Prince Emmanuel O. Ohai
Their Greed and pursuit of Selfish Interest ONLY has prevented them to see the inevitable catastrophe. If anyone thought things are bad now, please wait another 5 years or so when some of these new advances are rolled out. I know that there are agents of the status quo who would rather we don’t do anything and wait till the hour but inspired leadership calls us all to act now to avoid what in my humble opinion will be disastrous considering that our educational system in Nigeria is in crisis state.
We need to take our message to the grassroots. The grassroots need to know the truth and they also need to know that all hope is not lost. Since the CHANGE we seek is from the bottom up, we will be asking for their help as we brainstorm on the way forward.
If we are committed to this Vision enough, I am confident that we be able to use Umu Anioma Group as the vehicle to unite us under a common purpose.; a purpose that puts the general good of all, over any self-centered interest. Furthermore, I am hopeful that we can brainstorm and come up with
an action plan that would save Umu Aniomas from the emerging reality of a “Knowledge based World Economy. As for Education for instance, I know Isaac Eke, Joy Ogbechie, Henry Ijeh, and Tonia Ideh four great Umu Aniomas have written and bared their minds about the rot in our educational system and the work they would like do to bring about the desired CHANGE in our Educational System. I believe we can do more and finding ways to improve Curriculum, Instruction and Infrastructure in our Educational Institutions in Anioma will be of utmost importance. These and other areas of our polity will be addressed in the same fashion by standing Committees to be formed as we progress.
Folks, please make no mistake about it, in other for any CHANGE that we desire to be attained and sustained, we have to have the ears and eyes of the grassroots. The vision is a deliberate vision that will not be hypocritical or pretentious. If we don’t CHANGE the mindset of our Anioma people first it doesn’t matter how much money is poured into any particular sector of our economy in Anioma good results will elude us. For example, the reason why there is a rot right now is not because the Govt. is not pumping money into the economy. In Nigeria for instance, approx. 99.9% of the Revenue is from Oil sales. Out of this amount, available statistics show that approx. 80% of Revenue from oil is spent to run the Govt. e.g. Run the National Assembly, State Assemblies, Federal Government Ministries and Parastatals, State Govt. Ministries and Parastatals, pay Salaries of all the Special Advisers and workers
Etc. Only approximately 20% of the Revenue from Oil is spent on building and maintaining the infrastructure. The processes for awarding the contract for building these infrastructures as you can imagine is flawed and slanted towards the few and connected who return a 50% cut to the Govt. official responsible for awarding the contract. I am sure you get my drift. The current system is corrupt and not working for about 99% of Nigerians.
In the past week, in our Umu Anioma Yahoo Group Forum, we have heard from at least 1 person in the 1% bracket. This individual was prompted to admit being pro status quo. The individual offered an opinion which I thought was interesting and should not be ruled out completely. The opinion was to the effect that we face reality and not be caught up too much in idealism. His suggestion was that we work [without recognizing the work that we already are committed to] within the existing ruling party political framework which frankly imposes the status quo on all Umu Anioma. From my vantage standpoint, I think more than anything an issue raised by such un-popular suggestion is one of whether we in the Umu Anioma Group have a “Two-Prong” approach just in case…..
Based on the preceding paragraph, my proposal is start we continue to choose our leaders, continue with the membership drive and bring awareness of the vision to ALL Umu Aniomas worldwide.
An Anioma Leadership Foundation, in my humble opinion, will be in a better position to address such issues raised.
Umu Anioma, please make no mistake about it, the road we are about to travel is going to take many turns and twist but with God on our side I am confident that we will reach the Promised Land. The Promised Land being an Anioma where the children and adults alike rise above whatever adverse conditions to live gratifying lives.
Even though the message, I bring today is a message of Unity, Hope and Change. The major goal of the Umu Anioma Group is to build an emergent Community out of the Anioma Community that can learn, adapt and grow. We will develop a new social reality that will require ALL of us to make painful adjustment away from self-interested behavior. I must not fail to recognize that in spite of all the vision and brilliant ideas that each one of us may have, there is also a political reality and expediency that tells us that we can only succeed if we submit to the forces of the evil cabal. Our approach is to tolerate those Umu Anioma who feel they MUST work within the existing structure as long as they don’t constitute themselves as hindrance to our own Umu Anioma Mission.
Basically, it is possible for us to exist side by side with the eventual aim of harmonizing for the general good of all. Anioma Youth are the most brilliant and un-assuming people that I know. We certainly will be willing to entertain all ideas. As the leadership of Umu Anioma takes shape, I am confident that issues that relate to the preceding will be one of the initial issues that they will tackle. In my mind I feel that there is room for a two prong approach. This feeling is borne more so out of my new behavioral change for the good of all. I hope those who see a possibility in towing the status quo are prepared to make and win their arguments when the time comes.
TO BE CONTINUED
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