Opinion I Commemmorating the 2017 Int'l Day in Memory of the Holocaust Victims

TAKING APT MEASURES TOWARD AVOIDNG SOCIETAL CRISES AS THE WORLD COMMEMORATE THE 2017 INTERNATIONAL DAY IN MEMORY OF HOLOCAUST VICTIMS, ON FRIDAY JANUARY 27

       

          

Today, Friday January 27 is International Day in memory of Holocaust victims. Owing to the damaging effect of holocaust, on 1^st November 2005, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly unanimously adopted January 27 of every year as International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust. The UN Outreach Programme seeks to remind the world of the lessons to be learnt from the Holocaust in order to help prevent future acts of genocide or any form of massacre.

         

The first commemoration of the Day took place in 2006 at the UN Headquarters situated in New York, U.S.A alongside all the UN offices across the globe. The ceremony drew over two thousand two hundred (2,200) people and was viewed by countless others globally via webcast and live television broadcast. During the commemoration, the then UN Secretary General Mr. Kofi Annan unequivocally stated that, holocaust will forever warn all people across the globe of the dangers of hatred, bigotry, racism, and prejudice.

          

The term ‘Holocaust’ came from the Greek word Holokauston, referring to an animal sacrifice offered to a god in which the whole animal is completely burnt. Literary, holocaust which was formed from two distinct Greek words ‘Holos’ and ‘Kaustos’ meaning whole and burnt respectively, can be defined as a situation involving a very great destruction as well as loss of lives and property.

          

Destruction of lives and property, which could result from either natural or manmade circumstance such as war, inferno, earthquake, auto-crash, plane crash, genocide, or insurgency, is obviously a phenomenon that is as old as the world. It has indeed rendered several homes and communities incapacitated.

         

Considering the possible origins of holocaust, which include ethnicity, fanaticism, carelessness, envy, greed, hatred, tyranny, mutiny, and treason, there is no part of the world that is yet to experience tragedy. It suffices to say that, the ugly incidence has brought mankind in its entirety to a state of unending torture and unthinkable anguish.

        

War, which is usually a manmade crisis, subjects humanity to an untold hardship and subsequently creates parallel lines among the groups that constitute the affected community or nation, as the case may be. In consequence to the emergence of war in any society, distrust invariably becomes the order of the day amidst the citizenry, which often results to eternal enmity or lack of unity.

         

There is no gain reiterating the fact that disasters such as earthquake or plane crash that could be natural or manmade, have ended up making the mindset of every concerned individual to be preoccupied with a psychological cankerworm known as ‘fear of the unknown’. Inferno or fire outbreak for instance, which mainly takes place as a result of man’s carelessness or lackadaisical attitude, has succeeded in rendering many families homeless and stranded thereby making them constitute severe menace to the society they belong.      

         

Taking Nigeria that is currently salvaged by insurgency as a case study, you will agree that every right thinking individual in the country has been sleeping with one-eye open since the emergence of the terror, even though the incidence is peculiar to the people residing in the Northern part of the country – particularly the North-Eastern region – because nobody knows whose turn it would be the next day.

          

The economic mayhem caused by holocaust cannot be overemphasized. For instance, after the Biafran civil war in 1970 under the reign of General Yakubu Gowon, Nigeria that used to be one of the major exporters of petroleum products prior to the said era abruptly became dependent on other countries for the aforementioned resources including oil, gas and fuel thereby ushering the economic status of the nation to a state of mockery.

          

As Nigeria joins the global community to mark the 2017 annual International Day for the Victims of the Holocaust, there is need for everyone to acknowledge that the occurrence of holocaust can be avoidable regardless of the locality involved. We can actualize this by ensuring that we maintain unalloyed peace, and endeavour to stay out of trouble at all times no matter the circumstance. Among all, we are required to always stick to the extant rules and laws by being patriotic at all cost.

         

There is equally need for the bereaved/affected families to be duly compensated in order to erase any form of agony from their minds. The civil society and religious bodies, on their part, are expected to bring succour to the victims or their relatives by conducting seminars, crusades, and disseminating radio cum television jingles, and what have you, as well as soliciting for appropriate compensation on behalf of the victims.

           

Above all, there’s a compelling need for everyone to live with the consciousness of holocaust with the aim of avoiding any irrational thought or attitude that could lead to the emergence of the forsaken incident. The truth is, any form of holocaust can be avoided if we jettison selfish interests in all our doings; and it’s imperative to realize that prevention remains far better than cure. Think about it!

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TechOpinion I Growing Apathy Among Nigeria's Science Students

GROWING APATHY AMONG SCIENCE STUDENTS

        

Having taken a painstaking study lately, I acknowledged that there has been a tremendous decline in the rate of seriousness among most science students in various level of learning on the African continent, particularly Nigeria. Such a scenario has over the years served as a nuisance in the field of science and technology, that if drastic approach isn’t taken towards salvaging the lapse, it’s liable to degenerate into an unspeakable crisis in no distant time.

