Much ado about noisemakers By Ransome Oboh

To match Interview NIGERIA-BUHARI/

All over the world, the primary responsibility of any responsible government, be it federal, state or local government, should be the welfare and total care of the citizens,(provision of basic amenities,light, roads and water) with emphasis on their lives and properties (adequate security).It is rather unfortunate that, most governments only pretend to care about their citizens when it is election time. However, because of the high poverty rate, most people often would not mind accepting (le pour boire) a bribe in the form of repackaged food items, like rice, garri etc by saying it is part of their own share of the national cake.

It is often said that to promise what is impossible is to deceive the masses. Most politicians if not all are fond of doing it. Note that one must not necessarily have to study political science before one can be a good politician. After all, there have not been any established clear dichotomy between those of them who would have studied political science and those who did not study it. More so, every human being is a born political animal. It has been worse off in those states which had been governed or are presently being governed by accountants.

The question now remains, how long will they continue to be fooling our people? In the words of the late reggae king, Bob Marley, in one of his songs, “You can fool some people sometimes, but cannot fool all the people all the time”. While our own, the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, had it in one of his songs, “suffering and smiling”.

The medical scientists have always been educating people on the importance of having sound/ good sleep. It is medically recommended that a human being should sleep for an average of eight hours in order for him/her to have a good rest. There are two types of sleep, the primary and secondary sleep. It is rather unfortunate, that it is whenever one is about entering into the secondary sleep that those in Lagos often wake up. In fact, a lot of people, mostly the lazy ones, do not like either visiting or staying in Lagos because of this basic fact. A place, where one returns from work very late and the next day will not have fully broken before he/she will start preparing for work again.

It is rather unfortunate that neither the government nor the individuals appreciate the importance of having a good sleep/rest. For example, in the Republic of Togo, one of the Francophone countries in West Africa, there is a compulsory national siesta. All people are meant to observe it as all the establishments are shut down during the period.

In Nigeria, people hardily have time to sleep enough. For example, the present situation along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, specifically at the Warewa spot both sides of the road,is better imagined than encountered because who he feels it knows it better. For example, people often spend between four and five hours depending on their destination to drive through the long bridge. Imagine, the other day, I got home by 1.00 am and in an attempt to get to office the next morning, I spent up to four hours to get to my office around Ikeja area. What of those who are working on the Island?

Most people have been forced to ask if there are federal and state governments in the country. The answer is, Yes, but they are there in theory and not in practice.

The major cause of this problem happens to be in Warewa and people living, staying or working in Warewa, Arepo, Magboro, Oke Afa, Ibafo etc and other road users have not been finding it funny of recent.

Although there had been similar situations in the past, none has been as bad as it is today. For example, the Vice-President often takes the road to the Redemption Camp. Moreover, when the Federal Government was under the Peoples Democratic Party and Ogun State was also under the same party, the media did not allow people to have a breathing space at all, and when the All Progressives Congress was at the helms in Lagos and Ogun states and the PDP at the federal level, they criticised President Goodluck Jonathan endlessly for not fixing that road. But one begins to wonder where the spokesmen for the APC who now hold power at the federal, state and local government levels are. It simply means that who owns a trumpet determines who blows it, where and when he should blow it and above all the type of sound he should produce from it.

A visit to Magboro, one will be forced to cry. Somebody was forced to ask one day, if the community falls under an opposition party? The answer is certainly No. Just that in Nigeria, politics of second term is often meant for governors to steal as much as they could, obviously because there will never be a third term. This is the main reason why people have been suggesting a single tenure of five years.

Both the Federal and Ogun State governments should act on time because the situation there has become unbearable. If the people cannot hold you responsible for your act of irresponsibility, God/Allah will surely do.

Most recent revolutions all over the world have resulted due to the negligence on the part of the government which has failed to live up to its responsibility.

Mind you, prevention is said to be better than cure. Enough is enough.

PUNCH

END

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