On 12 per cent budgetary allocation for education

budget, in which12 per cent of the total budget was allocated to education, reactions have come from nearly all the strata of the Nigerian society.

Perhaps this is because something like that is happening for the first time in a long time. While some see it as a welcome development towards the resuscitation of our ailing educational system, especially against the backdrop of the close to 30 years of governmental neglect, others merely dismiss it as one of the many policies of government, that will sooner than later suffer the same hiccup of implementation.

As a student of a Nigerian university, who knows where the shoe pinches, I will beg to toe a different line in attending to this discourse. It will be a great disservice to truth and posterity, if we pretend as if all is well with our educational system. And as such, there has been consistent and relentless agitation by the intellectuals in our ivory tower, aimed at drawing attention to the massive decay within the system and the insensitivity of government at all levels to the issue.

That is why I would like to say that, by allocating 12 per cent of the 2008 budget to education, the Yar’Adua government has been able to demonstrate that it indeed holds education in high esteem, especially when we consider the fact that this is mainly the first policy statement of the administration since assuming office.

Therefore, I will like to appeal to all that the Yar’Adua government be given a chance to put into action the good intentions it has for Nigerian education. But it is equally imperative to draw the attention of this government to the fact that, past governments too, at one point or the other, had made such lofty budgetary allocations, but failed to sincerely utilise them.

The Yar’Adua government should, therefore, know that Students of this great nation have not been carried away by this much advertised 12 per cent allocation, but are rather waiting patiently for its full manifestation. That is only when we would be convinced that it is no more business as usual.

Olusola Adegbite,
Faculty of Law,
Obafemi Awolowo University,
Ile-Ife.

Nigeria and credible elections

WHAT the antidemocracy elements have caused our dear country Nigeria cannot be quantified. They have denied the masses the chance to elect their own leaders, and not leaders foisted on them.

Democracy finds meaning in people’s ability to choose freely among political alternatives. April 2007 general election was a negation of this democratic principle. In the April elections, there was the repression of civil and political oppositions and the umpire behaved as a feudal lord and imposed misfits on the Nigerian people. But Nigerians are wiser.

In content and in spirit, local government councils are the major theatres of democracy. And the people must have real control over them through effective participation.

The true democratisation of Nigeria, therefore, requires a citizenry imbued with the spirit of boldness, and which is confident in the solidity of their constitutional rights and powers.

Finally, one cannot correct an error by perpetrating another one. The present situation demands speedy prosecution of cases at the election tribunals so that governors and other political office holders with fake victories, will be off-loaded quickly to pave the way for truly-elected leaders who can conduct free and fair local government elections responsibly and in the interest of the people.

Akingbola Temidayo,
Ambtemidayo103@yahoo.ca