The Nation Newspaper

Category: Lekan Otufodunrin

  • Generation next

    Yesterday, the inaugural edition of the Innovative Young Journalist Award organized by Journalists for Christ International Outreach, a fellowship of Christian journalists was held in Lagos.

    The award is meant to promote innovative excellent media practice among young journalists utilizing multimedia platforms. Despite the various challenges faced by media professionals in the country, the three nominees for the award by their entries left no one in doubt that they belong to a new generation of journalists.

    Not only are they able to publish their reports through the traditional print and electronic media, they have moved to the new level of being global journalists in a global village which the world has become through their active presence on multi-media platforms.

    In a profession where many senior colleagues will swear there is no future, Alade Abiodun of National Mirror, Hannah Ojo, The Nation and Jennifer Ehidiamen, a freelance journalist proved that so much could be accomplished within a short time of being in the profession.

    The nominees belong to the growing number of Nigerian youths who are proving that theirs is not a wasted generation like some observers claim. Across the countries, many youths are excelling in many endeavours and deserve to be acknowledged and encouraged to do more.

    To confirm this good development, the Nigerian youth has been declared Person of the Year 2013 by The Nation editors.

    “The youth has upturned by acts of sports, soldiery, grassroots defiance, entertainment and personal example, the familiar narrative of drift. The young men and women have pointed the right way out of a gangway” the editors stated in the prologue to announcement.

    There is no doubt that many youths have not lived up to expectations but we need to celebrate those who have chosen the path of honour to distinguish themselves and give us cause to be hopeful that the future of the country will be entrusted to capable hands.

    Conscious efforts should be made to create an enabling environment for the Nigerian youth to thrive like their contemporaries in other climes if we really want them to be good leaders of tomorrow. Unlike the good old days many talk about, many youths have to cope with many challenges to excel.

    Not only are many parents unable to educate their children due to the poor economic situation in the country, many school leavers find it difficult to secure admission into higher institutions and even when they manage to graduate have to remain unemployed for years.

    There is no doubt that more Nigerian youths can do a lot better if the government stops paying lip service to youth development in the country. The recent strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, is an indication of the damage that has been done to the education of youths in the country with consequent implication for the quality of graduates.

    I congratulate Ehidiamen who won the young journalist award and the other youths who were name as Persons of the Year by The Nation.

    My charge to them is that they should continue to be shining examples to others and always give us cause to celebrate their exploits.

  • Beyond ASUU’s strike

    Last week, I broke my promise to keep writing every week on the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) until it is called off.

    My article was on the anti-apartheid leader and former South African President, Nelson Mandela, who died on December 5. I guess the urge to add my tribute to the worldwide torrents was such that, for once, I forgot about the over five-month-old strike which has paralysed academic activities in federal and state government-owned universities.

    Based on the Memorandum of Understanding on the contending issues signed with the federal government, ASUU President, Nassir Fagge, announced that the strike would be called off this week after the National Executive Council meeting of the union.

    I am glad that the crisis has finally been resolved and the unfortunate development will be put behind us. Hopefully, the federal government will this time around keep to the terms of the agreement and not give the lecturers any reason to call out its members again.

    The reason the strike lasted this long, according to the union, is to ensure that it is the last strike by university lecturers over the contending issues.

    It was nice to hear the Acting Education Minister, Nyesom Wike, acknowledge “ASUU’s patriotic role and commitment towards ensuring that our universities are well-funded, resourced and run like their counterpart in other parts of the world.”

    He should have known this before and should not have been making some of the outrageous statements about the motive of the lecturers credited to him while the strike lasted.

    The situation in the universities in the country leaves much to be desired and urgent steps should be taken to address the issues raised by ASUU instead of calling them names or issuing directives in vain.

    Wike, after the signing of the MOU, said the federal government is serious about revitalising all universities and will continue to fund them as a matter of priority. Time will tell if the government will keep the above promise and provide necessary resources to make our universities live up to their names instead of being glorified secondary schools which many of them are now.

    It is a shame that our universities are not among the top ones on the continent and Nigerian students are forced to seek admission outside the country in all manner of universities.

    Now that the crisis has been resolved, lecturers should return to class with a renewed vigour to make up for the lost time. While they have a good case about lack of necessary facilities and funding, many lecturers can do better in their assignments.

