The one who hasn’t been hit by war calls himself a man (Eni ìjà ò bá níí pe ‘ra è l’ókùnrin). The word for ‘fight’ in Yoruba is ‘ija’; but ‘ija’ is much more than ‘fight’. It means battle; it is also war. If you’ve never been caught up in or overtaken by war, it is possible you yell and tell the world that you are more manly than man. But, there is really no ‘man’ anywhere. In luster and bravery, people rise and fall in the battle of life. That is one big lesson in the Ike Ekweremadu tragedy. He is not the first wealthy man to die in the backyard of the wretched; he won’t be the last. In this world, in all lands and across oceans, from the Atlantic through the Pacific to the Arctic, the Indian to the Antarctic, everyone is fighting a battle; visible for some, invisible for many.

A judge in London declared on Friday that Ekweremadu’s conviction and sentencing for an attempt at organ harvesting represented “a significant fall from grace.” What does that mean?
Ekweremadu was a council chairman in 1997; he was a private-practice lawyer in 1998/99 who wanted again to be a local government chairman; he lost that council election bid but was made Chief of Staff by Governor Chimaroke Nnamani in June 1999. His unrelenting stars fought hard and soon convinced Governor Nnamani to carry him further upstairs. He was made the Secretary to the Enugu State Government. He got that big post but his chi was still not done with him. In 2003, re-elected Governor Nnamani thought it was time for his Ike Ekweremadu to play in the Abuja big boys’ league. The all-powerful governor proceeded to make Ekweremadu senator to represent Enugu West. Since then, Ekweremadu has remained a senator of the Federal Republic. He will be there till June 2023, even in absentia. The UK judge’s fall-from-grace statement was very heavy. It was a reminder that everything achieved since 1999 by Ekweremadu did not matter again. The judge was right. Ike is in jail in a foreign land and will remain there for the equivalent of two of his five terms in the Senate.

There is no permanent victor in life. People rise, people fall; some in defeat at the battlefield; some in victory at the home front. Remember that there was a Senate president called Evan(s) Enwerem. He was temperate and restrained in behaviour but he still saw war and fell. There was another called Chuba Okadigbo, the one who called the great Zik a “ranting ant” twenty years earlier. He too became Senate president, saw war and fell. Adolphus Wabara was another solemn Senate president who met his own war and fell in battle. These great people fell in tragic succession, then Governor Chimaroke Nnamani, in April 2005, stepped in. He thought Ekweremadu should become Senate president. He moved from Enugu to Abuja; from the Villa to Apo to everywhere, he walked and crawled for Ike’s sake but senators and their Senate were unanimous: they wanted another Nnamani called Ken as their leader. Ken made it; Ekweremadu lost in that bid but he survived all his victorious brothers to remain perpetually in that house of power. Ike Ekweremadu’s contemporaries, like feckless dew on afternoon leaves, evaporated long ago. The man kept rising and riding high. He even rose to become deputy Senate president for many years while his benefactor, Chimaroke, sat in that same Senate as a floor member. Ike will be ending his twenty-year reign in the Senate next month on the floor, inside the opposite of freedom.

If you have been following the stories around you, you will know that it is not only the Ekweremadus who are in trouble and fighting a bewildering war. In the Ekweremadu case, every Nigerian is a casualty; including the asylum-seeking David who told the white man that his Nigeria is now one hell that no longer offers him security. The young man apparently wants to stay forever in that beautiful country where the sun never sets. Now, what is in a name? ‘Ike’ is the Igbo word for strength. The young ‘nobody’ who captured Ike, the strongman, is named David (full name: David Nwamini Ukpo). There is a David in the Bible who, with tentative fingers, slew both lion and bear, added mighty Goliath to his victims and proceeded to have permanent residency in the heart of God. Someone also said that if the David in the Ekweremadu story is an Izzi-Igbo man from Ebonyi State, his Nwamini name will mean Child-born-while-it-is-raining – a child of blessing. Whatever he is, he is one young hunter who has killed an elephant with his hat. He has his eyes on permanent residency in King Charles’s country. Like the biblical David, the odds are on his side.

