#WisdomTablets (13)

Did You Know That, Life Is Unfair?
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The last time I checked, we were yet to note that life
isn't fair to mankind. Have you ever wondered why
having put in your very best into a certain cause you
are involved, failure would still be the outcome in the
long run? The answer is simple and succinct; life itself
is unfair.

Believe it or not; life was not, has not been, and will
never be, fair. People in most quarters are often of the
notion that life is like mathematics, which gives you
two when you add one to one. On the contrary, life
could give you eleven when one is added to one.

It's noteworthy that, in some circumstances, life would
drill your person in such a manner that you would begin
to wonder if your existence is abhorred  by nature; that
you would inadvertently ponder over the reason you
were created in the first place.

This is why everyone is bound to be a member of a revered
school of thought known as realism. Realism, which does
not withhold facts, teaches mankind how to aptly absorb the
intricacies of life. It makes man to appreciate the content
of life to the fullness. It gives mankind the insight on how to
comprehend that life is never friendly.

It suffices to say that, on the average, a realist doesn't frown
at the hurdles brought by life because he or she has ab initio
acknowledged that life itself is unfair.

At this juncture, I challenge us to be strong enough to handle
whatever experience life, or nature, may bring. All in all, don't
expect to be favoured by life irrespective of the circumstance.
Just endeavour to do your best, exercise a little faith, and leave
the rest for your fate. #ThinkAboutIt

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ShortStory I Effect Of Ignorance

EFFECT OF IGNORANCE

        

       “Tosin.” Ayo called friendly.

       “My Oga.” responded Tosin.

       “Abeg stop this your oga of a thing.” Ayo urged. “My name is Ayo.”

       “But, you are my oga nah.”

       “Oga ko, oga ni.” Ayo disapproved in vernacular.

       “Okay ooh!”

       “Well,” Ayo rode on. “Abi won ask you how we go roll today.” he said, paused. “The route we entered yesterday didn’t make sense at all..” he added.

        Ayo and Tosin operated a commercial L300 bus owned and managed by a transport investor, in the city of Lagos. The former was the driver of the vehicle whilst the latter happened to be the conductor. Therein as they leaned on the front side of the bus in question, at about some minutes past seven O’clock in the morning on a Tuesday, they were as usual discussing how the day’s operation would be as well as the actual route(s) they would be plying.

         The 32-year-old Ayo who was clad in a casual attire had before now strongly registered his disappointment over the route they plied in the previous day being Monday, stating that the revenue generated was very poor compared to their earlier outings; hence, wanted the 25-year-old Tosin to suggest a way forward.

        “Let’s enter Mile-2.” Tosin suggested.

        “From Mile-2 to where?” verified Ayo.

        “Oshodi.”

          They were already at Oshodi, thus were meant to be headed for Mile-2 after loading the bus.

        “Okay,” concurred Ayo. “Make we try nah.”

          In a few seconds time, they drove off. Some minutes on, they were on the ever-busy road situated between the two aforementioned localities.

       “Mile-2 ooh, Mile-2 ooh, Mile-2 ooh!” Tosin resumed duty at the top of his voice as he clinched to the bus’ entry point like a monkey that intended catching banana. “Mile-2 ooo, Mile-2 ooo, Mile-2 ooo!!” he supplemented in a louder mode.

        Intermittently, people kept trouping in while the vehicle was slightly on motion as he (Tosin) kept alerting prospective passengers to patronize the 18-seetter bus that wore yellowish paint as requested by the Lagos transport authority.

        “Everybody hold your change ooh..!” Ayo conscientized as he ebulliently controlled the throttle, letting the passengers realize the compelling need to enter the bus with low denomination (naira) notes.

        “Mile-2 ooo, Mile-2 ooo, Mile-2 ooo!” Tosin proceeded with alacrity. “Mile-2 ooh, Mile-2 ooh, Mile-2 ooh!!” he reiterated.

         The exclamation continued unabated till the vehicle got filled to the conductor’s delight.

        “Everybody hold your change oooh…” Ayo echoed as the tradition demanded.

          For those who were already in the bus when the first message came from the driver, that was meant to serve as a reminder.

         “Everybody hold your change.” he repeated after some seconds. “We no get change oooh!!” 

          Having gotten the required number of passengers, the vehicle zoomed off, and headed towards its destination. Owing to traffic jam and what have you, it had to move slow and steady. What matters most was that it would surely arrive at Mile-2 as requested by its passengers.

        “O boy,” Ayo called his assistant who was still standing by the door. “Abeg begin to collect my moni.” He urged.

         Tosin was not too steady in the job, so he (the driver) needed to continue reminding him of how it was being done.

       “No wahala.” replied the ever-vibrant Tosin.

