The Nation Newspaper

Tag: wise

  • UK space agency encourages girls to be space women

    The UK Space Agency joined a campaign on Monday to encourage girls to consider careers in space.

    The UK Space Agency has helped produce a resource pack for schools to boost the recruitment of girls who typically do not choose subjects in their plus-16 years such as physics and engineering.

    The “People like me” initiative aims to help girls understand the breadth of careers open to them in the space sector by introducing them to role models who are working in the field.

    Read Also:UK targets Nigeria, others over ‘dirty money

    The women featured in the campaign come from different backgrounds and work in different areas across the space sector.

    Alice Bunn, International Director at the UK Space Agency, said: “Like every other high-tech sector, space needs talented scientists and engineers, but with fewer women in science, we are missing out on half of the talented people on the planet.”

    The UK Space Industry is working with an industry and university supported organisation Women into Science and Engineering (WISE), set up to boost talent growth in Britain.

    It provides services to employers, educators and training providers.

    “WISE enables and energizes people in business, industry and education to increase the participation, contribution and success of Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM),” said a spokesperson for WISE.

    Figures show girls remain under-represented across core science, technology, engineering and maths subjects, said the agency.

    Recent research by the University of Roehampton has revealed that 30,000 fewer girls are studying key stage four level computing subjects compared to when the computing curriculum was introduced in Britain in 2014.

  • Three wise men

    Three wise men

    The fate of ethnic entrepreneur Nnamdi Kanu and his IPOB calls to mind the Greek myth of Icarus, the son of master craftsman Daedalus. Icarus thrilled to his father’s new invention. He gave Icarus a set of feathers and wax to make wings. The prospect of flying amused him, and provided him an escape opportunity from a place of oppression called Crete. It flattered his ambition.

    Icarus was, however, warned. Daedalus his father asked him against what he called hubris, which referred to an over-bloated ego and self-confidence. Icarus saw that the contraption worked. He soared out of the earth and savoured the dizzy heights. He was above his fellow humans, glided with birds and even levitated above them. He forgot himself and started to see himself as a god. He thought, in the words of Shakespeare, that “the world is my oyster.” He was more than a dove or eagle. He was abandoning time and conquering space. If God asked Abraham to claim the earth as long as his eyes could see, Icarus was plumbing space to infinity.

    Hubris became his undoing. He forgot his father’s warning. He flew high towards the sun. The mighty ball of heat melted the wax and the feathers came away from his arms. Icarus tumbled down in a giddy fall and plunged into the sea.

    Kanu should have read about ambitions. He should have read, from his Jewish texts, that Jehovah punished hubris. He should have learned from the failings of the father of Biafra, Emeka Ojukwu. But he would not stop. He would not stop violating bail terms, stop piling invectives and lies, stop ratcheting up venom against other ethnic groups. He mounted a guard of honour, set up uniformed army, called Igbo worshippers fools for submitting to their preferred non-Igbo pastors. As an ethnic entrepreneur, he did not ask Igbo traders to stop doing business with non-Igbos.

    He developed a delusion of grandeur, saw himself as His Excellency, pooh-poohed legitimate southeast governors, threatened boycott of Anambra State polls, mocked the Buhari who returned from illness as an impostor, called everyone not Igbo as zoo animals, called for arms. Like Satan in John Milton’s Paradise Lost, he overstated his power. He had become a sort of political icon of glamour, a signature stride, a sash over his shoulder, his glasses, his measured smile. Like Jesus, a fanatic got healed by touching him. He endowed his followers with catharsis. They kissed his feet, worshiped his halo, danced for him.

    His followers began to believe the impossible. Foolishness overcame them and they started to search for northerners in vehicles. It showed they had no sense of history. They forgot the Igbos doing business in peace In Kano, Kaduna or Sokoto. They forgot the pogrom of the 1960’s and slaughter of many a kinsman.