But this case has got Nigerians, as usual, very divided. I can see three groups: the first group condemns Ekweremadu; it says Ike is a wicked and selfish big man who wanted to use a poor boy as a sacrifice to keep his own daughter alive. The second group sees the matter this way: How do you console a farmer who throws his cutlass at a rabbit, rabbit escapes, cutlass can’t be found? That is a very bad situation but it is not as bad as that of a hunter who has a big snail for supper but abortively uses it as stone to kill a bird. Bird escapes; snail escapes; hunter is empty-handed. This second group sympathizes with Ekweremadu and his family and prays that his daughter gets well; that they do not lose everything like the hunter in the above story. The third group is aghast that Nigerians and the world are hypocritical, pretentious in their reaction to this Ekweremadu/David guy’s matter. They are surprised at the drama all around as if this attempt at illegal organ harvesting is the index case.

Ekweremadu’s nemesis, David, has told his Lagos-to-UK story and the court believed him. Was it an isolated case? I don’t think many Nigerians think so. The unimaginable happens here so tragically regularly; and they are seen as quite normal. There must have been tens of other criminal harvest sessions (seasons) that have gone undetected or detected but not punished. Many more may be happening as we argue and contend over Ekweremadu and his judgement. On July 4, 2020, the newspaper I edit published a deep report on organ harvesting business in Lagos. I reproduce part of that report here: For the initiated, a ‘life giver’ in Katangua market, Lagos, is one who is into organ-harvesting business; a donor that has sold one of his two kidneys to a patient that required a kidney transplant. They are in their numbers in the market, Saturday Tribune was told. At Katangua, also known as ‘supermarket’, traders sell virtually all human needs. They sell shirts, trousers, blazers, jackets, shoes, cars, and food items; they also sell human kidneys, according to an informant, Ogor (not real name). All these come at affordable prices. Human kidney, according to Ogor, sells for between N750,000 and N1million, depending on the bargaining power of the ‘donor’. Obviously out of breath and exhausted, Ogor laid his body on a stall to get some fresh air with a few of his wares hanging loosely on his hands when Saturday Tribune walked up to him, having been linked up by a contact. Katangua is mostly known for Okrika but Ogor claimed that those who know the inner workings of the market know where the real money is. He was introduced to the deal. He said: “The guy who introduced me narrated to me how he sold his kidney and invested the money in his Okrika business. He also narrated how many traders in the market had gone through a similar process to expand their earnings. At first, I was nervous but when I thought about what lay ahead of me and the fact that there was nobody to lean on, I summoned courage. I later got to know the guy as Paul. He was an agent working for an organ vendor whom I later got to know as Obinna (real name). They both had sold their kidneys, too. Paul took me to Obinna’s house where we had a lengthy discussion. He told me I would be paid N850,000 after the whole exercise. He took me to a diagnostic centre in Oshodi (name withheld) where my kidneys were checked and certified healthy.

“I also got to know that Obinna had someone he worked for but I never got to meet him throughout the processing. He contacted someone in India and my travel documents and medical reports were ready within a short period. I was prepared to embark on a journey to sell my kidney to an unknown person in order to add value to my life. I never knew I was on the path of destruction. Obinna instructed me that if the doctors in India asked me any question, I should tell them that I didn’t understand the English language. And true to his instructions, doctors at the hospital in New Delhi asked many questions. They asked me if I was forced to donate my kidney. They asked if I would like to change my mind; they asked other questions. After the questioning session, a young black Nigerian woman was brought in. She lives in India. I was told she would act as my wife and she signed some documents on my behalf. We took pictures together and the doctors recorded us with their camera and after this, they embarked on the surgery to remove one of my kidneys. After the surgery, I spent about five months in India to recuperate before I returned to Lagos.

“Truly, I was not forced to sell my kidney but I did it out of poverty and hunger. I regret every step I took on that journey because I have been feeling unwell since I came back from India. When I started having health challenges, I went in search of Obinna at his residence but I was told that he had moved out of the place. He is still in Katangua where he sells Okrika to deceive the people. He lured innocent young Nigerians into the organ selling business. In fact, he has made many young traders in Katangua sell their kidneys, giving them little. Just walk round the market and ask to see their stomachs, you will be surprised at the cut marks you will see on them.” The (then) image maker of the state police command, Bala Elkana, in his reaction said what the traders did was “a punishable offence. It is against the human trafficking law in Nigeria.” End of story. Read again and come to your own judgement. There is nothing the desperately poor are not willing to sell; nothing is too sacred for the desperate rich to buy. The poorer people get, the more frantically stupid they become to escape poverty. It is the same when the rich and comfortable are in distress. They throw money at the problem; they do what the world takes to be silly, stupid things. Does this tell you anything about Ekweremadu? May God save us from desperate situations.

