Category: Editorial

• The police security squad is a welcome development if well funded, structured and aligned

In response to the pervasive insecurity in Nigeria, especially the violation of schools in the North, it is heart-warming that the Nigeria Police Force has come up with the establishment of an IGP Schools Special Protection Squad (SSPS). The murder of 29 students of Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, Yobe State, in February 2014, opened the floodgate to willful invasion and abduction of school children. From Yobe to Borno State, hundreds of school children were abducted and many never returned. While the Buni Yadi students were boys, slaughtered and their bodies dumped in front of the school, those of Chibok and Dapchi were girls. And the world became horrified. The insurgents always had their way. Then, it moved to the Northwest where the bandits took over, invaded schools on motorcycles and yet managed to move scores into the forests. Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara and Kebbi states had no solution to the crime.

Niger State was not spared, with poor pupils of quranic schools, including two-year olds, kept in the forests, while the abductors awaited payment of ransom.

The squad’s launch is a step in the right direction. But there are questions to be answered. First, how far has the government gone with the Safe Schools Initiative (SSI) that was expected to produce comprehensive protection for the schools, including perimeter fencing, security consciousness, training of teachers and administrators, and communication gadgets? Not much has been done in this respect.

Secondly, this would not be the first time that the Nigeria Police Force would be coming up with the initiative. What became of the earlier measure, and what’s the guarantee that this would succeed where the earlier failed?

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In May, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) had similarly rolled out a scheme it called Safe School Special Response Squad (SSSRS) to safeguard lives in secondary schools nationwide. This raises the question, is the IGP squad not then an unnecessary duplication? How much training has gone or is going into setting up the schemes? How much financial resource is being committed to them? Does the police force have enough personnel to man all the schools in the country?

It is often said that the children of today are leaders of tomorrow. Therefore, what we plant in them would determine the quality of governance, thus development of the society in the future. The danger to which school children have been exposed has led to parents withdrawing some of them from harm’s way. Nigeria today has the largest number of out-of-school children in the world, with the figure put at about 20 million. It keeps increasing every year.

Arresting the trend cannot be handled by one tier of government or security agency alone. There is need for collaboration between the federal and sub-national governments, as well as the police, NSCDC, the Department of State Services (DSS) and traditional authorities. All must work in harmony, not at cross-purposes.

It is time to ask again how donations by the international community toward the SSI were expended. The new administration at the federal level should take full stock of all that happened and plans by the various agencies. It is the responsibility of the Office of the National Security Adviser to coordinate the efforts and properly advise the government on what should be done. Never again should Nigeria and Nigerians be exposed to avoidable ridicule.

Given the importance of education, Nigeria has a duty to refurbish the foundation at the basic level. All efforts should be put into ensuring that children are prepared for the challenges of the 21st Century. This entails not only adequate funding and training, but restoring confidence of parents and pupils if Nigerians are not to remain hewers of wood and drawers of water for citizens of other countries.

• A South West Development Commission holds no silver bullet to fixing the region’s development challenges

In a splash of federal flakes, the House of Representatives of Nigeria’s 9th National Assembly enacted four bills setting up four geo-political development commissions.

At its plenary of October 14, 2012, the House endorsed the South East Development Commission (House Bill 887), South West Development Commission (HB 597), North Central Development Commission (HB 23) and North West Development Commission (HB 710).

Had the 9th Senate passed corresponding bills and the president signed those bills into law, Nigeria would have had six development commissions nestling in the six geo-political zones.  The two already in place are the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and the North East Development Commission (NEDC).

NDDC was birthed to right historic wrongs of wanton neglect of the South-South, which wilted while Nigeria flowered: though the oil wealth came from that zone’s ruptured bowels.  In a way, it’s a guilt offering. 

NEDC came because of Boko Haram terrorism — a catastrophe that devastated the North East region, necessitating special and crucial federal help.

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None of the other four regions has had such similar experiences.  Yes, the Igbo South East had own Civil War dissonance, though it wasn’t the sole victim.  The Civil War ravaged most of the present South East and South-South: both then part of the old Eastern Region.

