Access to Technology is Human Rights for People with Disability

 

Source: www.augsburg.edu

Background

After three years of consultation with the technology industry, governments, civil society, and communities across Australia, the Australian Human Rights Commission recently released the Human Rights and Technology report. The report made 38 recommendations to protect human rights in the development of new technologies. Part D of the report, which deals with Accessible Technology, found that (a) Accessing technology is an enabling right for people with disability, (b) Many people with disability encounter barriers in accessing Digital Communication Technologies, (c) Law and policy reform is needed to improve functional access to Digital Communication Technologies, (d) ‘human rights by design’ strategy can improve the functional accessibility of Digital Communication Technologies. These findings have implications for the social inclusion of people with disability who have as much rights to use technology for everyday activities as people without disability. Indeed, many people with disability are unable to participate in many activities because they are marginalised by the designs of many technological devices that could have assisted them.

 Source:https://www.greenbiz.com/

What we know about disability in Australia

According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, over 4 million Australians live with a disability. While 32 per cent of this number have severe or profound disability, 29 per cent need help with health care. The number of people in Australia with disability increases with age. While about 13 per cent of people under 65 years have some form of disability, over 50 per cent of those aged 65 and above have a disability. People with disability are also more likely to have poorer general and mental health than other Australians.  Similarly, people with disability are twice as likely to be unemployed as those without disability. At least 9 in 10 of working age people with disability experience difficulties in finding employment.                  

Although there has been an improvement in the highest level of educational attainment for people with disability in the last decade, it is still lower for those with no disability. Fornstance, the highest level of educational attainment was a bachelor’s degree or higher for 17 per cent of people with disability and 11 per cent of those with severe disability. This is in comparison with 35 per cent for people without disability. About 23 per cent of people with disability have experienced some form of discrimination, including disability discrimination.

Why technology must be made accessible to people with disability

According to Article 9 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), people with disability have the right to access all aspects of society on an equal basis with others, including the physical environment, transportation, information and communications, and other facilities and services provided to the public. By this declaration, not designing digital technologies to accommodate people with disability is an infringement on their fundamental rights.  The right to access digital communication technologies is particularly important to people with disability because it may determine whether or not they will enjoy other rights enumerated in the CRPD. For example, the inability to access technologies required to work undermines the right to work. Tech companies are breaching the rights of people with disability by producing digital communication technologies items that do not accommodate their disability. Technology can play a pivotal role in the inclusion of   people with  disability.  Access to relevant technology can help people with disability overcome their everyday challenges. Technology can provide people with disability a sense of belonging, enabling them to work,  learn, travel, participate in community activities and satisfy their sexual desires. Designing accessible websites for people with disabilities, for example, can open up a range of possibilities for them to engage in activities they consider meaningful.  According to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the web provides an exceptional opportunity to employ technology to offer unparalleled access to written, audio, and video content to people living with disability.

   Source:https://blog.petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/ 

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that many Australians with disability are not enjoying their rights to access technology. About a quarter of people with disability in Australia do not use the internet, with over 250,000 lacking confidence or knowledge to use the internet. Nearly 60 per cent of people with disability have not used social networking or chat rooms to contact family members and friends. Likewise, at least 60 per cent have not used email to contact their family members and friends. Because technology affects almost every aspect of our everyday life, it is important to provide people with disability with technologies that accommodate them.

Technology still marginalising many

According to the Human Rights and Technology Report, the fundamental right of Australians with disability is being undermined, as many of them encounter difficulty in accessing Digital Communication Technologies. This is not surprising as it is common to see situations where technologies supposedly designed to assist people with disability are largely underutilised because of their complexity of use. For example, a study on the use and application of advanced technology in the lives people with disability in the UK showed that even when they could afford specialty assistive technologies, they often found them difficult to use or ineffective, resulting in the discarding of devices. But why are tech companies still producing items that do not accommodate people with disability? According to Michael Chang, there is a deep-rooted bias in technology. He explains that experiences and perspectives the creators of tech shape how products are designed. Therefore, the process of making technology more accommodating for people with disability should start from the ideation and design stage. 

Law and policy reform required

The third finding of the Human Rights and Technology Report is that law and policy reform is needed to improve functional access to Digital Communication. Many of the available technologies are designed with people without disability in mind and do not accommodate an individual's disability needs. Although Australia was one of the first countries in the late 1990s to apply human rights and anti-discrimination law to web accessibility, data on the use of ICTs by people with disability in Australia show that there is still more work to be done on accessibility. In reforming laws and policies, it is important to make enforceable laws on accessibility that will require tech companies to design products that will accommodate people with special physical and cognitive abilities. Adopting and adapting relevant laws and policies from elsewhere could help to quicken the reform. Law reforms should also ensure the rights to privacy of people with disability, guarantee their freedom of expression and take care of algorithmic bias that hurt them. 

Source:https://www.123rf.com/

Why does human rights by design’ strategy matter?

In the Human Rights and Technology Report, stakeholders called for the adoption of a ‘human rights by design’ strategy to improve the functional accessibility of Digital Communication Technologies. In the context of technology accessibility, adopting “human-rights-by-design” will require tech producers to commit to designing tools, technologies, and services that respect the rights of people with disability by default rather than permit their exclusion. The strategy will ensure that technologies are designed by default to accommodate all users regardless of ability and optimised for user’s specific needs. This will be a big win for people with disability.