Human organs fail but modern medicine has said failure needn’t be fatal. Transplantation has evolved as a viable remedy to organ failure. But, are there no legal ways of getting these parts? If there is none, pioneers in this field, from Joseph E. Murray to Alexis Carrell and Thomas E. Starzl and others, home and abroad, would have laboured in vain. The truth is, there are lawful ways of doing it; the problem is with the rich; they avoid taking personal risks; they always cut corners.

Apart from the two gentlemen and a lady jailed in the UK on Friday in that David Nwamini case, who else was involved in that particular matter? We may never know. The depth of dark business is always deep. How entrenched is the ‘business’? Even the United Nations appears perplexed, without a clue yet. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) reported in August 2022 that its flagship 2020 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons “indicated an increasing prevalence of reported cases of trafficking in persons for the purpose of organ removal (TIP for OR).” It added, however, that “existing barriers to reporting suggest that the full scale of this phenomenon is not yet known.” We may never know who else does this business, who has done it and who may do it despite the global odium in the Ekweremadu case. Do the buyers and sellers know that what they do is bad? “People sell their souls in such small quantities – a seemingly trivial compromise here, a rationalization of a minor evil there – that they don’t realize what they’re doing until it is too late” (Mike Klepper). How much really is the cost of evil? In August 2020, The Sun of UK published the story of a Malaysian reportedly involved in organ trafficking. He did his dark business by luring what the paper described as “poverty-stricken victims from around the world” to sell their organs. That is what he does for a living, and he boasted to the UK paper that he had masterminded 45 illicit kidney sales with more than 100 potential sellers on the queue. “They’re all serious. Nobody wants to sell their kidney if there is no financial problem,” the man told The Sun. The newspaper said the man initially charged its undercover reporters a fee of £55,000 for supplying a kidney and an additional £65,000 for payment to the clinic. They haggled and the man dropped the total fee to £85,000. How did he do it without his evil finding him out? The man who operated from Manila, Philippines, explained to the reporters that “in Manila, cash is king. Money talks.” Remove Manila in that boast and put Nigeria there; you will be very correct. Here, the rich buy everything; they buy anybody; the poor sell anything, from body to soul. The country is cash-and-carry. It will remain so until we bite the bullet and make a fresh start.

General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, the Dean of Coups in Nigeria, finally staged a coup for himself on August 27, 1985. The veteran coup plotter could sniff coups years away. On December 17, 1985, he rounded up over 100 military officers for allegedly conceptualising a coup. Some, including his childhood friend, Major General Mamman Vatsa, were sentenced to death.

When it was announced that the ruling military junta was to meet in the evening of March 5,1986 over the death sentences, Nigeria famous literary triumvirate: Wole Soyinka, John Pepper Clark and Chinua Achebe, rushed to meet Babangida in the morning. The dictator vowed to them: “I wish to give you my word of honour – I shall go into the crucial meeting determined to do everything in my power to save them. I assure you, I shall not be party to their execution. That I can promise you.”

But as soon as the trio left, the meeting was convened so that by the time Soyinka got to his Abeokuta home, Vatsa and the other military officers had been executed. So, when on Sunday April 22, 1990 an actual coup attempt, called the ‘Orkar Coup’ was carried out, Babangida and his gang went into frenzy. Hundreds of military officers were arrested with an unknown number murdered before they could get to trial. The junta also used the opportunity to shut-down some newspapers and detain 19 senior journalists, accusing them of participating in the coup.

It then turned on lecturers whom Babangida for years had accused of “teaching what they are not paid to teach”. The Gestapo on May 2, 1990 descended on the Obafemi Awolowo University. But the philosopher, Dr Dipo Fashina, escaped the dragnet. Then they abducted Professors Toye Olorode and Idowu Awopetu. As the convoy sped off, the alert students of the campus gave chase, caught one of the abductors, a secret service officer, whom the students detained for 12 days despite threats by the regime to invade the campus.

The Gestapo also went to Ibadan where they abducted famous historian, Professor Obaro Ikime of the University of Ibadan. While the OAU lecturers were unapologetic radicals, Ikime, who was also a well-known sports administrator and Anglican priest, had no such inclinations. So his abduction came as a surprise.