The North Central, South West and North West have intra-regional challenges, thrown by intra-regional dynamics.  Still, except development agencies are balancing federal porks, which every zone must have because two zones already have them, there is pretty little to commend such. 

Of course, development commissions could be a federal policy — no crime.  But the opportunity cost may well be mere duplication of over-arching bureaucracy, against core development that the people crave: better roads, rail integration, better schools, quality hospitals, jobs for youths  — and the eventual crash of poverty.

 That brings the matter to the South West Development Commission.  A bill for its establishment just re-surfaced in the 10th Senate (by Senator Gbenga Daniel: Ogun East), after an earlier effort in the 9th Senate (by Senator Ibikunle Amosun: Ogun Central), and even earlier, in the 8th Senate (by Senator Gbenga Ashafa: Lagos East).

First, the South West (as the other five zones) should not be denied its due from the Nigerian common wealth.  That right is inviolable under the tri-ethos of equity, fairness and inclusion.  Any sane governance is erected over that tripod.

Again, former Senator Amosun (incidentally Ogun successor to Governor Daniel, who is pushing the present bill), made quite persuasive arguments, while the bill scaled its second reading in the Senate on March 4, 2020.

Amosun’s argument was pin-point: with the South West becoming refuge to more Nigerians seeking better opportunities unavailable in their home areas, the South West’s social amenities crumble, making the standard of living to drop across board.

Amosun pleaded, as reported by Premium Times: “Majority of roads are calling for urgent attention.  Many state-owned hospitals have inadequate medical personnel and equipment that can properly manage the health needs of patients.  Educational institutions are not what they used to be.  Industrial estates have become desolate, while a few which are still functional are struggling to remain in business.”

Persuasive stuff — except that while having a development commission (another federal bureaucracy) could be a way out, it’s not the only way.  Tackling these challenges, without another layer of federal bureaucracy, could be cheaper and more effective.  Indeed, the best deal for value: resources are finite; needs are infinite.

Besides, the South West, until 2015, was never part of any previous Nigeria’s central governing coalition.  Yet, in the best spirit of federalism, it has developed the most robust self-sustaining mechanisms, with little or no federal pork.  It shouldn’t lose this ace by hankering after a federal feeding bottle which, by the NDDC experience, feeds hardly anybody outside the greedy elite.

However, we can work out routine federal support to feed its already emerging integration structures, where the Development Agency of Western Nigeria (DAWN) has done some stellar work. 

Tapping ready federal funds to build intra-South West rail, for instance, would be a far better deal than cash spent erecting a South West Development Commission.  A DAWN-powered rail would be direct and cheaper.  DAWN can also lead the charge for state police in its area, for security is vital to sustaining any economic investment. 

The beauty of such is that what is valid for the South West should be valid for the rest of Nigeria: bottom-up development is better than top-down solutions as interventionist agencies — except, of course, serious national emergencies, as in NDDC and NEDC, compel such.

But even such shouldn’t be permanent fixtures.  As the social register for the poorest of the poor should wind down as majority of the poor scale poverty, special federal support agencies should continually give way to region-driven ones.

That should shape grassroots-pushed integrative policies.  That’s the model federalism Nigeria craves, after the crude over-centralisation of the military era. 

• It’s high time government devised effective measures to guard such national monuments

Those who vandalised the hard-fought for Second Niger Bridge delivered by President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime after decades of several false promises are enemies of the south east region. Since the advent of the democratic governance in 1999, the bridge was used as bait for the votes of the people of the region. It became an object of political worship and psychological torture which actors at national and state levels used to tango with the emotions of the people until it was commissioned on May 23.

So, vandalising that totem is akin to sacrilege. Those involved should engage in public penance and restitution without delay.

Unfortunately, vandalising public property has become a common phenomenon across Nigeria. From rail tracks, to electricity wires and transformers, to petroleum pipes, you name it; vandals seem to take delight in raping national assets and rendering the public beneficiaries hapless. Governments at all levels must wake up to deal with this monster with all the security resources at their disposal.

