Champions are champions because they are criticized.
No matter what others say about you, always remember that you are going to stand before God alone and give an account of what you did with your life on earth so never allow the criticism of others to keep you from being in God's perfect will for ur life.
Remember, David was criticized heavily just before he killed Goliath- 1st Sam17v28. You cant please everyone! Tryin to please everyone is a great curse- Luke6v26.
No wonder Elbert Hubbard said "2 avoid criticism, do notin, say notin, b notin" & "d man who is anybody and who does anything is surely goin 2b criticized, vilified, and misundastood. This is part of the penalty 4 greatness".
U've dared to be great, dare to expect criticism and dare to stay in God's will!A successful person is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks the others throw at him or her- David Brinkley.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
The door seems closed, what next?
World organizations like the UN, WHO, IMF e.t.c rate Africa as having the highest number of povertyrate and low income. In fact Nigeria is rated as having most of its citizens living below an average of$1 per day. Looking at the embezzlement that occurs in government and the lavish spending of therich & famous, one would want to doubt the truth of such report, but when you get out of your carand walk along with the common man then you would find out things you would have neverbelieved.A common situation graduates in Nigeria find themselves is the search of a job that is not there or atleast for few compared to the number of graduates released into the economy yearly. After so manyfruitless searches, they feel the door is closed and only open for the few with the right influence.Every human has the right to good health, food, water and shelter and should not be viewed as aprivilege to few.It is rather a shameful situation for political aspirants of this century of ours, to still be stating intheir manifesto that they would give good roads, water, food and health to the citizenry. They haveinfluenced the society to believe it is a privilege they should be grateful for when it is provided tothem. Rather those social amenities should be the first major concern of every government todevelop and maintain them for economic development. In this century we should be havingpolitical leaders talk about the policies they would implement when they get in the office. Thepractice of politics without principle is a direction towards destruction of a society.Although, 52% of the Nigeria population falls within the active age of 15-64 which is regarded asthe working or productive age in an economy which is a very good advantage to Nigeria but theleaders have not put in place adequate and functional policies to make use of such labouradvantage. If Australia has such an age distribution it would have grown faster than its present rateand would not be requiring the need of skilled labour from around the world.Conclusively, the door may seem closed but the main issue is that hope has simply been lost. Weneed to reengineer our focus towards building our society. By focusing on developing our societywe would be able to achieve individual goals. When people come together with a common voicethose doors could be crashed and various opportunities will emerge for everyone to grab and makeuse of. Gone are those days when one man does it all, these days we need to leverage on the powerof team. Like it is said “No sacrifice No Victory”, we need to sacrifice something to get something.What we sacrifice depends on how important is what we want in return.
Youths: The ushers of a new era
It is sad these days as some youths are not willing to play active parts in decision making process (e.g. politics) andare mostly used as tools for distraction and destructions to successive development of the society. This is incontras to the actual purpose of youth in the society which is to act as; the driver of change in the society,originator of fresh ideas, the voice of the next generation, the caretaker of the elders.However, youths in recent times have lost their focus in building today because they are restlessly pursuing withgreed the rewards of the future. Forgetting that the present is a gift to youths, so that they may prepare a solidtomorrow for the next generation to build a proper future. Many great men achieved their greatness while in theiryouthful age or at least vision it.The story of Sir Isaac Newton is a typical example of a young man who was on holiday at his grandmother’scountry home, fell asleep under an apple tree. Only to be waken up by a fallen apple that made him ask thequestion that changed his life and humanity in general “Why did the apple fall down?” that question broughtabout him researching and developing the Law of gravity as a basic principle for scientists.At the Age of 27 Alexandra the Great had conquered more than half of the world thereby expanding the RomanEmpire. He became the Caesar at the age of 21 and led his army into various battles, despite protest fromdifferent quarters that there was too much battles fought.Nelson Mandela of South Africa, was in a tender age of 34 when he led prominently in the ANP‘s 1952 DefianceCampaign which was part of the basis that lead to the anti-apartheid cause. He was a fighter for the freedom ofAfricans; even in the face of death he stood his ground.The story will be remembered of the great Chief Obafemi Awolowo of Nigeria, who at 41 founded a formidableparty (Action Group) in 1950 which was a strong frontier for the Yoruba race. He will be remembered for his use ofpolitical principles to fight for and rule his people as the premiere.Youths have demonstrated in history that overcoming obstacles to achieve worthwhile goals gives our livesmeaning and provides satisfaction. Those youths that challenge the norm and seek the best for their people andhumanity in general have had their names passed down the history lane.We should ask ourselves, what path are we leaving for the next generation behind us to tread? Or are we just goingto sit and wait for a dream that as never been put into action come to reality? The answer to these lies in our veryattitude towards the environment we live in. We need to stand up for the change and get involved in the movementof change towards our dream nation.A Chinese proverb says “A Wiseman makes his own decisions; an ignorant man follows public opinion”.
