Columns
My Binoculars: Remembering Journalist Ambassador Udigwe
My Binoculars: Remembering Journalist Ambassador Udigwe
By: Bodunrin Kayode
Udigweeee as I called him when alive was a calm and gentle man. He was a non-conformist in the newsroom of Abuja Newsday newspaper in the year 1991 when I decided to move to Abuja to deepen my exposure in the journalism profession. Ambassador Udigwe was a good human angle writer that inspired me as a cub reporter. But his greatest strength was his investigative skills. In my profession, you are either a good investigator or a good writer. Very few possessed the two strengths. But all of us have our unique strengths depending on which genre you choose. I choose the print where I can perfect the two without too much proprietorial interference.
Also Read: NDLEA Opens 24/7 Call Centre to Assist People with Drug…
I was just a cub in the writing business but he took interest in me when I agreed to cross over with my Lagos bureau Chief Martins Oloja who was promoted Editor of the paper in Wuse. He would send me on errands at times and I would gladly do them for him. For a senior colleague, Udigwe’s simplicity spoke volumes because he could blend with all regardless of status. He was not a psychological bully.
One day he dragged me to his usual relaxation joint where he drank fresh palm wine. We sat down and I was served the white drink in a calabash. I gladly turned it down because I was not into that kind of indulgence then. He smiled and asked why. I said, sorry Udigwe, I stopped drinking because it was not suitable for my persona. “My brain was too light for Alcohol because just a bottle could disfigure me” I told him so he laughed and ordered “Abacha” an Igbo delicacy which I ate for the first time in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
My refusal of the drink did not make him sideline me as others would have done. He asked them to bring something non alcoholic for me. I did drink and he was happy that I was beginning to hang out which is one of the last times to gather information in our profession. He took me to some of his key assignments and taught me some tricks which are still in my brain 30 years later.
In one of our visits, he told me that he was a pure “wawa man” from the Oji river area of Enugu when I asked why he despised wearing English suits or complete native attires with a cap to match our official dresses. And that palm wine was the water with which abacha was washed down people’s throats from where he came from. The wawa people then were looked down upon by the metropolitan igbos of Enugu township because like gwaris who ran away from modernization, they too kept off too much of western civilization. They had this Okonkwo mentality painted by Chinwe Achebe in ” things fall apart” that the white man was always out to divide them so they despised his ways.
My Editor, then Martin’s Oloja and news Editor Clement Wasa never knew this but I learnt so much about simplicity from Ambassador. He was to me a special Igbo breed who never saw me from any other prism but a young colleague eager to learn. In contemporary parlance I would call him an “obidient” professional with a Peter Obi kind of detribalised mind set.
DEATH OF UDIGWE
I was devastated when he died suddenly before my other friend Alifa Daniel left us in Newsday for the Concord newspaper which business man Moshood Abiola had just started. Alifa was a bit private, not the hanging out type but has remained a friend till this day. Martins Oloja was my boss and we had mostly official relationships so I had to settle for Jok Shok who introduced me into core unionism when he became the secretary of the Nigerian Union of Journalism NUJ FCT council under Ndamadu Sule as chair and later the Chair of the council. That was when I started honing my non-conformist skills tapped from Udigwe. As long as that thing is wrong you can’t get Udigwe to do it. He was very informal so we blended and sometimes laughed at formalities.
One day just like a meteorite my friend Udigwe died after a protracted illness. It’s been 30 years since he bowed out of this world. Into the looniness of eternity.
Sadly, I later learnt that he was not married and had no child around to replace him. I never had the opportunity to ask why he didn’t have a nuclear family because it was not an issue after he took me as a kid brother and family. In fact the Newsday family was his home especially where Elsie Tobrise used to torment him about his sometimes awkward dress sense. Sometimes Udigwe will dress like a real wawa traditionalist but I had no issue with that. Because that was Udigwe for you. Always smiling under heavy newsroom pressure or even a query for missing a report. I can never forget his infectious smiles. As if I was his first son.
Have your rest, big brother journalist Ambassador till we meet to part no more. You touched my life.
My Binoculars: Remembering Journalist Ambassador Udigwe
Columns
With Fury of a Tempest, Alau Dam Flood
With Fury of a Tempest, Alau Dam Flood
By: Balami Lazarus
Who wants to be a millionaire? a television quiz program anchored by one Frank Idoho, which I hardly missed. I recalled a question once asked: Where is Lake Alau? In the options, there was Borno state among other states. The young man on the hot seat gave a wrong answer. I believe because Lake Alau was then not popular, unlike its cousin, Lake Chad.
Not much is known about the Lake, Alau, and the dam known and called Lake Alau Dam put together. Let me first start with the lake as a natural geographical feature, a large body of water surrounded by land. However, and to the best of my findings, there is no available written document on the history of this lake in question. But it held that the Lake was there many years traceable to the period of the Kanem- Borno Empire. While the present Alau was a small settlement that emerged during the formative years of Shehu’s dynasty from 1846 to the present day. It later grew into a village with people of Kanuri extraction.
