One Year Memorial of #Endsars Protest in Nigeria

ICMS, Inc. Reports

By Tom Okure, Ph.D.

October 20, 2021

#EndsarsMemorial: Has the Nigeria Government learnt anything from the youth protest?

Today October 20, 2021 is the anniversary of the “#Endsars, End Police Brutality” and other youth grievances protest in Nigeria which culminated in the shooting by operatives of the Nigerian army of unarmed protesters at the Lagos Lekki tollgate last year.

To commemorate the terrible deadly events of October 20, 2020, many youths around the country have taken to the streets using their cars in Lagos shouting EndSars around the area of Lekki tollgate today. Demonstrations also occurred in Abuja and Enugu etc., with youths carrying placards and yelling Endsars police brutality in Nigeria etc. In Abuja there were many convoys of cars despite the heavy presence of security forces to prevent gatherings. These demonstrations are taking place irrespective of police warnings especially in Lagos state that it would not tolerate any form of protest in the state commemorating the event. A Nigerian rapper, actor and song writer Folarin Falana aka Falz in Lagos accompanied protesters in Lagos today remembering those youths who died last year during protests.

Despite the attempts of the Nigerian authorities to dampen the significance of the  Endsars youth memorial protests of last year, Nigerian youths are determined to memorialize the protests and make this an annual memorial event, because there appears to be a lack of closure in the minds of many Nigerian youth who say they are still struggling emotionally with the terrible killing events from last year. 

Statements allegedly made today by Senior Nigerian policy makers Lai Mohammed who is Minister of Information and Culture does not help ease matters and is not helpful in healing the painful memories from last year. 

The Minister is alleged by demonstrating youths to be insensitive by his statements today which portrayed the events and killings of last year at Lagos Lekki tollgate as false This is despite the widely publicized worldwide news events by international news media like CNN. 

In a statement accredited to Lai Mohammed today, he allegedly tags the event at Lekki Tollgate as a: “Phantom Massacre at Lekki tollgate.” Minister Mohammed accused CNN new coverage of the incident as ‘fake news.’ Last year CNN in its reporting of the sad event had asserted that Nigerian soldiers were responsible for the massacre of youth protesters at the Lekki tollgate in Lagos state on October 20, 2020. The  Minister also accused Amnesty International of spreading fake news regarding the Endsars massacre at Lekki Tollgate.

One may recall, that last year during the protest, the Nigerian government accepted the youth “5 for 5 Demands” to end the #Endsars youth protests which seem then to calm the protesting youth who believed that the government had heard their demands for police reforms. Even so, the evidence after a year of the unrest appears to suggest that nothing substantive has been done by the government to resolve the unsettled issues which led the youth uprising last year. Allegations abound from many sources especially in social media that none of the individuals who perpetuated the torturing and extrajudicial killings of protesting youths have been brought to justice. There are also documented evidence of continuing, unabated police brutality all over the country with no evidence of any real reforms, restructuring or training to improve how the Nigerian police force interacts with the Nigerian population.

One can suppose that Nigeria as a polity, has not learnt any lessons from the youth uprising from last year’s Endsars protests. Moreover, how else can one explain the lack of prosecution of the various police officers and the criminals who were identified as involved and who took advantage of the peaceful protests to loot and destroy property worth billions of Naira. Peaceful protesters who were just exercising their right to peaceful demonstration were victimized, some killed and there has been no meaningful redress by the Nigerian government.

Nigeria seems to have a systematic problem of brushing aside societal problems including ethnic unrest, corruption, poor governance issues effectively. Today the whole country is very tense and at the verge of exploding into civil war due to unresolved problems relating to ethnic tensions, unresolved kidnappings, banditry etc. There is a famous adage and a proven historical fact that is worth calling attention to here and that is: “those who do not learn from mistakes of their historical past are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.” The question posed here is this: has Nigeria as a polity learnt any real lessons from last years Endsars youth uprising? 

This writer hopes that Nigerian policy makers and our law enforcement authorities will learn from their mistakes of the past which are many and that the least that Nigerian youth should hope for on this memorial day anniversary of their Endsars protests is to be allowed to peacefully gather, express their views and mourn the loss of their death compatriots.

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All rights reserved by Tom Okure, Ph.D. The writer is CEO of Inter-Continental Mgt. Systems, Inc. (or ICMS Inc.). ICMS, Inc., is a multifaceted business and management consulting firm with its head office in Albany, New York.       

The Rampage of Terrorist and Bandit Killings in Nigeria. Where does the blame lie?

ICMS, Inc Reports

By Tom Okure, Ph.D
August 30, 2021

 Is the rampage of killings in Nigeria getting out of control?

