Blog
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Distrust, Action, and Inaction
- On 12/01/2021
- In Special Report
The Kano State Government has reverted to the N18,000 minimum wage for workers in the state, in these times of inflation, economic recession, insecurity among other several challenges.
The action of the State Government is a reflection of the poor state of finances of several state governments in the country and also an indication that workers have real cause to worry and pray.
Interestingly, good leaders must either intend to produce good results or viable legacies.
Is this possible in the present dispensation, considering the scheme of things. Nigerians express great doubts.
Making promises than what political office holders can deliver is just one of the many tragic mistakes of the people's representatives.
The crux of the matter is that for Nigerians and the Government at all levels, trust is at a deficit.
Sadly, in the last five years or thereabout, the country is not better off as it was in 2014 in terms of development-particularly investment, health, and education, although the forces of evil remain unperturbed.
Surprisingly, in the middle of the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the Government sees nothing wrong in the crowd at the National Identity Management Commission [NIMC] offices nationwide. Obviously, the National Identity Number(NIN) is more important to the Government than the preservation of human lives. -
The Restoration of Ethical Practices will Ensure Good Governance-Prof. Olagoke
- On 07/01/2021
- In Special Report
Ethics are crucial to how the manpower in governance shall positively influence the scheme of things. These are principles of morality, the science of the good, and the nature of the right inclusive. The greater satisfaction in governance, except when the consciousness that comes from being good and doing right are in the minds of all those involved-elected, appointed, and employed.
The disregard and disrespect for professional, organizational, and institutional ethics have almost brought Nigeria to its knees. In this interview, the Founder, Spiritual Head, and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabiut Olagoke says that the restoration of ethical practices is a precondition for ensuring the emergence of good leadership and governance. Excerpts :
The myriad of challenges confronting the country has been traced to the disregard and disrespect for professional and organizational ethics. Why is this so?
The fundamental fabric for the reinforcement of human existence work together for the purpose of peaceful co-existence and development could be traced to the organized colonies of the ants, termites, and bees because of the natural respect for divine laws among them, their organized ways of doing things follow the ethical principles which are presently been eroded today by human beings, most especially in areas where underdevelopment characterize the features of their programs and efforts. If to date, observers of the ethical practices remain the secrets of their maintained and sustained organizations, human beings, therefore, must think about their follies in been irrational in doing things by resorting to the learn the lost glory from the ants, termites, and bees. The Nigeria situation was not as bad as it is today because, in the colonial era, that gave us the standard quo of the civil and public service ethics of the technical practice of officialdom, from the secretarial firmness in keeping records and auditing professional ethics emerged for the graduates of our institutions who specialized in various disciplines because they are part and parcel of feeder links for the government activities to be productive without loss of goodwill.
The laws of the land, based on our culture were respected by all even before the intrusion of religions such as Christianity and Islam. Nigerians who accepted these religions then were happy to discover in the Holy Bible and Quran based on their chosen faith; that they had been following the right path in their culture, at least in the area of the culture and tradition, with respect to good character and the best attitude. For example, there had been keeping of good neighborliness on the ground as well as a high-level power of accommodating visitors. The dignity of labor was part of our grandparents and society will never condone any form of laziness from people. The Hard work principle was their watchword. This was the reason why it was easy for them to be good Christians and Muslims, after accepting Jesus Christ and Allah respectively.
The only snag with people then was idolatry which could be encouraged to be discouraged because of the fatalistic consequence whenever occasion warranted abuse or misuse of power for those who could not manage their anger or control their temperament.
One now wonders why the present-day educational rejuvenation and evolution of the emerging houses of God are unable to tame the weirdness of the present time that is dirt-filled of all who had condemned by the tow Holy books, our religious adherents who dominate the entire population is following.
Today, there is moral disintegration among the people who claim to uphold our culture and traditions.
There is a need to challenge the relevance of the Mogajis, village heads, and traditional rulers such as the Obas, Emirs, and Obis, on the need to restore human dignity through effective sensitization of the people for the essence of integrity in the society and purposive leadership.
If this can be achieved, it would be a matter of shame to the adherents of Islam and Christianity, who are used to claiming the superiority of their religions over others, if they cannot restore for us the sacredness of the Bible and the Quran as relevant articles of faith for human survival.
For in these books or curricula, attitudinal values dominate the subject matter to be instilled in the adherents to be thoroughbred professionally, with role modeling characteristics of been ethically responsible to save the places of work and the society at large.