MY AGENDA (TIME FOR LIBERATION)
A. Educational System Overhaul
Obviously, we all know the power and effect of an educated mind. Nigeria of present can be said not to give qualitative education anymore but just compulsory education. A nation that sees the need to build its younger generation would realize that it starts from giving sound and qualitative education. Our past real leaders like Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikwe, Tafawa Balewa and Ahmadu Bello were given sound education and that is why they were able to deliver. We need a resuscitation and revaluation of our educational system to build and give moral values to our younger generation.
Under this bill we have
1. Massive schools/classrooms renovation and construction of new ones.
2. Better packages for the teachers and Lecturers.
3. Free education to the secondary school level.
4. Raising the level of public schools to meet or almost meet the level of private schools but must be free to secondary level to create competition and reduction in the fees of private schools.
5. Housing and car loans for teachers.
6. Re-introduction of scholarships to brilliant students.
B.Freedom of Information Bill (FOI)
One of the major problems we have in Nigeria is the issue of corrupt leaders and by giving journalist and people the power to probe public office holders we will do ourselves a lot of good. It will open up governance and scare away people with no agenda and give space for people who have a lot to offer. It will also make the people the watchdog of the people we elect henceforth. This bill must include
1. Full freedom of speech and movement.
2. Full access to information on public office holders or prospective public office holders.i.e public and private life.
C.Nigeria Police Force Repositioning Bill
We can never curb corruption if we don’t take good care of the police who are supposed to be the enforcer of laws made. We need to seriously look into this if we are truly sincere of making Nigeria great again. No where in the world is their police force neglected as we do in Nigeria. Without a vibrant and strong Police force we cannot get up from our slumber. This includes:
1. Better Housing scheme
2. Increase in salary package and prompt payment. (If a person working in the bank can collect thousands of Naira, why not a police man?)
3. Regular training of the police and if possible they should be sent abroad for courses.
4. Life insurance scheme for them all. It is most important. Let them know the job they are doing is worth it and that their families would not suffer if they loose their lives working for their fatherland.
5. They should be well armed so as to be able to face the challenges of our society.
6. Promotion as at when due
7. Recognition of gallantry on battle front with incentives or promotion.
D.EFCC Re- Arrangement
I suggest the EFCC be brought under a better and new police force as suggested above so that we will not double our effort. The police force can have an anti fraud section called EFCC and it should be extended to local governments and States and not only left at the federal level. This will only make it a toothless bulldog.
E.YOUTH Empowerment Bill
The rate at which we allow our idle youths to indulge in crime is alarming. We cannot but seriously look into this, as there is always no plan for a normal Nigerian graduate. It is very sad to note that in a country like ours, our youths are fast becoming the ills of the society due to neglect by the government. I will seek to pass this bill on mass employment drive, I will include in the bill to make sure foreign companies in Nigeria tell us the number of Nigerians in their workforce and also tell us the quota they will give henceforth to balance the equation or we stop them from milking us dry.
