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The coronavirus has brought in its wake economic, social and religious problems. Reports of crime and criminality, domestic violence inclusive are everywhere in the media space. In this interview the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke opines that the restriction of movement by the Federal and State Governments shall result in the spread of other diseases, sexual abuses and other social and economic problems. Excerpts :

What do you think are the problems trailing the coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria ?

The records of the quality of governance has always been tales of woes of declining profile, whereby the quality of life is always on the depletion side. Even till date, Nigeria rely more on foreign aids for its its people to enjoy products of Science, and Technology, making us to believe not in ourselves as a nation and not in our people as instruments of development, that should be encouraged to compete with global best practices. This is a nation wherein employment is based on knowing the people who matter and where most graduates roam about to manage the irritating new national minimum wage. Poverty and hunger are already like plagues in the lives of millions of Nigerians., adding coronavirus to it, would surely make things worse for our social life. The Federal Government took actions when the virus had successfully entered the country and started its damage. Everybody is susceptible irrespective of social status. The Federal Government is expected to look into the areas of weaknesses emanating from lack of ethical ways of doing things to the various instance of under funding characterizing government culture of providing social amenities and infrastructure including Research Institutes which are solutions to alert the nation of the need to take first aid cover up, in order that the spread of the deadly virus is appropriately controlled.

However, wealthy Nigerians must realize that this is not the period to keep their wealth on selfish grounds, but to spend it now in the cause of preventing the spread of COVID 19 and curing the victims now.

Beside this, confining people to their homes and curtailing their movements through curfew as well as preventing interstate entries for a number of days may provide the needed magic.

But we must realize that there would be unnecessarily rowdy effects in the home front, which could result in various other diseases among the people, while at the same time promoting the spread of COVID 19. If there is no way to monitor them on compliance with the rules of hygiene. Idleness on the other hand may breed socio-psychological problems which must be effectively controlled. For example surveillance must be on to prevent pedophilia, sex abuses, incest, isolation that may even breed depression and consequent suicidal attempts must be looked out for. Effective control of these equally depends on the provision of social welfare and financial packages to remove the probable state of hopelessness which may be brought forth through debts by individual. For the purpose of survival, Government’s directive for Houses of God to close up, is in the right direction to prevent the spread of the pandemic. However, at home the culture of doing things aright must be learnt and we must realize that without good attitudinal change no prayer of any adherent can be answered as referenced in Koran 13 : 14 and the Bible James 5 : 16, while at home adherents must turn towards God to help reduce the eight months scourge of COVID 19 as spiritually revealed to the barest minimum for the wholesome cleansing of the lad to be realized and for the right vaccines to cure the victims to be discovered on time.

The April/ May 2020 Senior Secondary School Certificate examinations has been postponed, even though parents, guardians , teachers and school authorities have continued to express mixed feelings over the preparedness of students for the examinations. In most recent times a number of state Governments have expressed reservations over the poor performances of students it registered for the external examinations. This prompted some of these state Governments to withdraw their financial support, in terms of paying for the examination fees. In another breadth these state Governments are working round the clock to ensure that students from their states excel in the examination by all means. Sadly, students of a sizable number of schools in the country focus more on cybercafes and betting centers, while at the same time abandoning their primary aim of attending school. This has to a large extent negatively affected the prospects of improved examination results.

In this interview, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke says the funadmental issues affecting the education sector should be addressee before there can be an improvement in the performances of students in external examinations. Excerpts :

How do you think the performances of students can be improved on in examinations conducted by the West African Examination Council(WAEC), considering the poor results in recent years ?

The poor performances of Nigerian students in WAEC conducted examinations as a West African issue led to the inauguration of the National Examination Council(NECO) without compromising the standard.

Luckily, the syllabi is based on the general curricula of education which every secondary school must comply with, right from the Junior Secondary School (JSS)1 to Senior Secondary School(SSS)3. I can remember in 1976 when our set were faced with leakages in the examination, other set of questions were made available, but unfortunately 3 1/4 of the questions were what we were taught in Form Three, while the remaining were from Forms Four and Five syllabi. Then, most of us still came out tops. However, it was during an era of institutional discipline, when even illiterate parents supported the cause of the teachers’ efforts in bringing out the best in the children.

