The insensitivity of Nigerian leaders
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- Category: Philosofaith
- Written by Philosofaith M. U. Ndagi
- Hits: 1113
It’s now about two months into the strike action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) with no sign yet to the end of the crisis. The situation was compounded further when the other two trade unions in the universities: The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASUU) joined the strike action, and thus, brought all academic activities on university campuses across the country to a standstill. The failure by government to overcome just one out of the many crises confronting the dilapidated education sector gives truth to the hypothesis that Nigeria is being ruled (and not led) by people whose concern for the predicaments of Nigerians as well as for the future generations of the country is not better than the ‘love’ of a mother who, in the face of flood abandoned her baby and carried the box in which she had her jewelries.
A few weeks into ASUU’s strike, Nigerians were greeted with a notorious brand of insensitivity when the country’s education minister, Dr. Sam Egwu organized and celebrated the ‘Silver Jubilee Wedding Anniversary’ of his 25-years-old marriage, with his wife, at a period when young boys and girls who should be in lecture halls, laboratories and libraries were idling at home because of ASUU strike. Perhaps, the minister like many of his colleagues does not have his children in these public universities that have remained closed for nearly two months. Of course, they have sent their children to foreign institutions overseas and to private universities within the country.
Certainly, Dr. Sam Egwu is the Nigerian admirer of William Wen Lung. However, he seems to be over enthusiastic about his admiration for the China-born world record holder. William Wen Lung Hseih (born 1899) who married his wife Woo Fung Siu (born 1900) on 17th March 1917 was privileged by God’s grace to live with her for 84 years six months 15 days until his death eight years ago on 1st October 2001. If William Wen were to have the kind of mentality possessed by Nigeria’s Minister of Education, he would have celebrated his wedding at least three times when his wedding attained 25, 50 and 75 years. Yet, he would still have about a decade uncelebrated. We suggest to the Minister who allegedly spent N120 million on the wedding anniversary to contact Mohammed the son of Sheikh Rasheed Bin Saeed Al-Makhtoum in Dubai in order to form a league of wedding celebrants. The wedding of Mohammed to princess Salama in Dubai in 1981 which lasted seven days cost around 22 milliion pounds ($44.5 million or #7.1 billion). The wedding was held in a purpose-built stadium for 20,000 people. Nigerians need an unreserved apology from the minister who saw nothing wrong in celebrating the ‘closure of universities’.
May Allah (SWT) guide our leaders to be sensitive to the feelings of the people they claim to have their mandate, amin.
The Boko Haram crisis:
The sectarian uprising, which started a week ago in Bauchi and extended to other parts of the north-east of Nigeria, and later to other parts of the north, is most unfortunate. The crisis, which led to the death of hundreds of innocent lives and property worth hundreds of millions of naira, is not only embarrassing to Islam as a religion but equally discomfiting to Muslims as a nation that articulated and hatched a unique civilization in human history. From the apparent but crude ideology of the Boko Haram religious group, which as the name implies, forbids the acquisition of Western education at a time when the traditional resistance to Western culture and civilization is fast dwindling in the Muslim world. The extremist position is regrettable and condemnable in the strongest of terms and with the most discerning voice.
Of course, ignorance and not Islam is the foundation of the Boko Haram fanatical set. We advise Nigerians especially those who see Islam as synonymous with terrorism to consider Boko Haram as an organization that seeks to misrepresent, distort and destroy the religion of Islam which it claims to represent. Their teachings are at variance with the philosophical foundation and tenets of Islam as revealed in the Holy Qur’an and expounded by the Sunnah of the prophet (SAW). Allah (SWT) states in Qur’an 3:85 “if any one desires a religion other than Islam (submission to God), never will it be accepted from him and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost (all spiritual goods)”.
If anything, the insurgence (or rather resurgence since it is public knowledge that they have been around) of the Boko Haram sect is a testimony to the fact that our security outfits are not only porous but the intelligence component of our territorial integrity is greatly inactive and inefficient. Two factors account for this assertion. We find it amazing that a group of armed men would stumble on a security post of the Nigeria Police burning down the station without any intelligence report on such a sudden attack. This without doubt speaks of the inexcusable failure of intelligence. This column condoles with families of those who lost their lives as a result of the Boko Haram crisis. It is our prayer that Allah (SWT) would grant all the deceased eternal mercy and give the bereaved the fortitude to bear the loss, amin.
