Queen Elizabeth as Head of State
The week Queen Elizabeth 11 died cannot but be a turbulent week. It is difficult to be indifferent to the Queen whether one was her admirer or critic. She had a mystique and presence which 70 years on the throne must be the key source of as most who are still active in world affairs – media, academia, foreign policy, military, politics, culture and business and what have you -grew up to meet her in place.
Until last Thursday, (September 8th, 2022), she was one of the few who witnessed great events of the 20 and early part of the 21st century – the world wars, the Russian Revolution, the rise of new nations across the erstwhile spaces of empire and technology. Now, Queen Elizabeth as an individual has passed on but Queen Elizabeth would still a subject of critical analysis across the world from different lenses. It would be interesting to read what would be coming out, especially from the Historians and Political Scientists, with particular reference to Britain’s blending of tradition and modernity into a version of liberal democracy and the management of the multicultural age.
ASUU strike is always an invitation or reminder to Nigeria to think through the question of how best the universities can galvanise the crucial process of rapid social transformation and the tragedy is how Nigeria keeps misreading this message
Beyond the queen’s passage are the turbulence in crucial spaces in Nigeria. Nigeria has, obviously, not found a way of responding to the challenge of ASUU and its industrial action. It looks like the country is only not falling for the option of crushing the union only because it is not sure of how successful that would be. Otherwise, it would have moved that way.
The hope is that, whatever the Nigerian elite in general and the government of the day in particular does about the union, it would take into consideration the dangers of defeating ASUU. ASUU might be a very rebellious union but a defeat of ASUU, however achieved, will be a defeat of the idea of Nigeria. The assumption is that this argument will be deeply understood by all concerned. A rebellious union is not the same thing as a bad union, in whatever way we understand bad. Already, Nigeria has taken the joke too far in willful destruction of the universities at a time the universities are the hub of the rapid social transformation in all the countries that have just experienced that, be it on account of new managerialism, qualitative leadership, critical mass of experts in medicine technology, engineering and what have you!
Dr. Iyorchia Ayu
From ASUU to the People’s Democratic Party, (PDP) where the power struggle is not abating. The party has let Nigeria down in terms of the promise of democracy. There is no debate about that but that notwithstanding, its disintegration will unleash on Nigeria elite confusion that can be consuming. So, again, the hope is that they will still be able to deploy the ‘PDP family’ formula to reorganise power and add value to itself .
The intellectual elevation signified in Dr. Iyorchia Ayu’s coming has not materialised. It is likely the party has climbed down too low to be revived very quickly by an Ayu in terms of elevated thinking and practices. That remains to be seen.
Finally, the turbulence as it also affected Intervention. Luckily it is not turbulence but being ‘Away Without Official Leave’ or what in, military terms is abbreviate to AWOL. Now, Intervention has stabilized and coming with possibly more in frequent but certainly more solid postings.
