Studying, living and working in Russia has always been a challenge and battle for many of us here. In general, coming to Russia to study is a big experience and exposure for me. I had the very rare opportunity - elusive to millions of Nigerians - to see both the West and the East, witnessed the whole transformation, and undoubtedly historical events that took place in the former Soviet Union, and how they relate to Nigeria. I have vowed never to get hooked formally neither to a Russian lady - though they are quite very beautiful - nor any lady not from Naija so that my plans of relocating back to Naija in order to contribute my quota will not be derailed. East or west, home is the best. Moreover, I simply can't imagine speaking Russian or English to my wife and children at home. Olorun ma'je! How I wish that our Naija sisters could read between the lines and decode my message.
From Russia with love. abm1900@mail.ru
TIME TO WAKE UP FROM OUR SLUMBER
It's high time we woke up from our slumber and get the point; which is that we are not wanted in the West anymore! If we insist on staying, then we must be ready to cope with the insults, humiliations and danger that come along with it. Our duty now is to be involved in the political process at home and strive to get the political power and implement the programs we believe are necessary for the development of our country instead of telling these corrupt, good for nothing "professional" politicians, thieves and opportunists what to do. The British or Americans will not develop Nigeria for us, instead they'll take the little we have.
THE REASON FOR MIGRATION
Actually, all these migration in search of green pastures - which eventually lead to the mass imprisonment and death of Nigerians abroad - was caused in the first place by the North's misrule of the country; which came to its peak during the reigns of the military juntas of IBB and Abacha.
MISRULE LEADS TO CORRUPTION
A reknown Russian political scientist – Satarov, was able to prove that it is bad management that leads to corruption and not vice-versa. I'm of the view that Nigeria will be much better off and develop at a very faster pace without the North.
THE MILITARY AND THE NORTH ARE THE PROBLEMS.
Our country is blessed with enormous mineral and human resources. However, just as we all know, the problem is bad management. The North and the military have destroyed and mismanaged the human and mineral resources from the South. The military is to be blamed for the rot in the nation. Their lack of intellectual power, vision as well as ineffective leadership and institutionalisation of corruption has robbed the nation of the chance to grow. In general, the South is paying too big a price to have the North as part of Nigeria. They're a liability to the South; and from my analysis without any emotion, it'll be better to let them go! They're not contributing anything! They are parasites! They can even take Abuja with them; if they're ready to compensate the South for its investments. I'm convinced that as long as the North is part of Nigeria, we can never, never, never realise our full human potentials and/or make the best use of our mineral resources.
NOT HOW BIG BUT HOW WELL
Greatness is not in the geographical size of a country or mineral resource, but, it is in its well educated, disciplined and hard-working population. Japan is a very good example. Sweden the biggest of the Scandinavian countries - with the highest standard of living and life longevity in the world has a population less than 10 million, and commands respect all over the world. There are many tiny European countries in terms of population and territory even by european standard like Austria, Luxemborg, Switzerland, Monaco but, each with GDP that dwarf that of Nigeria's. With the exception of just 2 countries in the G7 - the seven richest countries in the world - Nigeria is bigger by territory and population than the rest. And the (Northerners) even have the guts to demand that the presidency should be returned to them after all the destruction, tears and suffering that their misrule has brought millions of Southerners! As if it's their father - Othman Dan Fodio's property. What an affront!
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A COUNTRY AND A NATION
Nigeria is an artificial country; just a geographical entity and no more. It's far from being called 'A Nation'.I want to draw your attention to the big difference between a country and a nation. A country is just a physically existing or geographical entity. In a nation, majority of the people share common goals, values and aspirations and they work very hard together to achieve their goals. In order to achieve their goals, the citizens appoint or choose the best among themselves - irrespective of his origin - to various positions to formulate optimal economic, political and social policies for them, and they on their part give them their full support so that they can all succeed.
