IBADAN TO LAGOS BY TRAIN

Since former President Muhammadu Buhari prioritised the revamping of the rails, I'd felt that anytime I found myself in any of the areas traversed by that mode of transportation, I will utilise the opportunity, especially if it would lead me to my next destination. The occasion presented itself last week when I had cause to be at Ibadan for a funeral, and right from the time I decided to attend, it became top of my plans to return by train. Buhari had worked with the late Head Of State, General Sani Abacha in the late 90's as Head of Petroleum Trust Fund, PTF, that had the mandate to intervene in upgrading social amenities and infrastructure in sectors like education, health, amongst others. He must've seen the efforts Abacha deployed to restoring the Nigerian Railway Corporation, NRC back to its glory days.

The fact that he took it up as one of his major pursuits after he became president in 2015, must've stemmed from his desire to do better than Abacha, as many of the coaches and infrastructure that were brought in back then were outdated and couldn't last the test of time. Buhari's input involved modernization, including adjusting the gauge to current specifications where it could be done, while abandoning the old, where it was simply easier to lay new tracks just beside the old one. For this, he had the former minister of transport, and former Rivers State Governor, Rt. Honourable Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, who was highly motivated to bring Buhari's dream for the rails to life, and he delivered, though as with everything Nigerian, at a cost at huge variance with those where such had been achieved in other parts of Africa, with the same or different Chinese Construction Firms as partners.

One thing to applaud about the system, is the genuine interest even amongst the workers, to fight corruption, in the way they availed themselves to passengers seeking assistance in making ticket payments online, via the authorised portal, that requires amongst other info, ones' National Identity Number, NIN. I had thought that we will somehow be able to pay with cash, as was reported in the media month's back in Lagos, where most of the passengers noticed that such payments went into private pockets, but none of it was the case this time around. Only that passengers without NIN or a smartphone, were allowed to join those who had, and to pay through the latters' portal. The payment system also accommodates disparity in ticket fares for adults and children, which is quite commendable.

All of these was done outside the terminus, because at the time there was no power within the complex. Once payment has been made, QR code generated, then scanned by a staff, we were allowed into the damp, but clean station. It must also be that due to lack of power, there was no water for the conveniences, hence one could do a number one but not two. By the time more people had sorted themselves outside, it was beginning to get stuffy inside the station, but it wasn't for long because passengers were then called up by 7:40AM according to the class of coaches, ie first and business classes to begin with, before others. Nigerians of course would always relish anything that sets them a class apart and above their fellow countrymen, just like the power minister has now decided to prioritise Nigerians on Band A (about 1.5% of the population of about 200 million), for the supply of electricity, while binding the rest to the philistines. So you could see some of the men, and a few women strutting away like headless chickens, shoulders high like as if by some magic, they'd get to Lagos before the rest of us in Standard Coaches would, even though in some kinda funny way they could, if the minutes matter.

That was how our journey started at Obafemi Awolowo Station, Moniya, which we had to wake up early from the hotel to reach by 7AM as the train left by 8AM prompt leaving intending passengers yet to get around the ticketing processes stranded. The coaches are still new, and the interior air conditioned, the type that was

making me begin to catch cold. Sockets and USB ports still in good condition, can be found by the sides, though would mostly benefit the passenger by the window side, unless the aisle passengers have long phone charging cords. Also, passengers in the standard section had to pay for snacks, which may not be same in the first or business class sections.

Downsides? Well, the coaches are painted in graffiti, like what you'd find with trains in New York, only that this

wasn't done by juvenile delinquents but deliberately by the company or authority running the trains. The graffiti has incorporated within it an ad for a popular food based company in Nigeria, which is on its own novel. The fact that it is the only ad accommodated makes one wonder how much was paid for such privilege, when more money could be made from ads if other interested bodies were coopted, though that could also be tardy looking considering how they'd all appear either on one coach, or separately on the different coaches. It is possible that the graffiti design idea for the coaches was settled for, to encourage younger people to develop some interest in travelling by rail. If that is the case, then the presence of youths, young persons, even kids, in their numbers, on this journey meant it must've resonated with them.

Surely, the ultimate downside was as relating to time. The journey that started from Obafemi Awolowo Station in Moniya, and passing through Ladoke Akintola Station in Omi Adio, Wole Soyinka Station in Abeokuta, Babatunde Raji Fashola Station in Agege, and terminating at Mobolaji Johnson Train Station at Ebute Meta took two hours, twenty five minutes, ie from 8AM to 10:25AM. I couldn't come to terms with the slow speed during the journey, and after it I felt that a huge opportunity was lost, in terms of any possible plan to decongest Lagos. I've always loved Ibadan, right from my medical school days when I visited with other members of an advocacy group I belonged, to meet fellow medical students of University College Hospital, UCH.

We would stay in hotels, and visit the quiet and serene town for play and other activities. I had seen a lion for the first time at the University of Ibadan Zoo in one of those visits. Ibadan today is totally different from the madness of Lagos, as I again discovered during this visit, in every single way, including at their fun spots and recreational area, everything and everyone is laid back, a true exemplifying the age long maxim that "there's no hurry in life". In fact, it did occur to me like a place I could make a getaway location for my weekends before returning to the usual hustle and bustle of Nigeria's commercial capital, and by going by train, avoiding the risk that road transportation poses, not only from reckless driving but the attendant security challenges of our time. I had also thought that any train linking both locations will make it possible for one to live in Ibadan, and come to work in Lagos, at most enduring a journey of an hour only, but alas this journey totally disappointed me, and many who would've thought to exploit the cheaper rent of Ibadan, and the high wages of Lagos jobs.

It would've been possible with Abeokuta residents, who will board at Wole Soyinka Station, but what serious job in Lagos allows one to resume at work at 10:30AM or later daily? It is sad that a detail like time, was not factored in when a decision to modernise our railway infrastructure was taken. Rather political exigencies must've dictated the routes and siting of stations, over more commercially and economically viable routes, and time considerations. Was it not once mooted that a decision was made to limit the speed of the trains in order to reduce the incidence of accidents involving cattle crossing the rail lines?

The pricing of the tickets also highlighted the usual tradition of Public Private Partnership, PPP initiatives in Nigeria, where it seems that the intention is to as fast as possible, recoup investment capital and profit, as if to say that the infrastructure isn't expected to last beyond a certain number of years before collapsing, hence the need to speedily break even especially in this case where the non governmental partner is the loaner. They may not also be totally wrong, as you can see evidence of stripping in some of the stations away from the first and last (even when work is yet to be completed therein), and in spite of the presence of armed men of different security agencies at all the stops.

When we got to our last spot, all passengers had to use the staircase, as there was no power on that side of the terminus to power the escalator, though there was power on the other side of the raised platform, from where we descended via the escalator, and exited the station at Ebute Meta, and onto the main road, into town. I didn't know where to situate my first experience on a train, as my feelings were just everywhere, but definitely far lower than the high expectations I had before boarding. I tried to see if this will change if I looked beyond my issue with time and timing, but still failed to get the satisfaction, because I again saw loopholes that suggested like every other thing Nigeria, a lack of maintenance culture gradually seeping in. Hopefully, things will be different this time around.

'kovich

BAMISE AND LAGOS' SECURITY WOES

 It was painful to follow the story of AYANWOLE BAMISE on twitter by @Mercy_McQuin these past few days when she was missing, and then hours following the discovery of her body, with some reports stating that some of her body parts were missing. The discovery of her body was quickly filled with that of the arrest of the driver, whose account sounds very ridiculous to me, even though there's always a place for the benefit of doubt. What is core is that in Lagos presently, security is at its lowest ebb, and the fact that the most frequent mode has been the transport system is the most distressing, as the perpetrators of crime by this means will always find cannon fodder. 

Gone are the days when one read about such issues, or heard of it in news bulletins, but we are now starting to know people that have been affected directly. One of our admin staff at work replaces his phone annually, sometimes twice a year, because its either stolen, lost or mugged in the bus, tricycle or while walking. The last time was atop a motorbike taxi, where he got ridden to an uncompleted building and dispossessed of all he had on him. We allowed a female staff to come in an hour later than every other person in the morning because she was also mugged in a bus, and dispossessed as well. Most recently, a female colleague was relieved of her iPhone and told to alight from the minibus popularly called kórópe in Lagos, as the driver said he wasn't going in her direction anymore. A well known trick between criminally minded bus drivers and their conductors, these days. I'm very sure you will have your own experiences, personal, or of people close to you, but I hope not, the kind in this Bamise's sad situation.