    There are cases of lecturers who abandon their lectures or don’t give students the necessary supervision.  Some take on many part-time lectures in other institutions, especially private universities, at the expense of students in government universities.

    Lecturers must be passionate about the courses they teach and update their knowledge to inspire their students.

    University education in the country should be more thorough to enable the graduates effectively contribute to national development.

  • Men like Mandela

    Men like Mandela

    How does one pay tribute to a man for all seasons like former President Nelson Mandela who died last Thursday at 95?

    He was indeed not only the greatest son of South Africa, like President Jacob Zuma put it while announcing the passing away of Madiba, he was one of the greatest men that has lived in our times.

    That not only South Africa is mourning his death is a confirmation of his being a global icon of what a true leader should be.

    I have been reading the tributes to Mandela and can only pray that in our mourning moments the virtues that stood him out are not lost on us.

    The world and Africa particularly need more men like Mandela and I am reminded of the famous poem of Josiah Gilbert Holland titled GOD, give us men!

    A time like this demands

    Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands;

    Men whom the lust of office does not kill;

    Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy;

    Men who possess opinions and a will;

    Men who have honour; men who will not lie;

    Men who can stand before a demagogue

    And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking!

    Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog

    In public duty, and in private thinking;

    For while the rabble, with their thumb-worn creeds,

    Their large professions and their little deeds,

    Mingle in selfish strife, lo! Freedom weeps,

    Wrong rules the land and waiting Justice sleeps.

    In Mandela God answered Holland’s prayers and He can still do.

    Mandela and some other African National Congress leaders refused to be cowed by the apartheid regime and confronted the demagogue of oppression when many would have given up.

    For 27 years, he was jailed but he never wavered on his commitment to the struggle to free his people from white-dominated rule and was ready to pay the supreme sacrifice to free his people.

    “During my lifetime, I have dedicated my life to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal for which I hope to live for and to see realised. But, My Lord, if it needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die,” Mandela stated in1964 from the dock of the Pretoria courtroom after being in jail two years already.

    I remember visiting the very isolated Roben Island prison years ago and can imagine the extent the apartheid leaders went to break Mandela’s and other freedom fighters’ spirit.

    Mandela was ready to pay the supreme sacrifice, but thankfully he didn’t and lived to emerge as the first black South African president.

    Unlike many other African leaders who would have seen his election as president as an opportunity to entrench himself in office and serve as many terms as possible and even get the Constitution amended, Mandela served only a term and gave his country a firm democratic foundation.

    Mandela’s death calls for celebration of a life lived for others. What counts in life, as Mandela noted, is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others.

    Bye Bye Mandela. Rest in peace.

  • ASUU strike: No, Wike! No!

    ASUU strike: No, Wike! No!

    I am at a loss why Supervising Education Minister Nyesom decided to issue the threat he did last Thursday to the striking members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

    Sounding like a military commandant, the minister ordered Vice Chancellors to reopen the campuses nationwide while lecturers are to resume duties by Monday or get sacked. Jobs of those who fail to return to work are to be advertised.

    I can understand the frustration of the Minister and the federal government over the refusal of the union to call off its over four months strike after the agreement reached at the meeting with the President.

    It is indeed embarrassing that the strike had been allowed to last this long and the government is justifiably desperate to end it having according to the minister met all its commitments and obligations with respect to the 2009 agreement.

    Notwithstanding that most Nigerians agree that ASUU has a good cause and should get the government to provide adequate resources for funding university education in the country, the feeling in most circles is that the strike is lasting longer than necessary.

    Having got the President to personally intervene in the matter and his promise this time around to meet the government’s obligations, many expect that the strike should be called off while the details of the agreement is being fine-tuned.

    However threatening the lecturers the way the Minister did last Thursday is definitely uncalled for. He was unnecessarily combative and may have complicated the crisis instead of maintaining his cool in the face of whatever frustration he may be feeling.

    To be fair to the lecturers, I remember the same Minister saying after the Aso Rock meeting that the union leader have reached an agreement with the President which they have to communicate to their members for ratification.

