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The craze for easy money in Nigeria and the Hanifa’s story (II), by Prof. M K Othman
The craze for easy money in Nigeria and the Hanifa’s story (II), by Prof. M K Othman
Deep Thoughts with Othman
In Nigeria, the Hanifa’s case is neither a common one nor an isolated one as there are few other Hanifas murdered by their supposed protectors such as guardians and trusted neighbours in the last five months.
Cases of 12-year old Sylvester Oromoni in Lagos and 8-year old Asma’u Shuaibu Wa’alamu in Zaria were reported in the first part of this piece last week. The craze for easy money has turned out to be the most adaptable and adorable trade for some people irrespective of gender and age differences.
Last month, security personnel paraded a housewife, 39-year old Maryam Abubakar who was deeply involved in running errands and sex racketing for bandits for money. She was audacious enough to confess before newsmen that “Bandits paid me between N30,000 and N50,000 naira for a round of sex. I helped them do their shopping to prevent them from arrest, I knew they were into kidnapping, banditry, and armed robbery but I decided to date one of them despite my married status because they give me lots of money. I brought girls to them and they were given 50,000 Naira per night each. I felt my 15-year-old and 17-year-old daughters can also benefit so I introduced them to the bandits and they were given lots of money….”
Children are not left behind in this “craze for easy money business”. In the first week of January 2022, Sahara Reporters reported the arrest of three teenagers; Emomotimi Magbisa, Perebi Aweke, and Eke Prince, all 15-year-old males, and natives of the Sagbama community of Bayelsa State. The teenagers accosted and hypnotized a 13-year-old girl, Endeley Comfort. Subsequently, they took her to an apartment in the community, cut her finger, and sprinkled the blood on a mirror for a money ritual. Residents of the community noticed the suspicious movements of the suspects and raised an alarm that led to their arrest and confession.
Endeley Comfort was lucky to be rescued with her life but Sofiat Okeowo, a 20-year-old girl, resident of Idi-Ape, Abeokuta was not that lucky as she was gruesomely murdered by her pretentiously, “lovely” boyfriend, Majekodunmi Soliudeen, a 19-year old boy. Soliudeen lured Sofiat to his room for supposedly a romantic escapade but held her down and asked one of his accomplices to cold-bloodedly chop her head with a knife. Soliudeen’s accomplices were 17-year-old Wariz Oladeinde from Kugba, 19-year-old Abdulgafar Lukman from Kugba, and Mustakeem Balogun from Bode Olude, all residents of Abeokuta town. They conspired, murdered Sofiat, cut her head, packed the headless body in a sack, and started burning the head in a pot for money ritual.
They were apprehended, confessed to committing the crime on January 28th 2022 at the Kugba area of Abeokuta, and are currently being prosecuted in the Court of law. These are teenagers who should be in school for their studies but are on the street with a devilish mind to make easy money. How did we degenerate to this level of decadence? Before answering this question, let me repeat the two questions posed in the first part of this piece; why are we crazy for easy money? Does money solve our problems or bring happiness to our lives?
The high level of poverty subjecting many people to suffering and tenacious fear of social insecurity has made many Nigerians have limitless love for money or position that can bring money. Our brains are synched to believing that money can solve all problems. This is entirely wrong. Money can buy a house and comfort but cannot buy sleep, money can buy friendship but cannot buy loyalty, money can pay school fees and buy books but cannot buy knowledge, money can attract people but cannot buy their love and affection, and several other things money cannot do.
However, money is still important in the life of a man as a lack of it can make us to be miserable, so also, having too much of it can make life unbearable. Shreds of evidence of people committing suicide due to lack of money are common but there are also cases of rich people committing suicide. The case of a German billionaire, Adolf Merckle, who committed suicide in 2019, is heart-rending.
Merckle’s family issued a statement explaining the pressure that resulted in his suicide. The statement reads; “the desperate situation of his companies caused by the financial crisis, the uncertainties of the last few weeks and his powerlessness to act, have broken the passionate family entrepreneur so he took his own life.”
To answer the question of money bringing happiness, let me quote an anonymous writer who said, “the difference between money bringing happiness and not buying happiness is that money changes your perspective towards the things that you admired when you’re not rich but it cannot save you from being human, because as humans, every day or some days, something bothers us”. Now, how do we get out of these doldrums, the calamitous disposition?
