Politics

Any attempt made by the leadership of the  All Progressives Congress(APC) not zone the position of the Senate President to the South East geo-political zone will amount to injustice.

This  position was made known recently, by a Non Governmental Organization(NGO) Justice for Peace Advocacy of Nigeria(JUPAN).

According to the National President of JUPAN, Mr. Austin Okezie '' 

“We are pleading with the leadership of the APC to do justice and zone the position of deputy Senate President to the Southeast, because doing otherwise is going to be a day light injustice against this region''.

“We are urging, we are pleading with the powers that be; ranging from President Muhammadu Buhari, the APC Chairman, the APC National Leader, Sen. Bola Tinubu, Senators-elect, all stakeholders, to do justice by zoning the post to the Southeast.

“We are pleading and calling on all well-meaning Nigerians to join in this agitation for the sake of justice and peace,” 

''What the party is supposed to do is to encourage this region by giving them the post of deputy Senate President. If the party does otherwise, it will do more harm to the country than good''.

“So, Southeast must not be denied this position; we are calling on the President to use his prerogative to make sure justice is done because we know he is a President that promotes Justice, equity and fairness.

“In the interest of equity, justice and fairness, we are asking that the post of deputy senate president should be zoned to the Southeast,” Mr. Okezie concluded

In a sizable number of states in Nigeria, individuals who presently occupy the Government houses are, perhaps, apostles of the Use and Dump Philosophy.

For the period these individuals have been there, the people are yet to identify the fresh ideas to take the affected states to the next level of development, rather schemings, intrigues, and maneuvres for self perpetuity is the direction.

In these states, it is not about the people not wanting good leaders, but it is all about the imposition of mediocrity.

Sadly, the people never conducted background checks on the antecedents of Those-in-Charge in the states to verify their capacity and capability.

The overbearing influence of the helmsmen in the states is given prominence by the docility and silence of political appointees on the government's unpopular policies and actions.

Indeed, most of the appointees in the cabinets of the affected states are disturbed, but their facial expressions mislead the public to believe the contrary.

Strangely, crime and criminality are now the norms in the affected states, with the helmsmen making feeble efforts to include dialogue as one of the options to put an end to the wasting of human lives and the destruction of properties.

The Almajiris comprise of downtrodden parents and their children, orphans and destitute. Alamajiri system of education commenced in Kanem Borno, a long time ago.

Sokoto and Borno caliphates were the pioneers in this system of education.

Under the system, children learnt moral upbringing from their parents. All schools at this period were within the vicinity of  the students. Matters pertaining to the schools were handled by inspectors who reported to the Emir of the province in question. These schools were financed by parents, zakkah, sadaqqah and in some instances through the farm output of the students.

With time, the British abolished the system of education, thereby ensuring that government no longer funded the system of education. This resulted in the Teachers and students resorting to begging for alms and undertaking menial jobs for sustenance. 

Sadly, presently, the system of education lacks qualified Teachers, educational facilities and other essentials.

Worried stakeholders of this system of education insist that proscribing the system would be a great disservice to humanity, since the government in the present dispensation has done next to nothing to impact positively on those in the system, even though government made use of the stakeholders to achieve self serving interests.

In this interview with Federationews2day, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke opines that for this and other issues to be resolved Nigerians must pray for President Muhammadu Buhari and all the 36 state Governors to have the political will to curb institutional indiscipline and endemic corruption which has consumed the fabrics of society. Excerpts :

The Federal Government is toying with the idea of doing away with the Alamjiri system of education, even though the administration of the former President Goodluck Jonathan spent considerable amount to ensure that the system of education remains. Do you think this would be beneficial to the country in the long run ?

During the tenure of former President Goodluck Jonathan, he ventured into building schools for nomadic education, which Nigerians hoped then, would have taken care of the Alamajiris, who lived like orphans,but returned their proceeds from the streets to some wicked surrogate parents.

Fortunately, President Muhammadu Buhari referred Nigerians to section 18 : 3 of the 1999 amended constitution, which places on all Nigerians, the obligation to eradicate illiteracy.

Free and compulsory education accroding to international standards demands that every government in Nigeria must provide free and compulsory education for every child of Primary and Junior Secondary school age.

The President also stated that it was indeed a crime for any parent to keep his or her child out of school for this period.

By implication, when the government fails to provide the schools, Teachers and teaching materials necessary for basic education, it is actually aiding and abetting crime.

Based on this assertion, the President emphasized on,with affirmation to all state Governors, the need to ensure proper education during the first nine years of schooling, to be able to inculcate in the children, the right moral values.

The President equally realized that the age long Almajiri system of education, resulted in the North of Nigeria witnessing orgies of crimes which have eventually snowballed into insurgency and uncontrollable acts of violence and terrorism.

The President, believes that the problems confronting Nigeria are rooted in the fact that a lot of people have been denied the opportunity to get formal education and this has led to the accumulation, over the years, of  large mass of Nigerians who have taken to crime, drug addiction among several other social problems. Again these category of Nigerians have also become willing tools in the hands of some elements in the wider society, who have always nurtured dangerous intentions.

The President then made mention of the Alamajiris, as a group to be proscribed, as they happen to be the symbol of informal education, that could be likened to absolute illiteracy, considering the fact that their activities spread beyond the geographical contraption of the North, to the nooks and crannies of Nigeria.

Firstly, as street urchins, they continue to become the future monsters, who work against society.

The President now went on, to recognize and recommend the Western region of Nigeria philosophy, under the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who started free and compulsory education at both the Primary and Secondary levels, when he was Premier.

