Smiling insults

Smiling insults

By Julius Ogar

It took me, a self acclaimed workaholic, too long to put this piece together – so much so that I have almost completely lost the sizzling freshness of my story, my experiences. What with the daily struggle of being a Nigerian and living in Nigeria where mediocrity sets the pace while corruption rules the roost; where impunity strides with audacious impunity right on the middle of our highways. Oh dear...!

Whenever one gets an opportunity to experience modesty, discipline, courtesy and efficiency, one can’t help wondering and lamenting: wetin de worry us sef?! And to cap it, when one sees machines, systems and structures and the people who run them working to the optimal, delivering quality service without eye-service and adding value for the sake of progress, one cant’ help wondering what is wrong with Nigeria and why it has to progress in reverse in and out of season. Hmm!!

It was beautiful, exciting, relaxing and rewarding. It was a small journey to a small country, with plenty of smallish people; but everything turned out big. Big! Big!! Big!!! (with emphasis) It was simply amazing to realise that this small island with more sugarcane fields than houses has frequently featured among top performers in the Mo Ibrahim index for good governance; is the only African country with near zero unemployment; and the only African country with more than 90% literacy rate. Electricity is just a matter of turning on a switch, just as water is a mere question of turning on the tap. How bigger could it get, especially when one was visiting from a bragging but prostrate African giant sitting lazily on wells and reserves of oil and gas?

Far out to the east of Madagascar, about 2000 kilometres off the south-east coast of the African continent is the tropical Island of Mauritius. This tiny country of 1.2 million people sits pretty in the Indian Ocean, flocking with descendants of Africans, Indians, Chinese, and Europeans. From the air, Mauritius’ lush green sugarcane fields look like well manicured lawns straddling wide expanses of the countryside. As we descended, my eyes kept wandering from the coastline to the wavy horizon, and I silently baffled at how far some explorers could venture out in search of heaven knows what. What motivated those explorers to venture out...till they found the land of the now extinct dodo? Much more than being adventurous, I think they must have listened to their inner voices which urged them: “go on... there’s still a patch of land further out there...”

Mauritius makes me remember with nostalgia an old school mate we used to call “Small Engine” (not real name). Small Engine had this smallish stature with a very spare build, almost bony. But inside his spare frame was an amazing reserve of energy. He had the most stamina in the medium and long distance races, including marathons or what we called “Cross Country”. Small engine would endure on the track and very often outrun bigger and taller boys to the finishing line. Marvelling at the amount of energy inside his small body, witty boys soon dubbed him with an appellation that came to overshadow his real name whenever there was a competition in school.

Mauritius also makes me remember the Chinese balm (also called Essential Balm). In the good old days before evil merchants learnt to clone medicines in their warehouses, the Chinese balm was such a potent ointment that itinerant traders came to give it the name: “small-no-be-sick”. I think it must have been given this name because it came in a very little container and a very little amount of the ointment was quite effective in soothing sore spots and rheumatic pains on the body. If one was stung by a scorpion (as happened to me twice), or suffered a dislocation of muscular swelling, all he needed to do was look for “small-no-be-sick” and apply tropically through massage. Though it had this burning sensation to the skin, it brought much relief and healing.

Though small in size and population, Mauritius is a highly efficient, functional, orderly and highly organised society. I never saw one heap of refuse nor did I witness flying polythene in the air; no madly speeding and smoky cars on the highways as everyone observes the limits on speed; no police or military checkpoints to harass commuters and ask stupidly: “who are you?” or “from where?” when even the questioner does not know the kind of answer to expect; no generators disturbing the neighbourhood with fumes and noise; no hawkers dodging between traffic and poking wares at your face; no beggars reminding you of a weak and dysfunctional social system; no microphone blasts from churches or mosques and their itinerant preachers. You could add your own to my list and I bet you won’t be wrong.

Though peopled by Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Christians et al, Mauritians think their country first and are not overly sanctimonious in the hypocritical way we know it here. They live their religion in a quiet, unobtrusive, and patriotic way – and this reflects piously in their work, respect, and courtesy. Everyone one stumbled across was absorbed in their work and willing to help with simplistic honesty and modesty. Start a conversation and you would be highly amazed at how well informed and how educated an “ordinary” taxi driver, waiter or cleaner is. I never for once heard that self aggrandising question: “do you know who I am” from people who spoke to me in English, engaged others in French, or switched to a Creole I did not understand with rapid and accustomed fluidity.