         Few seconds later, unfortunately, the vehicle broke down to everyone’s utmost surprise. “What could be the problem?” one of the male passengers thought aloud.

        “Na wa ooh!” exclaimed a woman who sat beside the man.      

          It seemed the fuel had dried up, and they were so careless enough that they didn’t bother opening the bus’s bonnet let alone checking the fuel tank before commencing the day’s outing.

       It was about 8.00am. It wasn’t news that an average passenger on the busy Lagos road was impatient, thus could not afford to experience any bit of delay while headed for his/her working place, especially the employees who were more time conscious.

        Each occupant in the bus individually stepped out, hoping that the plight would be fixed soonest or to be transferred to another vehicle plying the route. Ayo and Tosin equally stepped out, and the latter hurriedly went to the bus’ booth, picked a fuel gallon and headed for a nearby filling station.

        Minutes on, the bus was refueled, hence, regained its energy. Consequently, the pathetically-looking passengers were conscientized to resume their respective seats.

        Within a twinkle of an eye, Ayo reignited the engine and changed the gear immediately. “Abeg, start dey collect moni.” He reminded his assistant.

        “Abeg,” Tosin told the passengers in accordance with the directive issued by the boss. “Make everybody hold he hundred naira for hand.” He enjoined in pidgin.

         On hearing the instruction, everyone quickly exposed the naira notes within his or her reach. Without wasting much time, Tosin began to collect the notes from each of them, starting from those seated at the row sited beside the driver.

         He was shock to his bone barrow when he got to the turn of a young lady seated very close to him; the said lady who seemed to be in her early twenties handed a thousand naira note over to him.

        “Wetin be this?” Tosin queried.

        “Which question be that?” the lady replied in a more unfriendly mood.

        “Shebi we tell una say make una hold una change?” the driver interrupted.

         She got infuriated by the query. “So if I don’t have change, I should not go to where I want to go?”

        “Which kai temptation be this?” quoth Tosin. “You for tell me say you no get change the time wey you enter motor.”

        “Abeg-abeg-abeg,” she boiled. “I don’t have time to argue with a common conductor like you.”

        “Nawa ooh..?” exclaimed Tosin. “We never reach that side nah.” He said, trying to inform the lady that she was overreacting.

         Rather than calming down, acknowledging the submissiveness of the conductor as well as the fact that she was faulty, the seeming troublesome lady became hotter thereby continue to call Tosin names such as tout, nonentity, and so on. Nevertheless, the abused person never got offended; instead he chose to laugh over the scenario.

         Having been intensely pissed off by the rate of the abuses, Ayo hastily cleared to the roadside and applied the brakes. “Come let me tell you,” he said, facing the abusive lady while still seated in his seat. “The young man you are calling all sorts of names is a fourth year student of Medicine and Surgery in the University of Ibadan, UI.” He informed.

         On receiving the information, the passengers unanimously shook their heads in amazement. They – particularly the lady – looked at Tosin in silent awe. The lady melted in a jiffy and inadvertently began to weep as she tenderly fixed her gaze on Tosin’s who was seated by the door-side.

         Ayo was also a graduate. He studied engineering in one of the universities in the West, Nigeria. Due to unemployment palaver, he chose to settle for his current occupation which he had been into for over two years now. Tosin who hailed from a poor home usually assisted him whenever he had a semester break.

         Funnily enough, the abusive lady who had now ostensibly embraced repentance was seeking for admission in the aforesaid institution (U.I) to study Marketing and her chances of securing admission was far-fetched.

        

    

FDN Nwaozor

Executive Director, Docfred Resource Hub - Owerri

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Twitter: @mediambassador  

Opinion I Okorocha And The Ongoing Payment Of Pension Arrears

OKOROCHA AND THE ONGOING PAYMENT OF PENSION ARREARS

         

The last time I checked, there were ongoing rigorous payments of pension arrears in Imo, the Eastern Heartland. The gesture might not be unconnected with the pledge recently tendered by the state’s number-one citizen, Governor Rochas Okorocha.

         

It would be recalled that on Thursday 20^th July 2017, the governor via a press release confirmed the receipt of seven billion naira Paris Club refund from the Federal Government (FG). He went further to disclose that the Rescue Mission Administration would use the fund to clear the backlog of pension arrears, commencing from January 2017 till date. He equally stated that workers’ salaries would as well be paid with the fund.

         

The release recognized that the government had earlier promised to start paying the pensioners on a monthly basis beginning from the first month of 2017. The statement read in parts ‘the government kept this promise  in abeyance following the steady and disturbing increase in the number of pensioners and the amount involved, worrisomely snowballing to more than #1.5 billion’.