    If the union leaders for any reason are yet to agree with their members on the terms of calling off the strike and are asking to get the agreement signed and clear some grey areas, the government should not resort to any military tactic which is bound to back fire.

    Many of the campuses were not really shut since the strike commenced so there is no need for the minister to give the impression that all that is required to end the strike is to order reopening of the campuses. Vice Chancellors can go ahead and re-open the campuses that are closed but what will it matter if lecturers refuse to lecture as they have dared the minister.

    Not even under military regimes did the government succeed in ordering lecturers back to classes in situation like this. Wike should have known as a lawyer that there is no need in giving an unenforceable order. Like a reader who responded to one of my earlier write-ups on this strike noted, Wike should know that the country has witnessed an ASUU strike longer that the present one and the lecturers can decide to stay off the classroom for as long as they remain united on this cause.

    Having been magnanimous enough to intervene in this crisis before now, the President should not allow Wike to mess up the situation through what the ASUU leaders have aptly described as “empty threat”.

    The situation should not be reduced to one of his political battles considering that this is a national matter that requires some wisdom to resolve.

    ASUU’s demand may not be totally acceptable to the government but the disagreement cannot be definitely resolved by sack threat and deployment of policemen to campuses.

  • Still waiting for ASUU

    Last Wednesday, I was a guest on a live interview programme on Rainbow FM. The discussion was on the over five months’ old strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). The anchor asked me the question which Nigerians want an urgent answer to.

    How do we end this strike, which, just when we thought it would be called off at the National Executive Council meeting of the union, has continued following the death of a former president of the union, Professor Festus Iyayi, while on his way to the meeting?.

    I wish I had an answer except to say that we have to await the decision of the National Executive Council meeting which from every indication should call off the strike whenever the meeting is held. The various campus branches of the union had held a referendum on the offer of the federal government and indications are that the majority want the strike called off to give the government yet another benefit of the doubt.

    For now, the crucial meeting remains suspended indefinitely and it seems we may have to wait till next year for lectures to resume on campuses of government-owned universities.

    What is really worrying is the uncertainty of when the meeting is likely to hold. Professional speculators have been having a field day raising false hopes about the meeting on the social media. Last Sunday I had to call our Kano Correspondent to check out a report about ASUU NEC meeting holding at the Bayero University, Kano, which turned out not to be true.

    I have no problem with the decision of the union to suspend its meeting to decide on the strike in honour of the late Professor Iyayi. It would have been insensitive not to do so considering the leading role he has played in the campaign of the union for better welfare of members over the years.

    He would not have died in the car accident if he was not going to attend the NEC meeting. If the government had not failed to honour the 2009 agreement there would have been no need for the ongoing strike.

    However, the ASUU cannot continue to keep the nation in suspense about when it would meet to decide on its next line of action. Nigerians need to know what ASUU decision is, to know where to apply necessary pressure.

    From the calls by listeners to the programme, there is no doubt that Nigerians sympathise with ASUU and blame the government for not discharging its responsibility when it should have. Notwithstanding, they are not pleased that there is no clear statement from ASUU on the matter.

    It is bad enough that we have found ourselves in this unfortunate situation but we cannot afford to continue to keep thousands of students of government-owned universities at home while their colleagues in private universities and the University of Ilorin are pursuing their studies.

    The ongoing strike has further done incalculable damage to the university education system in the country and should not be allowed to linger while the government and union officials work to resolve the crisis once and for all.

    I sincerely hope that the strike would be called off soon and I won’t have to keep writing about it as I promised to do until the ugly development is put behind us.

  • Waiting for ASUU

    I would have been surprised if leaders of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at the end of last Monday’s meeting in Aso Rock with federal government officials had announced an immediate call off of their over four-month old strike.

    Considering the previous reactions of the government, the indications were that notwithstanding the desperation to end the embarrassing strike, not all the requests of the union would be granted. My fear was that the negotiations that dragged into the early hours of Tuesday could be deadlocked and the hope of a quick resolution of the crisis would be dashed again.

    Thankfully the leaders did not emerge from the meeting angry and as expected they have agreed to consult their members on the government’s offer which even if they were comfortable with still need the approval of members of the union.