In Lagos, Olorode was detained at the Security Service detention centre on Awolowo Road; Awopetu at the centre on Kingsway Road; and surprisingly, Ikime was taken to the notorious Inter Centre, built into the Ikoyi Cemetery where the most ‘dangerous’ elements and many of the alleged coup plotters were kept. In the 95 days he spent in detention, he was allowed to wear just a pair of clothes.

The three professors were reunited at the Military Tribunal chaired by Brigadier Rufus Modupe Kupolati where they were charged as conspirators in the Orkar Coup. Olorode and Awopetu were jointly charged. The ‘evidence’ against them were that a conference against the World Bank was planned for the day of the coup attempt and that the duo belonged to a radical organisation called the Ife Collective which had produced a publication on ‘Alternative to SAP’ (Structural Adjustment Programme). Both defenders said they were opposed to coups and did not believe in replacing one set of coup plotters with another. Rather, they wanted the military’s exit from politics and the enthronement of ‘Peoples’ Power’.

The case proffered against Ikime was that he provided the intellectual basis for the Orkar coup, including campaigning for a religious upheaval and ethnic division which saw Orkar purporting to excise part of the country. In 1990, Ikime who was the Chairman of a committee on the Chapel of Resurrection, had read a communiqué to the church in which he warned those talking about dipping the Quran into the ocean in Lagos, advised against religious war and entreated the church to pray against it. The prosecution brought some members of the church, including an organist, to testify; but once they came face-to-face with Ikime, they buckled, and the case collapsed.

In order to avoid this type of collapse, the prosecution in the case of inciting ethnic hatred and conflict, decided to use Ikime’s published works against him. It produced his Keynote Address delivered at the National Seminar on the National Question held in Abuja on August 4, 1986. In the paper titled: “Towards Understanding The National Question”, Ikime had submitted that Hausa, Yoruba, Ijaw and other such nationalities did not exist before the 17th Century, so they were recent creations. Secondly, that unlike Islam and Christianity, traditional religion often serve as integrative forces and were accommodative.

Thirdly, that while Islam brought Islamic culture and made no separation between the state and region, Christianity brought Western European culture and education and secularism. So, while the Jihad created a religious and political entity in the Sokoto Caliphate resulting in a greater Northern togetherness, there was no such cohesion in the South.

Fourthly, that the colonialists in 1939 deliberately broke the South into two regions but left the North intact, thereby not just creating Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa-Fulani majorities, but also giving the impression that the North was larger than the South and awarded it double the seats than the South. He argued that if it were based on population -there was no national census until the controversial 1952/53 –the East and the West would not have been awarded equal number of seats. This colonial legacy, he said, led to politics being conceptualised as largely a trade-off among the three, while the other nationalities were “treated as mere pawns”.

  Fifth, that contrary to Bala Usman’s claims that the lines between the Hausa and Fulani had become blurred, the Hausa elites are conscious that following the Jihad, they lost the top political positions to the Fulani.

Sixth, that in appointments, lower qualifications were required from candidates from the North rather than promote greater equity.

  Ikime’s solution was that in a federation, there must be equal ownership and greater equity for all. In the argument before the tribunal, the intellectual took the prosecutors to the cleaners. On August 1, 1990, Ikime was released but compulsorily retired on October 15, 1990. Professors Olorode and Awopetu were similarly treated. Their retirement was illegal and they challenged it in court. But the state approached them informally that if they withdrew the cases and appealed to Babangida as the Visitor, they would be recalled. While Ikime seemed to have fallen for this ploy, Olorode and Awopetu refused and Justice Moni Fafiade ordered them recalled. Thus, the country lost the active services of a father historian who still had 26 years in the university where retirement for professors is 70.

On Thursday, April 25, 2023, at 86, the mobile African library departed on a one-way flight.

Twenty-five members of the Rotary Club of Lagos in District 9110 embarked on a Friendship Exchange visit to the Rotary Club of Marrakech-Menara in Morocco from April 23 -29, 2023. The trip had all the trappings of fun, excitement, adventure, cultural exchange, hospitality and friendship. In the past, our members had also visited Rwanda, Ghana, Kenya, Togo, Senegal and Benin Republic for the same reason.

On our delegation were two visiting Rotarians: Francis Nwankwo, of the Rotary Club of Festac Central and Eniola Elegushi, a member of the Rotary Club of Admiralty whose charter was recently sponsored by the Rotary Club of Lagos. Eniola is the daughter of Saidat Olayinka Oladunjoye, a former Commissioner of Education in Lagos State and member of the Rotary Club of Lagos.