My worry and take on this issue, ranges as follows :

In the face of the present scenario of poverty for the people and kleptocracy in government, would the state Governors be able to meet up with the calls of Mr. President ? Which equally aligns with the UNICEF’s stand that education is the right of every child and the United Nation’s charge on countries of the world on the need for sustainable development.

Unfortunately, it is imperative for the state Governors to find a means of achieving this, most especially if one considers the two digit interest loans, even for those who have access, poor remuneration for workers, excluding the political class and the unfortunate state of dilapidation of the buildings of several public schools. All these put together have given way for the quacks to foray into the education sector. They put up schools that are never accredited through the laid down government rules and regulations.

Another challenge, is on the strength of the political will of Mr. President to abrogate the Alamajiri system in the North and the possible ‘’hostility’’ from the states outside the North, that would quickly seize the opportunity to ‘’deport’’ the beggars within their environment.

My Prayer and Nigerians must also pray for Mr. President and all the state Governors, for God to give them the needed will power and wisdom to curb institutional indiscipline and endemic corruption in both low and high places.

Equally, it is important for government to take the issue of functional education seriously, by first, reviewing downward, the wages and allowances of the political class as a form of the necessary sacrifice from them, to be able to make the Nigeria project feasible.

They equally need to down size the number of ‘’servers’’ in their cabinet to meaningfully control wastage in governance while we must equally look inward to resuscitate the ‘’dead’’ industries to be able to provide employment for those who are been turned out as fresh graduates for the country’ institutions.

President Muhammadu Buhari recently opined that his slow pace in delivering the dividends of Democracy was as a result of the slow democratic system in the country. Nigerians, however, disagree with the President's claim, they insist that President Buhari's approach to governance  and his choice of political appointees have been the major impediments towards achieving good governance.

Of note is the endorsement of the President for a second term by the  Miyetti Allah. This has attracted divergent views from Nigerians. In this interview with , the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagok says that the time it took the President to realize that the system is slow,  a sizable number of his political appointees and state Governors have emerged as emergency billionaires. Excerpts :

 President Buhari has blamed  his slow pace in governance to the slow democratic system in the country. Do you agree with him ?

While the President is a hundred per cent correct, he has disappointed millions of Nigerians by realizing this fact too late.

This is a man who had been given the grace, with almost three attempts to get to the exalted position of President, before he eventually got the opportunity. During the failed attempts, he ought to have researched into the difference between a military command and a civilian government of bureaucracy,  intrigues and due process.

His failure to do so, is responsible for his period of travails on getting to the seat of power.

Much as he would have tried to build up his political will to fix things up properly, starting from the strategic Treasury Single Account(TSA) as the basis of his fight against  corruption, the internal wrangling of his party, emanating from who will control the President and power sharing principles, led to his period of hibernation in London, where and when his detractors wished him dead.

On his return, a lot of things had changed, beyond his control.

One would have wished him to liberate himself and foster his will on nation building, but unfortunately age and health are no longer to his advantage, while the environment in which he was supposed to operate became hostile-party division trailed by the uncooperative attitude towards the fight against corruption.

For example some of the Governors and Ministers in this present administration are now emergency billionaires, functioning with no impact on the lives of the people.

 To replace these personalities, even when the whistle blowing on them, has become very difficult because the President would not want the house of the All Progressives Congress(APC) to crumble on him, with the probable option of waiting for a second term to take necessary action.

Furthermore, on several occasions, the President cried out on the uncooperative attitude of the Judiciary, while everyone could see the uncooperative attitude of the divided National Assembly.

Apart from this, there is the constitution with the strings of bureaucratic process and lapses, serving as the basis to correct the aberrations in the land, with calls for restructuring.

Besides this, former President Goodluck Jonathan made us to believe that the insurgents aimed at making the environment ungovernable and that their sponsors were always in the fifth column of government. They strike when some policies  and such policies' implementation are not favourable to them.

The Obas, Emirs and Obis are equally anti-people, who dine with government  in order to maintain their status quo of sustaining the social class of the rich echelon.

When money does not flow, they create a tensed polity, too hot for government to operate.

Today, 86. 9 million Nigerians live in abject poverty and these are the people who lack the access to education, good health care delivery and other basic social amenities.

Paradoxically, the majority of them constitute the large population of voters, who will give our leaders the mandate to rule as well as give the Houses of God the wherewithal to exist.

The President has been part of the system since his days as Military Head of State, hence he is expected to have  detected areas and barriers to efficient performances  in governance, for him to be able to perform up to the expectations of Nigerians.

Nigerians will  no longer to tolerate rhetorics of regrets, theoretical promises of hope, but will like to experience proactive measures in decision making.

Manifesto presentation with facts and figures and pragmatic show of capability in governance that would reflect leadership by example, leadership by impact based on the APC's promise to deliver with purposeful direction and self sacrifice through zero tolerance for corruption and institutional discipline for functional Democracy to produce peace and  sustainable development, in an environment that is safe and secured through the natural practice of justice and equity, without any feeling of marginalization.

If  fate brings back President Buhari for the second term, he must careful of  those he  will work with, so that he will not be disgraced out of office.

The love for power and the desire to remain in power by African leaders has been identified as the reasons why violence and corruption have become the vogue in developning countries.

This assertion was made recently,  by the Consul-General of Tuvalu in the United Kingdom (UK), Sir Dr Iftikhar Ahmed Ayaz, while delivering his keynote address  at the Ahmadiyya Peace Conference in Accra, Ghana.

"This one word, power, sums up the ordeal of most developing countries. It is the struggle for power, the seizure of power, the concentration of power in the hands of one individual or group, and the subsequent refusal to relinquish or share power that has sucked these countries into a vortex of violence, repression, tyranny and corruption," Sir Ayaz declared.