A nation tries as much as possible to give its citizens the best. A nation tries as much as possible to provide all the necessary moral, technological, educational and financial support, and the most conducive environment for its citizens to achieve their goals. A nation cares about the welfare of its citizens - including the minority
KADUNA REFINERY
Were the Northerners thinking of building a nation when they located the refinery in Kaduna, irrespective of the fact that the oil wells are located in the Niger delta in the South, the other end of the country? Even a child without any knowledge in finance, economics or management will tell you that that was a crazy decision. But, were the Northerners crazy when they made this decision? No, they were not. So, what was their motive? Their motive was their own selfish interest at a great cost to the country.
COUP PLOTTERS
They were not interested in building a nation. They are only interested in looting the resources in the South and developing the North. It's a known fact to everybody that the North purposely limited the number of Southerners that could enroll in the military so that it can maintain its domination of the military, and carry out coups whenever it feels fit or its economic or political interests are threatened. As Chairman Mao once said: 'Power flows from the barrel of the gun.' Apart from the military where the enrollment of the Southerners is deliberately limited, the South-South alone boasts of specialists that surpass the whole of the North in terms of quantity and quality.
IGBO INVENTIONS - WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
During the civil war, the Igbos made a lot of technological inventions. It's more than 35 years since the civil war was fought, the federal government headed by the North, since the end of the civil war, did not invest a single kobo in the development and production of these products that could have earned the country foreign currency, provide jobs for thousands of Nigerians and boost the image of the country.
Were the Northerners thinking of nation building when they voted en mass for Shagari in the 1979 presidential elections, despite the obvious fact that Shagari was the least competent among the contestants?
LOCATION OF AJAOKUTA - A 419 ACT
A friend once told me that it was actually another city in the South-East that was chosen by the Russians as the best location to build the metallurgical plant that is now located in Ajaokuta. But when another decision was taken by the Northern government to build it instead at Ajaokuta, the governor of the state in which the town that was chosen initially protested, and was removed for insurbodination.
WHAT IS THE NORTH's CONTRIBUTION TO NIGERIA?
It's high time we started asking ourselves the positive contribution of the North to nation building. According to some reliable sources, both national and international, the contribution of the whole of the North to Nigeria's economy in all aspects is less than 10%. When I told a friend about my finding, he said that if we take into consideration the political, economical and social damage that they have inflicted on the country through their misrule and looting of our treasury, then their contribution is not less than 10% but negative. I completely agree with him.
LOCATION OF CAPITAL IN ABUJA- A 419 ACT
The choice of Abuja as the new capital is another case in point that the North has succeeded in manipulating the country to its own selfish advantage at a great cost to the country. The official reasons given by the North led federal government for relocating the capital from Lagos were the following:
(1) Security reason - Lagos due to its location is vulnerable to attack from the ocean.
(2) Lagos is too congested.
(3) Because of its location at the other end of the country, it's not very convenient and expensive for other Nigerians to come to Lagos.
(4) Lagos belongs to the Yorubas; one of the major tribes in Nigeria.
Let us examine these reasons one by one together objectively and verify whether they hold water or not.
(1) SECURITY: IBM-INTER BALLISTIC MISSILES
You don't have to be a military expert to know what is called IBM - InterBallistic Missiles or ICM- InterContinental Missiles. That is to say that if Nigeria is at war with another country, the enemy can even from the open water/sea or from land/air - outside Nigeria's territory or air space - fire rockets at Abuja or bomb Abuja. I will like to remind you that when the Iraqi war started, the American soldiers started by shelling and bombing Baghdad from the sea. Later Iraqi's capital was subjected to another heavy bombing from the air. It was after the massive bombings that the American soldiers entered Iraq. Therefore, security wise Nigeria's new capital has not become safer due to the movement.
Secondly, another question we need to ask is what was and is the probability then - when the decision to move was taken - and now, of Nigeria going to war? I would rather say that the probability was very low then, and is still low now.