Some people commenting online were wondering how the BRT Buses hitherto considered to be safe turned out to have such a horrific story come to be about it, but I remember that some time ago, it was reported that some passengers inside a BRT bus were robbed at gunpoint. So the potential, apart from the actuality has always been there. Sadly, these crimes now happen at any time of the day, unlike when it was thought to be at the extreme times of day, for which I stopped leaving home every morning until I see the first glimmer of light, and limited my late night outings to only when necessary. Like my colleague who was recently at the receiving end of their activities, many Lagosians have opted to getting their own cars, despite the heavy traffic occasioned by the number of vehicles on very few motorable roads in Lagos, owing to the security situation, over and above any other reason one may site.

Bamise 

boarded the BRT bus outside of the park, from Chevron Bus Stop in Ajah, for her destination in Oshodi, at just around 7pm in the evening. How late was that? She did suspect that something was amiss when the driver had the light of the bus off the whole time she was there, and called her friend on WhatsApp, exchanging voice notes and videos with her, to apprise her of developments till she couldn't anymore. It doesn't appear that the driver remembered that when he was giving the interview that's online now,

 

where he mentioned nothing of the likes, even though like Bamise had revealed in her voice note, that three men and a woman later joined them, and that he, at gunpoint followed their instructions to divert from the course of the journey, to Carter Bridge, where he said he thought they didn't go with her because he saw her struggling with the men while holding on to a pole in the bus, and they alighted before he zoomed off . He conveniently forgot to say anything about turning off the light in the bus, even before he picked the so called passengers that he alleged were the killers of Bamise.

He witnessed all these, according to him but failed to go to any police station to report, so that even the so called ordinarily unempathic and unsympathetic Nigerian police can do the little they can, or in the least, even raise awareness about the situation, but rather he drove the bus to the terminal and parked it there as he would on a good day, then disappeared, until he was apprehended yesterday. I can point to no action of his that suggests that he's innocent of the the crime, but what do I know. I can only hope that the arm of the law catches up with the perpetrators of this crime, which I hate to think may be futile considering the levity with which the case had been treated, and would have remained so, had the late Bamise not had people who consistently and relentlessly pursued her matter, to the best of their ability online, and on ground, enough to get the attention of the authorities and to keep them in their toes.

A few weeks back I called up family in the North to ask how they were doing, and how concerned I was about their safety, and one of them actually laughed telling me that they always have me in their prayers because of the kind of things they hear happening in Lagos leaving them scared for me. I couldn't even counter the thought because after thinking about it, I observed the truism in their concern. Sadly, this is the reality of our time, that people in the North, with all the Boko Haram, ISWAP, kidnappers, marauding herdsmen, bandits, and the likes, think Lagos more unsafe than their locations.

The role twitter has been playing in Nigeria, in solving crime must be emphasised at this point, unfortunately until recently the government felt it trite to have that platform suspended, leaving me wondering how many other crimes occurred within that period of suspension that got swept under the carpet because there was no where to make the subject or topic of missing persons trend. It is often said that crime thrives when the punishment is less than the incentive, which is unfortunately where Nigeria is presently. The Nigerian Police, and other government agencies, especially those tasked with overseeing the environment simply evacuate dead bodies lying on the street without asking salient and germaine questions, like they are the disposal arm (cleaners) of killers and murderers, including ritualists, after harvesting the organs they need from the dead.

The rise of ritual killings in recent times is testament to the decadence in our society. A society that lays emphasis only on riches and wealth, where the wealthy have a say, and the poor foolish, to the detriment of morality and justice. Even children don't want to grow anymore before having and talking about money. Money, and wealth for which no question is asked, just get it. All of the motivational speaking geared towards one aim, money. Sadly, the wealthy can't tell you how they made it, and you can't see or follow their rise in life or business, the way you can track the wealth of the likes of Bill Gates, Elon Musk and the likes. People just wake up one morning, and they are rich, and when you ask they say "Na God", while flaunting the wealth at any given opportunity. So, when boys are told they have to bring this or that part of a human, or even a whole human being for sacrifice to be wealthy, they don't think twice or take a day to think about it before jumping on the so called opportunity.

But our society is what it is, and we must still go around in search of daily bread, attend functions and the likes, visit family, so what to do? Safety precautions have become more than a necessity for now, as that person you haven't seen before (or the one you know even), around you could just be planning to harm you, hence it has become pertinent that we make that a subject of discussion daily, as those whom the government has saddled with the responsibility to protect us seem to be shirking that responsibility. It is sad to note that Bamise took most of the measures she could possibly have, in fact had it not been that she did all that she, maybe she'd have become a mere statistic in the growing number of missing persons, and unclaimed bodies in morgues allover Lagos today. We shouldn't be discouraged though, teaching not just girls, but everyone safety tips, including videos, music and movies about it (rather than more of the ritual and gangster movies) should be paramount, and will go a long way in helping us reduce these sad incidences, while the police should for once be more proactive in combating crime and criminality, with a justice system that must be seen and perceived to be doing, and not perverting the cause of justice.

'kovich

PICTURE CREDIT:
- https://guardian.ng

BAIL IS FREE

My personal encounter with the Nigerian Police have been very few and far between. The first time was while I was in the university in 2003, when I was nabbed by members of a task force set up by the Lagos State Government to stop pedestrians from crossing very busy roads, especially where there are already pedestrian bridges provided for the purpose. I hadn't used the bridge, and once I made it to the other side, a man walked up to me, and marched me to a waiting "danfo" bus, where I met some others who'd been as unlucky as I have been. Like me, their pleas to our "captors" with promises always to use the pedestrian bridge was like pouring water on a rock, save for the oldest man amongst us, middle aged, who brandishing an inhaler, claimed that his asthmatic condition worsens when he ascends heights, and therefore was let go, especially as he started to tremble and twitch violently, as he pleaded with the members of the task force to let him go on medical grounds.


The rest of us were taken to a Police Station somewhere in Shomolu, from Onipanu where we were arrested, and herded into a crowded cell, where one could only stand, to wait till Monday when the courts open to be charged seeing as it was a Friday afternoon. I had only ₦250 with me, so I couldn't avail myself of the opportunity to call home because the "official" phone lady of that police station charged ₦50 per minute to make a call to relatives or friends for help (those were the days GSM phones had just been launched and still cost an arm and a leg for a poor student like me to own). About an hour after we'd been in detention, towards evening, one of the policemen came by to ask us what we had so he could see if he could help us, to forestall our being in detention through the weekend. When it was my turn I explained to him that I was a student and gave him my wallet that contained my ID Card as well as money. He took the ₦200 and gave me ₦50, opened the cell and let me out. I was the only one that was let out, while the others who had called family and friends had to wait to be bailed. The only good thing that came out of that experience for me, was that while walking a few distance before getting a bus to my sisters' house to ask for money to return to school, I came upon a makeshift structure where registration for National ID Card was ongoing. Seeing that I hadn't been chanced to do that earlier, I used that opportunity to register and went on my way. I doubt I'd have owned one today if I hadn't been arrested on that day, of which I'm grateful considering that stress applicants undergo today to get the same national ID Card, though with advanced features.

My second encounter was months after the first, and my friends and I were returning back to campus after attending a birthday party not so far from school. Yes, it was late and we couldn't get a bus to take us home, so we trekked. All was well till we encountered these policemen a few yards from the gate of our school. Our explanation to them of nothing but the truth about our situation seemed to anger them such that I wasn't sure if one of them in particular was angry with the fact that we looked too young to be medical students, or that we had no right to be happy and attending birthday parties, while they were on the road working, enough for him to threaten to shoot us, and nothing will happen to him. Luckily, we hadn't been too inebriated at the time to try and question their harassment of us, rather the fear of the guns they had on them was the beginning of our wisdom, but I was quite shaken by the way we were verbally harassed and threatened. Interestingly, after they let us go, and we walked into school, then to the hostel area, and to our rooms, we said nothing to each other, and till date I've never asked my co-travelers from Agbe Davies' birthday party, what was going on in their minds while our ordeal lasted.


