Niger Delta youths and cultism

Port Harcourt in Rivers State has become the bastion of cult activities while the authorities look the other way.

We should not beat around the bush. The buck stops at Niger Delta State Governors Odili/Ibori/Jonathan/Attah/Duke desks. The governors should be held responsible for all the violence in Port Harcourt/Effurun/Calabar/Uyo streets.

They may not see what you and I see everyday because these governors enjoy MOPOL protection and the power to allocate our monthly oil revenue. It’s unfortunate that the state House of Assembly does not see the reason why cult violence is rampant.

These boys need money for food and basic student needs on campus such as decent accommodation, libraries with good books and recreational facilities. Do politicians care about our male students in Niger Delta region?

They are studying in the face of grinding poverty, hopelessness and empty stomach. Most of them don’t have families to support them and probably the families have been impoverished by communal crises, oil pollution, random military incursions. These boys don’t see any future in the Niger

Delta region and they don’t care to die. The female students turn to prostitution to survive.In view of this the Niger Delta students bursary should be increased and paid every quarter or term.
This is a social problem and it is the responsibility of the political class to address it urgently.
•Pere Soku,
Yenagoa, Benue State.

On Yar’Adua’s health status

Governor Yar’Adua should not see the recent rumour of his “death” as the wish of his enemies. Nigerians are entitled to know the truth about the health status of political aspirants, especially that of a potential president. Governor Yar’Adua, as soon as he became PDP’s flag bearer would have done Nigerians some good by coming clean with his health records once it was rumoured he is having some chronic medical problems.
Knowing the health status of political aspirants, would help them make an informed decision on election day.

GovernorYar’Adua is right that “no human being can guarantee his or her continued good health”. At the same time, knowing how strenuous the demands of the office of the Presidency are, Nigerians know too well that a poor state of health of any presidential aspirant who may in the future emerge as their president, is a peril to the individual as well as the nation.

In any event, our leaders see it as a legitimate perk of office to squander tax-payers money on frivolous medical trips abroad , while our world class and well-trained medical doctors at home are without the tools needed to make them competitive with their counterparts in the rest of the world.

Most of these foreign doctors are not better than our world class trained medical doctors . Foreign governments for sure invest so much in providing the tools and enabling environment for their physicians to achieve better health outcomes and a rewarding professional practice .
•Olutayo Ariyo,
Philadephia, USA.