EGWU:CELEBRATING AMIDST STRIKES

Not a few Nigerians were taken aback when images of the Minister of Education,Dr Sam Egwu and his wife,Eunice were shown on TV dancing and smiling in their recent wedding anniversary party and the minister's 55th birthday bash.

Egwu,a former university don threw morality to the wind by a staging a party when his primary constituency was virtually grounded because of the stay-at-home order of his former colleagues association to their members.

The academic staff union of universities[ ASSU],senior staff association of nigerian universities [SSANU]and non-academic staff union of [NASU] are all on strike,thereby bringing to halt academic activities in government owned universities.Egwu just didn't care.

In other climes,Egwu's appointment with the government would have been history but not in Nigeria where morality and politics are like the biblical Esau and Jacob.[ask Senator Satty Gogwim].It is a pity that Egwu,who is a product of public educational institution here in Nigeria made a mockery of the profession that brought him fame by staging an unnecessary party when his former colleagues were protesting negotiated wages,poor funding of universities,payment of monetisation arrears,university autonomy amongst others.

It is a sad commentary on the nation's edducation sector that less endowned nations like south africa[7.9%],Kenya[6.5%],Malawi[5.4%]Angola[4.9%] and Ghana[4.4%] invest more of their GDP in education compared to Nigeria's 0.79%.The ever-confused Yar'adua administration which claims education is one of the critical points of its 7-point agenda have resulted in propaganda to save its battered image,instead of honouring its earlier agreement with the unions.

By staging that party ,Egwu is simply telling ASUU,NASU,SSANU,Nigerian students and their parents to go to hell.In developed countries,the likes of Egwu would have been in political oblivion because of his role in obasanjo's infamous third term agenda,but he was undeservedly rewarded with a ministerial appoinment,Nigeria is indeed the headquarters of oddities.

THE INSENSITIVITY OF SOME NIGERIAN SENATORS

"We cannot take money from education and health to build roads.it is only human beings that can use roads."

The above statement sums up the frustration of Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba(PDP,Cross river central)when the majority of his colleagues last week removed N6.2billion from the budget meant for education and health for Abuja residents to fund the N25billion expansion on two major roads in the country's capital.

Led by the controversy-friendly Senator Iyiola Omisore,Chairman senate commitee on appropriation,he unashamedly said the cuts were done because the funds meant for education and health could not be exhausted this year.He went further to say,funds for these two key sectors could be sourced later through a supplementery budget,if need be.This same Senator is reportedly oiling his political machinery for his governorship ambition in osun state.

It is a pity that nigerians are 'represented' in the national assembly by mostly insensitive,uninformed and self-serving individuals who are only interested in their own welfare.This writer can not but wonder if the senators actually think expanding a road is more important than the already moribund education sector and the mere 'consulting clinics' called hospitals in Abuja.

Although,some senators protested against the move,majority still approved of it.Any keen observer of the polity would not be surprised because most of the senator's children school in america and europe and they fly to these countries even when they have a slight headache.

Finally,let me end this piece with the words of the seasoned Thisday Newspaper columnist,Simon Kolawole,"Yes we may end up building those ten lanes,but we still have a long way to go"

NYSC:FG,STOP THIS MADNESS

The national youth service corps was introduced by the Yakubu Gowon regime in 1978 after the nigerian civil war.The aim of its establishment was to further promote peace and unity amongst its citenzery after the bloody war.

The regime was applauded by nigerians and foreigners alike for taking the initiative.But,i dare say,the programme has outlived its relevance and should therefore be scrapped.WHY? The nigerian factor is gradually rearing its ugly head in this scheme and it is now a man-know-man situation.Imagine a student graduating from the University of Ibadan and posted to oyo state,imagine a randy corper impregnating an ss2 student in taraba state,imagine three young corpers murdered in a religious crisis in jos,imagine corpers wasting away in death traps called in nigeria.These and many more is why the federal government should put a stop to this scheme.

Also,the number of private universities in every nook and cranny of nigeria is putting the scheme under immense presssure as this means more students will be introduced into the scheme,even when facilities at the various camps are overstrecthed.The conditions of living in these camps is nothing to write home about because of the lack of maintenance culture in this country.

Even the stipends accrued to the corpers are sometimes delayed,and in some cases not payed,not to talk of what the corpers go through in the hands of some organisations they are posted to.Recently,the national association of monotechnic students staged a near-violent protest at the headquarters of NYSC in abuja,requesting for them to be part of the scheme,because they are denied jobs if they do not present their NYSC certificates,they threathened to go violent if theit demands are not met.

One hopes the government listens to the voice of reason and scrap this agonising scheme graduating students go thriugh after four,five and six years they spend in their various higher institutions.

REBRANDING:AKUNYILI'S GOT IT ALL WRONG

Minister of information and communication,Prof Dora Akunyili in a recent visit to the newly installed Gbong gwom jos;HRH Jacob Buba Gyang,said rebranding is more bimportant than infrastructural development.

Akunyili,a pharmacist,who was appointed to her current position by the visionless and confused government of Umaru musa yaradua last year has built a reputation for herself over the years as a commited,courageous,dogged,passionate and transparent public servant because of her achievements at NAFDAC.Unfortunately,she is graadually soiling her hard earned image in the mud with her rebranding mantra.

There is no denying the fact that prof akunyili means well for the country with her rebranding campaign,but she has refused to heed the advice of majority of nigerians who have called on her several times to halt the campaign and instead put pressure on her non-performing political colleagues and her go-slow boss to deliver the dividends of democracy to the nigerian people.

Nigeria does not need rebranding,the leaders should focus on providing stable electricity supply for its citizens,provide jobs for million of youths roaming the streets and invest massively in infrastructural development,health,education,housing,manufacturing and agricultural sectors.

If there is any set of people that needs rebranding,it is the leaders themselves,with their penchant for embezzling funds meant for the people's welfare,i dare say nigeria will rebrand itself if the leaders are sincere.i rest my case.