    From new revelations, Kanu was feeding fat. It was not for nothing I tagged him ethnic entrepreneur. He was gorging on his kinsmen. The army thought he had had enough. Yoruba would say, O ti jeun kanu (He was well fed). It was time for him to plunge like Icarus. Burned by the yellow sun, Kanu splashed head-on into the bight – shall I say bite – of Biafra. Now, in quiet, he would console himself like Satan in Paradise Lost, “solitude sometimes is best society.”

    We have a tranquil country today, and the consequences of Kanu are not combustion and butchery because some men handled the matter with intricacy of wisdom. They are the three wise men of the moment. They are the Sultan of Sokoto, Saad Abubakar 111, Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State and Governor Okezie V. Ikpeazu of Abia State.

    When the state seemed on the boil, Governor Ikpeazu walked a delicate line when he declared curfew. Rash leaders could have bungled it and seen the state descend into chaos. By declaring curfew, he nipped violence. He was, as it were, the host governor of Kanu, and yet he maintained a poise of control that neither portrayed him as supporter of the scoundrel nor as accommodating the excesses of the army’s presence. This is the sort of leadership of balance that is bringing attention to the Abia governor. His signature project about indigenising our taste through enterprise is now known as Made in Aba, a vision the rest of the country will do well to ape. He is Nigeria’s apostle of local content.

    As the chairman of Northern Governors Forum, Gov. Shettima hit on the great idea that northern governors should head east to reassure northern folks living there. Backed by southeast governors like Ikpeazu, Shettima and a few other governors, including Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal, embarked on the trip of the olive branch.

    Shettima has shown great presence as leader of northern governors. His trait has taken centre stage since the fiery day of Boko Haram. He was not rattled by the militants, and he stood with his folks in the furnace of war when over half of his state fell to the brigands. Other than that, he has run his state with cooperative elan, letting Christians and Muslims to embrace in an ambience of mutual respect and benefits. He has also shown great sensitivity to southern tribes and given them positions in his government. It must be noted, too, that Governor Tambuwal has also shown great initiative with the Ohaneze Indigbo in Sokoto and pursued a project of mutual understanding.

    The Sultan’s role has been pivotal. He knew that Friday is fire in the north. Prayer can burn. So, he sent word around the north, reinforced by the emirs, including the Emir of kano, that the messages should emphasise peace, which is the hallmark of Islam. His words percolated the prayer grounds across the north. It made the difference between love and conflict, and averted blood and thunder.

    All three, Shettima, Ikpeazu and the Sultan made the triumph of the triumvirate. The three gave us peace by keeping us in one piece. This is the sort of cooperation that this country is capable of. If we took this serenity of approach to other issues, including the tempestuous bickering over restructuring, we will find that it pays us to live in unity through dialogue and understanding. This quiet did not need a senior advocate or political wheel horse, or the rancour of a debate. It was informal and heartfelt.  The three show that triumvirates are not always bad. In Rome, Caesar ruptured the informal triumvirate with Pompey magnus and Crassus. The second triumvirate fell to Antony’s heart beat for Cleopatra.

    Yet many have been successful, whether in China, India or even in the Bible. The transfiguration had three men. The trinity is three in one, just as in Buddhism. Many will agree that Trump, Ivanka and her husband Kushner form the White House triple pillar. Gov. Ipkeazu, Gov Shettima and the Sultan were each a third of the country, to paraphrase Shakespeare in his play Antony and Cleopatra. They just crafted a model of coexistence for us as a nation.

  • ‘Nigeria can soar higher health wise’

    ‘Nigeria can soar higher health wise’

    Life expectancy at birth is part of the United Nations Development Index (HDI) for evaluating a country’s progress. OYEYEMI GBENGA-MUSTAPHA and WALE ADEPOJU take a look at the health sector as the country turns 55.

    Nigeria is not yet there, health wise, but it is heading towards being among the very best in healthcare. President Muhammadu Buhari said this at the just-concluded 70th United Nations General Assembly.

    Buhari said the newly-adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)s’ core objectives of poverty eradication and reducing inequalities must be met within the framework of a revitalised global partnership support by concrete policies and actions as outlined in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda.

