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It is always interesting to read about what the future may bring in various spheres of life. Experts in all fields often engage in this exercise and we, the lay men, have no choice but to devour what they pontificate. People like Bill Gates have been known to engage in this exercise and they often turn out to be correct. The Economist magazine is good at this in its end of year edition by inviting experts to write in their fields. In one of such editions a top zoologist predicted the demise of the male specie in our evolutionary march. He predicted the emergence of a female sorority that will roam the earth and procreate without a single male!
Well ten or fifteen years ago I read several books on this and two of them came to my mind immediately. I remember one book written by Paul Ederman (on the future of finance) and another by Alvin Toffler (on technology). The latter was titled “The Third Wave” and in it Mr. Toffler correctly predicted the idea of people working from their homes through the use of computers. Some people are now working from the comfort of their living rooms and we are now living witnesses to this phenomenon. Note that the guy did not peer into any crystal ball, neither did he go into a trance before reaching the conclusions. He just analysed the then current events and extrapolated by taking into consideration the current technology and the potential capacity for successful R&D. And he got it right.
Now another guy named Jacques Attlai has looked closely at the institution of marriage and came up with what he thinks it will turn into. The article was given to me last year by a friend who at that time was working in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. The piece below is an excerpt from the article and it is mind boggling to say the least. Already some of the seeds of change in marriages are already visible in Western societies and some are rearing their heads in Nigeria and elsewhere. Divorce rates are rising globally and women are winning economic independence at an unprecedented rate.. These two factors are fast eroding the relevance of the domineering male specie. The article zeroes in on a typical Christian concept of marriage complete with monogamy and alimony at the centre. But parts of it are applicable to Muslim societies. Read on……


MARRIAGE: HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW?
Two hundred years ago, few people foresaw legalized divorce or open homosexuality—let alone gay marriage. Abstract art and jazz were unimaginable. Aesthetics, morals, and family relationships, it seems, are the bane of the futurologist. We constantly speculate about the future balance of power, looming conflicts, and emerging technologies. Yet somehow, we imagine that morals and aesthetics are immutable. So we forget to ask how conceptions of good and evil, acceptable and unacceptable, beauty and ugliness will change. And they will.
Monogamy, which is really no more than a useful social convention, will not survive. It has rarely been honored in practice; soon, it will vanish even as an ideal. I do not believe that society will return to polygamy. Instead, we will move toward a radically new conception of sentimental and love relationships. Nothing forbids a person from being in love with a few people at the same time. Society rejects this possibility today primarily for economic reasons—to maintain an orderly transmission of property—and because monogamy protects women against male excesses.
But these rationales are dissolving in the face of powerful new trends. The insatiable demand for transparency, fueled by democracy and the free market, is placing the private lives of public men and women under greater scrutiny. The reality of multiple lives and partners will become more apparent, and society’s hypocrisy will be revealed. The continued rise of individual freedom will permanently change sexual mores, as it has most other realms. Likewise, jumps in life expectancy will make it nearly impossible to spend one’s entire life with one person and to love only that one person. Meanwhile, technological advances will further weaken the links between sexuality, love, and reproduction, which are very different concepts. Widely available birth control has already stripped away an important obstacle to having multiple partners.
Just as most societies now accept successive love relationships, soon we will acknowledge the legality and acceptability of simultaneous love. For men and women, it will be possible to have partnerships with various people, who will, in turn, have various partners themselves. At long last, we will recognize that it is human to love different people at the same time.
The demise of monogamy will not come without a struggle. All the churches will seek to forbid it, especially for women. For a while, they will hold the line. But individual freedom, once again, will triumph. The revolution will begin in Europe, America will follow, and the rest of the world will eventually come around. The implications will be enormous. Relationships with children will be radically different, financial arrangements will be disrupted, and how and where we live will change. To be sure, it will take decades for the change to be complete and yet, if we look around, it is already here. Beneath our hypocrisies—in movies, novels, and music—the shape of our future is visible.

KATSINA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

At long last KT can now boast of a registered Chamber of Commerce that can organise trade fairs and things like that. There have been loud complaints from various quarters regarding the absence of yearly trade fairs. Since the creation of the state in 1987 there has never been a trade fair comparable to the one in Kaduna. And the reason is due the absence of a registered organisation for that purpose. Its good news therefore the KT Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KTCCI) has been born and registered with CAC.

As this is a private organisation it will be interesting to know the people behind KTCCI. And that’s when you begin to be surprised. Believe it or not our good old Sani Lugard of Katsina University fame is the prime mover of the organisation.

Personally I am not surprised. After all the gentleman has built a reputation for bringing good things to KT. For thia he is one man KT people love and dislike at the same time. Love because he breaks record by bringing to KT what no one has ever brought before. For example, he spearheaded and obtained the University license and the KTCCI certificate. The dislike comes as a result of his autocratic style of management. We see that daily in his management of the University. Little wonder then that the students of the school recently heckled him.

Would he behave the same way in the KTCCI? Time will tell, but when you consider the people he would be working with, you begin to feel at ease. They include Abidu Yazid and Fatahu Abdullahi. These two both live and work in Kaduna and are astute business men. They are self made men who have succeeded in their chosen fields and therefore can not just stand and watch the kingship cop commandeer the chamber to certain death.

Let me congratulate Sani Lugard for this effort. More grease to his elbows.

