“……. [Not long before the end of 15th century] the British Isles and western Europe in general were but distant backwaters of the Mediterranean world. Little of importance ever happened there. Even the Roman Empire – the only important premodern European empire – derived most of its wealth from its North African, Balkan and Middle Eastern provinces. Rome’s western European provinces were a poor Wild West, which contributed little aside from minerals and slaves. Northern Europe was so desolate and barbarous that it wasn’t even worth conquering …….” (Yuval Noah Harari).

This is the first day of first month in 2022CE – on the Gregorian calendar! The year 2021CE is history! History can be interestingly enlightening. It can even be very illuminating especially when it is not rendered – only – from the perspective of the ‘conqueror’. All sides of a historical rendition (which are, unfortunately, almost always, not complete on the table) may offer us the opportunity to make informed and ‘objective’ judgement of past happenings. Regrettably, as implied earlier, the annihilated parties, in wars, for instance, do not always have the opportunity to relay their side of the story! That is the reality, in most cases, concerning what is/are presented/accepted as history! Thus, ‘history’ may be perverted, deliberately made disjointed, biased, warped, muddled up, revised and sometimes outrightly contrived.

Consequently, ‘conquerors’ make efforts at transmitting ‘history’ – theirs and others’ – orally and/or in written form, from one epoch to the other, fearlessly justifying its content, for themselves and against the annihilated side(s)! ‘Conquerors’ may be ‘benevolent’ at transmitting ‘history’ of and for the vanquished! It therefore suffices to say that ‘history’ is never ‘complete’ without the (unavailable) account from the vanquished! This account, if not lost in history, is difficult to come by and propagate! Nevertheless, efforts toward this is important, without losing sight of the fact that it is unfair to judge history using today’s standard. We do not intend to analyse history, here, using today’s standard. This, of course, will be unfair! Yet, we all still need to go into history and relate it to the present in order to help the future.

When the news of the death of a 12-year-old boy named Sylvester Oromoni Jnr. went viral, it was as if the ‘unusual’ happened. True to type of a pretentious, deceptive, reality-denying and lying society such as the current Nigeria, there was an insincere hullabaloo that appears to have died down, today! We want to believe this is so because of legal implication(s) of discussing it in the public domain! Newspapers and other news outlets, then, vociferously reported that the late Sylvester Oromoni Jnr. was allegedly beaten by fellow students in such a way that it resulted in his death. The phenomenon was swiftly described as bullying! We send our heartfelt condolence to family/friends of the Oromonis and others that have suffered from such a catastrophe! This kind of traumatic experience is better imagined than experienced! 

We hope this kind of calamity does not repeat itself in the life of another family. Sadly, we can only hope against hope! This is because we have a society where bullying is entrenched in – right from the family level! Maybe there is a poor understanding of what bullying means. We may need to consult a dictionary. Cambridge online dictionary says it is simply “the behaviour of a person who hurts or frightens someone smaller or less powerful, often forcing that person to do something they do not want to do”. Is this definition of a bully strange to us, Nigerians? Well, it can only be ‘strange’ to those engaging in bullying!

Take for instance: how do we describe the many types of spousal abuses? What about parental/guardian’s abuses of their children/wards? What of the abusive relationship between the all powerful bosses and their subordinates? Is sexual harassment, everywhere, excused from this list? Can we extend this argument to how ‘big men’ in our society oppress the lowly? Are we ‘permitted’ to talk about how those in government treat other common Nigerians with disdain? How do you explain why charlatans in government give the impression that they know more than everybody, so all must kow-tow? How do you describe a society that allows their intellectual/intelligentsia community to be rubbished by the half-wits?

What do you call groups of people who are happy when academics, in universities, are pauperised and presented as worthless beings? What kind of description should we give to a government that ‘sanctioned’ the brutal shooting of peaceful protesters with live bullets procured with these citizens’ resources? What about the blind commodification of education in a society of deliberately-unequalled opportunities? Is the use of platforms to suppress alternative views not part of what is being described here? If these and others are not bullying, what then is/are? Hear this: bullying is an integral part of Nigerian society; it is either we like this truth or not! We have only been deceiving ourselves, all along, by engaging in escapism, always!

We cannot be idolising brutes and at the same time expect to have a society that is not dominated by bullies! A people’s actions and inactions toward oppressive and suppressive tendencies will be the major determinant of the kind of a society that is being developed when considering bullies and bullying. Yes, we know that those being bullied are at a disadvantage now but what marvels is that when the table turns, instead of making corrections, the bullied just seamlessly transmute to bullies! This vicious circle is what manifests in our daily dealings, both in private and public! We must sincerely learn from history for this to change! Going back to where we started from, history, if care is not taken, has a way of repeating itself. 

