(State of the Nation - An extract of the Presidential Charge delivered by Dr. Mrs. Lydia Olukemi Odedeji at the 2022 Women Conference of the Diocese of Lagos West (Anglican Communion) held at Caroline Adefiola Women Conference Centre, Ipaja, Lagos)
Nigeria is sliding swiftly towards a failed State, all our economic indices are pointing to the direction of a total recession that may not be easily reversed. Ours is becoming a banana republic where there is no rule of law let alone people obeying same. All the zones of the country are faced with one challenge or the other. The nation is sharply divided along religious, ethnic, and political affiliations. It has never been this bad in the history of Nigeria. There is palpable fear all over the country - fear of insecurity, social malady, economic woes, religious intolerance, banditry, kidnapping for ritual purposes etc. The government seems not to have solution to myriads of problems confronting our nation. We must intercede on behalf of this nation, using the scriptural advice in 2 Chronicles 7:14 which says “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land”. May our God arise and heal our land in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
LAGOS STATE
We thank God for His protection over us and we pray that the good Lord will continue to shield
Group and the lekki Deep Sea Port All of these are available because of the governments business friendly policy which will go a long way in improving the economy of the State, create millions of jobs for our teaming youths, improve on the State’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and making Lagos one of the best industrial hubs for investors, from all over the world.
Our appeal to the government of our dear State is to work hard on improving the power need of the State. A State like Lagos must not depend absolutely on power supply from the National Grid. The private sector must be involved in the business of power supply aside GENCO and DISCO bodies of the Federal Government, with all their bureaucracy. Also, more than ever before, our road network must be given adequate attention, as this is another way of driving the rapidly growing economy. We congratulate our indefatigable Governor for all his effort so far, and we pray for the grace to do more exploit for Lagos State. “Ipinle Eko. Ajumose Gbgobo Wa Ni”.
Nigerian Nation and Insecurity
It is no longer news that the entire Western World is keeping watch on the Nigerian security situation. Many States in the North East, North West, North Central and South East are presently under the control of either the bandits or Boko Haram fighters, or worst still, unknown gunmen. Suffice it to say that what really prompted Nigerians to settle for the government of the day, back in 2015, was the promise to stop all forms of banditry, senseless killings, maiming, and raping of minors and women by the Boko-Haram fighters, who had seized many local governments’ areas, in the Northeast. They had even declared areas forcefully taken over as a Caliphate. The coming of this government then, was a welcome one. Nearly every part of Nigeria jubilated to celebrate the new government. Today, however, and after about seven years in office, the story has become different from what it was in 2015. These terrorists had extended their territories to the North Western States of Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto and Kaduna. In the North Central, states like Benue, Plateau and Niger citizens are seriously feeling the heat. Permit us to say that Southern Kaduna and part of Niger State had recently become slaughter arena. Hundreds of people have been killed, while many houses have been razed. The most recent is the 4th June, attack at St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State. We pray that the Lord will comfort the families.
Power Supply: A Catalyst to Economic Growth
We cannot over-emphasize the need to pay attention to our power supply if Nigeria will move up the ladder of development. No nation of the world would be considered developed when it has power crisis. Although no census has been conducted in the past ten years, but it is believed that Nigeria has a population of over 200 million people. The implication of this is the existence of abundant human resources to drive our economy. However, rather than our population to have a positive impact on our economy, the reverse is the case. This is a nation where the teeming employable youths only engage in unproductive activities such as political brigandage. Criminality is therefore the order of the day. Many of these youths would have put their productive capabilities into economic use, thereby increasing our Gross Domestic Product, if power supply could be stabilized. So many of them would have been self employed and many would have become employers of labour. How unheard of it is, for a nation of about 200 million people sharing power capacity of below 5000 megawatts?
No amount of fiscal or monetary policies can help an economy where the power supply is inadequate. Both the manufacturing and service industries depend heavily on power. And where cost of power is beyond the reach of small and medium scale industries, the result will be hyper inflation on the part of consumers of their products.
And on the final note, the rate at which our government keeps borrowing externally is becoming so alarming that the World Bank has sounded a note of caution on the implication of both our level of borrowing, as well as provision for subsidy. Although the government continues to justify the need to deal with these two evils, the result may not be that palatable at the end. Presently, Nigeria uses almost half of her yearly budget to service debts! This is a bad omen for our fragile economy.