The memory will never leave me, when, following an introduction, one Mauritian threw a joke at me and my friend thus: “every Nigerian owns a private jet”. I laughed along with my friend but deep down, we both knew this is the sort of mockery to which Nigeria and Nigerians have become prey. A host of other nationals one happened to interact with never ceased to wonder aloud: “Nigeria...oh! But what is wrong with your country!?” And this was no rhetorical question.

That gentleman’s comment was a good humoured joke. But for me it was akin to gallows humour. After all, Nigeria’s own president had disputed the alarming rate of poverty in the country by telling the world that many Nigerians owned private jets. Now South Africa has been pulling the curtains to show us how the Nigerian elite use private jets for poverty alleviation.  

Take it or leave it: as a country, we have become a laughing stock of our neighbours and the entire world, even when they respect us as individuals and defer to our intelligence and/or wisdom. The visit gave me an insight and a confirmation that being “big” is not just a matter of size or flaunting one’s weight with inconsequential statistics; or readjusting figures to escalate the GDP to the top of regional economies. Being big is a function of efficiency and organisation; of accountable and credible governance; of exemplary leadership that stirs in the citizens the sense of nationhood and patriotism.

I came away from Mauritius humbled, but sad at the grotesque irony of my country being a giant with feet of clay. And once again I remembered Small Engine – my old school mate who always sped away from bigger boys and bullies to take the prize. Chaiii...!!!

     

Esprit de Chop!

Esprit de Chop!

By Julius Ogar

Esprit de corps is a French term that conveys a sense of pride and friendship among members of a group. In military circles where the term is widely used, it symbolises the morale and comradeship existing among men and their officers, evokes fellow feeling and rapport, not to mention cooperation and mutual respect. The term is also generally common among paramilitary agencies in Nigeria. But as is usually the case, its meaning has been distorted, diluted and bastardised, and it has become another byword for corruption among agents in and out of uniform, often a license for brazen impunity.

Therefore, it is esprit de corps for a policeman, road marshal, or the notorious VIO of Abuja to look away as someone violates public order or traffic rules because he utters the expression “esprit de corps”. He doesn’t have to say anything if he has taken the precaution to display his service belt, beret or stickers on the dashboard and windscreen. It makes no difference if the “corps” is retired or serving. In the event of any query, all the culprit needs is to produce an identity card showing he belongs to or once belonged to a corps, any corps (probably with the exception of NYSC). 

But it doesn’t stop there. There is often a horsewhip somewhere around to demonstrate the level of ‘discretion’ which servicemen and ex-servicemen assume as a result of their membership of a “corps”. The other privileged members of the society with this much face recognition and discretion, are members of the National Assembly who carry special plate numbers. Any vehicle so uniquely identified can speed through any “chop point” and requires no permit for tinted glass; it matters not whether it is driven by a distinguished/hounourable criminal, or a student of the University of Abuja. 

I remember one Sunday morning while commuting in a vehicle in which the driver had the coat of arms and other insignia of state stuck to his windscreen. He had the vehicle – a saloon car, stuffed with four passengers in the back seat and two in the front passenger seat with himself making seven in all – a clear case of overloading. We soon drove up against a checkpoint mounted by men of the FRSC and he was expectedly flagged down. Excitedly but silently, I waited to see what deserved punishment this driver would get. But the man simply rummaged in his breast pocket and brought out a card identifying him as a prisons warden. His comrade corps members simply waved him on without as much as a verbal reprimand.

As we proceeded, this driver dropped off passengers and took on more, maintaining his former attitude. Still fuming from my disappointment that the road marshals had left this law breaker off the hook, I went on to remind him that as a public officer, he ought to be seen to do what is right. I told him if the road marshals knew their jobs, people like him ought to be arrested, detained and their vehicles impounded. He probably was shocked that a “bloody civilian” could talk to him thus, but I soon alighted and carried my wahala away before the “corps” remembered that he had a koboko.  

With ‘esprit de corps’, an incorrigible criminal can travel the whole length and breadth of Nigeria passing through customs, immigration, military and police checkpoints bearing any lethal goods that could include hard drugs, arms and ammunition, stolen vehicles or other contraband. Smugglers or other crooks that lack the exclusive totems of esprit de corps can demonstrate comradeship by parting with crumpled naira notes. Other citizens who don’t belong to this ‘privileged’ class may know well enough to “give” their “particulars” and avoid trouble. Trouble could be anything from been harassed and delayed, to being beaten up or summarily discharged from existence with “accidental discharge”.