Yes compared to what Nigerians go through in the hands of the police on a daily, I count myself rather lucky. But I've also seen friends who'd been served the short end of the stick. In one case two years ago, we had to rally round to raise  ₦100,000 to take a friend away from "SARS" detention at Ikeja, where he'd been detained at the instance of his landlord with whom he had a  misunderstanding at the time. The money wasn't even just so he could walk away a free man, but that he could be detained at the normal neighborhood police station, after he began to fear for his life, as the number of detainees (mostly suspected armed robbers and criminals) he was lobbed in with, continued to decrease by the day, not necessarily because they were taken to court, and from thence to prison, but because such disappearances was usually linked with gunshots heard in the vicinity of the detention area in the nights. On yet another occasion involving another friend, who was arrested during "routine raids", in what appeared to be a fundraising activity of the particular police station that conducted the raid, seeing as it was the past Eid El Kabir a few weeks back, each one of the "unfortunates" were made to cough out between ₦20,000 and ₦50,000 after signing an undertaking, stating even things as ridiculous as promising to stop walking about in the night. We paid  ₦20,000 in the case of my friend because we brought the head of the "PCRC" of our area to plead on his behalf, others paid more, and I shook my head as we walked away with him that afternoon of the last Sallah holiday, while the policemen began to gather in their haul for the day, probably to decide with what exactly they'd make a meal of the big ram that was already tied to a tree within the police station's compound.

There are other instances that I will not mention here, but I mustn't stop without adding this one. I'm sure while you're reading this, you'd probably be wondering why we never contacted lawyers in almost all of the cases that my attention was called to. This is because I have found that there are some lawyers that feed off situations like these. They hang around police stations pretending to try to offer help to those in detention, while working in cahoot with the police to fleece the detainees of all they could possibly. More often than not, when those cases go to court, they put up very weak defences, or fail to help protect their "clients" from outrageous bail conditions, that will end up seeing the detainee become a prisoner "awaiting trial" for years in the many gulags scattered allover Nigeria, and not without collecting their charges to the fullest sometimes with threats to abandon the same case they jeopardized right from the onset. The only lawyers that can bring you out of police detention are the top so called SENIOR ADVOCATES, and they can even effect free bail for their clients, unfortunately they aren't usually available for and to the masses, who are usually at the mercies of extortionist members of the Nigerian Police Force and their collaborator lawyers.


When recently the Nigerian Police expressed their disgust to a recent finding that suggested that that outfit ranks the worst in the world, many Nigerians were left wondering in bewilderment. A friend even said it is wrong to even classify Nigerian police amongst the worst in 2017, because they hadn't even arrived here yet, seeing as their crude tactics is still in the seventeenth century. Recently, the police in Rivers State paraded two suspected killers of a staff of Shell Oil Producing company, stating that they were apprehended using DNA and forensic science. Interestingly, it was a case I got to know about from my host when I arrived Port Harcourt hours after the ugly incident had occurred, and I'd written about in one of my blog posts (https://madukovich.wordpress.com/2017/05/08/rivers-state-of-blood/). I learnt later that it was detectives hired by Shell that took saliva sample on the head of the victim to Holland, with which they matched the DNA with some staff of Shell and subsidiaries/oil servicing companies before the culprits were nabbed, because if you'd been to Shell R.A. in Port Harcourt and the company, and seen the security apparatus therein, you'd also agree with the investigating team that the killing of that man was an inside job. Had one of the perpetrators not spat on the head of their victim after their dastardly act, they'd probably would've gotten away with it. Sadly, the police in their statements never mentioned nor acknowledged the contribution of the Shell Police and their local and foreign detectives in their statement.


In fact, it was disbelief at their ability to solve the crime the way they said they did that evoked my desire to find answers. How a police that we saw recently stepping over blood and evidence around a dead bank robber in pictures that went viral following that exchange of fire between gallant policemen and robbers, at a Zenith Bank branch, was beyond my comprehension. A Nigerian police that invited the FBI to help it crack the case of the murder of frontline Lagos politician, Engineer Funsho Williams, only to find fingerprints allover his body,  that may have included that of police personnel, as they flippantly desecrated the crime scene like the civilian family members and sympathizers that thronged the home of the late politician, after news of his gruesome killing spread like wildfire. But I digress, because my focus and all I want to say is that despite so called noise by the police hierarchy that bail is free, the reality on ground is otherwise, and even more notoriously dangerous because innocent Nigerians are losing their lives, or having it truncated temporarily because they cannot afford the huge amounts policemen, on the roads and in the stations are demanding from their "hostages" before they can let them go, boasting that nothing will happen to them even if they shoot and kill their victims, as the hierarchy who are also involved in their own mess (if you consider any of the allegations against the Inspector General of Police by Senator Misau to have some truths in it) at their level, cannot then decree to rank and file what they should do when they haven't come to equity with clean hands.

Despite the very few instances of the Nigerian Police Force rising to check the troubling trend, of cases where hapless Nigerians (mostly adolescents and young people, under the guise of combating cybercrime, with their phones and laptops confiscated, and their online privacy violated all in the bid to dig up incriminating evidence, which in the eye of the uncouth policemen, include legitimate online businesses that many Nigerian youths have turned to, because of the absence of physical jobs to employ them) are arbitrarily rounded up on the flimsiest of reasons, and forced to make withdrawals using their ATM cards, or transfers from their mobile devices, or have families run helter skelter to raise funds, as you'd find with kidnappers demanding ransom. The sad reality is that for every policeman dismissed and tried for these acts of extortion, inflicting of bodily harm and injury on their victims, as well as extrajudicial killing of those who dared to question the authority of the armed policeman to dehumanize him/her, there are multiples of such happening under the radar, so much so that when AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL comes up with figures, Nigerians have come to just read them without any outrage, because of the helplessness and hopelessness of their situation. Even the  Public Relations Department of the Nigerian Police have grown a thick skin, and now hardly responds to new findings, except those that have managed to make it into the international media. When they do respond, they offer some of the lamest of excuses that in no way addresses any of the concerns raised by the bodies that have painstakingly offered testimonies (at the risk of the lives of the victims of police mistreatments) and empirical evidences. Admitting wrong done, talk more apologizing doesn't even come up, and therein lies the motivation for the impunity that continues to stare Nigerians in the face in the name of BAIL IS FREE, when it is absolutely not, at the hands of the police that should protect and serve the people.

'kovich


PICTURE CREDIT:
- http://www.nairaland.com
- https://www.onlyinnigeria.wordpress.com

LAGOS' "AREA BOYS" MENACE

Just about everywhere you go in Lagos these days, excluding the very posh areas, you will find social miscreants, popularly called AREA BOYS. I have wanted to write about this for sometime now, but somehow I just let it pass, because something I may consider more important happens and then I'll write about that. Even when some weeks back when the Okada rider conveying me through a very busy market was stopped by them, just to ask of me some money, I still didn't feel the urge to write, despite the fact that one of the duo who had stopped my bike man, had said something to the effect that, "we are doing this because you people said we should stop stealing", but I didn't let the shock that these could be robbers (sometime in the past, if not till date) perturb me, or register in my face, while his mate had his eyes glued to my backpack. I sternly but respectfully told him that I was struggling just like them, and as such didn't have extra change besides what I had on me to pay my rider, to give them, and they let us go.


This incident happened right beside a police traffic warden, who stood by watching, and this wasn't the first time it was happening to me. In fact, I could say I've become a veteran in dealing with social miscreants, though my response on each occasion to their antics belly the fact that I can read them like the palm of my hands. About a decade ago, when I returned to Lagos from a year in the north, and another in the Niger Delta, for work, I had this barber on the street where I used to live, always accost me for "change", just because we got to say "hi" to each other having known a mutual friend together. I'd give him something if I had, till someday I told him that he was better than me, seeing he had his business, even a family and I was unmarried and salaried at the time, and in fact I should be the one asking him for some dough, and not the other way round. I went ahead to rummage through his pocket for some money, came up short, and left. He never again bothered me.


I decided to write about this today because of what I witnessed last week. A sewage disposal vehicle had come to do their business in a house adjacent to where I'd gone to rendezvous with a client for some business, and some boys were there haranguing the driver and his mate for money. I know that there are some areas in Lagos, where you can't bring a container into the street, without "boys" been "settled", truck drivers conveying perishable and non-perishable goods are routinely "obtained" by these AREA BOYS, as they enter Lagos, even on their route to, and as they reach their destination markets or warehouses in town, leading to the extra costs of these goods at retail. What I was seeing for the first time, was the collection of "shit" fees by these boys, and I was left mouth agape while the brouhaha lasted, with the driver threatening to kill the boys should any of them stand in his way, after their job is done. If one hadn't heard the Yoruba language before, coming to Lagos for the first time, and not shielded from the common parts of the city, where these boys operate, almost everywhere in their every increasing numbers, you'd think "Owó Dà?" (where's the money?) is some form of greeting. It is the "rent-seeking" madness that is the true face of Lagos, especially amongst the so called indigenes, many of whom have sold their father's houses and estates, and frittered the proceeds away with their excesses, and now live by extortion, especially of those involved in the daily grind to make ends meet legally.  In recent times many of these have joined different cults and put the lives, limbs and property of innocent Lagosians at risk when they make war against each other during STREET FIGHTS in areas like Mushin, Bariga, Oshodi, Ikorodu and the likes.

