Happenings

The National Bureau of Statistics has disclosed that 20.9 million Nigerians are unemployed. Indeed, unemployment is the major discussion among Nigerians.

However, President Muhammadu Buhari has opined that the figure reeled out by the NBS, is a reflection that his administration is making progress in governance.

Nigerians are shell shocked by the President's remarks and the fact that rice farmers have contributed about N1.7 Billion for the President's re-election, even though rice as a foodstuff has gone beyond the reach of the common man.

In this interview with People, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke says that the misinformation of the Federal Government's paid agents gives it the impressions that it has  fulfilled its promises. Excerpts :

The National Bureau of Statistics(NBS) has stated that 20.9 million Nigerians are jobless, what is your reaction to this figure ?

The Federal Government is only focusing on the 30 areas it has made progress without taking into consideration the impact level on the people. And because most of our leaders  depend solely on the information of their paid agents, such as the Ministers, Commissioners, Governors and retinue of Personal Assistants, they are rather misled into believing that the yearnings of Nigerians have been met.

The best way for self assessment on governance is to have direct pulse of the nation by physically going to some of the market places to see the reality of things.

When the Queen of England visited, during ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo's tenure, she refused to be locked  in the nation's luxuries, but told the President to take her round some of the market places. After going round the Queen told the President, that he should take the issue of poverty alleviation serious, as she stated that she observed  suffering on the faces of the people.

This is a nation where  the unemployment rate has jumped from 14.2 per cent in 2016 to 23.4 per cent in 2018 and 20. 9 million Nigerians has been declared  as the figure of unemployed Nigerians in 2018, while the record of those who are underemployed has made the figure to rise to 40 per cent of the total population.

Let us remember that the spate of killings have made nonsense of more than 1040 schools, with between 400,000 and 500,000 students affected.

What about the increasing number of  Nigerian Children, who are out of school, in 2010 it was 10.5 million and presently it is 13.9 million.

The President must believe less in the paid agents and ensure he uses SWOT analysis to restrategise in order that his desire for good governance, that would be beneficial to all , most especially those who gave him the mandate to rule, are met.

The SWOT analysis on the Nigerian situation reveal our areas of strength and opportunities in the abundance of endowed resources, natural and human to be in abundance.

Our areas of weaknesses duel more on competence for the desired astute management and classical administration to operationalize  functional Democracy based on justice and equity for peace and development to reign.

Our areas of threats are on security issues that bothers on conflict management, as well as the fifth column role in government and the state apparatus making  progress too difficult to come by.

Mr. President, therefore, needs to realize that his immediate challenge is on his ability to identify the true elements in his cabinet and government, that is, he must motivate  the prime movers not to lose them into another party.

He must build the capacity of the lackadaisical, to be able to contribute meaningfully to government's business of building the nation while the catalytic elements, that is the rebellious ones must be managed with maturity and transformed into useful elements for the party and government.

No government with in-house problems and inconsiderate opposition can stand the test of time.

To avoid driving people to an hopeless state of despair, there is need for Mr. President to restrategize into visionary leadership that would be proactive in taking decisions to fix things, purposeful leadership that would be directional in operation and sacrificial to make things work.

My candid advice to the others in the All Progressives Congress(APC) is for them to imbibe the essence of togetherness in sharing visions  for government to be able to deliver beneficial services to the people, who are now more well informed in the spirit of globalization.

Above all, the fear of the potential of the opposition to damage and remove must be the beginning of wisdom, to mend fences within and creditably deliver the expectations of the People of Nigeria.

A former Governor of Oyo state, who is also the governorship candidate of the Action Democratic Party(ADP) Otunba Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala has described the present administration in the state as one  with policies and programmes which have brought pain and despondency on the people.

Otunba Adebayo made this assertion recently, at the official presentation Otunba Alao-Akala and Prof. Abideen Olaiya as the ADP  candidates for the 2019 Gubernatorial Elections in Ibadan, Nigeria.