Nigeria’s security agents in many ways personify the very absurdities of the Nigerian state. Without fear of exaggeration, it is expecting too much to think that a uniformed serviceman (especially an armed one), will be courteous, friendly, and professional to you without a prior acquaintance. Most are brusque, rude and offensive. Without words, they exude contempt and disdain for those they regard as “civilians”.

The most saddening aspect of the average psyche of armed agent is the complex that everyone without a uniform is first a suspect or an enemy. They seem to be overzealous and more serious with VIP-protection duties to which they show an uncommon commitment. On VIP-protection duty, an average Nigerian security agent just manages to tolerate other human beings be it on the road or in any other public place except he has probably chopped from you. From experience, I have come to know that they loathe the confident swagger with which pressmen approach their ogas often times without recourse to them.  

While they cooperate superlatively to chop and harass the people from whose taxes they are paid and quartered, they believe that protecting the government or persons in government and their families is the same thing as “national security”. This servile but apparently false loyalty is the reason why the security agencies and their leadership are unashamedly partisan as has become increasingly obvious.

The Nigeria Police quickly withdrew the security aides attached to the Speaker of the House of Reps, who is officially entitled to state protection. Yet, private citizens like suspected Boko Haram financier, Ali Modu Sheriff and Pastor Ayo Oritsejajor are strutting about under heavy military escorts. In sane societies, the police authorities would have to explain why (for instance) Governor Olusegun Mimiko should be entitled to police protection after doing the same thing that Speaker Tambuwal did. Likewise, the military authorities would have had to explain why there are enough soldiers to assign to Sheriff but not enough to protect the people living under a state of emergency in the northeast.

Nigeria is under siege with criminals hauling off at least 100, 000 barrels of crude oil every day in the creeks and high seas; Boko Haram is yanking off territories and changing the map of Nigeria, yet troops and policemen are frequently deployed to literarily line the whole length of Aiport Road in Abuja for hours on end, for the simple reason that the President is going to or returning from the airport.

It is a legacy of the Transformation Agenda that the police, the armed forces and other security agents have become unprofessional and weak; that they execute tactical manuoevres to avoid Boko Haram and be in the company of Modu Sheriff; but turn on ordinary Nigerians whom they derisively refer to as “bloody civilians” with maximum brutality at the slightest pretext. Yet, they want to claim they are our friends...

Bring back our ECONOMY!

Bring back our ECONOMY!

By Julius Ogar

Every day on my way to or back from the office, I chance upon a regular convoy of four vehicles belonging to the Federal Fire Service. They are comprised of a siren-fitted pilot general purpose vehicle, two staff cars made up of a salon and a four-wheel drive SUV, a back-up security van with armed fire service guards make up the entourage.

The cars are ever in their pristine shape and the aura of this company simply tells that a “big-man” is on the road. In a typical Nigerian character, they drive with VIP progression and set off the siren at every traffic juncture to bully less important commuters out of the road.

Every single day this picture gets me pondering: If the Federal Fire Service were this big-man’s personal enterprise or registered company, would he allow one chief executive this much flamboyance and luxury? Housed, driven, protected, and fed at public expense even while earning huge salaries and allowances?

My point, though, is simply that there is so much waste of public resources in our domain. Public office is seen as a passport for unlimited access to self-indulgence.  One man ties down four vehicles, four drivers, an orderly, aide de camp, other personal aides and several armed bodyguards – all at no personal cost and for no particular productive value to the economy beyond showboating.

Make no mistake; I have not singled out any agency or organisation for criticism. I have only used a handy example because like many already know, this is the norm across the board in all public institutions in the land. The example I have cited cuts across all military and para-military institutions. In the police for instance, it is so tragic that while a commissioner or area commander could tie down several vehicles and motorcycles as part of office paraphernalia, there may be none left to respond to emergencies. And it is usually the case that while state employees at the top are over indulged and feted with official luxuries, those at the bottom are starved of basic necessities even as minor as office stationery. Many who have had course to visit a police station may have experienced the callousness of having to procure their own paper and biro in order to write a statement or complaint.

