I. Future of education.
II. Future of a disappointed successor generation
III. Population time bomb from the North
IV. Future peril that confronts our way of life.
The Southwest cannot face this emerging future with values uncorrupted and her way of life intact inside Nigeria. With competence in abeyance, ignorance elevated, demography shifting deleteriously against her and poverty weaponized, a society desirous of advancement remains permanently besieged and threatened. Sixty years is way too long and regression far too depressing in a time of Global progress.
The chemistry making up the success of the Western Region had in abundance, elementary particles of education in its fundamental preparation, healthy competition in its personal and corporate entitlement, global exposure in its alignment with World progress and justice in its preservation of fundamental values and rights. When you reflect on the most successful people in Nigeria, even the African Continent today; philosophers, scientists, clerics, captains of Industry, trade and commerce, big bankers, potent lawyers, you may wish to ask yourself why most appear to come from one zone; the old Western region? That region departed from the rest of the Country the day Obafemi Awolowo and patriots forming his team in governance declared free and compulsory education with vision, pursued its design with passion, implemented its tasks with vigour and supervised and revised its scope with candour. On that day, in that hour at that occasion from the Regional House of Assembly, Ibadan, a new Nation was born. Western Nigeria boarded an escape capsule into the future leaving primitive and hunter gathering culture behind forever in pursuit of the conquest of nature. And here, I am talking beyond the Yoruba Nation to include Edo and Delta States without necessarily encouraging the latter two to seek that which today, motivates the Yoruba or pursue those goals that make Oodua heartbeat palpitate.
THE FUTURE OF EDUCATION: Some may argue that education is purely about acquiring information in schools. Nothing can be far from the truth. I love Joseph Advison’s explanation; “Education is a companion which no misfortune can depress, no crime can destroy, no enemy can alienate, no despotism can enslave. At home, a friend, abroad an introduction, in solitude a solace and in society an ornament. It chastens vice and guides virtue.” What else can I say? But now, look at some in our society who say ’Boko Haram’ and seek to banish knowledge and thought by force of arms so they can turn all into illiterates. Why should I wish to share space with them knowing their values destroy mine? When I look at the Almajiri, illiterate and beggar in our community, I think about him and me. He was born exactly the way I was, perhaps even born more intelligent and gifted. But I look at him and reflect in wonder at what education can do to life. And I say to myself; “But, for the grace of God who gave me the opportunity of education, there go I.” Education is a culture-forming and modifying agent. It is a sharpener of thought, reflection, analysis, decision and action. Now, with nepotism and corruption education is becoming a victim of Nigeria’s eccentricity in Government. I worry deeply.
The joy of the Yoruba Nation derives from the traditional chain of love from parent to children and back to parents in old age. A poor parent struggles to send the eldest child to school. After graduation, he extends this privilege to his siblings before he ever attempts marriage. And still along that chain, the graduate siblings take care of the elder benefactor brother’s children as their own. Now at old age, all join together to take care of their parents in comfort. That chain is breaking. And the problem? The investment made is yielding zero returns. The children educated have no jobs to live on and subsequently return favours back to parents. They simply roam the streets hungry in the day and cold at night. The chain having now broken up, parents are beginning to see no profit in education and the children cannot understand why they need to go to school. This frightens me terribly and I worry.
THE FUTURE OF A SUCCESSOR GENERATION: My fear, now manifesting is twofold. The children, seeing no benefit in education simply find other ways to live without it. The parents who delay gratification to invest in their education see no need and even have no capacity and hope in the returns that they expect for their efforts. So, ignorance becomes the new normal and poverty spreads all around. And as Aristotle warns; ”Poverty is the Parent of revolution and crime.” We have arrived at the point of crime now. The next is revolution careering towards our society. What we now see are two trends. The more connected and luckier quickly emigrate abroad. The less fortunate are rapidly conscripted into cult gangs. We should be concerned about the erosion of our way of life, emigration of the best of us, destruction of the civilization we have built and banishment of the progress and advancement we hope to make in lockstep with the advanced World. We should be concerned about poverty in our future, about the takeover of our ancestral space, about depression in our youth and about their curses on our grave.