For instance, the quotation above from Harari, a historian, clearly described how ‘unimportant’ Western Europe was in relation to the Mediterranean world, up to and during the medieval period. During this epoch, perhaps, those Europeans would have seen themselves as victims of bullying even as we also have the unmistakable history of “the systematic degradation and exploitation of the Irish and Welsh peasantry by the English over several centuries after the conquest of Ireland in 1171 and that of Wales in 1282” using the words of Plantagenet Somerset Fry also known by other pseudonyms but born Peter George Robin Fry (1931–1996). This is Europe that Walter Rodney (1942–1980) says ‘underdeveloped’ Africa! 

Everything changed for Europe at the end of the fifteenth and early sixteenth century when science took over, particularly from England. From this point onwards, again, it does appear that Europeans – themselves – became bullies to other parts of the world! Opinions may vary concerning this depending on the prism through which it is seen by interested parties since any occurrence can be obtained from history to justify one’s point(s). Nonetheless, the point being made here is that humans are wired, somehow, to be bullies, even as the ‘definition’ of bullying has changed over the years. Many of us are bullies without actually knowing! On the other hand, bullies, with knowledge of what they are, always justify their actions and leverage on inadequate/lack of protection for the bullied. Once a society collectively fails to restrain and correct this human frailty, then it (society) is bound to continuously encounter the kinds of disasters worse than that experienced by the family we mentioned above and others suffering in silence.

This is not a case of being prophets of doom! It is what it really is! You cannot be rewarding oppressive brigands and an irredeemably predatory state and not expect bullying to flourish in such a society. Again, let truth be told, Nigeria currently provides fertile ground that nourishes bullies and bullying! Many of us – knowingly and/or unknowingly – are struggling to become bullies! As might is considered right in our society, we drown the cries of those being bullied in the lagoon of helplessness until another disaster happens to another victim! We will shout, as usual, and everybody will later be quietened, consoled and lulled to sleep with the usual ‘it is one of those things’. Is it really one of those things? It used to be but no more! Some humans – like us – have been able to work on their system to fight bullying. Bring up humans in functional families, develop acceptable rules/laws that discourage bullying, and enforce these rules/laws when deviants go roguish, no matter whose ox in gored! It is that simple for a sincere people! History is about to be made! Let us take positive actions that will benefit mankind soon and in future.

Erakhrumen teaches at the Department of Forest Resources and Wildlife Management, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria. He can be reached via andrew.erakhrumen@uniben.edu

Dear God,

A nation that honors you is a blessed nation and indeed today we honour and thank you for a year that has ended, and a new year that has began.

Last year in August, the nation put its faith in you, even when detractors thought we would degenerate into chaos, lawlessness and bloodshed. Violence and hate was championed and glorified, but they were overcome by the power of love. Ethnic division was extolled, but unity in diversity was exalted and triumphed.

You held us together in the palm of your hands and peace and heavenly serenity overshadowed our territories and reigned supreme during and after the elections, because this nation is the apple of your eye. For this we are eternally grateful to you our God and our Father. This is your land, we are your people.

We continue praying that those that may wish to weaponize our artificial differences to sow seeds of confusion, hate and division in our land, will not succeed but that instead seeds of hope, hard work, unity, peace and progress will outgrow and overtake all other things. This is the will of your people. We believe this is your will too.

May you give this nation a full realisation that you can only trully bless us if we are fully accountable to the people, over resources that you have granted us, and not engage in corruption and theft from our citizens.Teach us to take care of our environment and our surroundings so that we preserve our planet for future generations.

May we continue honouring you as a nation through love for our neighbours in all our communities regardless of ethnicity, race, religion social class or gender. May we especially look after our disabled, the old and the very young. We also pray for our citizens in the diaspora, that you may protect and prosper them

May we worship you by giving ourselves to others through service and servitude to the best of our ability.

Lord, as we come before you to honor your holy name as a nation in this new year, we ask that you prosper our economy, families, and relationships with other countries. Open up financial doors so that we can thrive in our economy. Help us to engage in business relationships with the nations that have our interest at heart. Let them also engage in treaties that align with your word and will.

We now pray for all our Armed Forces, the Police and all the men and women in uniform that keep us secure on our long borders and within. We pray for our medical staff who are the frontline combatants against Covid-19 and have put their lives on the line as they continue battling the virus that has taken and continue claiming more lives of our citizens.

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord”.

(Romans 8:38-39)

In Jesus’s Name we pray, Amen.

A Happy and prosperous New year and a Happy Sabbath to all Zambians. God bless you and may He bless the Republic of Zambia.

Hichilema is the President of the Republic of Zambia.

Although, President Muhammadu Buhari had good intentions for the people and Nigeria, his administration missed the opportunity to formulate good policies in its first six months,  and wasted away without a cabinet, ministers are expected to be genuine reformers and technocrats of international repute.