    With the strike having lasted for this long, it is understandable why many are eager to have it called off if possible immediately after the meeting. However not been the first time government is giving the union it’s words and failing to honour it as it is the case in the non implementation of the controversial 2009 agreement the union have to take its time to digest whatever the government is promising this time and get a firm commitment.

    It’s rather unfortunate that the crisis had to degenerate to this level and one can only hope that the government is really committed to not only in meeting ASUU’s demands but taking necessary steps to enhance the standard of education in the country at all levels.

    Apart from the Universities, other education institutions have also suffered years of neglect and unfulfilled promises. There are still many unresolved disputes with teachers in Polytechnics, Colleges of Education and others that should not be given less attention as it has been done with the ASUU strike.

    Whatever offer the federal government made last Monday could have been made before now and it didn’t need to have given the impression that it has to be fought to a standstill before doing the right thing. I would not be surprised if some other workers in future insist on presidential intervention to resolve labour issues.

    As ASUU members meet to deliberate over the government’s offer, I join other Nigerians in pleading for the call off of the strike. Once again, they have to give the government the benefit of the doubt if not for any other reason but for the sake of the students who are the ones bearing the brunt of this crisis.

    We are all witnesses to this new agreement and this time around the government cannot deny making a commitment to pay what is due to university lecturers. For lecturers to be at their best, they have to be well remunerated and be given all allowances due to them.

    A Professor in a text response to my last column said in his 25 years of being a researcher he has not got N1 as research grant. This is how bad the bad the situation is and the time to redress it is now or never.

    The lecturers have indeed fought a good fight for quality education in the country for which posterity will remember them.

  • When will ASUU strike end?

    When will ASUU strike end?

    Worried by the continuing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU)that is now in its fourth month, I decided last week to devote my column to the issue until it is resolved.

    Having written about my own position on the matter recently, my decision is that I will publish divergent views by other concerned Nigerians.

    It’s the least I can do to keep this issue in focus considering the deadlock in negotiations between the federal government and the union leaders.

    Just when it seems that the issue will be resolved to save the country from the embarrassment of having its public universities shut for months, there is no indication of any resolution in sight.

    Unlike those who can afford to send their children to private universities in the country or abroad, three of my children are caught in the web of the crisis.

    One is in the final year and would have graduated by now but for the strike. Another is waiting to resume the second year, while the third is also waiting to be admitted into the same public university.

    They have become very restless waiting endlessly to return to the campus and my wife has had to insist that we include the resolution of the strike in our prayer list.

    We have been praying like I trust many others are doing in the hope that reasons will prevail soon and we will put this unfortunate development behind us.

    Last week, I published a view by one Temisan Jackson titled Much Ado about agreement with ASUU which many readers understandably because of the logo of my column thought was mine.

    The thrust of Jackson’s controversial piece which earned me some angry text messages are captured in the three paragraphs below:

    “As it is, the government claimed to have met almost all the provisions in the 2009 agreement, but ASUU has a different narrative. However, in the midst of this chaos, we need to consider the students. The longer ASUU strikes, the more our economy suffers, and the greater the spell of idleness of our youths; and we know what that means…

    “Does it make any sense to shut everything down and destroy the very system

    ASUU is claiming to want to fix? Must industrial action always be the bargaining tool for ASUU? Isn’t it a betrayal of depth that our so-called intellectuals only use the force of brawn to drive home their point? Can’t negotiation be ongoing without destabilising the education system and sending the children packing out of school?

    “For the sake of our children idling away at home, let each of the warring parties shift ground. Let’s not politicise the strike any further. ASUU should go back to the classroom and government should release the money it has promised to give.”

    One of the texts I got said: “It’s strange that a man of your status is writing in this manner. Have you lost your conscience?”

    Another reader, who, however, noted the attribution of the article to Temisan in the last paragraph, wrote: “Temisan’s article started very well with a historical background but ended woefully just trying not to pass blame on government. How is ASUU to blame for government’s irresponsibility?

    “Call a spade a spade. It is a question of implementation and not negotiation. Let the government implement and pay the arrears, ASUU will then call off the strike.”

    We don’t all have to agree on who is wrong and who is right on this issue.

    What is not in doubt is that the nation’s educational sector has been messed up and the government has to wake up to its responsibility before it is too late.

