Transcript
CNN International interview with Nigeria's
President Obasanjo and USAfricaonline.com Publisher Chido Nwangwu on
Democracy
and Security Issues
How Dora Akunyili of NAFDAC
is offering Nigeria a hopeful future
By Fr. OKEY ROMANUS
MUONEKE
Special to USAfrica The Newspaper, Houston
USAfricaonline.com,
The Black Business
Journal
Before Dr. Akunyili took over the running
of NAFDAC, the agency had functioned merely as a toothless bulldog,
but she has radically transformed it into a fierce fighting force.
Her well-publicized war on drug abuse is fought relentlessly and the
enemy is resisting with every dirty means available. NAFDAC has won
several victories in cities most notorious for fake drugs: Onitsha,
Aba, Port Harcourt, and Lagos. NAFDAC has set ablaze several
truckloads of fake drugs. I personally witnessed the destruction of
five lorry-loads of fake drugs at Onitsha in 2001. Let no one be
under the illusion that NAFDAC has an easy battle with fake drug
dealers. The nabobs of iniquity, these peddlers of death, at first
resorted to bribery. Some advanced millions of naira to halt Dora's
campaign, but failed to understand early enough the no-nonsense stuff
she is made of. Truly, if she wanted to become the richest woman in
Africa, the golden opportunity was there for her. Bribery failing,
these corrupt dealers resorted to intimidation. 
They
sent assassins to her lodge in Abuja, bombed her laboratory, and sent
death messages to her family, but she is undaunted, fired on by her
unequivocal reliance on God.(Dr. Akunyili is seen, left, in this
2003 USAfrica file picture with the CEO of Juli Pharmacy)
For several years now Nigeria, the tottering
giant of Africa, has managed to kick and shove and scale over many
serious crises that have threatened its very existence. While many
Nigerians and their friends are at the brink of losing hope but are
temporarily hanging on in a rather tantalizing expectation of a
sudden miracle that will come and set everything aright, some, like
me, are cognizant of the greatest miracle of our time, namely, that
Nigeria is still alive, still kicking and shuffling and panting.
It is incredible to see this country weather
through so many buffetings of corruption, lawlessness, and crime; it
is unbelievable that this country can survive in situations where
politics is so much bedeviled and rubbished. Forty years of military
quagmire was enough time to learn a lesson, but no, for presently we
are back to square one, dealing with a democracy crustated with
intrigue, moral depravity and political chicanery.
The present regime of retired Gen. Olusegun
Obasanjo mounted the political stage in 1999 with a resounding
display of promises, singling out one particularly as immediate and
urgent: moral reform. But soon after, the initial effort at reform
fizzled out like every other promise before it, a seven-day wonder,
and achieved nothing.
Other promises flared up likewise only to die
before daylight. Electricity was promised but was never delivered;
telephone improved in one or two cities and quickly gave way to money
sapping and unstable cell phones; roads are deadly, and traffic is a
mess. Unemployment, the unacknowledged "primum mobile" of
crimes (armed robbery in particular) is at its highest peak since
independence; and national unity, Obasanjo's avowed project, is
terribly undermined by sharia, religious fanaticism, and greed.
Nigerians today, and as ever, are terribly
divided: north versus south, northeast versus northwest, southwest
versus southeast, and so forth. Like scattered enemies we Nigerians
grope in a dark forest full of spikes and snakes. So far, it is fear
and not the instinct of love that keeps us going, keeps us shouting
at each other, not yet able to slash each other's throats. My one
time Latin teacher in high school had a habit of responding to "good
morning" with a listless smile, a shake of his head, and the words:
"Brother, no hope!" Depressing as such response may sound under the
circumstance, it seems to find concrete meaning in the quandary in
which we find ourselves today.
Nevertheless, thank God we are not so
completely despondent, for beyond the misty horizon, one can perceive
a flicker of light in the operations of National Agency for Food and
Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and its able
Director-General, Dr. Dora Akunyili. Dora is not entirely new in
Nigerian public affairs, having served as a regional officer in the
defunct P.T.F, where she played a subordinate role, taking orders
from her bosses, whose intentions and methods led to the demise of
the program under Obasanjo. After the PTF exposure she was invited by
Obasanjo to direct and indeed revive the declining agency, NAFDAC.
Today, she is producing excellent results amounting to a miracle,
highly appreciated by Nigerians, especially the President
himself.