Thirdly, even if the probability was high then, we did not have to move the capital because of that. During the second world war, when Hitler launched the attack on the Soviet Union, what the Russians did was to 'shift the capital temporarily.' Europe for centuries had been battle ground where many wars were fought. But, there were no cases of moving capital because of likely outbreak of war.
(2) CONGESTION:
How many houses did the federal government build in Lagos compared to the number of inhabitants? How many power plants/stations did the federal goverment build in Lagos compared to the number of inhabitants? Why didn't the federal govt. build a modern underground rail transportation system in Lagos to facilitate transportation?
More than 10 million people live in Moscow today, and about 2 million commute to Moscow everyday from neighboring towns to work. Nevertheless, I have never heard anybody say that Moscow is congested. Moreover, more and more people; including from the former Soviet republics, foreign companies and foreigners from other countries troop into Moscow everyday, and I've not heard any complaint. Why? Because the Russian govt. even right from the Soviet time had invested and still continues to invest heavily in infrastructure.
MODERN TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM
Moscow boasts of one of the best public transportation network system in the world. Moscow underground rail system; called 'Metro' is one of the best in terms of reliability, safety and efficiency in the world. About 7.3 million people ride the Moscow Metro everyday! And the figure keeps increasing every day. It works from 5.30 a.m. to 1 in the night non-stop! The average waiting time for a train is 3 minutes. And during rush hour, it is about 45 seconds! The Moscow Metro celebrated its 75 years anniversary of successful uninterrupted operations last year! I even bought 2 special albums about the history of Moscow Metro published in commemoration of this historical events.
HOUSING
In terms of housing the Russian govt. used to build houses and rent it out at a very reasonable rate to its citizens. Though, after the collapse the govt. decided to give out the flats to the citizens for free. Moscow has experienced an unprecedented boom in real estate for the past 10 years. Apart from oil, it is the most profitable sector in the country. And the Moscow govt. with the full backing of the federal govt. is taking an active part in the construction of residential and commercial buildings. Investors are running over themselves to invest in real estate. And all the major western real estate companies are super active in the real estate market.
POWER SUPPLY
In terms of electricity supply, believe it or not, for the 2 decades that I have lived here, I can't remember when there was no light. The very few occasions when there was no light were due to repair works being carried out, which does not take more than an hour, and normally, residents of the affected houses are warned in advance. At the beginning of June the Russian govt. voted a wooping $90 billion investment plan to upgrade the electricity sector!
There is always hot and cold water throughout the year except one month when hot water is switched off to carry out maintenance work on hot water pipes. Power generation in Nigeria today has been fluctuating between 1400-3500MW and crippling the development of the manufacturing sector in the country. This figure is just a minute fraction of what Moscow alone generates and consumes!
A DELIBERATE ACT
I hope that you have not lost focus, the point I'm trying to make is that while Lagos was the capital, the North led federal govt. invested only a drop or a fraction of what was needed in infrastructure and housing. The North led federal government had not invested a single kobo in electricity generation in Lagos for the past 15 years before OBJ took over. This explains the reason why Lagos was congested and always in perpetual darkness. The only way for the federal govt. to rectify this congestion problem then was through heavy investment in infrastructure, energy, housing, e.t.c. However, they purposely didn't do it because they had made up their mind to relocate the capital to the North; consequently the money was saved for Abuja.
(3) ACCESSIBILITY TO OTHER NIGERIANS.
Perhaps this may sound a little bit convincing. But taking a closer look, I ask the following questions: should the fact that Lagos is far from the North justify spending billions of dollars that belong to the South to build a new capital from scratch? I implore everybody reading this article to please get hold of an atlas and have a look at as many countries as possible including the location of their respective capitals. Please take a look at the location of Washington D.C., London, Paris, Tokyo, Moscow, Peking and the capitals of other developed/developing countries. How many countries in the world choose their capitals on the basis that it must be in the center because it's the optimal location? Why didn't the U.S and other countries whose capitals are at the edge of the country and close to the sea or ocean move them to the center for security reasons so that they could be closer to its citizens? The reason is simply because:
(a) Building a new capital even for rich countries is an expensive expenditure which is not justified;
(b) Capitals of many countries emerged historically and naturally due to many factors and the role these cities had played in the past.