       

It’s noteworthy that development is required in every individual to every nation, in every aspect of human endeavour. And for development to take place, science and tech must go hand in hand. Science is fundamentally noted as the study of knowledge, which is made into a system, and depends on analyzing facts. Tech is the outright application of this scientific knowledge. In other words, tech transforms knowledge from science into reality.

        

The fact is, for any successful economy – especially in today’s quest for knowledge based economies – science and tech are the primary requisites. If any nation relegates the two recipes to the background, the chances of getting itself developed becomes far-fetched, thus stands to be classified as an undeveloped nation. A nation that’s not able to prosper on these grounds would not be able to sustain the lives in it, and might have to depend on other nations for survival alongside other life’s requirements.

        

Taking a close view of the above exegesis, it’s therefore needless to reiterate that any country is supposed to take sciences very seriously as if its whole life depends on it (science). It becomes so pathetic and mind-boggling when realized that Nigeria as a nation is taken aback regarding acquiring of science knowledge, or its implementation. The lingering anomaly, which calls for great concern, can be observed in virtually all existing citadels of learning across the federation regardless of level ranging from primary, secondary, to tertiary.

   

This piece is mainly interested in the level of apathy among the learners. In our primary schools, the pupils are now invariably preoccupied with the notion that science subjects, such as Mathematics and Basic Science, are very difficult to understand owing to the orientation they met in the system. Such a circumstance is usually occasioned by the mode of teaching of the class teacher. Sometimes, fear would be inculcated into the pupils’ mindset by their teacher who would, rather than participate in the teaching as expected, take much time to lay uncalled emphasis on why the pupils should see science subjects as tough and different from others. By so doing, the affected pupils would live to consider sciences as monster, thus would prefer to pay more attention to arts.

        

In the secondary schools, only a few students see subjects like Physics, Mathematics and Chemistry as friendly. Those who detest these subjects had nurtured their mentality with the view that sciences generally are only meant for a certain group of select individuals. Those who mistakenly chose to be in the science department, in the long run tend to lose interest in the field and would want to dissociate themselves from the circle.

        

Funnily enough, in most cases, students would choose to be in science department when they get to the senior section simply because some of their intimate friends or classmates had chosen to be in that field. This aspect of influence remains one of the major attributes of apathy noticed among various science students in most Nigerian secondary schools. This set of learners often becomes dropouts as a result of inability to cope with the studies.

        

Nowadays, virtually none pay good attention to the teachings of Pure Mathematics let alone Additional/Further Mathematics. And most existing science-oriented disciplines, such as Engineering, in the tertiary institutions, basically depend on the knowledge of Further Mathematics on their day-to-day thrive. This has caused enormous decline in the number of persons seeking to study engineering, and other related, courses. The few that managed to secure admission to read these courses, perhaps due to their background, usually fumble as the journey progresses.

        

The way out from this conundrum entails three prime approaches. One, the various primary and secondary schools ought to endeavour to engage qualified teachers that would imbibe the required mindset and knowledge into the pupils and students, as the case may be. Guidance and counselling that has almost gone into extinction should equally be revived in these schools. A functional and viable counselling mechanism would enable the learners to go for only the needful as well as what would be suitable for their future.

        

Parents and guardians, on their part, are expected to pay more attention to whatever their wards do as regards academics. Learning begins from home, thus the needed parental support mustn’t be overlooked. Among all, governments at all levels among other relevant stakeholders should endeavour to provide the required facilities that would enable the affected people to appreciate science’s teachings.

         

For this growing apathy to become a thing of the past, every concerned stakeholder as mentioned above must note that science is the only field that can enable the anticipated economic diversification. Think about it!

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Opinion I Ohakim and His Continuing Continuity Ambition

IF I WERE IN OHAKIM’S SHOES ...

        

The last time I painstakingly checked, 2019 which would mark another interregnum in Nigeria was fast approaching to the delight of the country’s teeming politicians, particularly their likes in Imo State. This implies that both the politicos and the electorate are currently warming up toward embracing the said era, thus can’t wait.

         

Though some of us who earnestly look forward to witnessing such a period may not be opportune to get to that point owing to the intrigues of nature, everyone seems not to be deterred by unfortunate contingencies. Aside the wants of human in general, which often occasion thrive accompanies with deep passion, an average politician in the contemporary Nigerian society is invariably ready to do everything within his/her powers to ensure that whatever his person so desires would be acquired by all means.