         

Consequently, in August the following month, the government began a holistic verification of the teeming pensioners across the Local Government councils in the state having set up a Pension Verification Committee. The exercise was concluded as planned. It’s worth noting that those who were indisposed owing to illness or what have you, were captured via video call at the Children’s Recreation Park opposite Concorde Hotel Owerri as was conducted by the said screening panel.

         

In subsequent to the concluded verification, payment began in earnest as scheduled, and still ongoing. Any other individual or leader would have allowed the written cheques to be collected by proxy since each of the pensioners had painstakingly been verified, but the governor insisted that they must come in person to clear their cheques. The governor’s decision was informed by the compelling need to ensure that no foul play is involved throughout the exercise with a view to discovering the loopholes that had warranted the excesses recorded in the past as well as fishing out the bad eggs therein.

        

Most of the senior citizens grumbled over the directive of the governor, which they tagged ‘uncalled for and inconsequential inconvenience’. But it’s noteworthy that the said directive of the government under the watch of Gov. Okorocha had yielded a worthwhile fruit thus far. It is good to acknowledge that the prangs played by some of the account officers had reportedly been revealed, and the culpable officers fished out, in the ongoing process.

        

One may wish to know how those prangs were discovered. Having written the cheques by the concerned staff of the state’s Pension Board, the governor went ahead to engage virtually all the Directors of Account (DAs) presently serving in various ministries and parastatals in the state. The prime duty of the DAs was to ensure that only one cheque was written for a particular pensioner as well as ensure that the cheque is duly confirmed and collected by the beneficiary whose name is inscribed on it.

        

So far, we have learnt that a given pensioner’s name was written on different cheques, probably three cheque papers or thereabouts. For instance, if Mr. A is meant to collect #5, rather #15 or more would leave the state’s coffer for that particular name in a case where three cheques were written in that very name. In some cases, the cheques were written in the names of non-pensioners. You could imagine the excesses? This was how these account personnel had been rolling for years now unnoticed, not until this point when the governor thought it wise to take the bull by the horn.

       

No wonder why in the past when pensioners collect their cheques, before they could get to their respective banks, they would be told that the account where the pension fund is domiciled had been emptied. Little did they realize that several non-pensioners were withdrawing from the same account to the detriment of the real beneficiaries. Now the thunderous breeze had blown open the dirty ass of the fowl.

         

I candidly commend the governor for this giant stride. This accomplishment is arguably best of its kind. With this development, I am sure the pensioners can now be paid as and when due without much ado. I equally appreciate everyone who had played one key role or the other towards ascertaining the above lapses, thus wish that more feathers would be added to their wings.

        

However, this scrutiny mustn’t stop at this juncture. The government who has started this exemplary move needs to ensure that everyone found culpable is henceforth duly prosecuted having shown the way out. It suffices to say that no mercy ought to be displayed by the relevant authorities. The indicted staff ought to be handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for corresponding actions to be taken thereof. This would go a long way to serve as a deterrent to other prospective ones. I’m also not unaware that a few politicians might be accomplices to these civil servants; hence, they must equally be fished out so that the system would be holistically free from sycophants and hypocrites.

       

Above all, I have been reliably informed that only three months pension arrears are being paid to the senior citizens rather than eight months as earlier pledged. The report indicates that they were asked to come back the following week for the remaining ones. Against this backdrop, I urge the government to endeavour to do the needful so that in the long run, there won’t be any more exchange of words between them and these revered pensioners who had indeed served the state meritoriously. I may not be one of them but I feel and share their grief, thus I plead with the government to stick to its promise.

         

Similarly, there should equally be an arrangement that would enable those who are currently bedridden or residing outside the country to collect their cheques. In view of this, I’m of the view that the video call measure deployed during the verification era ought to be redeployed at this time. This would ensure that no beneficiary is sidelined as long as the exercise lasts.

         

Most importantly, there’s a compelling need for the governor to make an alternative arrangement towards ensuring that in subsequent time, the collection of cheques would be decentralized. The old men and women should be saved from the torture of covering distances in order to possess their cheques. The government must note that most of these individuals are weak and aged, thus deserved to be pampered.

        

In acknowledgement of the above fact, let various teams be set up, so that, the pensioners can collect their cheques at their respective wards. The need for setting up numerous teams is to ensure that the exercise is conducted simultaneously and just on one day, rather than the ongoing style where each LGA would be involved on a particular day.

         

So, as much as I appreciate the governor for this remarkable effort showcased by his administration, I enjoin His Excellency to ensure that henceforth we shall be awash with progressive discussions and happenings instead of retrogressive ones. This is purely the dream of all, and not mine. Think about it!

 

Comrade FDN Nwaozor

Executive Director, Docfred Resource Hub - Owerri
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frednwaozor@gmail.com

Twitter: @mediambassador