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My Country or bust! The sequel

On the 4th of August I arrived at Muritala Mohammed Airport about 7pm for travel to the UK. In spite of the 3rd Minland bridge closure I had already had a fairly restful day. I thought I had prepared myself fro the likely tribulations of International travel but that was nothing short of fantasy. The Nigerian summer travel madness with crazy prices and overbooked planes was playing itself out and I could not get a seat on my usual Virgin Atlantic for love or money. I ended up with KLM via Amsterdam and proceeded to experience a travellers nightmare.

The flight was belatedly cancelled because the co-captain was ill! This was after 3 hours of standing at the gate waiting to board. I had comforting visions of a full blown air rage with possibilities of a bloodied machete by the time I left Muritala Mohammed airport. I had to get out before I blew a gasket or something else. There is a lot more about KLM and this trip for another time because this post is about something far more significant. The point of the scene setting was to locate my tired body in Planet One Hotel in Maryland on the morning of the 5th of August and rushing to make the delayed flight. I made it with moments to spare having had the help and support of the hotel staff along with a comfortable ride on one of their lease cars. It kind of reminded me of my mad dash to the airport the last time Joy ( Onitemi or wife ) and I had a holiday in Florida earlier on in the year and in the process I lost my PDA with all my business contacts et al. In these cases ( I am a veteran) there is always a calmness after the initial adrenaline rush which suggests something is amiss. On this day as i stood at the gate my instincts prompted a body search and as per my Florida experience I had mislaid my wallet with about £4,000 and $2,000 as well as the most viable of my debit and credit cards. I looked at my watch and I had 30 minutes before the flight was due to leave. In my mind the only possible place for me to have left the wallet was at the security screening area. I ran flat out back to the security area and as I steamed down all my worst nightmares were playing out. In Florida I never found my PDA even though I knew where I had left it , here I was in Lagos with a worse reputation and my heart sank even though I have never had anything other than love from my people. I got to the security gate in 5 minutes bags trailing and everyone staring as i must have been quite a sight. I was now caught between the panic of my situation and the tactic that would deliver my desired result. As I ventured to query the security personnel, I met the initial defensiveness then followed by a quick area search without delivering any wallet. My hear sank into the pit of my stomach and I felt ill. I now started contemplating damage limitation actions, like cancelling cards and plugging holes in my finances et al.

As if on cue my phone rang I nearly did not pick it up but thankfully it was Planet One. The driver of the car that brought me to the airport had found my wallet in the back of his car and had reported it to the hotel. Remember am a veteran , i have lost things in every continent apart from Asia and Australia, I have never had them returned. One of my most painful was in 2000 i left a $800 Donna Karan leather Jacket in taxi from Miami International . Damn! that was a fine jacket and I still miss it. Then there was my custom made diamond from Amsterdam that I left fro 30 minutes at the W hotel behind the Warldof Astoria a gift from Onitemi. I am lucky to have my head attached to my body.

I gave my apologies to the Security guys and explanations took another 5 minutes of time so i now had 20 minutes before departure. To further blow my mind the driver had resorted to an Okada (motorcycle taxi) in order to try and get my wallet to me before the flight. I could let you into the suspense of the wait and the concern about choosing between wallet and flight nevertheless he made it and i caught my flight. It took an heroic effort on his part and incredible integrity that can only be understood by the fact that the contents of my wallet was more than a years salary for him. There is also no way i could have known my wallet dropped in his car and far more exceptional is that all the contents of my wallet was there in the manner I would have put it there. There in the middle of Lagos , a city stereotyped without much basis and a people maligned into a caricature by themselves and others, this honourable man had brought the dignity that I experience in the interaction with masses of Nigerians onto a platform for me to express. There is no doubt that many others would have taken the money and never admitted it and that it is exceptional but many others would also do what he has done.

My initial financial reward will be followed up with something more concrete and lasting. For me the drivers and the staff of Planet One represent the Nigeria that I know and still meet everytime I am there even though it is often mixed with the stereotype one especially amongst the elites. It is in the service people whose humility and sacrifices make my every step possible, the culture in which visitors are treated like royalty, the sweet flirtatious help of the market women, the open complement of the admiring young people who embrace my creative divergence.

