Dora needs a job

By Ilobi Austin

The Information and Communication Ministry is the worst place for somebody with Prof. Dora’s kind of patriotism, crusading spirit and definition of achievement. This easily showed itself when the late president Yar'Adua moved her from NAFDAC where her achievements were easy to quantify, into her current information creation and dissemination post; were achievements requires amplifications to distinguish and acknowledge, by the  populace.

All the same, she was went to the ministry determined to out-do her NAFDAC achievements. She consequently, took on the internationally acclaimed Ernest Nduke led NCC accusing it of under-hand dealings in the sales of a telecom license. It only took the intervention of the presidency to calm troubled waters and return team spirit to the fold. When this NCC kite failed to fly, she refocused:    launched the re-branding Nigeria initiative, that was designed to improve on the quality lies that the country had been trying for years under different regimes, without tangible results, to sell to the rest of the world: that we, particularly the leaders, are good people that have no special qualification or talent for mindlessly breaching public trust in the areas of the law, it observances and public finance.

That the white-washing project failed comes as no surprise in many quarters, for the people who should have made the effort worth the while remains consistently persistent in law-breaking acts that tarnish the image of the country around the globe. For instance, since it launch, there has been no letting-up in acts of corruption or ethnic-based disorder  across the country, from Ebonyi to Bauchi not forgetting Plateau or Abia and the sign-post or vignette for them all, the Niger Delta area.

Probably not satisfied with the returns on her effort, so far, she picked the opportunity of addressing youngsters seeking fame and fortune, the big brother way, to launch an attack on the hip-hop inspired name for the country, naija describing the coinage as an unpatriotic act. She there and then, declared an offensive on all corporate organisations using it as part of their promotional theme. She equally admonished the youths to crusade against the name everywhere and anywhere it is being used to represent the country.

What Dora did not do or failed to do, was to tell the youths and Nigerians the premise of her submission. Unpatriotic acts or comments are supposed to mean such actions and comments that are deemed inimical or injurious to the continuous existence of a united Nigeria. This is scarcely the case with the coinage, Naija; which is not known to be responsible for the irresponsibility of Nigeria leaders who are known, home and abroad, to have scant regard for their own words—promises— nor the docility of the led who, to be fair to us the ordinary masses have been impoverished as to, lean on very words of the leaders just to keep hope alive otherwise madness follows.  

Instead, this argot of the youth has proved it usefulness in bringing the creativity of the Nigerian youth to the fore in an environment where all they have been fed over the years by the country’s leaders have been tales about the potentials of the nation which with the passage of time has not been translated into reality, by the leaders, for the common good of all.

Is it then not possible that the youths of the country, suffering so much lack in the midst of abundance decided just like Jabez, in the bible,  to have the country re-christened for a more user and commercially –friendly name? And since it became the in-word amongst them have we not noticed a dramatic change in the fortunes of those who have appropriated it, particularly, in the entertainment industry far more than was the case under the steam, Nigeria?

The word, naija has got creativity and a kind of punch or energy that is lacking in the name Nigeria to it and to my mind, Dora should push for it to be adopted as the official name of the country so that what it has done for the youths it can re-enact for the entire country rather than this her current wasteful exercise of attempting to sweep back a surging ocean with a broom.  

Ilobi Austin writes from Lagos and is available on www.facebook.com , www.twitter.com  and www.vibratingaustin.blogspot.com 

Cultural rites as disincentives to marriage

In it simplest form, traditional marriage is suppose to be an arrangement in which the family members—nuclear or extended— of a young bachelor joins with him in formally seeking the consent of the parents and family members of an equally young spinster, to allow them formally co-exist as wife and husband; with all the attendant rights, obligations and expectations from such a union. To make the giving of the consent and its acceptance binding on all parties, a consideration called dowry, which is usually a token, is furnished by the family of the man though in some cultures the reverse is the case and is accepted by that of the unmarried lady.

Today, this otherwise simple process of give and take constitutes one of the biggest disincentives to marriage for most persons of average means who truly desires to get married; as some parents, family members and communities across the country goes for the broke by turning the rites into deal breaker through the aggregation of their varied economic interest, including those interest born of greed and avarice, into a dowry requirement.

In a recent trip to a community in Governor Ohakim’s Imo state for one of such engagements, which by the way prompted this piece, one came face to face with the reality of the above scenario. Whereas a list of all the requirement for the consummation of the marriage had already be presented to the husband-designate in advance of the agreed date for the ceremony, in order to allow him ample time to get them since the cost implication was such that could breath life back into  a comatose small scale business.  

Armed with all the requirements as contained in the aforementioned, list we took off for the event proper full to capacity with confidence that it was just a matter of time before we returned to base with our trophy—the lady. It was therefore all shocks and surprises when, as the presentation of the listed items by the grooms family got underway, items not previously mentioned, even in passing, nor in the master list started finding their ways into the programs.

And since the new items could not be easily obtained it was there and then decided that each of them were to be supplanted with cash. At the end, my friend had to “borrow” the monies he would have been “sprayed” just so as to square out with the family. Not satisfied with its day-light robbing in the name of dowry, the community decided to take the bride “hostage” promising to release her at a later date, for free. We refused determinedly to believe them or have any more of the “yahoo” rites, and “rescued” our wife, for a princely “ransom” for the return join to freedom and her new home. Off course, no topical issues of any importance including the performance or otherwise of the Ikedi administration could replace the discussion on our experiences in the hands of the villagers.

Yours sincerely had to wonder aloud why in this age when most families and communities were taking advantage of the increased interactions with persons from other cultures to expand their frontiers and possibilities through the encouragement of intermarriages would a clan pursue passing interest that are inimical to it short and long term interest. Are such family and community happy to be the major source of cheap sales girl labour