The Odds of Our Times: Nigeria and the Management of Unity in Diversity

By Zak Vegha

After slave trade ended, the European objective created the geographical space they called Nigeria, and the occupants were imposed upon that they should make a nation, so they had made attempts motivated by the oppressive colonialist tendencies. The author had been born and he grew up in the struggle to make meaning of unity and national coexistence. The apparent confusion caused the experience of military in government and politics, resulting in a crippling civil war. The book is an interplay of the manner in which the social, political, and religious upheavals affected and shaped the personal and career development of the author and his generation regarding the failures of government policies, causes, and possible solutions based on constructive policy formulation and implementation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Africa
• Release date: Mar 10, 2016
• ISBN: 9781482861464

Zak Vegha

Zak Vegha was a rural boy who availed education on account of parents’ determination and relevant government policies. He was a professional pilot, now retired after a flying career that spanned more than thirty-five years in Nigeria. He has a view on the Nigerian scene.

Book preview

THE ODDS

OF OUR

TIMES

NIGERIA AND THE MANAGEMENT OF UNITY IN DIVERSITY

AN ACCOUNT OF NIGERIA'S DEVELOPMENT HISTORY

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ZAK VEGHA

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Copyright © 2016 by Zak Vegha.

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-4828-6147-1

                Softcover        978-1-4828-6145-7

                eBook             978-1-4828-6146-4

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

www.partridgepublishing.com/africa

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

Chapter One: Employer attitude

Chapter Two: Rural Experience

Chapter Three: Nation-Building

Chapter Four: Rural Education

Chapter Five: Religious Criminality

Chapter Six: Concept of Unity

Chapter Seven: Situation Awareness

Chapter Eight: Early School

Chapter Nine: Real Secondary School

Chapter Ten: Civil War and Effects

Chapter Eleven: Higher College

Chapter Twelve: Poor School Administration

Chapter Thirteen: The First Work Experience

Chapter Fourteen: Aviation Industry

Chapter Fifteen: Off to California

Chapter Sixteen: Zaria Presentation

Chapter Seventeen: Oxford Experience

Chapter Eighteen: National Carrier

Chapter Nineteen: Airbus A310

Chapter Twenty: Homecoming

Chapter Twenty-One: Second Coming

Chapter Twenty-Two: Sojourn in Astrow

Chapter Twenty-Three: Second Trial

Chapter Twenty-Four: Aviatora Chad

Chapter Twenty-Five: Flavour of Authority

Chapter Twenty-Six: Tests of time

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Mokola Intro

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Politics and the Workplace

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Ills of Our Time

Chapter Thirty: Looking Beyond City Life

Chapter Thirty-One: Rural Influence

Chapter Thirty-Two: Family History

Chapter Thirty-Three: Attitude to Religion

Chapter Thirty-Four: The Dream

Chapter Thirty-Five: If It Had Not Transpired

Chapter Thirty-Six: Nigeria's Tomorrow

Glossary

This book is

dedicated to my family and all my friends who without conscious involvement had motivated the intentions which I nursed for so many years before gathering the courage to put something to paper. I derive inspiration from my wife, who would sit and listen as I verbalized my analysis of our country's direction, as I would lament the glorious past destroyed by the valueless trends foisted on the people by greedy soldiers and politicians.

If I could, I would set up a school to teach every young countryman the definition of civic responsibility according to me for the betterment of our country. The country became rich and her enemies suddenly became friends but she had no way of evaluating their sincerity; therefore she lost all that had been gained, and being quite unable to improve her state in the midst of dwindling per capita, it seemed important that attention be drawn to existing possibilities before we sank too deep to see or think. In this sense therefore, The Odds of Our Times is a call for the nation's youth to take up the mantle of responsibility and focus on building what would be the envy of other nations, seeing that we have what it takes.

The book is therefore dedicated to the youth of this nation, for in many ways they have been a source of inspiration. It is for their benefit that this work has become necessary in the unveiled attempt to connect the past and the present, being the component of the determined push to assemble continuity. The youth are the future generation and do need to be prepared for the responsibility that awaits them as they prepare to take the baton in the ensuing relay race. Only relevant team spirit can craft, appreciate, and understand the discipline it entails to collectively achieve the best for the country.