According to the resident engineer in charge of the project, Oluwaseyi Martins, the criminals stole the metal plate in the middle of the walkway and the expansion joints. While acknowledging that the items stolen do not constitute any danger to the bridge, he said: “It just started happening and if we don’t intensify security on the bridge, more damage could be done to other parts of the bridge. It is a new trend that we are experiencing across the country, not only on the Second Niger Bridge.”

He however reassured Nigerians that his agency has: “written to all the security agencies, including the military; that this is an important national asset that should be protected and they should beam their surveillance and security operations on the bridge.” We join our voice to call on security agencies to take necessary measures to protect the newly built Niger Bridge and other critical national assets exposed to the vagaries of vandals. The engineers must also factor in these challenges at the point of construction.

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Security management has gone digital, with all manner of security cameras, and drones deployable. Perhaps, it is time to ensure that there are human and technological means to monitor such critical assets like rail tracks and bridges. In the meantime, the security agencies can detail security guards to watch over such assets until technology can be embedded into the watch schedule. The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), in charge of protecting critical national assets, must wake up to that responsibility.

Another major stakeholder in the security architecture is the various communities hosting those assets that are being vandalised. They must not just agitate for the dividends of democracy. When it is delivered, they must not only own them, they should also protect them from those who try to vandalise what has been built. In the time past, communities provided security for themselves, and where modern governments are lax, communities should provide a cover, after all the people are the ultimate beneficiaries of those infrastructure.

Those in government too must put measures in place to provide employment opportunities for the army of the unemployed, who may be the major culprits in this national shame. Again, they must not continue to show bad example to the people in their management of common resources. There is a school of thought that corruption in government festers criminality outside, as the people see corruption in public service as the normalisation of bad behaviour of stealing public assets for personal gain.    

The Second Niger Bridge is a critical national asset that must be protected at all cost. We urge all stakeholders to discharge their responsibility by ensuring its safety and wellbeing.

• Resident doctors and government should return to negotiation table

The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) in the nation’s tertiary health institutions has called out its members from work. Only skeletal services are being rendered in the tertiary hospitals since the strike started on July 26. 

It is unfortunate that the government was unable to avert the strike given how sensitive the sector is and its effects on patients and their relations. Although there are private tertiary health institutions, they are too few and expensive for majority of the people.

The Bola Tinubu administration inherited the doctors’ grouse. Indeed, in recent years, professionals in the sector have been leaving the country in droves, owing to poor conditions of service and failure of government to adequately equip the hospitals. 

As the Coronavirus pandemic raged all over the world in 2020, it took the intervention of well-meaning Nigerians to avert a strike by resident doctors who could not understand why they should be paid a paltry N5,000 per month to confront the monster. Promises were made, but, as usual, government has observed the agreement in the breach.

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It was shocking to many when former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha, told a bewildered Senate committee hearing on the pandemic that he had no idea the state of our health infrastructure. Since then, despite promises made and agreements signed, nothing has been done to improve the situation. 

As the National Chairman of NARD, Dr. Emeka Orji, said in an interview at the  commencement of the industrial action, government does not seem to have demonstrated enough good faith. Some of the items on the Memorandum of Understanding could have been given effect by the Buhari administration, or even the current leaders. There is, for instance, an understanding that every doctor that had left our shores would be replaced one-for-one. This has not been done despite the fact that it would not cost more. There was also an agreement that residency studies would be fully funded, and the year’s budget has made.provision for it. Yet, nothing has been done in that respect. Other  issues that would take longer time include increasing the budget for the health sector, providing better equipment for the hospitals, and ensuring that primary and secondary health facilities are strengthened to cope with demands of a growing population.

It is surprising that in all the discussions on palliative, no mention has been made about the health needs of the people and the plight of professionals working in the clinics. It’s not only doctors who are fleeing in search of greener pastures; nurses, pharmacists and laboratory scientists too, are. Government should come up with an agenda for revamping the sector.

We are aware that the Tinubu administration has barely taken off and is confronted with legacy challenges that would take time to clear. At the same time that the resident doctors embarked on an industrial action, the umbrella labour unions, the Nigeria Labour Congress  (NLC) and Trade Union Congress  (TUC) are on the streets protesting the difficult times in the country. The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has not forgotten its grouse, and is still demanding the eight months salaries withheld by government for its members’ ill- fated, long drawn strike of 2022.