F.Electoral System Reforms
Most important of all the bills. Without an almost crystal clear electoral system in Nigeria where we can produce credible leaders who are the wishes of the people all what I have highlighted above or would below are just waste of time and effort. We need to cleanse the system totally. The chairman of INEC must henceforth not be chosen by the president. The state must not have powers over INEC and INEC must not be funded by the government. It must be 100% independent. I also suggest the switching of our system of governance from presidential to Parliamentary which is cheaper and more effective. With this we will reduce the powers of the president drastically so that we stop having Presidents who have absolute powers as we know that absolute power corrupts absolutely. A thorough Reform of the Electoral System is needed.
G.Resource Control
The issue of resource control has caused so much havoc in recent times for our nation. I support a partial control of resources but not until we have been able to develop the natural resources available to each state of the federation so that they can be independent also i.e Charcoal for Enugu etc.The world is turning away from oil and I hope we dont get into trouble with our dependence on oil. We need to move fast on this and leave the era of dependence on oil. We need to develop back our Agriculture skills, we have palm oil in the east, there is limestone, precious stone etc.I heard about the discovery of Gold sometimes ago but I havent been able to confirm. Doing this, we would have developed a vibrant and strong economy that would not rely on what America buys from us to decide our budget. The money made from oil was used to develop tourism in Dubai and they have stopped depending on oil alone as tourism is their major source now. Nigeria must move fast.
H.National Youth Service Corps
This is also known as NYSC. I am in full support of the scraping if we cannot re-arrange and stop the idea of our young generation being killed all in the name of religious crisis or riots. I think it is senseless to make our leaders of tomorrow face this hazard. We seriously look into it or we scrap it. Does it even guarantee a job after the one year service? Does it meet up with the intention of serving one’s father’s land? Does it build the traits we intend it for? Does it work on our orientation? We need to look into all these questions.
I. National Identification/ Orientation
We must come to realize that sooner or later we need a form of identification. Not the kind of identification we just had in Nigeria but a more serious and sincere one. If we clamour for a better Nigeria where our citizens cannot be identified in this new world order where things are going from bad to worst. I think we must take this serious. We must realize the need to be selfless about issues like this and not see it as an avenue to become rich. This is an issue that has been making me think real deep because it is more serious than we see it. We firstly must work on re-orientating ourselves, forget the past and make ourselves see the reason why Nigeria needs all of us to come together to build it.Re-orientation and after, a thorough and sincere mode of identification which would be monitored by the judiciary and the new police force might work. Not the one by the politicians, who would want to favour their supporters.
J.Local Government Independency
We all know that local governments in Nigeria eat from the crumbs that falls from the table of the State Governments. It is very wrong. The Local governments are the most close to the people and must be independent and also well funded so that the dividends of democracy can get to the man/woman at the grassroot.We must make all these our tiers of government less attractive so that greedy people will be less attracted. A local government Chairman who is not a member of the ruling party in a State would be sure to get very little allocation at the end of the month that can even hardly pay the salaries of his/her workers. Or even a chairman who is not in the good books of the State executive. It is very disheartening. This is not selfless service to the people. It must be corrected
K.Infrastructural Overhauling
We must realize that some of our infrastructures must be privatized but must follow due process. Not the kind of privatization done recently where the rich gets all. A privatization that will concede some percentages of these things to private companies to manage. This will provide more jobs for the people, give more revenue income to the government and also revive most of our dead structures. I suggest most of our roads to be privatized. With this, we can have good and accessible roads even if it means paying toll fees to keep the companies going and as maintenance fees. It is worth it than all the death traps we have that we call roads.
L. Youths Participation in politics
Franklin D. Roosevelt said and I quote we cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.
While John Fitzgerald Kennedy said and I quote The Jewish people, ever since David slew Goliath, have never considered youth as a barrier to leadership.”
Nigerian youths now is the time to join the system so as to be fully involved in decision making and also to be involved in the choosing henceforth of who becomes our leaders.
It is very important, As this is our future and we must all strive to make sure we secure a better tomorrow for ourselves. We cannot continue overlooking; we must realize that this is the time to start taking charge.
We must be conscious of who rules us hence and we must rise also to put ourselves forward for the service of our fatherland. We can do it.
