A few days ago , we all watched with excitement as the 6th democratic government in Nigeria was sworn in at an elaborate inauguration ceremony. We watched with emotions as the two leaders of that government swore to uphold their end of what many believe in their subconscious was election promises but in reality what it was is called a Social Contract. Yes. What we watched on that day was the initiation of a social contract between an incoming government and its people and what we actually saw was the swearing of oaths of commitment to uphold their end of the bargain. But what about us? - The other party in the contract.

I believe in the Buhari government and I have no issues actually trusting them to keep their ends of the bargain even though Nigerians are not taking chances in holding them accountable to their promises. I am sure many may have observed as I have, a new wave of vigilance , howbeit sometimes erring such as in the matter of the declaration of assets. But even then, I think I’d rather we erred on the side of being vigilant than err on the side of being not vigilant. After-all, as they say, eternal vigilance is the price of freedom.Having said this, my concern in this note is not so much the government as it is Us, the people- The other party in the contract.

As I listened and later read the speech of the new president, I observed that he touched on all the right matters that are in urgent need of attention; matters that are also the features of any stable developed democracy. He talked about security of lives, fiscal discipline, anticorruption, physical infrastructure, unity, religious tolerance and the rule of law. And indeed all these are key but there is something that was missing- The Low Hanging Fruit. And it may not be missing or let me put it this way- I am now writing this note to ensure that it is not missing. If you are of the opinion that it is not missing, kindly consider my writing about it to be a type of vigilance, to ensure that we get it right this time.

I call it The Low Hanging Fruit because it is easy to fix but many times aspiring developing nations ignore it and to their detriment. But they are not the only culprits, it is usually left out too in development studies and you seldom hear those development agencies like the World Bank or even the African Development Bank or the Mighty IMF talk about it. Yet in the course of my relatively short life and in my long travels, (I am a type of Ajala with Eyes Wide Open, I have been lucky to have lived in about 5 continents now for varying periods) I have noticed that the countries that have emerged successfully as developed nations all have this one thing in common- their governments have successfully been able to extract a social contract out of its people- The other party in the contract.

I’ll tell you a quick story before I go on; it is a true story. A friend of my mentor had gone to pursue his postgraduate studies somewhere in Scandinavia a few years ago and one day as he was driving, he sped towards a round-about (Circular intersection or junction). Instead of slowing down and giving the right of way to the car at the intersection, as is appropriate by traffic rules, he cut in right in front of the car and continued unto the direction in which he wanted to go. That car followed after him and kept flashing him from behind. He eventually had to stop as the person in the car was quite persistent in flashing him down. When he stopped, a caucasian gentleman walked up to him and said to him in a calm but firm voice- “Please do not destroy what we have spent our lives building” and walked back to his car, turned it around and headed in the opposite direction. My mentor’s friend said that, initially, an indignation borne out of racial pride came over him but then there was something in that man’s voice that appealed more to rational thinking than the emotions. There was genuine concern and honesty in that gentleman's voice that got him thinking ........and then he eventually got It.

That story has never left me.

This note is about It. It is the Low Hanging Fruit that matters. Societies are built on It and you may not have noticed even though you may be reading this note from ‘abroad’. You see, every institution has a gateway; a point of entrance into that institution where intending participants learn the rules and regulations of that institution so as to conform. Many times there are induction ceremonies to further engage and educate intending participants about their new environment. The way it works with Society is not much different.

Every developed society has a gateway (and I do not mean airports or sea ports) through which individuals must pass and learn the rudiments of participation in that developed society. In almost all developed countries the most basic and often the most important gateway is the Driver Licensing and Traffic Regulations System or Driver Licensing Sytem (for the sake of this note lets call it DLS.) DLS is It.

DLS is the Low Hanging Fruit.
DLS is so important that many times, the acquisition of a drivers license is celebrated as a milestone in a young adult’s life. It is seen as a type of rite of passage into society and which is rightly what it is. It is so important that there are celebration cards for it.
What most people miss even after living in these developed societies is the fact that the DLS is also a means to an end (which is far bigger than just moving a car). It is a means of extracting a social contract of neighborly participation from the intending participant -the driver, the citizen.

If you sit down and think about it, The Road actually is the most important real estate in any nation. It is where the highest number of interactions take place between the members of society. You can actually judge how developed a society is by the interaction that goes on there.
(Going by these standards, Nigeria is seriously underdeveloped if I consider the interaction that takes place at the Lekki round-about that leads to my home and interestingly also leads to my church on the other side. The interaction is so chaotic that all the glam of that roundabout disappears into an abyss of confusion once you get there. It becomes obvious, that we are like rodents in a rat race and the rule is the survival of the fittest, often times making sure that the fittest are the ones that get to church first.... Ouch! ..just joking)

No wonder meticulous care is taken in developed nations in the design of this major gateway. If Nigeria wants to stand up and be counted as a developed nation, it needs to pay attention to this low hanging fruit because no matter how much we fix all those things that the president mentioned in the speech if we fail to fix the DLS, we will end up not being a developed nation. Many times, it is the rules of societal engagement that differentiate a developed nation from a developing nation and not the physical infrastructure. In most developed nations, the DLS and its requisite tests have embedded within it the basic principles of society
Neighborliness or perhaps coexistence
Accountability
Responsibility
Transparency
Consequence (very important because the consciousness of Rule of Law is based on this; there is absolutely no use mouthing ‘Rule of Law’ if a country would not fix its traffic laws)
The challenge with the Low Hanging Fruit is that whilst it is obvious to see, many times, we despise it in favor of other bigger or higher things. For example, people attend the Redemption Camp, Mountain of Fire Camp, Deeper Life Camp and even NASFAT Camp in search of 'Heavenly' Fruits and then get back on the road and make a real HELL out of the road. What happened?? .. Answer: They ignored the Low Hanging Fruit.

Even the Inspector General of Police is not immune from this. In this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoSFJJrNVus , you’ll see the former Inspector General diminish the work of a Traffic Officer or the position of a Traffic officer whilst promoting the superiority of other policemen by claiming that they do more ‘dangerous' work like chasing kidnappers and terrorists’. However, what the IG of Police is obviously missing is that criminals are often times non-conformists and so are likely to have come to the notice of the Police for violating a traffic regulation much earlier before moving on to bigger crimes. There is a good chance that a potential Boko Haramist would have been fined or even had a mugshot or finger prints taken whilst running a red light long before he turned to Shekau.

Even better,if there was a DLS, there is a good chance that a potential Boko Haramist who already had been arrested or fined for a traffic offence at the gateway of entering society would begin immediately to learn the subliminal lessons of Consequence and so would be deterred from committing bigger crimes because subconsciously, it would have been registered in his mind that there is indeed proportionate consequence to wrong behavior. However, if he is allowed to get away by government not paying attention to this Low Hanging Fruit then the IG and his policemen would definitely not be spared the job of chasing terrorists up and down the River Niger or Benue.

(Let me bring the message home further, perhaps if we fixed the DLS- The first people that would benefit from its lessons are, in fact, the Nigeria Police themselves who have a culture of impunity and violate more traffic rules than everyone else. Perhaps if they also learnt the lessons that the DLS can be designed to teach, they would behave more appropriately in discharging their duties and perhaps we would not have had a Boko haram insurgency at all. I am glad the President picked up on the role that the culture of impunity of the Police has significantly played in the growth of the Boko Haram Insurgency in his speech. For the past 7 years, the PDP government has swept this truth under the carpet hoping it would go away. Buhari is indeed a breath of fresh air ; that is how to fix a system- You start with the truth. Thumbs up to Mr President!

But even beyond the Police being the catalyst for the Boko Haram insurgency, let us look at seemingly mundane things that have dire consequences, which the Nigerian Police has inadvertently destroyed and the DLS reform could fix. Just a few days ago, I was driving into Victoria island through Marina and an ambulance had to use a microphone to announce that people should please clear off the road for it to pass saying- "This is a life threatening emergency ; please we are begging you to move for us to pass" ; and this was despite the fact that it had its sirens on!!. I felt ashamed for Nigeria as people grudgingly moved off the road. But having lived abroad and passed through a DLS gateway, I knew as I had been taught through the DLS, that I had to move over to the left if an ambulance was approaching with its sirens on. It is part of the rules of a developed society. Here is an example of an explicit 'Moveover Law' and almost all developing countries have them and teach them through a DLS. https://www.qld.gov.au/transport/safety/rules/emergency-vehicles/index.html . Unfortunately in Nigeria, sirens have been so abused by security agencies and the Police in particular, that when people hear the sound of an ambulance they despise it and will deliberately not move in rebellion to previous violation of their rights by unscrupulous security agents. However, they will move for the Police because the Police vehicle usually has gun-totting touts dressed as law officers. The DLS can change all these and save a life in an ambulance and guess what? - that life may just be your relative's or even yours. We need the DLS; we need the low hanging fruit.