    “For the newly adopted SDGs to be truly global, they must be practical. In this regard, the SDGs’ core objectives of poverty eradication and reducing inequalities must be met within the framework of a revitalized global partnership support by concrete policies and actions as outlined in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda.Luckily, these two core objectives of the SDGs are precisely at the centre of Nigeria’s new Administration’s agenda”, President Buhari stated.

    According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) poverty and ignorance are part of the factors that fuel diseases and ill health, especially in developing and under developed countries. Nigeria is a developing country.

    This global partnership is part of what his administration is ready to explore differently. President Buhari acknowledged that his country is at home with global partnership, especially in the area of health. He cited the containment of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

    President Buhari said: “Last year, our continent faced the dreadful occurrence of Ebola. We sincerely thank the international community for the collective efforts to contain this deadly disease. We are not out of the woods yet but we would like to record our appreciation to the United States, United Kingdom, France and China for their outstanding assistance in arresting the spread of Ebola and care of those infected in collaboration with host countries.”

    Ebola was not the only disease the country won. It did poliomyelitis, dracunculiasis, also called guinea worm disease (GWD), diphtheria. It also passed the National Health Bill.

    As much as the future is rosy, the sector is still bedeviled with professional rivalry, poor financing and coruption, industrial actions, especially by medics, poor implementation of the National Health Act and many citizens are yet to enroll in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).  So also are the cases of incommunicable diseases on the increase.

    NMA President Dr Kayode Obembe said at 55 the country is moving out of the woods, for a healthier life for its citizens.

    Obembe said: “In 55 years, Nigeria has got a lot to celebrate about in the health sector. Look at infant and maternal mortality rate, it has reduced. The country has improved from 1, 500 deaths of 100,000 per deliveries to about 145 per 100, 000 live births. This can also be further improved upon. We are not going to be static. We just got Polio free certification. We equally kicked out Ebola. The execution of the National Health Act is what should be pursued now. We have human resources. Private Public Partnership (PPP) is working. A lot of brain gain is improving as most of our colleagues in Diasporas are planning to return home. The wind of change is blowing and the country is stabilizing.

    “A lot of work is being done in the area of research.  Some of the teaching hospitals are into high tech operation/treatment. Research institutes such as Nigeria Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Yaba are into Biomedical training and Cancer research.”

    He said many people are afraid of PPP, “but it is the way to go, as there are experts to work with. The experts that don’t have money to work with can collaborate with the money bags or novel companies or get grants. All these are fruitful and beneficial to all, including the country. We are gradually moving away from having buildings without equipments to work with.”

    Dr Obembe said NHIS is helping out with health affordability as many Nigerians have bought into it. “Small investigations can now be carried out and lives saved. Universal health coverage is the in thing. All Nigerians should be covered and that is the way to go. We are in the period of change. We are moving from MDGs to SDGs. Government should explore Community Health Insurance Scheme. For now, NHIS is selective. It does not capture all children, women, the poor or unemployed nor cover all aspect of human health,” he stated.

    Pioneer Chairperson of National Action Committee on AIDS (NACA) Prof Ibironke Akinsete said Nigeria should have been better than what obtains now at 55 year of independence because, “When I came back from Canada 48 years ago the country was superb and the health sector was in a very good shape. But over the years, things deteriorated. Basically, it is lacking of adequate funding. We then advocated PPP and we can now see that it is working and level of care is being raised. Most people should realize that health is not a money making venture. Most people cannot afford healthcare. And Health reform became necessary, which ushered in NHIS, Health Maintenance Organisations (HMOs).”

    She said there are challenges the country should overcome such as ignorance.

    According to her ignorance is one of the greatest impediments confronting the health sector. So there is a need to create awareness on preventive medicine on the part of the government, and the people. “Awareness at all level in different languages and dialects is a necessity. We should be able to sustain that. Part of the challenge is that we initiate good programs in the health sector but we don’t sustain that. Look at the Primary healthcare in the past compared with now.

    “Let us also optimise all those things that are working for us in the health sector. Cancer, for instance is curable is caught early. It is not a death sentence. Finance is a huge problem. If you look at the income of may people, they can’t afford quality healthcare. To treat cancer for instance is capital intensive but with health insurance affordability is feasible. Once you start work you key into health insurance. that is what obtains abroad.”