        

Lest I digress, though the preamble was consequential, this critique is informed by the ongoing quest among a few political stalwarts in the state to become the governor of the state come 2019. Some of us who are very close to the state’s political circle, and have been keenly observing series of melodramas taking place in the said arena, need not be told of the few Imolites who are desperately awaiting 2019 as well as can sacrifice anything towards ensuring that victory becomes theirs at the polls.

        

If I am not mistaken, the immediate past governor of the state in the person of Chief Ikedi Ohakim is one of these few individuals that are strongly warming up. It would be recalled that Chief Ohakim’s emergence as the Imo governor in 2007 was seemingly miraculous. His victory was occasioned by the lingered impasse between the then Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and the People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) flag bearer for the Imo gubernatorial polls, Senator Ifeanyi Araraume.

         

It appeared Chief Obasanjo, being the leader of the then ruling party (PDP), had vowed that Sen. Araraume would never have the taste of the Douglas House irrespective of the circumstance, perhaps as a result of what transpired between the duo when the latter was a serving Senator. This quagmire necessitated Chief Obasanjo’s adoption of one of the relatively unknown candidates for the race, Chief Ohakim who was running under the platform of the Progressive People’s Alliance (PPA) – a party founded by the then governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, thereby causing a huge confusion for Sen. Araraume who had better chances of emerging victorious.

        

Prior to anointing Chief Ohakim to wear the shoes of Sen. Araraume, although under a disguise, the agreement was that the former would decamp to the PDP if he emerged as the governor of the state, and consequently he fulfilled his own part of the deal when he eventually found himself in the Douglas House. Aside decamping from the PPA to the PDP, during his reign as the Imo State governor, it’s worth noting Chief Ohakim was making frantic effort to satisfy a few individuals who could be best described as king makers.  

         

Like any other leadership, it’s noteworthy that Ohakim’s was characterized by several social cum political challenges. Apart from the lingered court proceedings between him and Sen. Araraume at the political angle, which occasioned various distractions, the social plights experienced by him was one of the reasons that gave Chief Rochas Okorocha – the present governor – an upper hand during the 2011 governorship election in the state.

        

Though I’m not here to state his accomplishments and shortcomings while he was the state’s governor, it’s imperative to acknowledge that his four-year tenure, which came as a surprise to millions of onlookers, ended in an unpopular style. Despite his strong intention to continue for a second time in office, it was obvious that over seventy-five per cent (75%) of Imolites wanted him to take a bow, probably due to the misunderstanding that ensued between him and a Catholic priest which was widely politicized. In addition, the popularity of Chief Okorocha who was then his closest rival brought more pains to his continuity aspiration.

         

Coupled with the rumour making the rounds that the Mbano-born politician is still aspiring to return to Douglas House come 2019, penultimate week, one of the dailies confirmed the news. The information had it that, after due consultations, Chief Ohakim had publicly disclosed his interest to vie for the post of the Governor of the Eastern Heartland in 2019. Chief Ohakim who few months ago notified the general public that he had temporarily retired from active partisan politics, equally aspired for the same position in 2015 but never secured a ticket at the primary level, in PDP precisely.

        

One thing that is yet to be clear is the political party the man in question would be vying under. Is it going to be the PDP that failed to secure victory in 2011, rejected him in 2015, and that he chose to temporarily retired from barely few months ago when it needed him most? Will it be the All Progressives Congress (APC) that is already loaded with aspirants noted to be men of unquestionable character; in other words, a party where there is ostensibly no iota of vacancy? Is he going back to the PPA that he relegated to the background when he became the governor of the state in 2007, or considering coming up with a totally different political party? These among many more questions are currently on my thoughtful mind.

         

However, whichever party he may choose to operate under toward actualizing his keen objective, I wish to unequivocally but humbly advise the statesman to have a rethink as regards such an ambition. If I were in his shoes, I would never dream of aspiring for governor, or a second term, again. Not because he had been defeated twice at the polls – both at the primary and secondary levels – or because he is not qualified, but simply owing to the fact that his chances of emerging victorious again are apparently infinitesimal. Someone he calls his good/best friend might not tell him this, but I always stand for the truth and uprightness.

         

First, the APC has seemingly dominated Imo State within a shortest time frame. Secondly, Governor Okorocha seems to remain popular, perhaps as a result of the ongoing free-education in the state, which he has managed to sustain till date. It suffices to say that whosoever that would be vying for the Imo gubernatorial polls come 2019 under the auspices of the APC, or to be anointed by the aforesaid governor, would definitely have an upper hand at the polls.

        

Even if Chief Ohakim eventually decamped to the APC, there’s no up to 10% guarantee that the party’s ticket would be given to him because there are several others who had ab initio worked relentlessly for the party and are equally qualified for the position in question, thus it would be ideal he choose acting as a godfather concerning the awaited election. This is my humble take; I don’t know about you. Think about it!

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