Alau is today part of the Konduga Local Government Area of Borno state, some few kilometers away from Maiduguri city center. For the purpose of providing portable drinking water and to improve agriculture through irrigation farming and fishing, a dam was constructed by the past administration of the state from 1984 to 1986. The project was tagged as Water for Borno. Thereby, Lake Alau Dam has become part of the people’s lives, for its importance cannot be quantified.
The recent Alau Dam flood that nearly swept away the city of Maiduguri came with a raging fury of a tempest in September 2024 I will liken to one of the works of William Shakespeare—”The Tempest.”TheTempest”. That of the play was simply and deliberately raised to humble palace traitor Antonio and his co-conspirators, who ousted Duke Prospero, whom they marooned on a deserted island, leaving him to his fate. But ours came with devastating destruction and killing with ravaging effect from head to tail, which has caused unestimated damage.
The flood was not because of the heavy rainfall experienced last season but from the overflow of the dam and subsequent breakoff of its decks. My last visit to Lake Alau Dam with some friends was years back. What was observed and saw were obsolete facilities that were outdated, old, and weakly decked. There was nothing to show that the dam is being cared for. But while growing up in Zaria as kids, we were so used to seeing Kubani and the University (ABU) dams being opened up to let out large quantities of water to avoid overflow and flooding. Has Alau Dam ever experienced that? Has it been dredged?
Therefore, the 13-man committee led by Mr. Liman Gana Mustapha, a professional town planner, may wish to consider these questions as an inroad to finding a lasting solution to the flood matter.
Balami, a Publisher/Columnist. 08036779290
With Fury of a Tempest, Alau Dam Flood
Columns
The Rise and Fall of Garkida, a Social Decline
The Rise and Fall of Garkida, a Social Decline
By: Balami Lazarus
In my recent visit to see my aged mother in Shaffa, a small rural town. In a chat with some of my peers, Garkida came up, and one of us immediately informed the group that the town is socially dredged. I made some findings, and you may wish to agree. I believed students of history my generation were once taught about the rise and fall of great empires, kingdoms, rulers, warriors, and other historical events during our secondary school days. In the cause of those lessons, our imaginations were always taken far to other lands.
We never thought that someday there would be a fall or decline of our own, which could be a town, village, or settlement, but never like the fall of the known historical empires/kingdoms of Oyo, Jukun, Fante/Ashante, Kanem-Borno, Songhai, etc. To rise is a difficult task in life or in the course of growth, be it individual, town, or city. But to fall is easy. Garkida has rose and fallen, or, to say, declined socially. Once a bubbling rural town in Buraland, being in Gombi Local Government Area of Adamawa State has nose-dived from the social ladder.
As a historian, I will not subscribe to the use of the term fall; it will defile my histo-journalistic sense of reasoning because Garkida is a proper noun and is there real. So it will rather go well with me and perhaps some readers of this essay to accept Declined as a better use of historical language for the purpose of this work. I am not a native of Garkida and have never lived there, but it was the home of my cousins and nieces long before now.
As a young man, I had it well with friends when the town was in her social chemistry and apogee. In spite of her decline, the arrears in our kitty, notwithstanding the flow of time, are the mutual friendship, an indelible mark in our social life. I remember clearly as a holiday-maker with my grandmother at Shaffa, Garkida was the in-thing in our youthful days because of the mass social activities that used to take place there.
There were social interactions with friends and relatives from different places, parties of all kinds—a social front burner. And to most of my peers, it was the center of today’s mobile social handle—Facebook, where you meet and make new friends. That was Garkida for us. As a rural town, it flourished with glamour, elegance, and pride, triggered by the social engineering of Who is Who? The creme de la creme of her sons and daughters who made nane in their vocations or professions that promoted and spread the name of Garkida as social lighthouse.
It was the abode of top military brass in the ranks of generals. Her businessmen once made the town tick as a cluster of has. It was the nerve of vogue and socialites in Buraland. There was declined in this capacity. Historically, Garkida came to the limelight and appeared on the colonial map of Nigeria in 1923, when the white Christian missionaries of CBN/EYN first settled there and made it their home on the 17th March of the aforementioned year. The beginning of her social mobility started in the 1970s, through the 1980s, to the dawn of the 1990s, her zenith.
I doff my hat for the united daughters of Garkida; credit goes to them; their exposures, taste, beauty, love, elegance, sophistication, unity of purpose, and social agrandisement made them wives of husbands of men from far and near who are of different walks of life. The women of Garkida were a central force, once the venus de milo of the town before its social decline. I cannot conclude this article without appreciating the fact that Garkida was the center of learning and vocational training and once the hold of good and efficient healthcare services in Buraland and its neighbors. Today, Garkida is no longer in the vantage position.
Balami, a Publisher/Columnist, 08036779290.
