• Main News
  • About Us
  • Contact
Premium Times Opinion
Monday, August 15, 2022
  • Home
  • Democracy and Governance
    • Bámidélé Upfront
    • Jibrin Ibrahim
    • Okey Ndibe
  • Economy
    • Ifeanyi Uddin
  • Issues of the Day
    • Adeolu Ademoyo
    • Aribisala on Tuesday
    • Dele Agekameh
    • Pius Adesanmi
  • Politics
    • Ebeneezer Obadare
    • Femi Fani-Kayode
    • Garba Shehu
    • Hannatu Musawa
    • Zainab Suleiman Okino
  • Guest Columns
  • Faith
    • Article of Faith
    • Sunday Ogidigbo
    • Friday Sermon
    • Elevated Sight
  • Home
  • Democracy and Governance
    • Bámidélé Upfront
    • Jibrin Ibrahim
    • Okey Ndibe
  • Economy
    • Ifeanyi Uddin
  • Issues of the Day
    • Adeolu Ademoyo
    • Aribisala on Tuesday
    • Dele Agekameh
    • Pius Adesanmi
  • Politics
    • Ebeneezer Obadare
    • Femi Fani-Kayode
    • Garba Shehu
    • Hannatu Musawa
    • Zainab Suleiman Okino
  • Guest Columns
  • Faith
    • Article of Faith
    • Sunday Ogidigbo
    • Friday Sermon
    • Elevated Sight
No Result
View All Result
Premium Times Opinion
Home Opinion

The Future of the Niger Area after 57 years, By Owei Lakemfa

by Premium Times
October 2, 2017
Reading Time: 5 mins read
0

Nigeria-map

For tens of millions of our youth, hunger and poverty are obstacles to which they are too weak, and have no hope of crossing; of all human rights, the right to life is the most fundamental, followed by food; a country like ours that makes hunger seem like a fundamental human right, cannot have a bright future.


Nigeria was fifty seven on Sunday October 1 and all my thoughts were about her future; the future of her children to whom tomorrow should belong. I was to be jolted by news that Akwa Ibom, one of the 36 states, is to shut-down about 800 illegal schools. That is the level to which we have abandoned our children – driving them to illegal schools where they pay fees, because the legal public schools are worse! Once we abandon our children to the sharks of the private sector, the only conclusion is that the country has been well mismanaged.

Tragically, Section 18(3) of our constitution, which states that government should provide free, compulsory and universal primary education; free secondary and university education; and free adult literacy programme, are not justiciable. They are to be provided only “as and when practicable”. The annual constitutional amendment rituals do not concern themselves with such fundamentals; they are about palliatives.

Lanrewaju Adepoju, 77, is perhaps the best Yoruba traditional “Ewi” poet. For decades, he thrilled millions and was sometimes a torn in the flesh of dictatorship. Recently, I received a message; he is going blind and needs N7 Million to restore his sight in India. Apart from his tremendous contributions to culture, education and enlightenment, Adepoju is also a cultural ambassador. However, contrary to the constitution that the aged should not suffer moral or material neglect, millions of Adepojus are abandoned to their fate. He needs to go to India, the same country that until the 1970s, we were told had inferior education standards!

When I was a boy, I visited a relative at the Island Maternity, Lagos, who had just undergone a fibroid surgery. I was amazed that the large ward was only for patients of uterine fibroid. Today, the situation is far worse, as about 40 percent of our daughters and women suffer from fibroid and are abandoned to their fate. We lost one of our best writers, May Ellen Ezekiel to fibroid. Even a daughter of a former president suffered severely from it, yet, we do not invest to find a cure. Since, like Sickle Cell, it is primarily a Black disease, the urge of the White race to research into it is not as urgent as other diseases like HIV/AIDS.