''My  heart aches because 90 per cent of the outgoing government's policies, programmes and projects are best described as anti-people which leave our people in pain and despondency''.

''Instead of criticizing , I made myself available to guide the incumbent government on how best to run proactive and pro-people governance, but the driver lacks  the required goodwill.

Today the major sectors of  our economy, which are education, health, agriculture and environment have been  either neglected or bastardized Oyo state is in a serious mess''.

''We do not need a learner or  experimental Governor. Leadership is example. Service to humanity especially holding a public office is not a function of age  but mental capacity, experience, maturity, good vision and mission, sensitive, responsiveness, credibility and popular acceptability of a person. I am offering myself again to serve the good people of Oyo state because I am healthily  and mentally fit for rigorous tasks of governance, '' Otunba Alao-Akala.

The governorship candidate of the  African Democratic Congress(ADC) in Oyo state, Senator Olufemi Lanlehin has called on the state Commissioner of Police to stop members of the state chapter of the National Union of Road Transport Workers(NURTW) from pulling down bill boards belonging to ADC candidates.

Senator Lanlehin made this call on Wednesday during an interaction with journalists in Ibadan, Nigeria.

''NURTW has started bringing down bill boards. We are appealing to the Commissioner of Police ,Mr. Abiodun Odunde who is  a fine officer, help us appeal to them so that Oyo state would be peaceful. It is in our interest that everything works. There should be a conflict resolution mechanism in place'', he stated.

A former Governor of Oyo state, who is also the governsorship candidate of the Action Democratic Party in the state, Otunba(Dr.)Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala has expressed worry over the covert moves by some personnel of the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) and the All Progressives Congress(APC) in the state to move eligible voters from their Local Governments to  different ones to facilitate a new dimension of  rigging.

Otunba Alao-Akala made this disclosure on Tuesday,  in an address he delivered at the  Official presentation  of the ADP governorship candidate, his deputy and other candidates for the 2019 Gubernatorial Elections in Ibadan, Nigeria.

''May I use this occasion to inform the stakeholders in the Nigerian electoral system and the world at large that information reaching us from competent sources is that some bad elecments in the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) are conniving with the ruling APC to disenfranchise thousands of voters across the state and weakening the leading oppositiom candidates in their strongholds by engaging in state-wide illegal relocation of voters from their units/Local Government of origins to other units/LGAs''.

The former Governor called on the INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmud Yakub and the security agencies to ''put a stop to this advanced rigging method''.

He assured the people of the state that candidates of the ADP were passionate about delivering results that shall impact positively on them, adding ''I must say that the re-election of the present administration was an aberration that came by way of the bandwagon effect that followed the election of President Muhammadu Buhari''.

''Regardless of the sinister moves of other parties, our campaign shall be issue-based, violence free and intellectually stimulating, resting on the renewed 13-point agenda drawn from our party's hallmarks; all these clothed in peace and tranquility'', Otunba Alao-Akala stated.

Medical Stores Department(MSD) in Tanzania is set to commence the  delivery of medical services and drugs to remote parts of the country through drones.

Thsi disclosure was made byt the MSD Director, Laurean Bwanakunu, in a chat with journlaists.

“We will soon announce tender for the company that will enter into agreement with MSD to supply the drones''.

For over three and a half years now, Nigerians have contended with  hunger, poverty, unemployment and insecurity. Sadly, government at all levels have done little  to address these hydra like challenges which have not only demoralized the citizenry, but  also prompted them to continually and relentlessly rein curses on the country's political office holders. A cross section of civil society groups  allege that the three tiers of government have deliberately impoverished the populace, as a way of compelling them to sell their votes in the 2019 general elections.

Interestingly,a former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar(rtd) has advised Nigerians to stop complaining about their pitiable condition, but vote out leaders who have not met their expectations .  In this interview with Federationews2day, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke  says Nigerians should seek God's guidance in the choice of candidates they will vote for. Excerpts :

The insinuation is that the Federal and State Governments have deliberately impoverished Nigerians   for the purpose of ensuring that vote buying is the trend in the 2019 elections. What are your views ?