    Prof Akinsete said there is a need to look at the health sector comprehensively, “let us look at ourselves and address issues honestly. Team work is the main thing in the health sector. People should learn to bury ego and work with other professionals for the betterment of their patients. Strike should be a thing of the past. Identify why there are unrests in the sector, and seek how to address them in all truthfulness and sincerity. We are static in many areas of health. It is time to change and move up and on. We need to create momentum to support it. Corruption should be dealt with. Let us know why the government is not funding the health sector. We need o get a system to support the health of people.”

    To Director General (DG) Nigeria n Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) Prof Ujah the health sector is still wobbling. “The health indices are there for all to see. The current administration is looking at how to sustain the momentum created. The National Health Act is waiting for implementation. A Committee has been set up to implement the Act, which I am aware of. Corruption must be dealt with. If you look at the MDGs, though we did not meet the deadline but we neared same. That has prepared us as a nation to now refocus, restrategise. Look at communicable diseases and non communicable disease how Nigerians are talking about them such as TB, HIV/AIDS, malaria etc these cases have reduced. We have improved in the area of diagnostics. With training, capacity building, well equipped facility and motivation the health sector will meet international standard.”

    President Buhari said Nigeria is ready and willing to partner with international agencies and individual countries on a bilateral basis to confront crimes and corruption. In particular, “I call upon the global community to urgently redouble efforts towards strengthening the mechanisms for dismantling safe havens for proceeds of corruption and ensuring the return of stolen funds and assets to their countries of origin.

    President Buhari hoped that, “In the next 70 years, UN will achieve control of climate; help to eliminate communicable diseases and his country too would have left behind many of the health problems confronting it.”

  • April 11th elections: Lagos must be wise

    SIR: All is now set for the Governorship and State Assembly elections across most states of the federation. In the last few months, the candidates and their parties have been feeding the people with promises of what they will do when they get to or re-elected to power. To this end, one can safely posit that they have done their bits and it is now left to the electorates to do the needful come Saturday 11th April.

    However, it will be pertinent to call on the electorate to be wise when choosing the party/candidates to vote for. At this juncture, I will like to concentrate on Lagos, my state of origin and residence.

    It is no longer news to hear people from different parts of the country (even foreign visitors) including top government officials using the transformation that has taken place in Lagos as reference point to other governors to emulate so that the people can enjoy true dividends of democracy.

    This, is in view, of the fact that a lot of infrastructural projects have been completed and some ongoing; jobs have been created; workers are paid regularly and other laudable programmes have been put in place to pave ways for a better future for the people. So, one can safely say ‘it has been so far, so good’.

    Interestingly, members of the opposition parties have also given credence to the fact that the Fourth Republican governments in the state (1999 to date) have performed creditably and that they would have done far better if they had been in the same political party with the government at the federal level.

    During the electioneering campaign, the opposition party (PDP) in the state strongly emphasised on the need for people to vote for their party so that more development can be witnessed because of its affiliation with the federal government (PDP). This permutation was based on their unflinching belief that PDP will retain power at the federal level. True to their insinuation, I want to strongly align with their position that the progressive government in the state would have done excellently if they have been accorded the required attention and entitlements by the federal government. Be that as it may, it is still safe to say that our progressive leaders have put in their best to lead us to where we are today.

    It is in view of the position of the PDP vis-à-vis the efforts and good work of the government and leaders of the APC in the state that I will want to put forward the following tips for our people to consider before casting their votes on Saturday 11th April.

    Firstly, by the special grace of Almighty God, the outcome of the presidential elections held on March 28th, clearly shows that the APC will be in charge at the federal level from May 29th. What this means is that the best thing for every patriotic person in Lagos is to opt for the APC at the state level. This is in view of the fact that it will ensure continuity of the good work of the progressive government as well as getting the required and necessary support from the federal government.

    Secondly, the opposition party should be honourable enough to still stand by their very unique position and campaign strategy that Lagos will be better off if a candidate of the same political affiliations with the federal government is voted into power.

