Why is President Buhari still in London? - Martin Patience
As Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari was beginning his latest visit to London more than a month ago, a new series of Big Brother Nigeria was getting under way.
A former military ruler known for his no-nonsense style would appear to have little in common with a reality TV show where contestants engage in attention-seeking behaviour.
But both subjects were soon generating headlines for the same reason - neither of them were in Nigeria.
It turned out that Big Brother was actually being filmed in South Africa - a decision that led Nigeria's information minister to launch an investigation.
While the howls of protests from outraged Big Brother fans soon died down, the clamour over Nigeria's leader's extended medical stay in London is not going away.
President Buhari's absence comes as Africa's most populous nation is gripped by its worst economic crisis in decades, and faces the threat of famine in north-east Nigeria, which has been devastated by the Boko Haram insurgency.
And unlike Big Brother, there are no constant updates - in fact, President Buhari, 74, has not given a single interview since arriving in the UK.
Instead, the Nigerian public is relying on pictures - posted on Twitter - of their leader meeting senior UK officials as proof that he still is alive.
The latest statement issued by the government said there was "no cause for worry" about the president's health but his medical leave was being extended.
Nigerians have now heard their leader's voice for the first time since he left for the UK after a telephone conversation with the governor of the northern state of Kano was played out loud at a prayer meeting.
His month-long stay so far has angered some Nigerians after he promised to crack down on "medical tourism" by officials.
Last June, President Buhari spent nearly two weeks in London receiving treatment for an ear infection.
But the bigger issue this time is that officials have repeatedly refused to disclose his illness and are not saying when he will return to Nigeria.
'Urgent decisions'
In a country where rumours are rife, the presidential statements have done little to dampen the speculation about the leader's health.
Nigerians are acutely sensitive to leaders travelling abroad for medical reasons after President Umaru Yar'Adua died while in office in 2010.
For months, the public was kept in the dark while he received treatment in Saudi Arabia.
The period of uncertainty created deep political instability in the country.
The current president's supporters say that is emphatically not the case this time.
They point to the fact that President Buhari constitutionally handed over power to his vice-president, Yemi Osinbajo, as he has done on previous trips, rather than governing from afar.
He did take one phone call while in London, however, from the US President Donald Trump - the first between the two leaders.
"There is no vacuum at the top," says political analyst Jibrin Ibrahim.
"President Buhari takes his constitutional role seriously, and has not personalised power, unlike other African leaders.
"My chief criticism is that his government has been acting like it has all the time in the world, when in fact urgent decisions needed to be made in regard to the economy."
But, perhaps, one of the most striking things about President Buhari's absence has been the go-getting style of the acting leader.
Yemi Osinbajo is preparing to launch an economic recovery plan.
He also led a high-profile delegation to the Niger Delta to voice support for a government agreement with local militants groups that have seriously disrupted the region's oil production.
But critics say that despite all his activity, the vice-president has no real authority.
"He cannot perform because ministers and other political appointments are not obliged to be loyal to him as he didn't appoint them," said Isuwa Dogo, a political analyst, and a member of the opposition party.
"President Buhari is a public figure and there is no need for him to hide behind his health issues.
"I want him to be back in the county. If there are successes, he will get the credit. If there are failures, he will get the blame."
So, while Big Brother fans will know in April who has been crowned the series winner, for now, no-one seems to know when Nigeria's president will come back home.
BBC
There is Chromium in Congo. Sierra Leone, Angola and Botswana have Diamond Mines. Gabon has Manganese. Ghana and South Africa have Gold. Guinea has bauxite in great proportion (the 5th largest in the world). The entire worth of World’s Gold is $2.6 trillion and Africa takes $1.3trillion of it.
Moreover, Africa supplies 30 per cent of the world’s demand for bauxite, cobalt, gold, manganese, phosphate and uranium; 57 per cent of chromium and diamonds; and 12 per cent of oil.
Mercantilism is an economic theory that says ‘a nation’s wealth is determined by its natural resources that are traded. Going by the above analysis of resources in African nations, one can easily conclude that Africa is the richest continent in the world.