The responsibilities of righting the wrongs in our society are collective tasks; the government, parents, religious leaders, and community leaders. Law and order must regulate the activities of the three arms of government as enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution. Nigerians must wake up to demand transparent and accountable governance. Corruptions at all levels must be fought using several strategies to achieve the desired results.
Parents should bear the full responsibility of parentage. They should be a shepherd to their children and other members of the family. Can we instil and inculcate morality and value system in all members of the family? As parents, we should be like a bee, providing honey most of the time and then stinging to correct and defend the family value. We should not spare the rod for our children if the need arises. At all times, we should be watchful, mindful, and accountable for our children’s doings and undoings. We should not hand over the upbringing of our children to school teachers. We should honour our children when they do well and sanction them when they do the opposite.
Religious leaders have significant roles in shaving conducts in society but must have the fear of God to play such roles correctly and deservedly. Can they shun wealthy people who are enmeshed in aggrandizement? Can we stop celebrating people with questionable wealth? Ill-gotten wealth should be despised by all and sundry. This is the only way to avoid the future occurrence of the Hanifa story.
Simon Bako Lalong: Where Are The 400 Deutz Fahr Tractors? (1)
By: Balami Lazarus
As young schoolboys in Zaria, we were privileged to spend our time interacting with our peers within and around the academic environment of Ahmadu Bello University (A.B.U.) main campus at Samaru. This period gave my peers and me a wide range of exposure to various facilities, faculties, departments, schools, colleges, and units of the university. Being boys full of life, adventures, and events, we were not bored with their academic programs but more interested in their social and practical activities.
Institute of Agricultural Research (I.A.R.), Division of Agricultural Colleges (D.A.C.), and the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and other related units are where we were more attracted to because of their implements/tools and equipment. The tractors and their components, like harrows, ploughshares, and harvesters, have awakened the aspirations of some of us to be agricultural experts, farmers, and university dons in agricultural sciences, and others as researchers.
Agricultural tractors have been one of the most important machines in the cultivation of commercial and mechanized farmland, providing food/cash crops and agro-allied raw materials for industries and factories, hence the economic development of Nigeria.
Therefore, tractors like Massey Ferguson, John Deere, Ford, Fiat, and Styre were common sights for us.
When I decided to do some investigations on the whereabouts, or to say disappearances, of the 400 Deutz Fahr tractors belonging to the state government and the people of Plateau State. It was really not easy for me because individuals who were in the stream of affairs, past and present, are not willing to speak on this matter. And I began to suspect there was connivance/conspiracy in the disappearances of these tractors by some collective individuals.
Questions are being asked over and over by the citizens of Plateau State about the 400 Duetz Fahr model tractors made in Germany, which were procured by the state government during the administration of former Governor Simon Bako Lalong (2015-2023), whose tenure was nothing to write home about except for his poor performance in governance. Unlike the beginning of the good governance of the present administration of Governor Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang.
In the course of my investigations and findings, I was told that the one and only person who had asked questions severally and was still speaking on the matter was one Ehis Akugnonu of JFM 101.9 FM. Jos (aka Osama), whom I met on this matter, our discussions lacked adjectives to qualify the disappearance of the 400 Deutz Fahr tractors on the Plateau, a state blessed with fertile land for farming and production of food and cash crops in all seasons.
Agricultural programs have always been the priority of the government, both state and federal. Institutions of learning—universities, institutes, and other research centers—are not left out of the scheme of agricultural activities. Individual and organized private sectors are also playing significant roles in the development of the nation’s agricultural economy, adding value to the agricultural food chain.
Former Governor Simon Bako Lalong of Plateau State procured the 400 Deutz Fahr tractors to boost agriculture to enable farmers to cultivate more farmland through the utilization of these tractors. Surprisingly, they were never distributed to farmers in the 17 local government areas. Sources within Government House Little Rayfield Jos told this writer that “there was a clandestine arrangement that played out in the disappearance of the 400 Duetz Fahr’. In simple arithmetic, if and only if these tractors were distributed to the 17 local government areas, each would have gotten 23, leaving 9 tractors for other purposes, but the disappearance has dampened the spirit of the state farmers. “No single individual is happy about this matter.”. We will continue to ask questions until these tractors are brought back to us’. Said a concerned citizen.
Recently, the Executive Governor of the State, Barr. Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang, in his good governance programs, procured 200 new tractors of the Massey Ferguson model that were immediately, without delay, distributed to organized farmers’ groups across the 17 local government areas. This gave hope, wiping away tears on the faces of small and medium-scale farmers on the Plateau.