    Thirdly, after the party primary that produces Akinwunmi Ambode as the flag bearer of the APC, some leaders of the PDP in the state came out boldly to say that the APC have shown them the direction to go in selecting their own candidate (that is a Christian and qualified professional). This is an admission of the fact that Ambode is qualified, sound and capable of ruling the state.

    Fourthly, it would not be in the best interest of Lagosians and the state to take a dangerous gamble by putting our future in the hands of those that could not conduct peaceful and rancor-free party primaries.

    Fifthly, the state is steadily growing and now the envy of all and sundry. We cannot afford to take chances of experimentation going backwards.

    Sixthly, the PDP has engaged in evil personal campaigns against Asiwaju in the state to sell a dummy to innocent electorates and swing votes in their favour.

    Finally, now that we have gotten the opportunity that we have sought for years. So, my good people, it is time to VOTE WISELY.

     

    • Hon. Rasheed Olu-Ajayi

    Odi-Olowo Constituency 1 Mushin Lagos

  • The electorate must be wise in 2015

    Elections are here again couple with the usual campaigns, frenzy and intrigues. It is the season of promises, cross carpeting and adoption. I must confess that the critical mass of our society are either playing the ostrich about the facts on what to do  or are simply ignoring it thinking that the future will take care of itself. Another school of thought opined that, many of the electorate are pursuing personal interest and short term benefits and as such are not ready to go all the way to do the expedient.

    Others opined that the high level of poverty has diminished the sensibility of many. I disagree with the last school of thought in the sense that poverty should even make you think more wisely, most especially when you have the opportunity to contribute to an action or decision that will affect your future. All said and done, my grouse is that aspirants have continually played on our ignorance or may I say lethargy. Can you hold a man accountable to promises that are not concrete and specific? Are there any documents, papers or treaty in form of manifesto that people can refer to when the chips are down? All we hear in times of campaign are high sounding words that are not measurable and do not make meanings to the average man. “When you vote me in I will bring transformation; poverty will be wiped out, Chrismas rice and sallah rams will be made available during festivities” and all the nonsense go on unending. Campaign has been reduced to child’s play. The seriousness attached to campaigns in other climes is no where to be found in Nigeria.

    How do you measure transformation, what are the specific indices or parameters to know a transformed people or society? How are you going to wipe out poverty; is it by giving people rice and rams during festivities? These are some fundamental questions that need to be asked. The electorate must be wise this time around. If you eat rice and ram in one day, what happens to the other 364 days? Are we thinking about the future of our children and generation unborn at all? For me, words like transformation and wiping out poverty are just to play on the sensibility of the average Nigerian some of whom finds it hard to eke out a living.

    I remembered when we were growing up in the early 80’s, I attended a campaign organized by Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) in the then Bendel State. One of the thing I took home was the late Prof Ambrose ‘s (Gubernatorial aspirant) saying ” I will give free education to all students, he did not end there, he went further to say, parents shall not buy texts books, rulers, biros etc. These were his electioneering deliverables and as a young man, though not up to the age of voting, went home announcing the good news that if this man is voted in, we are not going to pay fees or buy text books again. Telling people “I will give you free education” is not enough. The promises should be concrete and specific.

    Go to any campaign ground today, what your see is fanfare, entertainment and campaign of calumny against opposition. For God’s sake, we want to know what you have to offer when elected. The electorate must rise up to shift the paradigm by tasking our aspirants to tell us the specifics. To make the matter worse, the institutions responsible for organising political parties are either toothless bull dogs or have lost the essence of their work. Where are the party manifestoes? They are supposed to be the instruments of electioneering and not the hypes we are seeing today. They are the indices to access the worthiness of a party or people vying for positions. We must go back to the basics and shun trivialities by asking our aspirant to tell us in precise and specific terms with timelines what they have to offer. They should be able to tell us their economic policies; how the civil service will be reformed; their agenda on industrialization, agriculture and employment generation etc.