(c) You don't use mathematics or geometry to calculate or determine the center or equilibrium point where the capital should be located.
(4) LAGOS BELONGS TO THE YORUBAS
Undoubtedly, this is the main reason why the capital was moved from Lagos, but other excuses were just used as cover up. Otherwise, why was the capital not built somewhere in Edo, Akwa-Ibom or Cross-River state which do not belong to any of the major nationalities?. Why should the new capital be built in the North a region whose contribution to the economy is less than 10%?
PUTTING THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE
As I have said before, building a new capital from scratch is a very, very expensive expenditure even for very rich countries. There was virtually no need for Abuja. The country could have still got along with Lagos quiet well. The decision to build Abuja was a wrong economic decision for a developing country like Nigeria that could not boast of stable electricity, water supply, adequate and functioning infrastructures, reliable educational system, medical and adequate pension programs, even up till now. This is what they ought to have tackled first. Then, invest heavily in industries, agriculture and information technology in particular. These would had served as an impulse or locomotive that would had driven the economy to great heights. Abuja shouldn't had been the priority.
FISCAL POLICY: GOVERNMENT SPENDING AND DEVELOPMENT AIM NOT ACHIEVED
There are cases in economic development when large government spending helps to boost the economy. But it was not the case with Abuja and Nigeria. Why? Because virtually all the construction and supply contracts to build Abuja were heavily inflated, the materials were imported and last but not the least, they were carried out by foreign companies. So, instead of the contracts creating jobs for Nigerians and boosting our economy, it was the negative effect that we got because the money spent on these projects did not circulate in our economy but were received by foreign banks.
ABUJA: IRRATIONAL CALCULATION AND GREED
The construction of Abuja was a big drain on Nigeria's economy. But that did not bother the North, after all, they were not spending their own money. They got billions of dollars absolutely for free from the South to build a capital for themselves at the expense of the South. Why did they do this? The answer is simple. The North was not satisfied with the fact that they were ruling the country. They also wanted the capital city to be in the North where they can control events fully. Moreover, in case Nigeria brakes up in the future, they already have a modern capital - which they never spent a single kobo of their money to build - at their disposal to use. Definitely, nation building was not their priority or on their agenda when they took the selfish decision to build Abuja at the expense of the South.
RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM - A TICKING TIME BOMB
It's not just that a Northerner - whether civilian or retired military officer - does not have the brains to rule 'successfully' a sophisticated country like Nigeria. What is more serious and dangerous is the fact that they are evil and practice fundamental or aggressive form of Islam which is a ticking time bomb that may explode at any time and eventually destroy Nigeria beyond repair. There are millions of muslims in the South-West who go about their businesses peacefully and live in complete harmony not only with christians but with other tribes.
REAL BROTHERS?
The Northerners are not our brothers. Their real brothers are in Chad, Niger republic, Mali, Burkina Faso, Sudan, Somali e.t.c. To be sincere, in terms of language, religion, mentality, climatic conditions, history (before 1914), e.t.c. they have more in common with these countries than with us. Even the colours of our skins are different! They belong there and should be there. We should not be shy to tell them. It's time to wake up from our slumber and call a spade a spade. The goal of the North is to set up a Sharia state and impose it on the Southerners. And if we resist, they will start murdering us. They are contented living a barbaric life. You can take the North out of the jungle but you can't take the jungle out of the North. If they are our brothers, then why are they always murdering us? They are barbaric!