Corruption and institutional indiscipline are now the order of the day, not only among the politicians but also among civil and public servants, religious leaders, and the elite with good academic background and certain traditions, such people must have passed through some schools to attain some degree of educational relevance.
Each one of them equally must have faith-based organizations he or she attends in the name of religion before finding themselves in any political party or as technocrats in the civil or public service and must have belonged to particular professional bodies before been appointed or elected into various leadership positions to manage in trust our sovereign wealth.
Lack of ethical practices will ever lead to a loss of goodwill in industries, Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, and the government as a whole for the nation to bear the brunt of underdevelopment.
It is, therefore, a common problem of monstrous dimension for the nation to have clusters of frivolous and wayward people as the best of citizens.
This is because all problems emanating from murdering merit will bounce back to undermine the need for excellence in our various efforts-be it the community or the nation.
We must equally remember that character attestation and our acquired aptitude determine our altitude or height of desires in life.
If we, therefore, continue to make money or create wealth through fraudulent practices, Nigerians will not be able to meet up with global competitiveness or global best practices which may make us be species of inferior quality, who will ever be found wanting outside the shores of Nigeria.
Equally, when we have defective clusters of agents of socialization the wherewithal to effect changes would be very much difficult starting from the perspective of our culture and tradition, our traditional rulers must embrace merit, good attitudinal values, and value-laden records of antecedents as primary considerations to anybody they want to recognize by giving chieftaincy titles.
Religious people must teach the scriptures and role model the best characters and moral excellence to their adherents and in society as their contributions to the restoration of ethical practices by all and sundry. The educational pedagogues must live by the behavioral objectives of what they teach, while the government must for effectiveness, fund our education appropriately and accordingly in line with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO) and United Nations Children's Fund(UNICEF) recommendations. The institution of marriage must promote good parenting of responsible biological and social responsiveness for the children's wellness to be sustained in an environment of sustainable marriage.
The issue of fidelity and increasing profile of love must be primary in the areas of managing proposed couples by the counseling psychologists, these are the only way e can have credible people in government who will rather shun business as a usual syndrome in governance, but uphold credibility in leadership, the sacrifice of personal pleasure for the success of the state and proactive measure in policy formulation and implementation.
The focus of the government must therefore be on the promotion of an inclusive society in an environment of social justice, for the nation to progress and produce strong institutions rather than strong individuals and people of high intellect, who are disciplined.
The restoration of ethical practices at the individual, organizational, and professional levels are sacrosanct to achieving the leadership desires and the people's expectations in governance. -
High cost of Cement a Threat to Homeless Nigerians-AWC
- On 31/12/2020
- In News
The All Workers Convergence(AWC) has declared that the increase in the price of cement poses a great threat to homeless Nigerians.
The AWC made this declaration through its National Coordinator, Comrade Andrew Emelieze.
''It is quite unfortunate to note that 2020 has been a year of endless torture for workers and Nigerians generally. There is definitely no reason for a bag of cement to be sold for about 4,00 Naira. The high cost of a bag of cement constitutes a great threat to the millions of Nigerians who are yet to have their own homes.'' -
Greed is the Major Cause of Poor Governance-Prof. Olagoke
- On 31/12/2020
- In News
Greed is a vice that has brought in its wake unpleasant situations of damaging consequences.
The insatiable appetite of the actors in Government-appointed, elected and employed-has resulted in underdevelopment, stagnancy, and retrogression. Greed has prompted those in power to involve private hands in governance under various guises. In this interview, the Founder, Spiritual Head, and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke insists that greed has resulted in failure governance in most countries, Nigeria inclusive. Excerpts :
Greed has been identified as a major catalyst for underdevelopment and retrogression? Do you agree?
Ther success recorded by the lesser animals and insects in their kingdoms is usually traced to be based on collective responsibilities and division of labor with sincerity of purpose and due process.
This is most observable in the ways the dogs of the hunter kill their prey without devouring them but delivering the dead prey to the hunter. This action is expected from the leader or the boss and his or her subordinates in dispensing services for the purpose of building themselves and the institution they represent. The dog will rather go hungry than consume the prey, in addition, it would be patient until it is fed by its owner.
In the kingdom of the termites, the tradition is that the Queen is worked for and passionately protected by the soldier ants, while the workers with consistent efficiency work for the Queen and will never take anything out of what they produce without been instructed to do so.