For ages have we lamented the fact that an unproductive political and bureaucratic elite feeds fat on the nation’s resources – yearly creaming off more than 70 percent of financial appropriations as salaries, allowances and all what not. This looting is perpetrated from the Presidency and all its appendages, down to the local government secretariat. The greed is so mean that even the small wages of the labouring masses could get pilfered or remain unpaid.

Many states, not to mention local governments have refused to upgrade to the recommended minimum wage for employees. Yet the administrators make sure to allocate to themselves cosmetic allowances that come with clockwork regularity. The question then arises: is such a system sustainable?

Forced into a state of dysfunction, most citizens have learnt to provide their own electricity, security, healthcare and other necessities. Only children of the very poor in the villages and suburban areas attend public schools. Only in really desperate situations do the poor venture to take their sick to the hospital because they have learnt through abject poverty that every illness approximates to “typhoid and malaria”. Of course they can help the roadside medicine dealer with the prescription and even the dosage which, you can be sure, will accord more with what they can afford, than with what they actually require.

Likewise, we now have vigilantes or form militia groups to secure us; we drill our own wells or boreholes to get water or buy it from vendors or better-off neighbours; we procure electricity generators because the high tension cables overhead are no better than laundry lines; we must struggle to own a motorcycle or a car if we desire the convenience of moving around with relative ease; it goes on and on.

For many, many years, the symptoms and manifestations of a failing state have been around like the biblical writing on the wall. Those who have held the reins of power have only used it for self-enrichment, abandoning the majority of the citizenry to their own wiles.

Like his colleagues at the federal and state levels, the thinking of the average local government chairman is local. For instance, it suffices for the chairman to procure a four-wheel drive vehicle for his use than to fix a community road riddled with potholes; likewise, it suffices for the state governor or minister to procure an armour-plated vehicle than to equip the police with training and facilities to do their work; and as the PDP recently tried in vain, they would rather provide a huge budget for propaganda campaigns in negation of the common sense that practical achievements need no advertisement.

The wastage of resources must be done away with. We are long gone past the era when money was not the problem but how to spend. We are now facing the reality of a drunkard who borrows money just to buy more bear. Borrowing to pay salaries is the most embarrassing economic logic we have faced in the era when some peacocks proudly told the world that we had become the leading economy in Africa.

There is no more time or money to waste. The generosity of a drunkard is praised in the pub, but more often the drunk’s family is neglected and famished back home. It is time to take back our economy from generators and plug it to the national grid. The short circuit of lies with which our affairs have been run is no longer sustainable.

Politically, we have escaped John Campdell’s forecast that in this 2015, we would have fallen over from our cataclysmic dance on the brink. The incoming administration must be prepared to also pull the economy back from the brink to which its predecessors have treacherously pushed it. It is the only way we would have jobs, infrastructure, development and security. There is a formidable challenge to be encountered in dealing with officially sanctioned wastage. May Buhari and Osinbajo be granted the strength to lead by the sheer force of example!   

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DESIGNING FOR EXPERTS; HOW SCHOLARS APPROACH AN ACADEMIC LIBRARY WEB SITES

ABDULSALAM ADEIZA MOMOHJIMOH
MIM/EDUC/4182/2009-2010
WEB DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT
LIBS882

Introduction

This research stems from an interest in the online information -seeking behaviors of experienced researchers and the extend to which customizable portal might improve their ability to locate and manage information sources. The scholars habits were analyzed to help identify online tools that will help to improve the ease of information retrieval. The authors use two study method: A set of web usability were developed to test the ease of information discovery and retrieval and also a structured open ended. interview conducted to determine user preferences, expectations and current online searching practices.
Data collection method were also analyzed and prefers the purposeful sampling than the random sampling, purposeful sampling allows for selecting of limited rich cased for in-dept observation. Through this method help to determine the web use efficiency and effectiveness. various subject area were used as case study. This research also shows that librarians or student with prior knowledge of the use of search languages or query languages have better search result than first time users.
Implication of the study.
The research team intents to conduct further testing of user- centered web design applying lesson learned from the study. this enables the participant to consider a lot of more useful method of making the web site reach for information seekers. It has make it possible to create site map that will guide users of the site. one solutions that helps in browsing the site is Mouse over links that describe the link.
Conclusion.
In designing a website for experts requires in-dept research on the subject area of special interest areas of the researchers that will soothe their information need.
Web designers must determine how to provide just enough information on page, giving the possibility to have everything on a page.
Abstracting an indexing should be applied when designing web site information data base.