    For those who think the lecturers have their share of the blame in the university education rot, that is an issue that can be addressed later when the government does the “needful,” apologies to Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah.

  • Much ado about agreement with ASUU

    Much ado about agreement with ASUU

    Have you read the much talked about 2009 Federal Government’s agreement with ASUU? That sounds like the Holy Grail in the muddled public discourse on the ongoing strike by Nigerian varsity lecturers. It’s interesting to note that not many of those whose pro-ASUU noise rings louder than the rest of us have the faintest idea about what is contained in the contentious agreement. Not long ago, a popular online news portal published the 51-page long October 2009 agreement between the perennial warring parties. And I had to read through so as to have firsthand information on the vexing issues that have kept our children at home this long.

    The birthing of the agreement started on Thursday, December 14, 2006, when the then Honourable Minister of Education, Dr. (Mrs.) Obiageli Ezekwesili, on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria inaugurated the FGN/ASUU Re-negotiation Committee comprising the FGN Re-negotiation Team led by the then Pro-Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Deacon Gamaliel O. Onosode (OFR), and the ASUU Re-negotiation Team led by the then President of ASUU, Dr. Abdullahi Sule-Kano.

    At the meeting, the ASUU Team submitted a position paper titled “Proposals for the Re-negotiation of the 2001 Agreement between the Federal Government of Nigeria/Governments of States that own universities and the Academic Staff Union of Universities” which reflected the views of ASUU on various issues in the 2001 FGN/ASUU Agreement.

    The single Term of Reference of the Committee was to re-negotiate the 2001 FGN/ASUU Agreement and enter into a workable Agreement. Both teams agreed that the following issues would form the agenda and focus for the Re-Negotiation: (a) Conditions of Service, (b) Funding, (c) University Autonomy and Academic Freedom, (d) Other Matters.

    The Agreement was directed towards ensuring that there is a viable university system with one, rather than a multiple, set of academic standards; and whereas it is recognised by the Negotiating Teams that education is on the Concurrent List and by the Agreement, the Federal Government does not intend to and shall not compel the State Governments to implement the provisions of the Agreement in respect of their universities.

    It was, however, recognised that the State Governments shall be encouraged to adopt the Agreement, as benchmarks, if they are to operate within the goals of achieving the same sets of academic standards for their institutions within Nigeria’s University System. The agreement included details such as the breakdown of lecturers’ salary structure, staff loans, pension, overtime, and moderation of examinations.

    It was agreed that entitled academic staff shall be paid earned allowances at the rates undertaking in the listed assignments. It was also agreed that Decree 11 of 1993 and the Pension Reform Act (2004) should be amended. The above negotiation was done in a saner manner and an atmosphere devoid of rancour, politicking, and blackmailing in the name of enforcing contractual provisions. What we see now is a bloody duel between two elephants that leaves the grasses – our children – bleeding nonstop, and is further sending our already comatose education sector further down the abyss of primitiveness. As it is, the government claimed to have met almost all the provisions in the 2009 agreement, but ASUU has a different narrative. However, in the midst of this chaos, we need to consider the students. The longer ASUU strikes, the more our economy suffers, and the greater the spell of idleness of our youths; and we know what that means…

    Does it make any sense to shut everything down and destroy the very system ASUU is claiming to want to fix? Must industrial action always be the bargaining tool for ASUU? Isn’t it a betrayal of depth that our so-called intellectuals only use the force of brawn to drive home their point? Can’t negotiation be ongoing without destabilising the education system and sending the children packing out of school? For the sake of our children idling away at home, let each of the warring parties shift ground. Let’s not politicise the strike any further. ASUU should go back to the classroom and government should release the money it has promised to give. Temisan is based in and writes from Warri, Delta State

  • 49 ways to love a woman

    I am not sure why you chose to read this article. If you are a regular reader of this column, you probably didn’t because you wanted to know the 49 ways to love a woman I would write about.

    For others, if you were attracted by the headline, it is understandable. Loving a woman is a serious issue that one has to keep learning how to — depending on the kind of woman you are in a relationship with.

    At a stage in a man’s life, he is under pressure to get a woman to marry. Choosing one to settle with   “for better for worse” can be tough and sometimes a gamble.

