OZUBULU AS A METAPHOR

‘If people are good only because they fear punishment,

And hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.’ ~Albert Einstein

The undeniable power, force, and influence of religion stand out throughout history.  In historical retrospect, judging from the rapid development witnessed in Europe in the past millennia, religion was exceptionally important, because it had a great influence on everything from government to social order and family relationships; positive effects of religion such as unity, security, and a social order are still basic ideals in today’s world. The Islamic civilization and the golden age of medicine, mathematics, science and knowledge in general: The spread of knowledge and the rise of universities all over Europe and the new World. The age of inventions and diffusion of innovations; all were aided by big religion which acted as patron saints of the age.

However, religion also has its negative effects such as the conflicts that result in war and bloodshed, the separation of social classes, and the corruption throughout God’s kingdom, especially the recent sex scandal in the Catholic Church; or the radicalization of faith as witnessed by today’s Islamic insurgence and terrorism.  It is these perceived negative effects of religion that has prompted many social commentators to condemn religion as an albatross on human development. Among the factors they site are the following:

·       Religion divides insiders from outsiders. “Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers,” says the Christian Bible.

o   “They wish that you disbelieve as they disbelieve, and then you would be equal; therefore take not to yourselves friends of them,” says Quran 4:91.

·       Religion anchors believers to the medieval age: The medieval period was a time of rampant superstition, ignorance, inequality, racism, misogyny, and violence. Slavery had God’s sanction. Women and children were literally possessions of men. Sacred texts including the Bible, Torah and Quran all preserve and protect fragments of medieval culture, putting God’s name and endorsement on some of the very worst practices.

·       Religion makes a virtue out of faith. Besides exploiting positive moral energy like kindness or generosity, religion often redirects moral disgust and indignation, attaching these emotions to arbitrary religious rules rather than questions of real harm.

·       Religion lends itself to be used by political leaders in spreading division and antipathy among their followers; most commonly in developing polities that are yet to get over primordial divisions. Like ethnicity, religion has become a recurring decimal point in the politics of emerging nations such as Nigeria. Even within the same religion, divisions have been the source of acrimony; such as between Shiites and Sunni, Catholics and Protestants.  

However, religion has its positive side which includes:

·       The formation of personal moral criteria and sound moral judgment.

·       Enormous potential for addressing today's social problems, which is sometimes questionable.

·       The religious practices of parents, particularly their unity on religious issues, powerfully influence the behavior of children; that is if the children do not succumb to peer pressure and other social influences.

Religious behavior, as opposed to mere attitude or affiliation, is supposed to be associated with reduced crime. This has been known in the social science literature for over 20 years: But not anymore, as we are witness to the most odious relationship between religion and crime in our present world. The so-called men of God today not only aid and abet crime, but are themselves practitioners of crime. The newspapers are replete with screaming headlines of one church or Moslem leader or the other caught in the warm embrace of crime or the underworld: From homosexualism and sodomization by prelates in the ‘house of God’, to avariciousness and criminal atavism, to abuse of Peter’s Pence’ and tithing, exploitation and abuse of the goodwill of congregants, fornication and unbridled sexual exploits, financial and moral recklessness and many other loathsome acts and shenanigan that are odious and abhorrent.

What happened last week in the little Anambra town of Ozubulu is a sad reminder of what the sages say about people keeping silent in the face of crime. The said Catholic Church which ‘gangland’ members invaded and gunned down worshippers was not a strange territory to the men of the underworld; nor were the gang members strange to the congregants who are mostly from the town; after all, the church was built and donated singlehandedly by a notorious ‘drug baron’ and member of the community who goes by the apt alias, ‘Bishop’; just imagine!

