On October 1 1960, Fifty One years ago today
(October 1, 2011), Nigeria became an independent nation from
Britain their colonial master. The nation was divided by
them into 3 regions: North, West and East. Typical of the
usual British method and tactics of divide and rule, there
was no clear cut reason why they demarcated the regional
boundaries the way they did. It was obvious from the onset
that there was a premeditated intention to sow the seed of
distrust and disunity among the emerging regions. An unduly
larger portion of the land was assigned to the Northern
Region such a large portion that it was even bigger than
combined vast areas of the West and East regions. The North
was therefore well positioned for the monopoly of power; to
rule the nation because it is the game of the majority that
decides who wields power in any democratic set up like ours.
Every problem and challenge the country faced since then was
caused or traceable to this single act.
The military government of General Aguiyi Ironsi tried to
correct this wrong by introducing the American system of
Federalism as opposed to the British parliamentary system,
but rather than correcting the problem; it only actually
compounded it because the damage caused in the process
seemed to have cut too deep into the fabrics of the nation,
and now with the benefit of hindsight it is clear that the
military did it for selfish reasons. The people who
benefited most from this injustice of the military
intervention in the governance of this nation still work
sleeplessly to ensure that they remain in power to feather
their nests no matter the modifications.
The military administration of General Yakubu Gowon was the
closest to getting a permanent solution to this injustice
when the military Governors of the regions with the leader
of the junta (General Gowon) prescribed and agreed on a
formula in Aburi, Ghana; that each region should become
autonomous and Nigeria should become a confederacy rather
than Federal in nature. Upon their return from Aburi, Ghana,
when the agreement was made public, pressure was mounted by
politicians on the military junta not to implement such
agreement. These politicians no doubt sincerely believe
confederacy was not in the best interest of the nation. The
Executive council which includes some of these notable
politicians agreed to back out from the Aburi accord which
as much as I can remember landed us in a CIVIL WAR!! And
even with the war, the artificial boundary, created by our
colonial masters (Britain), has continued to plague the
nation till today. How else can you explain why a politician
who amassed his wealth from government threatens to make
this country ungovernable if power was not delivered to his
enclave the north, where he roots? Nigerians know such ones
and know that they have remained mute in the face of
multiple bombings in the nation they claim to love! I stand
to be corrected.
The nation from the first day began to reap the fruit and
conspiracy of disunity and mistrust planted by Britain and
opportunists see it as a legitimate means to grab the common
wealth, using it to hold on to power. All other problems of
the nation; Corruption, Insecurity, Tribalism, Nepotism,
Political instability and etc are all the fruit left by our
colonial masters because of that single act of arbitrary
border demarcation of our Regions, without regard to
language, tribe, ethnicity, or even natural land marks.
We can therefore safely say that Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
inherited a nation designed to fail by the colonial masters.
Those before him, seemed not to have any intention to solve
this problem, and it seemed as if they had added their own
reinforcement to make the problem further far from solution.
I regret that as of today (October 1 2011), 126 days into
our first genuine people’s presidency, we are yet to see
anything to convince us that President Goodluck Ebele
Jonathan too will make a difference, and it is for this
reason that I am now speaking out. I, Nigeria, indeed the
whole world wish him well.
THE MILITARY INFLUENCE:
It seemed as if the military rulers enjoyed the Federal
system because it appeared to make it possible for them to
distribute the common wealth of the nation among themselves
unchallenged! Today, it seems as if most if not all of the
retired Generals, who got involved in the politics of this
country, have turned out richer than the nation. I cannot
but think from a visit to their offices, homes in the cities
or their country homes in their villages will convince you
about their wealth; again, I stand to be corrected. I think
that one of them can pay the debt of the nation without a
dent in his pocket and still have trillions left in their
foreign accounts for their generations to come. How I hope
that I am wrong! Their children go to the best schools in
the world and it seems as if they are preparing them to take
over the common wealth of this nation as if Nigeria is their
property. Because, many of them bulldozed themselves into
political offices and thereby seemed to institute all sorts
of vices in our polity (stealing, killing, rigging, weapons
and ammunitions of war, terrorism, do-or-die-politics, etc),
is this an illusion? They used the children of the common
man as if they are tools, but sent their children to the
best schools abroad! They continued to use Nigerian youths
to achieve their political ambition of perpetually ruling
this nation by rigging the election. It is like the military
destroyed every working institution when they were in power,
it seemed they are even more determined to destroy it more
as retired officers. We now cry of cultism in our youth,
while the political jobbers use these children as
instruments to take or remain in power.