    There is a Yoruba saying that marriage for a man and woman is like buying a product from a night market. You will need to get home to know how good what you have bought under the cover of darkness is.

    This analogy may not be completely true of marriage but it somehow captures the reality of how men and women turn out to be different from what they were before marriage.

    I really wish I could write 49 ways to love a woman based on my over twenty years of marriage but I am not sure I can. I know a few though and they are the ones I will mention in this piece.

    Over the years I have learnt that one sure way to love a woman is to know her very well to know how to express your love. If you don’t, you may easily get frustrated trying to love her in a particular way she doesn’t appreciate.

    You must know what she likes from what she does not and work together on how to have a harmonious relationship based on your own likes and dislikes. Love is about compromise and not insisting on having your way all the time.

    Love is not science. It could be as simple as complimenting your woman about her looks. Don’t wait to be asked if you didn’t notice the new hairdo she has on or the dress she is wearing for the first time.

    Some women are known to have gotten involved in extra-marital affairs with men who compliment them often while their husbands choose not to see anything good in them.

    It could also be as complicated as meeting her various emotional and physical needs which she may not want to ask for but expects you to know and do something about.

    Learn to say ‘I love you’ when you should, instead of assuming she knows you love her. What women hear you say about them matters a lot.  There is no better way to show you love a woman than to openly declare it as often as you can as against being ‘old school’ or over spiritual.

    Some of the pieces of advice I have given are easier said than done. I am not sure how good a lover man I have been myself but I can give myself a pass mark.

    The person to rate me should be my darling wife, Ronke, whose this piece is dedicated to on her 49th birthday today. The 49 in the headline is not about how good I am about love matters, it is a tribute to the woman who has taught me many things about how to love a woman. Happy birthday Ronkusbaby!

  • Economic lessons from France

    Last week, I attended a Positive Economy Forum in Le Harve, France.

    I was invited to be among the about 3000 participants at the LH Forum due to The Nation Newspapers participation in the Impact Journalism Day project initiated by Sparknews observed globally in June this year.

    I and other journalists, however, had time to attend some of the sessions during which various speakers made a good case for a positive economy in the present world which, the organisers noted, seems fraught with dangers of recurring economic crises, high youth unemployment, poverty for many, environmental tensions and extremes of all sorts.

    Instead of the present short-term, individualistic and negative impact on the people and the environment, the promoters of Positive Economy believe that there is need for a new paradigm that is fairer, better balanced and more responsible.

    Among others, the concept proposes the creation of wealth to serve ethical and altruistic values, a long-term vision that takes the future generations into account and a model that includes people, for a real economy.

    By our standard, Europe, America and others are considered developed economies, but the main speakers at the forum are quick to admit that the good old days are over and something urgent should be done to prevent the deterioration of the global economic depression.

    Economics Nobel laureate, Joseph Stiglitz, was very critical of the American economy which he noted is unfortunately the model for some other nations.

    What I found very intriguing about his speech was that though his focus was the USA and European economy, his observations fitted the Nigeria situation perfectly.

    In an attempt to find solutions to the problem with the American economy, he lamented that the same persons who caused the problems are being called to fix it.  He spoke of regulators who didn’t believe in regulation, flawed corporate governance and economic policies and alarming youth employment that can jeopardise the future of the young generation and even those yet to be born.

    Stiglitz maintained that contrary to the claim that the US economy is getting better, it is still in recession.

    While the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, may appear to be growing, the Economist noted that the lot of the average American is getting worse, adding that the economic indicator is no longer sufficient to determine how well a country’s economy is doing.

    “ What we have is a rich country with a majority of the people being poor. A country where the minority control majority of the wealth, “Stiglitz declared, as I tried to reassure myself he was not listening to a review of the Nigerian economy.

    Since he seems his diagnosis is similar to ours, his recommendation should interest the managers of our economy.

    “First and foremost, there is need to regulate the financial sector and restore banks in what they are supposed to do, which is money lending.

    “ We must think in the long term and evolve alternative ways to manage the economy. We must fight the growing inequality and break away from the past.

    “The economic crisis we have is man-made, it is not a tsunami. We have the resources and the knowledge to reverse the dangerous trend and we must seize the opportunity now.”