There is no doubt, various religious groups have sought to benefit from the corruption and nepotism of the Nigerian system when a member of their religion is in power as the president or as the governor or local chairman, et cetera. By so doing, religions in Nigeria put themselves in a position to be used at will, not only by the political class, but also by the criminal sub-culture: Just as it happened last week at Ozubulu. As Reuben Abati said in his column last Tuesday: “The love of money is destroying our lives. Not even holy places are spared.”  Another commentator had put it more succinctly when he said: ‘We have only succeeded in turning religion into our technological achievement as Nigerian churches are spread all over the world with main beneficiaries as the prosperity pastors and we cannot ignore the pathetic contribution of the other religion in bloodletting and everything antithetical to civilization.’

May God forgive all of us; amen.

Barka Juma’at and a happy weekend

Last Line: If only she were alive, today’s Juma’at would have been a double. If only our mother, late Alhaja Hulaimot Atinuke Jose, were alive; she would have turned 90 today; but Allah knows best. We continue to pray for the repose of her gentle soul. May all our prayers on her for Allah’s forgiveness be accepted and may she be admitted to the perfumed garden of Janatul firdous.

We equally rejoice with her son and birthday mate, ‘the last brother’, Rabiu  Jose who marks another milestone today. May Allah’s grace and mercies continue to be with him. RAB Happy birthday and many happy returns.

Babatunde Jose
+2348033110822

Pop Errors in English, writers beware

      

                      By Bayo Ogunmupe

    Pop Errors in English, writers beware is Segun Omolayo's contribution to Nigerian education and enlightenment in this knowledge driven age. Omolayo, a United Nations trained draftman and analyst wrote the book while serving as a UN diplomat. Pop errors in English unpacks, articulates and examines popular errors writers commit in various ways. The book discusses rules often violated by writers and suggests ways to avoid them. It explains why what is right is right and what is wrong. The author emphasizes how to enhance writers' use of the English language  for effective communication. The author imparts the skills and techniques that separates the tutored  from the untrained  instinctive writers.

      This book is for journalists, legal and legislative draft men, editors of journals and newspapers and diplomats. Pop Errors in English is paperback; published in 2017, it has 558 pages a preface, twelve chapters and three pages of references. In his capacity as a reporter and draft man  for the United Nations, Omolayo has written a great deal, edited, re-written and analysed diverse texts from various fields. It is through such  rich exposure that he was able to identify the errors in this book.

    Omolayo explains applicable principles and rules; suggesting improvements  with copious examples, some of which I shall show you anon. The book aims to share with you- writing skills, tools and principles. It demonstrates that little things matter just as we unconsciously destroy our mother tongues and good English through government promotion of pidgin English which belongs to no ethnic grouping. The correction of these errors shows editing sensitivities that a good writer must be mindful of.

    The following examples are being paraphrased for brevity and judicious use of space to enable me cover as many examples as possible. On redundancy, the author explains it as a phrase, clause, sentence or text in any word or group of words considered unnecessary, in the sense that it can be removed without detracting the meaning. This means, such a word or phrase has no function in the sentence; it neither adds value nor meaning. Sources of redundancies are rampart. They include: tautology- which refers to the repetition of words.

    Verbosity- this comes when you use too many words where fewer would convey the same meaning. Next comes circumlocution- meaning that you are simply beating about the bush. Grammarians consider circumlocutions dangerous because they 'shut down readers'. Here are examples of circumlocutions: "I agree with the idea,"(instead of I agree.); "during the time that", (when); "in view of the fact that", (because); "within the framework of," (in); " within the context of," (regarding); "for the purpose of," (to); "in order to" (to); "in the event that," ( if); " in the field of," (in); "in the year 2012" ( in 2012); "until such time," (until); " and prior to" (before).

    Though sources of redundancies are legion, let us see how they arise, how they affect conversations and how they can be cured; using examples drawn different writings. Here we go: A two day workshop, organized by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Peace Building Office on Conflict sensitivity with the theme "Strengthening Government Capacity  in Conflict Sensitivity Programming and Development," began in katata on 12 February. Since the purpose of the phrase: "on conflict sensitivity" is to distinctly identify the workshop, that has been adequately done by the theme.  Thus, the phrase is a repetition; which should be removed.