Unfortunately, the Lagos State Government seem not to have woken up to the nuisance these Area Boys constitute. Their efforts have largely been restricted to the motor park touts (Agbèrò), who have now even

AGBÈRÒ LOOKING TO "OBTAIN" A BUS CONDUCTOR AT OSHODI, LAGOS, NIGERIA. 

resorted to plying their trades on the main roads, contributing to traffic headaches that bedevil motorists as well as pedestrians, in spite of efforts to curb their excesses. Even the law to criminalize the activities of Land Speculators and Grabbers (Omo Onílè) recently signed by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, remains just where it is on the paper where it is signed, while Omo Onílè continue to run things, so much so that a market was pulled down overnight, in the Sabo area of Ikorodu recently, with the Lagos State Government denying any knowledge or giving approval for the demolition, days after it had forcibly evicted residents of Otodo Gbame into the Atlantic.

The menace of these Area Boys haven't spared Nigeria's booming Nollywood industry too, so much so that there's been recent cases of disruptions of filming in several areas of Lagos by Area Boys, asking to be settled before filming can continue.

One of the actresses even lost her pregnancy after she was manhandled on set by these rent-seeking societal wretches. Till date, it's not a case the police is looking at. Now, Nigerian musicians go to Ghana if they can't afford South Africa to do their videos because unless you're from Ìsàlè Èkó, or streetwise, or willing to part with a substantial amount to these Area Boys, you can't shoot scenic Lagos, especially if you're doing a song that doesn't require the posh areas in the video. One can only imagine what the present situation will metamorphose to should this trend continue without intervention from authorities that ought to be concerned. Maybe, when the posh areas become invaded by these boys, we will begin to see action in that line. For now, as the  government and the elite of Lagos mark 50 years since Lagos became a state officially, I cannot but notice how the Area Boys have become a law to themselves, and a very visible but unpalatable part of the Lagos story.


'kovich 

DANFO IS LAGOS

I must confess that I've been having sleepless nights since news made the rounds that the Lagos State Government plans to introduce new "Combi" buses and phase out the yellow "Danfo" buses that's been one of the images of Lagos for decades.

DANFO BUSES IN ONE OF THE PARKS IN LAGOS, NIGERIA.

My fear wasn't unfounded, because over the years the mode and means of transportation in Lagos have experienced changes, leading to the phasing out of the Molue long buses (much like the American school buses though with rugged appearances, that was largely an eyesore to Lagos, at the time they were phased out) and replaced with BUS RAPID TRANSIT SYSTEM, BRT buses, which have their

BRT BUS AT A DEDICATED BUS STOP, AND DEDICATED LANE. 

dedicated lanes and corridors on major Trunk B roads, from which other classes of vehicles where banned from plying in the state, without any form of resistance either from the commuters or from the the operators, drivers, or from the umbrella body, the National Union Of Road Transport Workers, NURTW.


The success somewhat, of the BRT buses must've encouraged the Lagos State government to go a step further, to foray into the territory of the small buses, but I doubt that they'll find the exercise as hitch-free as it turned out with the phasing out of the Molue years back, and the reason isn't

MOLUE BACK IN THE DAY, WITH CONDUCTORS AT THE DOORS.

farfetched. The reach and route of the BRT buses are limited and for obvious reasons (size), and the fact that the Danfo competes on those same routes with it, hadn't been much of a problem, seeing that until recently the BRT charged less for the same journey, with less abrupt stops that's synonymous with the Danfo buses, and people had a choice and peace reigned in the land. The recent increase in the BRT bus charges for different locations that took effect today, have meant that commuters must've reviewed their options, especially as the Danfos have largely kept to their old charges, which was once considered more expensive compared to the BRT buses thereby giving it leverage over the small buses before now, leading to situations where commuters didn't mind long queues to go by the BRT bus than struggle at rush hour to board a Danfo bus for more to the same destination.

LAGOS STATE TRANSPORT  MANAGEMENT AGENCY, LASTMA OFFICIAL PHYSICALLY MANHANDLING A DANFO DRIVER (A COMMON SIGHT IN LAGOS)

Though the state government has yesterday denied it intends to phase out the Danfo buses, what it says it plans to do, according to the Commissioner of Transport, hardly looks any different from doing away with Danfo buses, as I can't envisage Danfo buses as presently constituted having free Wi-Fi, being air conditioned and the likes. Unfortunately, even the BRT buses that came air conditioned initially with in-bus entertainment have largely discarded them, with a few of them become reminders of what obtained in the past with the Molue. As recently as two years ago, I was in a BRT bus that was cockroach infested, hence I find it difficult to envisage how the so called buses that the state government will introduce, with all the "effizy" gadgets will remain in that condition for more than a few months without falling to disrepair and damage, due to our poor maintenance culture, especially when  government is in control, or as envisaged in a Public-Private Partnership, PPP arrangement, as has become unfortunately norm with everything Nigerian.


Let me go now to the human capital aspect of things. I have earlier on stated that since this made news, I have had sleepless nights, but this is due to the fact that I'm a stakeholder in the Lagos transport sector, and I see many in my shoes getting knocked off if this plan sees the light of day. The training of graduate drivers already to drive these buses for a fixed salary, already knocks off a large section of the non-graduate driver pool that makes up the majority of drivers in Lagos, besides how people who've lived their lives as they wanted, will now be coerced into living a salaried existence is something I'm waiting to see play out, especially in this situation, without sowing seeds of a future showdown between such drivers and the company that will manage the drivers. I don't even know if it's a ploy to checkmate this policy that informed the decision of the CONDUCTORS UNION (which before now, I didn't know existed) to decree uniforms for their members, but surely this policy will also render many of these "good" men out of jobs, especially if ticketing will follow the pattern of that with BRT buses.


Then the case of the motor park touts, popularly called "Agbèrò", who have also carried their business to the roadsides and middle of highways, becoming a menace to road users, including the miscreants amongst them, whom many Lagosians would not mind missing, comes to mind.

SOME "AGBERO" RESTRAINING A CONDUCTOR THAT RAN MAD IN IKORODU, LAGOS SOME TIME AGO. 

An enforcement of this policy will mean their total disappearance from the streets, roads and highways of Lagos (good riddance to bad rubbish), however imagining what they will now set their hands to once they are forced to relinquish their grip on the roads is a scary thought to ponder. Experience has shown that so far nothing the Lagos State government does for the benefit of the masses, especially those the already impoverished masses have to pay for comes cheap, and I mean that for all the sectors.


What I think should happen now is that the state government must pay attention to enlightening it's public on their intentions for the transport sector in the state, rather than wake up and impose policies on the people at their whim. Maybe there was a public hearing before approval of such was given, but the way it came as a shock to a large section of the Lagos populace, when certain aspects of the plan was made public at an event by the Governor (Akinwunmi Ambode) days back, and the rebuttal (that looked more like the same thing) that followed yesterday, shows that not many people knew about the government's plan.


If you asked me, I'd say the status quo should be maintained, and road transportation left in the hands of private individuals but regulated by government only. What's wrong with having the "Danfo Bus" as the face of Lagos (as seen in the latest installment of CAPTAIN AMERICA - "CIVIL WAR" war),

CAPTAIN AMERICA CRASHING ATOP A DANFO BUS IN "CIVIL WAR".

just like New York's Yellow taxis? The state government should simply stick to completing the intra-state light rail project whose conception, and execution commenced more than a decade ago with the launch date now suffered several postponements, while encouraging Lagosians to travel by the numerous waterways by slashing the cost of commuting by ferries, as well as tackling the safety concerns of that mode of transportation in the state. Any plan in my estimation, that does not carry along the members of the powerful NURTW will fail. As for me, I need to go check my blood pressure, I cannot come and go and kii masef jare!