It is as if the British masters left the arena to give room
for our military task masters. It is like they re-colonized
our country for decades, and it was bad enough for us to
have the foreign masters, what do you say when you think you
are now being lorded over by your own? There was no other
way to think as one saddled to care for the soul of the
masses than that one wished Petroleum was never
discovered/discovered at all when the British were ruling
us. Britain would have never left if oil was discovered,
well, we would have probably ended up like South Africa. May
be we would have been better off than what our own people
did to us, maybe ignorantly. You need to visit South Africa
to appreciate what I am trying to say apartheid or no
apartheid. In South Africa there is uninterrupted power
supply, and constant water supply in the taps is taken for
granted even in rural areas. It is my conviction that the
national heroes who fought for the independence of this
country will be lamenting on how we are languishing in these
self-imposed situation. We are all guilty.
EDUCATION:
When the military ruled the nation, it seemed as if they
made sure that Nigerian schools were closed at will by
ignoring the plight of the teachers and staffs of our
educational systems. They seemed to callously destroy the
education system of Nigeria when they governed this nation
as it appeared that they forcefully took over all private
institutions from missionaries and other well-meaning
Nigerians which then turned to mere institutions producing
half-baked products that cannot compete with their
counterparts in other countries. Most days of the year, the
schools were closed. It took some up to six years to acquire
a degree of four years study because our children spend most
of their days in the streets as area boys and prostitutes
due to what appeared to be visionless closure of the
institutions of higher learning. This is one of the menaces
they left for churches to resolve, especially as the ruling
political party seemed to care less for the plight of the
ordinary citizens. The free primary education which existed
and was well equipped and managed since 1955 in the Western
region was starved of funding after the military took the
system over by decrees, even reasonable basic salary of
teachers were not paid such that the teachers now find other
means to survive. I still like to believe that this damages
were done out of ignorance and these generals have the
opportunity now to prove so by joining hand to correct the
wrong, no one is above mistakes.
When in 1999, the ‘mill-politicians’ took over from the
military; education was the least concern of the Federal
Government at the centre. There was no clear education
policy. The first eight years of the ruling class witnessed
further collapse of the educational system. The coming of
Umaru Yar’dua as President, with his Vice President both of
whom were lecturers themselves was a relief that education
will be taken seriously for a change. That hope was short
lived with the demise of Yar’dua of blessed memories. We are
still hoping, now that the lecturer, who took over from him,
will continue and even improve on the policy they both
installed. It is important to note however, that this
administration just established 6 additional universities in
the country. I do not know whether to give him thumbs up for
that or not, time will tell. The report of the secondary
school leaving certificates in the previous years has been
catastrophic especially this year. I therefore believe very
strongly that a drastic measure needs to be taken to correct
whatever the problems. Also, lately, our people’s president
said this: “The plight of the common man is my priority and
this is the reason why I have ensured that education and
healthcare get the lion's share of the capital allocation in
the 2011 budget…... This is only a beginning as this
administration is committed to doing all within available
resources to ensure the well being of the common man.”
Interesting Mr. President, please put words into action.
It’s unbelievable that AASU is on warning strike as I am
writing this due to the fact that there was an agreement
reached between them and late president Umaru Yar’dua of
which you were his vice president at that time, which had
never been implemented till date. Haba!!! Dr. Goodluck Ebele
Jonathan!!! The new year is supposed to have started .Are
the students going to be left outside in the cold again?
At all levels of education in Nigeria today, teachers must
be identified to teach, but as it was before now, round pegs
were put in square holes and expectedly we had garbage in
garbage out. There are many teachers in the secondary
schools today that cannot construct simple sentences, speak
correct English, can’t even solve simple arithmetical
problems. What kind of students could be the products of
such schools where these teachers are teaching? Mr.
President Sir, please take note, this is the root of the
problem no matter what the UN says, and we live in Nigeria,
put words into action Sir.
AGRICULTURE:
Agriculture with which all the three regions effectively
managed the affairs without support from the Federal
Government, was allowed under the first civilian regime to
seem to be totally collapsed, having been ignored by the
military after Petroleum products were discovered. It
appears that the Petroleum money was shared between them
rather than invested in the Nation or the people. The
civilian elites are not better because they were involved in
the seeming distribution of the common wealth during the
military era, and now it appears that it is pay back to the
military. The civilian Government today appears to be
nothing more than a mere extension of the military
Government. From the day Petroleum was discovered in
Nigeria, agriculture was totally ignored.
When I was growing up, in the Ondo province of the then
western region, cocoa was the major cash crop in the
province. I remember how my father and his peers were
assisted by the Government to have better cocoa products,
providing insecticides to flit cocoa buds so that the
product will be grade A. From this, my father was able to
train all his children in school and do many other things to
better the lot of his family. The government then invested
in the lives of the people and thus helped the people to
live a better life. They also took a lot of burden from the
parents by making education, medical care and etc, free for
an example.
The cocoa was then bought by the regional government and
exported. The money from the cocoa was then invested back to
visible structures that still exist today e.g. The cocoa
house and the premier hotel in Ibadan just to name a few.
It’s a pity that today; it appears that from the orientation
by the military nobody seems to be interested in farming
except the ex-generals themselves and their farming seems to
be doing no good to the nation.
Nigeria used to produce stable foods during the civilian
rule before the military took over like rice, beans, yam,
cassava etc. It is sad to note that all these are now
imported at very high prices that are no longer affordable
to the ordinary Nigerian. Could the military have known this
and still behave the way they did? When cocoa & rubber were
the cash products in the west, palm products was the cash
product in the east and groundnut was the cash product in
the north. These three regions depended and developed their
budgets solely on these cash products. The currency was very
strong, they did not borrow any money and they always had
surpluses at the end of the year for more investments.
It’s a pity that today agriculture seems to be a dirty work
that even students will not want to study agricultural
science not to talk of been a farmer.
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT:
In 1999, after all institutions seemed to be destroyed by
the military, they finally returned to the barracks. They
gave birth to governments of the military in civilian togas
just like wolves in sheep’s clothes. They imposed a document
on the nation which they call constitution with which they
still continue to rule us as if with decrees without law.
Many civil organizations, tribes and ethnicity have been
clamoring for a constitutional conference since 1999 for the
whole nation to agree on how they would want to be ruled. It
beats my imagination that the ruling class continued to
resist this. I sincerely wonder why? I pray our President
will take a bold step like he did during the election to
enable Nigeria to prepare a constitution for all Nigerians.
What will one expect when the first eight years produced an
ex-general as President and another ex-general as the
president of senate after scheming out the civilian that
started it? We now expect better from the People’s
President.
Before we forget, I like to remind everyone that the offence
of the erstwhile Senate President was to have terminated the
third term ambition of his ex-military leader, to perpetuate
himself as the president of Nigeria. The Senate President
blocked that move and plan in the hallowed chambers of the
senate and that gave a chance to these ex-generals to rig
the good and bold Senate president out of office and put
another retired general to do the bidding of his
constituency (the military). It seemed that ours is nothing
but mill-politicians, and only God can deliver Nigeria from
these dictators. They still parade themselves as if they are
the redeemers of this nation. We know better. Can somebody
tell them that Nigeria has had enough of their display of
impunity and wickedness? Our new Mr. President, if you will
succeed and you must, you do not need a God Father,
definitely not a military General. Let God be your father.
LEGISLATURES:
This is a necessary arm of government in practicing true
federalism. But our legislature is a dismal failure in this
regard. I had not seen their effect on the nation since
1999. They have rubber stamped practically whatever the
president brings their way. There has not been any serious
debate on the welfare of people of this Nation since 1999.
The only thing they did and the nation should forever be
grateful was to stop the scheming of the tenure elongation
by the presidency. Thank GOD for the then senate president
who championed that cause but paid dearly for it by loosing
his seat in the primary of his party giving room to an
ex-general who is now the senate president in his place. One
wonders, if under his watch this new move of tenure
elongation by the presidency will succeed!!! One other thing
the senators know how to do very well is to continue to
increase their salaries and allowances. Yet it took forever
to pass the minimum wage of 18,000 naira only per month for
a family man into law. The cost to run this institution in
my opinion is beyond what Nigeria could bear more so when
their constitutional role is not been fulfilled. We read it
in the papers that many of them never show up at sessions
for more than half of the sittings and yet they are paid in
full every month. We read in the print media, of
constituency allowances, a huge constituency allowances to
run offices when they do not even have a room office in
their constituency and do nothing to impact the life of
their people.
I don’t have to mention that with an ordinary headache of
any of their families they run out of the country for care.
We also learnt that when they take their vacations they
change huge sum of foreign money to go out with their
families. The woes are endless and I can not but wonder if
they are not more a liability to the Nation than a
necessity. Will the nation not be better of without these
legislatures? Do we really need them at all? If we do, could
they not just receive pay only for sittings? Shouldn’t they
all reside in their state of origins and only transported
when they have to meet? Should it not be compulsory for our
legislatures to be compelled to use hospitals in their
constituencies? Should these not apply both to federal and
state governments?
RULE OF LAW:
The Presidents and Governors, since these mill-politicians
came in, pick and choose which law to obey. The court of law
just exists on paper as their functions was totally usurped
by the President and the ruling class who appoints the
judges and tell them what to do and say. Where the court
tried to exercise their independence, these ruling class
ignored at will their judgment and lately had began to
remove such Judges to put them out of circulation, a tactics
used so well by the military. This author suffered such
wickedness in their hand and still suffers it till today.
This was the method which the military used effectively to
silence their critics which is now perfected by civilians to
put away everyone they believe stood in their way of
corruption and injustice. With the power of technology which
was not as advanced as it is now when some of us suffered
the same plight; it makes it so easy to deceive the public.
Today they all aspire to own media houses just to launder
their stinking images.
SECURITY:
This perhaps is the greatest challenge of GEJ government.
The effect of the Boko Haram on the nation makes it seems as
if the President does not think or do anything other than
Boko Haram. This is the number one enemy of this President
and the nation as a whole. The way and manner our government
goes about solving this problem makes it seem as if they
have missed it completely. It appears like our Government is
afraid of Boko Haram. Until we handle this matter pro-
actively rather than sit on the defense and let this
terrorist dictate the action and reaction, it only tells the
terrorist that the government is confused.
It is only in Nigeria that the government will ever dream to
negotiate with the enemies who have one goal in mind - to
destroy the innocent people in this nation. Boko Haram is a
terrorist organization. It is the concept that must be
defeated. We need to learn a lesson from the civil war,
Nigeria never negotiated with the rebels, and they call them
by what they were (rebel). Ukpabi Asika became the
Administrator, a civilian, from day one his goal was clear
from his first address: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. He never deviated,
he was determined, and the bloodshed ended. The Pope said of
the Nigerian civil war that it was the first civil war in
the world to end with no victor and no vanquish attitude
from both parties. It was because the goal was clear. To the
Federal Government led by General Gowon, the goal was: ‘TO
KEEP NIGERIA ONE IS A TASK THAT MUST BE DONE” today Nigeria
is one. And to Dr. Ukpabi Asika, a lecturer in the
University of Ibadan, who led the Eastern Region block on
Nigeria side, the goal was clear: ‘ENOUGH IS ENOUGH’ today
no bloodshed or rebels in the nation we are one country. Mr.
President, please take the lead. Let us know your goal. We
can and must win this war. It is a war declared by Boko
Haram. You are the commander in chief. The nation is
waiting. Please stop making us feel that we are defenseless.
THE STATE GOVERNMENT:
Lately and briefly during and after the rule of Umaru
Yar’dua of blessed memories, and also when our current
president was acting as president, some presidents of courts
who dared to overturn the election of the ruling class are
now fighting the battle of their lives to regain their
position and reputation. It will take divine intervention
for them to succeed, I still believe in miracles.
I have never seen any president, not even Umaru Yar’dua, who
proved that he would lead us by the rule of law, that took
such quick steps in the history of this nation to appoint a
replacement to the President of the appeal court despite the
fact that some Lawyers said that the removal was illegal.
Could it be that our president no longer has confidence in
the court?
The Governors, even those who benefited from the rule of
law, now pick and choose what law to obey and which to
ignore! What seems to help their decision is how much they
can gain from it all. Many Governors, even some of them,
whom the court wrestled their stolen mandates back to them
and the Judges that presided over their cases are now paying
dearly for it, rules their people who voted for them as if
they are masters or even as if they are God. All they
believe is making as much money as they can. Governor, you
may fool the people some of the time. The day of reckoning
will soon come. You will reap what you sow.
Many of these Governors begin to emulate the good work of
Governor Fashola (SAN) in Lagos State who is developing
Lagos as a mega city in Africa, because the whole of Lagos
State is practically one big town. If I may add, as someone
who lives in Lagos, we appreciate what our Governor is
doing, that was why we voted for him the second term. The
Lord is your strength Governor Fashola.
Some other Governors began to develop their capital city to
the detriment of other villages and towns in their state.
Many villages have no access roads or any infrastructures;
when and if they need to go to these villages like during
election campaign, these Governors have to go to these
villages with helicopters to campaign (no access roads) they
bought over the oppositions in such villages to silence
them. The opposition who had opportunity to make a
difference could not say much because, they were bought over
and when they rigged themselves to power, they believed, and
rightfully so, that they do not owe the people anything and
did nothing for the people. They do not wish that another
person will do anything either. They enriched their pockets
very well and put their children in every available position
in their local government, state government, and, rewarding
the thugs who killed and maimed opponents to get them to the
high offices as a payback for their services and a way to
retain the thugs’ loyalty to kill and maim more for them
with political offices which they, as illiterates, are not
qualified to hold. If this opposition chooses to fight back
in any instance, it is usually for selfish reasons. And the
irony is, when two elephants fight, it is the grass that
suffers. The masses are always at their mercy. It is hard to
differentiate between these parties because; they cross
carpet from one party to another when they cannot get what
they want in the first party. These governors have one goal
in seeking office: to get all they can from the common
wealth.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT:
Funny enough, I do not understand too much the politics of
the local Government because it works well in my local area.
I am so pleased that I just cooperate with the Yaba Local
Development Council where they need me. If you know what we
were before the council began to operate, you will
appreciate what I am trying to say. The only thing I like to
say here as regards local governments is that whatever needs
to be done for the Local Government to have the legal
backing and the fund to do what they have to do should be
given to them. Mr. President, it seems the ruling class will
oppose this with their last blood because they will never
approve anything that will benefit the people, please for
God’s sake, and because Lagos people despite all odds voted
for you, do everything you can to get necessary funds for
the Local councils. It seems as if the legislatures are
blocking the creation of more developmental councils so they
won’t release money to develop the communities. Is it so
that they can have more money to distribute for themselves?
Many things which the state would not have been able to
notice are done in my area council of Yaba; even neglected
areas like Makoko are now noticeable because the local
council had pointed a touch light to them. A slum is now
enjoying great facilities like water, electricity, school,
recreation centers etc.
I implore all States especially Ondo State to emulate Lagos
in this regard and take the government closer to the people
who are totally neglected now. Create developmental councils
and make money available for developments pending the time
the federal Government will realize that our common wealth
is meant for the people and not them and their families
alone. This is what Lagos did, it is working. Do likewise
for the sake of the people.
THE MEDICAL SYSTEM:
The medical system collapsed just like the educational and
all other working systems during the military era in
Nigeria. It seems to be one of the hallmark and legacy that
the military left behind – death of every working
institution. One of the reasons why people do not live long
in Nigeria is because of inadequate medical system. The
missionary hospitals were taken over like schools and it
appeared that what the military did was to ignore it to a
level where all the hospitals became mortuaries. It got to a
level when all qualified doctors migrated to other nation’s
even Saudi Arabia in protest so they will not remain to man
death traps called hospitals without equipments and
medicines. It is sad that the head or at least the assistant
of most special medical establishments and institutions in
the world are Nigerians. This does not bother any ruling
class in Nigeria today because, however minor the sicknesses
even mere head ache, they fly abroad where they had piled
looted money to cater for themselves and their families for
ever.
A few private hospitals that are equipped with minimal stuff
(equipment & medication) are not affordable to the common
man. Only staffs of Government and private establishments
like banks, and factories (many that are folding up because
of CBN policies) can go there as their establishment will
pay for it. The present CBN authority seems yet to reconcile
themselves from religion and their constitutional role to
manage the money policies of this nation to reduce or remove
hardship and poverty.
The common man is at the mercy of quark doctors who never
saw the wall of the University not to talk of medical
schools. This made the country a fertile ground for expired
medicines that were earmarked to be disposed in developing
countries. These were smuggled to the country as poison to
sick people. Who can question the Indians and their
accomplices in Nigeria for murder? These very corrupt
foreigners cooperate with government officials, operating
licenses to import goods without paying proper duty. Robbers
in Jeeps! Professor Dora Akiyuli who was once NAFDAC’s
Director General had been put away by the government to
enable them to accomplish their task. The death of these
helpless citizens continues because those in charge have
turned their eyes the other way.
Just the other day, as I drove into the general hospital in
Ikeja, Lagos, and a man who identified himself as an
ex-soldier was begging for money on the streets because his
wife needed surgery and he had to buy some medication. What
is the worth of a federal government who will not cater for
the family of a soldier who once made the ultimate sacrifice
for his nation!! In America, there are Veterans hospitals
dedicated to the care of their ex-military officers. I do
not have to say that those hospitals are well equipped and
are free for these veterans and their families!
Is this not wickedness to ex-soldiers? Why should we expect
better from our mill-civilian government? Most Nigerians
have resorted to self-medication because the common man can
not afford the cost to go to the private hospitals and the
Public Hospitals have no medication either. Going there
amounts to waste of valuable time in an emergency, so help
us GOD. Could it help the nation to improve on the medical
facilities if these mill-politicians and their families are
barred from going abroad for any treatment?
HMO:
There are some health insurance schemes (HMO) which is only
affordable by the rich and so private individuals cannot tap
into the scheme. Recently, we tried to work with some of
these HMOs to find ways to lower their cost so the common
people can afford it; our efforts were rebuffed because
their interest is to make as much money as possible. Why
worry yourself about common people when the government sees
HMOs as a way out of equipping the hospitals. Even the
hospitals used by these HMOs were substandard hospitals
though they have nurses and doctors in offices and
factories, it’s just for emergency cases, they still have to
transfer serious illnesses to hospitals which are
ill-equipped. Who can save the common man?
HIGH WAYS:
Nigerian roads are nothing but death traps. The roads were
so neglected by the government that a journey of one hour
takes four hours sometimes when it is fast. At times, it can
take more than twelve hours to a whole day to make three
hundred kilometers journey. The roads are that bad. As if
the bad roads are not enough, the police post in every
kilometer is designed to extort money with inadequate
remuneration as their unwholesome excuse.
States like Lagos State who try to develop and improve the
roads around them are frustrated by the Federal Government
with litigations and accusations. I wonder when the ruling
class will allow us to survive. Lagos State is used to
existing without the Federal Government so what is the
problem here? The number of people dying from road accidents
is more than those dying from natural deaths annually.
The Road Safety Corps, which began during the regime of the
military president Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB), was a
very noble concept. One hopes that they can continue to
pursue the concept with which they were created, which is to
make the Nigerian roads safer for travelers. They were very
effective at the beginning when Professor Wole Soyinka was
appointed by IBB to lead the noble institution. Other
governments that followed him failed to continue the good
job.
Today, vehicles can break down for days on the highways
unnoticed, dead human bodies can lie on the road as if is a
rat with nobody giving attention to it, drivers (most of
them without license) could be reckless to any speed they
desire with impunity, portholes can remain for years
unattended to, and etc. It was not so when the Road Safety
Corps was first created. These were things that the Road
Safety Corps will attend to immediately when it first
started. It’s a pity that the Road Safety Corps now will
take bribe and look the other way no matter the offence of
the drivers.
It is only in Nigeria that the toll fees were eliminated
without a substitute to take care of the roads. Nigerian
roads become a den of thieves due to portholes and
deliberate check points of police to facilitate robberies.
The lepers and other beggars use the unavoidable slow down
at big portholes to turn the highways to beg for alms while
the hawkers find a market for their goods. When will the
government pay any attention to these menaces? When will the
government attempt to repair our roads? In America, when
going out in the morning if you see a small dent on the
road, returning on the same route the following day, that
dent will be gone, no wonder they have no portholes like we
do. Can’t we learn a lesson from this in maintaining these
roads? I bet it will be much cheaper than waiting for it to
turn into a menace.
CORRUPTION:
Corruption is the means where everyone makes money to
survive daily in Nigeria because the Government does not
care about the common person. Corruption is every where.
Even in churches, you want something done; everyone wants to
make money from it. At the end of the day, you get so little
for so much, any attempt to get to the root to find out the
real cost is frustrated by all and before you know it,
you’ll be blackmailed.
It is not only the police that is corrupt in Nigeria, every
place you go; you will have to pay for your access. Bribery
is like a toll which you pay to pass from one place to
another either in private or public establishments. It had
eaten deep into the fabrics of the Nigerian nation and is
now seen as the only means of survival by many. I once
challenged a high ranking police officer in my office and he
made me realize that the salary of the police is the same
scale with that of the civil servants. Nobody can survive
with family on such salary he said; we need to survive and
we can not steal! When I told him that the open demand for
money on the road and other places is stealing, he told me
“man must survive.”