I started this post a while ago in Milton Keynes but I am now back in Lagos. In the period when I was in the UK I suffered from a form of allergy that is yet fully identified leading to having an inhaler and medicines. I spent all the two or more weeks coughing and sputtering. I got to Lagos yesterday and in spite of its pollution and traffic my coughing has nearly disappeared only emerging when I am in an air-conditioned environment.

I can only say that i aspire and am inspired to be a Nigerian not by virtue of birth but by evolution of character. Nigeria for me is that most creative of possibilities and even the most innovative of aspirations in which many ancient peoples are put into a holding space of millions of desires to marinade into one powerful vision. The inevitable pains of trying to synthesis these disparate drivers into one systemic and dynamic 'Organation' is often distorted. It is the exuberance of the indoctrinated whose individual success in the western propaganda matrix prevents them from curiosity that destroys authentic standards and replaces it with badly constructed caricatures of western facsimiles. They, the Nigerian elite have lost interest in what is and could emerge from this noble experiment. Not for me . It is an honour and privilege to be in the mix when things are not resolved and there is still many things to pioneer. It is the ultimate accolade to one day be regarded as a Nigerian who earned the citizenship of this great human experiment. In my humble opinion the driver from Planet One has truly achieved that accolade , he is a Nigerian.

Is this the Nigeria Story?

Law and Order Public Notice Lagos State (A response to its criticism)

The recent Law and Order notice from the Lagos State Government has become the kind of discourse that the Nigerian chattering classes love. A seeming intellectual attempt to selflessly protect the ‘common man’ from a rampant state whose unbridled exercise of power threatens to destroy democracy as we know it and return us to the Militaristic dark ages. Never mind that all these comments only thinly disguises their own interest in the impunity that masquerades as driving on the roads of Lagos. How else would anyone in their right minds hold brief for such egregious and dangerous acts like driving against the flow of traffic? Recently a friend of mine driving along Obalende landed herself in the trap that the status quo currently lays for the law abiding. Two Okadas vying for primacy driving against a one way system collided spilling one of them into the path of her oncoming car. The inevitable consequence was a fatal accident in which one of the riders died. She has not only spent far in excess of the N250,000 that is the penalty of the offence that the Okada riders committed. In fact she has spent double aside from having to sleep in a police cell and still going through a court case in spite of being entirely faultless in the case.

Our elite and their chattering, nattering , negativity are the bane of responsible governance. The target in this case the Fashola government which came to power with a clear agenda and mantra of “Eko O ni baje” and pursues it with the vigour we have all desired and dreamed. They won the election on this mandate and have through the peoples representatives in the House of assembly prioritised rescuing the public spaces from all the uncontrolled excesses of the past which has made the city of Lagos and its surburbs into a far more dangerous sight that it is in reality. I often joke that in Lagos you either do business or become the business and for many years we Nigerians have reduced the City and by implication the state to a byword for chaos. This government in line with its goals and priorities has decided to reclaim the public space from shameless acts that threaten life and limb on a daily basis and not a day too soon.

The most quoted critic of the new Law is the Assizes law firm’s long and legalistic argument . It is at the very least a great positioning or excellent PR tactic for the firm however through their widely circulated article by design or otherwise they are doing a public service. A discussion of the merits of a law is an end in itself but it is a shame this was not done when it was still a bill in the Lagos State house of Assembly. Nevertheless we are where we find ourselves with debating after the fact. This is itself a very good reason for active citizenry and proper accountability of constituency representatives during their tenure not after the four year term . The Law firm through Chinua Asuzu’s much publicised article must congratulate itself on incredible publicity it is getting. Unfortunately the dubious populism that it uses does not mask the failure to truly consider the issues that the Notice seeks to address. The article reeks of myopic self interest without any comment or concern about the many thousands that die on our roads everyday.

