INDECISIVE DECISION
Surely we are done with the
elections for this tenure and term but then there are certain things to learn
about it. Different battles at different places ranging from physical to social
media, debate of all sort, interviews, town hall meetings etc were few among
ways of creating attention from our politicians and their godfathers, of a
truth, it worked. Much more to this is the fact that social media, the medium
of expression for the young ones, became active and if not the best avenue to
reach out to the populace, thus emergence of millionaires from this on the part
of the young ones.
Be that as it may, social media
still had its flaw. It, social media was employed to indoctrinate certain beliefs
into people and as a result of consistency on the part of this guru, social
media guru, people became familiar with politicians theory and statements and
thus stop seeing with their eyes but that of politicians. With this, it became
difficult for the electorate to make their decisions based on their experience
but to hang it on the parties a personality is coming from and those who are
standing behind such an individual – godfather, hmmmm, what an act of indecisive
decision. With the just concluded gubernatorial election, taking Lagos state as
a case study, one can see the power of media, money and influence and for that,
5 months ago 'bad' became today's 'saint' with the statement of voluntary
resignation as against that of suspension/dismissal that we heard of then
coming from his environment. An investor and a somehow medial personnel that
some believed happens to be the best of the two lost as a result of his environment,
not because of his personality. It was such a pity to have heard a graduate
that told me then that he choose to vote for the person he voted for simply
because he is a card carrying member of a particular party... what a shame on
the part of the Future here.
Election is gone now, all things
back to normalcy, now time for our elect to go to their drawing board and make
a finish and beautiful continuation of their programmes. This is not the time
to pay back the tunes but a time to look at the populace who even in their innocence,
took out their precious time to queue in the rain, stood in the sun, all to
contribute their duty and ensure your (politicians) victory. In all, to the politicians, let’s
remember that to whom much is given, much is expected. Welcome to a new dawn
Nigeria.
BUHARI AND JONATHAN: TWO HEROES OF CIRCUMSTANCE
The
battle, very fiercely contested, came and passed; the saint defeated the demon.
Congratulations! Surprisingly though, many Nigerians rushed to the Facebook,
the platform of their armchair activism, to commend the courage of the demonic
president who was so honourable in defeat. And for this singular democratic
gesture, the demonic president suddenly became a hero. One comedian even put a
clarion call on Facebook for Nigerians to nominate Jonathan for Peace Nobel
Prize. In a twinkle of eye, Jonathan also became a hero. Interesting! Now we
have two heroes: president elect Muhammadu Buhari and President Goodluck
Jonathan; the former for deposing a demonic emperor and the later for gently
accepting to vacate Aso Rock. Remarkable!
For
me, these two are no heroes. Or put appropriately, they are mere heroes of circumstance.
The deplorable situation the PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan has left
Nigerians is such unbearable that anybody that promises to/ has the slightest
chance to rescue them will be welcomed, as a hero. The situation is analogous
to that of a dog that is terribly thirsty and is already on the verge of death,
anybody that can provide water at that moment is its hero, and can do with it
whatever he/she likes. This is where the APC and General Muhammadu Buhari come
in. If Nigerians said NO to APC and Buhari, who could they have said YES to? To
professor Sonaiya? Apparently, there was no other option. So, Muhammadu Buhari
became thevhero.
Fortunately, Jonathan, having tried unsuccessfully to make sure he held the key to Aso Rock
till 2019, resigned to
fate, tamed
his political dogs and accepted
his defeat honourably. Let me ask, if he didn’t do that, what better option had
he?
However,
I sincerely do not wish to belittle President Jonathan’s honourable acceptance
of defeat, it’s a commendable act. I am just uncomfortable with the way some
Nigerians have over-amplified it. It leaves me with a terrible feeling that
Nigerians are confused and do not really know what leadership means; that you
are an enemy to Nigerians when you hold a political office and you become their
dearest friend immediately you are out of the office. Is it so?
In
this just concluded elections, the victory isn’t that of the APC. It is the
victory of Democracy. The true heroes are the awakened Nigerians who voted with
their heads and not their hearts and our democracy which has taken a great dive
towards positive development. President Goodluck Jonathan and President elect
Muhammadu Buhari are just heroes of circumstance.
At about this time tomorrow all over the world, white and red will be the colour of the day with guys and girls holding hands all around. Physically speaking, I see nothing wrong in this, only that I personally believe that valentine is not a day thing but an everyday's. Different theory as to the origin of this great celebration have been propounded but still with no clear cut for the real one. Be that as it may, one thing stands sure; it is a day set aside for lovers all over the world.
