My Open Letter To Governor Okorocha

MY OPEN LETTER TO GOVERNOR OKOROCHA

Brethren, never let someone else’s opinion of you become your reality. In the same vein, accept no one’s definition of your life; rather, define yourself.

No doubt, it was jubilation galore in Imo State, the Eastern Heartland, on the Thursday 6^th of May 2011 when Chief Owelle Rochas Okorocha emerged victorious as the Governor of Imo State in subsequence to the supplementary election that took place in the State, at Oguta, Ngor-Okpala, Ohaji/Egbema, Owerri North and Mbaitolu LGAs precisely due to the inclusiveness of the main gubernatorial election that was conducted on Tuesday April 26, 2011.

To my greatest surprise as a concerned citizen of the aforementioned state, I saw the cripple jumping as well as the dumb talking, on that fateful day – May 6, 2011, because the leader in question finally emerged as the victor at the said supplementary polls after all said and done by the opposition. In my curious mood, I tried to enquire what actually prompted the moment of euphoria among the electorates or why almost everyone was supportive of the victory, and I was told unequivocally that Imo State had at last gotten a Messiah.

Frankly, many were in the mood of jubilation across the facets of the state on that very day, and the days afterwards. I succeeded in interviewing a young man closely, to know the exact reason the state in its entirety was turned into an euphoric arena. According to the chap, I learnt that the jubilation regarding Chief Okorocha’s victory was not unconnected to the free-education colleges, Rochas Foundation Colleges, he had sustained across the nation for several years. Let’s ride on!

To say the least; since Gov Okorocha has been at the helm of affairs in Imo State, to the best of the knowledge of every right thinking individual in the state, the masses who were jubilating when he emerged victorious as the Governor of the State are still in their right mood of jubilation, which has to do with the dividend of democracy they have enjoyed from the onset of the ‘Rescue Mission’ dispensation, ranging from education to health care, road network,  security, agriculture, infrastructure, prompt payment of salaries/wages, pension matters, and what have you. Some of them (the masses) would tell you that Rochas Okorocha has done virtually everything he needed to do for the Imolites.

Now, the heat is on again in Imo State regarding the forthcoming general elections in the country that are fast approaching. The proposed gubernatorial election that would take place in the State, not unlike the presidential aspect of it, has indeed increased the political tempo in the state to the highest level. As regards the approaching elections, presently one may be of the view that Imo, likewise any other state in Nigeria, has abruptly become a home for insane elements.

At this juncture, my candid advice to Governor Okorocha is to remain steadfast and never be distracted by the opposition if he truly wants to reign for a second term. What he should be more concerned with now, is to concentrate on how he can consolidate the genuine good work he has done in Imo State, because Imolites need more from him. Industrialization, job creation, and massive attention to the tourism sector ought to be his watchword or priority at this point.

Thus, the governor should never let someone else’s opinion of him become his reality. Also, he ought not to accept anyone’s definition of his life; rather he should endeavour to define himself, because Imo must surely get to the anticipated Promised Land. Think about it!

 

        COMR FRED NWAOZOR

Public Affairs Analyst & Rights Activist
Founder / General Coordinator, Imo Fans Fortress (IMOFAF)
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            frednwaozor@gmail.com   

              +2348028608056  

    

Revitalizing Nigeria's Educational Sector

REVITALIZING NIGERIA’S EDUCATIONAL SECTOR

 

According to BBC English Dictionary, Education is ‘the process through which a person is taught better ways of doing something or a better way of living’. Same dictionary also recognizes it as the act of teaching people various subjects in a school or college. In the same vein, the Wikipedia Online Dictionary defines it as ‘a form of learning in which the knowledge, skills, values, beliefs and habits of a group of people are transferred from one generation to the next through story-telling, discussion, teaching, training, and/or research’.

Whilst, Revitalization is simply the act or process of making something more active, lively, or successful. So, to revitalize something or a system means to make it more lively, active, or successful, as the case may be.

Frankly, the survival of any nation as an entity depends solely on the health status of its educational sector. In line with this singular fact, the unavoidable role of education in the development of any society has been vastly documented in series of global academic journals.

Presently, unequivocally Nigeria which is widely regarded as the giant of Africa is still uncertain where she is headed regarding her educational system. Suffice to say that, her destination is yet to be known by the concerned citizenry. It is against this backdrop that the minds of many of our young ones are preoccupied with the intention of leaving the country for elsewhere for their academic pursuits.

