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Tag: priority

  • PDP’s unity is my priority, declares Adeniran

    PDP’s unity is my priority, declares Adeniran

    As the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) prepares for its August 17 National Convent, a leading National Chairmanship aspirant, Prof. Tunde Adeniran has said that his major mission was to forge unity among the various groups within the party.

    He said that he had the requisite qualification to achieve that goal given the mutual respect he enjoyed across the membership of the party, including its current and past leaders.

    Speaking through his media aide, Yemi Akinbode, the former Minister of Education said it was because of the bridges he had built across all the party’s divides that eminent citizens of the country from part of the country had backed his candidacy.

    His words: “I am a friend of all, leaders and followers. I don’t have enemies. The truth is that when they have nothing to say, my warm relationships with eminent Nigerians become the story.”

    Prof. Adeniran also hinted of a strong move by PDP leaders in the southwest to unite and collectively demand that the National Chairmanship be formally zoned to the region.

    According to him, the southwest party leaders “want the zoning committee meeting in Port Harcourt to bear in mind that equity and justice demand nothing less than a southwest National Chairmanship of the PDP.”

    He said the other zones in the south should concede the National Chairmanship to the southwest, being the only zone yet to lead the party; adding that many party leaders in the southeast had already backed the southwest for the position. The southeast had in the past thrown up several National Chairmen for the party.

    Prof Adeniran, a founding member of the PDP, recalled that the south-south recently produced the President for the country and also led the party as acting national chairman until recently.

    “We have had a long period of acting national chairmanship and the occupant of that office was from the south-south after serving as deputy national chairman for a long time,” he explained, adding: “So looking at the equation, even our brothers from the southeast, many of them believe the chairmanship should go to the southwest. But for the sake of robust politics whoever is interested can come out and at the end we are all brothers and sisters. When they see that the majority has taken a position that it should go to the southwest, they will key into it and the national chairman will be Tunde Adeniran.”

    Prof Adeniran, who has received the endorsement of several party leaders across the six geo-political zones, said that he was determined to tackle the major malaise with the party, which he identified as lack of internal democracy, disorientation and the ugly image acquired as a result of commission and omission on the part of the leadership.

    He further said: “We believe that there is the need at this point to restore the dignity of the party and broaden the base of participation so that there will be inclusiveness and quality leadership. We have decided to come in so that we will leave a worthy legacy.  The PDP was turned virtually into an electoral vehicle; a vehicle that you all get elected into a particular position or get appointment into a particular office without really performing the oath of the office. We have to check that.”

    On the reported interest of PDP southwest members in the Vice Presidency in 2019, the former Ambassador to Germany said that that should not distract the zone from producing the National Chairman at this time. He said he would not be a sit-tight National Chairman as he would be willing to relinquish his position in the interest of the party.

    He explained: “As far as I am concerned the motivation for aspiring for this office is service and when you are serving people, you have to be directed. If by any reason the party decides that it will go another direction, why should I say I want to sit tight on anything? That has been the bane of our politics in this part of the world. People must be ready to make sacrifices and bear in mind the very essence of service.”

  • Tambuwal: Making education priority

    In recent years, education in northern Nigeria reached a point of collapse. Sokoto, my home state, is one of the states most affected. To lend some perspective: In 2015, the National Universities Commission (NUC) ranked Usmanu Dan Fodiyo University Sokoto (UDUS) and Sokoto State University (SSU) 82nd and 104th in Nigeria respectively. Encouraging however is the 2016 ranking of 37th for UDUS. SSU couldn’t make top 100. Based on a 2010 report by Sokoto State Ministry of Education on the State Strategic Education Sector Plan (SESP) 2011-2020, the gross and net enrolment rates were 71 percent and 55.5 percent respectively for the primary school-aged population. While the net attendance rate for the 2009-2010 academic years was 68 percent, completion and gender gap rates were at 40 percent. Thus, 44.5 percent of school-aged children were not enrolled in school in 2010. The report puts the enrolment rate for boys at 69.8 percent and 30.2 percent for girls, as compared to the national average of 86 percent and 75 percent respectively. Recent outrage, expressed largely through impassioned internet debate, has ignited an awakening to the present dire state of affairs.

    Last year, we began a social media campaign (#TransformArewa), which brought to the fore some of the most notable educational deficiencies and vulnerabilities of our present educational system, as well as the consequences. My research discovered the colossal disparity between the standard and quality of education in the North compared to the South. A significant difference exists between the performances of northern students compared to our southern counterparts. This can most likely be attributed to a lack of structure and attention given to education in the North. In addition to low quality of education, our school infrastructures are dilapidated and often poorly equipped.