'kovich


PICTURE CREDIT:
- http://www.nairaland.com
- http://funmisalomejohnson.blogspot.com
- http://hotnaijanews.com
- http://pulse.ng/movies
- http://naijagists.com

OF OKADA RIDERS & POLICEMEN IN BARIGA

It was an Okada rider friend of mine that told me about it last week, even before I saw the visuals on Sahara TV. An Okada (moped taxi) rider was riding his customer and child to their destination in Bariga, in Lagos. While she was alighting, the Okada rider sighted a policeman in mufti (as is their nature, especially when they intend to raid unsuspecting members of the public, justly or unjustly), coming towards him with the aim of "arresting" and milking him of his hard earned money, decided to bolt away, thinking the child behind him had alighted with the mother, only for the woman to begin to shout to him to stop so her child could come down from the bike. Unfortunately, this incident happened around Bariga market, with the crowd that could easily become a lynch mob at the slightest provocation. These, thinking that this was yet another case of kidnapping (especially for ritual purposes) successfully stopped the Okada rider and began to descend on him without hearing his side of the story, nor the womans' (whose child had by now been safely returned to her), whose appeal to them to desist from hitting the man was falling on deaf ears.

THE BEATING OF THE OKADAMAN IN BARIGA CAUGHT ON VIDEO. (SOURCE: SAHARA TV)

Interestingly, the policeman and his colleagues (who had by now joined in the melee) who were responsible for the fiasco in the first place, rather than help situate the matter in its right perspective, even if at the end of the day, they'd arrest the Okadaman and deal with him as they wished, allowed the man to be beaten to near comatose level before the woman with the help of others was able to gain access to the pummeling party, to relate the true side of the story, and they helped take the man to the clinic for treatment. That day Okada riders rode free of police intimidation and extortion in Bariga, because the Divisional Police Officer, without accepting responsibility for the actions of his men or apologizing for it, appeared to have prevailed on his men to sheathe their swords at least for that day, because of the seething anger amongst the populace when the truth of what actually happened was made manifest. In fact the Okadaman and the woman she carried were familiar with each other, and this wasn't the first time he'd be carrying her and her child.


Only a few of the inhabitants of Bariga felt that the coming of the new DPO at the Ilaje Police Station in Bariga, will change the extortionist ways and tendencies of the police in that part of Lagos. At the end of their evil stick are Okada and Tricycle (Keke) riders, sometimes the "Danfo" drivers though they have a strong union with connections with politicians and powerful people in the society that unless for serious criminal cases have become untouchable by the Nigerian police, as long as their palms are frequently greased with "shandy", "wazo" or any other pseudonym for any of Nigeria's currencies that the policemen routine collect at various points in Lagos where legally and illegally position themselves daily come rain or shine. Part of the proceeds from their "day's labour" goes into "deliveries" they make to the bosses in the offices, who assign them to "juicy" spots, like the areas around Bariga market in Lagos (for instance), with the heavy flow of traffic there. Some of it goes into the various "esusu" (like cooperatives) they join, to which they deliver huge sums of money daily, weekly or monthly, amounts that sometimes either equal, or more in multiples of their monthly emoluments, of which when collected eventually a few of them have gone on to build estates, even establish businesses.


It's a known fact that a large percentage of the Okada plying the Bariga route are owned by the policemen posted there, and the riders of Okada not owned by any policeman have to "settle" some policemen frequently, for "protection" in the days they have a falling-out with the colleagues of their "protector"; though a few times these have joined their peers in complicating matters, when their help is sought leaving the Okada riders in deeper shit and despair than they were before calling up their chargers for "protective aid". With these policemen in Bariga there's no gain, just losses, severally they'd carry out raids on the neighbourhoods arresting boys for just about any flimsy reason under the sun. Of course, only the Inspector-General of Police know that "BAIL IS FREE", Nigerians know that the contrary is true, and the amount they collect will make you wonder if police stations haven't become revenue generation centers, not for government, but those men in uniform. That police station in Ilaje, at some point had an ATM within its environ before the immediate past Central Bank governor outlawed the siting of ATMs at locations other than around banks. While that ATM was there though, it was difficult for anyone who had "business" to do at that police station, to claim they had no money for bail.


When it comes to the police, President Buhari's "CHANGE" mantra holds no water. Even the state police commissioners who have been regaling the public with rallies of "Change Begins With Me" by policemen and women under them, know that it's just mere lip service and another money making adventure. Nothing in the extortionist behavior of the police have changed, rather the fees payable have astronomically increased owing to the "recession" in the air, and Nigerians have been left none the better for it. When last year, a policeman lost three of his children to a landslide in Lagos, not a few Nigerians and Lagosians were unsympathetic with the man, when it returns to their consciousness that the man is a member of the Nigerian Police Force, many of those unsympathetic Nigerians had a good reason to feel the way they did.


'kovich



VIDEO CREDIT:
- https://youtu.be/3epMcLz_2fY

IKORODU: LAND OF HORRORS

In recent times Ikorodu has been appearing on the timelines of my head more often than before. There was a time I didn't even know it was a part of Lagos, okay yea I had a girlfriend who I never visited because she lived there back then in secondary school. But that was just it, the other times it was because I'd use Ikorodu Road to several other destinations besides the place it actually led to, and then again that was it. It wasn't until a colleague at work some years back regaled us with tales of how she would wake up as early as three in the morning, and be on the road by four just to be at work on the island before seven that my consciousness was raised a notch concerning the place. Of course, we also witnessed the many times she was robbed, phones and bags collected severally, besides the physical and psychological trauma she was subjected to by (armed) robbers and hoodlums, as she made her way to work, and the many times she'd had to leave work before closing hours for home, because the people of Ikorodu had one (Orò) festival or the other, bordering on the fetish and diabolical to perform, for which women, sometimes men are required to stay indoors sometimes for days on end. You could tell how evidently she changed once she moved out of Ikorodu, where she didn't have to pay rent because it was her parent's house, to the island where she paid massively, but had rest of mind.


With these at the back of my mind, when I forayed into a bit of real estate, I wasn't keen on Ikorodu, even though it seemed like it was the only place we could afford to buy land in Lagos at the time, before we decided to move outside of Lagos, although it was the issue of land speculators and/or grabbers that topped the list of our disenchantment with that part of Lagos at the time, over and above my personal issues with the place. It also meant that when accommodation became an issue for me sometime last year, Ikorodu wasn't even up for consideration, despite the fact that many of the new apartments on display, mostly online had the kind of space as well as other facilities, for less competitive pricing that you'd find nowhere else on the mainland or on the island, without boring a huge hole in your pocket.


Now, recently a man was caught (while his accomplices managed to escape) in the Majidun area of Ikorodu, said to be planning to blow up the third mainland bridge in Lagos. He was said to be part of the oil bunkering militants, whose stock in trade was to burst oil pipelines in the Arepo and Ikorodu areas of Ogun and Lagos States respectively, fill barges with twenty-five litre kegs containing fuel, and even bigger containers for onward sales to customers in the black market. He and his cohorts, according to the police decided to blow up the bridge because of recent Nigerian army and airforce raids that bombed them out of their hideouts and out of business (at least for now). As usual, and as is commonplace with the Nigerian security services, they overplayed and over-sensationalized that event in the press, ignoring the wider, even more deadlier scenario, that this was just one man (which I doubt would've been able to go through with his plans, with the few dynamites and other explosive paraphernalia on him) out of the horde that have now gotten their hands to other mischief to make "ends" meet, ends that have widened exponentially, based on the amount of money that was formerly available to them in their oil bunkering days. That simply added to my dread of Ikorodu, and I simply noted the event.

ABIODUN AMOS AKA "SENTI" AND HIS GANG, ACCORDING TO THE POLICE, WERE PLANNING TO BLOW UP THE THIRD MAINLAND BRIDGE. 

So, weeks ago, just before Christmas, on the stretch of Ikorodu road of which Majidun (again) is part of, a robbery incident was recorded in which Aisha Alli- Balogun, a TV presenter was shot dead while in traffic and her daughter, a kid was kidnapped (later released to her family, with no news as to whether a ransom was paid or not) during the attack that involved several commuters in traffic on the said night. It was while I was scanning through twitter that it came to light that this wasn't the first time this would be happening there, especially on that part of Ikorodu road, as I began to read of experiences of even passengers in public buses who have lost valuables while they were caught up in traffic, and robbers took advantage of their helpless situation to strike.

