MEN I THINK I’M GETTING PISSED OFF WITH CHIEF AREMU OKIKI

I’ve never in my life been so annoyed with anyone to the point of writing about it but recent events concerning a certain frm President of The Federal Republic of Nigeria Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, when Femi Kuti sang I sorry for Africa, little did I realize that he’s looked at a crystal ball and somehow predicted Africa’s future, but looking at past events one can foretell the future and that was simply what he did.

  Today while reading a news article on Nigerian Guardian Newspaper, I found a very interesting heading, found below

Obasanjo, Kufuor, others chart path to Africa’s growth  

Then I went through the article and found something amazing, here’s an excerpt from the article.

HOW Africa and other developing countries of the world can emulate Japan, which moved away from a developing country to a developed one within a short period of time was the focus of discussion between some African past leaders and their colleagues from others parts of the world at the 100th International Labour Conference in Geneva, Switzerland on Tuesday night.

To speed up the development process, former President Olusegun Obasanjo declared that governments, labour leaders and the business community must form a synergy that would provide massive jobs for the restless youths to forestall a revolution.

In particular, Obasanjo said he was worried by the high turnout of graduates from Nigerian universities saying, “when I was younger, and I am still a young man, there was only one university in Nigeria but now, we have about 120 universities and other tertiary institutions and they churn out an average of 600,000 graduates of tertiary institutions annually. My worry is that there are no jobs for these growing armies. However, I am gladdened by the emphasis of the ILO on jobs, jobs and jobs.

“In Nigeria and in other developing countries of the world, the emphasis must be on jobs, jobs, jobs and jobs! The youths of today are exposed to all sorts of communication channels such as the Internet, telephones and other communication gadgets that allow them access to what happens in other part of the world almost at the same time. The danger for all of us is that the unrest in Yemen, Egypt, Tunisia and Libya are all pointers to the time bomb that we are all sitting on. I know that if this revolution takes place in Nigeria, I will be a victim. The time to act is now! It is not about governments alone, labour leaders and those in charge of the capitals must work in one accord to ensure that enough jobs are generated.”

How funny are this people, so OBJ was part of the dignitaries scheduled to participate in a forum seeking to make Africa Grow, if that’s the truth then i guess we are doomed, and if The Western nations supported his inclusion then i confirm my ever-abiding suspicion of the West as a bunch of Hypocrites.

The first question one has to ask, is what actually did OBJ do for Nigeria’s Growth, probably the best legacy he left was mobile telephony and reducing our external debt, apart from these there’s nothing too special that he did, instead he used his office to fund his farm, run his business and establish himself, his family and some loyal cohorts. It suffices me to say that his invitation to such event , is totally out of question, in fact I’m pissed off, then his speech even made me look stupefied, Obasanjo saying the state of unemployment In the country is appalling? What actually did he do to curb the excess, nothing, I have a principle and I stick to it no matter the odds facing me, the principle is that ‘ if I don’t have a possible solution for a particular problem facing a person, people or nation, I just keep my mouth shut and not complain or castigate anyone or body’’. In local parlance we call it the “SIDDON DEY LOOK APPROACH”, made famous by late Chief Bola Ige.

Second question to ask yourself, is that did OBJ actually know this things or he was just reading a script written by a personal aide? In the first case if the affirmative is the answer then he just shot himself on the leg, and for the second option if the affirmative was still the same answer, then he goofed and showed the world how naïve he is, was and still will be.

He said he’s gladdened by the emphasis placed on job creation by the International Labor Organization (ILO), good for him, but while he was in power he did everything possible to make sure National Labor Congress (NLC) was a sitting duck or let’s say a paper tiger. NLC then President Comrade Adams Oshimole, the incumbent Governor of Edo State was treated unfairly, was castigated and belittled by Obasanjo’s government, his government was one that totally disregarded judicial powers, rules, laws and even rulings, and here he’s happy for the ILO, we need to get his cranium checked.

From his speech he was worried about the high turnouts from universities, what he never said was that most of them were either HALF-BAKED or out-rightly useless individuals to the larger society, only a small percentage of his supposed 600,000 graduates can actually be referred to as real graduates and contribute to the good of the society, and successfully compete with their peers in other countries. Most not of their own accord but because the education system in the country is in a serious state of rot, in fact I’ll say it’s in a state of putrefaction, utter decay. What did OBJ do to stop the rot nothing, instead he took joy in the fact that constant strike action in the education sector would lead to an almost proportionate rise in applicants searching for admission in private universities of which he owns one (BELL UNIVERSITY), after all his children were through with education, he and all politicians past and present forget that were products of a stable education system, what Nigerian politicians fail to realize is that, one would not only be judged by his words but most importantly his actions.

Nigerians are very intelligent, we prescribe very good solutions and proscribe nice ideas, but when it comes to action we are totally non-existent, that’s what differs an average American, Asian, or European from an African.

Just check out the speech so wonderful, inspiring and thought provoking, however it came from the wrong medium, I’m an apostle of actions not words, because words are easy to come by, but actions, totally hard. Was the speech written by Nigerian, I guess so, did he really ask OBJ if he should include such contents, I doubt, if OBJ actually asked him to include such contents then I guess he wanted people to react, after-all he takes pride in being in the media spot-light irrespective of the reasons.

The West calling him to such meeting shows how they view and rate Africa, there are other former presidents who deserve a call-up that weren’t there, although on another thought i think calling OBJ to such summit shows the respect they have for Nigeria as a country, no doubt from Africa the two most important countries are Nigeria and South Africa but due to Ghana’s development they must have displaced SA, our (Nigeria’s) massive population and OIL RESERVE are what are actually keeping us in the spot-light without it we are totally useless, we need to tell ourselves the truth. Hope the current economic team of Nigeria and Ghana and other countries were there, if not, then we need to question the reason for such meeting of FORMER PRESIDENTS. What actually necessitated such meeting was it based on the assumption that former heads of state, presidents actually wielded power behind the throne or what? These questions need to be answered, however that’s not the reason for this piece, so I’ll leave it there.

Obasanjo said a revolution was looming, maybe yes, maybe not, are Nigerians actually ready for such revolution. I honestly don’t think so, but I believe in the collective human will, Nigerians are being pushed to the wall, and they are getting to their breaking point, coupled by events in the middle east serving as catalysts, to fuel such burning desire to reap dividends of democracy, I urge all politicians to watch closely or simply heed to the voice of reasoning, all day for the thief one day for the owner.

What i liked about the speech was that he admitted that if a revolution was to take place, the leaders past and present would most likely pay for the sins including himself, I like it when an individual realizes the truth and admits to it, I don’t pray for a violent revolution, but if it’s the only solution to our constant maltreatment SO BE IT. Also he advised the current government on delivering dividend of democracy and job creation, he said the government isn’t alone, the question here is what has the government done to show its interest in job creation, the NLC or other concerned factions are just waiting for the ever-elusive green light from the government.

In conclusion, the Holy Bible says once we are in a position to do good and we don’t, then we DO NOT WELL, as a message to aspiring leaders of which my humble self strives to be, let’s us remember that we would be judged basically on what we have DONE, not what we said. Obasanjo has done his or undone his; the baton has been handed to Jonathan and in the near future would be handed to us. WHAT WILL YOU WANT HISTORY TO REMEMBER YOU FOR? With this I conclude.