Youth Speak

THE name of your alma mater with the kind of education you have received brands you differently from others in the pack. Educational institutions of long-standing ensured that their names were well positioned to achieve this branding.

NKEMDI (real name) is an IT professional and anything he does not know in that sector is not worth knowing. Despite his proficiency, he is still battling with the prospect of getting something worthwhile because our country, painfully, is becoming an anti-intellectual one where professionals are not head hunted and, you need to know ‘someone,’ who knows ‘somebody,’ to win lucrative jobs.

I WAS born and I grew up in Enugu in the mid 80s. Life and living was calm and social infrastructures worked. Pipe-borne water, waste management services, constant power and well managed traffic with the use of traffic lights. I enjoyed government housing especially as provided by government institutions to their staff.

IT is not like the Nigerian state has been standing akimbo. In a report written by Ameto Akpe for Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting in 2012, she wrote that, “in January 2011, the Federal Government launched the water road-map, a blueprint that describes the government’s objectives in developing the nation’s water resources between 2011 and 2025. The plan includes the promise that 75 per cent of Nigerians will have access to potable water by 2015, and 90 per cent by 2020. With the launch of the plan, Jonathan’s administration announced the availability of special intervention funds for several projects.”

IN cool offices in Victoria Island and spacious homes of Ikoyi, there is a growing sentiment that even as we welcome change at the Federal level so should we invite change in our home state of Lagos.

THIS year marks the end of the current international development agenda reached in year 2000, centered on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

If permissions are actually being given for these conversions, then it is arguably one of the greatest pieces of fraud being perpetuated in Lagos because money must certainly be changing hands to sanction what is clearly against every sensibility of urban planning.

Lagos also needs a new vision or strategy in the area of urban planning. This is an area where Lagos needs urgent attention (the whole country to be honest!). The city has lost all manner of form or shape. Virtually every building in Lagos is a shop, business concern or company.

Take the instance of fundamentals of civil and human rights. In a sane environment, none really needs to overstretch the adherence and obligatory issues of individual freedom and liberty as the necessity for such unhindered flows.

I BOUGHT a BMW car from Coscharis on July 31, 2012, costing N16 million for my private use. The car was delivered on August 1, 2012. On taking delivery of it, I pointed out to the sales manager at the Victoria Island branch of the company that the DVD system was not functioning to which he said, it would be fixed, it was a matter of replacing it. He explained that due to settings, it can so happen that a car doesn’t work on arrival from Germany.

THE saying that ‘youths are the leaders of tomorrow’ may be true for some nations of the world, that have internalised this dictum in the structure of their national life, such that the transition process is feasible, transparent and one which can be consolidated. It may be true for a country which has integrated an enduring process of transition into her national life.

AS a lover and avid reader of history, I have come to appreciate the role of history in any nation’s quest for greatness. Whether you love or loathe history; you cannot ignore the facts history presents to you anytime you go searching for the truth. As Nigerians decide to vote for a new leader; I have watched, read and listened to positive and negative commentaries by politicians and government officials.