our
people. That will
reduce the burden
off the federal
government
solidarity visits to Aso Rock
to pledge their allegiance to
Buhari and the security forces.
Some will even interpret
the motive as an attempt to
sabotage Buhari’s regime.
The governors did not disappoint.
Their aides started issuing
statements that every
state in the south east has its
own challenges and idiosyncrasies,
offering several reasons
why each state has to
work alone to achieve its security
needs. Yet, many a governor
will claim that security
challenges his state is facing
are being transmitted from
nearby southeast states.
Talk of the Igbo question
But whether we believe it or
not, the emergence of
Amotekun is a clear sign that
things have fallen apart in
Nigeria, we are no longer at
ease since anarchy is loosed
upon Nigeria. Kidnapping for
ransom is still happening;
Boko Haram is still in charge
of the north and has added a
new style to its modus operandi,
beheading Christians in
the North. Nigerians are more
divided than ever. Everything
is ethnicised and viewed along
tribal and religious lines.
Currently, Nigerians are
more divided under the current
government. So much
hatred and hate speech exist
in Nigeria. Even as Nigeria
celebrated 50 years of end of
civil war, indications are rife
that we didn’t learn our lessons
from the 1967-1970 war.
The conflicting signals emanating
from the different
geo-political zones show that
the Nigerian Project is gradually
heading towards a precipice.
What leaders like Obafemi
Awolowo perceived Nigeria to
be is becoming truer every
day: that ‘Nigeria is not a
nation, but a mere geographical
expression? There are no
“Nigerians” in the same sense
as there are “English,” Welsh,”
or “French”.
Even as far back as then, Zik
appeared to be the only true
believer in the Project Nigeria.
The then Prime Minister
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa
said that “since 1914, the British
Government has been trying
to make Nigeria become
where we want to go. This
involves balancing our attributes
with each other, not
promoting one to the detriment
of all others.”
Whether a woman is compassionate
to the poor and
a dedicated mother, she
would be criticized.
Gender is the reason why
most talented women are
chiefly vilified. No matter
how efficient and effective
they are in their roles. Strong
women in leadership are
seen to be tyrants. while, they
are no more tyrannical than
their male counterparts, regardless
of how peaceful
they strive to protect themselves.
Women must be allowed to
make decisions for themselves.
Maybe with help and
admonishment from the
men in their lives.
Author Martina Cole in a
piece written by Natasha
Harding for The Sun in October
of 2019 on why she
believes women are ‘vilified
more than ever before’ stated
that “she believes it’s not
a great time to be a woman’’
“I like my single life, I’m
selfish and the longer I’m on
my own, the more selfish I
become. When I was younger,
I never wanted a fairytale
wedding, I wanted a penthouse
and a sports car.
“I’ve kind of achieved my
wishes.”
Whether your views align
with her perspective on life
or not, Martina Cole does
have a right as an individual
to make choices for herself.
Ebele Elue an Abuja based
professional explained that
the perspective of Nigerian
Men on Nigerian Women
varies she quotes “Their perspectives
vary based on
their upbringing, traditions,
environment, exposure and
the women they have come
in contact with”.
Helen Ebide from Jos stated
that the response of society
to women depends on
the social class and exposure
of individuals. She added
that a woman would be
perceived per the quality of
the woman in question.
Ebide asked questions like;
“how much has that woman
invested in herself” She went
on to explain that the value
of investment a woman has
made on herself is directly
proportional to how a man
views her.
History shows that great
women who had invested in
themselves tremendously
had falsehood either exaggerated
or completely invented
although these women
would put in so much
work and heart into their
pursuits to fulfil a purpose,
their achievements, however,
would be overshadowed
by rumours about mundane
things like their sex life and
more.
No matter what society
believes, women the world
over are capable in all
spheres of life and will continue
to pave the way for other
women to achieve.
one country, but Nigerians
are historically different in
their backgrounds, in their
religious beliefs and customs
and do not show themselves
any sign of willingness to
unite.”
We are still on the same spot.
When we take one step forward,
we find ourselves taking
several steps backward.
But what the southwest has
done is the way to go. I perceive
it as restructuring, regionalization
and that is the
way to go. Each region should
watch its own back and provide
security. It is happening
in the north where they have
the Hishah police and civilian
JTF. Now there is
Amotekun in the southwest
and maybe for once, the
southeast will spring its surprise
and do something. It is
one region that all eyes are on
to remove the plague from its
people and will they?
The Middle Belt or north
central and the south-south
should also come up something.
We should not play with security
issues. Our borders are
now open to all manner of
people. We used to have Boko
Haram and herdsmen. Now,
we have ISWAP and who
knows, other new names that
will crop up soon.
We should protect ourselves
and our people. That will reduce
the burden off the federal
government.
NEXIM to host export enlightenment, engagement
programme
By Festus Ahon, ASABA
HERE is beehive of ac
Ttivity in Asaba ahead of Nigerian
Export-Import Bank hosting of the Export
Enlightenment and Engagement Programme
for the South-South Geopolitical
Zone slated to hold in the Delta State
capital from Tuesday, 28th – Thursday,
30th January, 2020.
The program which is in furtherance of
its mandate of promoting the diversification
of the Nigerian economy and boosting
non-oil exports, the Nigerian Export-
Import Bank, will be hosting, would hold
at the Dome Event Centre, Okpanam
Road, Asaba, Delta State and declared
open by the State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi
Okowa along other Governors from Edo,
Cross River, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom and Rivers
States, seeks to bring together Exporters,
Bankers, policy makers, top government
officials and other operators in the
non-oil export sector towards highlighting
the non-oil export potentials of the
south-south region and other pertinent
issues that impact the contribution of the
region to economic diversification.
The theme of the conference “Maximising
the Export Potentials of the South-
South Region for Economic Growth”
would be addressed by various high profile
speakers, including the Chief Executive
Officers of Nigerian Export-Import
Bank, (NEXIM) Nigerian Export Promotion
Council (NEPC), the Nigerian Incentive
Risk Based System for Agricultural
Lending (NIRSAL), the Small & Medium
Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria
(SMEDAN), the Nigerian Customs Service,
the National Agency for Food & Drugs
Administration and Control (NAFDAC)
and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria
(SON).
Others include the Nigerian Agricultural
Quarantine Service, the Nigerian Institute
for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) and
the Raw Materials Research & Development
Council (RMRDC).
Also to speak at the event are various
banking institutions led by the Central
Bank of Nigeria,the Development Bank
of Nigeria, the Bank of Agriculture and
the Bank of Industry
Exporters and prospective exporters will
also have the opportunity to display their
products, while various capacity building
sessions will be organised, particularly for
the benefit of the Small and Medium Enterprises.