Has the laureate been bought?

By Eze Eluchie

Globally, there are best practices and acceptable standards of conduct in all spheres of human endeavor, be it wars/conflicts, medical procedures, impartation of knowledge, for whatsoever. Even for social critics.

In the area of social criticism, one acceptable no-go area, globally, is to refrain from attacks on the family of public office holders. This is for the obvious reason that the issue remains the office holder and not his/her family. The presence in the public domain of the spouse and or children of a public office holder is solely on account of the principal office holder. So 'attacks' should always be on point, on the public office holder and not his/her appendages.

This is moreso in an environment, such as ours, where the families of public office holders at all strata of government help themselves to whatsoever they can lay hands on, at will. The spouse and family of Local Council Chairpersons help themselves to the trappings of office in their areas of authority, just as those of State Governors do at the State level and obviously at the Federal level.

In the course of a renegotiation and restructuring of our contraption, which I have persistently advocated for, this national folly of ours will certainly be addressed. Partisan attacks on the spouse of one public office holder certainly do not address the decay.

It is permissible, in keeping with global best practices, to criticize and lampoon public office holders at will, but certainly not their families.

On a personal level, I have at various times, as appropriate (in my reckoning), had cause to use unflattering adjectives to describe various public office holders, inclusive of President Jonathan - a practice that will continue as long as the need for such arises. I have in all, always kept within the 'rules' and spared their home-front.

It is in the light of the foregoing that the recent descent into the abyss of pedestrian abuse by Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, of the spouse of President Jonathan is really, really quite unfortunate.

Having observed the rather unbecoming haste at virulent and vociferous defense of Chibuike Amaechi ever since the "3rd Port Harcourt Festival of Books" (2011) and the campaigns towards the city's bid as the "World Book Capital for 2014" both financed by Amaechi and chaired by Soyinka, one is left wondering if anything untoward has transpired?

NB: The despicable violent attack on the Rivers State House of Assembly which Soyinka sought to condone:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zM9P9nxNMA8 

 http://tribune.com.ng/news2013/index.php/en/component/k2/item/16453-rivers-assembly-fracas-how-it-all-started.html

Picture: Embattled Governor Chibuike Amaechi and Professor Wole Soyinka

The Nile for All!

by Eze Eluchie

In the course of a working visit to Uganda, I was opportune to lodge at a relatively luxurious river-side hotel in Jinja, with well maintained flora and which had an exhilarating view of the surrounding plains. 

The tourist that I am, I took off time out of technical discourse on how to rid the African continent of the menace of ‘tobacco smoke’ which had been my primary reason for visiting Uganda, to interact with the locals and appreciate more of their lives and the beautiful environment.

As I strolled towards the bank of the fast flowing water which bordered the southern flank of my hotel, my impromptu tour guide, upon an inquiry, informed me that the river we were approaching was River Nile. I was astounded. Here I was approaching the almighty Nile, and I hadn’t really realized how close I was to living history – that certainly was how I considered the Nile. I was further informed that indeed the source of the Nile was not too far away from my Hotel.

Innocuously, I inquired from my guide how come that their governments did not tap from the waters of the Nile to provide electricity and irrigation for several of the browned-out communities which dotted the area around Jinja. “Oga-man’, replied my guide, calling me by a prefix popularized by Nigerian ‘Nollywood’ movies by which most people in Africa address Nigerian expatriates, ‘our Government has to get approval from Egypt before we can fetch a bucket of water from the river we are now approaching’!

The consternation I felt was palpable.

I have since then deeply acquainted myself with a most partial international instrument of doubtful legality which incredulously denies Eastern African countries from which the Nile originates and traverses, rights to use the waters of the Nile. The so-called ‘Nile Water Agreement of 1929’ entered into by Britain and Egypt (East African countries had no part in this debacle) guarantees that a minimum of two-thirds (66%) of the waters of the Nile would be reserved for Egypt and that Egypt had the right to ‘veto’ any uses Eastern African countries tried to put the waters of the Nile River to.  At first, the contents of the Nile River Agreement appears to be a distasteful joke – until it gradually sinks in that this obnoxious agreement has been implemented for close to a century with disastrous consequences for the peoples residing along the Nile basin in East Africa.

To compound the situation for the Eastern African countries, donor agencies and international financial institutions skillfully ensure the enforcement of the Nile River Agreement by not only not granting facilities geared towards utilization of the Nile River resources by East African countries but also tying multi-lateral agreements to the enforcement of the 1929 Treaty.

What could have motivated such clearly skewed agreements between Britain and Egypt in 1929? Was the lives of the Africans who inhabit East Africa considered less worthy of benefiting from the Nile (and being preserved and protected) than the lives of the Egyptians?

Could access to the waters of the Nile have prevented the Ethiopian Famine of 1983 – 1985 which resulted in the deaths of over 500,000 people? Could access to the waters of the Nile have contributed to the development of the moribund economies of East African countries?

How would the peoples of Europe have reacted if an agreement in the style of The Nile Agreement of 1929 existed with regards to the waters of the Danube River – reserving the bulk of the waters thereof for Romania and Ukraine, from whence the river empties into the sea? or the peoples of West African with regards to the waters of the Niger River – reserving the bulk of the waters for Nigeria?

It is in the light of the foregoing that efforts by Ethiopian authorities to build a hydroelectric dam on the Blue Nile and the Governments of Tanzania and Uganda at asserting their sovereignty and debunking a most ridiculous outdated and untenable agreement entered into between Britain and Egypt deserves support from the rest of humanity.

Egypt should be encouraged to endorse the Nile River Co-operative Framework Agreement which has already been adopted by other source countries of the Nile – Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and now Ethiopia, and refrain from a confrontational posture and threats of instigation of violence as recently documented its State authorities.

The Nile should be for the benefit of all the peoples along its path.

NB: Video of an unbelievably revealingl Egyptian Cabinet meeting discussing possible clandestine actions against Ethiopia for daring to access the waters of the Nile.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=sSxkori-tPw

Picture: The Nile River as it snakes through National Park Safari Reserve, Uganda.

Let us learn from Egypt!

by Eze Eluchie

As Morsi is kicked out, let us learn from what is happening today in Egypt 

Our elections are rigged;

Our contraption is defective;

Our Constitution is fraudulent;

Our polity is in dire need of cleansing

Our people are pushed to extremes for survival;

Our politicians are, collectively, stealing the country dry;

Time is fast running out for an orderly restructuring and renegotiation of the Nigerian contraption.

A cosmetic change of guards will not suffice.

Let all those who will raise a whimper for so-called ‘democratically elected’ officials, begin now to advice and urge change, or forever keep silent when the likely, manifests.

Picture: Jubilant Egyptians celebrate the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi