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Will Nigeria Survive? by seunlly(m): 7:53am On Jun 18, 2017 |
Across the globe, many people are stupendously wealthy;
using their money as they wish, quite often to the
discomfort of others. This probably explains why some rich
Nigerians buy golf courses and private jets while others
establish airlines and private universities in foreign
counties. Their counterparts elsewhere especially those who
worked for their money, instead of through extortion of
public funds are more engaged in wise spending. Among
the latter is Bill Gates, the world’s number one
philanthropist who only last Monday led other global health
donor partners to reaffirm their commitment to ending
the deadly polio disease by pledging an additional $1.2
billion. At the opening of this years’ rotary convention in
Atlanta, Georgia, USA, Bill Gates revealed to some 37,500
delegates including this writer that “16 million people are
walking today who would otherwise have been paralyzed
by polio.” In a welcome address, the African-American
Mayor of Atlanta, Kasim Reed was loudly applauded when
he described his city as home for all, extolling the virtues
of communal spirit where people help one another.
The speakers were quite articulate, eloquent and
persuasive giving some of us so much to think about, more
so, as the virtue of communal spirit hitherto belonged to
Africa, particularly Nigeria which was reputed for
sacrificing much of its human and material resources for
the continued existence of its kith and kin in Liberia,
Serra Leone and elsewhere. It was against this backdrop
that I virtually despaired all through the rest of the
convention reviewing the news coming from Nigeria that
some citizens had given notices to some other citizens to
quit ‘their’ areas. My ache was aggravated by another
revelation in the conference that of the 125 countries
which had polio in 1985, the deadly disease was now limited
to 3 countries only, namely: Nigeria, Pakistan and
Afghanistan. Somehow, I became scared of the possibility
that very soon, Nigeria may be the only one left there
because ours is a country where the only important
matter is politics and not the security and welfare of the
citizenry as envisaged by section 10 of the nation’s
constitution. Thus, every year, the national budget is
signed into law only in the second half of the year after
the politicians in the legislature are through with horse-
trading with the executive on self-preservation
Nothing else matters, not even the survival of the nation
with every ethnic category claiming to be aggrieved.
Contrary to the argument of the past that the
amalgamation of 1914 was done by the British to add
buoyant southern resources to that of the north for the
survival of both territories, attention is being drawn to
another version that in earnest, it was norther resources
that were used to develop the south. For this reason, the
north is reportedly tired of the constant threat of the
igbo to leave the country as if the north would collapse
without the south-east. Judging by a recent communique
by the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council (OYC), the south-
east zone ‘will not accept anything other than a president
of Igbo extraction in 2019, saying that it is the only
panacea to Biafran agitation raging in the zone. The
communique said Ndigbo would no longer play second fiddle
in Nigerian politics.’ How about the yorubas? The Oodua
Peoples Congress, (OPC) says: “if you sample the opinion of
the youths and others in Yoruba land, they are even tired
of restructuring. They are more in support of self-
determination. They want self-determination on the basis
of having their own nation.”
Worrisome situation but we must give kudos to 2 people.
First, the Emir of Katsina, Abdulmumini Kabir, who waited
for no one to immediately disown the authors of the quit
notice from the north. The Emir was quoted by the media
to have said as follows “Here in Katsina, I am ready to
sacrifice my last drop of blood to ensure peace and
protect all Nigerians residing in the state.” The second is
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo who has been speaking
tough to several interest groups about the survival of
Nigeria. Painfully, tough speeches, from the benefit of
hindsight, may not be the panacea. Are our law
enforcement agencies ready to match them with action?
Addressing the media at the end of last week’s federal
executive council meeting, Information Minister, Lai
Mohammed scared me when he said the government was
“on top of the matter” – a police cliché which makes
people feel that nothing may be done. Such platitude is
unsuitable for these times. It would indeed, be a great
disservice if under the watch of this government, killings
happen over the same subject in due course. The usual
style of governance by condolence whereby those in
authority visit bereaved families to offer material
compensation would be despicable.
To avoid that, the Acting President must not rely on
politicians at all, instead, he should hold on to societal
institutions which must be aggressively targeted and
monitored. By politicians, I mean those who play politics
round the clock and do not know the difference between
electioneering and governance. They are many and are
behind each of Nigeria’s divisive epochs. Only last week,
the leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of
Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Chief Ralph
Uwazuruike revealed that when he started MASSOB in
1999, it was purely meant to be a peaceful platform
through which issues of marginalisation of the Igbo in
Nigeria can be brought to the fore and tackled. In his
own words, “I handed over Radio Biafra which I created
to Nnamdi Kanu in London and hoped it would serve the
purpose for which it was created, but was disappointed
that politicians hijacked him and it became something else.”
Our burden now is to disallow the political class from
manipulating ethnic and religious sentiments to destabilize
the polity. Nigeria being a secular state as our constitution
provides makes the column for religion in official records
superfluous. Accordingly, governments at all levels must let
everyone practice his faith without sponsoring any pilgrim
to his preferred holy land. Most importantly, we should
dispense with the contentious federal character principle
by removing from our official records, the term ‘place of
origin’ and replace it with ‘place of residence.’ www.vanguardngr.com/2017/06/will-nigeria-survive/ |
Re: Will Nigeria Survive? by Freetech: 7:57am On Jun 18, 2017 |
Yes |
Re: Will Nigeria Survive? by 9jayes: 7:57am On Jun 18, 2017 |
Freetech:NO |
Re: Will Nigeria Survive? by 9jayes: 7:58am On Jun 18, 2017 |
9jayes: |
Re: Will Nigeria Survive? by 0b100100111: 8:00am On Jun 18, 2017 |
Yes! After the exit of flat-headed dwarfs! |
Re: Will Nigeria Survive? by 9jayes: 8:02am On Jun 18, 2017 |
0b100100111:Sense u no get |
Re: Will Nigeria Survive? by 0b100100111: 8:06am On Jun 18, 2017 |
9jayes: spoilt you day getting to realize you a dwarf right Have faith, you can still grow taller! |
Re: Will Nigeria Survive? by Funlord2(m): 8:13am On Jun 18, 2017 |
9jayes: E be like say the yarn pain you wella? Or do you possess one of those flat skulls in addition to looking like a bottle of small stout? These are just questions by the way! |
Re: Will Nigeria Survive? by Politicalapathy: 8:38am On Jun 18, 2017 |
9jayes:y e dey pain you now. Chill small |
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