The task entrusted to NAFDAC, to fight the
worst enemy of the country, is immense. It is estimated that a
million people perished during the civil war, killed in action or
through starvation and disease. That number pales today in comparison
with the millions that perish from fake and adulterated drugs and
other related forms of medical abuse. It is common knowledge that the
Nigerian market is surfeited with dangerous drugs, which cause
complications to medical problems; indeed, the ratio of such killer
drugs to genuine drugs is thirty to one.
There are companies in Asia and Eastern Europe that are
mass-producing highly diluted drugs and are marketing them in
Nigeria. For such drugs, labels are no indication of actual content.
It is also true that some Nigerian merchants arrange with such
companies to increase the quantity and reduce the quality to make
easy profit. Worse still, some traders buy empty cases with labels;
these are later filled up with chalk powder or colored liquid
concoctions in the squalor of the slums in Nigeria and are supplied
to hospitals or sold in pharmacy stores all over the country. They
stop at nothing, these harbingers of death. They sell polluted and
contaminated stream and tap water to the public in the guise of
providing pure water.
The outcome of these and other dangerous
practices is unimaginably catastrophic. Hospitals and doctors are
becoming useless for want of efficacy in their treatment. Many
Nigerians are condemned to suffer complications and pains, which
often lead to untimely death. And come to think of it, if this is not
genocide, what else is genocide?
In the end, only two sets of people gain
from all this: the self-proclaimed native doctors and their religious
partners in their fetish prayer houses. Today, Nigeria has more
prayer houses than hospitals (with each prayer house claiming to
possess the panacea to all illnesses). Needless to say, these
"all-rounders", these wonder healers and miracle workers, are most
incapable of diagnosing ninety-nine percent of the cases they handle,
talk less of knowing what remedies to apply.
The end result, of course, is death and the
expensive, festive funerals that follow. But the main beneficiaries
of this crime are the manufacturers of fake and adulterated drugs, as
well as the drug dealers who make their living through filthy means.
All they want is profit, caring less that as profit mounts,
graveyards multiply. These drug dealers, perpetrators of genocide,
are among the richest millionaires found in all the major cities of
the country. They use their death money to buy up properties, sponsor
politicians to run for offices, and lavishly entertain the people
when they themselves receive chieftaincy titles or knighthood in
churches.
Nigerians are highly pleased with the
results of Dora's heroic efforts in the war against genocide, and
they believe that she is deserving of the highest honor the country
can bestow on her. President Obasanjo himself has, time without
number, expressed his satisfaction with Dora and NAFDAC. And now to
the main point.
The success of Dora and NAFDAC is a
remarkable success for Obasanjo. If the president had listened to
detractors, to people who for various reasons had worked to prevent
her appointment to the directorship of NAFDAC, Dora would have stayed
back at the university and perhaps the agency, like many others,
would have continued to languish and decline, while thousands and
millions more would have died and been mourned.
On TV interviews Obasanjo has testified a
number of times to the fierce battle he waged to pick this woman who
he believed could deliver the goods. To select her, he had to
overcome prejudice, lies, ethnic and political genotypicity, and even
gender prejudice. Her selection was based on merit, pure and simple.
That is exactly what Nigeria needs in order to succeed. If, like
Obasanjo in this instance, we could appoint people to positions not
to satisfy political parties, or religious groups, or ethnic
interests, but because they are the best qualified for the job, then
there would be hope for the future.
Obasanjo has led Nigeria two times as their president and is about to
begin a fresh and final term. Perhaps the majority of Nigerians still
believe that he has the magic wand or the miracle gem to overhaul
this country. Cynics however wonder why he has not applied this gem
all these years as president, especially this last four years. And
they have a point. For, if after all these years the country is still
plagued with problems of tribalism, corruption, shariaism,
light-outs, fuel shortages, terrible road conditions, unemployment,
insecurity, and on and on, then it is a valid question to ask: where
is the miracle gem?
Yet I am highly convinced that the miracle gem is there, only the
president has not applied it fully. The appointment of Dr. Akunyili
and a few like her in one or two other fields has proved conclusively
that if you use the right people the miracle of transformation of
this country will work. Think of the type of Dora Akunyili as the
chief of the Nigerian police force, or the Ports Authority, or NEPA,
think of what progress will result. I believe the time is now for the
president to do something for the country and for himself. It is not
too late; rather it is "morning yet on creation day" to give the
country a facelift, to be good enough to use efficient and
incorruptible people willing to serve the country, and be strong
enough to discard incompetent and corrupt ones, deadwoods, no matter
their background and affiliations.