Saidat chaired the Friendship Exchange Committee that was responsible for planning the trip: flight tickets, accommodation, and tours. She was actively supported by Rotarians Abayomi Adeyeri and Adenike Iyelolu. By all accounts, the committee’s performance was impressive. There were many Instagram moments depicted by photographs shared instantly to tell the story. To sum it up, the Marrakech trip created an unforgettable experience for the delegates.

The president of our club, Joe Akhigbe and the immediate past president, Babawale Agbeyangi, got to Marrakech in two separate flights before the delegates. Past assistant governor Gbolahan Ayodele was appointed by the president as leader of the delegation based on his experience on similar visits in the past and for being the most senior past president.

We flew out of Lagos at 5.10 am with Royal Air Maroc, the national carrier of Morocco, and touched down in Casablanca after four hours and 30 minutes. The connecting flight to Marrakech was ready when we landed and the flight lasted for 30 minutes.

You need a paper visa or e-visa for $100 before you can travel to Morocco. Some of our delegates were delayed by immigration officials on account of visa verification but they were cleared after a few minutes.

Marrakech is an exotic destination and tourists flock to the ancient city in much the same way bees are attracted to honey. With several hotel options to choose from for a population of roughly 1.5 million people, according to our guide, Azeez, Marrakech is known as the “Red City” because their buildings are covered in clay.

But the weather was hot, very hot when we visited, with temperatures as high as 42 degrees Celsius. From any corner of the city, the Moorish minaret of the 12^th century Koutoubia mosque is clearly visible and unmistakable. This is why no building in the city has more than five floors.

Members of the Rotary Club of Marrakech-Menara waited at the airport to welcome us and we posed for photographs with the Rotary wheel. A bus ride took us to our hotel. We stayed at Riu Tikida Palmeraie – an upscale and all-inclusive 4-star hotel on several acres of landscaped grounds dotted with palm trees that are surrounded by lush gardens.

Riu Tikda is an enchanting resort offering three restaurants, three bars, a fitness centre and spa plus indoor and outdoor pools; it became our home for the next six days – a shouting distance from the medina; you can get there after driving for 30 minutes.

The outdoor swimming pool was permanently brimming with visitors from around the world, sun tanning and generally enjoying themselves. A major attraction in Marrakech is the Jardin Majorelle Garden, a one-hectare botanical garden, designed by French artist, Jean Majorelle, in the 1920s when Morocco was a protectorate of France.

The medina is a mazelike medieval quarters built with clay walls stretching for more than 16 kilometres dating to the Berber empire. It is a densely populated fortified city within Marrakech with alley ways and thriving souks (markets).

All the markets in Marrakech are known for their vibrancy and brisk sales. In the heart of medina, you will find the famous Djemaa el-Fna market square where you can shop for brass wares, ceramics, handicrafts, traditional textiles, pottery, jewelry, metal lanterns and herbal remedies.

Marrakech is a former imperial city in western Morocco famous for its mosques, palaces and gardens. Tourism is big business in Marrakech with an incredible value chain and the cultural influences from Europe on the Berber and Arabian communities are evident.

If you want snake charmers or fortune tellers, you will find them. But don’t miss out on the camel ride, hot-air ballooning and riding in carriages propelled by horses.

Casablanca, on the other hand, is a port city and commercial hub of the country fronting the Atlantic Ocean. You can describe Casablanca as “their Lagos” while Rabat, the capital of Morocco, is “their Abuja.” Other notable cities are Agadir, Fes and Tangiers.

A train ride from Casablanca to Marrakech will last for two hours but a road trip will take up to three hours. Part of our itinerary was a road trip in a coach to Casablanca on the second day. It was a smooth ride all the way and I struggled in vain searching for potholes.

I was captivated by the picturesque landscapes flanking the highway and breathtaking view of large swathes of plains. On our way back, you could see the golden colour of the sun cast a wide blanket on the sky – a mixture of grey and royal blue – but it gradually disappeared behind the clouds as it began to set.

On the third day, we joined members of the Rotary Club of Marrakech-Menara in District 9010 for their meeting at La Mamounia – a luxurious, vibrant, mythical, authentic hotel and celebrity hangout with enchanting gardens regarded as one of the best hotels in the world.