Aside from the few tireless recyclables, anyone under sixty years of age did not have the privilege of knowing what this nation was and, therefore, might not be capable of projecting what could have been. The writer's generation has wept for what could have been that wasn't, because the country could no longer afford to give the succeeding generations what it had been able to give theirs with just little effort because the system and institutions functioned in their time. In this sense it can be appreciated that this nation neither had claim to development nor any iota of growth in the measurable sense; instead she had relatively become poorer in the midst of plenty. Reading this book therefore might start people thinking in the new direction of good and accountable service to the country. Let everyone rise to the cause of building the strong and stable civil service that once was and strangle the corruption worm that has eaten so deep into the nation's very fabric.

The time is now. Tomorrow might be too late for those who love this country; relocating to other nations merely postpones doomsday for those who take that option. There had been a time in this country when checking out was in vogue, so much so that it became necessary to initiate a media campaign that sponsored an advertorial which featured a young man named Andrew, who made a point of checking out of the country since it no longer fulfilled his desires. The message had been clear and positive: it took the citizens of those countries to build what attracted our young man Andrew, who bragged about checking out because nothing worked anymore. He should have been more responsible and appreciated that it was up to him to keep his house clean and attractive in order to command the necessary association with others far and wide.

The land is beautiful and the people intelligent, energetic, and adequately innovative. The potential to achieve is high and that purposeful leadership to sustain motivation may just be round the corner. So let those who have chosen to remain, demonstrate to the Andrews of this time, that turning the back created rather than solved problems. It is wiser that the core of the people's collective energy today be focused on creating a feasible posterity, if catching up in the economic race be of any significance to us. It can only be more beautiful, bountiful, and free.

This work is dedicated to the dream that my country will in the near future find a way out the labyrinth of disgust to which it has been plunged by the ineptitude of greed.

To the hope that we shall all be free again and forever

Preface

Growing up in the pre-independence rural Nigeria was like standing by the entrance of a room with the door shut, hearing the noise of activity within but having no idea what might be going on in there. No one really knew nor understood the British colonial overlordship that ruled the country at the time, in the name of the queen of England, who in fact was the head of what had then been the British Empire, later renamed the Commonwealth of Nations in the post-independence era. The older generation who were privileged to observe changes saw the process by which our traditional administrative structures were gradually but surely supplanted under the system imposed by the colonial authority. They saw the glory of what had been truly natural to the African environment, the spiritual and physical discipline that had attended the circumstance of life in which only the strong survived. Growing up had then been a graduated progression in which one passed from childhood to boyhood and to manhood, then the subsequent emergence of social status, as assignments or responsibilities came, either by popular choice or through standard protocol.

A boy or girl got circumcised between age ten to sixteen; this process was what Westerners later referred to as genital mutilation and presented in a rather sinister and cruel generalization, designed to degrade the real essence of the procedure, from the elevated social celebration of the attainment of status to a mere barbaric and meaningless ritual. The unfortunate reality of cases handled by untrained hands, lured by hunger for monetary rewards (a concept introduced by colonial influence) often degenerated to this qualification. Prior to the fraudulent infiltrations, only members of the special guild, who knew how and were specifically trained and recognized as such, administered the procedure. It was devoid of corruption, never trailed by side effects touted by those who saw no good in African tradition and did not involve monetary rewards outside the traditional sharing of kola nut as applied to the usual spiritual invocations. Of course there were also cases of genuine mistakes, which should not necessarily negate the procedure; for after all, in orthodox medical practice, a system foul-up could be smoothed over by the simple and rather familiar apology to the victim or the bereaved: 'We did our best', often delivered with cold stone-faced countenance that also presented the bill for work done, good or bad.

This way it was regarded as the unfortunate situation that had been bound to happen anyway. Only in very rare cases would the involved practitioner be investigated and sanctioned, but no one ever condemned the system to relegation. On this issue, therefore, hasty conclusions had been drawn simply to discredit yet another African traditional practice, without due diligence aimed at determining its demerits. A blanket opinion by individuals or groups who had very little appreciation for the procedure had been enough to throw it overboard in much the same way as most of the valued cultural heritage have been jettisoned in different parts of the nation and indeed the African continent.

The younger generation born into the colonial era knew only colonial rule and had no basis for comparison, therefore no means of evaluating its benefits or otherwise. The imposed administrative system de-emphasized or redesigned history to disconnect any links with the past and plant the apparent notions that useful patterns only began with the advent of the colonialists, indirectly suggesting that there had been no useful life patterns before the advent of European intruders. The history taught in schools promoted the infallibility of the colonial instrument and the power of Europe, presented as a hand-down from God, in the grand design to keep everyone in total compliance.

