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.
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