Among the bees, honey is produced in the built honeycomb by the collective responsibility of the scavengers, workers, and soldiers in the areas of protection and production activities ensuring that quality and standard are maintained at a sustainable level, interestingly humans search for the products of the bees with a lot of risks involved.
When the production ability of the Queen is noticeably low, as a result of aging, the insemination of other females occurs and eventually they replace the Queen, not for the purpose of ambition but for the purpose of keeping up with continuity in production.
The question now is, for humans endowed with superior faculties of reason and with all the guides from their chosen Scriptures, this is aside from their educational advantages, why do humans hate instead of love, backslide in place of obedience and impoverish others when offered opportunities to be in positions of power making the system to retrogress.
Leadership essence depends on professional capability before been entrusted with to be in charge of positions of responsibility. It equally depends on one's loyalty to the establishment in question offering the opportunities to serve as well as to protect the image of one's alma mater and the name of the family.
he reason behind records of failure in countries in Africa, Nigerian and Ghana inclusive, have always been traced to greed in power and greed among aides which by implication usually leads to the impoverishment of the people and kleptocracy by the few in government, hence, the present culture of corruption and indiscipline that is already endemic. It has made the sacred valued of education to be eroded, whereby people seek education for money rather than to acquire knowledge and wisdom.
This situation has created an environment of anti-societal behavior and the desperate drive towards quick money-making initiatives.
The dignity of labor has been sacrificed for ritual killings, known as Yahoo plus, with kidnapping and banditry as other means to ends.
For a solution to the present worrisome state of things, all spheres of human endeavor should be overhauled completely, the houses of God inclusive.
Greed is usually exhibited by people who have the blood of Timocracy running through their veins, such people usually go beyond what they need to survive, to the level of having what they will keep for their next generation. This is in contrast to the teachings they received from the Scriptures,. that upholds their chosen religion, that we must be modest, decent, disciplined and non-destructive to any system we work in and the society that produced us, in order to leave a bequeathable legacy to our children and the future generation.
Nigeria is not making use of religious houses to be relevant in the scheme of nation-building while the government equally underutilize the potentials of our universities and the experts already produced in the areas of intervention need to choose leaders and help the government achieve maximally, to provide the home ned to stem down over-reliance on foreign people and goods with the consequence of our low human development index and continuous devaluation of the Naira to an embarrassing state.
For the culture of greed to give way for development, there is a need for the government to respect the professionals in promoting organization and professional ethics, in addition to ensuring that the Ivory Tower, has the freedom to intervene in training and choosing leaders at all levels of governance.
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Show Love to Nigeria-Cleric to Nigerian Leaders
- On 30/12/2020
The leadership at all levels in Nigeria have been advised to show love to Nigeria as a step towards salvaging the country.
This advice was given by a Christian cleric, Pastor Opeyemi Ajayi in a chat with Poverty Line.
''Deceit and treachery is the order of the day, our leaders at the Federal and state levels should first show love to the country. Our leaders should love Nigeria, if they do not want the nation to be ruined, our leaders must salvage the country from collapse, by showing love to the country, this will make Nigerians show love to one another'', Pastor Ajayi stated. -
Don't Introduce Policies that Shall Further Impoverish Workers-AWC to Govt.
- On 22/12/2020
- In News
The Federal and State Governments have been warned not to introduce policies that shall further impoverish workers in Nigeria in the face of dwindling revenue and economic recession.
This warning was handed down by the All Workers Convergence(AWC) through its National Coordinator, Comrade Andrew Emelieze.
''The Federal and State Governments should not contemplate introducing policies that would further impoverish workers in these times of dwindling revenue and economic recession. Presently, the salaries of Nigerian workers cannot take them home considering the continuous devaluation of the Naira'', Comrade Emelieze lamented. -
Police Brutality- Oyo Panel Yet to Sit-Victims
- On 22/12/2020
- In News
Victims of police brutality in Oyo state have expressed worries that the Panel of Enquiry set up by the state government is yet to commence sitting.
The victims in a chat with Poverty Line, lamented that several weeks after the inauguration of the Justice Badejok Adeniji led panel, mum is the ord.
''We are disturbed that the panel is yet to commence sitting. We are also surprised that several weeks after the inauguration of the panel by the state Governor nothing encouraging has been heard. This should not be the attitude of the State Government'', they stated.
However, a lawyer and human rights activist, Barrister Femi Aborishade insisted that the panel has not been given any terms of reference, saying,'' they have no office, no place of sitting and no funding''.