The Learner

By Muhsin Ibrahim A few weeks ago, a lady I know told me she had found a husband. As a divorcee, she needed only essential things to move in with her man. I was very happy for her. But two days ago, after reading her Ramadan Mubarak message, I asked about her new home. She revealed that the marriage had crumbled. Why, I wondered. She was sick, and the man refused to pay her medical bills. Not only that, he repeatedly taunted her. Finally, she has had enough and left him. She now uses traditional medication, which only worsens her condition. I learned that the medicines cost less than 10K, which she couldn't afford! There is a viral story of that Kaduna lady whose husband left her with four young kids and now makes blocks to build her house by herself, which is, indeed, shocking. However, it's not an isolated case. I have just told you about a similar case above. At the risk of sounding pessimistic, more harrowing incidents will happen unless we work to solve the problem: empow...

By Muhsin Ibrahim If Engr. Abba K. Yusuf wins this weekend's election, which I hope he does, he gets much work to do in Kano State. However, that is not the focus of this brief article. Instead, I want to write about the other critical work he needs to do: reorienting the Kwankwasiyya stalwarts. As I said the other day, our politics is fraught with immorality, thuggery, you name it. Believe it or not (and I know many among my friends will not), Kwankwasiyya followers are infamous for using rude language against their opponents. I have been insulted for 'criticising' Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, the founder and grand leader of the movement. No one has ever insulted me more than some of these folks. They spare no one! Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf Thus, Engr. Abba should initiate programs to sanitise his followers. The work is enormous, and it will take much effort. However, something needs to be done to reorient the promising followers of this auspicious political movement. It worries ...

  By Muhsin Ibrahim Tunisia has been in a socio-political crisis for the past few years. The North African country was earlier praised as the success story of the famous Arab Spring, while the same failed in Syria, Libya, Yemen, etc. But, the recent development has dented the relative success recorded in the aftermath of the uprising. Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed, a controversial figure, looked for who to blame for his country's troubles. Shockingly, he blames West African migrants. In other words, black people living, legally or otherwise, in his country. It sounds farfetched, but that is what happens. He accuses them of crimes and changing the (racial) demography of the country! Due to racism, many black Africans don't prefer to live in North Africa. A few thousand in that region are mostly descendants of slaves or come from the so-called Francophone West African countries. That "I speak your language" idea drives them there. Others pass through the area o...

  By Muhsin Ibrahim I am in my late 30s. However, I sometimes struggle to minimise my presence online. That is even though being online is part of my main job (thanks to digital ethnography) and my ‘side hustle’. Often, one or another thing on the internet will take your focus away, and before you know it, you waste quality time doing nothing important. According to reports, TikTok rolled out new screen-time limits for teens yesterday to help them reduce their addiction to the video-sharing platform. Under-18 users will get an alert when “they hit an hour of daily scrolling. To dismiss it, they’ll have to enter a passcode.” Unfortunately, this may not help much because kids know how to navigate these restrictions. For instance, they can fake their ages. TikTok is the new ‘evil’ in town, but social networking sites like Snapchat and Instagram have been doing no less damage over the years. Thus, rehabilitation centres in the US, Japan and other developed countries exist for add...

By Muhsin Ibrahim Religion was central to Bola Tinubu's emergence as the APC's candidate for the 2023 presidential election. We discussed the issue as if it would not end. Since the 1993 annulled election of Abiola/Kingibe (both Muslims), no major candidate and his running mate have ever come from the same religion until now: Tinubu/Shettima (both Muslims). But, as the election approaches (we are, in fact, counting hours), only a few people talk about that. However, religion will play a significant role in the voting pattern. The wild popularity of Labour Party’s Peter Obi on social media and his appeal to foreign media has something to do with his religion. I know this may sound controversial, but it is so. The three other front candidates are Muslims, while Obi is a Christian. Besides this, I can't see a glaring difference between him and NNPP’s Engr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso per se. Tinubu and PDP’s Atiku Abubakar are in their 70s, while Kwankwaso and Obi are in their 60s. T...

By Muhsin Ibrahim Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa, Majority Leader of the House of Representatives of Nigeria, recently claimed he needed ₦70m for his re-election expenses, perhaps on the election day alone, citing a law that grants him this. One wonders how much gubernatorial and presidential candidates need to cover their own re/election expenses. Do you also remember or, better, imagine how much they must have spent purchasing their nomination forms, paying delegates during primary elections and running campaigns in their constituencies before the election day? I remember what Amina J Mohammed, the Deputy Secretary-General of the UN, once said during a virtual lecture on democracy. She lamented that we all believe in democracy. However, the model for democracy challenges us. It's short-termed, it's costly, and it's very corrupt. Moreover, INEC plans to spend ₦305 billion for the 2023 elections. I am sure INEC will ask for more money because of IPOB's attacks on its offices...

I initially posted this on Facebook. I believe it should be here for other people outside Facebook. Enjoy! We must address this weak argument that no country develops using a foreign language. Frankly, it is doing more harm than good to us. So many people bring it up as their reason to not learn English or respect this essential language entirely. Eventually, many people miss several opportunities within and, especially, outside Nigeria due to their lack of English language skills. Nigeria was colonised. Like many other former colonies, Nigeria is a multilingual country. However, unlike Europe (Germans speak German; French people speak French; Italians have Italian, etc.), most former colonies comprise speakers of several languages, making it challenging to elevate one above others without others crying for discrimination, marginalisation, etc. I know that Tanzania, among a few others, succeeds with Swahili. :)   The last time I checked, India had more English speakers than the Uni...