RESETTLEMENT OF DESTITUTES, NATIONAL QUESTION AND FASHOLA'S ADMINISTRATION IN THE EYES OF HISTORY

RESETTLEMENT OF DESTITUTES, NATIONAL QUESTION AND FASHOLA'S ADMINISTRATION IN THE EYES OF HISTORY

   

Ever since the news broke in the media of the resettlement of destitutes to Anambra state by the Lagos state government, there have been allegations and counter allegations from various quarters. However a dangerous dimension to the whole saga was the attempt to ethnicize and politicize it which was very unfortunate and stands condemned. That the Lagos state government and its people have no equal among the 36 states and the federal capital territory authority in Nigeria in terms of promoting peaceful coexistence between persons and nationalities whether doing business or residing in the state is stating the obvious and we are very proud of it. 

Also when the politicization and propaganda machinery of the Anambra state government ran into a cul de sac as a result of the information supplied by the Lagos state government that the destitutes in question were 14 and not 70 or 72 as erroneously churned out just to confuse and draw unnecessary sympathy from a bewilded public, it quickly resorted to mouthing the misinformation that the destitutes were dumped at the upper Niger bridge in an unhealthy state at a particular time of the day. The reality is that the Anambra state government shirked its responsibility to its people on this matter and is only interested in playing politics with the vulnerable situation of these poor people which is unfortunate.

The truth of the matter is that Anambra state government has made a mess of the whole show by attempting to pull wool over our eyes just because of political expediency and whatever information they give out on this matter is subject to doubt because they have displayed insincerity which is not the hallmark of a responsible government. As they say, birds of the same feather, flock together, therefore, one is not surprised that the Akwa Ibom state government which like its Anambra state counterpart has demonstrated its ignorance of figures by being accomplices in the 16 is greater than 19 NGF saga can shamelessly come out to publicly refute the position of the Lagos state government despite the fact that there was an exchange of two destitutes of Lagos origin between them and the correspondences was done officially.

One also notes with amusement that some expired politicians, persons and groups have cashed in on this issue just to announce to the whole world, that they are still alive. To resort to hurling abusive languages and name calling just because someone else holds a differing position on an issue speaks volume of the integrity of some of these characters because there is a Yoruba proverb which says, "Gbogbo wa ko le sun, ki a ko ri si ibi kan" "We all cannot view the same issue same way because like they say, variety is the spice of life. These persons and groups just want to be counted among those who have spoken on this issue without recourse to facts and the reality of the type of federalism that we are practicing. 

To resort to name calling against an administration that is trying its best within its limits to bequeath a better legacy to generations unborn is uncharitable. In as much as one wouldn’t want to posture as the mouthpiece of this government, the truth is that good things cannot hide or as they say, gold fish has no hiding place. We are all living witness(es) to the massive infrastructural development in Lagos state since the advent of the Fashola administration which we owe to posterity to project and correct the erroneous picture that some misguided and disgruntled elements are trying to convey to the outside world. The Fashola administration has touched the lives of Lagosians positively in all spheres. The massive ongoing construction and rehabilitation of roads in the 20 LG and 37 LCDA's in the state by the Fashola administration is unparralled and has won it accolades both locally and internationally. Its massive construction of drainage channels across the state to prevent flooding and protect lives, properties and the environment is quite commendable. In the area of education, it has given infrastructures in public schools a facelift and even computerized them to world standards. Yearly, the state government underwrites the WAEC fees of students of public secondary schools as well as awarding scholarships and bursaries to deserving students in tertiary institutions. In the areas of health, it has upgraded health institutions in the state to a level whereby citizens can access health services in their locality unlike what obtained in the past where people travel thousands of kilometers in search of such public facilities. The high quality and cost of accessing medical services in these general hospitals scattered all over the state is a big relief to its teeming citizens. In the area of sports and recreation, the government has built and commissioned world standard sporting facilities all over the state like the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Agege Stadium, Campos Playing ground, Ajele, Lagos Island, Badagry, Epe, etc that have been hosting local and international sporting events and are being accessed by our youths in order to keep their minds away from social vices. In the area of security, the Fashola administration set up the Lagos state security trust fund to bolster up the security situation of the state because of its cosmopolitan status. In the area of environment, we are all living witness to a greener Lagos. In the area of transportation, the state's ministry of transportation is working tirelessly to ensure that Lagos has a transportation system befitting of her status as a mega city. The Lagos state government also established job creation centers across the state to train its teeming youths in vocational skills so that they can become responsible adults and contribute meaningfully to societal development. One can go on and on, but this little will suffice because to whom much is given, much is expected.

It is also ridiculous and ironical when one hears of some persons and groups accusing the government for being sensitive to its constitutional and societal obligations of ensuring the welfare of its citizens by legislating against suicide and security breach through means of transportation that dehumanizes us in the comity of civilized people. Some of these elements also cite the constitutional provisions that guarantee Nigerians the right to live in any part of the country, but fail to cite which section of the same constitution gives Nigerians the right to constitute societal and economic nuisance. Today, they are talking about citizens of Nigerians as though they are unaware that what we have and which is playing out is the issue of identity crisis. Maybe they are ignorant of the fact that the constitutional provisions are being flagrantly violated because of the faulty federation we are running? Or are we all going to pretend that we are unaware that states in Nigeria employ discriminatory school fees between indigenes and non indigenes in public schools? What about the discriminatory cut off marks for admission into public schools? Whether we like it or not, it is to our collective shame that a very large percentage of our people have become destitutes today and our country a failed state as a consequence of the unitarist system of government in operation in which nobody is accountable to anybody because the modus operandi is the blame game like we are all doing in this matter.

The truth of the matter is that there are whole lots of issues bedeviling the Nigerian state and which is a time bomb for its corporate existence since it is a conglomeration of nations without an input into how they came into a forced marriage that has and will never work. The only way out of these self inflicted quagmire that we have boxed ourselves is to join the advocacy and insist on the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference (SNC) to discuss the basis of our unity now.