FemiO
NIGERIA: THREE ÌSSUES TO PONDER
In this piece I shall be drawing my readers’ attention to three critical issues which Nigerians must, henceforth, begin to seriously interrogate as development, in all its ramification,
continues to kiss our country bye.
Granted that none of them concerns the current astronomical cost of living, they are yet things we can continue to neglect to our eternal regret, if not ultimate peril since they are that fundamental.
Writing about how the near total parental neglect of children’s education, especially in Northern Nigeria, is the sole precursor of the recent
presentation, in court for trial, of some extremely destructive minors in his column in The Nation of Thursday, 7 November, 2024, under the title ‘Underage rioters and presidential pardon’,
Emeritus Professor Jide Osuntokun wrote, inter alia:’Why were underage children demonstrating in the first place? Where were their parents? Government should follow their release with knowing what kind of homes they come from. It could be they don’t even have homes they can call their own, and are perhaps street urchins, as we find in many of our towns today.
The time has come for our various governments, particularly states, and local governments, to develop policies to face this problem before they get out of hand. This lumpen proletariat are the stuff of violence and revolution in the future”.
“Why were these children not in school where they should be learning a skill or acquiring knowledge that may be useful to them in the future? Since when has it become the responsibility of children to engage in political action in this country? Who were the people goading them to go to the streets? What kind of legitimate punishment can a society inflict on these errant children without appearing inhuman and harsh”? “We have remand homes for these kinds of children but are they available all over the country?
My church, the Redeemed Christian Church of God, has these kinds of homes in some parts of the country. Government should join such missions to make the system effective and more encompassing. Is the fact that so many children were involved in these demonstrations not a manifestation of failure of parents and government to have institutions that will prepare our country for the future”?
“What can we do, going forward in terms of overhauling our educational system so that our children can develop a sense of civic responsibility?”
Of all these questions, all of which are eloquently germane to the issue Professor Osuntokun was writing about, only the very last one, namely, “what can we do, going forward in terms of overhauling our educational system so that our children can develop a sense of civic responsibility?”, is relevant to the purpose of this piece and the relevance goes, far and beyond minors, encapsulating our entire educational system which renders even the most educated of us almost completely useless to the needs of our country.
My job here is simple as all I have to do, is press into service, some individuals, (and a medium) who have, in the past interrogated the issues and left behind for humanity, some seminal thoughts.
We begin with the highly regarded Professor Sophie Oluwole of the Department of Philosophy, University of Lagos who had a good look at many of the demons tearing at Nigeria’s throat, setting us back in every direction.
She counselled as follows:”I have BSc, I have Master’s, I have PhD…, I’m a professor. What can you do to make yourself better ?
This is the bane of the problems we are facing in Nigeria today.We must change the Nigerian Educational Curriculum to include Degrees in Vocational Trades.
Similar to this is that, there should be a law regulating the number of children a family can have and it should not be more than a maximum of 2 or 3.
It is our failure to control our inner minds that makes us bring religion/culture into having many wives and children, especially persons who can not reasonably feed themselves, and are thereby, causing all manner of nuisance all over Nigeria.
Governments should also stop increasing retirement age from 60/65 years when young graduates are roaming the Streets, looking for jobs.
25 years is enough for a government worker.
Let our children/youths breathe.
They are the future of this country. Failure to obey, and continuing with these self destructive practices will automatically doom Nigeria”.
In ‘Nigeria: What Manner of Education’, the writer of a recently trending WhatsApp post looked at how beggarly Nigeria has become in respect of literally every aspect of life, but particularly in matters of infrastructural development and wrote as follows:
“Russia to build rail tracks for Nigeria.
“China to build roads and bridges for Nigeria”.
“India to import rolling stock to Nigeria and help Nigeria with its ICT development”.
“Germany to build new power plants in Nigeria, US to provide vaccines to Nigeria”.
“UNDP to provide grants to Nigerian farmers and improved seedlings”.
“Bill and Melinda Foundation to provide Malaria vaccines to Nigeria”.
“Turkey to build garment factory in Nigeria”.
“England to build new oil terminal in the Niger Delta region to help Nigeria mine its oil…etc”.
He then asks:
What is the relevance of our education in this country if we cannot use it to solve even the minutest of our problems as we see daily in the meaningless harangues in the National Assembly, and elsewhere?
Or when last did any law of beneficit to Nigerians proceed from the National Assembly to the President’s table for his assent?
All we hear, and see, is the National Assembly mutilating budgets to make room for some useless, hardly ever executed, constituency projects.
Finally, happily a timely warning has come but not from any of our several Universities of Agriculture, ministry of Agriculture, or any regulatory organ of government, but from a conscientious citizen who is very knowledgeable in his trade, and believes he owes it a duty to positively impact Nigeria in his own little way.
I write here of Tunde Fabunmi,
Founder/CEO of Bee Conservation Project, who has counselled as follows regarding the kind of fertilisers being imported into Nigeria.
In his mail to me titled ‘Can You Help Tell The Federal Government?’, he wrote:
“What is the message for the Federal Government of Nigeria? The message for the Federal Government is about the kind of fertilisers being imported for Nigerian farmers. What is wrong with fertilizers being used in Nigeria? It contains high level of calcium. What is the health implications of calcium – rich fertilizers? They are:
1. The intake of magnesium is lowered in our foods due to calcium – rich fertilisers being used by our farmers;
2. High calcium fertilizers increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases ( stroke, heart attack & hypertension), all of which were not as prevalent in Nigeria before the craze for chemical fertilizers as input in farming overtook us;
3. High calcium fertilizers increase the risks of diabetes, a rarity in Nigeria when farming was purely organic.
Low magnesium, and high calcium not only trigger diabetes, they also make diabetics prone to fatty liver, heart disease, atherosclerosis and retinopathy- which is a major cause of blindness for diabetics.
In a study in the United States, the death rate due to diabetes was four times higher in areas with low magnesium in water level compared to areas with high level of magnesium in the water.
4. High calcium fertilizers increase cases of suicide which was rare in Nigeria in the past, compared to what it is today.
Several studies have shown that the lower the magnesium in both soil and water, the higher the rate of suicides.
5. High calcium fertilizers increase the risk of Parkinson disease which is increasing in Nigeria today.
Incidentally, the countries from which we import these fertilisers are now aggressively campaigning against their use in their own countries, instead clamouring for organic farming.
The question can then be asked: does farming really need fertilisers?
Organic – dry leaves and cow dung – Yes.
But Chemical fertilisers – capital No.
The agenda of those selling chemical fertilisers to Africa is sinister.
Quite unlike our forefathers, many younger Nigerians now contend with low quality health status and a shorter life span.
At the moment, there are about 300 children currently battling with cancer in a hospital in Lagos. The question can then be legitimately asked:
do we have universities, properly so called, or mere POS in Nigeria?
I ask this question because integral to the presence of universities in any country is the need to conduct researches that will guide positive human development in all its ramification.
Nigerians must now clamour for a ban on the importation of chemical fertilisers which not only drains our foreign reserve but causes an epidemic of chronic diseases.
Kindly share this news!!!