It appears according to a recent video on social media by an Islamic Imam (source of video is unknown), that we have all failed as parents, as politicians, as community leaders and as the government of the Federal

Republic of Nigeria to teach our children and the population of Nigeria that human life is sacred and that we should not kill a fellow Nigerian and human being. Is he correct in his assertion and rebuke of the Nigerian society? 

Boko Haram is an Islamist militant group in Nigeria which has been responsible for thousands of killings, suicide bombings and abduction of boys and girls in many schools in the northern states in Nigeria for over 13 year now. There are other militant groups such as the IPOB in the South-East region of Nigeria, and the Fulani northern cattle herders all killing people indiscriminately for one reason or the other all over Nigeria. 

IPOB wants the creation of an independent state of Biafra from the current Nigeria and alleges that it is defending Christians in their propaganda videos and statements. Nevertheless the group adopts a militant posture in their actions by killing even fellow Christians and terrorizing all the citizens in those states where they are opposed.

Fulani cattle herders on the other hand have always moved and grazed their cattle across Nigerian communities over the millennia and since Nigeria gained independence in 1960 from the British. However in the past several years these herders, many of who are illegally armed by the cattle owners are committing a lot of hideous killings in Christian communities as the come into contact with southern communities and farmers protecting their farms from the roaming cattle of the headers.

The current Nigerian Federal Government headed by President Muhammadu Buhari has been unable to prevent these killings and the clashes between the Christian communities and the invading herders.  The government has no solution to the killings so far, only blaming the rampant herder killings “to population pressure, escalating aridity of northern states, and climate change” which is forcing the roaming and nomadic cattle herders to travel further into southern Nigerian states in order to find grazing lands for their cattle.

In the video above, this Imam (a man who leads Muslim worshippers in prayer or in a global general sense, the head of a Muslim community) points the blame squarely on the federal government’s inability to control the bandits and terrorists terrorizing and killing Nigerians in large numbers. The Imam in the video blames himself too and says that we are all (Nigerians) to blame for the excessive killings and the total disregard for the value human life in Nigeria .What is your opinion on this issue? Watch the video:

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All rights reserved by Tom Okure, Ph.D. CEO of Inter-Continental Mgt. Systems, Inc. (or ICMS Inc.). ICMS, Inc., is a multifaceted business and management consulting firm with its head office in Albany, New York        

Brain Drain Among Nigerian Medical Doctors. Who is to blame?

ICMS, Inc Reports

By Tom Okure, Ph.D
August 25, 2021

Nigerian Medical Doctors Migrating From Nigeria for Better Employment Opportunities Abroad

Nigeria is endowed with many natural and human resources including well train medical doctors. Nigerian train doctors are everywhere in the USA and Europe serving in many hospitals. Surveys and available data indicate that over 7,000 trained Nigerian doctors currently serve in combined British and American public health sectors. Many also have left their medical professions in Nigeria to other Nigerian professions with alleged better working conditions. 

Nigerian Doctors Strike: Picture Courtesy Premium Times

This is not a new train. However, as conditions in the Nigerian economy continue to worsen, there has been an increased intensification of Nigerian medical doctors leaving the country for employment abroad because of poor working conditions in Nigeria. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that due to the severe shortage of qualified doctors in Nigeria, one Nigerian doctor now attends to about 6,000 patients contrary to 600 patients recommended by WHO. Recruitment agencies are popping up in major cities like Nigeria's Federal Capital territory of Abuja and are openly recruiting talented doctors seeking to leave the country. But what exactly is attracting well established Nigerian doctors to these recruitment agencies? Well the answer appears  obvious. The recruitment agencies are offering Nigerian doctors an alluring set of employment incentives including higher wages and welfare benefits, peaceful working environment etc., which Nigerian trained doctors say they lack in Nigeria. Interviewed doctors standing in long lines for hours in the hot Abuja sun to apply to migrate from Nigeria complain that too many factors contribute to their decisions to leave Nigeria for employment abroad including among others: failure of the Nigerian government to listen to their pleas for higher wages, improve hospital facilities, equipment and supplies etc. that they need to provide adequate services to their patients. 

Many migrating doctors also say they desire a safe working and stable economic environment to practice their skills and that the excessive strikes in Nigeria does not allow them to do their jobs effectively. In the video above (Video Credit: Courtesy of Galaxy News Abuja, Nigeria), we see and hear how other countries like Saudi Arabia among others, are openly taking advantage of Nigeria economic challenges to recruit our priced and invaluable doctors to meet their own medical needs. This is so sad in a country facing severe medical challenges.

It appears that the solution to Nigerian doctors’ brain drain and the shortage in medical staff will not be resolved anytime soon until the government starts in earnest to change its health policies. Nigerian health policy makers must deliberately pay more attention to improving the salary and welfare conditions of Nigerian doctors and health professionals in general to discourage their migration. Legislation must also be put in place that supports the creation of more medical schools to produce more doctors and medical professional like nurses and laboratory technicians etc.