    The National Common Entrance Examination cut-off marks released by Federal Ministry of Education shows that while the highest cut-off marks in the country were 139 in 2013 and 66 in 2014, particularly alarming were cut-off marks in some Northern states for males and females respectively. In 2013: Zamfara (4 and 2), Taraba (3 and 11), Yobe (2 and 27), Sokoto (9 and 13) and Kebbi (9 and 20). In 2014: Sokoto (15 and 7), Zamfara (14 and 12), Bauchi (both 18), Taraba (both 19) and Yobe (both 20).

    According to statistics of results released by WAEC in 2014, eight of 36 bottom-ranked states recorded worse than a 10 percent score (five credits or more including English and Mathematics). These include: Adamawa (8.75 percent), Jigawa (7.4 percent), Sokoto (7.12 percent), Zamfara (6.65 percent), Kebbi (6.3 percent), Gombe (5.68 percent), Bauchi (5.28 percent) and Yobe (4.85 percent). These are all northern states, and in fact the bottom 13 states were all from the North. WAEC results released in 2015 were also not heartening. The following eight northern states were ranked at the bottom: Yobe (37th), Zamfara (36th), Jigawa (35th), Gombe (34th), Katsina (33rd), Bauchi (31st) and Sokoto (30th).

    For several years, the North has been at a great educational disadvantage, a condition which will continue once there’s no drastic measure or robust intervention to halt it. This obvious trend should appal our leaders, who witness this persistent plague upon our region, but do nothing but fold their arms and watch. A temporary lapse in judgment can be forgiven, but a myopic leader who is immune to these issues should be questioned, both as to his moral conscience and to his qualifications to engage in governance. We need visionary transformational leaders who will employ experts that possess both technical merit and knowledge of the nuances of these educational problems. We may not see the scale of destruction this has caused our region now, but we will soon see how collectively impacted we all are in terms of economic and industrial growth, employment and security if nothing is done.

    One such leader is Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal. Once Governor Tambuwal was inaugurated, I paid close attention to the state’s activities. I was initially critical of what I perceived to be a slow start, but quickly learned that Tambuwal and his team were in fact crafting a plan to solve the education crisis, an issue whose urgency has no equal.

    Tambuwal introduced a bill which will make obtaining education compulsory and punishes non-compliant parents. The bill, which is currently at the public hearing stage, will ensure that education is not just a privilege, but a right of every child which must not be denied. Governor Tambuwal then began to address Girl-Child education by introducing monetary incentives for rural mothers who allow their daughters to attend school instead of street hawking. In the same vein, Alhaji SaniYakubu, a member of the state House of Assembly, has introduced a bursary scheme for girls in his constituency. The scheme will provide the girls with ¦ 2,000 monthly allowance, school uniforms and exercise book for every school term. Such laudable initiatives should be both welcomed and expanded throughout the state, especially in the rural areas where most cannot afford sending their children to school. Based upon the measly proportion of girls who attend school compared to boys, it is safe to assume that the most untapped human resource in the North is the female workforce.

    Tambuwal’s greatest strides were made when he declared a state of emergency in education. This effectively signalled that the government understood what it takes to remedy a catastrophic problem and that it would no longer turn a blind eye. Our once-archaic education system will now be overhauled and upgraded, putting us back on the academic map. Every bureaucratic process that could impede the implementation of reform will be circumvented.

    Sokoto now has a clear plan, and Tambuwal didn’t stop there. He allocated ¦ 34.5b – the highest of any sector – to education in the 2016 budget. This represents a staggering 29 percent of the budget (UNESCO had recommended 26 percent).

    According to the 2010 SESP, the primary school teacher-to-pupil ratio in Sokoto was 1:47, which is better than the current 1:66 teacher-to-pupil ratio. Even more disturbing is the “qualified teacher”-to-pupil ratio which was an outrageous 1:144. Governor Tambuwal’s response was to recruit 500 teachers trained by UNICEF to boost manpower in secondary schools. Furthermore, Tambuwal recently announced he will be employing 10,000 qualified teachers, the exact number which was recommended to bridge the gap by the technical committee he established to advise him on these issues. Earlier this year, Tambuwal began construction of special estates (teachers’ villages) across different districts as part of an incentive package for teachers posted to teach in the rural areas. This was his effort to further extend access to education in the rural areas. Governor Tambuwal then signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Teachers institute (NTI) in an effort to improve the quality of education and maintain the gains already recorded.