    Enough of all these verbose and meaningless campaigns. On this, the Press has a major role to play in galvanizing this change. I believe the press is a powerful force in effecting change in any system. The masses at all level should be sensitized on the need to demand from aspirants their deliverables because it on this basis we can assess their performance at the end of their tenure. I tell you if this is religiously done, some of those people who are clamouring for second and third term will hide their heads. A stitch in time they say saves nine. The time to act is now.

     

    • Alexander Ighoro writes from Warri, Delta State.

  • Electorates, be wise

    SIR: Elections are here again coupled with the usual campaigns, frenzy and intrigues. It is the season of promises, cross carpeting and adoption. I must confess that the critical mass of our society are either playing the ostrich about the facts on what to do  or are simply ignoring it thinking that the future will take care of itself. My grouse is that aspirants have continued to play on our ignorance or may I say lethargy of the people. Can you hold a man accountable to promises that are not concrete and specific? Are there any documents, papers or treaty in form of manifesto that people can refer to when the chips are down? All we hear in times of campaign are high sounding words that are not measurable and do not make meaning to the average man. “When you vote me in I will bring transformation; poverty will be wiped out, Chrismas rice and sallah rams will be made available during festivities” and all the nonsense go on unending.

    How do you measure transformation? What are the specific indices or parameters to know a transformed people or society?

    How are you going to wipe out poverty; is it by giving people rice and rams during festivities? These are some fundamental questions that need to be asked. Electorates must be wise this time around. If you eat rice and ram in one day, what happens to the other 364 days? Are we thinking about the future of our children and generation unborn at all?

    When we were growing up in the early 80’s, I attended a campaign organized by Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) in the then Bendel State. One of the thing I took home was the late Prof Ambrose Alli (gubernatorial aspirant) saying “ I will give free education to all students”; he did not end there, he went further to say, that parents shall not buy texts books, rulers, biros etc. These were his electioneering deliverables and as a young man though not up to the age of voting, I went home announcing the good news that if this man is voted in, we are not going to pay fees or buy text books again.

    Go to any campaign ground today; what your see is fanfare, entertainment and campaign of calumny against opposition. For God’s sake we want to know what you have to offer when elected. Electorates must rise up to shift the paradigm by tasking our aspirants to tell us the specifics. To make matter worse, the institutions responsible for organising political parties have lost the essence of their work. Where are party manifestoes? They are supposed to be the instruments of electioneering and not the hypes we are seeing today. They are the indices to assess the worth of a party or people vying for position. We must go back to the basics and shun trivialities by asking our aspirant to tell us in precise and specific terms with timelines what they have to offer. They should be able to tell us their economic policies, how the civil service will be reformed; their agenda on industrialization, agriculture and employment generation etc. Enough of all these verbose and meaningless campaigns.

     

    •Alexander Ighoro

    Warri, Delta State.

  • Important steps to making a wise career choice

    CHOOSING your career is a big step. For anyone, choosing what you will be doing with your life is a decision that is just too big to make. The fact of the matter is that those who make a choice, stick to it and start working towards their career goals are those who end up with a great career that is not only rewarding financially but also emotionally. Your job is a very important part of your life. You will spend an estimated 60% of your “waking life” at work so its best to do everything you can to make the best career choice.

    While there are many fancy tests and personality profiles that you can do to “decide for you” in the end its still a decision and something that you have to make and take responsibility for. So, how do you make this all important decision – and make it wisely? Here are 3 important tips to help you out.

     

    1. Find your passion

    What are you passionate about in life? For now, don;t think about a career. Think instead of those things in life that you absolutely love. What is it that you will do – even if you do not get paid doing it? People who do what they love are people who are happy and fulfilled. Going to work every day doing a job you hate is the ultimate punishment. Somehow we’ve come to believe that your job is not something you can enjoy and that its just something you have to do to earn money. Not true. You can do what you love and earn a good living from it.

     

    2. What are you good at?

    What are your biggest and best talents? This does not mean that you cannot develop new talents but taking an inventory of all those things that you are already good at can be a great start. Your talents are those things that is just effortless to you. What might seem very hard or even impossible for others just come naturally for you.