POGROM OF THE IGBOS
A case in point to buttress my point about the barbaric behavior of the North is the recent massacre of the Igbos in the North. I'm saddened like many Nigerians 'cos of this tragic, senseless and devilish killings of innocent, harmless and law-abiding Nigerians in the name of Allah by "our brothers" because of some cartoon that was published by a Dutch newspaper; and which they didn't even see with their own eyes! This happened at the beginning of the 21st century; almost 100 years after the amalgamation of the North with the South! The descendants of Othman dan Fodio had done it again! They have put the name of the country to shame again. And definitely, this is not going to be the last, unfortunately. Another proof that Nigeria is just an artificial country; and nothing good will ever come out of this unsolicited union as long as these people remain part of us. It's very sad and unfortunate that after 45 years of forcefully leaving together: most especially after the civil war this pogrom or ethnic cleansing took place.
In any civilised society, one of the main responsibilities of the government is to guarantee the safety of lives and properties. It's very sad, disappointing and shocking that the state government failed totally in protecting innocent and harmless Igbos whose main offence was that they happened to belong to another religion and ethnic group. There was not even a condemnation of this evil act on the part of the so-called Northern leaders. Indeed, silence means consent. My own interpretation of this is that no lesson has been learnt from the civil war and that we can't really co-exist together. It's the bitter truth and we have to face it. May the soul of the dead rest in peace.
SHARIA IN THE MILITARY
I witnessed another barbaric and criminal confession from a retired Northern military officer in Moscow. Maj. Gen. Abdullahi Sarki Mukthar, (rtd) in his farewell address as the outgoing ambassador to Moscow told us that one of the most difficult decisions he ever made in his life was when he gave an order as the head of the ECOMOG troupe in Liberia to execute some Nigerian soldiers from the South that were found guilty of sleeping with the wives of Northern military officers. I hope somebody is reading this, most especially our criminal and civil rights lawyers! A Nigerian military officer gave an order 'to execute' Nigerian soldiers for sleeping - not raping - with the wives of Northern officers. Can somebody please tell me where it is written in the Nigerian or military constitution that if the wives of military officers have sex 'voluntarily' with Nigerian soldiers, then, they'll have to face the firing squad! This is the kind of barbaric act that the Northerners are preparing for Nigeria. As far as I understand, that was 'military Sharia' in action.
I was so much impressed at the beginning of Mukhtar's speech: most especially, when he said that the embassy should be opened to any Nigerian and that Nigerian diplomats should first of all listen or attend to any Nigerian irrespective of what crime he was being accused of or must have committed, not until he spoke about the execution of the Nigerian soldiers. I almost urinated in my trousers when he said this. Mukhtar gave some of us the address of his Kano law chamber and told us that he was going to practice law and was not interested in politics and that we should always feel free to pay him a visit or contact him if we had any problems. I wanted to write him a letter of praise and appreciation, and pay him a surprise visit in Kano, but simply could not bring myself to do that after hearing the execution revelation. I felt even more disgusted when somebody quite close to him and the embassy told me that he once spent $1000 in order to sleep with an African lady, and that all along his tenure he was just busy doing business and didn't really care about the welfare of Nigerians in Russia.
Now this same man who headed a kangaroo military court with other Northern military officers as its members that gave the order to execute Nigerian soldiers has now been promoted by OBJ to the position of security adviser. Only God knows what is awaiting Nigerians with this new position! I sincerely hope that the Nigerian public after reading this will react and demand a public and independent investigation of this case.
JUBRIL AMINU - THE FORMER EVIL MINISTER OF MISS-EDUCATION
What about Jubril Aminu during his visit to Russia in the mid 80's? He told Nigerian scholarship students plain blank that the federal government had no jobs for them and they should not bother coming back to Nigeria after their studies. The memory is still fresh in mind the enormous damage Aminu inflicted on education in the South in his quest to make the Northern cattle rearers turned students overnight catch up with the South. The same Aminu was also made Nigeria's ambassador to the U.S. by OBJ. And now he is a respected senator from Adamawa state
PRODUCTS OF QUOTA SYSTEM AND GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS
Most of the so called intellectuals or educated Northern elites are products of quota system who were admitted to study either in Nigerian universities or abroad with substandard GCE results compared with their Southern students.