The first problem is that the writer admits that he has neither seen or read the legislation he is challenging. The risks of distorting the facts through the lens of his own perception was not caution enough more disturbingly he refuses to address the public policy imperative that makes such a law desirous. I actually think the failure to enact such a law is a severe dereliction on the part of any government that is worth that name. The FRSC recently released the figure of 60,000 for Okada related deaths and serious injuries which in my opinion is a gross undercount. One of the greatest causes of death in the African continent and Nigeria specifically is road accident. It takes the numbers of people off the streets in line with a low intensity war. I could set out the toll on my family and others of untimely deaths on our roads. Many promising and talented people lost to excesses and self indulgent drivers with no recourse. It surprises me, in fact I am totally flabbergasted that the Government is being criticised in this area where it should have given number one priority, the protection of life and safety of its citizens.

It would seem the Assizes firm is more concerned about the people who are made responsible under the Order and the level of penalty imposed. About this people the writer makes the point about vicarious liability claiming an unfairness or injustice for the Employer who would be liable for the misdeeds of his or her driver. This argument is not only disingenuous but it suggests that the writer is motivated by other subjective interest rather than serious public concern. In fact Vicarious liability is a staple of strict liability traffic offences across many jurisdictions. The principle that acts committed during the legitimate discharge of employment that would invariably benefit the employer should be also be the liability of this benefactor. Most drivers exercise haste and recklessness to deliver their employers in a timely manner through the crazy Lagos hold ups. It cannot be effective to punish the driver whilst the employer who benefits goes off free. In public policy terms the intention is to make these acts so prohibitive that not only is the driver deterred , no one (not even Oga) contemplates them. Also those that commit the offences are isolated and lose the outlets and comfort that their networks especially employers can give them. It should be the employers obligation to recruit those with the knowledge , skills and attitude necessary to be good drivers on the roads. Quite simply they are responsible and accountable for those they unleash on other road users.

It is the same principle that applies to the passengers. They are active participants in the actions of the driver. Their passivity is no excuse, most passengers are active by either raising objection or egging on the drivers intransigence. Unlike the obvious case of the employer their role as benefactor is probably case specific however the Nigerian public space is so fraught with permissiveness and impunity that the initial interventions will have to be a bit oppressive to disrupt the culture that has evolved. The law makes sure all the direct contacts and beneficiaries of the drivers actions are themselves at risk leaving no outlet for anyone to accommodate or encourage such behaviour. The benefit of such an approach and the level of punishment are quite perceptive of how deeply ingrained the malaise is on our roads. I would rather lives are saved than protect people from the economic pain and inconvenience of paying large fines when they do what is obviously destructive. I would go as far as to treat such cars going against traffic with the legal assumption that it is prima facie evidence of intention to kill others. It is quite similar to someone packing a gun along to an argument or fight the likelihood of use makes it beyond recklessness. There should be a presumption of intent. Tough and aggressive?This is exactly what is needed.

The writer makes a key point abut the lack of officially sanctioned driving tests and I think this is a critical area for government to set standards and ensure only mentally, physically fit people with acceptable competencies drive on the road. I believe that plans are afoot for this incredibly important issue. The same applies to traffic signs which there is already the first step of new street signs implemented. In the meantime we need to avert the everyday carnage that occurs because the worst excesses of road users are not curtailed. Instead of using this Public notice as a basis for hyperventilating the Assizes firm and similar newspaper pundits should spearhead education about the dangers of certain behaviours in the public space. We are all partners and benefactors in a better public space. Now that would be newsworthy. The elite truly involved in transformative activities that matters rather than being armchair criticism. That will be without doubt a turn for the books worth

The Media Spin

The post on the Mianstream media spin on the US general elections . There is a perspectiveis that they want a close race to sell their spaces and get ratings but it is up to you. Here is Media matters take on the same thing your humle correspondent picked up on The Washington Post? ABC polls.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200807170011

Then there is the point of what is being ignored as the Bush and Mccain move towards Obamas Foreign Policy as covered by Talking Points Memo in the link below.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204646.php

Then today the Iraqi PM just endorsed the 'Rookie" Senators withdrawal plans guess what that means. Soon it will all have been Bush? Mccain's idea all along.