Our friendship partner-club was chartered on March 14, 1998 and it has 26 members comprising Muslims, Christians and Jews. Morocco was grouped alongside Tunisia, Algeria and Mauritania to form District 9010. There are over 530 Rotary districts in the world.

At the end of our meeting, a partnership and cooperation agreement for mutual benefits was signed. Thereafter, we drove to the home of past president Jalal Zemmama where he hosted us to a lavish garden reception that will not be forgotten in a hurry.

The next day, it was a long drive for about an hour with members of our host club to Douar Ougog, one of the rural communities, to meet with children in a prep school (5 – 6 years old) built by the club. The same road leads to Ouarzazate, another suburb. In the last three years, our host club completed five schools and they are currently building the sixth school.

Initially, the kids were shy, as we had “invaded” their privacy but they loosened up and chatted with their visitors. When it was time to go, they stood up and sang the Moroccan national anthem with pride.

Jalal told me he would be attending the next Rotary International Convention from May 27 – 31, 2023 in Melbourne, Australia. It is the greatest gathering of Rotarians in the world at the same venue.

In his appreciation note, Khalid Bounouis, president of the host club, said they were honoured to host us and share precious moments during our stay. “The visit was one of our goals this year to strengthen the relationship of our club with other clubs in the continent,” he explained.

We made new friends and it was an opportunity to learn new things about the people and their culture. Dr Amre Mouabad is a medical doctor who told me French was the language of instruction in the medical school he attended; Jalal Haddouchi is their president-elect while Ilham El Yacoubi runs a kindergarten.

Throughout our stay, electricity supply was constant; it means the Moroccans do not have any need for petrol or diesel powered generators. Fatima Zaha El-Allaoui is a Moroccan and member of our Rotary Club in Lagos but she is married to a Tunisian and they live and work in Nigeria.

Fatima also served on the Friendship Exchange Committee, making sure we had a wholesome experience in Marrakech. She travelled ahead of us to prepare the groundwork with members the Rotary Club of Marrakech-Menara. She was also helpful as an interpreter.

When I asked her about the electricity situation in Morocco, she told me the light is very steady. “I have never experienced blackout since I was born,” Fatima, who is over 40 years old, said confidently. Water supply is also regular. We were shocked to learn that petrol cost N1, 225 per litre. When compared to the pump price in Nigeria, it is quite expensive.

But context in terms of GDP per capita of both countries is important. Available 2021 data indicates that Nigeria was 2,065.75 USD while Morocco was 3,795.38 USD but this does not mean Morocco is not struggling with its economy; all that glitters is not gold.

However, the three leading exports of Morocco are agricultural produce (citrus fruits and market vegetables), semi processed goods and consumer goods (including textiles) and phosphates and phosphates products. One US dollar is exchanged for 9.8 Moroccan Dirham.

Morocco has a population of about 40 million people but Casablanca with a population of about 7 million people is the country’s largest city. The Atlas Mountains – a series of mountain ranges – is dotted with Berber villages and covers a large area of Morocco. It stretches across northwestern Africa, also spanning Algeria and Tunisia, separating the Atlantic and Mediterranean coastline from the Sahara Desert.

Morocco is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary national legislative system (bicameral parliament) under which ultimate authority rests with King Mohammed VI, who presides over the Council of Ministers. The Monarch is the head of state and he appoints the prime minister who serves as head of government

Riu Tikida Palmeraie hotel workers were very polite which should be the standard protocol for a tourist city. The rooms are spacious, designed in rectangular shapes with mainly twin beds for $180 per night, but the housekeepers struggle to speak English.

In the absence of interpreters, I used sign language to communicate with them as I could neither speak Arabic nor French.

Although alcohol sales are restricted as you would expect in a Muslim country, you can drink in licensed bars, restaurants and tourist areas. However, if you want a Moroccan wife, you must be a Muslim.

Our return flight from Marrakech to Casablanca was cancelled for reasons the airline refused to disclose even after we asked their representatives. Our president-elect, Abiodun Role and his wife who left the day before, had a similar experience.

A coach was provided which left Marrakech airport at 6.00 pm. We got to Casablanca airport at 8.45 pm under a flood of street lights and arrived in Lagos in the wee hours of the following day.

The Rotary Friendship Exchange is an international exchange programme for Rotarians and friends that allow participants to take turns in hosting one another in their homes and clubs. Rotary International says friendship exchanges should be organised around at least one of three themes: culture, service and vocation.