The religious component of the colonial project, effectively captured the inherent cultural pre-eminence accorded to the concept of God in traditional beliefs and aptly blended it into the Christian doctrine to project the view that their mission heralded a trend not too different from the existing practices. This notwithstanding, African religion was branded as baseless and lacking in reference, in the bid to ignore its rich content grounded in the natural environment ruled by an all-powerful omniscient being, personified in nature and the ambience, who can only be reached through the intercessory communication facilitated by the ancestral chain and the lesser good spiritual beings. There is something familiar here, a concept not too far in reference to the saints of Christendom and consistent with the theory of life. This certainly had been the area of 'wrongdoing', viewed as totally unfair since aspects of traditional religion that bore the acceptable concepts were branded in the blanket rejection. In fact they had no business messing with the people's religion but it had been necessary to sever the religious link in order to effectively establish control, the object of their mission.

The colonials, through Christian references, projected that the traditional religion was crude and had to be discarded in favour of that which promoted obedience to God the Almighty, who appointed the king or queen, viewed as next to God in the hierarchy of the obedience chain. The colonial officer who was an appointee of the colonial sovereign (king or queen) was therefore entitled to a place in this hierarchy, therefore a share of the sacred obedience. Almighty authority, through his king or queen, vested in the Colonial Office meant that it was an offence, more appropriately likened to a sin punishable by God himself, to disobey the colonial officer. This way they had established allegiance to themselves through their sovereignty by exploiting the concept of constituted spiritual authority, attributable only to the creator of the universe.

The system would have the colonial subjects believe the officer was an agent of God himself, even though he might have been banished to the colonies for the crimes committed in his native country. These actors despised the local population and culture but successfully veiled this spiteful regard in the permanent grin they always wore on their cold faces. Other European countries had kings or queens but such had to be inferior to the one who headed the empire that 'protected' this particular zone. Children often imagined that the king knew the way to heaven and regularly consulted with God face to face because of the special hymns such as 'God save our gracious king, long live our noble king'. This hymn featured regularly and there had been purpose to this design.

During this childhood era, the expression 'the queen' was understood to be the queen of England. It almost made one feel there had been no other queen elsewhere; she had been projected as all-important and a flawless personification of perfection, and this envisioned personage had been exploited by the officers. Every colonial officer had his own agenda, which he disguised as if to align completely with the supposed honourable quest to save the world from ignorance and poverty.

The Christian missionaries had prepared the path of occupation to be followed and consolidated by the military. It had been beautifully manoeuvred in apparent peace and tranquility, though they could not help twisting a few arms here and there when it had been deemed necessary. An oba of the Benin kingdom (Overhavwen) was banished to Calabar. Such punitive actions, whenever they occurred, were always projected as necessary correction for those locals who had dared to question the order of the queen. It had however been a well-known truth that every colonial officer pretty much helped himself to his needs, in the name of the queen who had to be obeyed.

This was the one aspect of the handover, which had translated into what the media often referred to as misrule and all the vices that trailed its advent. There had been high-handed punitive attitudes, a point that had not escaped the politicians who took a particular note and thoroughly imbibed it, as useful means in governance. Shall we say the beginning of corrupt practices or abuse of office? Most probably, politicians who had mistaken this high-handed attitude for some sort of awkward discipline copied it.

The people never had the opportunity to learn who their rulers were, just as the rulers never really cared who the people were or what they needed. They had come to exercise authority and their brief had been to deliver the people from themselves and in their own interests and save them from self-inflicted disaster via the instrument of forced obedience. The ruled became like the three blind men who wanted to satisfy their curiosity about the elephant, which they had heard was a very large animal. Each had left with a respective opinion of what the animal must look like according to the part of the animal each had touched and felt. In the same way, the people nursed their views regarding the colonial ruler according to the mode or circumstance of their respective interactions and the part of the zone to which they belonged, perhaps the beginnings of political disunity.

This, therefore, is an account of the experience gathered by a rural lad in his development into maturity and subsequent transformation into the city dweller of the current era. He saw Nigeria under colonial rule, then at independence, experienced the rosy years that succeeded that transition, when it seemed that the nation had started the journey on the right footing. Then the years of military rule or occupation as the case might be, the civil war that almost decimated the country, which has had to live through the effects of the collateral damage inflicted by corrupt impunity, revisited by the military and nurtured by the current political class. He had seen it all, the good, the bad and, in the recent times, experienced the ugly, as manifested in the security concerns, gross mismanagement, and poor governance which beset the country in an era where economic well-being could have been taken for granted in the most populous and potentially wealthiest country in Africa.