DARC gene and the politicisation of HIV/AIDS

Apparently there is something called the DARC gene which is allegedly carried by 90% of Africans South of the Sahara which makes us more susceptible to HIV infections and also helps us to survive it a little longer. The gene is supposedly a genetic mutation or response to Malaria. It supposedly leads to an 11% more HIV infections in Africans. There is a book called Survival of the Sickest one of the best books on Epigenetics and complexity as well as a brilliant read, it lays down some of the most lucid thinking in this area.

I have always posited that we are yet to truly discover the story of HIV/AIDS that most of the thinking here is of the Laboratory technician variation rather than true science. As Gary Zukav suggests in his book the Dancing Wu Li Masters true science is about revelation of emergent aspects of the natural world not its reduction into parts that are captured in smaller parts within the abstractions of a laboratory test tube.

Anyway this news was accompanied by spin on both sides of the Atlantic with BBC pushing it as UCL discovery and in reality it was led by University of Texas. More importantly it was based on an American sample without any from Africa itself included. It becomes once again the story of the Kenya prostitutes who were apparently immune to the virus then we were led to believe the solution from this was coming out of efforts in the university city of Oxford ignoring the African scientists whose work it is primarily . This is no accident, there is a lot of money involved, prestige and national credibility but more importantly it is the that powerful narrative that those of European descent are superior in areas of intellectual and scientific pursuit. So long everyone buys into this narrative then the hegemony will continue and they set the rules. We will see if it can continue. By the way the lead Author is a Professor Sunil Ahuja,

What is the media role in this election?

Quick post! It has been sometime since I commented on the US elections, the primaries was delightfully exhausting and I am still processing the dynamics.

I watched my usual battery of News Channels yesterday and came away with an impression that the new narrative is that Senator Obama is an innocent abroad and naive on foreign policy. This even though quite openly Senator McCain was at the same bulletin stealing his opponents policy clothing by prioritising Afghanistan as security focus and increasing troops there. None in the media pointed out that if the candidates were political pundits, Obama had called Iraq right, his point on attacking Al Qeida in Pakistan and challenging President Musharraf efforts as an ally that Mccain called naive also turned quite right, his call on making Afghanistan the real war of National Security also turning out to be quite accurate. On the other hand McCain appears right on the surge in Iraq working because it has reduced but not eliminated violence. Looking at this record how can anyone be the more savvy of the two. Even though i do not agree with Senator Obama on Zimbabwe it is his voice that is on record, the same applies on his view of America budget deficit and its security implications. Is it that the media cannot actually analyse fine points of policy or it chooses no too? For me racism as an explanation is to easy , a low hanging fruit .

In fact CNN and BBC perhaps the more worldly news networks actually locate Obama as struggling to define his Foreign policy pitch even though his major speech was given a subsidiary tag to Senator Mccain's speech in response. I thought this was itself just an issue of my timing in watching the bulletin until this morning. My usual quick check of the polls in http://time-blog.com/real_clear_politics/ showed the ABCnews/ Washington Post polls as Obama up 3% points on Mccain. If you do read the Washington Post today you will see it as a 8% lead. Which is true?

The reality is that they are both true but Real Clear Politics a blog in Time magazine always chooses the most negative spin on any Obama situation since the primaries. 8% is the gap when looking at all registered voters but 3% is the difference on likely voters ( a more subjective test). In the same vein CNN reported that Mccain does better with voters 47% to Obama's 45% on Iraq in another poll without saying that this is actually within the 3% point margin of error. Add this to the so called satire in the New Yorker you start seeing that the corporate media has an angle it is playing and it is not 'fair and balanced' although they are all yet to go as far as Fox News in being totally without credibility where Obama is concerned.

My warning to you all before Senator Obama morphs into Robert Mugabe choose your media poison with the garden variety scepticism fully at touching distance. It is not the broader reporting but the sting is the spin.