Articles
The insensitivity of Nigerian leaders
Category: Philosofaith Written by Philosofaith M. U. Ndagi Hits: 1113
It’s now about two months into the strike action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) with no sign yet to the end of the crisis. The situation was compounded further when the other two trade unions in the universities: The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASUU) joined the strike action, and thus, brought all academic activities on university campuses across the country to a standstill. The failure by government to overcome just one out of the many crises confronting the dilapidated education sector gives truth to the hypothesis that Nigeria is being ruled (and not led) by people whose concern for the predicaments of Nigerians as well as for the future generations of the country is not better than the ‘love’ of a mother who, in the face of flood abandoned her baby and carried the box in which she had her jewelries.
A few weeks into ASUU’s strike, Nigerians were greeted with a notorious brand of insensitivity when the country’s education minister, Dr. Sam Egwu organized and celebrated the ‘Silver Jubilee Wedding Anniversary’ of his 25-years-old marriage, with his wife, at a period when young boys and girls who should be in lecture halls, laboratories and libraries were idling at home because of ASUU strike. Perhaps, the minister like many of his colleagues does not have his children in these public universities that have remained closed for nearly two months. Of course, they have sent their children to foreign institutions overseas and to private universities within the country.
Certainly, Dr. Sam Egwu is the Nigerian admirer of William Wen Lung. However, he seems to be over enthusiastic about his admiration for the China-born world record holder. William Wen Lung Hseih (born 1899) who married his wife Woo Fung Siu (born 1900) on 17th March 1917 was privileged by God’s grace to live with her for 84 years six months 15 days until his death eight years ago on 1st October 2001. If William Wen were to have the kind of mentality possessed by Nigeria’s Minister of Education, he would have celebrated his wedding at least three times when his wedding attained 25, 50 and 75 years. Yet, he would still have about a decade uncelebrated. We suggest to the Minister who allegedly spent N120 million on the wedding anniversary to contact Mohammed the son of Sheikh Rasheed Bin Saeed Al-Makhtoum in Dubai in order to form a league of wedding celebrants. The wedding of Mohammed to princess Salama in Dubai in 1981 which lasted seven days cost around 22 milliion pounds ($44.5 million or #7.1 billion). The wedding was held in a purpose-built stadium for 20,000 people. Nigerians need an unreserved apology from the minister who saw nothing wrong in celebrating the ‘closure of universities’.
May Allah (SWT) guide our leaders to be sensitive to the feelings of the people they claim to have their mandate, amin.
The Boko Haram crisis:
The sectarian uprising, which started a week ago in Bauchi and extended to other parts of the north-east of Nigeria, and later to other parts of the north, is most unfortunate. The crisis, which led to the death of hundreds of innocent lives and property worth hundreds of millions of naira, is not only embarrassing to Islam as a religion but equally discomfiting to Muslims as a nation that articulated and hatched a unique civilization in human history. From the apparent but crude ideology of the Boko Haram religious group, which as the name implies, forbids the acquisition of Western education at a time when the traditional resistance to Western culture and civilization is fast dwindling in the Muslim world. The extremist position is regrettable and condemnable in the strongest of terms and with the most discerning voice.
Of course, ignorance and not Islam is the foundation of the Boko Haram fanatical set. We advise Nigerians especially those who see Islam as synonymous with terrorism to consider Boko Haram as an organization that seeks to misrepresent, distort and destroy the religion of Islam which it claims to represent. Their teachings are at variance with the philosophical foundation and tenets of Islam as revealed in the Holy Qur’an and expounded by the Sunnah of the prophet (SAW). Allah (SWT) states in Qur’an 3:85 “if any one desires a religion other than Islam (submission to God), never will it be accepted from him and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost (all spiritual goods)”.
If anything, the insurgence (or rather resurgence since it is public knowledge that they have been around) of the Boko Haram sect is a testimony to the fact that our security outfits are not only porous but the intelligence component of our territorial integrity is greatly inactive and inefficient. Two factors account for this assertion. We find it amazing that a group of armed men would stumble on a security post of the Nigeria Police burning down the station without any intelligence report on such a sudden attack. This without doubt speaks of the inexcusable failure of intelligence. This column condoles with families of those who lost their lives as a result of the Boko Haram crisis. It is our prayer that Allah (SWT) would grant all the deceased eternal mercy and give the bereaved the fortitude to bear the loss, amin.