The colonial managers had been guided by one objective and that had been to take out what was needed, using the local population or leadership whenever such needs were required to aid the process. They built roads that served only to convey products to the nearest railway stations. The railways infrastructure was designed to process and convey goods only to the coastal ports, for subsequent shipment overseas and never intended for the travelling public, as a component of social development. During the slave trade, which lasted more than three hundred years, the most prized commodities had been the able-bodied young African males and females who were battered for canons, riffles, alcohol, ceramics, swords, and knives. Babies and very young children were given as complementary offers.

Following the abolition of slavery, they discovered the abundance of agricultural products on account of which, Europe shared the African continent into colonies to be administered by the various states of Europe. The motivation had been to use cheap labour and build the roads and railways needed to cart these products to prescribed destinations. In effect therefore, slavery had been sustained but only disguised to appear less sinister. A good look at the existing railway infrastructure, which has not changed from what the colonials left behind, would confirm the view expressed here. The will to develop this land had never been there; in their wisdom they left when it looked like there was nothing more to plunder. For some reason the evidence of the existing abundance of oil had not been convincing then, otherwise the nation would most certainly have tasted the war of independence and probably been the better for it, as it would have been easier to identify a unifying factor.

It had not happened but as if to tackle the unforeseen, the colonial administration bequeathed a structure based on distrust and suspicion to sustain exploitation using ethnic and religious diversity. What has been happening was the expected harvest for those who planted the seeds from which they now reaped out of the confusion thus generated. The nation, from the early days, had not been able to reach concrete agreement on salient national issues for fear of dominance, on account of sentiments arising from ethnic, religious, or geographic dissent. Cheap raw materials have continued to flow from the land since there were no infrastructures for storage, processing, or manufacturing. The stumbling blocks crafted into the system handed down at independence have continued to hold the nationals victims of their own environment.

The people have blamed the governments for failing the citizens because it had really been up to the leadership to devise a system that would deliver their needs. The shocking reality was that successive governments since independence had done little or nothing to convert, transform, or adapt the skeletal structures left by the colonial administration, to some forms applicable to current situations. Whatever actions, if any, had amounted to too little too late as the nation continued to weep in desperation.

The erstwhile colonial masters sat on the fence, watched the experiment they started in the late nineteenth century. The traps had been set and the political class walked into them, gleefully expecting the grandeur that had then been the exclusive preserve of the colonial rulers, hardly understanding the responsibility that should come with leadership. The nation therefore had leaders who would rather be served than serve. All men wanted to live forever and these included even the very frustrated. Self-destruction among Africans was a rare occurrence since they value life above everything, a state of existence that has over the years enabled them to endure the sometimes very harsh environment. None would commit suicide except in protest against the unacceptable and not necessarily because they really wanted to die, since only a serious mental condition yet to be properly defined would generate such a disposition. There was always a better option for those strong enough to live. Guided by reason, in the acceptance that life would not and could not be forever, most people were drawn towards enabling an improved posterity for all that must follow in the continuum, through commitment and service. The leaders needed to nurture this concept, knowing that reason would ultimately prevail to eliminate the acquisition dementia that plagued the political class. This hope for reason had been what the people lived for, worked for, and would die for, if they had to. The will to summon and sustain this enterprise happened to be the motivation for sharing the thoughts expressed in this book. They might not be far from the considerations of the ordinary man on the street and that essentially was the writer's disposition.

Acknowledgements

It is pertinent to pay tribute to the circumstances that triggered the impulse to produce this work, hence all the past governments of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from the onset of independence and the Nigerian media organisations which by their respective actions or inactions had contributed the observations that formed the bulk of this narrative.

Fellow Nigerians, politicians, schoolmates and teachers, professional colleagues, by their very existence and interactive attitudes, have enabled the disposition towards assembling the bulk of the material presented herein. They are collectively appreciated for their unconscious role in this creative trend.

Above all, the glory, honour, and thanksgiving belong to the Almighty God of the universe who by his grace enabled the opportunities and the necessary guidance to make this work possible.

Lastly my daughter who, through her artistic projections, led to the choice of the back cover photo, and her elder sister whose visit to Nigeria braved all odds and in addition inspired the zeal to push forward on this work; so this is a salute to their courage and commitment to family and most of all, the inspiration they had unconsciously fired.

This page would not be complete without my spouse, whose silent but determined force had sustained the focus on this work. After so many years together, we have improved with time.