 

 

Super Eagles, Bafana Bafana in supremacy battle – Nigeria V South Africa Preview

Super Eagles of Nigeria face probably the toughest match of their 2019 African Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers, as South Africa’s Bafana Bafana make the trip to Lagos.

By Nnaemeka Meribe

• Super Eagles of Nigeria. Photo Credit: Reuters

Super Eagles are under enormous pressure to win at home although this is just their third Group C match.

The three-times African champions go into Saturday’s match against South Africa’s Bafana Bafana, tied with Seychelles in second position on the log, and desperate for a win in order to lead the group after the encounter.

Their shocking stoppage time defeat away to Libya last time out brought the players down to earth and it means anything less than a win in the weekend encounter with Bafana Bafana could be a deadly blow.

The Gernot Rohr’s side now need to up their game, having spent considerable time on the training ground with most players injury free.

Weekend offers them a good opportunity to confirm their superiority over their South African counterparts, who are currently on a run of good form having won their last four matches.

South Africa

South Africa currently atop the group, may be going for a draw - or even a win - to maintain their position.  A win appears an uphill task, but considering the splendid game they had in their second match against Libya, anything is still possible.

• Libya's Muaid Ellafi is challenged by Sifiso Hlanti of South Africa. Photo credit: www.espn.com

This is Bafana Bafana’s first game away in the qualifiers and they will want to prove that they do not owe their good form so far to home advantage.

Managed by Stuart Baxter since 2016, South Africa have enjoyed good results so far in the qualifiers.

An impressive 3-0 win at home to the group’s weakest team on paper, Seychelles, was a result for them, but it was their 4-0 humbling of Libya at home that showed that they were the team to beat in the group.

Team news

Super Eagles will have almost all their players for the match. Kelechi Iheanacho is back to full training after suffering a groin injury, and the Leicester city striker could start alongside Chesea’s Victor Moses and Shanghai FC’s Odion Ighalo in what is growing into one of Africa’s most deadly front threes.

Skipper Mikel Obi will be assisted in the centre by midfield powerhouse, Wilfred Ndidi and fit again Ogenyi Onazi, who is rumoured to have agreed a fee with Israeli clubside, Maccabi Tel Aviv.

William Troost-Ekong has yet to start since the goaless draw in Seychelles, missing out against both Libya, so coach Rohr may want to bring him back in at right-back due to his form.

South Africa will be facing the greatest test to their newfound form as key players Steve Matthew, Themba Zwane and Bongani Zungu are out with injuries.

In the absence of the trio, Aubrey Modiba, Calvin Tethe and Tiyani Mabunda will have to prove that they are as good by doing the against Nigeria.

Did you know?

Rohr is still unbeaten as Super Eagles gaffer at home since 2014 when he took over from Samson Siasia.

That’s a total of 14 matches, with 11 victories and four draws in that time, restoring the feeling of invincibility at home.

Super Eagles have yet to lose a game to South Africa - whether home or away – since 1992 when the two teams met for the first time.

Prediction

Nigeria 3 – 1 South Africa

What is glaucoma and how can it be treated?

By Nnaemeka Meribe

Glaucoma is a leading cause ofirreversible blindness in the world. It is a group of diseases of the eye that causes permanent blindness by destroying the optic nerves at the back of the eye. Optic nerves take information from the retina of the eye to the brain for interpretation.

• Illustration of intraocular pressure in the back of the eye due to damage to the optic nerve. Photo credit: www.allaboutvision.com

Who is at risk?

While anyone can develop glaucoma at any time, some people, more than others, are predisposed to developing glaucoma, particularly chronic glaucoma. People over 40 years and above fall into this. In addition to increasing age, race is another predisposing factor.

Black people are at ahigher risk of developing glaucoma than any other race. People whose relations have been diagnosed with glaucoma are also at risk. The risk is higher if they are above 40 years. Other risk conditions include high myopia or short-sightedness, diabetes and hypertension. People who are on medications containing corticosteroid, especially eye drops, over a long period are also likely to develop glaucoma.

What are the causes?

The cause of glaucoma is not completely known. But raised pressure in the eyeball has been frequently linked with glaucoma. Inside the eyeball is fluid which gives the eyeball its shape and assists in its function by exerting some pressure within the eyeball.  When this pressure exerted by the fluid goes beyond acceptable range, damage to the optic nerve occurs. The extent of the damage is determined by the magnitude of the pressure, with higher pressure resulting in much more damage and the duration of the pressure determined by how much damage is done to the optic nerves.

What are the symptoms?

At the onset, the disease could be chronic or acute.  Chronic cases develop slowly without symptoms over the years. This is why glaucoma is often referred to as ‘thief of the eye’. Acute cases are rare but are sudden and associated with sharp pain and irreversible loss of vision. Glaucoma could also be a result secondary to another condition or factor and congenital glaucoma has been seen in newborns and associated with incomplete development of the visual system at formation.

In most cases of glaucoma, there are no appreciable symptoms reported until advanced stages of the disease. It starts with narrowing of the visual field to tunnel vision. Other symptoms like sharp pain, reduced and blurry vision, haloes around bright light, poor contrast and red eye (in acute glaucoma) etc. occur at advanced stage of the disease.