The history of poverty in Nigeria started in 1960, when our poverty index was 15 per  cent, followed by the second republic in 1979 to 1983 at 28 per cent. The military interventions worsened the situation as it rose from 42 per cent to 65 per cent.

Then, in 1999, it rose to 70 per cent almost till this moment.

Chief Obafemi Awolowo campaigned against impoverishing the poor masses, because according to him, Nigerians irrespective of their tribes and social class must have access to free education which would eventual liberate  the children of the poor from the clutches of poverty. From his time to that of Bola Ige education took a large chunk to support structure, facilities and books, while having a good plan of allowing children to trek to and from school. One could  imagine the then government was  for all Nigerians, most especially the impoverished masses, whom the government intended to emancipate. Unfortunately, the dedication and commitment of our founding fathers, on the issue of the growth and development of the nation and general welfare of the people suffered a great set back during the civil war as well as the attendant agitations for true reconstruction, reconciliation and rehabilitation which was poorly managed to warrant the present insurgency, militancy, kidnapping and damages to the ecology of the oil producing areas, which were agitating for resource control and the South East's secession call.

 It is unfortunate that this government inherited an already failed and recessed economy, which they were unable to manage at par  with their campaign magic of the change mantra.

The bastardized environment, bad economy and disorganized society now continue to groan under poverty, which had been artificially introduced due to the  era of endemic corruption and institutionalized indiscipline. 

Under this condition, the political class,  derailed from the focus of the goal of Democracy as a need to enthrone credible leadership for the purpose of institutionalizing justice and equity concepts in order that there would be peace and sustainable development.

The attendant consequence of gross mismanagement of the economy, the people and the environment, thereafter has resulted in the worrisome situation of insecurity and unbearable poverty tending to the abject level for many.

The 2019 general elections ought to focus on how best we would be able to vote in patriotic  Nigerians with outstanding leadership qualities that would be able to arrest the menace of the present social upheaval, starting from  working on the psyche of all Nigerians for better attitude in an environment  of strict institutional discipline that would only be achieved through leadership by sacrifice, integrity and service.

Nigerians therefore, need to be mindful of God, without emphasis on religion in order that credible candidates, who will have passion for the restoration of our core values and see human rights issues as the ability to provide equal opportunities and equal access to the people of Nigeria, the downtrodden ones inclusive.

Nigerians are proud to live in a country with a land area of923,773km 2, with varied vegetation and types of soil, suitable for various agricultural purposes.

In 1960 and the years following, up till the early 1970s, Nigeria's economy was between the agricultural friendly ''grassroots'' and the ''white collar'' city oriented centre. All that had to do with the production of goods were concentrated in the city, while a large percentage of Nigerians resided in the villages, with farming as  their major occupation. The villages, then, lacked major amenities of life.

Governance during this period, was with a chain of challenges. Then, most of the earnings from export were from agriculture, while 65 % of Gross Domestic Product(GDP) also came from the sector. Nearly 50 % of Government revenue in 1960 could be traced to agriculture.

Today, as in the 60s, the provision of quantitative and qualitative education, quality health care delivery and the absence of social and economic infrastructure, are just a few in the long list of challenges that confronts Government.

In 1973, when crude oil emerged as the mainstay of the economy, government took a ''nap'', having noticed the 'light at the end of the tunnel '.

That 'nap', was at great cost, as can be seen in the unfolding events of the present time. In 1980, crude oil constituted 81.1% of Government revenue and 96.1% of export earnings.

Indeed, the  growth of the economy was tied to projected earnings from crude oil exports, this was despite the fact that signs had began to manifest on the imminent collapse of crude oil prices in the international market.

With fiscal and current account deficits, occasioned by falling crude oil prices, resulting in internal and external imbalance, the only option open to Government is to borrow from international financial institutions.