Dr. Muoneke,
a Houston-based Catholic priest, has been a USAfricaonline.com
contributing editor since 1995.
|
Why Chinua
Achebe, the Eagle on
the Iroko, is Africa's writer of the century.
By Chido Nwangwu
Since 1958, Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" set a standard
of artistic excellence,
and more. By Douglas Killam
OIL
in NIGERIA: Liquid
Gold or Petro-Dollars Curse?
Elections in Nigeria more a
battle of the retired Generals, and votes buying
bazaar. By
Chido Nwangwu
Osama
bin-Laden's goons threaten Nigeria and Africa's
stability. By Chido Nwangwu
Nigeria,
a terrible beauty....
Why Bush should focus on
dangers
facing Nigeria's return
to democracy
and Obasanjo's slipperyslide. By Chido Nwangwu
How Obasanjo's
self-succession
charade
at his Ota Farm has
turned Nigeria to an 'Animal
Farm.' By
USAfricaonline.com contributor Prof. Mobolaji
Aluko
Abati's Revisionisms
and Distortions of history. By Obi Nwakanma, USAfrica
The Newspaper contributing editor and award-winning poet
Reuben Abati's
fallacies
on Nigeria's
history and secession. By Bayo
Arowolaju
How Abati, Adelaja and others fuel the
campaign
of hatred against Ndigbo. By Jonas Okwara
"Obasanjo, secession and the secessionists":
A response to Reuben Abati's
Igbophobia. By Josh Arinze,
USAfricaonline.com contributing editor.
Abati and other anti-Igbo
bigots in Nigeria. By Chuks
Iloegbunam, USAfricaonline.com contributing editor and
author of Ironsi
Obasanjo's late wake to the Sharia crises, Court's
decision and Nigeria's democracy. By Ken Okorie
Obasanjo's
own challenge is to imbibe "democratic spirit and
practice," By Prof. Ibiyinka Solarin
Is Obasanjo really
up to
Nigeria's
challenge and crises?
By USAfrica
The Newspaper editorial board member, attorney Ken Okorie.
This commentary appears courtesy of our related web
site, NigeriaCentral.com
Obasanjo's late wake to the Sharia crises,
Court's
decision and Nigeria's democracy. By Ken Okorie
Sharia-related
killings and carnage in Kaduna reenact deadly prologue to
Nigeria-Biafra
war
of 1967. By
Chido Nwangwu.
CONTINENTAL
AGENDA
Bush's position on
Africa
is "ill-advised."
The position
stated by Republican presidential aspirant and Governor of
Texas, George Bush where he said that "Africa will not be an
area of priority" in his presidency has been
questioned by USAfricaonline.com Publisher
Chido Nwangwu. He
added that Bush's "pre-election position was neither
validated by the economic exchanges nor geo-strategic
interests of our two continents." These views were stated
during an interview CNN's anchor Bernard Shaw and senior
analyst Jeff Greenfield had with Mr. Nwangwu on Saturday
November 18, 2000 during a special edition of 'Inside
Politics 2000.'
Nwangwu,
adviser to the Mayor of Houston (the 4th largest city in the
U.S., and immigrant home to thousands of Africans) argued
further that "the issues of the heritage interests of 35
million African-Americans in Africa, the volume and value of
oil business between between the U.S and Nigeria and the
horrendous AIDS crisis in Africa do not lend any basis for
Governor Bush's ill-advised
position which
removes Africa from fair consideration" were he to be
elected president.
By Al Johnson
Jonas Savimbi, UNITA are
"terrorists"
in Africans' eyes
despite Washington's "freedom fighter" toga for him. By
SHANA WILLS
Nelson
Mandela, Tribute to the
world's political superstar and Lion of
Africa
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's
burden
mounts with murder charges, trials
 TRIBUTE
A KING FOR
ALL TIMES:
Why Martin Luther King's
legacy
and vision are relevant into 21st century.
DIPLOMACY
Walter
Carrington:
African-American diplomat who put principles above self for
Nigeria  (USAfrica's
founder Chido Nwangwu with Ambassador Carrington at the U.S.
embassy, Nigeria)
DEMOCRACY'S
WARRIOR
Out of
Africa.
…The
cock that crows in the morning belongs to one household but
his voice is the property of the neighborhood. -- Chinua
Achebe, Anthills of the Savannah. An editor carries on
his crusade against public corruption and press
censorship
in his native Nigeria and other African countries. By
John Suval.
ARINZE: Will he be
the FIRST
BLACK AFRICAN
POPE?
By Chido
Nwangwu
HUMAN
RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY
How far, how deep will Nigeria's human rights
commission go?