• Illustration of malignant glaucoma. Photo credit: www.eyeworld.org

Can it be treated

In managing glaucoma, early detection is key.  A study is currently going on inAustralia to improve early detection. Yearly comprehensive eye check by an optometrist is recommended. For those identified as being at higher risk, comprehensive eye check twice every year is recommended. Generally, early detection and treatment will ensure minimized risk and damage to the eye, since vision loss is irreversible. The goal of the treatment is to reduce the pressure in the eye and improve blood circulation to the optic nerves.

If the disease was detected late and significant vision has been already lost, much can still be done to stop further loss and help maximize the remaining partial vision. Low vision devices can be helpful where drugs, surgery and other optical devices have failed or could not help. Contact an optometrist for further details.

The media and climate change awareness in Nigeria

By Nnaemeka Meribe

21 September, 2018

• Receeding Lake Chad. Image by Sani Ahmad Usman/ Wikimedia Commons 

• 
  

Politics is currently in the air in Nigeria. In the next four months, voters in Africa’s most populous country will go to the polls to cast their votes in the general elections.

Electioneering is almost at its peak. High level political horse- trading is currently going on. Politicians are aligning and re-aligning to actualise their ambitions after losing out in the power play within their former parties. There is heavy traffic on soap boxes in the urban and rural areas across the country, with politician after politician mounting to promise a better life to the citizens if elected or re-elected.

The traditional news media have been chronicling the events, devoting substantial amounts of space and time to the political activities. They are also smiling to the banks as the politicians, political parties and interest groups are buying space and time for political advertisements in a manner unprecedented in history.

Similarly, political discourses dominate the platform offered by the social media sites regularly visited by Nigerians. Sometimes, it seems as if war is about to break out in the social media between opposing sides. Rather than promote their candidates, supporters engage in mudslinging and campaigns of calumny.

Some smart guys on social media are also smiling to the banks— sponsored public opinion manipulators called social media influencers. They are people with large number of friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter respectively. Politicians pay them to promote their candidature.

Apparently, nothing else but politics matters in Nigeria now.

Something missing

But in all the speeches, promises and plans the politicians are making, something potentially cataclysmic for humanity is being ignored: Climate change. The manifestos of all the political parties are silent on climate change. Regrettably, no one seems to question the politicians on this. The media, which should be asking the question, also appears to be as mute as the politicians on climate change, an indication that the phenomenon is not regarded as an issue of immediate concern in the country.

Reality of climate change

Climate change, the average change in weather over a period -usually 30 years or more, is probably the greatest threat facing humanity. It is expected to present a heightened risk, new combinations of risks of potentially grave consequences for the health and survival of humans, flora and fauna as well as other species in the environment.

Clearly, there is need to act urgently on climate change. The implications of delaying actions on the issue will be devastating. As the immediate past United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, warned, “time is running out and the more we delay, the more we willpay”.

The Intergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange (IPCC), a body of world leading climate scientists established under theUnited Nations (UN), has in several reports stressed the vulnerability of developing countries to climate change. A vulnerability worsened by a composite of developmental challenges such as endemic poverty, complex governance and institutional dimensions; limited access to capital, including markets, infrastructure and technology; ecosystem degradation; and complex disasters and conflicts.

Nigeria and climate change

Nigeria has been listed as a climate change hot spot.  According to scientific projections, the country is likely to experience major changes in weatherpatterns in the 21st Century.

It has been reported that rainfall patterns in the country have changed significantly in the past 40 years, with most areas now witnessing late onset of rains in contrast to the past when just few areas had such experienced such. Early cessation of rains, hitherto common in the southwestern part of the country seems to have become the norm across the country. Thus, the length of the wet season across the country has generally reduced.

There is also the threat of sea level rise and desertification. At the moment, over 800 kilometres of the country’s coastline is threatened by sea level rise and increasing risk of storm surge. Just this week, over 100 people have died and at least 30,000 displaced in floods after the country’s two major rivers burst their banks.

The National Emergency Management Agency(Nema) said “heavy rains caused the Niger River and Benue River to overflow”. This is just as concerns are mounting over desert encroachment in the northern part of the country.

Nigeria’s rapid population growth increases the country’s vulnerability to climate change as well. With the population demand outstripping infrastructure and service capacity, resilience to the impact of climate will be further weakened. Consequently, there will be social and public health crises which will lower the quality of life.

It is thus important that Nigeria takes the threat of climate change serious and see it as an issue that must be addressed urgently.

The Nigerian media and climate change

Increasing communication with a view to building public awareness is one of the ways of addressing climate change. It is important for the Nigerian public to understand the threat climate change poses to humanity both in the short and long term.  

Because of its seemingly abstract nature, the public usually finds it difficult to understand the issues involved in climate change. However, given the pivotal role the media plays in the construction of reality, creative media reportage can make climate change resonate with the public.

At the moment, the Nigerian media appears to pay little attention to climate change. Several studies have reported thelow volume of coverage the media gives to climate change. The few times the issue appears in the news, it is marginalised— tucked away in the inside pages or mentioned in passing during news bulletins in radio and television.

Given the revenue crunch facing the news media across the world-as a result of the implosion of its traditional business model-, it is 

Image from Climate Now

understandable that the Nigerian media will focus on issues that will increase its audience and ultimately bring more revenue. Ironically, however, the media will also be affected by the devastating effects of climate change.

