A Tale Of Johnbull

By Godwin Babatunde



Nothing was attractive anymore about my dress code. I had just one old generation red tie, a pair of black shoes with a dead sole, a white short-sleeve shirt with worn-out neck because of too much washing, and a pair of black trousers I borrowed from a friend.
I left the home hurriedly, looking old fashioned like a primitive headmaster.

‘O God please, help me because I am tired of searching…’, I prayed as I reached Bimco PLC, a first class company in the Insurance industry.

My first appearance gave the Human Resources Manager (HRM) a wrong impression of me. I became a victim of my own profession. A popular maxim I used to know flew to my mind. It says, “Beauty is greater recommendation than any letter of introduction”. I was really ugly in appearance.

‘Bad dressing! Very bad appearance!! Don’t you think you are an anagram of confusion and a compendium of several misalignment of corporate procedure?’ the HRM remarked sharply, as I stood before him.

I just kept calm like the biblical Lazarus that returned from the spirits. Fear started raising false alarm in my mind. My conscience started accusing me. I developed cold feet while my head was hot.
Nevertheless, that was a battle I must win since I needed the job desperately.

‘A dying lion must fight to the last’, I encouraged myself.
I stared at the man, pot-bellied and mustached, sitting before me.
‘Isn’t this man a Nigerian?’ I asked musingly and rhetorically.

There, I stood before a man, an opportunist, I guessed, reading sluggishly the CV of a Sociologist.

It was clear that I had Second Class (upper division) far and better than Mr. Alagbor, who got a Third Class grade in Political Science, yet, he got the position of the Administrative Manager in Bimco PLC.

Such is the character of a society that negates the principles of merit and competence - the wise stood aloof and watched the fool rule.

I started accusing the society of playing the game of ‘man-know-man’.
But, whom did I know at Bimco except Alagbor, who made partial introduction at the gate, that I was his childhood friend. So what?

I began ruminating again within seconds, like a goat chewing the cud in the midst of greener pastures; I saw the state failed woefully. Mediocre developed wings to fly while merit was dragged to helpless quagmire.

I saw shadows that resembled hungry, angry, and jobless teeming youths reached alarming proportion. They roamed the streets aimlessly, like stray puppies, until they got the job of thuggery or prostitution, as the case may be. Whilst, others played the game of drug addiction in frustration.

The shadows bade me bye and left. Sooner or later, I realized I was in a trance.

Babatunde wrote in from Lagos via
pauldegreat@yahoo.com

TECH I N-Power And Osinbajo's Tech-Driven Assertion

By Fred Nwaozor




Many within the shores of Nigeria may still be ignorant, or perhaps claim ignorance, of the term ‘N-Power’. Hence, it’s a youth empowerment scheme sponsored by the Federal Government (FG) as the slogan goes ‘Empowering Nigerian youths for posterity’.

N-Power is targeted to address the challenge of youth unemployment while linking its core and outcomes to fixing inadequate public services and stimulating the larger economy. It aspires to provide a platform where most Nigerians can assess skills acquisition and development.

Its target beneficiaries are Nigerian citizens between the ages of 18 and 35. The modular programmes under the scheme ensure that each participant learns and practices most of what is necessary to find or create work. It’s broadly classified into two categories namely, N-Power Graduate Category and N-Power Non-Graduate Category.

Three weeks back at the 2018 Convocation and 70th Foundation Day Ceremonies of the revered University of Ibadan (UI), Oyo State, the Nigeria’s Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo boldly and proudly described the ongoing N-Power initiative as a veritable technology platform that’s boosting the education sector.

Prof. Osinbajo, who represented President Muhammadu Buhari as the Visitor to the institution, said “The N-Power employment and training scheme of the Federal Government provides a technology platform to boost education”. He categorically boasted that it offers a technology platform to train teachers quickly and efficiently, aside the existing traditional training institutes.