Rtd. Gen. Babangida trip as
emissary for Nigeria's Obasanjo to Sudan raises curiosity,
questions about what next in power
play?
Apple, Steve Jobs extend digital
magic
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Lifestyle
Sex,
Women and (Hu)Woman
Rights. By Chika Unigwe
APPRECIATION
A young
father writes his One
year old son:
"If only my heart had a voice...."
 Africa
suffers the scourge of the virus.
This life and pain of Kgomotso Mahlangu, a
five-month-old AIDS patient (above) in a hospital in the
Kalafong township near Pretoria, South Africa, on October
26, 1999, brings a certain, frightening reality to the
sweeping and devastating destruction of human beings who
form the core of any definition of a country's future, its
national security, actual and potential economic development
and internal markets.
22 million Africans HIV-infected, ill
with AIDS
while African leaders
ignore disaster-in-waiting
OPINION:  Destruction
of property and human massacres are always traumatic
events in a community, saddening and enraging, but the
organizers of the beauty contest, as well as the
participants, must understand that they are totally free of
guilt. The guilty are the storm troopers of intolerance, the
manipulators of feeble-minded but murderous hordes of
fanaticism. The nation will mourn the dead and render aid to
the maimed and bereaved, but that same nation must
understand that it will itself join the graveyard of nations
if it fails to uphold the principles of plurality, choice
and tolerance. The phenomenon of intolerance is eating up a
world that can only survive on peaceful coexistence.
By Prof. Wole Soyinka
Debating
Obasanjo's
record
toward Nigeria's South East and South-South. By Pini
Jason
DEMOCRACY
DEBATE
CNN
International debate on Nigeria's democracy livecast on CNN.
It involved Nigeria's Information Minister Prof. Jerry
Gana, Prof. Salih Booker and USAfricaonline.com Publisher
Chido Nwangwu. Transcripts
are available on
the CNN International site.
NEWS
5 students from Nigeria at Abilene Christian
University killed in March 31, 2002 one-car
accident.18 year-old Kolawole Oluwagbemiga Sami
was identified as the driver of the Isuzu which had 2 other
men and 3 women. One of those female passengers in the 1994
Isuzu Rodeo SUV had an identification card stating her as
Iyadunni Oluwaseun Bakare. She is also 18 years old.
USAfricaonline.com special report by Chido Nwangwu
USAfrica The
Newspaper voted the "Best Community
Newspaper"
in the 4th largest city in the U.S., Houston. It is in
the Best of Houston 2001 special as chosen by the editors
and readers of the Houston
Press,
reflecting their poll and annual rankings.
Tragedy of Ige's murder
is its déjà vu for the Yoruba
southwest and rest of
Nigeria. By Ken Okorie
What has Africa
to do with September 11 terror? By Chido Nwangwu
Should Africa debates begin and
end at
The
New York Times and
The
Washington Post?
No
NEWS INSIGHT
CNN,
Obasanjo and Nigeria's struggles with democracy.
Why Obasanjo's government should respect
CNN
and Freedom of the press
in Nigeria.
Jonas Savimbi, UNITA are
"terrorists"
in Africans' eyes
despite Washington's "freedom fighter" toga for him. By
SHANA WILLS
It's wrong
to stereotype Nigerians as Drug
Dealers
Private initiative,
free
market forces, and more
democratization
are Keys to prosperity in Africa
What
has Africa
to do with September 11 terror? By Chido
Nwangwu
Africans
reported
dead
in terrorist
attack at
WTC
September
11
terror and
the ghost of things to
come....
Will
religious conflicts be the time-bomb
for Nigeria's latest transition to civilian rule?
Bola
Ige's murder another danger signal for
Nigeria's nascent democracy.
In a special report a few hours after the
history-making nomination, USAfricaonline.com
Founder and Publisher Chido Nwangwu places Powell within the
trajectory of history and into his unfolding clout and
relevance in an essay titled 'Why Colin
Powell
brings gravitas, credibility and star power to Bush
presidency.'
AFRICA
AND THE U.S. ELECTIONS
Beyond U.S.
electoral shenanigans, rewards and dynamics of a democratic
republic hold
lessons
for
African politics.
Johnnie Cochran
will soon learn that defending Abacha's
loot is not as simple as his O.J Simpson's
case.
By Chido Nwangwu
110 minutes
with Hakeem Olajuwon
Nigerian
stabbed
to death
in his bathroom in Houston.
Cheryl
Mills' first class defense of Clinton and her detractors'
game
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