By paying more attention to climate change, the Nigerian media will be helping to enhance public knowledge and understanding of climate change. Information, as the saying goes, is power. A climate change-informed society is a resilient society. With Nigeria identified as a climate change hotspot, the country’s media will need a resilient society to remain in business.

John Olunkwa: Refugees should make the most of opportunities in Australia

Written by Nnaemeka Meribe

One thing John Olunkwa does not like to remember is life in Guinea as a refugee. He hates discussing it as, according to him, it reminds him of the worst period of his life. “It was nightmarish. I don’t like remembering it. If it was possible I would have deleted that aspect of my life from my memory long ago”, says John, a former Sierra Leonean refugee now living in Australia.

Despite his dislike for discussing his days as a refugee in Africa, John believes that being a refugee can make one cultivate a can-do attitude. While acknowledging that the execrable conditions of refugee camps can be a motivation for crime, he believes that from such survival- of-the-fittest environment one can develop rare resilience and doggedness that are essential for survival. At this point, John begins to reel out names of successful people from refugee backgrounds, including Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Madeleine Albright, Thabo Mbeki and Croatian soccer star, Dejan Loveren.

Eddy says he spends most of his time reading about the success stories of people from refugee backgrounds. In fact, during our meeting he was holding the book, The Happiest Refugee, by Ann Do, the Vietnamese author and actor whose family fled to Australia as refugees in 1980. “I am enjoying this book. So much inspiration to draw from it. You can see the zeal to survive, the doggedness and perspicacity”.

As the discussion shifts to the rights of refugees John gets animated. From the way he gesticulates, you can tell his passion for the cause. He has the provisions of the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention (also known as the Geneva Convention) at his finger tips and is always ready to cite relevant sections to prove a point during discussions. “Article 33 of the Geneva Convention Article 33 provides that ‘No contracting state shall expel or return a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion’”, John recites as he makes a point regarding Australian government’s insistence on continuing its policy of mandatory detention and offshore.

The refugee issue is very political and for politicians, it seems the less they say about it the better for them. John, however, believes that the issue has refused to die because politicians have refused to address it properly He says it is all about our shared humanity. “I wish we should talk more about refugees and how they are being treated”, he says, “Don’t pray to be a refugee. I will always praise those who keep the issue in the public domain. It is service to humanity”. He reaches for the book, Refugees: Why seeking asylum is legal and Australia's policies are not (by Jane Mcadam and Fiona Chong), and shows me. “I have read this book back to back many times since 2015 when I bought it. The authors of this book have done a good job on the rights of refugees”, he observes. “This is what politicians should be reading”.

What has John done for the refugee community? “A lot”, he says, revealing that he has worked as a case officer for refugees while working with Life Without Barriers and Red Cross. “I worked for Life Without Barriers and Red Cross, providing competent case management support for people from a diverse range of asylum seeker/refugee/humanitarian backgrounds”. He says working with these two organisations availed him of the opportunity to listen to stories of refugees from different backgrounds. “I have been there, you know”. Life as a refugee is tough, he says shaking his head three times. “But then every refugee has a unique story. So, I listened to each person’s story and made strong a strong case for them.

His advocacy for refugees does not begin and end at workplace and meetings. He has written articles on refugees’ contributions to Australian economy. One of such articles, How refugees stimulate the economy, was published on the La Trobe University website during his Master of International Development programme in the university. His master’s degree dissertation also focused on social exclusion of refugees in Australia. He is currently putting together a PhD proposal on the effect of immigration detention law on refugees’ economic and social contributions to Australia.

John grew up in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. He has fond memories of the beautiful West African city. “Life was good as a kid in Freetown. We lived in Goderich, a relatively quiet suburb about 20 kilometres from downtown Freetown”, he says, nodding his head and smiling as he recollects. “Goderich was a beautiful community with beautiful city. As kids we could play everywhere, eat everywhere. There was no discrimination. Families shared things in common. Any adult could discipline any kid found misbehaving. It was such a beautiful communal life we lived”, he adds.

But that beautiful life in Goderich was truncated in 1991 when rebels from the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), with the backing of the special forces of Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), stormed Sierra Leone in an attempt to overthrow the Joseph Momoh government in Sierra Leone. John was just 10 years old then. Thenceforth his life became thickly sown with thorns. “Everything became disorganised for my family”. I did not really understand what was happening”, Eddy recalls. “We could hear sounds of gunshots from afar. Everybody was talking about rebels but I did not understand what they meant by rebels. I could notice the hopeless situation around us”.

Eventually, Johns family escaped to Guinea in 1994 after moving around and living in different parts of Sierra Leone. “We were practically in transit everyday for three years”, he recalls. “We moved from town to town, village to village in search of a safe place away from the war zone. But each time we heard that the rebels were approaching we would move. God bless my parents. They really suffered for my siblings and I. They kept moving us till we found our way to Guinea.

While Guinea provided some sort of relief for John and his family, it came with its own challenges. The condition of the refugee camp, he reveals, is better imagined than experienced. “Yes, we were now settled because we were not living in fear in terms of the rebels approaching and all that, but then there was another kind of fear. “People were dying on daily basis, he says moodily. Cholera was killing people, malaria was killing people, kwashiorkor was killing people…death, death, everywhere. It was as if people were gathered together in a place to die in turns. You see why I don’t like remembering Guinea. I saw more deaths in Guinea than I saw in Sierra Leone while escaping the war”.