The number two citizen of the country disclosed thus “N-Power, our employment and skills training programme, now employs 500,000 young men and women who were hired using a technology platform developed by young Nigerians” as he went further to tender that under the initiative, the FG have had the collaboration of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Oracle Academy, Microsoft, Cisco Academy and International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation.

As we as a people have apparently come to realize that the modern-day education cannot be said to be whole if technology is missing or it fails to be tech-driven, it’s equally pertinent for us to acknowledge wholly that the best way to inculcate technology into a given system is to commence from the foundation.

In view of this, we mustn’t overlook the elementary study stage in the country known as the primary school coupled with the secondary. Time has really come for our young learners to be fully brought very close to technical knowledge to enable them squarely face the realities of life when they eventually encounter them in the near future. So, our various schools’ curricula need to be reviewed towards suiting this quest.

It’s noteworthy that China as a country is where she is today simply because the governments at all levels therein were able to engage the growing ones into technologically-oriented disciplines. Parents in such a nation are saddled with the responsibility of discovering the talents of their respective wards from day-one. By so doing, they would be duly encouraged by all means to develop the skills.

Talking about collaboration, it has also become imperative for the government, particularly the various coordinators of the N-Power, to start looking inwards with a view to ensuring that the country’s indigenous patents are given a sense of belonging. Time has gone when the universities among other tertiary citadels of learning were seen as places where only teaching takes place, forgetting that research works supposedly begin from such areas.

In the said speech, the law professor further hinted that in the next few years, both teachers’ training and teaching would be largely driven by technology with university education – especially scientific research – made easy by virtual reality and artificial intelligence tools.

It’s however worthy of note that such an anticipation can only be actualized by revisiting the extant policies that bind the system in question. The bitter truth remains that most of the policies guiding the country’s education sector are archaic and outdated, hence require urgent review towards overhauling them. This can be well achieved by wearing the required political will not unlike clothe.

I’m glad in his words, Prof. Osinbajo candidly acknowledged that there had been gap in the country’s educational attainment. He disclosed, therefore, that such lapse had made it clear that we have to change both the substance of education our children receive and the methods by which they are taught.

If this avowal actually came from a sincere mindset, then it’s needless to reiterate that there’s a compelling need to start taking our laboratories, libraries, workshops, learning curriculums, as well as other learning facilities very seriously as this is arguably the only way we could attain our dream society as regards education imbued with technology.

Regarding funding, Prof. Osinbajo equally noted that education could not be left to the government alone, opining none of the world’s leading universities depend solely or even substantially on government’s funding. He thus added that all have evolved innovative means of financing and investment to meet their funding needs and become financially sustainable.

If the above assertion holds water, then it’s unequivocally preposterous to include the said institutions in the ongoing Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy that forbids financial autonomy among the FG’s establishments. They ought to, henceforth, be liberated in this regard.

The public was equally notified by the vice-president in the said occasion that the government’s policy was to develop and introduce science, engineering, arts and mathematics education curriculum in primary and secondary schools. According to him, the curriculum covers training in skills in cross disciplinary, critical and creative thinking, problem solving and digital technologies, coding, digital arts, design thinking as well as robotics.

We must take into cognizance that no matter how much we make effort to inculcate technically-oriented teaching via introduction of viable policies, the rules and regulations can never be aptly adhered to if proper monitoring teams and mechanisms aren’t established in respect of such lofty motive.

Summarily, as the N-Power scheme ostensibly continues to gain momentum and reportedly gathers accolades, the government must comprehend that wholesome policies and enabling environments are the best factors that can make the acclaimed achievements of the initiative speak volumes. Think about it!

Comrade Nwaozor, tech expert, policy analyst &
rights activist, writes via frednwaozor@gmail.com

Opinion I The Many 'Sins' of Nigerian Politicians

By Fred Nwaozor




We can’t boldly deny the conspicuous fact that the physiognomy of the Nigeria’s political terrain is freckled, yet millions are carried away by frivolities rather than being disturbed about how to eliminate the fathomless freckles.

