Hurray, Taraba State announces that EFCC will monitor ongoing World Bank and other projects. This is just what we have been demanding in this column for years for every single government and MDA project. Federal and other states please follow suit to save Nigeria from a new round of preventable corruption discoveries killing citizens.
Today we must discuss the common petrol kegs in homes and shops nationwide – 25 litres, 10, 50 and even 100litres- have been used and abused by immediate resale on the black market. At every single petrol station, thousands of genuine needy keg owners line up for domestic and office use. Some bring several kegs for co-workers. Millions of genuinely needy citizens owning thirsty petrol generators powering domestic, education, reading, work and play needs.
There is not enough electric power – just 3-7Mw meeting just 5% of Nigeria’s power needs of 70Mw. The rest is made up by toxic fume generator power.
The tragic consequences of our 50-year power deficit include many lives lost from petrol tanker and generator explosions and fumes like the recent one in Rivers State. These losses are due to greed and incompetence related failure to plan and execute stepwise worldwide accepted increased power supply by successive governments.
The current law appears to empower the watchdog of petrol stations, to close stations selling into kegs. But many petrol filling stations are compelled by the circumstances outlined above, and tremendous local pressure including threats and violence and cash, to service the needy keg citizens. Unscrupulous attendants will always service the local area boys.
The ‘no kegs law’ is yet another asinine law punishing all the citizens for the sins of those buying to resell on the black market. Instead of enforcing the bad law, please deploy security to stations to protect keg citizens from criminal black market keg fillers.
This is just another one of the over 100 unintended consequences of serial bad governance for which the citizens have to pay a heavy price.
The government failure has forced every office and shop and home to own a small to large petrol generator 500cc –15KVA and kegs compulsorily and, from barber to businessman.
Why should Nigerians again be punished for the wicked black marketers?
Government has created a problem that it cannot solve by the ban on keg petrol sales.
Fellow Nigerians should not all suffer because of petrol keg black marketers. Fellow Nigerians already have suffered multibillion naira losses from black markers in foreign exchange, government-neglected roads and corruption mis-built roads and unnecessary obstacle course queues to get seven IDs. In contrast, instead of Nigeria’s crippling 1, 3 or 5 year renewal, other countries give 10 years to life IDs saving citizens time and money and improving the sense of nationhood.
Shame! While the introducers should be praised, those who stood against the 10-year passport should be exposed and punished. ‘Our Mumu done do’ as Charlie Boy has said. And WE STILL DO NOT HAVE A FACE AND FINGERPRINTS DATABASE accessible by police in stations!! Yet we were taught that ‘simple things occur commonly’! Sadly, here ‘simple things are made complex and complex things made impossible’ and even worse ‘everything we touch turns to corruption and dust’ and not gold dust.
We celebrate and congratulate the amazing leadership of the honesty-is my- practical-and-policy’ Prof Is-haq Oloyede on the 2024 JAMB exam successfully carried out with minimum infringements and maximum credibility. We congratulate Fasesin Ayomiposi, Kunle-Olawepo Ayomikun, Aaron David among others for scoring 355 in JAMB 2024 and the nearly 200,000 who scored more than 200. Of the 1,989,668 who registered 1,904,109 sat while 80,810 were absent due to illness, under preparation, Boko Haram and other terrorism, wrong venue and even fear of getting caught for cheating. 64,624 were under investigation. We should cry and accuse every politician when 1,402,490 i.e. 76% scored less than 200 and may require to re-sit the exam in 2025. How many of the 1,402,490 were resits?
Passing an exam is personal brain power, teacher, school/home environment driven. If a child was deprived of oxygen at birth, that student will not get high JAMB results. That is compromised brain power.
2024 EMERGENCY EDUCATION STRATEGY MUST FIGHT for the JAMB AND MOCK FAILURES so they pass the next exam before they become permanent societal failures.
The 76% failure is not a student but a government failure though it will cost the students and their families many millions in money and hours of study.
To prevent mass failure, developed countries have a bottom-up approach to education. They pour money and very well-trained and well qualified staff into pre-school, KG and primary school realising that a solid foundation in 1-11year olds is the most important component of getting an educated workforce prepared for the future. A hallmark of developing countries is to almost totally ignore the entire education system and especially the primary part. Consequently, there are minimum or no qualifications for those putting the first ideas and words and songs into the mouths and minds of our youth. A governor in the North is said to be paying N10,000/month to primary school teachers. Contrast them with Montessori schools and other primary schools in the private sector. The world is familiar and horrified by the poor state of the Chibok School as revealed by the international media. We have quality and quantity work to do in education.
