“It is axiomatic that the principal purpose of government is the welfare of the people. It is this welfare that gives meaning to governance. Broadly, the peoples’ welfare can be defined in terms of life, liberty and property. Life must be sustained and protected, liberty must be assured and defended, property must be guaranteed and secured” Gani Fawehinmi SAM, SAN.
“It is axiomatic that the principal purpose of government is the welfare of the people. It is this welfare that gives meaning to governance. Broadly, the peoples’ welfare can be defined in terms of life, liberty and property. Life must be sustained and protected, liberty must be assured and defended, property must be guaranteed and secured” Gani Fawehinmi SAM, SAN.
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Without manipulation of any smokescreen, those vices Chief Gani Fawehinmi (of patriotic memory) identified as factors clogging the wheel of political progress in Nigeria are still stubbornly standing on our way -no difference as yet.
We are daily bombarded with melancholic news of varying degrees in Nigeria, to the extent that shock appears to have disappeared from our blood stream. To some people, it’s a waste of time to listen to news and a misplacement of priority to buy and or read newspapers.
Unarguably, we have seen avoidable disasters repeatedly and man-made calamity across boards more than any country on earth, we are at war against ourselves psychologically, physiologically and emotionally. Or how can one explain the paradoxical misfortune that has been our lot from time immemorial, we are rich as an entity but poor as a people, Nigeria is a wealthy nation that has been brought to its knees by corruption, mismanagement and waste.
Revered writers have chronicled the genesis of our multi-facetted predicaments with ethereal dexterity but sadly, the more they write, the more the ugly heads are reared thus, they must keep on writing, some of them have been entombed with their pens firmly held in their hands. Does that mean the statement that was credited to the former military ruler a couple of years ago that Nigeria problems have defied solution is true? We have once had the fortune of having the best collection of brains as ministers, advisers, ambassadors and what have you in corridor of power in this country; it’s regrettably lamentable that instead of us having a melodious tune, our ears are filled with malodorous and mendacious tunes.
From the auspicious fourth republic up to this moment, our story as a people has been a Babylonian orchestra by the river side.
It is obvious to the blind and audible to the deaf that Nigeria youths are the worst-hit of this home-grown dysfunctionality. Anthropologists have submitted that the most active part of mankind is the youthful period, but it is not gainsaying that ours is opposite of that assertion. What we have in our clan is sapped energy, corrupted vibrancy, unpatriotic exuberance, material obsession, conspicuous consumption and acquisitive tendencies, all these are occasioned by multi-dimensional factors, the most legendary of which is massive mis-governance at all levels of government in Nigeria.
A visit to the social media gives a mind-boggling description of reality as to the gravity of the bastardization of the supposed future leaders, only infinitesimal percentage see hope in hopelessness and help in helplessness.
The junction at which we are in Nigeria at the moment calls for drastic remedial intervention as against oft-repeated rhetoric from the Federal government and saber-rattling of ethnic jingoists, visceral criticisms and pointless pontification would only lay the foundation for seasons of treason and the end result may be too calamitous to be televised.
Therefore, we appeal very strongly that extra-cautions be taken to prevent the Nigerian state from being plunged into needless conflagration.
From our phalanx views and painstaking dissections of the retrospective socio – political happenings vis-à-vis the issues that are besetting and bedeviling our once cherished country, there is urgent, more urgent need than before for all hands to be on deck. The sooner we negotiate the re-configuration and restructuring of our falling system, the better for us.
In plain English, Sovereign National Conference has the inherent potency to nip our woes in the bud. Conspicuously, sweet words cannot come out of embittered hearts but we have exercised restraint and decorum not to have named names and pretend that we have the encyclopedic mental gravitas to change the country overnight and quicken its arrival to the promised land.
Again, and for the umpteenth time, for corruption to be bulldozed, judiciary to be salvaged, health sector to be resuscitated, press to be sanitized, educational sector to be revived and for vibrant institutions to be built instead of super-human, Sovereign National Conference should be considered and embraced with accelerated alacrity to delist Nigeria from the Global Peace Index as one of the 20 dangerous countries.
Long live Nigeria!
Long live Faculty of Law, Unilag!
Long live Gani Fawehinmi Students’ Chamber Unilag!
Awopeju, Idowu K. is Chairman of Press Conference, Gani Fawehinmi
Students' Chamber at University of Lagos.
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The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters
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