Ultimately,  there is the need for both parties to resume negotiations, demonstrating good faith and examining the situation with a positive mindset. All the betrayals of the past should be set aside with a view to achieving results that would benefit the country. Both parties should realise that lives lost in the process cannot be revived, hence the need to consider patients’ interests as paramount. The doctors have sufficiently made their  point, the table should be set for negotiation now.

• IOCs willing to do business in Nigeria must be ready to play by the rules

Given the significant environmental, health and economic as well as social concerns that gas flaring poses to communities in the oil bearing areas, one would expect that oil companies would gladly pick the bills for their violation of the relevant laws forbidding the noxious practice. But no. Many of the oil and gas companies operating in Nigeria wait for reminders and sometimes subtle threats before honouring such obligations. Thanks to the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) whose sole responsibility is ensuring that the oil and gas companies pay such fees, levies and fines. But for its faithfully ensuring that operators in the extractive industries pay up such monies, many of the companies would have gone away with a lot of revenue that should be due to the Federal Government.

It happened before. It has happened again.

Ahmed Munir, Chairman of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee Investigating Gas Flaring, has had to issue another threat to the debtor-companies to pay up the $9bn gas flaring levy owed by them. This was sequel to a report by NEITI. Speaking during a post-investigative hearing that had in attendance various stakeholders, including the Federal Ministry of Environment, the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NISDRA), among others, Munir vowed: “I can assure you that we will not take this lying down.  There are two ways to go about it; we have the issues of penalties that are not paid amounting to about $9bn or thereabout. That one is there. We know how to recover it.”

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A visibly worried Munir told the stakeholders that the present National Assembly would not only ensure compliance by them with the rules and regulations guiding operations in the sector but would also ensure that all debts are recovered. He added that “Secondly, going forward, those that are still polluting, how do you ensure you get it down to zero level and what are the penalties that are going to be put in place?”

We commend NEITI for bringing to the fore once again this huge indebtedness to the country. We also commend the ad-hoc committee for vowing to collect every dime owed by the oil and gas companies. But they must see to it that the companies pay up.

This is not the first time that NEITI would be exposing such indebtedness. Last September, NEITI’s executive secretary, Dr Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, has had to make a similar appeal to the companies then owing Nigeria about $2bn to pay up. Orji said at the NEITI-Companies Forum Sensitisation on Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) validation that “If we have over $2 billion that is outstanding, it is important we sensitise those who are owing to pay up because the government needs the money right now. We have moved from disclosing what is owed to what needs to be paid on time so that the government will have some money to fund projects. That is the target of NEITI at the moment, using our report to hold accountable companies that are owing the government.”

It is instructive that these disclosures were only some of the few made by NEITI. The initiative’s disclosure in 2019 that some 77 oil and gas companies were owing the Federal Government $6.8bn dollars made 26 of the companies to pay about $3.2bn, thus bringing down the indebtedness to about $3.6bn in the NEITI report for 2020.

Indeed, “So far, NEITI has conducted and published 25 cycles of audit reports in the oil and gas sector, covering the period 1999-2020. From the report, a total of $741.48 billion was recorded as revenue earnings to government coffers from the sector”, Orji said. He added that “Besides, NEITI reports have led to the recovery of several billions of dollars by the government from companies operating in the sector. Recommendations of our reports are also triggering huge reforms in the sector, one of which is the PIA…”

It is instructive that in all of these, the oil and gas companies hardly contest or dispute NEITI’s report. Rather, they tender flimsy excuses for not paying up what they should pay into the government’s coffers. 

It is saddening that most of the companies involved in these infractions are multinationals that are reputed for best practices in their home countries. Unfortunately, they take advantage of the laxities in enforcement of rules and regulations on the part of some regulators as well as pervasive corruption in the country to want to deny Nigeria huge sums even after repatriating what legally belongs to them home.

We should no longer tolerate such impunity.