Calls for Regional Governments/2023 Election
It is no longer a secret that about four out of the six zones of this country are presently clamoring for a self-determination or self-rule. While this may not be noticeable in the South South, and North Central, the Southeast and Southwest are seriously pursuing the agenda of a self-rule. Mention of names like Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Republic of Biafra, Oduduwa Nation and Oduduwa Republic appear on the pages of our Newspapers and even in electronic media every now and then. Suffice it to say that the Western World, and particularly the United Nation cannot claim ignorance of the agitations.
We make bold to say that Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which is responsible for 2023 election, is already facing myriads of problems. This ranges from shortage of election materials, effect of Boko Haram and bandit’s invasion of many Communities particularly in the Northwest, Northeast, North Central and Southeastern parts of the country. INEC workers (casual and regular) have become targets of unknown gunmen, and many have lost their lives. The body also complained recently of loss of about 9,000 Card Readers. There is also a perceived unwillingness on the part of the people to offer themselves as casual workers due to insecurity.
Civilization/Social Malady
Civilization is the stage of human social and cultural development and organization, which is considered advanced. It is a complex human society, usually made up of different cities, with certain characteristics of cultural and technological development. On the other hand, ‘social malady’ means social disease that affects society and its people negatively.
In the year 2003, the then government of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, introduced a modern form of communication referred to as Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) to take over from the analog way of communicating with each other. This new policy was widely embraced by the old as well as the young people in our society. As time went by, even the uneducated in the society e.g., the market women/men farmers in the villages, artisans and even the destitute in our desolate places, all later embraced the new technology. The motive then was to open our economy in such a way that the modern technology would play a positive role and add value to Nigerian economy.
As much as we believe that to a considerable extent, it has impacted our economy positively, the negative side effect is biting hard on Nigerians. The technology has impacted the young ones negatively, and if not properly checked, could spell doom for our nation. Teenagers now engage in all sorts of atrocities with their proficiency in technology. Our youth now engage in acts of making quick money and wealth using technology and the internet. Words alien to us in the past as a Nation, now ring bells all over the place. Today, we have ‘Yahoo’, ‘Yahoo Plus’, kidnapping in a sophisticated way, ‘bank fraud made easy’, forex fraud etc. As if this was not enough, immorality among the youths and teenagers has attained a dangerous height.
Only recently a 10-year-old girl was said to be gang-raped by her peer group, and the sex tape went viral on social media. Fraudsters between ages 15 and 30, only need to know BVN and NIN numbers, to empty their victims bank accounts, courtesy of knowledge of social media manipulation, through communication technology. Majority of our youths are no more interested in serving others, rather, they perpetrate all sorts of evil from their rented one room apartment. They hack into government and business accounts with ease, to conduct fraud in connivance with workers of organizations such as banks and the rest of it. May the Lord help us.
Education
There is a pertinent question we need to ask ourselves considering what educational sector of Nigeria economy is offering us at present. The question is whether there is a future for our youths through education? As at today, we make bold to say that there is hardly a year without workers’ strike in the sector. When we consider the brain drain occurrence, where our brilliant ones are migrating in their numbers in search of greener pastures overseas, it is quite alarming and worrisome. Our University Lecturers are always home for months, asking for implementation of agreement between the teachers and the government. No wonder, some products from our tertiary institutions these days cannot competently justify having passed through the walls of a University! Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike is now in the sixth month. We are calling on the government to reach an agreement with the Union.
Many of our graduates are not employable, except those that attend the paid schools around, or privileged to study abroad. It is grossly an understatement to say that a ‘state of emergency’ is overdue to be declared in our educational sector, if our teeming youths would be relevant in the nearest future in anything that has to do with the decision-making process of this nation. This is a nation where primary school pupils are getting involved in use of illicit drugs, the teenagers in our secondary schools now engage in beauty pageant, showing their bodies in the public. Immorality has become a norm. But what could teachers whose welfare is not being guaranteed do? Lecturers in the higher institutions now charge students heavily for handouts that must be considered compulsory if they must pass their examinations. Many of them had been fingered to have forced female students into immoral acts commonly referred to as ‘sex for mark’ in academic circle.
What should we do:
Having highlighted those things that have become so worrisome in all sectors of our Nation, Nigeria, we are still of the opinion that it is not yet over until it is over. Some of the suggestions below could be given a thought by our government representatives at the local, state, and federal levels of governance.
Concerning insecurity, we need to consider urgently the following measures:
e.. On the 2023 election and calls for Regional Self Determination, the following must be addressed urgently:
The current Constitution has been criticized by various sections of the country as being lopsided in its provisions, and that there is an urgent need to address every clause that seems suspicious of creating master/servant relationship among the different regions of the country. We hope our government and our Law Makers will heed this voice of reason.
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