In 1982, I journeyed to the North, and at an eatery, I left my food for some seconds to get water, and it disappeared! Then I saw half a dozen children struggling for the contents of my half eaten meal. I was told it was a costly mistake to leave your food for even a second as the hungry would assume you are full, and given the stiff competition, there was no room to ask if you have had your fill. I told myself that we have abandoned our children and other forces will harness them. Any reason why we should be alarmed that our country is wracked by violent crimes and quit orders? The main attraction of Boko Haram was not religion; the founders provided at least one meal daily for adherents. Hungry youth who have no hope of the future, simply flooded to the group.

It is the same logic that propels youth across the country to be thugs and canon fodders for politicians, some of who even provide them arms. For tens of millions of our youth, hunger and poverty are obstacles to which they are too weak, and have no hope of crossing; of all human rights, the right to life is the most fundamental, followed by food; a country like ours that makes hunger seem like a fundamental human right, cannot have a bright future. Yet our constitution provides in Section 16,2(C) that “The State shall direct its policy towards ensuring: that suitable and adequate shelter, suitable and adequate food, reasonable national minimum living wage, old age care and pensions, and unemployment, sick benefits and welfare of the disabled are provided for all citizens.”

On Wednesday September 27, the amiable Edo State governor, His Excellency Godwin Obaseki visited the Benin Airport. There, he promised to come to the aid of the federal government to expand and up-grade the airport in order to boost economic activities in the state. If the Edo people were to have a say in governance, I am sure they will tell Obaseki that the airport should not be a priority when there are virtually no motor-able inter-state roads, especially from Auchi to Benin. In case he does not know, they will inform him that the road network from Okpella has collapsed and that those travelling to Benin after maneuvering to Auchi now make a detour to Iyaro (Iviabro) to Afuze on to Iruekpen through Sabongida Ora. If he were to argue that the collapsed highway is a federal not a state road, they can explain to him that the airport is also federal. In any case, the state roads are in a similar state, with the university town of Ekpoma virtually cut off when it rains. They can explain that economic activities will be better enhanced by repairing the town roads which will enable the people move farm produce rather than expending funds on an airport. They will let him know that it is better to invest on the roads which will benefit the vast majority than the airport used by a tiny few.

In the same vein, if the people have a say, they are likely to explain to my brother, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), the honourable minister of Power, Works and Housing that erecting tollgates on death traps called roads, cannot be a wise decision. They will remind him that his gamble in the Chevron Tollgate on the Lekki-Epe Expressway when he was the popular governor of Lagos State, has not paid off as the masses still refuse to pay the toll. It can also be whispered into his ears that the tollgate he erected at the Lekki-Ikoyi Bridge remains an inconclusive battle as the people won the first round with Justice Seidu declaring it illegal.

They will remind him that there were tollgates across the country before they were destroyed by the Obasanjo administration because the toll was built into the very high fuel prices the citizens have to pay. Before the tollgates were removed they, like the oil wells, they were political patronage distributed to individuals who milked the people dry. If only the people have a say, they will explain that they do not want a return to the past. In April 2017, I travelled extensively in China by road through quite smooth highways; sometimes for four straight hours, without any tollgate. We can emulate good examples and not stick to a mindset. Happy 57th Independence.

Owei Lakemfa, former Secretary General of African Workers is a Human Rights activist, journalist and author.

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • More
  • Pocket
  • Share on Tumblr

Related

Previous Post

Important Tips On How to Be Happy In Life, By Murtadha Gusau

Next Post

Nigeria Still Sitting On Its Hands: Electric Vehicles As A Threat To Oil, By Bámidélé Adémólá-Olátéjú

Related Posts

Zamfara Gold As Commonwealth, By Zailani Bappa
Opinion

Sheikh Gumi, Governor Matawalle and the Sands of Time, By Zailani Bappa

February 2, 2021
June 12 As Democracy Day Needs To Be Reconsidered, By Bashir Tofa
Opinion

The Need To Act Now To Stop the Ethnic Conflagration!, By Bashir Othman Tofa

February 2, 2021
Kofi Annan: In Service of the World, By Ejeviome Eloho Otobo & Oseloka H. Obaze
Opinion

Biden’s Likely Policy Orientation Toward Africa, By Ejeviome E. Otobo and Oseloka H. Obaze