Companies wishing to do business in the country must be willing to comply with laws guiding their operations. The government should no longer handle matters such as these with levity. Any company that wants to take undue advantage of the laxities in our system to steal what belongs to Nigeria must be made to pay not just what it owes but pay interest for waiting to be reminded to do the rightful.

Nigeria owes so much at this point in time and every kobo that is due to the government but is outside must be brought in. If this happens, we may realise that we actually should not have any reason to borrow so much because public funds that are out there are more than enough to take care of our needs.

• Only enforcement of relevant laws can stem the tide

Nigeria has more than 20 million out-of-school children. It has 133 million people living in multi-dimensional poverty and sadly, about four million more were added in the first quarter of 2023. The World Food Programme (WFP) just reported that about five million under-five children are chronically malnourished in the North East of the country. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) reports that there are more than 40 per cent child-labourers here. All these and more tragedies are dire prognoses of an endangered future for most Nigerian children.

No doubt the country has been going through many socio-economic and political challenges further exacerbated by many bad policies, corruption, ineffective policy execution, insecurity and the post-COVID-19 pandemic economic issues, amongst many others. Invariably, these challenges have been impacting on all demographics in different ways. Adults are increasingly operating under pressure, thus becoming less productive. What this brings is more social disequilibrium and more poverty.

The news report of two female teenagers aged 13 and 15 in Oka-Akoko, South West Local Government Area of Ondo State that faked their abduction and sought a ransom of a N100,000 from their mother is an eloquent testimony of the impact of a socially and economically distressed country. 

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They claimed they perpetrated the act to punish their mother because she was maltreating them. Incidentally, they were paraded along 28 other adult suspects accused of various social misbehaviour.  Their story made headlines because of their ages but then, we believe that the society seems to focus on the symptoms rather than the fundamentals. Their infantile allegation against their mother might just be a result of a level of innocence that made them assume that whatever  deprivations they might have been going through was not as a result of their mother’s hatred  for them but possibly because the economic hardships were hitting her hard.

Interestingly, there was no mention of their father’s presence which might mean that the woman must either be a widow or a single mother struggling to provide for them. The teenagers are equally victims of a system that seems to be treating kidnappers for ransom with kid gloves. Many kidnappers have been operating in the country and cashing out big time, and even in some bizarre cases have some otherwise religious leaders negotiating with them with huge ransoms. The society should look deeper to where the children drew a warped inspiration from. If they had possibly seen the state come down hard on kidnappers, they might have been discouraged. The outrage for the minors’ crime might be weightier and more effective if the state had taken the crime more seriously and put in the laws to catch up with adult offenders first. 

We however commend the Amotekun Security Organization for inspiring confidence enough that their mother had confidence in reporting to the organisation and its being very active in contacting the Department of State Services (DSS) that swung into action to unravel the kidnap riddle. We wonder what roles the traditional police played in the saga.

The issue of some criminal mothers in the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja) that rent out their babies to destitutes for begging on the streets is an abuse of children’s rights and must get the attention of the state. The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) must be commended for bringing the sad news to the fore. While we acknowledge the economic hardship in the country, innocent children must not be imperiled by adults that ought to nurture and protect the future leaders.

The discovery by NAPTIP shows diligence and a versatility that shows they are not just concerned with adults trafficked for sex. The rapid response unit of the agency has shown how active it is but it is left for other government agencies to be up and doing to stem the crime against innocent children forced out on the streets just to get attention and pity.

Nigeria is a signatory to many UN treaties and acts protecting children and must actively and deliberately enforce those laws that are meant to protect them. Adults must be educated about the rights of every child to certain life ideals and the adults must be held accountable for their actions. As such, any violator of their rights must be prosecuted. Destitution is not a free pass to the violation of laws.

When the right laws are diligently enforced, crimes by minors and against minors can be reasonably curbed if not eradicated.

• Are employers being unfair to applicants or just being fair to themselves? 

Senator Abba Moro was Interior minister on March 15, 2014, when 15 Nigerian youths died at a stadium stampede: doomed applicants for Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) jobs.  