Columns
Kashim Shettima, Leadership, and the Flood in Maiduguri
Kashim Shettima, Leadership, and the Flood in Maiduguri
By Dr. James Bwala
These past few days, I have been thinking back on the flood in Maiduguri. I have spoken with at least thirty people who have been impacted by the flood, and their responses and comments regarding the flood and Vice President Kashim Shettima’s leadership struck me as something people had never observed at the worst of this natural calamity. In addition to highlighting the environmental issues the area is facing, the recent flooding in Maiduguri has also highlighted the leadership style of Nigeria’s Vice President, Kashim Shettima. Due to excessive rainfall, a section of the Alau dam broke, and insufficient drainage systems, the region’s already preexisting socioeconomic vulnerabilities have been made worse by the floods. In light of this, Shettima’s reaction and crisis management techniques are worthy of close scrutiny.
Shettima’s proactive attitude to governance, especially during times of crisis, has frequently been described as a hallmark of his leadership style. During his term as Borno State’s governor, he made large infrastructural improvements meant to increase the state’s resilience to severe catastrophes. Notwithstanding these endeavors, Maiduguri’s persistent shortcomings in urban planning and emergency preparedness are brought to light by the latest floods. It is admirable how Shettima can organize resources and interact with the community in times of need.
The former Borno State governor and current vice president of Nigeria, Kashim Shettima, has taken the lead in resolving these crises. His proactive approach to leadership is marked by a desire to both build community resilience and lessen the effects of natural disasters. Shettima has advocated for long-term infrastructure improvements in addition to organizing resources for emergency relief operations in response to the flooding issue. Through collaboration with several entities, such as non-governmental organizations and foreign agencies, his objective is to furnish those impacted by the floods with basic amenities like potable water, food, and medical support.
Nigeria’s VP Kashim Shettima
READ ALSO: https://newsng.ng/police-witness-tells-iip-sars-how-peter-ekwealor-slumped-after-allegedly-confessing-to-killing-asp-akoh-ude/
Severe flooding has caused serious problems for Maiduguri and made the humanitarian crises already plaguing the area worse. Kashim Shettima’s prompt action has been essential in meeting the impacted communities’ urgent needs. He took preemptive steps to deliver relief supplies such as food, medical supplies, and shelter for displaced people by organizing local resources and liaising with national agencies. This prompt action not only demonstrates good leadership, but it also emphasizes how crucial leadership is in emergency situations.
The Vice President’s strategy included a thorough evaluation of the flooding damage, which made it possible to identify the most vulnerable groups for focused actions. Through his interactions with local officials and citizens, he made sure that relief efforts were appropriate for the setting and sensitive to cultural differences. By encouraging a sense of ownership among local stakeholders, this participatory technique improved confidence in government activities.
Different stakeholders in the state have responded differently to the visit of Nigeria’s vice president, Kashim Shettima, to address flood victims. Numerous localities have experienced devastation as a result of the extraordinary floods, which has resulted in property and human casualties. Many of the victims Shettima spoke with expressed hope that his presence would spur government action to provide desperately needed relief and to begin rehabilitation efforts. The significance of direct involvement from high-ranking officials was underscored by community leaders, who saw it as an indication that their predicament is being recognized on a national scale.
Kashim Shettima spoke about the suffering of flood victims who have been badly impacted by unusual flooding while on a recent visit to Maiduguri. His words were meant to be comforting, but they also served as a guide for healing and restoration. Shettima underlined the necessity of unity and group efforts to address this environmental catastrophe. He emphasized that in order to ensure that relief efforts are efficient and timely, the government would mobilize resources to aid individuals who have been displaced by the floods.
Shettima’s speech also emphasized how crucial community resilience is to surviving tragedies like this. He asked residents and local authorities to work together with government organizations to identify high-risk locations and put precautionary measures in place to avoid similar flooding incidents in the future. Shettima sought to empower communities while easing their immediate pains through coordinated relief activities by encouraging a sense of shared responsibility.
Dr. James Bwala, PhD, writes from Abuja.
Kashim Shettima, Leadership, and the Flood in Maiduguri
-
News8 months ago
Roger Federer’s Shock as DNA Results Reveal Myla and Charlene Are Not His Biological Children
-
Opinions3 years ago
THE PLIGHT OF FARIDA
-
News8 months ago
EYN: Rev. Billi, Distortion of History, and The Living Tamarind Tree
-
ACADEMICS9 months ago
A History of Biu” (2015) and The Lingering Bura-Pabir Question (1)
-
Columns9 months ago
Army University Biu: There is certain interest, but certainly not from Borno.
-
Opinions9 months ago
Tinubu,Shettima: The epidemic of economic, insecurity in Nigeria
-
Opinions3 years ago
POLICE CHARGE ROOMS, A MINTING PRESS
-
National News9 months ago
Fraud and Mismanagement Rock INGO’s IDP Cash Assistance Effort in Bama