By Denrele Animasaun

“Press on – nothing can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Perseverance and determination alone are omnipotent.”—Calvin Coolidge

Nigeria is a gift that keeps on giving.There never was a day without drama,except that is, for more drama! infact, Nigeria is in a drama filled fest and  it  shows no sign of abating anytime soon.

I must start with the Chibok girls. April 14th,2014, marked the day that 276  missing girls were taken from the Government Girls Secondary School in the town by Boko Haram insurgents and most of them remain in captivity.

The abduction gave rise to the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) movement which saw world leaders joining calls for the girls’ rescue. And in the last two years  these  impious monsters have taunted the   families,the community, the country and the whole world. They   paraded the young girls like cattle and promised to sell them off to their fighters and make them subservience and bend their will  .   We have not forgotten the girls and the eyes  of the world remains on the Boko Haram and the   collective prayers are that the girls are returned safely to their parents.

Like a lot of people, I did not know that Chibok was   a place in Nigeria, until the abduction of the young girls by Boko Haram in Chibok in April, 2014, not  many  people knew. Since then, Chibok is now  forever linked with the abduction of the girls and the futility of retrieving the girls out of the evil clutches of BH.

Two years and we are nowhere near bringing the girls back to their family and their community.

Last year,I wrote about the girls on the  anniversary  of their  abduction in my column:  Gruesome tales,2015 :”So last week,while  watching BBC Panorama TV programme, I was intrigued to hear some news of what happened to the Chibok   girls. If it is to be believed, the programme, interviewed witnesses and worryingly,it seems to infer that some of the abductees are now being used to terrorise other captives,each other or carry out terror on behalf of Boko Haram.

For those who are quick to judge and throw the proverbial baby with the bathwater,do understand this;these girls are living under extraordinary circumstances and are likely  brainwashed  or simply compelled to go along for the sake of  self-preservation.Their behaviour can be explained in a similar case over three decades ago, it was then that such behavoiur was given a terminology to explain such phenomena,called the Stockholm syndrome. This is often described as “bonding  with the captor” the captive starts expressing empathy and feelings of loyalty towards their captors and would go on to defend and identify with captors ideals. It is quite traumatic living day in, day out seeing people dying or being killed with total abandonment and disregard for the sanctity of human lives.The trauma that these young girls must have had to endure including being traded like commodity and used as   sex slaves by these raiders.

I will continue to sound a word of  caution; that when these girls are found or when they return,they would need   and should receive some intensive psychological intervention in  order  to return to living a   normal life. It is doubtful, if   the girls can  ever regain the idyllic existence they once had, before the abduction.

This week,  we  watched,the CNN  documentary,where some of the girls were once  again, paraded for  the world to see.CNN shared the video with the parents of the missing  girls and this is the first time that the parents have sent sight at their children for two years. The agony and pain etched in the faces of their mothers and the despair  mixed with a  modicum  of relief. One of the mothers  recognised her now 17 year old daughter, she became quite tearful and wished she could pick her daugher from the screen and comfort her.

One of the girls,Naomi Zakaria, spoke directly to whoever was watching to appeal to the Nigerian authorites to help   reuninites the girls with their familes.

I wish next year, I would like many well wishers look forward to hear that the girls have returned to their parents and their community.

Budget in or out

Like I said Nigeria,is like a soap opera,full of drama except this one has been  simmering for a while in my column;The aggressor will  fall on his own sword on june 9,2013.

I wrote:” Rotimi Ameachi and the trouble between him and GEJ. So, fast forward two weeks, it does not look as if the fight is abating anytime soon. On the contrary, it seems that the fight has been nudged up another level,to isolate, intimidate and humiliate Governor Rotimi Ameachi. The assault is reaching a crescendo of an enormous magnitude that only can be imagined taking place in the dark, shady and mucky dealings of the political occult. This audacious gerrymandering and devil-may-care attitude by the so called movers and shakers of the PDP is been played out in full view of the Nigerian public. I am sure that the heavies and bullies think that they are untouchable. They must feel so confident that the power they have mustered to coerce and usurp an incumbent governor is fair game. So,the Governors’ Forum returned Ameachi as the chair of the body to the displeasure of the mischief makers. Amaechi,the incumbent chairman of the Governor’s Forum, won with 19 votes to 16, despite the fact that one governor was absent. The governors voted and elected him and Amaechi remains in post as the chair of the forum”

Please stay with me here,now in 2016,new administration and new president. There seem to be a problem passing the budget, and the Senators from the Southern part of Nigeria have asked President Muhammadu Buhari, to withhold  his assent on the 2016 budget if the Appropriation Committees of both  chambers of the National Assembly refused to include the N60bn Calabar to Lagos rail project in the 2016 appropriation bill. The Senate and the House of Representatives have promised to refuse to pass the budget if it includes the Calabar to Lagos rail project. prior to that,the budget went missing, then it was   that it was riddled with errors and then it reappeared with an  addendum:the Calabar to Lagos rail Project! they had said that the the president had ask the federal  parliament  to include the project, yes, that project in the  2016 budget that is already passed and that the lawmakers are demanding supplementary appropriation. Oh how the plot thickens!

There is a lot of political muscle going on. Can the lawmakers get on with the job at hand. May I remind that this is one of the reasons why they were elected. Their filibustering affects the electorates and their livelihood.

If there are problems with the budget, by all means come up with solution and stop beating the chests, stop the delay .

What is the purpose of the committees? They should expedite the process so that the citizens are not held to  ransom. I do think there is more  than  the eye in this power play and the people who rely on the machinery of  economy running  smoothly  will suffer. No one will come out of this smelling of roses. Some have said this drama is a tit for tat and that some have come to collect and will drag this budget saga for  awhile  longer.