Since 1985, things have not been the same for the nation in all spheres of human endeavor because of the man made environment of institutional indiscipline and corrupt practices in the quest to realize the best without putting in necessary efforts.

The core values of self confidence, self esteem and self reliance are no longer there. We have forgotten that the home and the children form the cluster of the micro elements for the society while government and its institutions form the macro, that is exactly the mirror image of the home and its products. From my personal research based on my concern on value deterioration of education I discovered that the time our children spend in school is very insignificant compared to the time they will spend in life, the geriatric period inclusive. What we teach in the classrooms, laboratories and workshops in schools to these children are mere 20 per cent of what they need to survive the ordeals of life without deviating and resorting to committing sins and crimes to be successful in life. The remaining 80 per cent is better learnt based on what they see in their environment, quick money making syndrome without hard work. This is why they fail holistically to learn correctly under mentor-ship and pupil-age interactions for the necessary wisdom.

The materials to teach in faith based houses of god are equally defective, due to the quest to become successful in the quickest time frame, in this sense through diabolic means .The necessary firmness of purpose is no longer there for those who attend the Church or the Mosque. In the absence of a role model, the poverty of knowledge takes over. This is a psychological problem that needs to be corrected for education to become more beneficial to our children. The structure of education is intact for necessary impact, but the way we impart education is defective. For example, the attitudinal value of the affective domain is no more emphasized, hence the disciplinary aspect of the children lives is watered down. We have become robotic in the application of the cognitive domain and Nigerian children are yet to learn anything about innovation which is the essence of the psycho motor domain because of the attitude of our government towards education.

Teachers and Lecturers are rarely motivated and challenged because they are only selective with few lucky numbers, when it comes to the essential training needs. This position is worse for Primary and Secondary school teachers who our government will carelessly claim are too many when it comes to the payment of salaries, but in actual fact there is a worrisome shortage of teachers. It is true that the advent of the social media has resulted in the drop in the reading culture, while parents are not ready to correct this lapse.

These are fundamental issues that must be addressed urgently, before the concerns of the state Governors on the improvement needs of our students in their performances could be resulted oriented.

In the time past, when academic calendars were never toyed with, teachers and students performances were aspects to reckon with, but presently, there is always instability in the academic calendar ,with students most of the session been at home, with all the attendant distractions of the peer group effect and the poor ones among them hawking the streets to make ends meet.

Poverty is equally a great factor that is affecting the concentration of students in their studies. A peep into what is happening in Oyo state, as regards the state Government’s attention and focus on education is commendable. All that will aid learning are already in place. Poor parents are been taken care of and compiled Questions and Answers of WAEC/NECO into booklets have been given to the final year students, the teachers’ copies based on the subjects been taught are been photocopied for them by each school to digest well in order that they would be authoritatively fit to put the students through.

It should be emphasized that the students should not be robotic about the past Questions and Answers. There are 12 reasons why students fail examinations : 1) Inadequate preparation by the trio of the parents, teachers and students 2) Overconfidence by some students . 3) Examination anxiety. 4) Examination misconduct and malpractices. 5)Memory loss. 6)Time management and control. 7) Bad gang effects of negative peer groups and probable hard drug effects. 8) Bad sleeping habits 9) Lack of access to education materials such as books, due to lack of funds. 10) Lack of good reading habits. 11) Intrinsic property of an introvert that may lead to shyness in asking questions. 12) Ignoring instructions in Question and Answer sheets.

The parents, teachers and counseling psychologists must be able to help the students in order that they overcome the need for positive mindset with respect to positive mental attitude for ease of taking right decisions most especially in their quest to learn, for them to be able to pay back positively to the concerns and efforts of the state Governors in their belief that with adequate preparations no students must fail WAEC or NECO.

The Oyo state Fire Service has attributed fire incidents in the state in recent times to human error.

The potions of the fire service was made know by its Deputy Director, Mr. Moshood Adewuyi.

Since I joined the service three decades ago, I have never witnessed such fire incidents, between January 1st and today we have recorded 200 fire calls. All these fire incidents are man made not natural causes. The fire incidents occurred due to one mistake or the other. I appeal to residents of Oyo state to be careful and abide by fire safety tips'', Mr. Adewuyi stressed.

