Nigeria and the Acts of God

By

Dr. Francis F. Fadero

Patfadero@aol.com

Dept. of Paediatrics

LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, Osun State

As I write this article, my bleeding heart goes out to those numerous Nigerians who lost loved ones in recent air crashes within the country.  The devastation wrought by the most recent of them, the Sosoliso disaster, was worsened by the large number of the younger generation amongst its victims.

Of all the various age groups in today’s Nigeria, children and the youths are worse off in the ladder of the Nigerian ‘experiment’ – majority of them are born in hospitals that are not fit for dogs; the vaccinations administered on them are often denatured by unstable cold-chain system (thanks to NEPA/PHCN); they come in contact with childhood diarrhoea as soon as they are off uninterrupted breast feeding prescribed by the WHO; their survival in the first five years of life in a field haunted by malaria and other killers is dependent on what their parents, close relations and well-wishers could provide for them; often times their first illnesses bring them in contact with the reality of quacks and fake drugs under the protection of law enforcement agents of the state. For a majority of them, their first contact with the larger society is through enrolment in the so-called day care centres many of which are not better than pigsties. Should they go to a public school, they are crowded into poorly funded, environmentally hazardous classrooms with half-baked teachers whose methods of teaching have been consigned to the dustbin two centuries ago. The so-called free books given them as part of the fake free education contain the photographs of their tormentors who wish to be seen as role models. Those of them that attend private institutions just fair a bit better in that there are no industrial strikes in these institutions for, many of these private schools do not have adequately qualified teachers; the available ones are often poorly paid by shylock proprietors in need of cheap labour as a consequence of the overall unemployment preying on the nation. Those individuals in all the arms of government that set up the public primary school system are so proud of their input not to allow any of their children or wards to be beneficiaries of their handiwork! I doubt if any state governor or local government chairman has a child in any of the public primary or secondary schools in their domain.

Information making the rounds indicates that Jesuit College, Abuja, is, most probably one of the best secondary school in Nigeria today. Those familiar with the Catholic education system and most especially the Order of the Jesuits surely agree that it cannot be lesser in terms of quality; one can vouch that what is on offer in the Abuja school competes very well with the best in any part of the world.

But, pray, are the students of Jesuit College (a very sweet name indeed) as well as others like it contemplating completing their tertiary education within the Nigerian university system where the chemistry, biology, physics and other laboratories in them are by far better than corresponding laboratories in any of these public universities? Our universities in recent years have become incubators for half-baked graduates who, in some other climes would be considered as near illiterates. It could be shocking to note that the total number of computers in some of our universities, including those offering courses in computer science, computer technology and other technologically-related disciples, are fewer than those in some elementary schools in some African countries. In order to gain admission into these universities, the youths have to surmount the almighty JAMB. A close study of JAMB questions vis-à-vis the syllabus of the senior secondary school certificate reveals that both are at variance; no wonder many students become desperate to help themselves (most times with parental connivance) to succeed at all costs at the examination. The post-JAMB screening tests in the different universities so far have become eye openers to the true identity of the real university students. Who, then, is JAMB meant for? 

The recent survey and listing of the best 200 universities in the world showed that majority are in North America and none from Nigeria; nay Africa. Yet, to gain admissions into these highly rated universities, the examination considered is more of a series of reasoning tests rather than such questions resembling ‘last-century-tailored JAMB’ questions. The ability to reason is the first step in research and development rather than an ability to vomit the lecturer’s note.

Because our educational system has been completely destroyed during the long reign of the locusts and lepers, polytechnic education no longer catch the fancy of the youths. Rather than bring these institutions up to meet the needs of the modern day (as universities and polytechnics are the engine room of human development), the Nigerian state has gone ahead to boast of the reintroduction of the Higher School Certificate (HSC) into the ‘new education’ curriculum.  Where were the thinking caps of the earlier educational planners when the HSC was jettisoned several years ago? Why toss these youths up and down like ‘yo-yo’? Far away Britain and nearby Ghana never changed their HSC system of education as a panacea to modernizing education; rather, advancement came within the existing system in these countries. There is this strong feeling that the change of system will not do Nigeria any new good unless there is a change of heart and a change of the ways we do the education business; as everything in Nigeria is business ‘as usual’ – the trait Obasanjo promised to curtail in his inauguration address of 29^th May 1999. 

