Are Prayers Best Presented Or Answers Quickly Obtained When Disturbingly Noisy? -By Ifeanyichukwu Mmoh

The average African – it has been decided by analysts – was a captive of 2 major influences, namely imported religious ideologies and obsolete customs. When a famous scholar once said that religion was the opiate of the masses, few had doubts that the statement aptly fitted the African. Consequently, it has been observed that not even the civilization of Europe and America was strong enough to influence Africans (who existed in those climes as a result of trans-Atlantic slave trade) against own traditions.

It is clearly understood, how the average African held on tightly to own traditions when one compared the influence of western civilization on the Asians – who came in contact with Europe only because of the quest for a better education – with the African – some of whom existed in Europe even before colonialism. When I first read the book How Europe underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney; the first question I had to ask myself was: If this account is true, then why do African leaders sit-tight and Europeans do not?

For me, the book was like a direct opposite of what obtained today. If as a result of the invasion of African territories by the Europeans; Africa was bastardized what can one say of the syndrome of vision-less, corrupt, despotic and sit-tight leadership that replaced the colonial masters in the mid-twentieth century? It becomes clear how the African tradition/customs of monarchy prevented Africa from letting in the real European mindset that was essential for both educational and industrial transformation.

Recently, I began to consider the prayer-side of Africa’s religious ideologies and my emphasis was to understand the meaning of the noise/shouting part of prayer. While on this, the one question on my mind was: Are prayers best presented to God and Allah or are answers quickly obtained when such supplications are disturbingly noisy? If I started to find answers by say, to make a comparison in leadership between Africa and Europe; I would dismiss noisy prayers as mere traditions and nothing more.

If I compared the technological advancement between Africa and Europe; I would still dismiss noisy supplications as empty habits believed to hold a meaning in the minds of the African. If I compared the degree of charities that poor countries of the world benefitted from Europe and from Africa; I would still treat the noisy supplicant as a mega joke! If I compared the standard of living between the European citizen and the African citizen; still I will call off the noise as mere pollution.

If I compared the level of integrity of an average European and an average African; I will still come to the same verdict that noisy prayers were in deed worthy of being criminalized. If I compared the ease of doing business in Europe with those of Africa, I will not conclude any differently still. This means that if the Europeans prayed in their closets and privacies and are better placed or rated in terms of every good thing that appealed to the conscience of sane men; Africa was simply not observing what works!

What works! Yes that’s the appropriate phrase. The average man on this continent does not appear to be interested in what works. We prefer to live as our progenitors once lived. And guess the annoying part of this; we don’t even care to find out how those who brought these religious ideologies to us are living it. Noisy prayers everywhere yet impossible to stamp out corruption; loudspeakers in churches and mosques yet so much animosity and shedding of innocent bloods!

At the moment, the world wrestling entertainment (WWE) are in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia entertaining the kingdom with numerous wrestling bouts and as a fan of WWE, the idea of doing a show in KSA interested me enough to have to ask: can this happen in northern Nigeria without Nigerians from this part of the continent crying blasphemy! But the KSA understood firstly what their religion was about and then where it can never meddle with politics or economic opportunities like tourism.

About a month ago, the social media was a washed with stories of how President Paul Kagame closed down churches in 2018 in Rwanda and how he claimed the citizens were not financially buoyant enough to sustain those many churches and, that marveled Nigerians! For many back here, it was strange that government should regulate religious worship and I ask: why shouldn’t they? If there was no justification for continuing a thing; why should it continue?

Be reminded of what the Holy Bible said in Mathew 6:6 “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou has shut thy door, pray to thy father which is in secret… and you will be rewarded in the open.” Jesus himself frowned against noise pollution! He frowned against the use of coercive words but what we do today is mostly to interpret religion from the prism of our customs and traditions. I marvel at why not many Muslims bothered to find out the origin of violence in Islam.

I marvel too why not many Nigerian Muslims bothered to emulate the cosmopolitan lifestyle of the Saudi Arabians who are the true custodians of the religion. I make bold to say that President Paul Kagame of Rwanda is doing nothing extraordinary that no other man could do. He is attracting so much praise unto himself and his country but what he is doing is simply to rid Rwandans from the shackles of religious ideologies and archaic customs and tradition that stagnated most of Africa!

It is time we began to do the same by taking a second look at the things that worked among civilized people and differentiating it from the ones that did not. Praying aloud was nothing but noise pollution! It is like believing you could cast a stone at Satan when you cannot see him let alone decipher where he is located per time. If Africa must move forward in this age and civilization; then she must rid herself of those shackles that held her stagnant through all these decades.

Comrade Ifeanyichukwu Mmoh is an advocate for attitudinal change. 08062577718

Analyzing imminent pitfalls in the sustainability plans for the rejuvenated Nigeria Railway Corp.

Over the years and particularly since the 4^th republic opened Nigeria into another democratic experience; Nigerians have yearned for a re-introduction of trains as a means of transport primarily because of the deplorable state of the highways and the burden of expenses that a repair of these road networks placed on the common man via the government. Aware of this great need, the government has never pretended to be unaware and in fact, had taken proactive steps to proffer a lasting solution.

For a great many Nigerians, the hunger for trains as means of transport does not preclude the desire of having the government employ a common-sense, workable and cost-effective approach in providing for this need as against the normally bogus, utopian and unsustainable style that characterized the provision of basic amenities. To go back to the old rules that never worked; old rules that placed the management of these expensive enterprises in government’s hand were largely dismissed.