Yet, Africa is the poorest inhabited continent in the world. Of the 20 poorest nations in the world in 2013, Africa takes 17. In spite all the wealth that God has blessed Africa with, its nations are still the poorest in the world. What is wrong? My answer: it is lack of management. Then, where and how did we get it wrong?
Dr. Myles Munroe once said “You can never fully understand a thing until you go to its root.” So, my love for Africa made me to begin to research into the roots of Africa’s problem and I discovered that what brought us to this point of mismanagement, disorder, misappropriation and underdevelopment is ignorance.
Many African nations fought for independence ignorantly. We wanted independence from the colonial masters by all means without first acquiring enough knowledge on how to manage our resources and lead like those British masters would lead.
We were like the prodigal son in the Holy Bible that asked for his inheritance without first asking for the knowledge to manage the inheritance. So, we began to have ignorant personnel who knew nothing about what leadership is all about as leaders over us. Nothing destroys a leader like lack of preparation.
Nothing is more damaging like plunging those who don’t know how to manage into abundance. A former Head of State in Nigeria once said that “money was no longer the problem of Nigeria but how to spend it”. This undoubtedly set the stage for plundering of the treasury.
African nations failed woefully in this aspect of preparing for leadership through vast knowledge acquisition before fighting for independence.The way you prepare is the way you will appear. Truly we gained freedom but we were only freed physically we were never freed mentally.
That is why we still depend on America and Britain for aid. What a shame! What is the way out? A wise man in this nation said “There is no mountain before any man; everyone’s ignorance is his mountain”.
The way out is for us all to begin to embrace knowledge through books, internet research and interaction with great minds. Knowledge is Power. Knowledge is light. Knowledge is freedom.
Knowledge is life. History has it that between 2900 B.C and 300 BC, Africa was leading in education as people came from all over the world to Egypt for education. So, education began in Africa.
Again, civilisation started in Africa. Thereafter, Athens in Greece took over as the second centre in the days of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, the great Greek Philosophers. From there to Britain and now to U.S.A. Everywhere education went, civilisation went too and development also went.
Today, U.S.A is a world power not because of trade and commerce but because of intellectual property. Of the first 10 best universities in the world 8 are in USA; of the top 100, 48 are in U.S.A. That is why they are the most powerful nation. Knowledge is power!
Japan was once very broke, in fact more broke that Nigeria. They called their children together and told them they were the only assets they had; sent them to America and Britain to go and learn and they came back with technology building.
They are the 3rd strongest economy today. Until we begin to embrace knowledge we may never see any drastic change. People are the greatest assets of any nation and a nation is weak when its people are weak.
When the people are strong mentally the nation becomes strong eventually. If ignorance brought us to where we are, it will take knowledge to get us out.
Young people in Africa should begin to acquire knowledge by every means possible so as to become unusual managers, hyper-resourceful technocrats and expert thinkers.
It is no longer enough to be a graduate, we need to become bookworms in and out of school. Every great thinker, reformer and revolutionary that I know living or dead is a bookworm.
To mention a few - Abraham Lincoln, John. F. Kennedy, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Martin Luther King Jr, Myles Munroe, Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama, Bill Gates among others. Every truly powerful man in the world is a book worm.
Your first pursuit in life should not be to be known but to know because when you know you will definitely be known. When you are loaded you will be needed. And it is what you take in that will take you out.
Please, don’t run after leadership positions let positions run after your brain. It is your investment in research that will make you to be searched out. Dr. David Oyedepo said “School can only make you literate but it is your investment in Literature that will eventually create your future”.
I believe Africa has a great future and the future is in the hands of the youths. Let every African youth that loves his nation and continent begin to desperately seek knowledge.
Read many books on Leadership, History, and Nation Building. The future of Africa is in knowledge. God bless Africa! God bless Nigeria!
A former military ruler known for his no-nonsense style would appear to have little in common with a reality TV show where contestants engage in attention-seeking behaviour.