The elite in Nigeria have been called upon to emulate the philanthropic gesture of the late Hon. Temitope Olatoye Sugar top cushion the negative effects of poor governance in the country.

This call was made  on Monday by the  Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke at the one year remembrance lecture in honor  of the late lawmaker in Ibadan, Nigeria.

''The concept of philanthropy  which Hon. Dr. Olatoye Temitope Sugar stood for is an antidote to poor governance and  bad leadership which has  been responsible  for poverty and hunger, hoodlum in agitation on survival moves hence the need to promote  by the people in government, credible leadership for good governance and the culture of altruism for the elites to follow the philanthropic legacy left behind by Hon. Olatoye Sugar for the land to be fertile, disciplined and safe for the masses for our Democracy to yield prosperity for all''.

''It is on record that usually when there is going to  change of government  even through electoral process, there is always records of bloodshed due to various manipulations that undermines the need for merit in the conduct of the election to enthrone leaders into offices of service in governance. Prof. Wole Soyinka tagged it as an offer to the highest bidder. When Nigeria lost such a gem, that touches the lives of the masses, charting the right cause  to establish a legacy of sustainable development through philanthropic moves, the vacuum created cannot be quantified ! Who will fill the gap now and when are we going to  have another, even in the next generation ? A thousand dollar question indeed'', Prof. Olagoke stated.

Some states in Nigeria are in the process of outlawing street begging because according to the Powers that Be, it is constituting a nuisance to society. However, poverty and hunger are the twin challenges most homes in the country are contending with presently. A cross section of Nigerians insist that outlawing street begging is callous and inhuman, when Government at all levels have failed to provide the basic needs for good living for the citizens.

In this interview, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke opines even though it is imperative for government to outlaw street begging, government must first meet its obligations to the people. Excerpts :

Do you think it is right for government to outlaw street begging considering the poverty and hunger in the land ?

Street begging is cultural in some of our states, most especially in the Northern geo-political zone of the country due to the fact that it is an age long tradition.

In the South West, South South and South East geo-political zone, it is alien because it was introduced due to some dispersal processes through mass movement from some areas to the other based on osmotic pressure of economic concern.

No religion supports street begging but empathy through the concept of philanthropy and altruistic philosophy.

If it is to be outlawed it would be easier for state governments in the South West, South South and South East, but through determination of purpose and political will.

Lagos state tried it at a time, bundling strange faces moving around aimlessly. This was after their state of origin had been uncovered. The defect in the exercise was the accompanying hues and cries by the affected states that have no plan to rehabilitate the deportees. Some even said that the exercise was against the principle of federal character and one Nigeria. Besides this, discontinuity in governance that usually led to policy somersaults put a stop to the exercise.

The symptoms accompanying street begging is the inactivity of government in the areas of provision of basic amenities and the consequent challenges of unemployment for most of the youth and the weaker ones who will prefer begging to more dastardly acts of kidnapping, prostitution, armed robbery, ritual killings and other criminal acts to survive the economic depression.

Unfortunately, the security votes do not address the aspect of wealth generation and employment creation, hence it is not effective enough to prevent the challenges, but only offers mere mitigation.

Fundamentally, the physiological needs of man expressed through food, clothing and shelter, when not met would always lead to unsafe habitation and an environment that is insecure.

Cases of some street beggars turning into kidnappers or hired assassins are daily on the increase in Nigeria contributing to heightening state of insecurity in the state and country at large.

If it is to be outlawed it would only be a case of relieving a section of the nation to increase the burden of the others because if we remain as one Nigeria nobody may eventually claim to eternally benefit more so when government, both Federal and State alike, are not yet ready to put up effective programs for the alleviation of poverty.

From the spiritual perspective the Nigerian culture of atoning their sins through giving stipends to the beggars to achieve their desired aims and objectives, we need to change into recognizing the following virtuous codes of life, to be technically fit and well accomplished : dignity of labor, justice, equity, sincerity of purpose, hard work, transparency, accountability to support our drive towards peaceful co-existence, building of strong institutions and achieving promotion of inclusive society in our bid to establish and foster sustainable development.

Interestingly, accidents resulting in liabilities are usually viewed as excuses to engage in street begging.