Nota Bene: By the way did you know that the Nigeria Police sells their uniforms officially? Ok I'll digress a bit- There is a scheme in the Nigeria police that allows rich people to send their drivers for a course after which they can be entitled to wear a police uniform. It is the worst thing I have ever heard of. I just have a feeling that the new President may not be aware of these things, Please do yourself and myself a favour and share this note after reading it, so that Buhari can read and fix these things. The Nigeria Police and the DLS are broken and they need to be fixed for us to have palpable CHANGE. Yes... That CHANGE that we campaigned for. Yes. It must be from the top and also from the bottom)

Fixing our basic Driver Licensing System or DLS is the lower end approach that allows every other reform of government to work together hand in glove. It is like the the Nut to the Bolt; Buhari working from the top and the DLS working from the bottom. The DLS is so important that even President Obama would make time to upgrade his own . A simple test is to ask how many government officials or party officials carry a current drivers license and how many of them actually got them through the right channels. I can tell you for free that my maternal uncle who is a Septuagenarian doesn't carry a Driver's License and I do not think he has had one for the past ten years. Now, I do not mean to indict my dear uncle publicly but at his age, in a developed country, a proper licensing system would have him take an eye test and consider his medicals in the award of a license. Our current DLS is broken and we need to fix it fast.

The Federal Government needs to drive or lead a comprehensive Driver Licensing and Traffic Regulations Systems (DLS) reform that allows citizens to be educated about the basic rules of societal interactions and inducted into society through it. Please note the word “drive” or “lead”, this means that I am not necessarily asking the federal government to take it on as a direct Federal Duty. In fact, I think for the size of Nigeria , it can be delegated to the states. And I am definitely not asking that it delegates this to the Federal Road Safety Corp

(By the way, my opinion of FRSC is that it has been irresponsible and corrupt and it most certainly has lost the plot. Whenever I see them- I am reminded of missed opportunities. That agency has been in existence for almost 30yrs. If those guys knew what they were doing we would not be here talking about this 28 years after they have been collecting salaries. It should be transformed beyond being a recruitment centre for mostly ex confraternity members- That bias in recruitment may be responsible for its culture of extorting money from members of the public)

In driving this reform, what is most important is that it is comprehensive, it is educative and it is easily accessible and assessable. Whichever government decides to take it on, it must ensure that the right parameters are used for testing and the tests are objective and not punitive. For example, in the state of New South Wales (NSW) in Australia (See here http://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/roads/licence/driver/tests/driver-knowledge-test.html , the Drivers Knowledge Test has no completion time limit because they are not testing how fast you can answer questions. No. What they are testing is requisite knowledge. So we should also take a cue and not start setting tests that are meant to differentiate those who went to university from those who did not. That is not the purpose of a Driver License Test.

(Honestly if you asked me, I think we should study how countries like Uruguay, Australia and New Zealand work more than we study the US and UK. These countries have lots of tangible and easily adaptable systems we could learn from)

Having mentioned the DLS as the gateway to society, we have to always keep that end in mind. You see, if we always start things with an end in mind, we will do just fine. If we have an end in mind and we lose our way, the end will act as a compass and we will find our way again. We will only have a problem when reform becomes reform for its sake and not for the sake of the end.

(For example if we asked the FRSC that has lost its plot, to carry out this reform, they would simply design a system that allows them extort money from the government and then the public because that is the end they keep in mind as you would have noticed with almost everything they have done in all these years. I wouldn't even ask those guys for ideas. They know nothing about road safety apart from collecting grotesque graphic pictures of accidents which they post and claim would be a deterrence to people committing accidents; yes, they think people commit accidents deliberately)

Back to the matter, the end we hope to achieve by a comprehensive reform of our licensing systems, traffic laws and regulations and the reasonable enforcement of those laws goes beyond just safe driving. The end is to extract a social contract of appropriate behavior and wiling participation in nation building from the intending participants- we the citizens of Nigeria. Obtaining a drivers license then becomes the basic swearing ceremony for intending participants that have been through a comprehensive education on values that engender community building and deemed to have passed in learning and in character to become partners in nation building with a government that is ready to uphold its own end of the contract.