On getting to Russia, after our interaction with Bureau for External Aids scholarship students from the North, what we realised to our greatest surprise and disappointment was that our Northern colleagues had inferior WAEC, GCE results compared to ours. I remembered some of my colleagues who had distinctions but were denied scholarship because equal number of students had to be chosen from each state. There were even several occasions when Northern scholarship students sent to study Medicine in Russia had never studied biology or/and chemistry before! It was then that I understood not only the real meaning, damage and danger of quota system, but I as well realised the injustice in our system and the heavy price the South is paying to accomodate the North. Unfortunately, up till the time of writing, this practice still persists.
This explains why the government still continues to send people on scholarship abroad, but without any accountability. Jubril Aminu and his brothers are less concerned about where and what a federal government graduate is doing or how he is surviving after his studies. They not only neither don't have any plans for us nor intend to use us to develop Nigeria, but most importantly, they don't want us to return home so that we won't challenge them or disturb them from looting the treasury. After all, out of sight is out of mind. And when some us take the courage to return, our burning desire to contribute to the development of our country is frustrated in different ways.
MUHAMMED's WIVES
What about the Miss world beauty competition? When Agbani Darego made not only Nigeria, but the whole of Africa and the black race proud, when she won the highly coveted Miss World beauty pageant, after a fierce competition. Nigeria as the winner was slated to host the next edition of the competition for the first time ever in its history. Preparation was already in full gear in anticipation of this historical event. Sadly, our Northern brothers had a different plan entirely, which of course did not include Nigeria hosting this competition. They did all their best to make sure that the competition did not take place in Nigeria. When guests and participants started arriving for the competition, a statement was made by our Northern brothers that 'Prophet Muhammed himself would had loved to have some of the competitors as his wives.' Later, there were killings and demonstrations in the North against the competition being held in Nigeria. The event was eventually shifted to London, and was won by a Turkish lady, from a muslim country. The irony of it was that Turkey; a 100% muslim country was very delighted about it and saw it as a big opportunity not only to promote and boost tourism, showcase its culture and make money, but it wanted to prove as well that Islam is not about violence. Turkey hosted the competition in a very grandiose way.
Why didn't the descendants of Othman Dan Fodio realise that by hosting the competition Nigeria would not only be able to promote tourism, showcase its rich and diversified culture, but will as well be able to improve the economy? The answer is simple. They are illiterates, barbaric, evil and do not have the interest of the country at heart.
NO HATRED
Suffice to say that I do not breed any hatred against the Northerners. As a matter of fact, I'm a product of the Federal Government College (F.G.C.) or unity schools educational system introduced by the federal government. And one of my best friends that I shared the same seat with throughout my studies in the college was a lady from the former Gongola state. I'm only being pragmatic and objective in the analysis of the social, economic and political problems that we are facing. A sort of systems analysis. Before you fix something that is out of order, you must first of all understand why it's not functioning. And, it's only through an unbiased system analysis approach that you arrive at the answer or solution.
INGRATES
The grudge I have against the North is that they are not satisfied with the fact that they have squandered both the human and mineral resources concentrated in the South and plunged the country into deep economic chaos - which consequently led to mass immigration - but are threatening and demanding that power should be returned to the North, despite the fact that none of the present presidential candidates parading themselves from the North has the brains to manage such a sophisticated country like Nigeria 'successfully.' The only thing they know how to do well is to massacre and destroy. Perhaps, Nigeria is the only country or among the very few countries in the world where the rulers come from the most backward and poorest region of the country.
TO BE CONTINUED.