Incidentally, after several years of waiting the masses are heaving a sigh of relief as the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration through the ministry of transport seemed to have carried on with the railway vision of the YarÁdua/GEJ administration with gusto. The question is: Are there genuine concerns on the sustainability plans for the rejuvenated Nigeria Railway Corporation particularly given the fact that the already operational ones are in the power of government to manage?

The honorable minister of transport is a man I hold in very high esteem, given his antecedent as governor of Rivers state between 2007 and 2015. But it seems to me that his drive to deliver on the government’s promise to rejuvenate the NRC beclouds the sense of reasoning with ideas that are proffered by well-meaning Nigerians and aimed at addressing concerns of sustainability. For instance, following a recent tweet on the minister’s handle, a follower asked about the rail systems sustainability.

The reply’s unsatisfactory nature prompted me to write a thing or two on the subject. The fact is that Nigerians cared about the rejuvenation of the train system of transport enough to care to understand how the overall system can be sustained. We all know that but for the sustainability angle of finding a lasting solution to NITEL’s inefficiency and the low population of telephony users which was effectively answered; the GSM or any other approach that may be adopted would’ve failed by now.

With the global economic dynamics that now compelled many wealthy countries to be careful in picking investment portfolios in terms of countries to invest and those to shun; the rejuvenation of the NRC must not be about just sinking enormous sums of tax-payers monies only to have it fail in less than a decade later and then leave the country heavily indebted to the Chinese. This has been the story with the Urban Mass Transit, the Nigeria Airways, the Nigeria Ports Terminals and so on.

As can be seen, the NRC’s rejuvenation obviously posed a threat to many well-established businesses in the road transport sector. Its emergence and efficient management may well mean a goodbye kiss to these businesses and so beyond the sufficient bankrolling of the NRC with millions of dollars of Chinese monies; neglecting the idea of taking these indigenous players into the present arrangement by way of concessioning the right to own and operate train services could be dangerous. This is danger number one for its sustainability.

Danger number two was duplicity of tickets/tickets racketeering. The Terminals are expected points of revenue generation; right? What if a cartel takes over these terminals and run a parallel management thereby cheating the government of needed funds with which to not only refund the loans but service the trains and pay workers’ salaries? If a BOT arrangement was sealed between Nigeria and the Chinese firm; what if like in the Bi-Courtney Ltd/MMA2 agreement, government reneges?

Danger number three was government policy in the course of time. Sometime ago, this government attempted to sell the NLNG to some private investor but this asset was by policy of government, decided to be run by government. Several years later, the NLNG running at a huge lose was to go into the hands of the private. The NRC could turn out this way in the future after all, the El-Rufai buses in Nigeria’s capital Abuja did and are mostly moribund today and so why won’t an NRC?    

Since the fall in the price of crude oil in the world market, the average Nigerian has found self in a dilemma. The political leaders believes that only effective taxation could help keep the economy on a sustainable path and, so not just that the tax regimes were multiplied; they were also increased. For the VAT that recently rose to 7.5%, I know another means of effective taxation that is efficient and humane and does not need to place the average Nigerian in the ditch struggling to pay up and that is Tolling.

I advocate for the sale of the federal roads to the state governments – after all, are roads not supposed to be a part of resources the states should own? The masses will not mind to pay the Toll on roads provided the roads are built to standard and made available for use and provided the amount is affordable and within reach of the average Nigerian. How many of us struggle to pay for a sumptuous meal from the restaurant? Why do we pay up promptly? Because we just received value for our money?

So imagine the revenue that accrues from this? The truth is, the federal government becomes poorer after every 24 hours and these facilities in their hands can never be properly utilized for the benefit of government and the people. This is why they called in the Chinese to build and operate the rail system. But are the Chinese the best or the only option? Where are the rich and powerful of this country? Engaged in the political, religious and racial fight for supremacy and do not seem to realize what this whole thing portends for the country until a time in the future? That’s correct!

After stealing taxpayers’ monies to fund economies of other countries, the political class comes back and also hands over our goldmines as well to the Chinese; then expects the citizens to survive on what? Look at how the people of Kogi state now looked helpless under Governor Yahaya Bello? If they had options in terms of financial independence, would anyone look the way of GYB let alone coming out in the hot sun to hear the filth he had to say? Giving the Chinese access to the rail sector is like handing our oil wells to them. Where is indigenization in that arrangement? It is dangerous. That’s my point.    

And so, I advocate for the idea that the government and its Chinese investor should focus on building and providing standard rail lines across Nigeria and, then allow indigenous players to own and operate train services. This way, indigenous businesses that packed up from the road segment of land transport could get a piece of the pie in the railway segment and long will the NRC live. Also, the terminals like in the airport terminal can be segmented into the several operators who hires own staffs and print own tickets.

The general idea of allowing the Chinese to profit exclusively so to say, on a goldmine like the railway system simply because they provided needed funding should be seen as a business agreement that was in no way offering immediate help to Nigeria considering the level of unemployment, crime, brain drain and general infrastructural deficit. We have seen in the recent P & I D saga that once a contractual agreement was signed, the terms were binding on parties provided the conditions are met.

While I continue to admire the honorable minister’s drive on this project, let me be on record as one who championed ideas that are aimed for the worthy project’s sustainability. Railway transport is indeed a goldmine and because of this, government must be careful as to may be review already signed documents to ascertain if they were truly going to benefit the masses and be self-sustaining at the same time. The sale of NIPP to certain players only proved how naïve government can sometimes be.

An already signed agreement is an already sign agreement but when the populace become concerned as to want to know the terms and conditions agreed upon; they do have the right to know. After all, these amenities are built with the taxpayer’s monies and with the ultimate intention for it to meet the average taxpayer needs.

Comrade Ifeanyichukwu Mmoh is an advocate for attitudinal change. 08062577718.