    So the message above sounds better as: A two day workshop, organized by the Ministry of Justice and the Peace Building Office with the theme: Strengthening Government Capacity in Conflict Sensitivity Programming and Development" began in Kakata on 12 February.

    Malapropism is another writer's headache. It is the misuse of certain words instead of another. This is an amusing mistake somebody makes  when they use a word which sounds similar to the word they wanted to use, but means something different. Webster's Dictionary called it a ludicrous misuse of words. A writer desirous of conveying  precise meaning will do his best to avoid malapropisms.  

    Great writers appreciate correct choice of words or ideas by noting that the synonyms of the same word will not always convey the same meaning. This means a writer must spare no effort to perfect his diction. Here is an example of malapropism: Consummation of honey by humans has rules and regulations. Consummation means completion of something, which is why it isn't appropriate. Actually, consummation goes with the action of making a marriage  complete by having coitus.

      Consumption, which is the appropriate word means, the action of eating or drinking something. This is a very good book for speech writers and press secretaries.It will cut down much of the tautology that goes for journalism and broadcasting inNigeria today. Omolayo has written, reviewed and edited scripts for decades. He is a former Nigerian diplomat, he is a registered advertiser and broadcaster.

LEADERSHIP CONUNDRUM

 

The leadership deficit in our country today

is a great cause for concern. It is the prime cause for all

other deficiencies;

structural, infrastructural, power, education, and many

others too numerous to

count. From the pulpits in our churches and the Minbar in

the mosques, at

seminars and other fora where the problems of this country

are being discussed,

the issue of leadership usually fronts the bill. Our readers

have therefore

become agitated and are asking the pertinent question: Are

leaders born or

made? In view of the failure of leadership in our country,

one is not

surprised. This, however, is the most basic and most

often-asked question

about leadership. The job of leading an organization, a

military unit, or

a nation, and doing so effectively, is indeed very complex.

To expect that a

person would be born with all of the tools needed to lead,

is a very tall order.

Yet, there are some "raw materials;

some inborn characteristics, that predispose people to be

and become leaders.

What are some of these inborn qualities? Extraversion has

been associated with

leadership positions and leader effectiveness. There is also

evidence that boldness, assertiveness,

or risk-taking or sometimes daringness can be advantageous

for leaders.

Leaders also need to be smart to analyze situations and

figure out courses of

action: All these are not taught in leadership training

camps or ‘man o war’.

They are ingrain in individual make-up. Even among business

persons, they are

traits that are not taught in Harvard Business School. You

either have them or

you don’t. It is these peculiar traits that separate

effective leaders from run

of the mill ones. To this extent therefore, we could

conjecture that most of

the traits that make a good leader are ingrain. For example,

intelligence is

associated with leadership, but perhaps not general IQ, but

social intelligence

- understanding of social and political situations and

processes; is

the component of intelligence that is important for

leadership. Finally, some

sort of empathy, or ability to know followers, is also

advantageous for leaders.

The leader must be able to know what followers want, when

they want it, and

what prevents them from getting what they want. All of the

above traits are

innate and are not learnt and tend to support the fact that

most leadership

traits and qualities have to do with the makeup of the man,

rather than

internalized. Leadership, therefore, being the ability to

exercise influence

over others for the leader's purposes, aims or goals, is

largely made up of

inherited qualities and traits that make men better suited

to lead. This leads

to the conclusion that most leaders are born. This is

supported by what has

become known as ‘Great Man’ theory and other ‘Trait’

theories. To suggest that

leaders do not enter the world with extraordinary endowment

is to imply that

people enter the world with equal abilities, with equal

talents, said Thomas

Carlyle. 

There is a significant difference

between “learning a skill” and mastering one, in the

same way that others

are born with amazing musical gifts or athletic talents.

They will excel

naturally in these areas but others would

not.

