#occupyNigeria

Since the protest against the removal of oil subsidy began last week, a few artists have released theme songs for the movenment. My two favorites are eedris' Jaga Jaga 2 and tha Suspect's SUBsidy(freestyle).






God Bless Nigeria and those fighting for better days!

Big Blast, Bloody Bath

Unity and Faith, Peace and Progress? If by now you have no idea about the bombings in Nigeria, it means you live under a rock. I thought it was high time I gave my spiel about everything. A lot of the bombings have been claimed by Boko Haram. The group has claimed 14 attacks so far this year. I am not a nah sayer that the group doesnt not exist. My concern is how much is Boko Haram actually responsible for.

Remember December, 2009 and Mutallab? Nigerians were so outspoken, in total disgust and disbelieve a Nigerian would be a role player in such a despicable act. Now fast forward to fall of last year independence celebration and the months preceding the elections, everything in between is a dark history that has become our reality.

It seems killing innocent lives and putting the fragile security of the nation in jeopardy is the new political weapon. Some disgruntled politicians believe to undermine the current administration capabilities ( which is no doubt questionable) is to be a threat to our security. This is unfortunate and pathetic.  Whatever their repulsive plans are, its definitely not for our good. This is not the way democracy ought to be. It was not designed to kill its people.  I hope the madness stops before it gets out of control.

We celebrated another anniversary this Saturday and people's anxiety could be felt. The uncertainty the bombings have caused is unfair and barbaric. Even if it were for a noble cause, killing of innocent lives and depriving families and children their dreams and opportunities should not be the price. It is wrong. May God of creation direct our noble cause and Guide our leaders right.

Happy Birthday to Nigeria

October is my favorite month of the year. I'm pleased to share birthday month with Nigeria. Happy Birthday Nigeria; stay strong, the best is yet to come. I love you.

                   36 states, 521 languages, 6 religions, 251 Ethnic groups,  11 major festivals,
                                                                    1 country

 Happy celebration and may God preserve our republic.

Who Born the Maga: New Federal Universities

"Some ask why we are building new universities. The reason being that when I consider what we spend on subsidizing fuel (about a trillion Naira annually) my heart bleeds and I would rather spend that money subsidizing education because while petrol is burnt up in a car's engine and is gone, your mind never burns up the education it receives. As a leader, I would rather teach Nigerians how to fish (education) rather than only give my people fish (fuel)."  Goodluck Jonathan.

Goodluck Jonathan

 This is the most shallow and irrational statement to defend such enormous expenditure. Politics is very interesting and quite predictable a times. It is fair to say president Jonathan would expect to be named after one of this new universities in years to come.  Building new universities while the premier universities are crumbling and falling apart is ridiculous.  It is nonsensical.  Even a caveman would know it would cost way less to upgrade the universities we have now to world class standards than building new ones. It is appealing to think how difficult it is to navigate any public university's website in Nigeria.

 Instead of spending so much money at a time the whole world is recovering from a financial crisis, there are other issues in the education sector that seeks readdress. Here are a view suggestion;

1. Send bill to the National Assembly to make it unlawful for ASUU to seek readdress through strike.

2. Send a bill to the National Assembly to disunion academic staff of public universities.

3. If ASUU is to stay, a deal must be reached on the certain number of year staff's

   salary would be up for  raise consideration.

4.  A complete overhaul of WAEC, JAMB, Post- JAMB, and NECO. 

The list goes one.  Until meaningful steps are taken towards making the most of what we have on ground, building 12 new schools is fiscal irresponsibility and a sheer political gain-seeking plot.  Its further irritating that a government so devoted to education budgeted 1.2 billion naira  to furnish the residence of the President an amount only 400,000 naira shy of that allocated for each of the new school.  Lucky Jo is official on my Who Born the Maga list!

 

Who Born the Maga? : Blame the opposition

     Elections are almost over after almost 4 weeks.  The winners are smiling and the losers are mostly accepting results while some are not satisfied with the outcome.  The major players of the election were the ACN, ANPP, APGA and PDP. It makes me wonder why these parties can't just reach agreements with the relative invisible parties to merge. Most of those parties could not even win a councilor position. Talk about benchwarmers and spectators; it all comes down to greed. That brings me to the subject of the post. Prior to the general elections, many behind-the-scenes talks were going on about a coalition to face to the PDP. The PDP’s rating was down nationally and a lot of people thought it was the end of the party as we knew it. However, all the plans broke down and the parties held on to their flag bearers. 

      The PDP presented its charismatic candidate Goodluck Jonathan (who suddenly became the right candidate to so many within few months), the ACN presented its marketable and youthful Nuhu Ribadu, the CPC presented its 3 time runner Gen. Buhari and finally, the ANPP held on the Gov. Shekarau who presented Kano as his lab rat and success story. The election appeared it was going to be the most competitive in a long while. Numerous debates colored the preceding weeks and the stake got high. The results were counted and out the window went the competition. What happened? Isn’t Ribadu the change the youth wanted, a break from the norm? What did Gen. Buhari get wrong this time? Isn’t 3 tries enough to get the rules of the game right?

      Blame it on the opposition! Despite the fact that ethnicity or region should not be the most prominent factor to decide who to vote for, it is sometimes relevant. This played out in the election. The three main oppositions were Northerners.  These from the beginning divided the vote of the region into three. Different analysis compared Gen Buhari and Ribadu as having the same moral standard and approach to public office. Gen Buhari just being the older version of Ribadu or the other way around.  These development further divided swing voters. These comparisons created confusion. The ACN and the CPC could not make up their mind and decided to go separate ways. The presence of Gov. Shekarau further split the votes.  In addition, it is worthy of note to remember that the CPC is a creation of the fallout of Gen. Buhari with the ANPP.  In reality, there is really nothing unique about these parties’ ideologies that could not have welcomed a coalition if truly they love Nigeria more than their personal ambitions.

       I put the figures from the presidential election obtained by the ACN, CPC and ANPP and they were enough to rewrite the whole election results. The PDP is really the only national party despite their failure and setbacks.  Despite the marketable profile of Ribadu he only won Osun State. The rest of the states were divided between the  CPC and PDP.   Click here. 

      This greed among political parties also is reflected in the National Assembly  election results. The seats won by the opposition parties all put together are enough to challenge the PDP supremacy.  Sometimes I wonder if these political parties actually conduct simple research and understand simple basic political rules. The PDP has survived again!

     A look at the INEC list of political parties on their website just makes me think how many possible ways can actually exist to approach government.  63? I do not think so. Nigeria has way too many political parties. The big players should swallow up the benchwarmers. This would create a stronger and more serious political system. It is just ridiculous an aspirant could create a political party over night right after failing to secure a major political party’s ticket.   The show is almost over and little or nothing can be done now. However, this year’s elections have successfully done one thing; make Nigerians more anxious and prepared for 2015. Many must have learnt their lessons. Best wishes to the political class of 2011. We are watching!