If government is to outlaw street begging, the following factors need to be taken into consideration :

Government policy on poverty alleviation must be pursued with vigor and it must also be inclusive to take care of the marginalized-women, children and people living with disabilities. 2)There should be rehabilitation programs in place to cater for various interests. For example the out-of-school children issue must be given adequate attention. 3)Cases of the elite aiding and abetting the transportation of poverty stricken souls from one state to the other must be investigated to effectively stop the act. For example in February, two trailer load of people from the North of the country were spotted somewhere in Iwo land, this prompted the Isokan Muslim community to promptly intervene. It was discovered that some Chiefs had collected about 500, 000 Naira each for the act to be possible. However, they were compelled to return the money amounting to about 3.5 million Naira while the migrants were sent back to the destination they came from. Two things might have happened if it had not been detected, street beggars could have been on the increase while some of them would have become security threats in Iwo land.

Street begging therefore, must be outlawed, but let government do the needful before embarking on this.

Political office holders in Nigeria have been called upon not to abandon children and youth after they must have won elections.

This call was made by the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam, Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke in a lecture titled ‘’World Thinking Day and the 5 Road Mpas’’ at an event organized to commemorate the World Thinking Day, by the Oyo state Council of the Girls Guide Association of Nigeria.

‘’Political office holders were always present and active at programs for children and youth during campaigns and before they won elections, but after they emerged victorious their behavior changed. They should continue to support children and youth even after they win elections’’, Prof. Olagoke stated.

He stressed that for a well ordered society to emerge, ‘’ the home, the society, the nation and the world must create a culture of World Thinking Day at individual, association, voluntary organization and government levels of operations to propel them to do the needful with timely intervention’’.

‘’The World Thinking Day need to go into every individual’s psyche on self-fulfillment for every blessed day and evaluative reasoning on the value we put in life, for our neighbors and humanity generally to promote a better world order. Never abuse the girl child, never insult womanhood and ensure that everyone puts value into society . Stop wars and prevent diseases to promote a meaningful life of comfort for all, people with disability inclusive’’, He concluded.

Earlier, the National Commissioner of the Association and the state Commissioner, Dr.(Mrs.)Janet Olufayo and Dr.(Mrs) Layeni respectively, emphasized the need for government to pay great attention to programs targeting the children and youth as a step towards reducing social problems in the society.

‘’There should not be any discrimination, we are equal, we should be treated equally irrespective of religion, social background and status’’, the Girls Guide leaders declared.

The 30, 000 Naira new national minimum wage is not a living wage for workers in Nigeria.

This assertion was made recently by the Chair person of the Socialist Workers and Youth League(SWL), Comrade Kemi Afolayan at a symposium titled ‘’LIVING WAGE-MATTERS ARISING’’, organized by the SWL in Ibadan, Nigeria.

‘’There is a clear difference between the new national minimum wage and a living wage. If you look at it critically workers are worse off. 90 per cent of Nigerians are living below the poverty level. After retirement, workers go into depression. A living wage is achievable, but government cannot give workers a living wage on a platter of gold.’’, Comrade Afolayan noted.

In his remarks, Comrade Olaoye Sanda lamented the insincerity of labor leaders in Nigeria, saying, ‘’we have labor leaders who are colluding with Government’’.

For Comrade Andrew Emelieze, the new national minimum wage of 30,000 N aria is unacceptable.

‘’30, 000 Naira is a slave wage. It has brought pains and misery to workers in Nigeria. There should be an immediate review of the national minimum wage. 30,000 Naira is laughable and embarrassing’’, Comrade Emelieze stated.

The Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) has de-registered 74 out of the 92 political parties in Nigeria.

The Inter party Advisory Council(IPAC) insists that the INEC’s action is at variance with the rule of law, while insisting that Nigerians have since lost confidence in the electoral body.

However, a sizable number of Nigerians argue that INEC ought not to have registered such a high number of political parties in the first instance,just as they also opine that INEC is only playing out a script written by its paymaster.

In this interview, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke insists that Nigeria only need five political parties to ensure national unity. Excerpts :

Do you think INEC is right to have de-registered 74 out of the 92 political parties in Nigeria ?

The decision of INEC that led to the de-registration of 74 out of the 92 political parties in the country is a scenario of relieving the electoral process of been too cumbersome. Ab initio, Nigerians are divided over the outrageous number of registered political parties which in the last general elections made the exercise to be worrisome, misleading and embarrassingly made the ballot paper unnecessarily colorful and artistically confusing. It made some voters to become mere robotic objects relying on the remote control of some vote merchants.