With John’s emotion almost getting the better of him, I switched the topic to his family. John got married to beautiful Irene in 2013 and they have a four-year old daughter, Ola. Eddy says fatherhood has been awesome. “Ola has been a handful, a pleasant handful”, he chuckles. She is too strong and intelligent for her age. She is everywhere, doing everything and asking 100 intelligent questions in a minute. She says she wants to have a sibling. Maybe we will grant her request soon”, he says amid mischievous laugh.

Australia has become home to John. He is not contemplating returning to Sierra Leone. “Maybe we will be visiting Sierra Leone once in a while—at least for Ola to know her roots. But Australia is home. I love it here. My family loves it here. This is home”, he says.

John says coming to Australia is the best thing that has happened to him. “It was not easy when we arrived Australia in June 2006. I was experiencing culture shock every day. But the Australian government helped us to settle in. The government gave us allowances and supported us to return to school”. He believes that living in Australia is like being given a second chance in life. After literally walking through the shadows of death in Sierra Leone and seeing people around him die in refugee camp in Guinea, he cannot be more grateful for the good life he appears to be enjoying in Australia.

While John has serious reservations with Australian government regarding the off shore refugee detention camp, he wants people with refugee background already living in Australia to make good use of the vast opportunities provided by the government. He believes Australia has provided everything a refugee needs to be successful. “Australia offered me a second chance in life. This country offered me opportunities I never dreamt of. I was able to go to university, graduate and do a master’s without paying a dime”, he says, “My advice to refugees in Australia is that they should make the most of the opportunities here and be successful”

Two days before my interview with John, he attended a meeting of the African community in Melbourne. He says the meeting focused on the profiling of Africans by the media and the urgent need to counter the narrative that Africans are criminals.  The meeting, he informs, is part of ongoing coordinated responses to the 7 News documentary, African Gang, which highlighted the criminal activities of some African Australians.

“That 7 News documentary was in bad taste. By using the phrase, ‘African Gang’, it impugned the character of everyone from Africa, a continent with over 1.2 billion people from 55 different countries”, he explains. “The vast majority of people from African heritage that I know in Melbourne and Victoria are working hard to contribute to Australia and their families. It is the success stories of these honourable African Australians that we will use to push back the warped narrative”, he adds.

Celebrating the Nigerian Soldier

It is doubtful if many Nigerians know that we are in a very important week. It is the week of the Nigerian soldier; the week in which January 15, the Armed Forces Remembrance Day, falls on. January 15 each year is set aside to celebrate Nigerian soldiers: soldiers who gave their lives fighting for our country to remain as an indivisibly entity; soldiers who died on tours of duty in Burma, Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sudan etc.; soldiers who died in the creeks of the Niger Delta on national assignments; soldiers who are dying in installments from the injuries they sustained while on duty; and even the healthy retired soldiers who survived these wars and battles.

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To the average Nigerian, there is nothing significant about the week-long celebrations, which climax on January 15. The few Nigerians, who know about the day, see it as just an official celebration involving top government functionaries and military men. And the routine is well known by the few: prayers are offered for fallen soldiers and veterans in select churches on the Sunday that falls on the week, and in mosques on the Friday of the week and on the day proper, government officials lay wreathes on the cenotaphs of the "unknown soldiers" in the state capitals and the Federal Capital Territory- and of course, they usually praise the bravery of the members of the Nigerian legion and promise to pay their pensions on time even though this may never happen.

In contrast, when November 15, the Veterans' Day in the United States or the Remembrance Day in the United Kingdom, draws nigh, the whole country becomes electrified, as everyone is eager to remember, in a special way, soldiers, who gave their lives for their country. In the UK, for instance, many people raise funds for the veterans and give them emotional support by buying (and wearing) the red poppy brooch sold by the Royal British Legion. 

But it is not just the fallen soldiers and veterans that are celebrated in the UK. In fact, they do not wait for their soldiers to die or retire before they are celebrated. Serving soldiers are also celebrated. For instance, when British soldiers return from tours of duty, they usually parade the centres of the town or city where their regiments are based. During these parades, the town or city usually stands still for them. Residents encourage them by waving the St. George's flag and carry placards with inscriptions that eulogise them (the soldiers) for their gallantry and rare patriotism. And any soldier, who exhibits rare bravery during the tour, is usually decorated by the Queen.
The parade gives the soldiers a sense of belonging and makes them feel appreciated. It makes them feel encouraged and privileged to be British soldiers. It makes them, willing, indeed eager, to put in more in their service to Her Majesty. At such times, their pride knows no bound. 

In 2008, during one of such parades in Luton, Bedfordshire, protesters, alleged to be Islamic extremists, hauled abuses at the soldiers, accusing them of murder in Iraq and Afghanistan. That abuse drew the ire of the majority of the locals, and instantaneously, they avenged for the soldiers. They turned on the protesters and yelled insults at them, telling them to direct their protest to Westminster and leave the soldiers who exhibited patriotism through their tour of duty. 

But the protest never dampened the moral of the 200 men and women from the 2nd Battalion of the The Royal Anglian Regiment. At the end of the parade, an army spokesman said the troops had been "deeply touched" by the support despite the disturbance, adding that there was no better boost to a soldier than to see hundreds of people turn out to watch them during parades. 