Chapter One

Employer attitude

His computer was a good companion most times when at home and particularly alone because everyone else had gone about the day's business. He had learned quite early in life to make a distinction between being alone and lonely and had learned how to be alone without feeling lonely. Engaging in some creative or productive activity always provided a useful channel, and this afternoon, the computer had presented a platform. It would be a lot different when he had to work, for Zak too would have been out and on his toes, doing what had to be done for that day. On this particular afternoon, he had been home checking through his email, the portal that had habitually become the first call whenever he opened the computer.

Oh! There was email from the human resources department of Mokola Aviation, where he worked, addressed to him and originated from a manager in the department. Curiosity caused him to scroll to and open it but what he saw had amused him. It was titled 'Notice of Retirement' and embodied an attachment, which had to be opened to access the formal letter notifying him about retirement and instructing him to return all company belongings in his possession. The uninitiated would automatically imagine there had been a war going on or that there was an inexhaustible list of valuables which had to be returned for the life of the establishment.

The most amusing and perhaps silly aspect of this correspondence from the human resources manager had been that this notice came exactly two weeks to the supposed terminal date of the much-sung engagement. Perhaps it would have been necessary if he had a heap of valuables besides the company identity card and some old uniforms, which had been fitted and could hardly be useful to anyone else. All parties had been aware that disengagement from active flying was highly regulated and would come at sixty-five years of age, so if he had been considered a good employee, a discussion on the issue would have been initiated and the necessary follow-ups concluded, prior to the formal notification. This action drew suspicion and reflected bias, given the rude manner in which the notification had been delivered.

Zak's first reaction had been to query the department and suggest that things were simply not done that way, since best practices recommended a more responsible approach in circumstances of that nature---simply viewed, abiding by the rules would be everyone's expectation for an establishment that needed to be seen as a responsible corporate citizen. Management might be aware that the employee in question knew about the rules but would still ensure that notice was given well in advance of the due date, ostensibly to facilitate a smooth transition. Besides, it was also good practice to ease such employees out in a manner designed to soften the landing, more particularly if they were deemed to have served the establishment creditably. In some cases, alternative placements would be offered and necessary transfer effected, unless the employee in question insisted on leaving.

He was a pioneer of the Fixed Wing department, and party to building the company's credibility in the area of service delivery and believed he deserved better than this apparent ignominious dismissal, therefore he had followed the query with a demand for all the outstanding remunerative compensations due to him but had hitherto been with held by the establishment. The human resources department pretended the lack of awareness but rather than research the situation and come up with plausible solutions, the managers quoted regulations aimed at throwing Zak off the track; this had him wondering what could have motivated the negative reaction to a perfectly normal situation. He started wondering about probable causes and effects, knowing that smoke in the wilderness denoted possible human presence. He had recollections.

There had been some running issues with management, regarding airworthiness status of airplanes in operation, where concern for acceptable maintenance status, prior to release of such for service had be expressed. In some cases it had been necessary to withhold acceptance based on the unsatisfactory status associated with such equipment, following the required preflight inspections. Though these had been laid-down safety procedures, actions on strict adherence to minimum safety standards were often interpreted as anti-establishment; besides, some characters in the maintenance department grudged that they were being portrayed in a bad light, and management preferred that some of these small hitches be glossed over, something that had not been agreeable in Zak's perception.

After a careful survey of the work environment, it became evident that though he had been a loner in the flight department, he wielded influence, which some key players in the management were unhappy with, right or wrong. As has been customary in this country, the social context of the workplace as constituted should not permit the command of such influence by one considered to be a virtual foreigner in the west land, given his ethnic affiliation, though this part belonged to the country that was also his. For being an outsider in the Nigerian social context, he had to be shown precisely where he belonged, well outside exclusive preserves of the sons of the soil, no matter how well he did his work. It had been good to do one's work well but more important to belong to the relevant group. In the manifestation of ethnic sentiments, one could be maligned for any reason, if he did not belong to the favoured group; this attitude has been the resort to preserve group interest, as the apologists of tribal nepotism would often explain.

This had been a peculiar Nigerian situation to which non-Nigerians might have difficulty adjusting. In crude terms it was tribalism, more decently referred to as ethnocentrism, the kind of discrimination more vicious than racism spawned in countries with diverse populations. In this country, it was born out of linguistic/cultural diversity, since the population was basically homogenous, in terms of race. One wondered how much worse this would have been if the people looked different and spoke differently in addition. As further careful considerations revealed the machinations behind the retirement notification, it became clear that the enthusiastic human resources manager had been acting out a script written for her by the combination of Zak's immediate boss, the chief pilot, and the managing director. There had been no pretence, a group of small minds had engaged in the cheap game that was the exclusive preserve and the typical preoccupation for those so disposed.

