GENERAL ISSUES PERTAINING TO NIGERIA

EDUCATION:

By the year 2015, Nigeria would have been expected to fulfill the Millennium Developmental Goal (MDG) of making education accessible to all, especially the girl-child. While Nigeria has educational problems (ASUU strikes, inadequate classrooms, e.t.c), the big question with 6 years to go till 2015 is should we be taking advise from the MDGs?

Granted their intentions may seem good (I doubt it), but Nigeria’s educational problem and any other for that matter can only be solved by Nigerians with Nigerian methods or that of fellow developing nations. I still maintain that the best way to save the educational system or at least the first step is to introduce a Ministry of Higher Education, to divide the work load of the present Ministry of Education. While the Ministry of Higher Education deals with the Tertiary institutions and ASUU (or maybe in the long run eliminate them, yes I said it), the Ministry of Education then deals with Primary to Secondary institutions. In this scenario, the Ministry of Education would be in charge of achieving the MDG goal of education, if indeed we are to follow their scheme. Anyway all in all, I think we should ignore the MDG and find our own home-grown solutions or follow other less demanding schemes like I said from fellow developing nations.


THE ENVIRONMENT:

I find it funny when I hear the Nigerian government or any Nigerian for that matter getting all hot and bothered about climate change, when we are yet to clear our streets of the numerous visible dump sites that we see paraded in some Nigerian cities. Sanitation is definitely one of the big issues bothering the Nigerian society. While most major cities seem to have a good sanitation system, there’s still a lot of work to be done. It’s not easy to monitor a large population, so you can understand how some people can seem ignorant to basic sanitation policies like not dumping their litter wherever they see fit. Let’s not forget the shanty towns that border major cities, which don’t have adequate sanitation systems.

The worst case is that of the open drainage system. For some reasons state governments find it fashionable to provide their state with goods roads and somewhere leave them with open drainages, which can also be a hazard for vehicles. These drainages need to be covered up, of course with a way to get in incase of emergencies, but nonetheless need to be covered up. They’re a hazard left open and a welcome to people who wish to litter the environment.


VISION 20: 2020:
Speaking of homegrown schemes, Vision 20: 2020 (the idea that Nigeria will be among one of the top 20 communities by the year 2020) has received a lot of criticism and with good reasons. While again, the intention here might seem laudable, it seems to be carried it in all the wrong ways. First of all is the involvement of old hands (those who can be counted as being responsible for seeing & letting the country fall to its present status being involved) and second, the fact that Nigerians are still crying over basic needs seem to invalidate Vision 20 (Vision 20: 2020 is to long to be writing and saying). At least with vision 20, we have 11 years to go, which at the way things are going are bound to be wasted with no credible achievement. Speak true!


UNEMPLOYMENT:
Perhaps the biggest issue of them all, unemployment may be Nigeria’s main bane. A large percentage of youths, not to mention graduates are left wallowing in the labour market. Whenever I meet people who do have jobs, their response to what they’re doing is half-hearted. Half-hearted, because you get the feeling what they’re doing isn’t what they intended to do, but however are glad they have a job. With unemployment widening, politics and illegal means of wealth become more lucrative (because what’s the difference between the two lately?).

This brings me back to Vision 20. You would think for Vision 20 to succeed, one of its major agenda would be to employ young people to help actualize it. No, instead like I mentioned above, they’re hiring old hands who can afford to retire peacefully and whose kids are probably all grown up and doing fine themselves. Where is the love? Is this part of the agenda, Mr. President, to show no love?