Recommendation
A lot of people in the academic world should explore the various opportunity in the web site design as it has become the fastest means of sharing information all over the world.
web design should be introduce in student curriculum at the secondary or high school level and it will become part of many graduates all over the world.
Our country Nigeria should invest more money on information technology as a lot of us are serious backwards Information Technology wise.
we can also emulate the Indain's.

Age Differences in search of Web Pages: the Effects of Link Size, Link Number, and Clutter

Topic: Age Differences in search of web pages: The effects of link size, link number and clutter

Class: Masters in Information Management (2009-2010)

Course: Web Design and Management

Group Members: Nzurum, Iheanacho Okezie MIM/EDUC/4234/2009-2010
Okugbe, Isaiah Jeremiah MIM/EDUC/7424/2009-2010
Obikaonu, Pauline Chimuru MIM/EDUC/6668/2009-2010

SUMMARY
The authors’ state that it has been established via tests carried out that links located to the left of a webpage are more easily found than others. They also believe that older adults make up the bulk of the internet users and some of the benefits they derive include communication via email, chat room access and discussion groups, to mention but a few. The use of the internet has also helped improve the well-being of older adults given the wealth of health information they have online access to. Nonetheless, older adults encounter more problems while trying to access the internet than younger users.
Conventions exist which allow users to search and navigate the web more easily and a major feature that affects web navigation is how conspicuous the links are and also, changing text sizes can help improve reading. This is particularly helpful to older adults who are more prone to visual fatigue and limited reading speed and accuracy.
It need be mentioned however that Internet users find things more easily on the net when items are in consistent and expected locations. In this regard, targets in the upper left corner of the screen are much more likely to be found quickly.
The authors again adjudge that age differences in search are more pronounced when targets are inconsistently placed and particularly, older adults would find this more challenging. Also, clutter can affect simple or difficult a search can be en though this depends on its location. Studies have again showed that in older adults, increased clutter and too many links adversely affect how well they can read web content.
To substantiate their claim, the authors presented details of a test conducted with two groups of users (20-31 and 55-62). A total of 192 graphics, 96 web pages and 96 target screens were created. A visual search task was then divided into 4 blocks each consisting of 24 trials which the two groups of users were subjected to. Three key variables were observed and these were presence, clutter and links. The main purpose of the study was to examine the influence of several characteristics of web pages that affect visual search. At the end of the experiment, search performance was found to be enhanced when links were larger with less clutter and fewer competing links, as well as when target links were located in the left region of the page. Thus it can be said that page design is a major contributing factor to how enhanced a visual search can turn out. Nonetheless, it was also observed from the experiment that simple changes in web design such as increasing print size alone is not sufficient for older adult users but rather, changes in location and colour do suffice.
It is also thought that both physical and cognitive declines affect the ability of an older person to use technology but design considerations help improve usability. Furthermore, used and unused link colours should be changed to contrast with the background of a webpage. Another valuable practice is to match user expectations to each search.
Finally, two major limitations to the study were identified as equipment specifications as evident in the monitors used and the fact that some older adults experienced some difficulty with the colour vision test that was used in the experiment.

CRITICISM
The allusion that older adults constitute the growing internet user group may not hold true as at today because of the proliferation of young internet users in the world as a whole. It is also obvious that the article is based on finding from an experiment conducted in the USA alone. This in itself is not enough reason to conclude that older adults use the web more than others.
Yet another issue to take into consideration is that this article is based on what obtained in the year 2001/2002 and the internet world and of course usage statistics have since changed tremendously. An example that readily comes to mind is the fact that these days, institutions of learning deliver a lot of content online. A greater majority of those who patronize these sites are of course the younger generation.
Gain, proliferation of cutting edge technology has brought with it a lot of appeal to the gaming community which of course consists of mostly the younger generation.
Another sour point to the article is the fact that it is filled with so much technical jargon which may not appeal to the average reader. Specifically, in various sections the write-up uses terms that would best be understood in visual medicine, statistics and perhaps by the very technology-savvy.
Finally, it is possible that the tests may have been conducted with utilities which probably have been overtaken by more precise and better technology. Thus, there is no guarantee that the results obtained then would be the same if the experiment were to be carried out today.