It is no longer news that most educational programmes initiated both in the past and present by the Nigerian government, have ended up serving as mere siphons to transfer money to the bank accounts of the corrupt political officers and their allies. To start with; since the commencement of the Universal Primary Education (UPE) in 1976, the programme has failed to perform effectively as anticipated as a result of lack of funds necessitated by corruption, among other related factors.

Furthermore, the Universal Basic Education (UBE) initiative launched by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in Sokoto State on 30^th September 1999, which was intended to be universal, free and compulsory, has in the long run seemed incapacitated due to the ongoing troubling revelation of the shortage of teachers as well as employment of half-baked ones in our various schools, which is also attributed to the aforementioned socio-political cankerworm known as corruption. These and lot more similar programmes taking place in the Nigeria’s educational sector have been hampered by corruption thereby crippling the nation’s socio-economic system.

It is obvious that most of our school structures are in dilapidating states, which shows that Nigeria has a weird value system. Indeed, Nigeria is a society where priorities are considered to be less-important. For example, the monthly wages of the less/non-educated local government councillors are far greater than that of university professors. Of course, something is apparently wrong with any society that doesn’t take its educational system seriously.

As the disgusting culture of corruption persists, the public tertiary institutions have been left to rot away. Some of the loans received from the World Bank towards the revitalization of the nation’s educational system, were rather used to purchase inconsequential equipment that could not be properly installed or maintained, and several institutions received irrelevant books and journals in this regard. Due to this anomaly, each year the nation’s tertiary institutions send-forth hundreds of thousands of half-baked graduates in different fields of endeavour to the nation’s labour market.

Sincerely, to restore the Nigeria’s economic sector, there is an urgent need to revitalize the nation’s educational system, and this measure can only be actualized by revisiting all the factors that currently affect the system in question such as lack of infrastructure, teaching facilities, social amenities, poor wages and incentives, substandard teaching curriculum, high tuition fees, just to mention but a few.

First and foremost, we must begin from the grass root. The government ought to as matter of urgency rehabilitate all the dilapidated technical colleges situated in various locations across the country as well as provide adequate facilities required to run the schools, and sufficient funds to sustain the said structures and equipment. Honestly, the country’s anticipated technological development or enhancement shall remain a mirage if the grassroots are not properly addressed.

Most of the technical works presently done in China is being carried out by the school children. Nevertheless, barely few years ago, China was recognized as one of the third-world countries in the world alongside Nigeria and other developing nations. But today, China is among the world’s ruling class as regards science and technology.

Also, there is an urgent need to reintroduce History subject, which has abruptly vanished, in the Nigeria’s school curriculum. And, a law mandating every tertiary institution in Nigeria to offer History as General Studies should be enacted by the National Assembly. It is pathetic that most of our young ones barely know their past or lineage, and such anomaly is solely as a result of the sudden disappearance of History subject in the nation’s education curriculum. It is worthy for us to note that without knowing our past, we can never comprehend where we are meant to be headed.

Furthermore, world-class libraries, laboratories, and research centres, should be establish in all the existing primary, secondary and tertiary institutions across the federation, which would go a long way to enhance both the reading culture and the practical method of teaching faced by the pupils and students.

The medical and engineering undergraduates ought to be meant to pass through befitting teaching hospitals and workshops respectively, to enable them acquire the desired skills. Also, well-equipped national engineering workshops are expected to be established at strategic localities in the country, so that, any graduating engineering student would be meant to pass through any of them; and it would serve as a prerequisite to  the mandatory National Youth Service Programme, just as it is observed by the medical students.

In the same spirit, the ongoing Industrial Training and Teaching Practice schemes embarked upon by the students of our Universities/Polytechnics and Colleges of Education respectively, must be taken more seriously by the concerned authorities. The officers assigned to supervise the students or to visit the various firms or schools where they claimed to be, should endeavour to pay regular sudden visits to the said establishments. This measure would help to eradicate any form of insincerity found among the students/trainees since most of them prefer to dodge the training, thereby enabling the institutions to actualize the primary aim of the Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES). And the institutions involved must on their parts endeavour to encourage the supervisors by providing sound vehicles and other logistics for the concernment.

