Article published in The Nation Newspaper
31/03/2010
The problems facing government are myriad but the first is the execution of a power plan to provide 100,000Mw, yes 100,000Mw of power BY WHATEVER MEANS NECESSARY urgently. Power, electric, is a more important crisis than the intractable political crisis. Put a million Nigerians to work on power. The myriad problems are mostly created by the corruption and incompetence and ethnic overcentralising and selfishness of the serpentine Association of Self-serving Past Presidents-ASP, civil servants and recycled political lackeys supporting AGIP-Any Government In Power- politicians consumed with irrational greed and self importance. Are emergency 24 hour work, triple shifts, mass recruitment by contractors targetted at improved infrastructure are necessary, exactly like the River Niger Dredging Contract divided into five are beyond their Intelligence Quotient, IQ, capacity? We can recreate Nigeria but not with these people in power. This must be undertaken now, so that before the fireworks of the 50 year celebrations being planned expensively take off, we have in place- a war on potholes, motorable major roads, some local rail, power supply, new activities towards a free and fair election. Oct !st 2010 must be a power-full day-‘no outage or there will be outrage’. The J-L J Acting Presidency must commence the decentralisation of government in several areas including rail. We must decentralise government to survive together –paradoxically but true. A good railway company can multitask with 10,000 employees and lay 1,000km of new track in 6 months.
Mass 75-98.2% failures in our examinations; mass murder in Jos and Abakaliki; okada mayhem putting thousands in graves and hospitals; so-called ‘mission’ maternities killing women; after a series of rape cases, students in a girls school irresponsibly without a fence around it, find a naked man in their toilet and lynch him; 42 children and teachers killed in an excursion accident; dynasty and inheritance issues in the government suggest politics is a monarchy in Nigeria; No government official publically fighting ‘The National N20-50 Checkpoint Bribery Issue’; Nigerian markets catch fire with disasterous regular with loss of 1000s of shops and billions but abysmal fire preparedness costing a few tens of millions of naira and providing jobs; the killing of escorts and drivers during kidnappings and robberies. All these point to ‘an end of reason’ in our society.
Will we ever learn and change our ways and fight the fire before it starts with adeqate equipment and wider access and clear separating roads inside markets to reduce occurance and spread of fires? Fire fighting is a science not a game. We should prepare but we just repair preventable damage –badly.
The issues in our markets go beyond traders associations electing heads. Our large city markets need to meet new international standards in layout and parking, access for goods and humans, hygeine, sanitation, toilet facilites and waste management, water supply, fire prevention and security. These are all professional areas needing multiple skills and special training. We must free our markets from by ‘petty traders’ blocking every access and walkway and free the walkways. Market fires spread in markets irresponsibly lacking properly trained professional fire prevention activities and facilities.
There is an urgent need for a cadre from Polytechnics and Universities called ‘Market Managers’ who can be employed by markets and be held accountable for structural and service failures like fires, sanitation lapses, inadequate emergency transport assess without enough firefighting equipment and strategies receiving maximum government support.
Why are drivers and security staff killed during the kidnapping for ransom. This suggests the driver and security personnel are ‘unimportant, cheap and expendable’ and ‘of little consequence’. But we are all human beings equal in the sight of God. Their lives should not be ‘worth less than that of others’ or ‘no consequence’. We have started to mimic others with car bombs in addition to violent attacks. Accidentally-on-purpose discharge, stray bullets and checkpoint corruption and now checkpoint murder for ‘refusing to join in corruption’ with the N20 or N50 demands are on the rise. Last week four butchers were murdered at a checkpoint because their driver refused paying N20 ie N5/death. It could have been you or me. Life is so cheap and the Police officer explaining the murders never apologised or ordered police to stop demanding N20, but only said vehicles should stop at checkpoints perhaps to ‘obey and pay before complaint’?
We now say ‘only two deaths’, ‘only two bombs’ and ‘just one baby’ as if life and death are so inconsequential. The Jos police figure of ‘only 153 bodies’ is insensitive and wrong.
This wealth is wrong. Recently abroad a £56million rollover lottery ticket was won by a family of two. Is this justice? Why not give 56 winners £Im each? Why not give 560 ticket holders £100,000 each? Why not use the old method and pick the winner from actual ticket numbers sold? Having rolling balls coming up with numbers that have not been bought may be rules but cannot be justice. This mega wealth is wrong morally, ethically and socially. Today another winner has £40million. Spread wealth around the community. Nigerian lotteries, please do not follow this ‘roll over’ trend. Lotteries need multiple modest winners.
The newspaper ‘Happy birthday’ for the Speaker, Youth Parliament is irresponsible, copying bad elders. The ‘friends’ should concentrate on constructive critisism. Where did ‘youth’ find N300,000? CountdowNigeria@50- 169 demands an end to shameful police checkpoint murder and N20 bribery from now for an honest 1-10-2010.