But both subjects were soon generating headlines for the same reason - neither of them were in Nigeria.
It turned out that Big Brother was actually being filmed in South Africa - a decision that led Nigeria's information minister to launch an investigation.
While the howls of protests from outraged Big Brother fans soon died down, the clamour over Nigeria's leader's extended medical stay in London is not going away.
President Buhari's absence comes as Africa's most populous nation is gripped by its worst economic crisis in decades, and faces the threat of famine in north-east Nigeria, which has been devastated by the Boko Haram insurgency.
And unlike Big Brother, there are no constant updates - in fact, President Buhari, 74, has not given a single interview since arriving in the UK.
Instead, the Nigerian public is relying on pictures - posted on Twitter - of their leader meeting senior UK officials as proof that he still is alive.
The latest statement issued by the government said there was "no cause for worry" about the president's health but his medical leave was being extended.
Nigerians have now heard their leader's voice for the first time since he left for the UK after a telephone conversation with the governor of the northern state of Kano was played out loud at a prayer meeting.
His month-long stay so far has angered some Nigerians after he promised to crack down on "medical tourism" by officials.
Last June, President Buhari spent nearly two weeks in London receiving treatment for an ear infection.
But the bigger issue this time is that officials have repeatedly refused to disclose his illness and are not saying when he will return to Nigeria.
'Urgent decisions'
In a country where rumours are rife, the presidential statements have done little to dampen the speculation about the leader's health.
Nigerians are acutely sensitive to leaders travelling abroad for medical reasons after President Umaru Yar'Adua died while in office in 2010.
For months, the public was kept in the dark while he received treatment in Saudi Arabia.
The period of uncertainty created deep political instability in the country.
The current president's supporters say that is emphatically not the case this time.
They point to the fact that President Buhari constitutionally handed over power to his vice-president, Yemi Osinbajo, as he has done on previous trips, rather than governing from afar.
He did take one phone call while in London, however, from the US President Donald Trump - the first between the two leaders.
"There is no vacuum at the top," says political analyst Jibrin Ibrahim.
"President Buhari takes his constitutional role seriously, and has not personalised power, unlike other African leaders.
"My chief criticism is that his government has been acting like it has all the time in the world, when in fact urgent decisions needed to be made in regard to the economy."
But, perhaps, one of the most striking things about President Buhari's absence has been the go-getting style of the acting leader.
Yemi Osinbajo is preparing to launch an economic recovery plan.
He also led a high-profile delegation to the Niger Delta to voice support for a government agreement with local militants groups that have seriously disrupted the region's oil production.
But critics say that despite all his activity, the vice-president has no real authority.
"He cannot perform because ministers and other political appointments are not obliged to be loyal to him as he didn't appoint them," said Isuwa Dogo, a political analyst, and a member of the opposition party.
"President Buhari is a public figure and there is no need for him to hide behind his health issues.
"I want him to be back in the county. If there are successes, he will get the credit. If there are failures, he will get the blame."
So, while Big Brother fans will know in April who has been crowned the series winner, for now, no-one seems to know when Nigeria's president will come back home.
BBC
The future of Africa- Femi Komolafe
The current population of Africa, according to the United Nations, is 1.1 billion, which is about 16 per cent of the world’s population. This 16 per cent takes 40 per cent of the entire world resources and 60 per cent of the world’s arable lands (see Global Public Square). There is crude oil in Nigeria, Libya, Algeria, Angola and Egypt.
There is Chromium in Congo. Sierra Leone, Angola and Botswana have Diamond Mines. Gabon has Manganese. Ghana and South Africa have Gold. Guinea has bauxite in great proportion (the 5th largest in the world). The entire worth of World’s Gold is $2.6 trillion and Africa takes $1.3trillion of it.
Moreover, Africa supplies 30 per cent of the world’s demand for bauxite, cobalt, gold, manganese, phosphate and uranium; 57 per cent of chromium and diamonds; and 12 per cent of oil.