It’s not anymore news that Nigerian politicians have from the onset been seriously feeding on the electorate’s ignorance, that, it has seemingly become not unusual to witness a scene whereby the former would be seen inducing the latter to support him at the polls with a mere peanut.

Insincerity has abruptly become synonymous with most politicians in this part of the world. They continually, especially during electioneering era, tender speeches they do not really mean. They pleasurably do so with the sole aim of luring the ignorant, or perhaps vulnerable, electorate into their nets.

This set of people is deceitful. They have inadvertently, or probably knowingly, seen deceptive utterances or actions as acceptable. They invariably nurture such perception, believing they would never be found wanting at any time because are ignorantly of the view that power revolves around them.

An average practising Nigerian politician is desperate, hence at all times displays actions that are inimical to humanity. Owing to this kind of lifestyle, which has apparently been absorbed as a norm by the actors, many end up committing all sorts of atrocities in their bid to secure victory during elections. The funniest part of this feature is that the persons who bear it see their desired political positions as their birthright.

Our present days’ politicians, unlike in the past, see themselves as businessmen instead of stewards, hence would continue to see any position they are occupying as their vineyard. Once they clinched any post they had been clamouring for, the first thing they do is to hurriedly host a revelry with the notion that the days ahead would witness tremendous harvest.

They are arguably not conscience-driven. Those who practise these dance steps are ostensibly so myopic that they have apparently forgotten the Law of Karma. To them, since they are in charge of ‘every law’, there’s absolutely no other law that can turn/work against them. This is the reason they often individually murder their consciences.

Though virtually every active and practising politician domiciled in the country is made up of these uncalled qualities, we ought not to forget in haste that there’s still a few that strongly believes in doing the needful although some tend to be negatively influenced in the long run.

Time has conspicuously arrived for our politicians to note that it pays to be ingenuous and do the right thing, and that the pains that accompany a fake life cannot be overemphasized. Hence, they are expected to wear good qualities like clothe.

Good and dependable politicians are delight to serve the people and consider themselves as servants. They therefore see the people as their paymasters. They represent the hopes, aspirations and the interests of every citizen in the concerned society.

A Politician’s idiosyncrasies are his characters that are natural while some of the qualities are as a result of external influences. Promising politicians’ qualities are often backed by skills, experiences, intelligence, and integrity. All combined together to achieve their goals. The best qualities of a politician are honesty, God fearing and loving.

A good politician captures the essence of truth, displays sincerity, candor as well as practises what he/she preaches. He makes decisions and accepts responsibility for his words and actions. He makes promises and keeps them. He’s somebody people rely upon. He loves people with all his heart, might, mind, soul and always striving to help them.

A good and responsible politician ought to appear as the image of his creator. He gives high regard for morality. He’s law abiding with no tendencies to corrupt even a single cent or kobo. The greatest strength of a good politician is deriving joy in serving people and not to steal tax payers’ money. He acknowledges that a fulfilling and meaningful life is created through service to others.

To be an effective politician, your followers must have trust in you. And the very best way for a politician to build trust is to display good sense of characters and qualities composed of values, ideologies, traits and skills. Thus, a good politician should be a well disciplined personality that understands the language of selfless service.

Among all, a good political leader ought to be willing to appoint or contract people with great technical experience to solve the societal plights his administration contracted. Responsibility and party loyalty is another good quality of a responsible politician in a democratic state. A responsible and real politician is nearer to his people and always willing to meet them to comprehend their problems.

Only fake politicians are seen by voters when an election is near or change parties as footballers change clubs. They will after taking the oath of office with the Holy book and lousy thanksgiving services, use their powers against the people’s interests rather than for public good, making them become barriers to the progress of their citizens.

As we undergo another pre-election era, the politicians who have ‘sinned and come short of God’s glory’ still have the privilege to seek for forgiveness by ensuring they henceforth become repentant creatures. The good news is that, Nigerians are damn ready to forgive them if their remorse is truly candid. Think about it!

Comrade Nwaozor, National Coordinator, Right Thinkers Movement
writes via frednwaozor@gmail.com