On the other hand, the tuition fees of all the public citadels of learning in Nigeria must be revisited by the appropriate authorities with the view of reducing the fees to their barest minimum, so that, it would be affordable by every parent or guardian. Due to payment of high tuition fees, some of the students whom are less-privileged often indulge in menial jobs while in their respective schools in order to assist their parents or guardians or to supplement what the said benefactors have given to them. And by so doing, they would pay less attention to their studies thereby indulging in examination malpractices, cultism, armed robbery and other kinds of criminality which ends up affecting their academic statuses negatively; most of them even become dropouts at the long run, due to the financial challenge.       

Most importantly, government ought to endeavour to employ qualified applicants to teach in all the public institutions regardless of their levels, including nursery, primary, secondary, as well as tertiary. Engaging quack teachers in our public schools has cost the nation a very grievous harm and we cannot afford to pay more for the damages. Thus, formidable and trustworthy agency must be set-up in earnest by the government in this regard, in order to put to stop nepotism, lack of due process, and all forms of corrupt practices.

Above all, conducive or enabling environment should be provided for the teachers at all levels. At the tertiary level, befitting offices ought to be allocated to both the academic and non-academic staff to enable them discharge their duties effectively and efficiently. Also, revisiting the teachers’ salaries or wages is long overdue. They, especially the lecturers, should be meant to receive reasonable amount of money regarding their levels/cadre as salaries and they ought to be paid as at and when due; and all their entitled incentives are expected to be revisited from time to time. No doubt, this measure would help to eradicate all manners of corrupt practices namely, admission racketeering, examination malpractice, sorting, and what have you, taking place in our various schools; as well as help to eradicate the incessant strikes embarked upon by the teachers at all levels.

In a more serious note; the private sector ought to also be mandated to follow suit as regards revitalizing the nation’s educational sector. In view of this, any private institution that is unable to live up to the expectation should be shut down indefinitely by the appropriate regulatory body, such as National Universities Commission (NUC), National Polytechnics Commission (NPC), Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB), the state ministries of Education, and so on, as the case might be.

For the above suggested measures to work, all hands must be on deck and we must endeavour to tell ourselves the gospel truth. It is needless to state that Nigeria has suffered tremendously in the area of education; therefore it is high time we eliminated any form of hindrance behind the ordeal. Think about it1

 

           FDN NWAOZOR

Public Affairs Analyst & Rights Activist

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            frednwaozor@gmail.com   

            +2348028608056  

       

       

                    

             

     

 

The Alarming Rate Of Rape

CHECKING THE ALARMING RATE OF RAPE IN NIGERIA

      

Greetings brethren! It is no longer news that mankind is passing through the twenty first (21^st) century. In other words, every society existing in this lovely universe has embraced or is almost close to a civilized state. But the worrying question that accompanies this fact is: does civilization constitutes a high rate of social-vices?

In recent times, the increasing rate of rape has remained the order of the day as well as a fathomless societal cankerworm in the global community. And the implementation of a finite and drastic measure as regards its eradication seems like a mirage.

Rape, in a precise tense, is an act in which a man indulges a female human into sex forcedly or against her wish. In the same vein, a rapist is a man or a male human who rapes or has raped a female human.

Over the years, rape cases have been occurring uncontrollably across the globe. It can take place indoors or outdoors based on the relationship between the two parties involved. The former happens between a female and a false male lover which often takes place out of seduction via intake of alcoholic/drugged drink, initiation of oral sex, et cetera. Whilst the latter invariably takes place between the victim of circumstance and a group of men/boys, and usually at night. In this mode, the victim would be dragged or forcedly carried to a near-by bush or an uncompleted building by the said group, in order to embrace privacy.

It is needless to say that rape incidence has abruptly emerged as the order of the day in most countries, in which Nigeria is not an exception. Unequivocally, that of Nigeria has become an alarming and devastating phenomenon that requires a drastic and severe approach.

Some months ago, one of the national daily Newspapers reported that a certain married woman was allegedly raped at night in the police cell at one of the cities in Delta State by her cellmate who happened to be a man at the age of 22. The news was so shocking and extremely disgusting to the audience. One may ask: on what grounds or circumstance would a woman be kept in the same cell with a fellow of an opposite sex to the extent of allowing them to pass a night together?

Also, barely few weeks ago, it was reported that in Onitsha Anambra State, a certain secondary school girl clad in her school uniform was dragged by a group of armed men to an uncompleted building and she was allegedly defied in the act.