Mercantilism is an economic theory that says ‘a nation’s wealth is determined by its natural resources that are traded. Going by the above analysis of resources in African nations, one can easily conclude that Africa is the richest continent in the world.
Yet, Africa is the poorest inhabited continent in the world. Of the 20 poorest nations in the world in 2013, Africa takes 17. In spite all the wealth that God has blessed Africa with, its nations are still the poorest in the world. What is wrong? My answer: it is lack of management. Then, where and how did we get it wrong?
Dr. Myles Munroe once said “You can never fully understand a thing until you go to its root.” So, my love for Africa made me to begin to research into the roots of Africa’s problem and I discovered that what brought us to this point of mismanagement, disorder, misappropriation and underdevelopment is ignorance.
Many African nations fought for independence ignorantly. We wanted independence from the colonial masters by all means without first acquiring enough knowledge on how to manage our resources and lead like those British masters would lead.
We were like the prodigal son in the Holy Bible that asked for his inheritance without first asking for the knowledge to manage the inheritance. So, we began to have ignorant personnel who knew nothing about what leadership is all about as leaders over us. Nothing destroys a leader like lack of preparation.
Nothing is more damaging like plunging those who don’t know how to manage into abundance. A former Head of State in Nigeria once said that “money was no longer the problem of Nigeria but how to spend it”. This undoubtedly set the stage for plundering of the treasury.
African nations failed woefully in this aspect of preparing for leadership through vast knowledge acquisition before fighting for independence.The way you prepare is the way you will appear. Truly we gained freedom but we were only freed physically we were never freed mentally.
That is why we still depend on America and Britain for aid. What a shame! What is the way out? A wise man in this nation said “There is no mountain before any man; everyone’s ignorance is his mountain”.
The way out is for us all to begin to embrace knowledge through books, internet research and interaction with great minds. Knowledge is Power. Knowledge is light. Knowledge is freedom.
Knowledge is life. History has it that between 2900 B.C and 300 BC, Africa was leading in education as people came from all over the world to Egypt for education. So, education began in Africa.
Again, civilisation started in Africa. Thereafter, Athens in Greece took over as the second centre in the days of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, the great Greek Philosophers. From there to Britain and now to U.S.A. Everywhere education went, civilisation went too and development also went.
Today, U.S.A is a world power not because of trade and commerce but because of intellectual property. Of the first 10 best universities in the world 8 are in USA; of the top 100, 48 are in U.S.A. That is why they are the most powerful nation. Knowledge is power!
Japan was once very broke, in fact more broke that Nigeria. They called their children together and told them they were the only assets they had; sent them to America and Britain to go and learn and they came back with technology building.
They are the 3rd strongest economy today. Until we begin to embrace knowledge we may never see any drastic change. People are the greatest assets of any nation and a nation is weak when its people are weak.
When the people are strong mentally the nation becomes strong eventually. If ignorance brought us to where we are, it will take knowledge to get us out.
Young people in Africa should begin to acquire knowledge by every means possible so as to become unusual managers, hyper-resourceful technocrats and expert thinkers.
It is no longer enough to be a graduate, we need to become bookworms in and out of school. Every great thinker, reformer and revolutionary that I know living or dead is a bookworm.
To mention a few - Abraham Lincoln, John. F. Kennedy, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Martin Luther King Jr, Myles Munroe, Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama, Bill Gates among others. Every truly powerful man in the world is a book worm.
Your first pursuit in life should not be to be known but to know because when you know you will definitely be known. When you are loaded you will be needed. And it is what you take in that will take you out.
Please, don’t run after leadership positions let positions run after your brain. It is your investment in research that will make you to be searched out. Dr. David Oyedepo said “School can only make you literate but it is your investment in Literature that will eventually create your future”.
I believe Africa has a great future and the future is in the hands of the youths. Let every African youth that loves his nation and continent begin to desperately seek knowledge.
Read many books on Leadership, History, and Nation Building. The future of Africa is in knowledge. God bless Africa! God bless Nigeria!
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