THE LATE AISHA ALLI-BALOGUN, GUNNED DOWN IN TRAFFIC ON IKORODU ROAD BY SUSPECTED ARMED ROBBERS. 

In that period, I also noticed that another staff at work who lives close to Ikorodu was now coming later than usual, and I asked her about the situation, only for her to attribute her lateness to her now having to leave home later than usual, till such a time as she could see the light of day because of the nefarious activities of "former oil bunkerers" who have taken to armed robbery and kidnapping, since their oil bunkering activity was halted by the Nigerian military. She stated that on one particular occasion the armed robbers blocked both sides of the traffic at about seven o'clock in the evening around the Ogijo part of the Ikorodu road, and  perpetrated their crime, robbing from vehicle to vehicle for more than an hour without police showing up anywhere to rescue the situation, while it lasted, till the thieves got tired of hauling loot and left. What broke the camel's back for her however, was the recent abduction last week of passengers in a bus still on the Majidun axis of Ikorodu road, who were hailed down by armed men very early in the morning, and transferred from their bus to that of the kidnappers, and driven to an unknown location from where families of those abducted were called to pay varying amounts as ransom to facilitate the release of their wards and family members, then in the care of kidnappers. Since then, this staff, has defied the fear of a query for late coming because of that incident, saying she'd be devastated if something like that happened to her, while still nursing and breastfeeding a baby. Unfortunately, moving to other parts of Lagos is presently out of the question for her seeing as her husband prefers Ikorodu, due to the proximity to his business to their house, and also not wanting his wife to be closer to her people in mainland Lagos, which a move away from Ikorodu, outskirt of Lagos might enable.

KETU ASPECT OF THE IKORODU ROAD DURING RUSH-HOUR TRAFFIC. 

How could I have gotten this far without mentioning the cult problem in Ikorodu. When in discussions last week over the issue with a friend, he attributed the situation to the presence of the Lagos State Polytechnic students there who are members of one cult or the other, but I was quick to inform him that the cultism in that institution, and indeed of tertiary institutions in Nigeria is child's play compared to the horror that cultists, who aren't mainly students, in Ikorodu get up to, as well as visit on the people of Ikorodu, sometimes with active connivance of the police and other security agencies, as well as politicians and the well entrenched traditional society in that part of town. Many times, when the people resort to jungle justice and lynching of a criminal, they say that at other times they resorted to following the law such criminals were released from police custody under controversial circumstances, sometimes by influential chieftaincy title holders and powerful politicians, whom they might have done some favour for, many times the gory ones that the people of Ikorodu wake to see some mornings as headless corpses, with other parts of the body missing, and these include of males and females. Even with rape cases, Ikorodu stands out, with victims at certain times including either the very young, or the very old, then bizarre in that some of the perpetrators then go on to wipe the vaginas of their victims with a white handkerchief, in what many suggest will be used for ritual purposes.

SERIAL RAPIST AND CULTIST, POPULARLY KNOWN AS "BADDO" LYNCHED AFTER HE WAS CAUGHT A SECOND TIME. THE FIRST TIME HE WAS CAUGHT HE WAS HANDED OVER TO THE BAÁLÈ (COMMUNITY CHIEF), WHO HANDED HIM OVER TO THE POLICE, ONLY TO BE RELEASED WITHOUT PROSECUTION. 

It isn't unusual that Ikorodu is getting all these bad vibes now. It's where the middle class have elected in recent times, to build their homes on cheaper to acquire land, though that comes with its own challenges, including as mentioned before, land speculators/grabbers who could make a landowner pay several times for the same land, depending on the number of times different aboriginal families win cases in court to upturn a former so called "original" aboriginal landowner (omo onílè). Ikorodu is like sugar surrounded by a horde of ants. Even an arm of Nigeria's entertainment industry, the Yoruba-speaking film industry, known as the National Association of Nigerian Theater Arts Practitioners, NANTAP, have lots of their members who have homes, businesses like hotels and sundry in Ikorodu, as against their English-speaking Nollywood counterparts who have made Lekki axis on the island their base, as with the very wealthy of Lagos. When the criminals abduct (even primary and secondary school students, some of them while on the assembly ground in the morning), rob or perpetrate crime in Ikorodu, they do these aware that some of their victims are wealthy, or are related to those who are and own houses in Ikorodu, and can afford to pay ransom to secure the release of their wards in their captivity.


What Ikorodu needs is more opening. The expansion and reconstruction of Ikorodu road is a step in the right direction, but that long stretch needs now to be policed, not just by the armored personnel carrier with a few policemen at strategic points on that stretch of road but far more than that, to include frequent patrols. If the fourth mainland bridge, which will link Ikorodu with Lekki, is finally built that will further

PROPOSED FOURTH MAINLAND BRIDGE TO LINK IKORODU WITH LEKKI ON THE ISLAND IN LAGOS, IS EXPECTED TO BE A PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP PROJECT, PPP ON A BUILD, OPERATE AND TRANSFER BASIS. 

open up Ikorodu and naturally that sort of openness will bring that part of town under further scrutiny especially of the security agencies, as well as government attention, which because there'll be facilities to protect on that axis, with new markets and economic opportunities, the land will be forced to modernize and hopefully crime will be effectively fought just because of exposure to the outside world, without forgetting the old ways that Ikorodu must shed to move forward, with or without the opening up of the area. It is heartwarming to learn that the Lagos state House of Assembly has passed into law, the anti-kidnapping bill into law, which prescribes life imprisonment for kidnappers, and a death sentence for them, if their captive dies in their custody, as well as forfeiture of the property in which the abducted was held incommunicado, though I don't know how the complicity of the owner of a property can be proven in such a situation, but notwithstanding it is a step in the right direction, if the laws can be implemented. Hopefully, the tales from Ikorodu will turnaround for good, for now it remains a no-go area for me.


'kovich


PICTURE CREDIT:
- http://punchng.com
- http://www.stargist.com
- http://www.naijanewsrave.com
- http://scannewsnigeria.com
- http://www.nleworks.com

MY EVENING WITH LAGOS' RADIO STATIONS

Again, the radio takes over by six o'clock in the evening for another two hours, when I close from work and make my way back from Lagos Island to my home on the mainland. I tune in to INSPIRATION 92.3FM for the news that lasts ten minutes, then follow that with the more comprehensive news of Nigeria's first privately owned radio station, RAYPOWER 100.5FM, that has correspondents reporting as you'd find with the dour reportage of most  government owned stations, complete with static in the background. What I miss in the first ten minutes, I will hear again when the news is being recapped. By six-thirty I flip to CLASSIC 97.3FM's fifteen minutes of news, which feels like an elaboration of exactly what I've heard on Inspiration FM already at six (with more sound bites), but hardly as concise as Raypowers'. News on Radio Stations in Lagos is more like the News Agency Of Nigeria, NAN distributing the same content to the different media houses to do with it what they wish. It's so bad sometimes that you'd hear the same news, with the same lettering and wordings from different stations, especially the private ones, without even an attempt at rephrasing it. The next fifteen minutes before seven, and the other fifteen after seven I spend listening to what other stations have to offer, or go back to my soundtrack for the day to get inspired for the night.


I used to listen to SHARING LIFE ISSUES with CHAZ-B, immediately after the six o'clock news on INSPIRATION FM, while he was alive but it was becoming ridiculous, both topics and solutions provided for problems, that I was skipping episodes already weeks before he died. The attempt to keep the program alive in his memory, in my estimation has failed, especially with constant  movement of the program from one station to the other. Presently, I can't even say off my head now, which station is airing it, that's even besides the mediocrity on display with the new hosts and crazy callers to the program who come up with the strangest of problems that are never theirs but of their friends, as if even if that was true, it was right to backbite or gossip about their friends' emotional challenges, especially of a sexual nature and demons on radio.


J-A-J's TOP SEVEN JAMS AT SEVEN, on RHYTHMS 93.7FM used to cut it for me at some point, in fact it used to be where I go to for the latest in hip-hop, and I can't really place my hand on the real reason why I stopped spending thirty minutes listening to that program, even though that part where the host (aka The Mega-Don) inserts his eternal rap skit towards the end of the show, was beginning to get boring. Nowadays, it is only by chance that I fall on the program, just to probably lighten up the evening before I tune-in to KUBANJI DIRECT on RADIO CONTINENTAL 102.3FM, hosted by a CITIZEN JONES (USEN), veteran journalist in memory of the pioneer host, the late Momoh Kubanji (just like what was later attempted with Chaz B to not so much of a success) who died a few years back.