    Throughout his first year, billions of Naira have been earmarked or expended by the governor for renovations of schools, intervention programmes, or support in the payment of school and exam fees (8000 students for JAMB alone) for students studying abroad or locally. He recently earmarked another ¦ 1 billion to establish a senior secondary school in Gudu local government to increase access to education. Until now, Gudu was the only local government in Nigeria without one. In order to sustain his effort, a one percent levy of all contracts awarded will be set aside for the sole purpose of funding education in Sokoto State.   We have already started to realize the dividends of this investment as almost 1.2m students have enrolled in the basic education schools for the 2015 – 2016 academic year, a huge increase from recent years.

    It is no secret that the North is being left behind in education. We live in a society where some parents have become obstacles to their children’s education through begging (Almajiranci) and hawking (Talla); while some teachers have become an impediment to the academic development of their students’ education through substandard teaching techniques. Some youths are therefore being denied the opportunity to realize their talents and a viable path to a rewarding career. They need a voice, and we should give it to them, because collectively, we can steer this sinking ship around to safety.

     

    • Shehu, a Structural Engineer, lives in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
  • Welfare ‘ll continue to receive priority attention, says Wike

    Welfare ‘ll continue to receive priority attention, says Wike

    Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has assured that the welfare of workers will continue to receive priority attention.

    In his goodwill message to Rivers workers yesterday, Wike lauded the workforce for diligently contributing to his administration’s efforts to build a new Rivers state.

    The Rivers governor, in a statement by his Special Assistant on Electronic Media, Simeon Nwakaudu, urged workers in the state to remain committed to the ideals of selfless service and development, stating that the massive development being witnessed across the state would be sustained.

    He also thanked the workers for the unflinching support for his administration, since his assumption of office on May 29 last year.

    Wike gave an assurance that Rivers workers would continue to enjoy key positions in his administration, since he considered them as critical to the attainment of set goals in the state’s development agenda.

  • ‘People’s well-being our priority’

    ‘People’s well-being our priority’

    The Executive Secretary of Ejigbo Local Council Development Area, Jaiye Alabi has said his administration has evolved policies and programmes to enhance people’s well-being.

    He spoke at an event organised to inform the residents of the council’s  achievements penultimate week.

    He said immediately after he was sworn in, he swung into action to improve the living condition of the people.

    He said he had increased the level of sensitising of the people to the need live healthy lifestyle.

    “Cleanliness is next to Godliness. Again, health is wealth. We will carry out our responsibility with the little income we make. We will fumigate, sanitise and give access to potable water members of the community,” he said.

    Continuing, he said: “Roads are some of the major problems within the community. The council is committed to making some inner roads motorable.

    He praised Governor Akinwunmi Ambode for his support in completing Iyana-Ejigbo/Egbe and January 27 (Peter Agha) Roads which has reduced the gridlock experienced by commuters.

    “Also, construction of Lafenwa-Coker and Fadu Streets is ongoing. There will be street light on the two roads as Governor Ambode has directed all local government areas to key in to thelight up Lagos project.  “Twenty-three culverts have been constructed while 33 streets have been graded. Fifty citizens of the community have been trained as environmental officers to make the environment less dirty.

    “The Oke-afa Plank Market which has existed for over 30 years, will be reconstructed. After completion, the market promises to be a befitting legacy that successive administrations will be proud of.”

    He cited markets which include Tejusosho, Alade and Lawanson markets has been successfully reconstructed while Daleko, Ladipo, Mushin, Sabo and Ikorodu markets will soon undergo reconstruction.

    He said the council will  create more opportunities for empowerment and wealth creation for the people.

  • Fayose’s misplaced priority

    SIR: The recent flag off of the construction of flyover in Ado Ekiti shows that Governor Ayodele Fayose is not a good leader and economist who should know how to prioritise the state’s needs.  The flyover project could be necessary but not at the expense of workers’ salaries.  Workers in Ekiti State have not been paid since the beginning of the year, and Governor Fayose is not feeling the pulse of the people. Instead he has decided to channel the fund that should be used to pay workers’ salaries to construct a flyover.

    The governor should as a matter of urgency pay the workers because he who has been beaten to death by hunger will not have the opportunity to use a flyover.

     

    • Taiwo Nelson ‘Toba

    Ojodu Berger, Lagos.