Should the Nigerian government be concerned about these Doctor Talent recruitment events? This writer says a definite yes. Inquiring minds want to know! What is your opinion/view? We like to hear from you.

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All rights reserved by Tom Okure, Ph.D. CEO of Inter-Continental Mgt. Systems, Inc. (or ICMS Inc.). ICMS, Inc., is a multifaceted business and management consulting firm with its head office in Albany, New York        

Razor Sharp Teeth Piranha Fish: A victim of its own aggressive eating frenzy

ICMS, Inc Reports

By Tom Okure, Ph.D
July 30, 2021

Piranha are fish with razor sharp teeth found in the Amazon River. The Piranha Fish is a vicious fresh-water fish known in Venezuela as the ‘caribe.’ It is a common native fish in the lowland streams, floodplains, lakes and reservoirs in South America in the area known as the Amazon basin.

 The Red-bellied Piranha Fish

Piranhas consist of many varieties differing extensively in ecology and behavior depending on the specific species. There are about 20 known species of piranha, but only four or five of them pose any significant danger.

The red bellied species (or Pygocentrus nattereri) are notorious as ferocious predators that hunt their prey in schools. The red-bellied piranha is very aggressive and nasty in behavior and eats almost anything including other fish, sick animals and any human parts. Sick cattle that mistakenly bent their heads down to drink river water in the river have been known to be seized by the nose and mouth and dragged into the river and totally gobbled up by adult piranhas.

A bite from a piranha fish can be extremely powerful, painful and dangerous and is caused by the fish’s large jaw muscles closely attached to the tip of its jaw. Its strong jaws combined with the finely saw toothed shape teeth make the piranha fish adept at tearing flesh effectively. 

Red bellied piranha school 

Despite their often description as extremely dangerous in the media, piranhas normally do not represent a severe risk to humans. Even so, attacks do happen, particularly when the piranhas feel confined in dense groups and stressful situations especially during the dry season when the water level is low and food is relatively scarce.

Dense piranha fish groups swimming near fishermen may escalate the risk of attacks due to the commotion caused by struggling piranhas struggling over fish bait in the water. Children are more often attacked than adults because of splashing water which attracts piranhas.

If a person is injured or otherwise incapacitated and in the water, the risk of being attacked also increases. In areas where piranhas are common, warning signs are sometimes placed at high-risk locations and beaches are protected by a barrier.

Notwithstanding their terrible reputation, piranha fish perform a useful role in the system of things in the Amazonian jungles by being a part of the checks and balance apparatus of the ecosystem, eliminating the feeble and sick so that the strong can succeed.

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Watch the Video...Razor Sharp Teeth Piranha Fish: A victim of its own aggressive eating frenzy

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All rights reserved by Tom Okure, Ph.D. CEO of Inter-Continental Mgt. Systems, Inc. (or ICMS Inc.). ICMS, Inc., is a multifaceted business and management consulting firm with its head office in Albany, New York        

Nigeria’s Big Brother Naija (BBN) Show highlighting house mate Emmanuel Umoh

By Tom Okure, PhD 

ICMS, Inc. Reports 

July 25, 2021 

Photo Credit: Emmanuel Umoh (Instagram) 

Mr. Emmanuel Umoh: BBN house mate

Many Nigerian young men and women are glued to their TV screens when the show Big Brother Naija is on. Lately, one of the house mates in the popular Nigerian TV show Emmanuel Umoh is getting a lot of attention from the shows audience especially the female viewers due to his figure and physical looks (Physique). 

For background, this fine looking young man is from Akwa Ibom State, more specifically from Mbo Local Government Area. He was born and raised in Uyo and attended Monef Kiddies elementary school. 

Emmanuel Umoh is admired by many
females for his good looks

He also attended Christ the King and is an alumni of Ikot Ekpene’s Federal Government College where he completed his secondary school education. Mr. Emmanuel Umoh is also said to be a Civil Engineering student and attended the University of Port Harcourt. 

Emmanuel is a professional model and he owns his own business and brand and is the CEO. His awards are many including being Mr. Africa and Mr. Ideal Nigeria having won that pageant contest in 2019. Consequently, Mr. Emmanuel Umoh is not entirely new to the show business scene, having already achieved fame and fortune even before his entry into the Big Brother Naija (BBN) Show. 

There are 11 male and 11 female contestants in the BBN show totaling 22 contestants. This write-up is not about the BBN show but just featuring Emmanuel Umoh who appears to be a heartthrob (a male celebrity who is known for his good looks) of many female viewers. 

 Some ordinary viewer critics of the BBN show say that the presence of likes of Emmanuel Umoh in the show argue that his presence in the show upsets that balance and lofty intentions of the show which they allege was supposed to create a level playing field for ordinary Nigeria youth to contest and “help the poor to become rich, ….. not help the already rich to be famous.”