Right from the early days of the Nigeria's Independence, our soldiers have displayed rare bravery in international peace keeping operations. In the early 1960s, Nigerian troops distinguished themselves in the United Nations Peacekeeping mission in the Congo. In fact, Gen. Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi, who later became the country's first military Head of State, was later made the commander of that UN mission.
The success story of the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group in peacekeeping within the West African sub-region will be incomplete without the Nigerian Army. One can recall that rebel forces loyal to Yomi Johnson were able to capture the former Liberian President, Samuel Doe, only when a non- Nigerian commanded the ECOMOG troops. 

In spite of these heroics, we tend to be allergic to celebrating our soldiers. I cannot recall anytime any of our soldiers, who exhibited rare courage while on a tour of duty, was awarded a medal and decorated by the President. Or don't we have extraordinarily courageous soldiers?
I cannot also recall any time when Nigerian soldiers, who completed their tours of duty, marched through the streets of the town or village where their regiments are based to the admiration of the locals. Our soldiers return from tours of duty unheralded and at times demoralised. Imagine how proud our soldiers will be if we wave our lovely green-white- green flag and eulogise them while they are marching through our streets on return from tours of duty. Indeed, it will be a great encouragement to them. 

I think it will be a good idea for our soldiers to parade the streets to our admiration when they return from tours of duty. But my worry is that there may be no civilian to appreciate them. This is because the average Nigerian military man tends to loathe civilians. Every non-soldier is a bloody civilian and as such inferior. There is a popular saying among the military, which goes thus: civi na villain. And so, for no just cause they treat us as villains. Our vehicles are forced out of the roads for an officer's vehicle to pass. Overzealous soldiers eager to impress their officers beat defenceless citizens to stupor. And the officers who should be gentlemen tend to get their kicks by watching us being terrorised by soldiers. How then can 'villains' waste their precious times to wave the green-white-green flag and sing praises of their oppressors? 

The many years of military involvement in politics helped perpetrate and perpetuate this divide. When the soldiers left the barracks and began to meddle into civilian matters what did they expect? Didn't the holy book warn that soldiers should not get involved in civilian affairs? The military encroachment into politics, indeed, did them more harm than good. It may have created billionaire serving and retired military officers but it killed professionalism and diminished, considerably, the respect civilians have for the military. 

Soldiers are not supposed to be seen as oppressors. Civilians should see soldiers as patriotic citizens who put their lives on the line to protect them (civilians) from local insurgents or foreign expansionists. But civilians will only change their perception of the military when they are shown respect by the latter. There is, therefore, the need to harmonise relationship between the military and civilians. The military needs a new image. To put it in a now fashionable parlance, the Nigerian military needs re-branding. 

The military authorities should drum it into the consciousness of their officers and men that they are subject to civil rule and that it is unprofessional to get involved in civilian affairs unless when called upon to do so. Soldiers, who bully civilians, should be made to pay dearly for it. And recruits in Nigerian Military Depot as well as officer cadets in Nigerian Defence Academy should be warned of the consequences of testing their strength on civilians.
Without a doubt, such a reformed military would elicit respect and appreciation from civilians. We will become proud of their achievements. And whenever they return from their tours of duty and parade our streets, we would gladly leave our duty posts to welcome them by waving our green- white-green flags and singing their praises. Even when they are short-changed by their finance departments, we will not mind trooping to the streets with placards protesting on their behalf because a labourer - a gallant one at that - deserves his wages. And when they finally become ex-servicemen, we will be glad to raise funds for them, at least, to show our gratitude to them for putting their lives on the line for our country.

Fani-Kayode: From preaching the gospel to preaching hate

In Igbo land, there are people referred to as “ori n’ crisis” (someone who makes a fortune during crisis). Former Minister of Aviation and serial ranter, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, is obviously one of such people. Since the late President Umaru Yar’Adua turned him into a political destitute he has found a new pastime: Stoking the fire of hatred. He now specialises in creating a Yoruba-versus-others scenario with a veiled intention of cashing in on it to rehabilitate himself politically.

His penchant for ranting and hating whenever the Igbo-Yoruba online cat-fight (which seems to have become the new normal) resurfaces— or whenever anybody from any other part of Nigeria says something he considers an affront to the Yoruba— is becoming legendary. He uses his Facebook account and other phoney accounts to up his hate preaching game. The most distressing and insulting thing about this wannabe Yoruba leader is that in each of his rants he tries to give the impression that ‘I am not a tribalist but a great believer in Nigeria’.

He may not be wrong. But one thing I have learnt in Nigeria is that the worst of tribal bigots amongst us are those who say every now and then that ‘I am not a tribalist’. To see if this man, who has become notorious for talking before thinking, is a tribal bigot, I will highlight some of his past actions and allow Nigerians to form an opinion about him.

An article written by a former general manager administration or FAAN, Bitrus Ogba, and published by Vanguard newspaper on March 14 with the headline, ‘Oduah and aviation industry appointments’ alleged that “Chief Femi Fani-Kayode employed about 30 persons in FAAN. 16 of them were made assistant general managers, deputy general managers and general managers, while the rest were absorbed in other ranks.

“These people did not have any aviation experience before they were employed. In fact, most of them came from local government councils and others were hangers-on. These 30 people came from Osun and Ogun State...That is the way he deployed the same number of people to other aviation agencies.” Indeed, Fani-Kayode is no tribalist— but he has yet to deny this allegation. When a former military governor of the North-West State, Alhaji Usman Faruk, claimed in August 2012 that the north’s military strategy won the civil war for Nigeria, our history master, Fani-Kayode, rather than ignore the old man, countered: “The truth is that it was the 98 per cent Yoruba Third Marine Commando under the able command of Brigadier-General Benjamin Adekunle that liberated the mid-west and the southern minorities from the Igbos during the civil war and not the north”.

