Fashola’s Lagos should be fair to Eko Project candidates?

Every indulgee who’s worth his or her membership of this square table knows how I feel about Abuja. My former colleague, Ogho Okiti, particularly knows that I see Abuja in a particular kind of way; a very sarcastic kind of way! And I have no apologies for the way my eyes have decided to see Abuja and all that goes down in that city. Okiti has often borne the hard end of my jibes at what I call “Abuja people” since he upped and went over to join them. Do you know why I am unabashedly sarcastic about Abuja? It’s because the city, in reality, holds a lot of hope for this country, yet that hope is being abused by people who should ordinarily know better and take their responsibilities seriously. Or how can you sensibly bring yourself to understand why people who, seriously, should see themselves as congregators in a city to work to make the entire country better suddenly see themselves as now belonging to that city in a conqueror manner, and then go on to indulge themselves in monumental hedonism to the detriment of the rest of society?

This conqueror’s attitude manifests itself in an acquisitive behaviour that makes these opportunistic Abuja people completely forget where they are coming from and proceed to pursue interests that are personal and not national. Anytime I go to Abuja, I see a lot of this behaviour pushed into my face and it gets me really angry. But I also see the problem that calls for the concerted effort and attention of Abuja people, but for which little or nothing is being done. Those who occupy the National Assembly occupy themselves with tittle-tattles, and they fail each time to pursue profound legislation without factoring themselves into the equation, thereby failing the nation and the citizens! What a shame?

I was in Abuja for two days this week. This newspaper put together a Job Fair, and you needed to see the attendance. The hall was full! There were young people, young men and women, and there was desperation in the atmosphere. People were putting themselves forward to be considered for work. There is nothing that troubles real, genuine, well-intentioned governments around the world more than seeing a massing of their young men and women, able and willing to work, without work. Those who are responsible for running governments in this country do not show sufficient amount of care and interest in the people that they serve. I have never personally had faith in our governments. They do not inspire hope, they do not show any sign that they want to meet expectations of citizens and they seem, to me, to be truly out of their depths, lacking in pastoral care that governments provide their people! It is the reason why there is nothing like a social safety net for citizens. We have governments who are so into themselves that they would spend more time looking into their personal welfare packages and other benefits that can accrue to them out of their official positions than take citizens’ concerns seriously!

Citizens deserve to be fairly treated by their governments, especially by politicians who put themselves forward for elective positions. If these groups of people cannot make the sacrifices that this country needs, then we are in a long haul of serious trouble. Citizens need hope, they need hope from those who run government, that tomorrow will be better than today. For truly, what is the sense of having government when nothing points to a future that holds hope, that holds justice, that holds assurances that those who are yet to be born will be born into a country that offers equal opportunity to its citizens, no matter where they come from and where they live? There is something seriously wrong with a legislature that is not engaging itself seriously in creating grand norms for an enduring future for Nigeria.

And because in government lies the whole notion of social justice, it is even more painful to find situations where government is seen to be deliberately cheating citizens. You could have situations where due to scarce resources government finds it difficult to provide all that citizens require. Government has a responsibility to make tough decisions. That’s what governments are elected to do – make tough decisions when they are faced with difficult choices. But when government appears to cheat citizens, then there is a huge moral question for government to answer. This is what appears to be happening in Lagos State, where there is a novel idea to get graduates, in work or not, to volunteer their time to take up classroom support positions in its schools.

The project, christened Lagos Eko Project, is a World Bank-assisted project to boost the standard of education in secondary school in Lagos State, especially in core subjects such as Mathematics, English Language, Biology and Basic Science. This project has been on for four years. It is winding down this December. Now, here is what I consider to be injustice in its execution. In a state where unemployment is very high, a number of young graduates who had decided to look at teaching as a profession considered the option of volunteering. They had turned out in many cases to be assets to the schools that they were posted to and left to some principals and head teachers, they would have wanted to have them retained as teachers. In some cases, while all this had been on, some of them had gone on to obtain teaching qualifications with hope and expectations that they would be offered a place when they need arose. What has followed is what I consider injustice, of government cheating its people!

In the last two years or so, the Lagos State government had done recruitment of teachers during which it had ignored many of those in the Eko Project who had indicated interest in being considered for permanent positions. It is a clear case of abandonment. It is like using people and dropping them when they had shown keen interest and had contributed to the education advancement in the state. As an observer, especially one that likes many things that have happened in the state, and who can also declare himself to be a friend of the state government, there are things you hear that makes you say this is not Fashola’s Lagos!

Imagine yourself to have volunteered and been used for the past three years. Your principal and co-teachers see the work you have done and recognise your contributions and wish that the state will offer you a position eventually. Then while waiting, you suddenly find that two fresh graduates have been posted to the school where you have been teaching for three years. How would you feel? You would feel hard-done-by! I know of cases like this, especially those who have got these positions on recommendations from “Ogas at the top”! Any government that carries out business this way is not fair, no matter what shine they put up for us to see. Those shines that we see must be backed up by an assurance that injustice to citizens, like the one that I have described, does not go on behind the scene.

The commissioner of education and the governor need to review this Eko Project to right the wrongs that have been done to some volunteers who have justified being taken on, especially where they have indicated interest in taking up such positions.

08052202354

phillip@s19080.p615.sites.pressdns.com/en