Most pathetically; last three days, the public was reportedly informed by a social media that a mad woman in Kabba Kogi State, was gang raped at night where she usually have her night rest, though the gang was later apprehended by a vigilante group.

Rape solely depends on the environment the two parties found themselves. Analysts are of the view that rape is attributed to several misfortunes including mental disorder/imbalance, immoral dressing, ignorance, intake of alcoholic drinks or hard drugs, deceit and curse, which could be grouped into medical, social and spiritual syndromes.

Someone who is suffering from a certain mental disease and not kept under lock and key or any guard is no doubt a societal menace, thus may end up indulging in several vices such as rape.

A lady who dresses half-nakedly is liable to the wrath of rape as a result of sexual seduction she might ignorantly showcase. Most ladies who indulge in such act do so to attract the attention of the public, unknowingly to them that such practice may beget evil thereby ruining their lives.

Men who cannot live without alcoholic drinks or hard drugs such as cocaine, marijuana, Indian helm, to mention but a few, would always think of, as well as go for something evil such as rape, with the view that it is a pleasurable activity.

More so, several men who are in a certain so called love-affair are usually fond of deceiving their partners through presentation of expensive gifts and/or dishing out emotional eulogies, romantic speeches among other falsehoods which would make them appear extremely affectionate and unique just to actualize their selfish interest. At the long run, he would end up sleeping with the lady/girl in question, which could be against her wish or faith. And most times, the ladies seem so lousy or careless that they can’t differentiate between the real and fake ones, even when the handwriting is boldly and clearly written on the wall. Let’s ride on!

Above all, someone who has been placed under a certain spell in subsequent to an evil deed he committed in the past may see rape as an occupation. The members of this group usually indulge in incest.

The legislators have a very vital role to play towards eradicating these sacrilegious acts. They ought to enact a law that shall bear a capital punishment such as sentencing anyone found guilty of any of the aforementioned loathsome and bastardly acts to life imprisonment or any other grievous penalty. Another law should also be enacted stating that any lady caught outside her home or place of residence clad in any immoral wear would be arrested and prosecuted by a mobile court, and would be subjected to pay a huge amount of money as fine if found guilty.

The last but not the least of the laws should be on how to address the illegal sales and consumption of alcoholic drinks and hard drugs which has proliferated intensely in our noble society, with the effort of the Nigerian Customs Services and the Consumers’ Protection Council (CPC).

Secondly, the government should constantly ensure that any individual suffering from any form of mental imbalance is caught and taken to a special psychiatric home, duly treated and catered for. On this note, people must endeavour to report any person suffering from such illness to the appropriate quarters/agency.

Thirdly, the religious organizations are not left out. They ought to ascertain from members of their congregations whosoever that is suspected to be passing through any spiritual attack or any kind of curse with the aim of placing him/her on a special deliverance.

Fourthly, the civil society and other stakeholders should on charitable basis from time-to-time sponsor seminars and workshops with the object of sensitizing and sanitizing the minds of the youth on rape and other social vices. 

Also, the police authority and other concerned bodies or individuals ought to ensure that on no account or circumstance should inmates that are of opposite sex be kept in the same cell.

Among all, we must always endeavour to tell ourselves nothing but the truth. The men folks should stay away from deceit because it’s highly blasphemous, and it maims and kills too. Learn to tell your beloved partner the gospel truth and always remember that pre-marital sex is nothing but evil.

In addition, our ladies should also be extremely careful and socially conscious of whatever they do at all time. They should first and foremost be aware of what they really want before going for it. They are, as a matter of fact, expected to know virtually everything about whosoever that happens to be their partner in any area of life. Do not allow yourselves to be deceived by a so called spouse.

On the other hand; the actors of this evil act should also realize that, they are inviting the wrath of God which may lead them to a state of doom and could be deadly if they fail to embrace real repentance.

Frankly, no one is expected to be insouciant over any thrive concerning the eradication of this aberration that is putting the lives of millions of our innocent women/ladies in state of jeopardy. Thus everyone is meant to be grief-stricken and act accordingly. We must work assiduously as well as fight tremendously to ensure that this barbaric incidence becomes a thing of the past in our noble society. And the time to act is now. Think about it!

 

       COMR. FRED NWAOZOR

Public Affairs Analyst & Rights Activist
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           frednwaozor@gmail.com
              +2348028608056