  • Governorship poll a priority, says ex-lawmaker

    Governorship poll a priority, says ex-lawmaker

    All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain Princess Omowumi Olatunji has said the people of Ondo State are warming up for the governorship election, adding that the carrot of council poll dangled at them by Governor Olusegun Mimiko is a distraction.

    She faulted the decision to conduct the local government elections by the Mimiko administration, which she said, had rejected the agitation for the exercise in the last seven years.

    Olatunji, a former member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, said that it is curious that the governor who had refused to conduct the elections has suddenly turned around to release its timetable at a time people are preparing for the governorship poll.

    Describing the council election as a trap and distraction, she said many stakeholders are of the view that the poll should be conducted by the next administration.

    Olatunji said: “The state is ready for the governorship election. It is going to be an election with a difference. The people of Ondo State are yearning for change. The APC is now their party of choice. We need to probe for the motivation for planning for the local government elections by the same government that has refused to hold it in the past seven years. The priority of the stakeholders now is the governorship election.”

    The politician, who spoke with reporters in Akure, the state capital, on her empowerment programme for women and youths, applauded the opposition political parties for their decision to boycott the council polls. She said the boycott will herald a credibility problem for the local electoral process.

    Olatunji, who chided the government for its inability to pay salaries of workers regularly, urged the people to endure the hardship, assuring that help is on the way.

    She added: “I think everything is set for the APC and we have to leverage on the inability of the current government to discharge its duties. I won’t lie to you. People are not happy with the Mimko administration. I think it has really lost its popularity. Many things have gone wrong. So, you cannot repair a broken wall overnight.

    “The Buhari administration just got into office less than a year. We are not going to expect so much. It’s going to get worse before it gets better. So, for any administration that is still flowing from the PDP, it will be rejected. They do not have the interest of people at heart.

    Olatunji reflected on the succession struggle in the Sunshine state, saying that the large number of aspirants on the platform of the APC will not constitute any problem for the main opposition party. She said: “ I believe the leadership is looking into that and at the end of the day, the number would be pruned down. So, I see that number reducing before the primary. We cannot have that large number; it doesn’t make sense, it does add up to have 25 people going for the shadow poll. I think the party is looking towards that direction to prune down the number of aspirants.”

    Exuding confidence over the proposed governorship poll, the former lawmaker said the gale of defections from the PDP to the APC have attested to the public disillusionment about the Mimiko’s government.

    She said if voted at the poll, the next APC governor will advance the cause of change and progress and restore the lost glory of Ondo State.

    Olatunji stressed: “The APC is a government that believes in accountability and that is what we are saying and in whatever we are doing, we are very consistent; we believe in continuity. Anything that we do, we sustain it and that is what we are selling-consistency in governance. We don’t believe in duplication and wasting money. Anything that we are doing and is affecting people positively, we sustain it. Also, in what we do, transparency is important. You must be seen not to only say you are transparent. You must be seen to be transparent.”

    On the empowerment programme set up in memory of her mother, she said:  With the empowerment that I have introduced, it is going to capture a large number of people. On individual basis, I have been doing that, paying school fees for people and all that. It is what I am used to. You get to hear this family has problem, that one is sick in the hospital. I do that periodically; sometimes on a weekly basis, on a daily basis. So, I touch their lives. But, I want to look at a larger percentage of the people of Ondo State. That is why I am sponsoring an empowerment programme that will cut across the entire state to touch a thousand people-youths, women, old people, widows, orphans.

  • Why execution of projects is priority – Wike

    Why execution of projects is priority – Wike

    The Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has stated that execution of projects is the priority of his administration, in view of his pledge to the ordinary people of the state that he will utilise their mandate to improve their fortunes.

    He also attributed Rivers state’s “excellent” execution of critical infrastructure to his government’s commitment to his social contract with the people.

    Wike, a former Minister of State for Education, stated these yesterday while inspecting ongoing road projects in parts of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the state, assuring that his administration would execute road projects in all the 23 LGAS of the state.

    The governor inspected ongoing work on roads in Eneka-Rukpokwu, Oroigwe, Elimgbu and Rumunduru-OroIgwe.

    Wike said: “In our 2016 budget, we allocated 60 per cent of funds to capital expenditure, while 40 per cent was reserved for recurrent expenditure. Therefore, all efforts are targeted at improving the living standard of the people.

    “This state is different from others in terms of projects’ execution, because we have prioritised funding of projects. We are happy with the results we are getting, because the people are satisfied with the efforts of this administration.”