February 2, 2021
Agenda for ‘Born Again’ JAMB and TETFUND, By Tunde Musibau Akanni
Opinion

Oyeweso, A Celebrated Historian, Ascends the Sixth Floor, By Tunde Akanni

February 2, 2021
Before Nigeria Burns, By Akin Fadeyi
Opinion

Is President Buhari Presiding Over the Last United Nigeria?, By Akin Fadeyi

February 2, 2021
On A Soyinka Prize In ‘Illiteracy’, By Biko Agozino
Opinion

Obasanjo: Only Those Who Did Not Do Well Went Into the Military, By Biko Agozino

February 1, 2021
Next Post
Emir Sanusi, This Is How You Can Help The North, By Bámidélé Adémólá-Olátéjú

Nigeria Still Sitting On Its Hands: Electric Vehicles As A Threat To Oil, By Bámidélé Adémólá-Olátéjú

Ambode’s Destiny of Distinctions and LASU, By Tunde Akanni

Ambode's Destiny of Distinctions and LASU, By Tunde Akanni

Editorial

  • EDITORIAL: The Urgency of Tackling Nigeria’s Second Wave of COVID-19

    EDITORIAL: The Urgency of Tackling Nigeria’s Second Wave of COVID-19

  • EDITORIAL: Unearthing the Cogent Lessons In the NESG-CBN Economic Policy Imbroglio

    EDITORIAL: Unearthing the Cogent Lessons In the NESG-CBN Economic Policy Imbroglio

  • EDITORIAL: COVID-19: Calling On Nigeria’s Billionaires and Religious Leaders To Step Up

    EDITORIAL: COVID-19: Calling On Nigeria’s Billionaires and Religious Leaders To Step Up

  • EDITORIAL: Bichi Must Go; Buhari Must Halt Slide Into Despotism

    EDITORIAL: Bichi Must Go; Buhari Must Halt Slide Into Despotism

  • EDITORIAL: The Flaws In Governor Emefiele’s Five-Year Plan For Central Bank of Nigeria

    EDITORIAL: The Flaws In Governor Emefiele’s Five-Year Plan For Central Bank of Nigeria

Subscribe to our Opinion articles via email

Enter your email address to get notifications of new opinion articles as they are published.

Join 526,543 other subscribers

Most Popular

  • Are We All Biafrans?, By Abdul Mahmud
    Are We All Biafrans?, By Abdul Mahmud
  • The Bad Consequences and Dangers of Adultery and Fornication (Zina) In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
    The Bad Consequences and Dangers of Adultery and Fornication (Zina) In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
  • Islam and the Conditions For Marrying More Than One Wife, By Murtadha Gusau
    Islam and the Conditions For Marrying More Than One Wife, By Murtadha Gusau
  • World Teachers Day and The Position of Teachers In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
    World Teachers Day and The Position of Teachers In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
  • The Qualities of a Good Leader In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
    The Qualities of a Good Leader In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
  • The Women Prohibited For Men To Marry In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
    The Women Prohibited For Men To Marry In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
  • You Will Be Held Responsible On What Happened To Your Children!, By Murtadha Gusau
    You Will Be Held Responsible On What Happened To Your Children!, By Murtadha Gusau

Like us on Facebook

Like us on Facebook

Podcasts

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

  • Main News
  • About Us
  • Contact

© 2022 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Democracy and Governance
    • Bámidélé Upfront
    • Jibrin Ibrahim
    • Okey Ndibe
  • Economy
    • Ifeanyi Uddin
  • Issues of the Day
    • Adeolu Ademoyo
    • Aribisala on Tuesday
    • Dele Agekameh
    • Pius Adesanmi
  • Politics
    • Ebeneezer Obadare
    • Femi Fani-Kayode
    • Garba Shehu
    • Hannatu Musawa
    • Zainab Suleiman Okino
  • Guest Columns
  • Faith
    • Article of Faith
    • Sunday Ogidigbo
    • Friday Sermon
    • Elevated Sight

© 2022 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
 

Loading Comments...