He added: “Had it not been for that strong support from the Yoruba and particularly the efforts of the predominantly Yoruba Third Marine Commando who pushed the Biafrans out of the mid west, the south south and back into the east and who eventually went into Igboland, occupied it and took the surrender of the Igbos, there is no way that Nigeria could have won the war... ... The arrogance of Alhaji Faruk is sickening and this is especially reflected by the contemptuous manner he referred to the Yoruba in his interview”. Indeed, Fani-Kayode is a believer in Nigeria.

Again, in October last year this ‘detribalised’ Nigerian showed his commitment to a united Nigeria when he ranted on his Facebook wall: “...If you want to know who started tribalism in southern politics and the politics of the southern protectorate of Nigeria, it was not the Yoruba or the southern minorities but the Igbo. The excesses of the Igbo State Union and their treatment of the southern minorities and the Yoruba from 1943 till 1967 were completely unacceptable. The rest of the south was prepared to accept the Igbo as equals with open arms but they were not prepared to be politically dominated or conquered by them”.

Perhaps, in Fani-Kayode’s book such action and statements typical of nationalists. But a closer look his statements above will reveal a pattern; a consistency in taunting and attacking the Igbo. I don’t know why he is filled with so much bitterness towards the Igbo. Indeed, something is eating him up and he has yet to tell us what it is. It boggles the mind why this man who attended a theological school in Ghana and was commissioned to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ has rather chosen to preach hate. His grandfather, Rev. Emmanuel Adedapo Kayode, who was one of the early educated indigenous Nigerian priests will sure be disappointed wherever he is now.

And just few days ago he was again at his ‘nationalist’ best, as he used the media to pour invectives on the Igbo. Just as the brouhaha that followed the unconstitutional and inhuman deportation of Nigerians to Onitsha by the Lagos State Government was about to die down, the former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s bull dog showed again that he is incapable of controlling his emotional haemorrhage as he preached hate against the Igbo through two opinion articles published in Premium Times.

The first of the articles was titled ‘Lagos, The Igbo and the Servants of Truth’ while the second was written under the title ‘The Bitter Truth about the Igbo’. In the former, he claimed that only the Yoruba developed Lagos, Nigeria’s centre of commerce. The later, however, was a rehash of his former diatribes; the only extra being that he reminded the Igbo that the Yoruba became educated long before them.

It will be understandable if Ralph Uwazurike, Gani Adams or Asari Dokubo penned such articles, but coming from a man like Fani-Kayode, who comes from a refined, educated aristocratic family— a grandson of one of the early educated Nigerian Anglican priests, son of an ex-Cambridge and himself an ex-Harrow, ex-London and ex- Cambridge—, the realisation of the ‘One Nigeria’ dream will be after the biblical Armageddon. It boggles the mind that this man who attended a theological school in Ghana and was commissioned to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ has rather chosen to walk through the destructive path of hate preaching. That this character became a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is a sad commentary on our country.

I will not respond to his selective recollection of history in the second article. His ilk in Igbo land, especially the online catfight veterans, will respond to that (if they have not already done so). But I will respond to his outburst in the article, ‘Lagos, The Igbo and the Servants of Truth’, by schooling him a little in the economics of development—at least development of modern countries and cities.

In that article, Fani-Kayode ranted: “The claim that the Igbo helped to develop Lagos is hogwash. The major institutions of the south-west were developed by the diligence, hard-work, industry and sweat of the Yoruba people. This is a historical fact”. He reinforced his position through another rant: “The Igbo had little to do with the extraordinary development of Lagos between 1880 right up until today. That is a fact. Other than Ajegunle, Computer Town, Alaba and buying up numerous market stalls in Isale Eko, where is their input?”

Without a doubt, the Igbo were late comers to Lagos. But nobody can deny the fact that immediately they started moving to Lagos in droves, they also began to contribute immensely to the Lagos project. Lagos became their new home in consonance with the Igbo philosophy of ‘ebe onye bi ka o na- awachi’ (One develops where one lives). So, Fani-Kayode’s rant is as unfortunate as it is myopic and delusional. Even the UK, which began the industrial revolution, still acknowledges the contributions of the Indians and other Asians to their economy since the 1950s.

No city develops by hiding in its shell and bracketing itself from others. And Lagos, which became bigger and better through the grace of the commonwealth of the people Nigeria, is not an exception. In fact, Lagos would be dead if the federal government, through a stroke of policy, closed down the sea ports and international airports located there and ordered all multinationals to relocate their corporate headquarters to Abuja. Lagos would be dead if all indigenous organisations owned by non-Yorubas, including financial institutions, maritime outfits, oil and gas and other small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs), divested from the state.

If Fani-Kayode does not know that cities grow and die, he should ask graduates of Urban and Regional Planning. Today, once major cities like Detroit, New Orleans, San Diego, Phoenix, and San Antonio are dead. They are all in the dreaded list of 10 American dead cities.