Born leaders are different from made or

artificial

leaders. All remarkable leaders have great history behind

them. They were

leaders from the onset of their journey. Some observers have

opined that birth

is a natural process and the notion to associate leadership

with it is

arguable. This is true to a large extent. Hence, they argue

that leaders are

made not born.

Behavioral Theories believe that people

can become leaders through the process of teaching, learning

and observation.

True, leadership is a set of skills that can be learned by

training,

perception, practice and experience over time. Leadership

learning is a

lifetime activity. Good leaders seek out development

opportunities that will

help them learn new skills. This is true of the military,

para-military and so

on, or managerial positions in corporate organizations.

However, no matter the

amount of training, some military and managerial personnel

will stand out above

the rest and in situation that calls for leadership, they

will be in front.

History is replete with such leaders, such as Patton,

Montgomery, Laurence of

Arabia and Julius Caesar.  

Can enrolling for a programme on management

and leadership makes someone a leader upon completion? Can

charisma, influence,

integrity and the ability to inspire be taught? Will the

granting of a

certificate and a few degrees after one’s name make them a

leader? These are

questions that are begging for answers. Soft skills can be

explained, but not

implanted. The ability to share your vision takes more than

a sophisticated

PowerPoint presentation.

Leadership can be learned by anyone with the

basics. But an awful lot of leadership cannot be

taught. Some do well

but others find themselves poorly equipped rendering

mediocre results. This

much is our bane in this country where we have social

deviants, delinquents and

miscreants parading as political leaders. People of doubtful

and questionable

pedigree and foundation. Even when they are learned and

schooled, they still

lark most of the qualities and traits of good and able

leaders. They are people

who have imbibed deviant cultures and products of

sociological mutations: And

like all mutants are never advantageous to the specie: Area

boys, cheats,

liars, kleptomaniacs and those Awolowo dubbed ‘lost

souls’. Yet, there is no

iota of doubt that this country of over 180 Million people

is blessed with men

and women of sound and impeachable characters who have

exhibited exemplary

leadership in politics and the economy, military and

religion. Where are they

that we are saddled with charlatans and masquerades?

 

Leadership is therefore, an art rather than

a science. It is a set of innate traits, refined and

perfected over time with

education, training and experience.

There is also an aspect of being in

the right place at the right time; which could be call

opportunity. You

may be a leader but also a matter of whether or not you are

in the position

within which your talents can shine

forth.

The discussion about leadership also needs

to identify the location as well as the environment. Not

everyone can be a

leader just like not everyone can become a good actor. Some

people will never

have that aspect in them while others have the latent

ability and thus can be

taught how to lead. All the books, classes, education and

training cannot turn

a follower into a leader.

To be a leader in a structured environment,

one needs some formal training. Most people can learn to

manage well, start a

business, lead a project team since good management is based

on rules - rules

that can be learned and mastered. But, we should remember

that Leadership is

often a choice. A leader is a person who comes forward to

take the challenge.

If a leader rises up from the multitude, then that person

was already a leader

to begin with. Should someone have all the best training,

nurturing and

opportunities, but would rather be hidden in the crowd, an

unwilling

participant...not a leader.

Leadership styles varies with maturity,

followers and situations.

Leadership attributes will include, among

others: “Integrity; charisma, inspiration, vision,

encouraging, positive,

confidence builder, dynamism, foresight, effective team

building,

communicating, coordinating, decisive, intelligent, and

win-win problem solver.” These

attributes are a combination of personality, character,

skill, communicative

ability, and emotional intelligence. Therefore, a leader is

born, developed,

skilled in communications, and cultivated through life

experiences.

Remarkable Leaders would include the

likes of Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King

Jr, and Aung San

Suu Kyi…etc: Individuals that seek neither wealth nor

fame, selfless, loved

justice, passionate about people and worked for the greater

good of others.

Here in this clime we have an acute shortage of such

men.

In times like these, may Allah give us men

that would rise to the occasion and lead us to the Promised

Land; Amen.

Barka

Juma’at, Ramadan Kareem and Happy

Eid. Babatunde Jose

+2348033110822