M.Sovereign National Conference
This is the solution to Nigeria’s multifarious problems. We must come to terms with the fact that we need to convene this Conference where all and sundry can sit and look into the many problems facing this nation and seek to proffer solutions to them all. We need to seriously look into the issue of the 1999 Constitution which we operate, Niger Delta, Resource control, System of Government, Electoral System e.t.c.
For Nigeria to move forward as a nation, we must convene a sovereign National Conference.
NIGERIA MUST RISE AGAIN
A. Educational System Overhaul
Obviously, we all know the power and effect of an educated mind. Nigeria of present can be said not to give qualitative education anymore but just compulsory education. A nation that sees the need to build its younger generation would realize that it starts from giving sound and qualitative education. Our past real leaders like Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikwe, Tafawa Balewa and Ahmadu Bello were given sound education and that is why they were able to deliver. We need a resuscitation and revaluation of our educational system to build and give moral values to our younger generation.
Under this bill we have
1. Massive schools/classrooms renovation and construction of new ones.
2. Better packages for the teachers and Lecturers.
3. Free education to the secondary school level.
4. Raising the level of public schools to meet or almost meet the level of private schools but must be free to secondary level to create competition and reduction in the fees of private schools.
5. Housing and car loans for teachers.
6. Re-introduction of scholarships to brilliant students.
B.Freedom of Information Bill (FOI)
One of the major problems we have in Nigeria is the issue of corrupt leaders and by giving journalist and people the power to probe public office holders we will do ourselves a lot of good. It will open up governance and scare away people with no agenda and give space for people who have a lot to offer. It will also make the people the watchdog of the people we elect henceforth. This bill must include
1. Full freedom of speech and movement.
2. Full access to information on public office holders or prospective public office holders.i.e public and private life.
C.Nigeria Police Force Repositioning Bill
We can never curb corruption if we don’t take good care of the police who are supposed to be the enforcer of laws made. We need to seriously look into this if we are truly sincere of making Nigeria great again. No where in the world is their police force neglected as we do in Nigeria. Without a vibrant and strong Police force we cannot get up from our slumber. This includes:
1. Better Housing scheme
2. Increase in salary package and prompt payment. (If a person working in the bank can collect thousands of Naira, why not a police man?)
3. Regular training of the police and if possible they should be sent abroad for courses.
4. Life insurance scheme for them all. It is most important. Let them know the job they are doing is worth it and that their families would not suffer if they loose their lives working for their fatherland.
5. They should be well armed so as to be able to face the challenges of our society.
6. Promotion as at when due
7. Recognition of gallantry on battle front with incentives or promotion.
D.EFCC Re- Arrangement
I suggest the EFCC be brought under a better and new police force as suggested above so that we will not double our effort. The police force can have an anti fraud section called EFCC and it should be extended to local governments and States and not only left at the federal level. This will only make it a toothless bulldog.
E.YOUTH Empowerment Bill
The rate at which we allow our idle youths to indulge in crime is alarming. We cannot but seriously look into this, as there is always no plan for a normal Nigerian graduate. It is very sad to note that in a country like ours, our youths are fast becoming the ills of the society due to neglect by the government. I will seek to pass this bill on mass employment drive, I will include in the bill to make sure foreign companies in Nigeria tell us the number of Nigerians in their workforce and also tell us the quota they will give henceforth to balance the equation or we stop them from milking us dry.
F.Electoral System Reforms
Most important of all the bills. Without an almost crystal clear electoral system in Nigeria where we can produce credible leaders who are the wishes of the people all what I have highlighted above or would below are just waste of time and effort. We need to cleanse the system totally. The chairman of INEC must henceforth not be chosen by the president. The state must not have powers over INEC and INEC must not be funded by the government. It must be 100% independent. I also suggest the switching of our system of governance from presidential to Parliamentary which is cheaper and more effective. With this we will reduce the powers of the president drastically so that we stop having Presidents who have absolute powers as we know that absolute power corrupts absolutely. A thorough Reform of the Electoral System is needed.