We remember recently how a former IGP was sent to jail for
embezzling huge sums of Naira, which ought to have been used
to pay police adequate salary, should it not? If I may cry
out loud, how can you put police on Government salary scale
when that scale was given to enable the civil servant help
themselves from the common wealth? Police should be on the
same salary scale and benefits as their army counterparts,
shouldn’t they?
This reminds me of an experience I had in a motor park at
Akure the capital of Ondo State of Nigeria. The vehicle was
full after about thirty minutes waiting, the money was
collected in advance from all the seven passengers. When we
wanted to start the journey to Lagos, all who had assisted
the driver to seek passengers to the vehicle began to demand
for pay back from our driver. It was tough negotiating with
individuals about five of them. After which he took us
somewhere and packed for about twenty minutes trying to
settle the chairman of the union. When he came out he was
furious and angry. When we inquired what the matter was, he
told us he had paid most of the money he collected from us
and nothing much left and he must deliver to the owner of
the vehicle at the end of the day. He also paid from what he
had left at several police posts as we went. We paid double
the normal price but he spent more than half settling
everybody before he could start the journey. Our vehicle
later broke down on the way, and this man was unable to come
up with enough money to enable us continue the journey. Four
of us had to forgo our refund to enable him give others
enough money to get to Ibadan, yet we were more than half
way to Ibadan. I delivered a little sermon to him and
everyone there before I boarded another vehicle: “let
Nigerians look and learn from the nations in the Middle
East, and south of Sahara. Should such revolt going on in
Middle East now happen in Nigeria, it will affect every
establishment in Nigeria not the government alone.” One day
Nigerians will be fed up with corruption and bribery enough
to take laws into their hands like it happened in Egypt and
going on in other Middle East countries, including Libya
recently.
The task of eradicating corruption had never been taken
seriously by any Government. This was misunderstood by many
to mean indiscipline. This made some innocent citizens to be
misled to endorse a presidential candidate in the last
election based on his previous work on indiscipline when he
was a dictator. A war against anything which has no regard
for the rule of law and due process is not a war against
corruption. Could this mean that is all we can get if we
ever have a military General to rule this country again? No
matter under what guise they come, even if an angel is
deceived to be their running mate, I think a leopard cannot
change its color. After all, Lucifer was the morning star
before he became a fallen angel. Every Christian must
continue to pray for everyone who had been blindfolded by
the lies of the devil concerning the war against corruption
in this country. It is our necessary duty. We owe this duty
to our God, man, and this nation.
We must all join hands to pray for this nation and our
president, our governors and everyone in authority. Prayer
alone can not do it. I heard the President passionately
plead for the prayers of Christians last Sunday (25th of
September, 2011). Mr. President, this is our necessary duty
as Christians, believe me, we shall not fail. What we want
from you as our commander in chief is to be more forthcoming
as to how you plan to win this war. It will help us to pray
for you with understanding and not amiss. Prayer alone is
not enough to win the war. It is true that David defeated
Goliath, yes by faith but he fought with Goliath with staff
and stone on the fore head of Goliath. He went head on, face
to face and fought Goliath. He articulated his plan, refused
even to use weapons he had not being proven with for the
war. That was why he won. We do not expect you to go to the
war front like Pharaoh or the King of Syria Sir, no! No!!
No!!! No!!!! The commander in Chief is not a soldier, but a
civilian. He must lead and others will follow. The soldier
is a man of authority and therefore they should know how to
subject themselves to authority. You may delegate this
authority but the bulk stops on your desk.
You must win the battle against corruption, terrorism,
poverty, injustice and every other war. Let me remind you of
a weapon you once used against your opponents during the
election effectively. It was ‘the door to door neighborhood
campaign group’. That strategy will win any war, not only an
election. Remember David used the weapon he knows best. Do
not leave this battle to anyone to lead, take over the lead
Mr. President. We are waiting. I want to assure you that we
shall never fail to pray for you. I promise you we shall
pray, but FAITH without WORKS is dead. Destiny is on your
side. You shall win. Best wishes dear Mr. President.
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, NIGERIA.
Published
October 1st, 2011