    The Rivers governor claimed that the Rotimi Amaechi’s administration played politics with construction of roads in the area, allegedly leaving the communities inaccessible, which was described as a blatant lie by the state’s All Progressives Congress (APC), through its Publicity Secretary, Chris Finebone, who declared that Wike (Amaechi’s former Chief of Staff) and his cronies, got most of the contracts and abandoned them.

    The ex-minister of state for education also stated that he had changed the situation of projects’ construction in Rivers, with regular funding, supported by high-level supervision.

    Wike was accompanied on the projects’ inspection by two chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP): Chief Sergeant Awuse and Prince Emma Anyanwu.

    Hundreds of women at the Oroigwe Market and residents of the communities visited trooped out to sing the praises of the Rivers governor for living up to their expectations.

  • Ooni of Ife gives football top priority

    Ooni of Ife gives football top priority

    The newly installed Ooni of Ife, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, has pledged his support to the development of football in the ancient city and vowed to establish a modern football academy.

    Speaking briefly during the coronation friendly match between Shooting Stars Sports Club of Ibadan and Ajiroba Ooni Football Club of Ile-Ife at the Sports Complex of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Oba Ogunwusi thanked Otunba Sola Mustapha (President Ajiroba Ooni FC) for organising the friendly match adding that the city is honoured by the presence of Taiwo Ogunjobi (Chairman Osun FA), Adegboyega Onigbinde and Ademola Adeshina, who are considered as  football heroes in the country.

    Oba Ogunwusi said football remains the only unifying factor in the country and has vowed to allocate programmes as related to sports, football especially and promised he is committed to the development of football.

    He said: “I will try to allocate the programmes as related to sports, most especially football.

    “Football is a unifying factor, football is very important in our society and it creates jobs for the youths. I will help the round leather game with the resources God has blessed me with because God loves football as it brings about love and unity.

    “By the special grace of God, in a short while we shall channel a way to assist our youths through the game of football and also promote the game. I have made a policy statement to establish a football academy in Ile-Ife and it shall be a model football academy.”

    However, the monarch gave Shooting Stars Sports Club N250, 000 for winning the Coronation match, while Ajiroba Ooni FC got #N100, 000 and the officiating officials were given N150, 000.

    Shooting Stars defeated Ajiroba Ooni 3-2 on penalties after the full time score ended 0-0.

     

  • ‘People’s well-being our priority’

    ‘People’s well-being our priority’

    The Executive Secretary of Iba Local Council Development Area, Hon. Isiaka Yaya has said that one of the priorities of the council is ensuring that the well-being of the residents is guaranteed. This, he said, would be through making sure that the environment is healthy.

    According to a release signed by the Information Officer of the council, Mrs Jimoh Sharafat, the council chief stated this while sensitising residents to the importance of maintaining clean environment. This was during the environmental sanitation exercise which he and some council officials monitored at Iyana-Iba and Okokomaiko and their environs.

    Hon. Yaya, who said strict enforcement of council’s and Lagos State environmental laws, would go a long way in keeping Iba LCDA in particular and Lagos State in general clean expressed his dissatisfaction over nonchalant attitude of some members of the council towards the environment. He said incessant dumping of waste in unauthorised garbage sites is inimical to people’s health and that of the environment.

    At a garbage site near Okokomaiko, Hon. Yaya described it as a blot on the landscape, even as he advised the leader at one of the parks to ensure that his members keep the environment clean at all times. He also urged sanitary inspectors to make sure that residents stopped dumping of garbage there to avoid outbreak of epidemic.

    He said: “Human health has always been threatened by natural hazards such as storms, floods, fires, landslides and droughts. Their consequences are being worsened by a lack of preparedness and by human actions against the environment.

    “A clean environment is essential for human health and well-being. However, the interactions between the environment and human health are highly complex and difficult to assess. This makes the use of the preventive principle particularly useful. The best-known health impacts are related to air pollution, poor water quality and insufficient sanitation.

    “Major environment-related health concerns are associated with air pollution, poor water quality, poor sanitation and hazardous chemicals. The related health impacts include respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, cancer and asthma.