     

    3. Get practical

    Once you know what you love and what you are good at (which usually goes hand in hand) you can start getting more practical. No matter what it is that you love, there is a career for you. Do you love eating ice cream all day? Well, there’s a career for that and ice cream testers are very well paid and highly regarded. Your task now is to look for careers that will meet your passions and your talents. It might take a bit of searching but in the end the rewards will be immense.

  • Listen to the wise

    Listen to the wise

    FORMER United States President Bill Clinton was in Nigeria few weeks ago and spoke the truth boldly. To him, this nation has failed to properly use her rich natural resources. “You have not done well with your oil money,’ he declared unequivocally.

    One of our editorials last week demanded to know from the nation’s leaders “why oil that has been a blessing to many endowed countries has turned to a curse for Nigeria.” It affirmed that oil producing countries such as Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates have significantly deployed their oil proceeds to good use for the betterment of their country’s populace and to global approbation, but “due to greed, oil has remained a problem to Nigeria when it ought to be a blessing.”

    It was not the first time that this country would be reminded by knowledgeable minds why the nation should not be in the slump of poverty and retrogression where it is today. British Prime Minister David Cameron, Baroness Lynda Chalker, Mrs.

    Clinton among several foreign personages had similarly been to the country to point out our leadership’s mismanagement of revenues from the massive resources. They all disclosed the realities, but because their views are ignored by those in power, the nation keeps dragging since the lost glories would not be recovered.

    Like others, ex-President Clinton who impacted positively on his nation declared Nigeria would have done better were her resources well managed and reinvested in meaningful ways by the leadership. Recounting the nation’s great potentials, he challenged those in privileged positions to imbibe wisdom and create opportunities for the majority of the citizens. “You have to somehow bring economic opportunities to people who don’t have,” he was quoted as saying at the 18th Thisday Newspaper Award ceremony held in Abeokuta.

    But in reality, do we need Clinton or foreign leaders to tell us that we are where we are because we have been wasting our oil money? Many Nigerians have been saying this for years but those in position of authority will not listen. Just because of self-centeredness, greed and the tendency to steal from public treasury, leaders will not pay attention to logical reasonings. This is why the world is making mockery of Nigeria today.

    He further counseled that the nation’s intellectuals who were scattered all over the world must be brought back home to assist in developing their fatherland instead of using their talents to further enhance the progress of the already developed nations. “There has to be a way to take the staggering intellectual and organizational ability that Nigerians exhibit in every country in the world in which they are immigrant and bring it to bear here so that the country as a whole can rise.”

    For me, this is a sensible advocacy. Any trip made abroad will divulge more and more Nigeria’s enormous talented human resources adding value to nations of value. Many Andrews were forced to check out due to frustrating leadership stances that continually drag the nation down. Corruption that is drowning the nation could not be subjugated when people themselves would not have a change of attitude by playing their own roles as committed citizens who are devoted to report wrongdoings, demonstrate and even fight against injustices in high and low places. Not only are the leaders corrupt now that Corruption has become a burden from head to toe. It has flowed down to the base of the nation.

    As repeatedly stated, people struggle for power to scoop the commonwealth to private pockets rather than serve the people. As former Foreign Affairs Minister Professor Bolaji Akinyemi recently disclosed, there is hardly any billionaire in Nigeria today who is not a thief. Nobody could dare stand out to challenge him because he spoke the truth. The consequences have been poverty of the masses, infrastructural degeneration, joblessness, criminality and insecurity. For the land to be genuinely transformed, let me repeat it that there must be change of peoples’ mindset to live upright and honest life.

    Clinton could see the deficiency in the land as the main driver of the terrorist attacks by Boko Haram. He calculated poverty rate in the North three times higher than the situation in Lagos. In the same sense, Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka also declared last week when receiving Awolowo Leadership Award that insecurity has brought some regions in the country to their knees simply because of the weakness of leadership in those troubled parts. This must be why Clinton believes the nation’s afflictions could be tackled by strong local, states and national government policies that work together.

    Whenever our leaders begin to listen to the counsel of the wise and do the essentials, this nation will become truly transformed without desperation to occupy political offices for self actualization but for service to the people.