For this tragedy, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, ruled that Moro, as interior minister, bore political responsibility — but not criminal culpability — while handing down a discharge and acquittal verdict on the former minister in 2022.

But on July 19 Abba Moro, now a sitting senator, sponsored a motion which teems with empathy for job-seeking Nigerian youths, and how seemingly arbitrary age-limits could have been limiting their chances.

The Senate passed the motion; and on that score alone, Senator Moro ranks high on institutional memory.  It’s not clear though, if his motive, by the motion, had anything to do with his sad ministerial experience.  

Yet, that motion’s acute sensitivity, to the plight of qualified young job seekers ruled too old for certain jobs, suggests admirable institutional memory many public functionaries often lack.  Institutional memory — that penchant to learn from past mistakes to forge better public policy — is not Nigeria’s greatest strength.

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The Moro motion is understandable, given the prevailing situation in Nigeria’s over-burdened job market: low job openings but teeming applicants, year after year.

The senator said, arguing his motion: “It is pathetic that a graduate in Nigeria who could not get a job upon graduation and decided to go back to school with the hope that a higher qualification, vis-a-vis a second degree could give him a better opportunity, is thrown into a career paradox when,” he added, “upon completion of his second degree, he comes out to find that he is now above the age of employment and therefore not employable by the sole reason of his age.”

Double jeopardy!  

The senator argued that such age-limit “discrimination” violated Chapter 4, Section 42 (2) of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution, which protects citizens from discrimination.  He also argued that the International Labour Organization (ILO) regards employment discrimination as violation of human rights, a wanton waste of human talents and willful sabotage of productivity and economic growth.  Well-reasoned.

On account of these grave reasons, the Senate passed the motion and called on the Ministry of Labour and Employment to put out stringent policies to outlaw such discriminations; and also prescribe fit penalties for defaulting employers.

This would appear reasonable in the present circumstances.  There is certainly the need to take on as many qualified hands as possible, without any artificial age barrier.

Yet, by this vexed practice, are employers guilty as charged for bad motives?  On that, the jury is out.  

For one, age limitations could be inserted to protect worker interests: the younger you come on board, the more primed you are for career opportunities at prime age; and you also await rich retirement benefits, after giving your prime best.  That’s hardly anti-worker.

For another, the companies themselves, in computing sundry worker benefits, take age rather seriously.  Such in-built company protection, basically to stay in business, hardly passes for anti-worker practices.

So, what is required is common sense: a mid-point at which applicants’ rights are assured while business is sustained.  Only such can guarantee the age-friendly worker policies the Senate motion is canvassing.

But even at that, moral suasion is key.  While age-friendly policies can be enforced in the government-owned public services and the very big firms in the private sector with relative ease, it could be quite a task with struggling small and medium enterprises (SMEs) scrounging for nourishment in a pretty parched market.

In the final analysis, help comes with a far expanded economy with bigger opportunities. Such an expanded market will re-set supply-demand dynamics. Workers, aged or young, will drift to where their interests are best taken care of.  

It’s not a worker el-dorado.  It’s just an industry equilibrium where values are exchanged at the best mutually beneficial terms.

Ogun students who assaulted teacher that punished one of them for cheating in exam must be punished

The great global icon of liberation, late Nelson Mandela’s equally iconic quote, “Education is the most powerful tool we can use to change the world” seems to have been thrown to the dogs by a gang of senior students in Isanbi Comprehensive High School, Ilisan-Remo, Ikenne Local Government Area of Ogun State, who waylaid and assaulted one of their teachers, Kolawole Shonuga, who had stopped one of them from cheating in an examination.

Another huge paradox is that Ikenne is renowned for being the ancestral home of the symbol of free education in Western Nigeria, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. His vision was to empower the people with education through a credible process. However, the suspect in the cheating allegation, 18-year–old Ashimi Adebanjo has had his SS1 Art paper seized when he was caught cheating.

The suspect then connived with his mates and waylaid the teacher on his way home and beat him up. One Kazeem Adelaja allegedly hit Mr. Sonuga with a stick on his head as others continued beating him. Fortunately, the Ogun State Police Command spokesman, Omatola Odutola, confirmed that about 10 of the students had been arrested after the victim formally reported to the police.