  • New airline should not be a priority

    Some weeks ago it was reported that a committee of civil servants was set up by President Muhammadu Buhari to look into the mode of setting up a new airline. One of the ostensible reasons for such a venture is that it will create jobs. I suppose the old argument of national airline carrying our national flag is like a national anthem one of the paraphernalia of a state must also have been made. Before our president is pushed into embarking on such a venture, I plead that the committee be dissolved with immediate effect. A national airline should be the least of our worries in the face of dwindling national income and the pressing needs of security and physical needs of our country. We must learn from our recent history. We once had Nigerian Airways and national shipping line among other national enterprises which were run down and run bankrupt by our people. The question to ask is what has changed in the attitude and orientation of Nigerians to give us the impression that if we establish a new airline the outcome will be different? It is only a mad man who keeps doing things the same way and expects a different outcome. The very week we were contemplating establishing a new airline, Air France laid off 2,000 of its staff to remain trim and in business. So those advising that we will create jobs with this new air line better come up with another reason. The other reason adduced for this venture is that it will conserve foreign reserves. There is no prove it will do such a thing. Even if we have our own airline, a preponderance of its operation will be in foreign exchange. Besides are we going to decree that all Nigerians must fly the airline? Government officials can be compelled to do so but not the average Nigerian who is spending his or her own money. If government is interested in participating in the aviation industry, it should buy into Arik Airline for example, while leaving the day to day running in the hands of private entrepreneurs. By so doing, this existing company would have its scope expanded so that it can cover not just the whole country but also maintain presence in key capitals of the world.

    I have no problem with state intervention in the economy but running airlines should not be on the list of state intervention when we have the wide field of agriculture untouched. I will like to see huge state plantations of cocoa, cashew, rubber, palm oil, groundnuts, soya, rice, cotton, cassava, maize, yams, plantains, as well as state fisheries producing all kinds of fishes, shrimps and prawns for export. Mechanization of agriculture is the way forward and not the back-breaking cutlass and hoes agriculture that our ancestors invented centuries ago and which we dumbly carry on with. By investing in agriculture on a massive scale, we will solve the problem of poor human nutrition and give jobs to our people to do and also put money in their pockets. Poor nutrition damages the brains of children thus depriving us our own future Albert Einsteins.

    Four percent of American population is currently feeding the whole world through mechanization and addition of value to their agricultural produce. This is the way to go for serious approach to solving our dependence on hydrocarbon exports whose value may continue to diminish. Also being a finite product, it is inferior to renewable produce from agriculture.

    For policy consistency, we cannot be privatizing government holdings in many companies while setting up a national airline. If we do that, there will be pressure for a national shipping line. There will be demand for one national something or the other which will again be avenues for graft, corruption and self enrichment. The companies will be filled by bureaucrats on quota basis who will have loyalty not to the nation but to their ethnic cohorts in an unending chain of predictable failure of such ventures. The agricultural interventions I have in mind will be based on environmental factors of availability of land, preparedness of the local people, land and soil suitability, adequacy of rainfall or availability of water for irrigation and willing participation of state and local governments with equity investment by the federal government. The upshot of what I am saying is that the government has its plate full and it should not be distracted by the issue of a national airline.

    America has no national airline and even British Airways has its majority shareholders as Japanese. Many national airlines are being sold to local and international investors. If we must have a national airline, then let us go to the market and ask people to buy into the idea. If there are takers, then we will know that we are on the right track. But if not, we should perish the thought of establishing a national airline. History is not on our side.

    If there is need to focus on transportation, and I believe there is a need, then what obviously comes to mind is our railways. We are the only medium income country that transports its goods on roads thus creating avoidable carnage on our roads leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths yearly. Movement of goods by road is not only inefficient and costly, it has in recent times become very dangerous for our people. Apart from needless accidents on roads that are constantly damaged by heavy and huge trailers and articulated trucks, some of them carry unlatched containers which constantly fall on innocent people smashing and killing them on the spot. This has led without success to banning them in day time to reduce the rate of mortality of the driving public on city roads. The question to ask is when are we going to join civilized mankind who places value on human life? The most relaxed and cheapest way of travel in Europe is by rail. One can move over hundreds of miles by rail reading or eating or even sleeping while doing this. We were told by the last government that it had fixed the railways from Lagos to Kano and it was about to fix the one from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri.  No such thing was done. Whenever I see what goes for trains in Lagos with human beings hanging precariously on top of them like cattle going to slaughter, my heart sinks.

    Surely trains have been running since the 19th century. It should be possible for us to provide decent trains to move goods and services across Nigeria. If this is one of the achievements of this government, our people will remember it for good. Trains are a common people’s and not so common people’s airline if one can say that. Since all governments should want the happiness of their people, revitalization and modernization of Nigerian railways should be this government’s priority, not setting up an airline.