Many years ago, the then Buhari Military Regime rightly recognized the need for a mental revolution in this nation as it pin-pointed two cardinals evils it needed to rid the nation of- Corruption and Indiscipline. It launched a War against Indiscipline popularly known as WAI and it is still undeniable that it achieved moderate success in that period. Many people who voted for Buhari voted for him on the back of the record of his campaign against those evils and his personal integrity. And whilst Buhari has not changed and the evils remain the same, the times have changed. If we were to run that campaign in these times, his government may have to contend with issues that would border on human rights and civil rights abuses. However, an investment in comprehensive reform of traffic regulation and drivers licensing systems may provide the opportunity to wage war against indiscipline and mental corruption and in a less physical yet more engaging way. We might not even need a BVN if we get our DLS right.

Phew!... Finally, of course, the reform of the DLS is not all there is to CHANGE, but it is the low hanging fruit and we can pluck it and be on our way. There should also be a consideration for formalizing existing informal social and labour systems but I’ll write another note on that later.

I’ll end this note with a quote from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar .

“There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.
Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat.
And we must take the current when it serves,
or lose our ventures.”

Dear President and Vice President, please take the opportunity and extract a social contract from me and other citizens through a comprehensive reform of the Driver Licensing and Traffic Regulations Systems. Pluck this Low Hanging Fruit.

Thank you.

source :https://www.facebook.com/notes/947767048577717/

seun lalasticlala kindly consider for front page.

In summary this article tries to suggest that we need to change our mind set and the way we do things collectively as Nigerians if we are to move this country forward.

Kudos to the author. I read everyword, this is a diagnostics of why society is rotten and he gave prescription on what to do to fix it.

Please move to front page and pinup for broad awareness and response.

MrPristine:
In summary this article tries to suggest that we need to change our mind set and the way we do things collectively as Nigerians if we are to move this country forward.

He is even saying more than that. The need to change our mindset for development is obvious. But he went further by proposing that obeying traffic rules and regulations could easily expedite that change...

The article is very deep. Quite long, but thought-provoking.

MayorofLagos:
Kudos to the author. I read everyword, this is a diagnostics of why society is rotten and he gave prescription on what to do to fix it.

Please move to front page and pinup for broad awareness and response.

The article is excellent! One of the best posts I've seen on Nairaland. The author ought to be congratulated for this.

Firstly, the article is, in my opinion, too long. Any idea that can not be succinctly expressed in about 850-word essay won't be accessible to general masses. So it would be nice if you could summarize the key points in your post. Secondly, I do think our broken DLS is not the problem; it's just one of the symptoms of our problems.

I live in a developed country. Therefore, I understand every bit of your submissions. Our greatest problem in Nigeria is impunity. An average human being is selfish and won't obey any law that has no consequence. Laws don't enforce themselves. The Caucasian do not obey traffic laws because he or she has been trained to do so. He does because of the consequence that comes from not obeying rules. He knows the law will be enforced. He knows even when no one is looking, camera can spot a driver who drives red light. He knows the cost of settling tickets can be astronomical. He knows there is no such thing as "I am sorry sir". In short he knows the law is the law. Therefore, he behaves himself. So training is one thing, enforcement of laws so that the trained behave responsibly is entirely another thing.

Part of this impunity problem is practicing a unitary government but fraudulently calling it federalism. While DLS is extremely important in the US and forms the core of its database, the process of acquiring one is decentralized. What's obtainable in California is not necessarily the same thing in Florida. For instance, in NY, during road test, you are bound to do parallel parking but in FL, there is no such thing. Of course the substantial portions of traffic laws are the same, but peculiarities still exist. To drive home this point, if you move to another state and after a grace period of few weeks, you have to "domesticate' your license, a euphemism for familiarizing yourself with that state's peculiarities.

However, in Nigeria, we have created an inefficient behemoth called FRSC to run the show. Despite the fact we are more diverse than the US, we impose a one-fit-all formula. Hence, Lagos can't make rules that suit its peculiarities. The traffic rules that're in effect in underdeveloped states such as Ebonyi, Ekiti,Zamfara are also the same rules in Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt. Because of this inefficiency of FRSC, and unlike what's obtainable in advanced countries, we can't use DLS as database.

In my opinion, we need to decentralize the police force; also, decentralize FRSC too. Let each state generate revenue from issuance of Drivers Licence. Let each state create its police force and maintain adequate database. Unity does not necessarily have to mean uniformity. What's the incentive for me to follow the laid down procedure in obtaining DL in Lagos when I can literally buy one in Sokoto and vice versa? What's the incentive in following the rules when those who flout them are not punished?