Most of these dead cities were once major manufacturing hubs while others were key ports and or financial service centres. Take for example the city of Detroit, which, barely few years ago, could pass for automobile capital of the world. The city was home to 1.9 million people in 1950 and, according to 24/7 Wall Street, was the fifth largest city in the US in terms of population. But by 2000, the figure fell to 951, 000, even as the city was not anywhere near the top 10 list in 2007.

To remain relevant, cities re-invent themselves or else they go the way of Detroit and some great cities of yore like Timbuktu, the ancient Malian city of commerce and learning which before AD 1000 already had an Ivy League university. One of the ways cities re-invent themselves is through the systematic opening of its doors to people from all parts of the world. In fact, it is not just cities that do that but countries also. That is why the US has remained the lead country of the world. Although it was colonised by another world power, Great Britain, US has, however, become the most important nation on earth, a status it achieved through opening its doors to people of all nations and uncannily harnessing their talents for its development.

Lagos has remained the pride of Nigerians. The dynamism of the state is second to none. It is the melting pot of the country. In fact, without Lagos Nigeria is ‘dry’. There are indigenous ‘Lagosians’, the aboriginal ‘Lagosians’ or in the local parlance, the ‘Omo Ekos’, who are the real owners of the land. These people through their dynamism and hard work made Lagos an important city in the pre-colonial days and laid the foundation for the modern Lagos. But the modern Lagos is no longer the pre-colonial Lagos.

Since 1914 when Lagos became the capital of an amalgamated Nigeria, it grew beyond the original owners as the future of its economic, political and social development demanded that it must be more cosmopolitan. The modern Lagos is about the fastest growing city in Africa and the seventh fastest growing city in the world. The economy of Lagos is growing by the day and is in fact bigger than that of many countries in the world.

Lagos is steadily pushing towards the status of a mega city. But mega cities are multicultural and not culturally homogeneous. As someone noted recently, you don’t speak of mega cities in terms of tribal ownership but in terms of investments and residents. If Lagos had been left to the aborigines to develop, it is unlikely that it would have been more developed than other coastal towns like Opobo or Ikot Abasi.

Today, Lagos has become a model for other states in terms of internally generated revenue (IGR). This revenue, which is used by the state government to meet the development needs of the state, comes not only from the taxes paid by the multi-nationals but also from the taxes paid by companies owned by people from different parts of Nigeria. The taxes and levies paid by those traders at Computer Town and Alaba and those others, who according to Fani-Kayode, buy the numerous market stalls in Isale Eko, are part of that IGR. In fact, anybody who sells or buys anything—no matter how small— in Lagos is helping to boost the economy of Lagos and by extension helping to develop Lagos.

Perhaps, the self-acclaimed historian is under the illusion that huge economies are dominated by large local and multinational enterprises. The truth is that SMEs (such as the many businesses owned by many non-Yoruba in Lagos) are the backbones of major economies of the world. This is the case in Europe today. According to the European Commission, “more than 99 per cent of all European businesses are, in fact, SMEs. They provide two out of three of the private sector jobs and contribute to more than half of the total value-added created by businesses in the EU.

“Moreover, SMEs are the true back-bone of the European economy, being primarily responsible for wealth and economic growth, next to their key role in innovation and R&D. What is even more intriguing is that nine out of ten SMEs are actually micro enterprises with less than 10 employees. Hence, the mainstays of Europe's economy are micro firms, each providing work for two persons, in average. This is probably one of the EU's best kept secrets”. Is this not similar to the case of Lagos?

Even students contribute to economies of nations and cities these days. That is why universities in the United Kingdom are always spending huge amounts of money in marketing and advertising in India, China and Nigeria. In Australia, universities generate a large chunk of their internal revenues from Chinese, Indian and Malaysian students. The tuition fees of these students and their living expenses, without a doubt, help in boosting the economies of these nations. Do we not complain today that Nigerians are boosting the Ghanaian economy by spending billions of naira in their children’s education there?

Fani-Kayode’s claim that Lagos was only developed by the Yoruba alone is, therefore, clearly fallacious and smacks of desperation and bigotry. Even if people from other parts of Nigerian do not have business outfits in Lagos, Fani-Kayode’s claim is rubbished by the fact that Lagos still receives monthly allocations (which largely come from Niger Delta’s Oil) from the federal government and has hugely benefited from its earlier status as the capital of Nigeria. Why should all Nigerians share in the Niger Delta oil while only the Yoruba’s should enjoy Lagos, which is a product of our Niger Delta’s oil? If the federal government were to invest in Akasa, Bayelsa State the way it did in Lagos, Akasa would definitely have the same pull Lagos has today.

Having lost relevance nationally, Fani-Kayode believes that the only way he can remain relevant is by assuming the position of the defender of the Yoruba nation. He is scheming to attain the position of a Yoruba leader and erroneously believes that he can achieve it by creating enemies for the Yoruba nation. My happiness, however, is that the Yoruba are educated and sophisticated. They know whom to follow and whom to ignore.

The new Nigeria has no place for Fani-Kayode’s crass parochialism, bigotry and clannishness. We all need each other. Many of us non-Yoruba have worked for companies owned by the Yoruba. We have many Yoruba friends, and not a few have Yoruba spouses, too. The same goes for the Yoruba. A million Fani-Kayodes cannot create a gulf between us. Lagos and the Yoruba need people from other parts of Nigeria just as others need Lagos and the Yoruba. As the cliché goes, no man is an island.