The Chairman of Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools (ASUSS) in the state, Felix Agbesanwa, equally confirmed the incident and insists that the students must not only be arrested but be fully prosecuted to serve as deterrent to others. The state government too through the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Abayomi Arigbabu, equally condemned the heinous act and insisted the government would not condone indiscipline in schools.

However, this incident is not the first in Ogun State and even some other states in the country. In 2021 alone, the state recorded four such incidents in some of its public schools. The state government had, due to the frequency of such indiscipline, introduced a compulsory undertaking signed by students and their parents to curb hooliganism.

We are outraged at this very sad news but not totally surprised. The country has been drifting downwards in all sectors in the last few years. There is a total loss of values in the society such that the smallest unit of the society, the family, has taken a direct hit. The result is that there is almost total failure of parenting and mentorship. Children often display what they observe around them. They see the societal dysfunction in all sectors.

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Nigeria seems to be a nation where certificates rather than education and skills is the focus. The struggle to acquire certificates by all means stems from the prevailing situation where certificates are considered the only qualification needed for jobs or political purposes. There seems to be less emphasis on character development and integrity. The phrase considered “fit in character and learning” seems to be watered down surreptitiously by the society.

Over the years, education, both informal and formal, seems to have lost their fervour. Different tiers of government are supposed to be in charge of education and as such roll out policies that would guarantee the best quality education for every child. Rather, we seem to see a continual emphasis on structures (buildings) by politicians, with no due diligence paid to the processes, like the integrity of learning and certificates.

The failure of parenting can be arrested by governments that have the duty of protecting the future of the country. Parenting duties include but not limited to birthing, providing shelter and food. The socio-cultural ethos of the different tribes all aggregate to certain values shared in common. Discipline, respect, integrity and the likes are supposed to be instilled in children by parents. It is sad that children are now growing to see their parents primarily not holding these values dear. Most of the parents display the negatives of these values and their children watch and replicate.

Most parents feel that their children must move ahead academically even when they do not qualify. We have reports of parents aiding and abetting cheating by or for their children from the primary to university levels. Some parents pay for admissions instead of allowing their children use their brain, some pay for ‘special centres’, a euphemism for centres where examination fraud is often committed. Such parents invariably send the wrong message to the children that it is acceptable to go through the back door.

The biblical, “Train a child in the way he should go and when he grows he will not depart from it”, rings through under this circumstance. When the misdirection comes from home then the child gets into a society and displays indiscipline and other social vices. In some cases when suspects like these students are even apprehended, some parents use their influence to prevent them from facing justice. They get away and rely on influence peddling for the rest of their lives.

The larger society and government institutions must make sure that punishment and reward serve their purposes in the society. The children look at the society and take their cues. So the students in Ogun State must have been seeing issues in the news, they must have seen impunity at all levels with no punishment. If the four cases in the same state had been well prosecuted and the suspects punished, may be the recent one would not have happened.

The students have observed many adults seemingly get away with blue murder literally, so they could take liberties. Despite the 2021 undertaking signed by parents and students in the same state, they were not deterred. That is the result of the failure of state institutions to work conscientiously to get the system to be functional. The incident in Ogun is a reflection of the society in its entirety. The reign of jungle justice is rife. The absence of functional state institutions, the idea of people taking the laws into their hands is seen all over. In the last few years, we have seen the Deborah and the butcher’s killing in Sokoto State, with no consequences. We recently saw a graduate with mental health issues killed in Bayelsa State with no outrage. There are various reports of domestic violence and spousal murders that have not been prosecuted, so the students apparently felt that they too can take liberties.

We must understand that every institution is part of a bigger whole. We must begin to be concerned about the children by building institutions that would functionally serve everyone. Law and order must work before the system works. We expect that the affected institutions and agencies of government must make scapegoats of those students because some of them are up to 18. The others should be tried as minors. The teacher must be given therapy and other medical assistance. The dignity of the teacher must be restored if we are not to jeopardise the country’s future.