ProfCorruption,
There is nothing wrong with the length of this input.

If you've read the entire Nigerian Constitution and you are not bored then this article should not bore you, and if it happens youve not read the entire Constitution then you have not completed your civic obligation to the land.

This author did a good job and Im going to hope that this submission gets to VP and that it gets to the President. It is inputs like this that turn into policy and then succesfully adopted into doctrine for social progress.

The author is not denying that that myriads of problems exist but there is a baseline and when properly treated as he recommended, criminals are picked up at petty offenses and locked away to save society from their bigger and more volatile assaults.

Oklahoma 1995...Federal Building was bombed and fingers pointed to Muslim terrorists. Just few miles away Timothy McVeigh was stopped for minor traffic offense and taken away to jail. He never came out, he was executed for the crime. His arrest killed their plan to bomb other targeted Federal Buildings.

People must use the road for movement. The road itself is a place of exchange....its a market!

No need to add to the author's input...it is suffice and appropriate in its conclusions. Lets support it upward to Aso.

wow!!!

HA HA HA
this apc kpians no go kill me with laff.
which kain fruit be this?
any fruit wey sweet, you have to climb.
even mango!
the mango that you do not climb is kerosene mango!
do you like it?
that is what is low hanging fruit.

Same people who hated patriotism two months ago are now at the forefront of patriotism.

you are right op.

The change starts with us. if we can see what is right, do what is right and obey what is right. The country will be better for us all.


but the question is .....


What is right ?


people do some things that are morally wrong yet they are seen as normal. little wonder when a former President once said stealing is not corruption, just like a principal once said malpractice in external exams is not bad. Same goes for a father who asked his daughter to lie to a friend that he has gone out.


Rules are created to be broken says a law enforcement agent because the accused is his cousin.

these behavior needs to be corrected from the grass root. Starting from us!!!


Support change!!!







Team scent.

MzMayD:
you are right op.

The change starts with us. if we can see what is right, do what is right and obey what is right. The country will be better for us all.


but the question is .....


What is right ?


people do some things that are morally wrong yet they are seen as normal. little wonder when a former President once said stealing is not corruption, just like a principal once said malpractice in external exams is not bad. Same goes for a father who asked his daughter to lie to a friend that he has gone out.


Rules are created to be broken says a law enforcement agent because the accused is his cousin.

these behavior needs to be corrected from the grass root. Starting from us!!!


Support change!!!







Team scent.

Right or to use a more technical term, Propriety, is a socially negotiable topic. A society borrows from its norms, rites, customs, philosophy, beliefs, to define what is acceptable in public display of character, action and conduct.

MayorofLagos:



Right or to use a more technical term, Propriety, is a socially negotiable topic. A society borrows from its norms, rites, customs, philosophy, beliefs, to define what is acceptable in public display of character, action and conduct.

You are correct there too. The moral standard of people differs, but some are universal. There is nowhere in the world where stealing, lying, fraud,embezzlement, bribery and so on is acceptable. Yet these things are seen as normal nowadays.


its a pity those who make the law breaks it.


The change starts with us!!!




Team scent

MzMayD,
I agree. Let me correct and say crime is not seen as normal anyday, we have customs that say these things are unacceptable and as well laws that make crime punishable. The problem we have is laxity in enforcement and as well a penchant for living beyond our means. The society glorifies material success while people of character are sidelined.

Of course you know there is nothing called a "Nigerian society". Each part of the country has a society that is native to the customs of the land and is guided to a large degree by the ethos of that land. For example in my own society palm wine is acceptable as a beverage but drunkeness is not. In the core North society palm wine is not acceptable as a beverage and no kind of intoxicants is allowed but we both occupy the same country. Owambe is a cultural phenomenon and the undercurrent for bonding the Yoruba commonwealth fast to our customs and political unity. In the East the society has no need for such bonding and they see owambe as a wasteful and diversionary practice.

So when we discuss Nigeria as a society, you hit the nail on the head, there are commonalities regardless if you are East, North or West, in which everyone agrees and are consistent. Palm wine is good for Yoruba but Hausa sees it as ignoble. Owambe is very good for Yoruba but Ibo sees it as ignoble. Stealing is not good for Yoruba, kidnapping and using human for rituals is not good for Yoruba, consumption of narcotics or trading in them for profit is not good for Yoruba, armed robbery is not good for Yoruba....but increasingly we find Yoruba participating in these acts. The Yoruba national pledge is the doctrine of Omoluabi. Any act in contradiction of the pledge is an act against the land.