From day one, the chief pilot had seen Zak as a threat, though outwardly he was manifestly friendly. They had known each other from their days at the training school in Zaria and he had opportunities to study the character of Captain Bolu, the chief pilot. There had been other opportunities when Zak had functioned as an examiner and check airman from which Bolu's exploits in past employment had more than shown him up; therefore writing a script here for the human resources manager had not surprised anyone.

Many had unpalatable stories about the man, so when he showed up the way he had done, there had been need to be on guard and tactically keep a safe distance. The first thing Bolu did had been to turn the tables by exploiting the ethnic factor with the director of flight operations and had himself placed on the seat of power ahead of all, including Zak, who had been employed to head the fixed wing division. Zak had delayed resumption because of his commitment to a previous employment and Bolu took this opportunity to check in and rearrange the situation before Zak's resumption. These decisions had been influenced by ethnic sentiments and management had difficulty explaining them when Zak did resume. In fact the presumption was that Bolu who had been reluctant to come into Mokola, had been called in to take the chief's chair before Zak would resume, so as to present a structure that reflected the ethnic preferences. This arrangement had most probably been brewed by the combination of Bolu and the departmental director.

Management made a U-turn and suddenly thought it should not be his place to head the department since a son of the soil in the person of Bolu had after all been available. This tactless management was lost for explanation and had played dumb, expecting that Zak would get angry and resign; hopefully they would be let off the hook. He had not wanted to be bothered with management responsibility; therefore he naturally felt no need to protest this ethnic blunder, so long as his remuneration had not been tampered with. The usual person of Zak would most probably have fought till the last drop of blood since he detested circumstances in which people were treated unjustly for any reason. A commitment had been made in writing so he had waited for the right time to hold the management accountable.

Office interactions were usually centred on the mood of the dominant group, therefore in some cases, those in the minority would either elect to be invisible or be sacrificed for expedience. Where there was objective accountability, it would take a very astute management to detect, temper, or eliminate the destructive effects of this negative trend in attitudes (the clannish behaviour) that had taken a toll on national development efforts, given that it has caused many an establishment to fail. These peddlers of ethnocentric liberties would deploy every means, foul if necessary, to achieve their aim, which would normally be to get rid of the individuals in the minority, and once done with that, they would go on to fight within their group, according to state or local government area of origin. Sad as this attitude had been, those who indulged in it believed they were protecting the interests of their respective groups, while the corporate bodies and/or government agencies often lost their best servicemen or women on this altar of expedience.

For this reason the concept of one nation touted by politicians remained an illusion because the nationals were yet to see themselves as fellow countrymen and women. This domain tragically presented the countrymen and women, a rather long and hard road to travel, in so far as the status quo had served no best interests since the trend only left losers either side of the divide. Constructive engagement only and never the emotive sentiments would see the nation through this human sickness which had become so deeply ingrained that it would require years of consistent self-examination to have it completely expunged.

This letter had been delivered in a manner calculated to unsettle Zak the targeted victim, undermine his confidence, and hopefully leave him in apprehensive want; then they would sit back and celebrate their apparent success, watching the helpless state in which they expected him to be bounded. If they could have him begging for assistance, it would have been most rewarding for them, to say the least. The ready-made answer would be the emphatic no with a wry smile, followed by the patiently crafted protocol: 'Of course we have had you in view, having regard to the valuable relationship we had, but we have been unfortunately constrained to the contrary, on account of circumstances beyond our control. This has been a very difficult decision for us, but as it turned out, we could not but wish you luck in all your future endeavours . . .'

When a denial has been concocted, the perpetrator would often quote authority from above to justify the illegality, thus absolving him of any blame. Zak felt good that he had not given the establishment this sadistic satisfaction but determined as the management had been to further put the screws on him, his pension remittance and salaries due were withheld as if to punish him and make him suffer for not yielding to their expectations. The management got the shock instead because he had put up a fight and it became clear that even the management had to be careful since breaking the law could attract uncomfortable sanctions. This management had to resort to delaying tactics designed to postpone Zak but he saw that the best weapon was calm patience. It had not been surprising because this attitude was a typical expectation in these parts of the country. Sincerity just happened to be a scarce commodity in the social market of these parts, though the same parts were known to harbour some of the better-known philanthropists of the nation. It was also true that philanthropy did not necessarily equate to sincerity, rather it was often a sociopolitical tool deployed in the pursuit of targeted objectives. It was motivated by public relations desires and often a disguised bribe of the innocent, but the purpose was served and someone, usually the philanthropic individual or corporate organisation, reaped the attending benefits. Here the nation manifested a concoction of the good, the bad, and the ugly, all in the same preparation, perhaps designed to herald the unsavoury.