Meanwhile do we brace ourselves for a befitting trade fair come next year?

WHICH KATSINA UNIVERSITY?

You may not believe it, but there are two Universities in Katsina now. The first is the one floated and owned by Sani Lugard with money collected from the people of the state and beyond. The other is floated by Governor Umaru Musa Yaradua on behalf of the state government and people of Katsina. This duplication often brings confusion in any discussion that involves the two institutions. To avoid this we shall use KTL University to refer to the one floated by Sani Lugard and KT University to refer to the one owned by the State Government. The existence of these two Universities in an educationally backward state like Katsina does not make sense at all. But by now we all know how it came about.

Initially the state wanted to take over KTL University but Sani Lugard would not hear of it. In fact he went to court, a move which infuriated the State Governor and made him to vow to float KT University. Well he went about it with dispatch: documentation for licensing submitted to NUC, site quickly chosen, billions allocated for initial buildings, faculties to start with selected, council appointed and VC picked. Now it would appear that all these have scared some people and they want a truce with the governor.

New information reaching me indicates that KTL backers including Sani Lugard are sending out feelers for settlement and that settlement may be in the offing regarding the merger of KTL and KT Universities. Remember initially they went to court to stop the state government from taking over the University. And by gong to court these people had thought the governor would come running after them for possible settlement. They were dead wrong. Now they are boxed in a corner as the governor continues pouring billions for the new state University. They can never hope to run their University successfully and now are bereft of any options for state assistance. They are frantically making moves to reconcile with the state government so as to facilitate the take-over of their University ie KTL. .

Well if these moves work out it will be some good news for the people of Katsina. But if they don’t then we shall happily stick to KT University and the governor. And watch with trepidation as KTL University crumbles and dies.

WHY DO THEY TAKE TRADITIONAL TITLES?

I have always wondered why some Nigerians love to have traditional titles conferred on them. And it bothers me that some of these people started life normally and with even some aversion to traditional rulers but somehow found themselves trooping into palaces looking for favours. I find it difficult to fathom what happened in a space of ten to 15 years to change a person from a comrade to a so-called member of the royalty. So-called royalty because such people do not have a portfolio in the palace. Neither do they have a land or people to lord it over. And the title gets confiscated as soon as they fell out of favour. For example who would have thought that Lamis Shehu Dikko would one day hobnob with traditional rulers and emulate them by wrapping his head up in a turban? What a sight he makes? Dr Yusuf Bala Usman must be turning in his grave at this stark volte-face.

Well it is no big secret that these titles are bought and the amount can add up to a huge pile of money. Money, as someone might say, that could build a small factory and provide jobs for several people. So the question is whether it is rational for one to throw away his hard earned money to purchase a title that has no potential of bringing back a single kobo.

One can understand the motive for people like Iro Maikano, Usman Bello Kankara, Ahmadu Diddire Ahmadu and even Kohur Umme in gunning for similar traditional titles. All these four have a clear cut portfolio and domain to administer that is recognised by the traditional authorities. They play some roles in their respective constituencies viz: Jikamshi, Sabuwa, Mai’Adua, and the Emir’s palace proper. This, however, is not the case for these title holders we are talking about here.

In trying to understand the motives of these breed of Nigerians who have a relish for traditional titles I organised a discussion group that comprised professionals and sundry people from KT. We tried to agree on a typical profile for such people. Here is a summary of the profile.

The average age of such people is in the 35 to 55 bracket.

They have made lots and lots of money and in most cases not through a dint of their hard work.

They are mostly civil servants and others in the private sector who rose through favouritism.

As a result of all the above they nurse a complex and need protection and recognition. Protection in case their cover is blown and the actual source of their wealth is revealed. Or perhaps they are involved in some illicit past time like smuggling. In these and similar instances a traditional title may come in handy. Both recognition and respect in their immediate society are presumed to be conferred by the title. And God knows they need these more than any other group of people.

Now to test the veracity of the above profile we came up with a list of names of those who bought traditional titles. We also raised a list of those who could buy a traditional title but for one reason or the other refused.

List A: A small sample of those who bought traditional titles.

Lema Jibril, Ahmadu Karkarku, Tukur Mani, Sani Lugard, Ibrahim Ida, Umaru Musa Yaradua, Sani Buhari, Lamis Shehu Dikko, Ummaru Murnai, Dr Aminu Shuaibu Tama, Dr Mu’uta Na’iya, Abu Danmalam Karofi, Bala Saulawa, Hamisu Gambo, Aminu Bello Masari, Kabir Ahmed Kofa,

List B: A small sample of those who refused to buy any traditional title.

Abidu Yazid, Bala Kuki Snr., Iro Safana, Nura Na-Kano, Fatahu Abdullahi, Bilya Sanda, Muntari Lawai, Lawai Batagarwa, MD Yusuf, Dr Armiyau, Kanti Bello, Abba Jaye, Samaila Isa, and the old KT money bags AAF, ABY, and AUU.

Merely going through the two lists reveals one important fact: both contain the good, the bad and the ugly. But even then, list B carries the day as it has more of the good and serious people.

In fact I want to develop these lists and then take them round for people to select the one which contains more reasonable, level headed and honest individuals. The result will stun the whole of KT.

Anyway I might also just turn this into a full blown research and ask KT youths to look at the two lists and decide for themselves where they want to belong in future.

Any bright ideas on this are welcome