Remember that I singled out Yoruba to facilitate the discussion you and I are having and Im very intimate with my own society far more than I am with others and have no true knowledge and liberty to inject their anti-social behaviorals in here.

So in conclusion how did the drug dealer become a norm and elite of society?

For the Yorubas there are two direct contributors:
1. Praise singing of criminals by live bands at parties and on albums.
2. Cultural laxity and over ambition.

This argument is one that has gone on for some time. What produces positive change in society?

Some feel its the changing of the mind, way of thinking of the inhabitants in a society; while others are sure that the provision of deterrents and their enforcement, makes for such changes.

I believe its both. The provision and enforcenent of detterents serves for the short, immediate term; while the change of thinking ( through education, propaganda, entertainment etc) is usually a medium to long term approach.

I know that a lot of Africans overseas don't get to learn the positive side of their history, this already unconsciously gives them an inferiority complex compared the Caucasian who is told his history is rich and powerful. The Caucasian will be more likely to want to continue this great tradition, while the African is just grateful for the opportunity of being part of this new society. The USA do this even in their films ( propaganda viz: world police, American cars being the best etc).

We need to start with enforcement of laws without prejudice first. That's the very basic. Then we can use all the avenues we have to change the thinking of the average Nigerian. This might even require changing some part of history and replacing with another.

This long term approach is not really for our generation ( if you are a parent) - too late for that; its for the indomie generation. Those just getting into secondary schools and below. Their minds are still more open to information and amenable to change.

Hi Everyone,
Kemi Martins reporting for duty.
I wrote the note.
Please continue to help me share on different media till the intended crowd reads it
Thanks all.

semitunde:
This argument is one that has gone on for some time. What produces positive change in society?

Some feel its the changing of the mind, way of thinking of the inhabitants in a society; while others are sure that the provision of deterrents and their enforcement, makes for such changes.

I believe its both. The provision and enforcenent of detterents serves for the short, immediate term; while the change of thinking ( through education, propaganda, entertainment etc) is usually a medium to long term approach.

I know that a lot of Africans overseas don't get to learn the positive side of their history, this already unconsciously gives them an inferiority complex compared the Caucasian who is told his history is rich and powerful. The Caucasian will be more likely to want to continue this great tradition, while the African is just grateful for the opportunity of being part of this new society. The USA do this even in their films ( propaganda viz: world police, American cars being the best etc).

We need to start with enforcement of laws without prejudice first. That's the very basic. Then we can use all the avenues we have to change the thinking of the average Nigerian. This might even require changing some part of history and replacing with another.

This long term approach is not really for our generation ( if you are a parent) - too late for that; its for the indomie generation. Those just getting into secondary schools and below. Their minds are still more open to information and amenable to change.

Interesting perspective, yes i agree with you that the thinking of the average Nigerian needs to chane before we can make meaningful progress in this country. In this regard i believe the National Orientation Agency has a lot of work to do in re orientating Nigerians to change the way we think positively. If i were Buhari i would staff and empower this agency with the right tools so they can effectively carry out their duties of orientating the populace in a positive way that would benefit the country. I believe if the attitude of Nigerians can be changed, 90% of our problems in this country would be solved.

Just a few days ago, I was driving into Victoria island through Marina and an ambulance had to use a microphone to announce that people should please clear off the road for it to pass saying- "This is a life threatening emergency ; please we are begging you to move for us to pass" ; and this was despite the fact that it had its sirens on!!. I felt ashamed for Nigeria as people grudgingly moved off the road.



Unfortunately, this argument is flawed. We all know that these ambulance drivers on third mainland and its environs, regularly use the sirens to escape traffic even when they have no emergency whatsoever and are driving empty buses. It becomes a case of the boy that cried wolf. People have fallen for their tricks too often and no longer care.

I struggle to understand how you tagged state police into your argument. Do you really want characters like Fayose and Wike to a police force that is answerable to them alone? Did you really think this through?
We do not need a state police. We need a police that is not beholden to any strong man but that is a strong institution.

formerlyMbulela:
I struggle to understand how you tagged state police into your argument. Do you really want characters like Fayose and Wike to a police force that is answerable to them alone? Did you really think this through?
We do not need a state police. We need a police that is not beholden to any strong man but that is a strong institution.

I agree with you, Nigeria is not yet ripe enough for state police. Our politicians would definitely misuse them.