CITIZEN JONES IN THE STUDIO.

Radio Continental, like some other radio stations in Nigeria, is owned by a politician. It isn't surprising therefore that the narrative is usually skewed in favour of the political leanings of the owner of such media houses, hence radio stations like Raypower and Rhythms carry news that favour the People's Democratic Party, PDP while Radio Continental favour the All Progressives' Congress, APC. Nowhere else is the corrupting influence of a politician affecting reportage and even the discuss on radio more prominently than at Radio Continental. It is as if the news is vetted by the Lord owner before it goes on air, in fact in the sister TV station (TV Continental), you can see the eyes of presenters doting behind the cameras like they're receiving reprimands when they seem to stray from the political line issued them for onward projection on screen. The name of that one-hour program with four women, one of them a Muslim woman with hijab on TV-Continental skips me now.


That's how a beautiful program like KUBANJI DIRECT became one sided, shutting it's ears to opposition, now that the party it promotes is in power, unfortunately at the hands of a veteran journalist, who should know better. It is so bad that even as lately as last night, a contributor via Twitter accused the host of his bias, in favour of the ruling APC, just like I did weeks back trouncing the program for lacking intellect backed discourse, and was surprised to

hear my tweet read on the program, of course with the host brushing off my observations with a wave of his hands, and one of his minions rushing to attack and start a Twitter war with me. Interestingly, now that his paymaster appears to be at loggerheads with the echelon of his party, time will tell how long he can continue to back a directionless  government that he and his likes helped foster and continue to goad on, in spite of the truth staring them in the face.


Despite the heavy journalistic misnomer that that program represents, I still listen to it. Yes, with the wide eyed, unrepentant protagonists of the present Human Rights abusing, economy debasing APC, and President Buhari sycophants like Alester Wilcox and Professor Chris Nwokobia guesting most times. Men who can't see anything wrong in a government that's driven the country to the precipice in less than two years. Once a while "Citizen Jones", will bring fair minded Nigerians to contribute and present alternate views, only to continuously shut them down, and even going ahead to express his own views when he shouldn't have one, at least while he sits as umpire in his program. It is with that program that I gauge the thinking of those who sold Nigerians a bad deal in the last elections, standing now to make excuses for a  government that has done nothing but fail to deliver on ALL its election promises, without missing any opportunity to put the blame on previous governments, even for mistakes that every rational human being can see was at the behest of the present government.


So, unfortunately my mornings aren't bettered by my evenings on radio. I wish I could have BBC on FM and not have to listen live with data, as it's embarrassing, except when I'm in the north of Nigeria, to go about with a transistor radio, scanning the shortwave at different times of the day for the signals of the RADIO STATION OF THE WORLD. I might just listen to music, but even the so called "more music, less talk" radio station is fast losing its signature brand with OAPs angling to hear their "fake accented" English most times they come on air, breaking sweet music just to vomit the most mundane of thoughts from the recess in their head. Sometimes, I just give up hope on political discourse on radio on weekdays and look forward to weekends, which again is more of the same when it's about politics, as you shall see when I dissect that also, to give you a peek into how radio goes with me on weekends.


'kovich


PICTURE CREDIT:
- https://mobile.twitter.com/RC1023FM/status 

MY DAY WITH LAGOS' RADIO STATIONS

So, on my way to work every morning, when I don't have, or haven't decided on a particular soundtrack to burn the grind time with, I listen to the radio. I do this also on my way back from work, when I take a break from the soundtrack of the day, having been 'pon deh replay all day. The hours specifically are from 7am to 8:45am and from 6pm to 8pm, which I devote to radio stations in Lagos on work days. While the weekends include 8-9am on Saturdays and 2-3pm on Sundays. These times I spend catching up with news and current affairs, while at other times I'm probably trying to listen in on the latest Nigerian and foreign music, or other special programs that have to do with health, entrepreneurship, and the likes on radio.


I wouldn't have been bothered to write this, except for the fact that recently I've begun considering changing that routine as the monotony is becoming dangerously unnerving, especially with news and current affairs interactive programs, following the last general elections last year, after Muhammadu Buhari emerged president with his party's CHANGE mantra, and the accompanying prosecution of an anti-corruption war, that only the blind and deaf can continue to hail as being not selective and vindictive. I don't bother listening to news in the morning on radio, because the morning's news aren't any different from the 6pm news of the day before, so I simply go for newspaper reviews. When I was an early riser and didn't have a deluge of TV series to catch up on, my day usually stated with the Yoruba language "Kókó inú ìwé ìròyìn" program on 92.9FM from 6:20am to 7am, before going on to 97.3 CLASSIC FM's newspaper review with Jimi Disu whose fixation with Buhari is legendary. You'd think that he has a shrine somewhere in his house where he worships and pours libation to him before coming to work in the morning. That's why I haven't gotten myself to follow him to LAGOS TALKS on 91.3FM from 9 to 10am, because of his very biased views and analysis of events, even as much as calling for extra-judicial measures in fighting the war on corruption, even while Nigeria remains a democracy. Unfortunately, he claims that his dead pan biased views and analysis are for the sake of children, who may be mislead by present events without guidance, while he on the other hand is busy stoking the flame that will burn them, should the grow up with the "I-Know-It-All" attitude of intolerance he promotes on air.

JIMI DISU IN THE CLASSIC FM STUDIOS.

It doesn't matter if the headlines are of an earthquake in Nigeria, or that the world is on the brink of extinction by reason of nuclear holocaust after Russia hypothetically struck first, and the Americans retaliating while in the throes of death, or any other apocalyptic scenario your dark mind can fathom, amongst others making the news; the man will simply latch on the one piece of news he may as well be jerking on, like the one this morning about the former Customs' Comptroller General returning a whopping ₦1 Billion to the Economic and  Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. Even when subsequent news items about the worsening economic situation is read to him, he still somehow finds a way to come back to the issue of corruption, prodded by zombie followers, many of whom should know better than engaging in media lynching of suspects arrested for financial malfeasance (that are often times thrown out of the courts for lack of evidence, or poor  prosecutorial handling of corruption cases), mainly of the opposition in the last government, while members of the president's party, regardless of the number of times they trend on social media (where the lynching of the others, not in the good book of government take place routinely) for one act of corruption or the other, are allowed to roam free without as much as been invited over by the anti-corruption agencies to respond to allegations of corrupt activities, many of which are so glaring that even the blind can see, leveled against them.


Sports with Deji Omotoyinbo, still on Classic FM spares me "Uncle Jimi Disu's" shenanigans and dry jokes, which after fifteen minutes affords me the chance to listen to what's left of another interactive current affairs program on SMOOTH 98.1FM's "Freshly Pressed", a delight because of the sound analysis by Cheta Nwanze and sometimes Mazino, which is interjected most times by the female OAP, so called Miss Ireti with a fake British accent spewing the most shit on radio, with her half intelligent reviews and responses to text messages and tweets, especially when they are critical of her views. 8am is when I switch to "Daily Guide" on STAR 101.5FM presented by the duo of sisters' Moyo and Mofe Oyatogun, whose late father was a sportscaster of repute. Though in recent times, only Moyo appear to retain the slot anchoring and discussing as dispassionately as she can, politics and related sundry, the way the common man will understand, with guests on either side of Nigeria's politico-socioeconomic divide, though when the jobless Alester "Obama" Wilcox and his Buhari-praise singing, butt-kissing, boot-licking ass comes on air (almost as frequently as he parades radio and TV stations in the Ikeja axis of Lagos, like one looking to be noticed by the  government in power for his relentless effort at whitewashing their sepulchre), I'd brace myself for the most ridiculous of excuses for a largely underperforming government Nigeria has seen since independence. But I also am inspired by the charity work that both sisters have enabled with their program, and the side attractions from frequent callers like "Prince Y. S. from Amuwo Odofin". Sadly, both sister-Oyatoguns lost their beloved mother earlier this week (barely months after they lost their father), for which I, like many of their fans Lagos-wide extend my most sincere condolences.

A FULL STAR-FM STUDIO AS DAILY GUIDE IS PRESENTED WITH MOYO OYATOGUN, THE ONLY FEMALE WITH GUESTS.

