by Cheta Nwanze

To be fair to Uncle Nyesom, members of his real constituency have been active elsewhere, so maybe, just maybe, that was what was uppermost in his mind, and not the mundane issue of books. Then again, there was this rather pressing issue of N24.3 billions to be ogled at, so hey, important security meetings could also take a hike. 

Yesterday, Port Harcourt was named the World Book Capital. An honour if you ask me, especially when you consider that anything that will help bring a reading culture back into this land of ours is extremely needed, and thus, very welcome. Sadly, while the Prez, could understandably not attend, one was a little disappointed in his choice of representative. Molara Wood, is, in her own right an accomplished literary giant, however, that the education etibho could not deign to make it to his own home town for such a momentous occasion, speaks volumes.

To be fair to Uncle Nyesom, members of his real constituency have been active elsewhere, so maybe, just maybe, that was what was uppermost in his mind, and not the mundane issue of books. Then again, there was this rather pressing issue of N24.3 billions to be ogled at, so hey, important security meetings could also take a hike. The Contract Sharing Committee had to sit.

That this rather vital security meeting was postponed in favour of a weekly FEC meeting that most times borders on the absurd, speaks more volumes about what we indeed take seriously around these parts. While the meeting was being postponed the following happened: some “new” Boko Haram members emerged in Taraba; Boko Haram promised to kill our missing daughters if we do not stop looking for them; the periodically hostile government in Cameroon announced that Nigerian clerics sympathetic to Boko Haram are foraging for new members in Cameroon; and a BlackBerry broadcast about Boko Haram, caused a major gridlock on our most important route.

All in a day’s work.

Bits and Bobs

• To prove to the world that their marriage is not working, Mr Ogbiyele exercised some of his pugilistic skills on Mrs Ogbiyele, at the Ikeja Magistrate Court.
• Another state has decided to ask for FG intervention in its security. Expect an inciting memo from its governor whenever he wakes up from his near-vegetative state.
• As a boss, our big gavel, David Mark, has ordered Boko Haram to release the kidnapped babes.
• Finally, for those of us who think resource control is the way forward for this stricken land, the other side are clearly willing to get involved in fisticuffs over the issue.

Right of Reply

Chidi Odinkalu wrote,

” It should come as no surprise that tensions in the Borno area have gone up as the lake has receded. Lake Chad, which used to provide livelihood for a good number of the denizens of the Borno area, receded by a factor of 17 in just 38 years. In that time, the idle hands around it in Niger, Chad, Cameroon, and Nigeria, have found some other use for their time. Killing people.”

Thanks a lot, Cheta, for calling attention to the least advertised but one of the more far reaching trigger factors in the situation in NE Nigeria – Climate Change. In our denuded policy making environment, we are enamoured of symptoms – like identity-based extremism – but not of causes, like Climate Change. When last could you recall the name of the Minister for Environment?! Thx again

Chxta responds,

Does that ministry have a minister now? Instability, and not just in the environment ministry, is one of our huge problems.

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.