The terminal age for pilots in active flying was sixty-five years by the existing Nigerian Civil Aviation regulations; all operating pilots knew the regulation well and did what had been necessary to prepare reasonably for the step-down moment. Living in modest comfort of his own home all paid for, a good and lovely wife and two kids (a boy and a girl both in secondary school), it could not be said that Zak had lots of worries. The other members of the family, two sons and two daughters from a previous marriage, were all grown and lived in the United States of America. Other grown-ups; man and woman, adopted both married and had children of their own; therefore his was a reasonably happy family of sons, daughters, and grandchildren, not plenty of money but enough to provide the access to basic needs. There was a lot to thank Almighty God for; besides in his dreams, the rich were always ever uneasy, continuously worried they might lose what they believed was theirs. Yet no one could get filthy rich without having cheated a whole lot of people out of what ought to rightfully be theirs as shown in the example under consideration. To cover this theft, society regarded those who had made a lot of wealth as extremely smart. No one wanted to see the dark and dirty side of the business world, and what Zak had been going through was just one of the many devious ploys used to manipulate denials; for whatever was denied the rightful became the additional gain of the heartless bully. Some who liked to quote the Holy Bible out of context would go to the verdict of the parable of the talents: 'To those who have, more shall be given and for those who do not have, even the little they have shall be taken from them and given to those who have.' This way injustice would be rationalized, applying a supposed Christian reference.

The society acknowledged wealth but never questioned its source. Virtually every ethnic tradition in the land, particularly in the southern sector, had a proverb with this reference to wealth. Back in the days of slave trade, people were kidnapped and sold; those who engaged in this practice became rich and were generally feared, not necessarily respected. So therefore, when a man suddenly embraced tremendous wealth, the assumption was that he had most probably engaged in some illegal business such as trafficking humans, something that was abhorred. Hence this polite but derogatory reference to circumstances in which business practices were generally held suspect or questionable, this had been how certain elements in traditional society were kept at bay in spite of the wealth they commanded; it was known to them that they were being tolerated until there was enough evidence to hold them down. Going beyond acknowledgement to questioning the source of an individual's wealth was a serious indictment.

Since only very few wealthy people could be said to have done it all quite legitimately, there was the presumptive skeleton in virtually every cupboard. Those who point fingers needed to realize that three out of the five always pointed in their direction. One thing was clear: African traditional administration never worshipped any individual on account of his wealth, except this wealth came with honour and humility, then he might be accorded the pride of place.

The human resources manager, as Zak saw it, had been acting out a script written for her by Capt. Bolu the chief pilot and her boss, the managing director. She had once complained to the hearing of an operations employee that Zak had not bought her any presents when he went to Toronto for simulator recurrent training. She had subsequently developed the habit of sitting on his visa applications and always gave one flimsy excuse after the other until his better judgement advised she be ignored. In their ignorance, the impression had been that getting those in Zak's group to go across the Atlantic to Toronto for simulator recurrent training was a special favour for which the individuals needed to pay some kind of homage. The department had actually touted a bond for the recurrent training for pilots but it was vigorously resisted. This was the unfortunate aspect, because it meant that an investor who put so much money into a venture had not even bothered to research all the necessary details. If the regulating bodies had any clue about steering developments, the aspect of training could have been made accessible locally and had local environment built into the training logistics, thereby saving the extra travel costs as well as improving safety margins for the operators.

The managing director wanted to mess Zak up by attempting to thwart his employment conditions. He had run out of ideas regarding ways and means of employing delaying tactics, to the total embarrassment of the company top management; therefore he had Zak marked and had waited patiently for an opportunity to make him feel the full weight of management wrath. This had been it for the big man. Zak's only reaction was the letter to human resources department, pointing out how unreasonable they had been. Most responsible employers had a procedure for easing out retiring staff, particularly those who had served the establishment creditably.