Participants may travel as individuals, couples, families or groups and may be Rotarians or not. Some of the benefits of friendship exchanges include the opportunity to broaden international understanding, explore profession or job in a different context, build enduring friendships, establish a foundation for peace and service, gain opportunities for active project involvement and support; learn about a region’s people, food, languages, customs and history and finding partners for grants.

Braimah is a public relations strategist and publisher/editor-in-chief of Naija Times (https://ntm.ng)

Education is a critical priority for Nigeria, as it is for any nation serious about growth and development. Unfortunately, in the past ten years, we have not seen any focus on or dramatic improvement in education. Our best efforts at addressing education have put us steps behind our peer nations in all key development indicators. We inadvertently signal to the world that we do not care about the future. Education is a fundamental human right that should be available to all citizens, regardless of socio-economic status or background.

This is different in Nigeria. Nigeria’s literacy rate, put at 62% by Globaldata does not make us competitive among nations and shows the dysfunctional state of our primary schools . At this point, we do not need talks, sound bites, and pretensions. We need radical reforms backed by action to change the status quo. The Nigerian government needs to take a holistic approach to education reform that focuses on improving the quality of education, increasing access to quality education, and promoting innovation and technology in education. Acknowledged , education is on the concurrent list and Local Governments have a pivotal role to play . The federal government still has a responsibility to set policy direction for the nation. 

As a first step, it may be necessary to establish a “Special Office on Education Reforms  at the Presidency”, working with other levels of government and  stakeholders, to fashion out a 25-year ‘Marshall plan’ to reposition education and follow up the plan with a measurable implementation strategy. It must establish policies and regulatory framework  to increase literacy rates and encourage gender equality in education. While the federal government should strengthen regulatory regimes for standards nationwide, state  and local governments should establish their competitiveness standards to be measured by academic performance in public examinations and evidence of high levels of numeracy and literacy skills among the children. 

State  and Local Governments’ proactive actions are desperately needed given the cultural dichotomies and multiplicities of geopolitical differences in both access to education and quality of education in Nigeria. There are by far too many differences in standards in the Nigerian system, and state-by-state differences, regional geopolitical differences, and differences between public and private institutions exist. The education challenges in the Muslim North are peculiarly different from those of the South. Insecurity in the North has compounded the problems.

Education statistics in Nigeria are frightening, as it faces many challenges in providing quality and inclusive education for its large and diverse population. Nigeria has the world’s highest number of out-of-school children, with about 10.5 million children aged 5-14 years not attending school. Nigeria has a low literacy rate of 65.1% according to World Bank data with significant gender and regional disparities. It has a low gross enrolment rate in primary schools of 68.3%, with 22.4 million children in public primary schools and 4.2 million in private primary schools. Nigeria ranks 124th out of 137 countries in terms of quality of primary education according to World Economic Forum . It has a low school completion rate of 63% for primary education, 44% for junior secondary education, and 17% for senior secondary education. 

It allocates only about 5 to 6% of its federal budget to education, far below the recommended 15-20% national budget by UNESCO. The expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP is also low at 1.95%.

Furthermore, to underscore the crisis in our education sector, only 450,000 to 550,000 applicants who sit for JAMB out of 1.761 million in 2022 were admitted to universities. These 450-550,000 persons are 0.013% of 40 million youths aged between 15 and 24 (2020 data) eligible for university education. This lag in tertiary education opportunities is part of the reasons we are crawling as a nation. The astronomical rise in private universities from 3 in 1999 to 30 in 2009 and 111 in 2022 is evidence of the gap in university education but not necessarily about quality or affordability . 

Apart from the issue of access, Nigerian Universities are plagued with poor quality of instruction and learning, leading to a generation of unemployable Nigerian university graduates because they need more skill, cognitive ability, and critical thinking capacity.  This gap  can be traced to the quality of our basic education which is under the purview of local governments. Research output, which is the main criterion for ranking universities globally, of Nigerian universities and Nigeria academics is comparatively low behind countries like Botswana and South Africa. And knowledge accumulation, which leads to social and human capital formation and economic development, gives developed countries an advantage over developing countries. Our low research output partially accounts for why our growth is stagnated and the rentier economy is thriving.

