A friend was discussing the huge number out of school children in Nigeria today, so I asked him how many of those kids are from his state, he didn't know. I asked him to name the commissioner for Education is in his state - no response.
I asked him if he knows the amount that was budgeted for Education in his state, no response. I asked him if he is aware that primary education is under the purview of his LG and there are local Govrnment Education Authorities in each LG, no response.
The LGEAs are meant to drive primary education in Nigeria but this has been taken over by SUBEB in most states because the LGs are in a sorry state.
Every parent and every child is from a LG, if the LG is alive to its responsibilities, every child will be in school.
We can't continue to focus on the centre and leave out our immediate communities. The states and LG have larger roles to play, the huge number of out of school children is primarily an indictment on the LGs and States not the FG.
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One day I was travelling from Ondo to Ilorin, I drove through Ado Ekiti, then the expressway outwards Ado was under construction, a stone hit my radiator and it started leaking. I didn't know until I got to a village between Ekiti and Ilorin. A proper village with mud houses
Sheep and goats etc. Car temperature was on red. I started looking for glue and bags or "pure water" to top up. In this village I saw a small shop, it was owned by an Igbo guy. In my mind, I was like, how on earth will an Igbo guy, not yoruba not Ekiti choose to stay here..
The guy had been living there for years. He moved from Ado to start his business in the village. A village with no light, water or any form of recreation. I got the shocker of my life when I went to my own village and realised that the popular chemist was owned by an Igbo guy.
You have constantly voted for PDP, the party that was in power for 16 years. Who treated you badly, PDP? GEJ? Have you scrutinised your governors as well? When did the bad treatment start? Why didn't you call for a referendum during GEJ or when Igbo men led the senate and HOR?
Has Nigeria denied any state in the south East state and LG allocation? The Igbos have be Vice president, senate president, Speaker of HOR, COAS, Minister of power, minister of health, Minister of Labour, Minister of finance, Minister of Transportation.
The Igbos have held top positions in Nigeria and when an Igbo man contested for vice president and president, twice you didn't vote for them. You embarrassed them in their polling units by voting for someone else. Who is treating you unfairly? Has Nigeria denied you any right?
How did you measure the energy? I have friends in the frontline, I have a friend who has been fighting in the dangerous forests of Zamfara and Katsina for months. He barely sleeps, no day passes without him facing killers and bandits. Do you think they are sharing biscuits there?
Do you have any military personnel in your family fighting bandits? If you need to hear stories, I can link you up with so many infantry men. You can equally take a visit to the forests in Birin Gwari and have a chat with the soldiers there.
When the president said anyone caught with AK 47 should be shot dead. How high was the energy? 4 policemen were killed in Odi, Obasanjo wiped out the town. Unknown gun men have killed policemen, Navy officers, military, burnt down police stations, immigration offices, Inec
The UEFA Cup final reminds me of an experience I had at UITH. I was at the emergency that night around 11pm when some guys strolled in. One of them said, "doctor something bite me for leg". They were walking from a viewing centre back to their hostel at Kwara Poly.
His friends kept on insisting that nothing was wrong with him and that it was a piece of wood that scratched his leg. They said he was high, cos he had been drinking Alomo at the viewing centre. I brought on my "continuation sheet" and wrote somethings down.
After some minutes he told me he wanted to leave because his friends were getting restless. My church mind said "keep the guy under observation" but the A/E wasn't a comfortable place to keep someone who appeared to be fine. I asked him to seat beside the consulting table
There is no universal standard definition of unemployment. Various countries adopt different methodology. Nigeria uses 40+ hours per week for employed persons, 20 - 29 hrs as underemployed and < 20 hrs per week as unemployed. Ghana uses 1hr per week to categorise employment
Unemployment is not synonymous with Job losses. The major drivers of the unemployment rate in Nigeria are high birth rate and population growth. 7m babies are born each year in Nigeria, those born in year 2005 are now 16 yrs . They have moved into the Labour force as unemployed
Now compare the birth rate of Ghana vs Nigeria. Nigeria has one of the highest birth rate in the world. Ghana has a population of 31m, it will take Nigeria less than 7 years to give birth to the entire population of Ghana with under 5 mortality and death rate.
This is a message from my Town association. It's a rural community with no police presence. We need to contribute money for a patrol vehicle. We will also build a police post. The FG sends total strangers to my town as policemen, officers who don't care about the people.
2 policemen, total strangers to police a town of about 6000 people. The policemen have nothing to lose, it is not their land. They aren't responsive and they are never available. They keep giving the people excuses. They extort the people as well..
What is the essence of this FG police force if my community is left vulnerable and the people can't farm to make a living.
The marble and other mineral resources in the town is wasting away. The FG took their resources can't protect them and won't allow them protect themselves.