In tidying up this write-up, I was informed that the disappearance of the 400 Deutz Fahr tractors paved
way that saw the carting away in a thievery manner and the gleaning of government house items at Little Rayfield Jos. While fingers are pointing to Senator Simon Bako Lalong on the whereabouts of the 400 Deutz Fahr tractors worth hundreds of millions of naira, which could have changed the agricultural landscape of Plateau State.
Balami, a Publisher/Columnist
08036779290
Simon Bako Lalong: Where Are The 400 Deutz Fahr Tractors? (1)
Simon Bako Lalong: Where Are The 400 Deutz Fahr Tractors? (1)
By: Balami Lazarus
As young schoolboys in Zaria, we were privileged to spend our time interacting with our peers within and around the academic environment of Ahmadu Bello University (A.B.U.) main campus at Samaru. This period gave my peers and me a wide range of exposure to various facilities, faculties, departments, schools, colleges, and units of the university. Being boys full of life, adventures, and events, we were not bored with their academic programs but more interested in their social and practical activities.
As young schoolboys in Zaria, we were privileged to spend our time interacting with our peers within and around the academic environment of Ahmadu Bello University (A.B.U.) main campus at Samaru. This period gave my peers and me a wide range of exposure to various facilities, faculties, departments, schools, colleges, and units of the university. Being boys full of life, adventures, and events, we were not bored with their academic programs but more interested in their social and practical activities.
Institute of Agricultural Research (I.A.R.), Division of Agricultural Colleges (D.A.C.), and the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and other related units are where we were more attracted to because of their implements/tools and equipment. The tractors and their components, like harrows, ploughshares, and harvesters, have awakened the aspirations of some of us to be agricultural experts, farmers, and university dons in agricultural sciences, and others as researchers.
Agricultural tractors have been one of the most important machines in the cultivation of commercial and mechanized farmland, providing food/cash crops and agro-allied raw materials for industries and factories, hence the economic development of Nigeria.
Therefore, tractors like Massey Ferguson, John Deere, Ford, Fiat, and Styre were common sights for us.
When I decided to do some investigations on the whereabouts, or to say disappearances, of the 400 Deutz Fahr tractors belonging to the state government and the people of Plateau State. It was really not easy for me because individuals who were in the stream of affairs, past and present, are not willing to speak on this matter. And I began to suspect there was connivance/conspiracy in the disappearances of these tractors by some collective individuals.
Questions are being asked over and over by the citizens of Plateau State about the 400 Duetz Fahr model tractors made in Germany, which were procured by the state government during the administration of former Governor Simon Bako Lalong (2015-2023), whose tenure was nothing to write home about except for his poor performance in governance. Unlike the beginning of the good governance of the present administration of Governor Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang.
In the course of my investigations and findings, I was told that the one and only person who had asked questions severally and was still speaking on the matter was one Ehis Akugnonu of JFM 101.9 FM. Jos (aka Osama), whom I met on this matter, our discussions lacked adjectives to qualify the disappearance of the 400 Deutz Fahr tractors on the Plateau, a state blessed with fertile land for farming and productionof food and cash crops in all seasons.
Agricultural programs have always been the priority of the government, both state and federal. Institutions of learning—universities, institutes, and other research centers—are not left out of the scheme of agricultural activities. Individual and organized private sectors are also playing significant roles in the development of the nation’s agricultural economy, adding value to the agricultural food chain.
Former Governor Simon Bako Lalong of Plateau State procured the 400 Deutz Fahr tractors to boost agriculture to enable farmers to cultivate more farmland through the utilization of these tractors. Surprisingly, they were never distributed to farmers in the 17 local government areas. Sources within Government House Little Rayfield Jos told this writer that “there was a clandestine arrangement that played out in the disappearance of the 400 Duetz Fahr’. In simple arithmetic, if and only if these tractors were distributed to the 17 local government areas, each would have gotten 23, leaving 9 tractors for other purposes, but the disappearance has dampened the spirit of the state farmers. “No single individual is happy about this matter.”. We will continue to ask questions until these tractors are brought back to us’. Said a concerned citizen.
Recently, the Executive Governor of the State, Barr. Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang, in his good governance programs, procured 200 new tractors of the Massey Ferguson model that were immediately, without delay, distributed to organized farmers’ groups across the 17 local government areas. This gave hope, wiping away tears on the faces of small and medium-scale farmers on the Plateau.
