After almost half a century on earth and in Nigeria, almost exclusively, i believe i am qualified to air my views without fear or favour. I am not involved in a popularity contest and as yet, not seeking elective office. Thus, i do not really have to be politically correct. I do recognize that i need to be responsible in the choice of my language and not be unduly offensive. I am singing my same old song. And it is the same refrain........please be more aware of your roles in the forthcoming general elections! We cannot afford to drift for another four years. Alas, this call may be coming rather late. Why? I for one do not belong to a political party. Neither have i tried to form one. I know at least two hundred people who pander to my way of thinking. They each probably know 200 each. What we have done is to belly ache and pontificate, yet we expect change. I recognize men and women who have excellent gifts. Who have practical skills, outside their academic qualifications and who could do a darn sight better than a lot of what we have on offer. Sadly, we have remained mostly dormant and bitter! I look at what has been going on and i marvel as to how people can want this to continue. Let me highlight a few. I have many friends on FB, who are Government apologists. I respect their rights to air their views and appreciate the fact that we cannot all think alike. But i am yet to be convinced that enough has been done, given the resources at our disposal. I hear......the roads have improved! I ask......why should the roads not improve? Is it not my right to drive on motorable roads? We are doing close to 2.3MILLION Barrels, OPEC and another 1Million at least off OPEC, on a daily basis. Why should we not have good roads? In the last 20 years, how many roads have actually been built? I am not talking about this cosmetic patching and expansion, i am talking about hewing new roads out of the abutting forests as we drive from Lagos to Portharcourt. I am talking about leveling our highlands and carving new routes out of the resultant leveling. Why do we not have a coastal route from Lagos to Calabar? Should we applaud these pseudo constructions? I dont! I acknowledge them and hope that our leaders can do more! The rails are working!! Folks, it still takes at least four days from Ibadan to Kano or Ibadan to Maiduguri! We are talking about a mere 1,126kms. The same distance in Nairobi, is a sleep over journey! The Kenyans do not have Bullet Trains, But they have realized that speed and efficiency are of the essence. So, what they have done is to address the GAUGE(S), i.e the tracks. They have changed from the colonial clap trap to more relevant gauges. We have not changed any gauge in Nigeria, since the pre colonial, colonial and colonial times. So, even if 300000 people have been conveyed by rail in 2 months, almost three times that number travel by rail in Kenya every month, a fellow African country. So, i am not impressed, because our coaches and engines, have now become obsolete. Thereby making it more expensive to maintain, as most of the parts, now have to be custom built. Why doesnt the government just call the Dangotes, Chachangis and Dantatas to invest in the railway systems and allow them to run it as a veritable business? Agriculture is booming........ WHERE? What seems to be happening, is the creation of a few CASSAVA BARONS, who are not actually investing in Cassava plantations for the greater good, but are engaged in the export, in exchange for more luxury goods.Okay, it is somewhat heart warming to hear that we are probably the largest exporters of cassava in the world. But i spoke to three cassava farmers from Iseyin. I admit that three is too few a figure to use as a case study, but i will say that they have not had access to fertilizers in two years. Thankfully, IITA, provides them with hybrid cassava, which takes a shorter time to harvest and produces a larger tuber. But, the secondary roads, are becoming unpassable as the rains have started. Petrol is between 120 -150 a litre in those rural areas, as ,most are serviced by Independent marketers, who have decided that they will sell at whatever prices they will. BUT THERE IS DPR!!!! There are so many things that are interwoven and have to addressed simultaneously, for us to announce an agricultural Eldorado. Having said this,i recognize that the Adesina guy, is trying. At least, he is not just another drain pipe. I sincerely hope he goes the whole hog. Ivory Coast is doing close to 1.2 million metric tonnes of cocoa beans per anum. We are stuck at 330/350 thousand. Our farms are too old. In the South West we are talking of farms that are well over 40 years old! We have failed to plant new farms, tackle black pod disease. Forget about cotton and groundnuts. They barely exist, in appreciable commercial quantity! I wont go the Palm produce route! Can we really say that we are booming agriculturally? Oil is the life blood of our nation. For some inexplicable reason, our President decided to leave the surveillance of our pipelines, in the hands of ex terrorists! Thus, oil theft has been on an unprecedented upswing. We have the Nigerian Navy, we have The Nigerian Army, with an amphibious wing. There is the Marine police(did you know). Rather than equip these guys, train and retrain them. Tompolo and co were awarded fat contracts! I tell people to take a ride in a chopper and witness the devastation in both the Eastern and Western Niger Delta, occasioned by persistent pipeline vandalization.........to cook crude, to get diesel. The boys are doing it with impunity, because they obviously make returns to the big boys who are supposed to be protecting these pipes. Folks, let me tell you that there is a new breed of rugged multi millionaires. They have the money to persuade or corrupt the ill motivated JTF, to look the other way. They also have their own little arsenals and are prepared to fight to the death to protect their investment. So amenesty is going on and another breed is being groomed!! I have written too much! IT IS TIME FOR US TO GET OUT OF CYBERSPACE AND TAKE OVER OUR SPACE(S)!! Another four years of this????? I shudder at the thought!!! I maintain that the modern era in which we find ourselves(largely adrift as it were), requires the highest form of intellectual appreciation of the very, often complex and interwoven issues. Sadly, the government of the day, seems to lack this attribute!
Posted on: Mon, 19 May 2014 22:43:08 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015