The reality in our universities today is that teaching is mostly done by dictation and the purchase of handouts from archaic textbooks rather than being interactive. Practical exercises are described or at best, as many as 50 students may be blessed with the use of one or two microscopes in a microbiology or histology class. Some of the students, who went through this type of training during the days of the locusts, are now university teachers who have perfected this ‘local technology’ but indeed, in the true sense the ‘technology of the blind leading the blind’.

One of the consequences of this poor educational environment is the ample time available at the disposal of the students since laboratories and libraries are poor and most of students’ projects are questionnaire-based even in the sciences. This abundant time has been channelled to such extracurricular activities as campus religion and cultism. Thus, on the average, the graduating student ends up with two certificates into the unemployment market: the physical one that serves as evidence of completion of the discipline of study in the university and the spiritual one for the spirit realm.

In the first public reaction of the Federal Aviation Authority on the Sosoliso air disaster, their spokesperson emphatically informed the whole world that the accident was ‘an act of God’! He did not wait for any scientific investigations; he was already using his second certificate that he knows almost all Nigerians also have with or without university education. Mr. Federal Airport Authority spokesman, you do not know God for the Holy Book tells me God Is good and HE can never be involved in evil. The air crash that took away a cream of the Nigerian future is evil. God is not in it. Mr. Federal Aviation Authority spokesman, you are damn wrong and you know the basic cause of the crash; every intelligent Nigerian knows, most Nigerians that have travelled abroad especially to South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Europe and America are not unaware of what could have caused the crash.

Was God the one responsible for using an outdated, European Union rejected plane? Was it God that constructed runways and allowed cows to have a right of passage as if they could board when planes are about taking-off? Was it God that prevented your authority from filling potholes on runways? Was it God that prevented airline operators from carrying out proper and necessary maintenance checks post-landing and before take-off for another death/disaster bound journey in the Nigerian air space? Was it God that prevented your Authority from having a standby rescue team with enough manpower training and modern equipment? Was it God that uses brooms to sweep the floor of the airport? Was it God that did not put water in the fire-fighting vehicles? Was it God that killed the Nigerian railway while promoting trailer transportation to destroy the road networks in the country? Was it God that prevented the development of the waterways? Was it God that mandated us to import dump-bound scraps that we celebrate as ‘Tokunbo’ vehicles? Was it God that stopped the construction of the Metroline for the city of Lagos that Jakande already negotiated and part-payment made before the invasion of the locusts? Was it God……? Was it God…..? Was it God……….? Oh what a nation without regard for human lives! Oh what a nation that celebrates thieves as leader!

Dear Mr. Spokesman of the Federal Airport Authority, could all those in the Federal Airport Authority who were employed competitively as done in such private sectors as Shell or Chevron stand up for recognition…. Could those of you with proper training and well-accredited certificates for the job being performed stand up for recognition…. Could those of you who got the job without letters from the chief of the lepers or the head of deaf or the blind in your respective villages or communities stand up to be counted? This accident was not the act of God but the evil design of the Nigerian state; a nation that places money above human lives; a nation that celebrates mediocrity, corruption and nepotism! A nation where so-called respected lawyers and law teachers were ready to defend the sacred immunity of a state governor beyond the shores of Nigeria after being caught like a common thief in the act of money laundering abroad! With 3 fatal aviation accidents within 2 months, anyone who is not shocked that both the Minister of Aviation as well as the head of the Federal Airport Authority is still at their desks need to be examined.

Nigeria was shot in the foot during the days of the locusts by the legalisation of the quota system and unification of our human development. In our backward integration since then, we have used the speed of the slowest and the most backward to determine the pace of the nation. Today, we are suffering for these sins in every aspect of our national life. If not, why does a child living in Port Harcourt need to go by air to Abuja just because he or she wanted to attend a good secondary school; when, over 50 years ago, Awolowo made sure that no child needed to trek for a considerable distance to his or her school?

The reaction of the Rev. Father Ugo Nweke, the Chaplain of Loyola Jesuit College to the Sosoliso air disaster is highly consoling as he said ‘I am saddened by the whole calamity,…………I don’t know why they died but I believe they were not supposed to die. This is the third plane that crashed in about two months. That means something is wrong’. This man of God spoke the mind of the nation. What is wrong, we know and we need to confront them not only in the aviation industry but also in our entire national life.