Nigeria in any way is not out of this as it pride itself in all of this celebrations too. Fortunately or should I say unfortunately for the young ones, the government of Nigeria last year declared 14th of this year February, as the day for its the general election for the presidency and all other federal post in the country. While this declaration went well for some people then, others complained. But then, trust Nigerians with our creativity, several things pertaining to love came out for different candidates based on the people involve. From Febuhari 14th to celebrate your love for Nigeria with our Febuhari e.t.c. Some guys even in the neighbourhood were so happy to the point of putting it on the social media that there will be no gift for their love ones this February but our country, how wrong they were.
Another decision from INEC came as a result of inability to distribute the permanent voters card (PVC), and other issue that borders on security of the lives of the INEC agents - so they said; now the election has been postponed and the normal valentine celebration is in the air once again. Still at this, the issue of election and the candidates remain very clear in the mind of everybody.
However, the power of choice is that which nobody can take from anyone except one give-in his/her consent. Thus as we go about with valentine tomorrow, let's put it in our mind that we must show love to our dear country. Election can be postponed but certainly can never ever be cancelled. So, be it February 14 or March 28, the fact remains that with each day gone, we get closer to the decision day. Let's make a plan to make right our decision as to who truly worth our votes. It is important I let you know that I neither raise umbrella nor use broom but that I support that which is good and will always do that which I consider right for my country. It is my civic responsibility to vote and also encourage others to do so. Please make your voice heard. If possible, find a way standing till your vote get counted in your presence and make use of your technology in the right way. Happy valentine day ahead.
EDUCATION AS AN OPPORTUNITY COST: WE BEG TO DISAGREE
Education they say is the bedrock of every Nation that aspire to match up or beat the advance countries in the world, so when the education which is supposed to be our hope becomes a toy in hands of our leader, then I guess there’s a problem. Ever since the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) embarked on an indefinite strike on July 1, 2013, over the failure of the Federal Government to fully implement the 2009 agreements entered into with the union, the representatives of the FG have at various times tendered largely unconvincing reasons why the government cannot honour the agreements. At different times, the Minister of Finance, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala argued that the government has (or had) no money to implement the agreement; that honouring the agreements will result in breakdown in government; and that the agreements were reached without proper reasoning and thus need to be re-negotiated.
The
most shocking of the government’s responses is the recent gaffe of the Minister
of Information, Mr Labaran Maku while fielding questions on a network Radio
Nigeria programme on Sunday September 8, 2013. Mr Maku had claimed that as long
as the government is combatting the scourge of Boko Haram, it cannot afford to
increase the allocation to education thus implying that the funding of
education is supposedly construed by the Jonathan administration as an
opportunity cost for the guarantee of security in the troubled northern region.
We find this reasoning not only insensitive but also utterly fallacious. To put
the records straight, the Federal Government has never complied with the United
Nations’ recommendation of 26% budgetary allocation to education or even gone
near it even before the upswing in terrorist activities in the North in 2009. The
current allocation stands at 8.7%, 2012 was 8.43%; and 2011 was 6%. In
comparison, allocation to education in other African countries far exceeds
Nigeria’s. In Ghana, it is 31%; Cote D’Ivoire is at 30%; Uganda, 27%; South
Africa, 25.8%; and in Kenya, it is 23%.
It
is a blatant lie that funds that could have been used to resuscitate Nigeria’s
comatose public education sector is what is being diverted into the seemingly
fight against Boko Haram. Those funds were never appropriated to education in
the first place. We believe that the most effective equipment against all forms
of social disorder, terrorism inclusive, is quality education, public
enlightenment and sensitization. The current model of earmarking billions of dollars
in the name of amnesty payments to terrorists will only yield more terrorism.
At best, the warlords will retire to enjoy their bombardier jets and encourage
new ones to take over.
The Federal Government as well as the State
governments must retrace their steps and change their attitude towards funding
education. Government cannot repeatedly dole out financial largesse to football
teams; pay millions of dollars in spurious security contracts to ‘repentant’ criminals;
expend billions of dollars on bloated amnesty programmes; give out $200million
to Nollywood; prepare to spend N600billion on another census; plan to spend billions
of Naira on the centenary celebrations in 2014; and keep handing out several
other unbudgeted monetary gifts only to turn around to claim proper funding for
the education sector to fix the infrastructure decay and properly remunerate
lecturers, will lead to a collapse of government. All Nigerians must arise to
demand a change in the current equation.
In light of the above, we implore all Nigerians to speak up against the Federal Government’s deliberate nonchalance about ending the lingering ASUU strike and similarly add their voices to the call for a public hearing by the National Assembly to adequately reveal the rot in the Nigerian tertiary education system so that effective steps towards reforming the sector can be taken.
- IMPACT
ORGANISATION, OAU.(@ImpactOAU on Twitter).
THE 'E' WAR
THE 'E' WAR
1 comment:
What a nation of lieing leaders!!!
We are sitting on a keg of gun powder, its indeed a potential time bomb.
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