THE POPULATION BOMB: Source of the table below: United States Census Bureau – International Data Base (IDB) July 2015 edition.
At independence in 1960, the population of Nigeria was 41.5 million. United Kingdom, our colonial master was more by 10 million at 52.3 million and the other major African colonialist, France recorded 46.5 million. By 1975, just 15 years later, the tide had turned. While United Kingdom had grown by 4 million to 56.2 million, France to 53.99 million, Nigeria had ballooned to overtake both Countries having grown its population to 64.4 million. Today at a population of 206.1 million, add the population of United
Kingdom to that of France Nigeria is still 73 million more than both Countries. Now imagine the British giving us a license to be British citizens at independence, by now, through election, a Nigerian would be Prime Minister, permanently voting out the British by numerical strength. How did we do this? By uncontrolled replication. Our fertility rate is 5.4 but that of United Kingdom is 1.8 and France 1.9. And where is the ballon inflating from? Northern Nigeria.
An 8-year-old Hausa/Fulani girl child is already betrothed and can begin to breed. And, more astonishing is the size per female. Some 8, some 10 children by the time a wife is done. Conversely for the South, most of who have to go through school for development, at 8 years, the child is in primary school. At 16, she is in secondary school. She comes out of university at about 24 years. And most educated women cannot be persuaded to have more than 2 to 3 children. This means that from a base population of 1000, in 24 years, only 3000 will be returned. Contrast this to the 512,000 produced in the North in that time scale.
NORTHERN POPULATION; THE REAL TIME BOMB. Then former Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi raised this alarm some time ago; “Take the North, for example, we’ve been growing in population at 3.4, 3.5 percent per annum. That means the population in northern Nigeria has been doubling every 20 to 25 years. In that period you’ve had desertification, Lake Chad has lost its water resources, the resources have shrunk, and the population has increased.” But look who is talking. In 2019, Sanusi already had 4 wives and 13 children. And all indications pointed to the expansion of his Harem. That is the pattern of elitist Northern leadership. Go look at their Governors, anyone with less than 4 wives is yet to fulfill his social mandate. As at the year 2015, former Vice President Abubakar Atiku alone already had 26 children. We are informed that early this year, he married again, a Moroccan this time with more children in view. Atiku explained his huge ‘blessing’ thus: “I wanted to expand the Abubakar family. I felt extremely lonely as a child. I had no brother and no sister. I did not want my children to be as lonely as I was. This is why I married more than one wife. My wives are my brothers, my sisters, my friends and my advisers and they complement one another”.
TREND TOWARDS A THREAT TO OUR WAY OF LIFE: With this disturbing Northern population growing still, no education, no skill, no job and no future, what will these people do? Guns and crime. And if the Southwest is better and prosperous, where will they go? Who can stop them as Nigerians with equal and unchallengeable right to come, settle, run for election, vote and govern? Who can stop them voting a Fulani Governor in Lagos and other Southwest States? And once voted with majority in the house, what stops them introducing laws as they like, like Sharia, Islam as State religion, Seriki Fulani as Emirs over our traditional rulers. Think about that. Outrageous and impossible you would say. Right? Well, if you can think it, it can happen. Brooks Atkinson said; “We cheerfully assume that in some mystic way, love conquers all, that good outweighs evil in the just balances of the Universe and at the 11th hour something gloriously triumphant will prevent the worst before it happens.” Fiction can become reality. They have done that to the Hausa. That keeps me up at night.
Francis Ojo
FOOTNOTE:
From the events of August, If I am to speak frankly to the government, I would be honest to say that – break up this contraption right now.
Share your story or advertise with us: Whatsapp: +2347068606071 Email: info@newspotng.com