The HR manager and the managing director had a lot in common, being probable products of scrounged environments who found haven in Mokola Aviation, but rather than run the outfit efficiently, they had attempted to personalize it through cutting corners. Anyone who insisted on maintaining due process and safety standards was seen as killing the company's profitability, therefore was branded an enemy. They could not be very happy people as both tried to cover up this sad state by parading arrogance, unaware that everyone could virtually see through them. They probably did not like Zak because he was too direct and had become contemptuous of their whims as he often lost his patience with them.

She wanted to be seen as knowing everything, therefore she was not relaxed enough to learn something new. Once in the company premises, she had driven in with her kids in the passenger seat and they were not even strapped to the seats. Zak had asked her if the car was equipped with airbags.

'Yes,' she had said. Then he had told her, 'It is dangerous to have young kids sitting in the manner you had yours. Airbags have been known to deploy inadvertently and the consequences for young children could be devastating. Please don't do it again.'

She had taken one look at Zak, as if to say, who the hell was this one that would not mind his own business?

She was ignorant of this fact and a wise individual would have been grateful for the information volunteered. As usual with his bit done, Zak had gone his way. Education might be expensive but ignorance had the potential for being very extremely costly.

This company had all kinds of people, and the workplace paraded negative politics. Personal loyalties were more important than getting the job done; catering to the personal ego of the boss was more carefully attended to, as that guaranteed one's place and possible elevation to higher levels of responsibility. The fact that this style of management impacted negatively on the objectives of the company appeared to be of little significance. This of course was some locally brewed traditional management style, based on the lifestyle and the attitudes peculiar to cultures that promoted the concepts of 'son of the soil'. This was pretty much the well-known practice native to the country, widely upheld by its practitioners even when it choked them. Everyone and everything was about creating impressions aimed at demonstrating loyalty to the boss or show that one belonged to the preferred ethnic group. Oh yes! This sense of belonging was very important as it guaranteed position and status. The establishment tended to operate without regard to its own mission statement.

In some of these parts of the country, traditional ethics tended to abuse the tenets of mutual respect in human interactions, as in the supposed general acceptance that the older man could not be challenged even when it was known that he had lied, afforded the opportunity for the unscrupulous older person to corrupt an entire community and go unchallenged. He had the inalienable right to lie if he needed to. The core of expectations at the workplace called for the investment of so much energy in the practice of eye service while the job suffered. It had not been Zak's way and had not been a matter of joining the bandwagon, since for him certain aspects could not be compromised. His unwillingness or inability to conform to this pattern had probably been interpreted as rude and unacceptable, but since he could not have it any other way, he had inevitably become the odd man out in the department.

Looking back, in retrospect, he had seen that life was as interesting as one was willing to make it, and the political content of one's particular environment could have strong influences. Zak was a product of an environment where respect and fear were properly distinguished, and therefore biased in favour of the straightforward and direct management style that emphasized merit. Unfortunately though, for the likes of him, this country had a long distance to go in that direction. If the account narrated above had been obtainable in what could be classified as a modern and sophisticated corporate environment in the country, then it bore witness to the distance the people must yet travel to achieve a developed status.

The executives merely aped their colonial controllers since they lacked the intellect required to appreciate corporate responsibility. To a good number, this responsibility meant wearing a three-piece European suit, as if the ability to brave the tropical heat in a three-piece suit was a pointer to the desired managerial attributes. This was probably true for most indigenous companies, especially the banks where the corporate appearance equated to honesty and efficiency, a trend that had been groomed by colonial administrators. A colonial experiment designed to make the subjects conform to their norm had successfully planted this behavioural trend. It had been suggested that the people's traditional mode of dressing did not conform to the demands of the office environment; in essence therefore, one needed to look like the colonial officer to properly fit in. Those who pioneered the experiment were watching with keen eyes, nodding in satisfaction that the experiment, initiated way back before 1960, had after all yielded the desirable result.

This time men and women aspired to wear the European look in order to be accepted and the saddest thing was that the African natural hair appeared not to have a place in the scheme of things. The leadership, permanently distracted, has been way off course on this and many other issues and most probably not aware that things had gone as bad as they were. Once there was the Black Power movement that promoted all the attributes of negritude and being black, but now for some odd reason, Asian, Brazilian, and European hair were in vogue in the African market of all places. The comic appearance of an otherwise beautiful African woman sporting blond European straight hair outside Halloween observances could not possibly escape notice. It was the vogue but one wonders at the circumstances that coined the definition or its applicability to the African clime.

Chapter Two

Rural Experience

Politicians in