When I'm in a good mood, I go back to listen to sports again on SMOOTH FM by 8:15am to 8:45 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, just for "The Tiger" Terga's beautiful voice and her analysis of almost all sports as she guests on a sports panel. Mehn, that chic knows sports, abeg. Even those very alien to Nigeria such as cricket, in fact I developed my love for F1 from her analysis, and then going further to make Lewis Hamilton my hero. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I may make the mistake of listening to showbiz gossip news on the same station, or remain with STAR FM to endure guests like Alester Wilcox or the one that calls himself a Professor, Chris Nwokobia with verbose yet repetitive use of certain vocabulary, in order to prove his learnedness, with submissions that are empty despite hiding them behind much words, as he continues to project a change, which he campaigned for, but jettisoned by those he helped to get to position (like they jettisoned him), stating that unless certain things are done, the search to take Nigeria to paradise will be like "a search for Godot!"


It's people like these I try to avoid by simply deciding on my soundtrack early. Not because they shy from the truth most times, but because they exaggerate facts and fail to balance their analysis, especially when it's politics. That one I certainly can't deal with, particularly when a medium as powerful as radio is involved, where lies can easily become truth because of frequent repetitions and subliminal inundations. But my morning ordeal isn't even as bad as that in the evening with the program I oft-listen to on my way back from work from 7 to 8pm. I could write a book on that one alone, unfortunately much of what I'll have to report is sad and shameful, of what Nigeria's media has become, and why the Nigerian free (private and non- governmental) news and current affairs atmosphere has lost reckoning amongst their peers worldwide, as they wallow in the pit dug for them by mostly politician-owners of the tools with which they ply their trade.


'kovich


PICTURE CREDIT:
- http://www.classic97.net
- http://www.mobiletwitter.com/dailyguide

'76 AND "93 DAYS"

I am not a fan of Nollywood (the Nigerian film industry). I can't say I was ever a fan even in the days when I was either compelled to see Nigerian movies or see them for just about any other reason I may not be able to explain for now. Indeed, a few of the movies have impressed me, especially those from the stable of MAINFRAME PICTURES, because of the way Tunde Kelani stuck to and with standards as consideration, even over profits. Once a while one movie or the other comes along and you get this feeling that eventually we will get things right, and scripts will be better interpreted and make more sense overall.


I had always hoped that one day, Nigeria's story (not only of rituals, wickedness, negative  spiritualism, churchism, dry comedy, diabolism, of females useful only as sex objects in their scant dressing, cultism etc) nay history will begin to be told on Nollywood. It would be for me a reason to screen them on my phone, laptop or TV. When "HALF OF A YELLOW SUN" by Chimamanda Adichie was adapted for the screen I didn't waste much time before seeing it, even though it was at some point banned by the  government controlled film and video censors board because it dwelt on a very emotive issue (the Nigeria-Biafra civil war of 1967-1970), the ghost of which hasn't relented one bit in haunting Nigeria, seeing that major actors on both sides of the divide are still alive, with Nigeria not moved an inch away from the brink of disintegration, the subject on which the movie is predicated. In the end I was rather disappointed with the movie, which I found rather simplistic amongst other reasons I'd rather not go into now, even though it had foreign professional input, even international stars like Chinwetel Ejiofor who incidentally is of Nigerian descent, and Igbo parentage.


Then recently, I heard about '76 and I was intrigued. I waited for the same film and video censorship board to say something, yet I heard nothing. I felt it must have been a bold move for a Nigerian producer to touch on the subject of the coup of February 13, 1976 in which General Murtala Ramat Mohammed, Nigeria's Head of State at the time was assassinated. Nollywood appeared to be telling doubters like me with that strike, that they weren't joking anymore, enough of "Aki and Pawpaw" teaching children bad manners, or producers connecting mishaps in people's lives to the diabolic, and the varying instances of bad research in subjects related to the medical, historical, traditional (for instance as regards how the Igbo "Igwe-In-Council" operates, amongst others) even socioeconomic lifestyles of average Nigerians. I have seen the trailer (which doesn't look any different from most Nigerian movie trailers) but not the movie, though I'd like to give the producers of this one the benefit of the doubt.

POSTER OF THE MOVIE '76

While I was pondering about how to go about seeing '76, "93 DAYS" which I'd followed since it was in the conception stage, immediately after we'd managed to put the EBOLA outbreak behind us, and Danny Glover visited (though not his first having visited severally to attend movie awards, even became an awardee at some point if memory serves me right). When I saw the trailer recently, I was glad that the period between the actual event and the movie depicting it isn't far and wide apart. I feel it's pertinent that for the lessons from the period a few months back, to be imbibed and not easily forgotten, the release of this film at this time is the best that could've been done. This, featuring as usual Hollywood and Nollywood stars and household names looks to me like a must see.

DANNY GLOVER IN "93 DAYS" 

Interestingly, I have found over time that when blockbusters are about to be made, there are names that feature in such movies that you would hardly find in your everyday Nollywood movies, because the caliber of actors and actresses you'd find in such  intercontinental and international collaborations such as "93 DAYS" are such that would never soil their reputation with the crap that Nollywood routinely churns out in the name of home videos. Even the Nigerian cinemas wouldn't touch these movies for a while, till recently when a few stakeholders in the industry started upgrading their acts, enough to begin to tempt perennial critics like me to begin reconsidering seeing Nigerian movies once again as pastime.


These few sparks in the sea of unimpressive performances by Nollywood practitioners, show that they can actually be better than what they currently put out. Even Africa is tired of the poo they'd have to put up with over the years because of lack of alternative from their own film industry and expectations are high for the pacesetting movie industry in Africa to pioneer the new way forward. Apparently, Nollywood must chart this next path, like it did the initial one on its own, as even the best intentioned Nigerian government hasn't done much to help, even when state governments like Cross Rivers incorporated a movie studio in the Tinapa project, it ended up failing because Nollywood had no input hence till date, like many  government projects in Nigeria without input of those meant to benefit, the complex remains, though completed, a white elephant project, hosting only once a while, conferences mainly by the state  government which would either not pay or pay subsidized fees to use the facilities, rendering the complex an unsustainable edifice, and not the legacy project the governor who conceived it meant for it to be.


Sometimes, the blame hardly lies with the government, nor with Nollywood, as with the proposed FILM VILLAGE that was meant to be built in Kano, to help move "Kannywood" (the Hausa-speaking film industry based in northern Nigeria) to Nollywood's level and hopefully beyond, but was thwarted by protests from Muslim clerics, who claimed that the film industry is anti-Islamic and would erode the good character of the youths of the region, even though the movie industry in that region, except for very few instances hardly deviates from what is culturally and religiously acceptable. Not even the fact that the film village was to be named after President Muhammadu Buhari (who apart from been a "son of the soil" is beloved of the people of the north, with a huge cult following, that cuts across all ages), could sway the hard-line stance of these so called policy-shapers and moral police of northern Nigeria, talk more the possibility of such a structure contributing employment and boost revenue generation at least to some extent in the region that's considered by their southern counterparts as consumers of wealth produced in the latters' region, besides engaging more youths in more productive activity than leaving them easy prey to religious opportunists who may engage them in destructive activities associated with terrorists, after becoming radicalized at the hands of Islamic Fundamentalists.


Even if it is true that the present crop of actors and actresses in Kannywood are people of questionable character and prostitutes, shouldn't the idea be to work at reforms, rather than throwing the baby out with the bath water? This is another area where the refusal to delineate between "mosque and state" is stagnating progress in the north of Nigeria. Interestingly, all of the morality of that region has not reduced by any means, the bloodshed, corruption and all the evil as you'd find in any modern society from taking root, even spreading from the region to other parts of Nigeria.


Before I digress (as I am wont to) any further, I want to congratulate those who made these two  aforementioned movies possible. For daring to tell our ancient and modern history via the screen, even when it isn't the easy way to go considering the complexities the Nigerian environment portends for those who dare. I will go ahead and plan to see both movies as soon as possible, especially "93 DAYS" seeing that I was also in the thick of things working in Lagos, with my protective gear daily as we hoped to stem the tide of a hemorrhagic fever that landed our shores from Liberia, and would've easily decimated the population of Lagos, even unto Port Harcourt in Rivers State, had it not been for the heroic efforts of the late Dr. Stella Adadevoh and her team, some of whom also lost their lives, to save us! The recognition the Nigerian government has failed to give these heroines and heroes, they will now get internationally, with the launch of this movie at various film festivals worldwide, screenings at cinemas home and abroad, as Nollywood hits another notch, in spite of its hostile surroundings.


'kovich


PICTURE CREDIT:
- http://www.radiorepublik.com
- http://www.youtube.com