G.Resource Control
The issue of resource control has caused so much havoc in recent times for our nation. I support a partial control of resources but not until we have been able to develop the natural resources available to each state of the federation so that they can be independent also i.e Charcoal for Enugu etc.The world is turning away from oil and I hope we dont get into trouble with our dependence on oil. We need to move fast on this and leave the era of dependence on oil. We need to develop back our Agriculture skills, we have palm oil in the east, there is limestone, precious stone etc.I heard about the discovery of Gold sometimes ago but I havent been able to confirm. Doing this, we would have developed a vibrant and strong economy that would not rely on what America buys from us to decide our budget. The money made from oil was used to develop tourism in Dubai and they have stopped depending on oil alone as tourism is their major source now. Nigeria must move fast.
H.National Youth Service Corps
This is also known as NYSC. I am in full support of the scraping if we cannot re-arrange and stop the idea of our young generation being killed all in the name of religious crisis or riots. I think it is senseless to make our leaders of tomorrow face this hazard. We seriously look into it or we scrap it. Does it even guarantee a job after the one year service? Does it meet up with the intention of serving one’s father’s land? Does it build the traits we intend it for? Does it work on our orientation? We need to look into all these questions.
I. National Identification/ Orientation
We must come to realize that sooner or later we need a form of identification. Not the kind of identification we just had in Nigeria but a more serious and sincere one. If we clamour for a better Nigeria where our citizens cannot be identified in this new world order where things are going from bad to worst. I think we must take this serious. We must realize the need to be selfless about issues like this and not see it as an avenue to become rich. This is an issue that has been making me think real deep because it is more serious than we see it. We firstly must work on re-orientating ourselves, forget the past and make ourselves see the reason why Nigeria needs all of us to come together to build it.Re-orientation and after, a thorough and sincere mode of identification which would be monitored by the judiciary and the new police force might work. Not the one by the politicians, who would want to favour their supporters.
J.Local Government Independency
We all know that local governments in Nigeria eat from the crumbs that falls from the table of the State Governments. It is very wrong. The Local governments are the most close to the people and must be independent and also well funded so that the dividends of democracy can get to the man/woman at the grassroot.We must make all these our tiers of government less attractive so that greedy people will be less attracted. A local government Chairman who is not a member of the ruling party in a State would be sure to get very little allocation at the end of the month that can even hardly pay the salaries of his/her workers. Or even a chairman who is not in the good books of the State executive. It is very disheartening. This is not selfless service to the people. It must be corrected
K.Infrastructural Overhauling
We must realize that some of our infrastructures must be privatized but must follow due process. Not the kind of privatization done recently where the rich gets all. A privatization that will concede some percentages of these things to private companies to manage. This will provide more jobs for the people, give more revenue income to the government and also revive most of our dead structures. I suggest most of our roads to be privatized. With this, we can have good and accessible roads even if it means paying toll fees to keep the companies going and as maintenance fees. It is worth it than all the death traps we have that we call roads.
L. Youths Participation in politics
Franklin D. Roosevelt said and I quote we cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.
While John Fitzgerald Kennedy said and I quote The Jewish people, ever since David slew Goliath, have never considered youth as a barrier to leadership.”
Nigerian youths now is the time to join the system so as to be fully involved in decision making and also to be involved in the choosing henceforth of who becomes our leaders.
It is very important, As this is our future and we must all strive to make sure we secure a better tomorrow for ourselves. We cannot continue overlooking; we must realize that this is the time to start taking charge.
We must be conscious of who rules us hence and we must rise also to put ourselves forward for the service of our fatherland. We can do it.
M.Sovereign National Conference
This is the solution to Nigeria’s multifarious problems. We must come to terms with the fact that we need to convene this Conference where all and sundry can sit and look into the many problems facing this nation and seek to proffer solutions to them all. We need to seriously look into the issue of the 1999 Constitution which we operate, Niger Delta, Resource control, System of Government, Electoral System e.t.c.
For Nigeria to move forward as a nation, we must convene a sovereign National Conference.
NIGERIA MUST RISE AGAIN
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