Conversely, estimated 5-7% of our seasoned Academics leave Nigeria annually to go overseas because of a better research environment. Several special NUC intervention schemes started earlier are either abandoned or discontinued. Such innovative schemes as Linkages with Experts and Academics in the Diaspora Scheme (LEADS) designed to attract Nigerian academics in the diaspora, Presidential Scholarship for Innovation and Development (PRESSED) for first-class graduates, and Transnational Education Scheme (TES) to boost foreign investment and partnerships between Nigerian universities and their foreign counterparts have not made the intended impact on our tertiary education sector.

The education infrastructure in Nigeria is old, decrepit, poor, and sometimes abysmal. Successive governments have failed to build new public schools commensurate to the community need, or where they do, no real investment is made in infrastructure and facilities. Most public schools’ conditions are terrible, and no one wants to study there. The school buildings and premises are “not fit for purpose”. There is an extreme level of negligence towards education. The teachers are neither well-trained nor really motivated. Private schools are personal businesses and are squeezing the living daylight out of most parents who struggle to pay the cost of private education. The curriculum emphasises cognitive knowledge (memory-oriented learning) aimed at passing examinations instead of skill base, analytical and independent thinking needed for mental and economic progress. The theory is emphasised more than practice. Education technology is significantly unavailable in most schools. 

Neglect of education by government at all levels is a critical indicator of a failing state. When a state fails or is failing, the effective educational systems are privatised, or the public facilities become increasingly decrepit and neglected. Teachers and others who work in the education sector are ignored or relegated to the background, and reports to the relevant ministries are ignored. 

I must acknowledge the effort of Dr Oby Ezekwesili as minister of education under Obasanjo’s presidency who embarked on comprehensive education reform, but this was dumped as soon as the government wound down. At the sub-national level, attempts by Ekiti State under Fayemi, Edo under Oshimole, and Kaduna under El- Rufai to kick start the reset of education by improving the quality of teachers was resisted by the organised labour and other entrenched interest. This, unfortunately, is the dilemma. 

Recently, the  federal government has devised various initiatives to deal with the education problem in Nigeria. These include Universal Basic Education (UBE) Programme, Education Tax,  Safe Schools Initiative, Teacher Professional Development (TPD) Programme, National Education Policy, and the Private Sector Participation Programme. These initiatives, at best, had minimal positive effects on our education sector. Little wonder the education statistics still evoke horror reading. No doubt our education sector is broken. 

I call for a state of emergency and a complete reset in education. This means a holistic education reform that will position our education sector as the social and economic growth engine. Asian Tigers, referring to Singapore, Malaysia, and South Korea, amongst others, can attribute their success to the fact that they scaled up investment in education, as well as research and development, that enhanced human capital development to improve the productivity of the workforce across all sectors. Nigeria needs to do the same. It behoves the new administration to restructure the whole education system on a priority basis and align it with modern education techniques. 

Improving education in Nigeria requires a multifaceted approach that involves the government, businesses, educators, parents, and the broader community. Government should first devise a means of sustainably funding  education and allocate a significant portion of the national budget to the sector. Second, improve teacher training and professional development to ensure teachers have the skills and knowledge necessary to teach in a 21st-century classroom. Third, prioritise expanding access to education, especially in rural areas. Fourth, prioritise  science , technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), then invest in vocational and technical education to equip students with practical skills relevant to the job market. Fifth, champion  curriculum reforms by reviewing and updating the curriculum to ensure that it is appropriate and responsive to the needs of the country and the global economy. Sixth, embrace digital learning and promote the use of technology in education. And finally, improve monitoring and evaluation to assess the quality of education and track progress in achieving academic goals.

The benefits to Nigeria of a robust education sector providing good access, high quality, and skill and practice-driven education are evident. A good education sector can contribute to economic growth by producing a skilled workforce better equipped to meet the job market’s needs, attract foreign investment, and boost economic productivity. Quality education is a powerful tool for poverty reduction, promotes better health outcomes, and promotes social cohesion by fostering a sense of national identity and shared values. Education can also promote understanding and tolerance among different ethnic and religious groups, therefore reducing ethnic and religious tensions and insecurity. It fosters innovation and entrepreneurship by providing individuals with the skills and knowledge necessary to start businesses and develop new technologies whilst enhancing Nigeria’s global competitiveness by producing a skilled workforce that can compete in the worldwide marketplace. We, therefore, implore the new administration not to play Russian Roulette with our education sector. They must remember that a robust education system catalyses sustainable,  social and economic development.