In tidying up this write-up, I was informed that the disappearance of the 400 Deutz Fahr tractors paved
way that saw the carting away in a thievery manner and the gleaning of government house items at Little Rayfield Jos. While fingers are pointing to Senator Simon Bako Lalong on the whereabouts of the 400 Deutz Fahr tractors worth hundreds of millions of naira, which could have changed the agricultural landscape of Plateau State.
Balami, a Publisher/Columnist
08036779290
Simon Bako Lalong: Where Are The 400 Deutz Fahr Tractors? (1)
My Binoculars: A tribute to a former Controller of customs Borno state Joshua Angbalaga
By: Sam Kayode
Indeed Angbalaga was a reporter’s delight. Firm yet welcoming. His demise is a sudden blow to some of us who have basked in his warmth and detribalized nature. He was of a different make from the generality of uniformed personnel some of us are used to, sharp witty with a strong ability to interface from one generation to another. He was a trained sociologist from the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria where he graduated in 1984. Taught for sometime at the FCT which gave him the unique ability to understand his generation and all the ones after his.
His training as a customs official since 1988 had taken him to many States including the commercial capital of Nigeria Lagos and many other cities. Controller Joshua Angbalaga was easy going and kept an open door for most of us journalists who came into contact with him through exclusive interviews. He was open minded and was ready to tolerate most of our young colleagues who sometimes displayed slight intolerance for uniforms at news conferences because of the insurgents lurking around.
In Controller Joshua Angbalaga buried today in lafia nasarawa state, I have a personal loss of a man who was an exemplary news maker. He was a public figure who had immense knowledge about the weaknesses and strengths of the gentlemen of the pen. He was a good representative of his controller General. He understood the body languages of most of our intolerant younger colleagues and gave his subordinates in the office then a standing directive that any time any of us comes to see him, we must not be kept waiting unnecessarily if he is free. He was far different from previous controllers who had come and treated reporters like condemned criminals who should never be allowed to come close to the controllers office upstairs.
Some of them in sister agencies especially the ones in the immigration service gave standing orders that journalists should be turned away from the gate as if we were insurgents. This was because some of them were never financially transparent as we learnt from their boys so we understood why they were so vehement at stopping journalists from conducting their constitutional activities. A lot of Angbalaga’s paramilitary colleagues marveled at his dexterity with the gentlemen of the fourth estate.
Our paths met in April 2017 when he reported to Maiduguri as controller and Borno/Yobe area Commander of the Nigerian customs. That was three years after I reported in Maiduguri as correspondent of the nation newspaper.
From then on we continued to work together with him and his entire management team in making expected progresses within the war theatre.
We had several news conferences with him especially on how he had been able to make tremendous progress in turning things around in spite of the insurgency which was at its peak by then. Angbalaga was a rare news maker in uniform because of his belief that none of his officers were too rotten to resist reforms. They were all in sync with his policies to make the state better than he met it. When it was time to go, he left maiduguri on transfer to Abuja where he later retired in 2020. He was involved in stopping a lot of contrabands including hard drugs which is the main fuel keeping insurgents at alert.
On retirement, we kept our communication intact and friendly. Oga Angbalaga was a very studious officer who had already prepared himself for leadership roles by completing his master in public administration in 2000. Feeling a bit bored and not tired in retirement, he went back to school for his PhD program in University of Abuja. He told me recently that he was close to finishing his course work and was kicking to go to the next challenge as God directs. We bantered on the phone while I wondered if he was going back to teaching but he laughed and asked for Gods will to be done. We had a one hour call last year with an invitation to me to visit him during the last yuletide 2024. So with a promise that I would be in lafia to see him for the yuletide, we rounded the call. But due to certain conditions not under my control, that was the last time we would talk as friends. I missed the trip due to I’ll health. Controller Angbalaga is no more as the Lord wills. He has answered the solemn call of nature which sends all mortals back to their creator regardless of age, status, character, race or creed. Death has shown that it’s a leveler of all mankind and my friend oga Angbalaga as I used to call him lived a forthright life before bowing to immortality. May the Lord console his friends at Mount St Gabriel Makurdi, St John Bosco Doma, the entire family of the Nigerian customs service, immediate family and the entire eggon nation where the Lord used him to touch several souls before his passage.
Have a nice sleep oga Angbalaga. From Biodun as you used to call me.
My Binoculars: A tribute to a former Controller of customs Borno state Joshua Angbalaga
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