A critical assessment of the 92 political parties raised some questions that probed into how some people got their certificates in school.

When one compares the performances of such graduates in their places of work to their activities in the wider society, the credibility of the universities which awarded the certificates would be at stake.

The INEC now has to prove its capability and credibility to de-register what it earlier approved because some schools of thought are of the opinion that the de-registered political parties are victims of circumstances because they have every right to exist even without impact of the society, provided they did not turn their parties into violent or terrorist groups.

However, a critical look into the competence test for parties already registered was based on their performances in the 2019 general elections. On this account the affected parties failed to meet the requirements of the INEC.

On a scale of fairness, Nigerians cannot confidently say that those who triumphed actually won the elections justly. The challenge before all of us is on how to tackle the issue of vote buying and the highest bidder syndrome, campaign expenses limit compliance and internal party Democracy to choose the right and popular candidate, rather than those who are imposed. This category are aided by crooked means to win elections.

The de-registration of 74 political parties would have been a good riddance, if not for the fact that there are still pending applications of the registration of political parties with INEC.

Nigerian politicians and the political parties have had a negative impact on the economic and security well being of the nation, when one considers our situation of death without war and destitution in the midst of plenty.

This is so because the existing political parties were not established to salvage the cause of the country, but for the participants to have their own share of the national cake, with a very good opportunity to loot the treasury and earn special packages as salaries, bonuses and allowances.

This is why the rat race by politicians to get into positions of power threw the Holy Bible into the ocean and the Holy Koran into the lagoon and in the process shunning all cultural values of integrity to toil with the lives of Nigerians who they are supposed to work for and to deplete the resources of the land at the expense of the people’s welfare and national development.

Our political parties small or big, are bereft of ideological goals and one can hardly differentiate, in terms of values, one from the other.

Politicians in Nigeria live three lives, when not yet in government they brand themselves as our messiah, when in government they resort to self-enrichment, build egos and castles around themselves to become untouchable, while presenting administration as one for the most difficult and complex Mathematics to solve through protocols and bureaucratic means, using the media to their advantage.

When they are in opposition they play the holier than thou script and pretend as if they are ready to fight for the masses, the whole exercise is to pull down perceived enemies.

In these three lifestyles none is exemplary and the truth about Nigerian politicians is that of unpatriotic elements, who only scavenge about to accumulate wealth.

Nigeria would be better off, when our religious systems focus on the emancipation of humanity and our politicians, who claim to be products of this socio-divine substance would be able to uphold the concept of sacrifice in service, selfless service to others through the principles of philanthropy.

When political parties are formed through algebraic equations of the democrat on the one hand and the conservative on the other, the ideological goal would be to evolve, while voters would be able to identify with the kind of lifestyles they desire for the nation in the next four years of the new political dispensation which may extend to another four years of grace willingly by the people who may want to appreciate beneficial good governance from party A or party B. Suffice it to now say that political parties performances and impact in the positive direction needs to dwell on respecting people’s fundamental human rights to all good things of life, including education, health, infrastructure and employment, in an atmosphere of the promotion of inclusive society.

Good governance in which everybody benefits through a people oriented political party is far better than the proliferation of political parties in which many of them would become mere buffer solutions for the bigger ones to win elections.

Nigeria does not need more than five political parties, each of these political parties must respect religious differences, ethnic and tribal spread in the country and in the general geographical contraption to promote the unity of the country.

In terms of population strength and geographical spread therefore, a party of national status is needed with distinct ideological goal to market itself.

The voters themselves would be able to identify lairs among them, this is because in a situation in which oppressors dominate a party, people must not expect development, zero tolerance to corruption, but institutional discipline that usually promote agitation, impoverishment and man made security challenges such as terrorism, kidnapping and banditry.

The INEC should therefore make use of the National Orientation Agency(NOA) and the Media to sensitize Nigerians on the need for the five political parties that would be competitive enough to address the issues of fundamental human rights and inclusiveness, to be able to achieve in the area of good governance, while the INEC itself need to strategically put up an electoral process that would be free of abuse, but fair and just, in order that Nigeria is able to have in place a good government.