Interestingly, President Buhari had been an ardent critic of successive administrations in the country since 2002 for wrongdoing or formulation of anti-masses policies.

His criticism of successive administrations raised great expectations of citizens that the Buhari administration’s change mantra will halt the dangerous drift of Nigeria towards a failed state.

Another problem the administration encountered in its early days was excessive praise-singing  by subordinates, sycophants and people seeking favours. The masses were also praising and believing that only Baba Buhari can change the unfortunate situation of the country.

No administration in the country has formulated as many welfarist policies as the PMB administration. There are substantial gains on Infrastructure development across the country,  support to state governments with various financial bailouts, budget finance support, and many more policies to alleviate the suffering of citizens.

Challenges in the country had become extremely difficult for the administration to contend with, as Mr. President has taken the country through many challenges. The Buhari administration has been struggling to keep Nigeria together through odds such as insecurity, poor economy, poverty, etc. As a result of these challenges, there have been all kinds of expression of disapproval by citizens on the basis of languishing in extreme hardship. In fact, no  one will believe that one day, the poor masses would be fed up with “Sai Baba” to  Kai Baba.”

Mr. President promised a transformational leadership that would  bring order and harmony in place of insecurity and tension, to restore faith and trust in government by tackling corruption and abuse of power, and to give hope to ordinary Nigerians by managing a successful economy, reducing poverty and increasing prosperity.

EconomySince 2015, economic growth has been too low to lift the bottom half of the population who are below the  poverty line. Nigeria entered into second recession in 2016, the first in 30 years. Nigeria slumped back into recession, its second in five years and its worst ever.

The administration pledged to create enabling environment for foreign direct investments into the country. Mr President embarked on countless foreign trips seeking investors but even those that operate in the country are moving to neighbouring countries. Foreign direct investments into Nigeria slumped to its lowest in 11 years as the last time Nigeria recorded lower FDIs was in Q1 2010.

The country became a debtor  nation relying on loans to execute infrastructure projects. The administration has consistently assured that it is working hard to grow the nation’s economy but each passing day Nigerians see scary escalating debt profile.

The administration  uses 50% of its revenue to service its debts! This is unsustainable. This is just part of an economic malaise that has consigned millions of Nigerians to “Multidimensional Poverty” even as a few continue to enjoy the nation’s wealth. in addition, the administration has failed to diversify the nation’s economy which would have strengthened the value of the naira and boost external revenue.

Corruption: No one disputes Buhari’s  reputation of being incorruptible. At the inception of the administration Nigerians anticipated that the president would work with the National Assembly to remove immunity clause from the constitution. This constitutional provision remains one of  the challenges of curbing financial infractions and corruption in governance.

Nigerians expected that the administration would  forward Executive Bill to the National Assembly for the creation of special courts for prosecution of corrupt persons and economic saboteurs. Regrettably, it is under the watch of our incorruptible Baba that Nigeria has dropped on Transparency International’s  Corruption Perception Index ranking.

In South Africa and South Korea  the Office of Public Prosecutor is independent and powerful that can investigate the president even while still in office but this is not the case in Nigeria despite the proclaimed war on corruption.

Insecurity: at the beginning of the administration Nigerian troops made giant strides in technically defeating Boko Haram. Unfortunately, the country is now bedeviled by insecurity in North-central, North-west and other parts of the country as terrorists and kidnappers have overrun these areas.

Therefore, the president needs to make a difference in dealing with unpatriotic individuals because Buhari’s fear factor has disappeared. Let’s enjoy your status of a retired General and war veteran; Buhari was celebrated as the General Commanding Officer in 1980,  he showed great courage by chasing out Chadian soldiers who had annexed Nigerian islands in Lake Chad. Let Mr. President act like Ethiopian prime minister who led troops in the fight against rebels in the north of that country.  Abiy was not a trained but a child soldier, while Baba is a trained soldier.

Truth is that Buhari has 17 months to make things better for the sake of himself and the generations after him. These are not the best of times in the country’s history, the president and those who love him, indeed, Nigerians at large are worried. How will history judge Baba Buhari when he vacates office next year?  Even though, there is less hope for citizens in 2022 given plans by government to increase petrol price and sundry anti-masses policies, let’s pray for Allah to guide Baba and open his heart to understand the suffering people are going through. We bow before Allah to forgive us, help us in our trying moment as people and the country at large to pass this trial.

Wishing him Allah’s guidance to regain his personality in the eyes of  Nigerians that keep asking whether he’s the same man of reliability we saw in Baba Buhari some years back because what citizens and the country are going through are unimaginable. I wish you well and may the 2022 be a great year for your administration and the country at large.

Dukawa writes from Kano.