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The Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission(RMAFC) is set to review the salaries and allowances of political office holders in Nigeria. This has attracted condemnation from a cross section of Nigerians.

Interestingly, the issue of the new national minimum wage is yet to be resolved in several states of the federation, while political office holders continue to enjoy very attractive pay packages despite the myriad of challenges confronting the nation.

In this interview, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke insists that the pronouncement of a possible review by the Commission’s Chairman without been definitive on whether upward or downward is a diversionary game, considering the fact that several states are still still negotiating the consequential adjustment of the new national minimum wage of N30,000. Excerpts :

The Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission(RMAFC) is tinkering with the idea of reviewing the salaries and allowances of political office holders, do you think this is proper in this period of economic crunch ?

The review of remuneration of political office holders in the face of Nigeria’s economic realities is long overdue. Down the memory lane , former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo made an upward review of the remuneration of political office holders, he damned the consequences, since so many were against his action. Chief Obasanjo said that his action was to discourage corruption.

When President Goodluck Jonathan came on board, he asserted that stealing should not be labelled corruption.

When supposed role models throw caution and modesty into the dustbin, institutional indiscipline is fostered, while the culture of corruption becomes endemic.

Hence the present situation of Nigeria becoming the headquarters of poverty and aggravated state of insecurity.

The game changers in the persons of Prof. Wole Soyinka and late Prof. Chinua Achebe became the prophets of our time through their prophetic literature books. For Chinua Achebe, ‘’Things Fall Apart’’ is neither a fiction nor a narration that should be localized for the changing challenges of the Igbo culture. It now directly re-echoes on Nigeria of the present time because things are falling apart, while the center can no longer hold and neither do the Falcons listen to the Falconers again. Who will now rescue Nigeria from imminent distingeration and international ridicule ?

 From Wole Soyinka’s perspective the man died in that person who keeps mute in the face of tyranny, why are Nigerians so docile in the face of various unwarranted persecution by the elite and leaders.

A lot has gone wrong in the nation’s educational institutions, where the rat race to become Vice Chancellors, Rectors or Provosts is not the same as having passion to fulfill the Town and Gown philosophy, but to amass wealth and flex muscles of ego among fellow Professors and Chief Lecturers respectively.

This is because from among the the category of Professors and Chief Lecturers respectively,a Vice Chancellor or Rector emerges, who would earn N2.5 million or N1.8 million respectively, while their colleagues will remain within the range of a little above N500,000 or N400,000 respectively.

One can now see how the political thinking that influenced the upward review has now led to a do or die affair among the people of the pen profession, who are supposed to be the epitome of peace, methods and methodology as well as role models in the area of best practices.

The people of the academia thereby resort to Voodoo power play deviating from the expected role of civility for civilization based on the Town and Gown philosophy.

The negative effect of an upward review would therefor be felt by all within the government circles, Ministries, Departments and Agencies, where the ill policy has thrown erstwhile friends into becoming bitter enemies because usually merit would be murdered, while juicy positions go to the highest bidders. This would have a far reaching effect on the quality and standard expected from the beneficiaries of this review policy.

If we are Godly and we are able to live by the scriptures that upholds our religious beliefs, divine guidance could have prevailed to do things aright because according to Psalm 127 :’’Builders labor in vein without divine intervention’’ and from the Islamic perspective, Koran 8 : 63 : And moreover God hath put affection between their hearts ; not if thou hath spent all that is in the earth, could thou hast produced that affection, but Allah hath done it : For He is exulted in might, Wise’’.

The pronouncement of a possible review without been definitive on whether upward or downward is a diversionary game, in the wake of several states still negotiating the consequential adjustment of the new national minimum wage of N30,000, which is just $98. When one compares this amount with what a Senator takes home, say N14.2 million per month, everybody should be able to see the wickedness in the politicians.

If the cries of restructuring, resource control and secession bids are to be avoided , the downward review of the salary packages and allowances of both the political office class and the MDAs including parastatals must be critically looked into to justify the ethical principles of Democracy as it reflects in its Chemistry of Justice, Equity, in a sane environment for us to have peace, sustainable development and a high level of security which is best appreciated under natural occurrence, that is divine intervention.

A cross section of Nigerians have expressed worry over the increasing rate of child marriages in the country.

Indeed, the elite in society among several others are to blame for this disturbing trend which has gained ground in an unspecified number of communities. Why is this so ? In this interview, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke opines that there are a lot of dangers involved in child marriages just as he warns parents to shun the act. Excerpts :

Child marriage is on the increase in Nigeria today, why is this so ?

A minor in marriage is morally wrong, rejected in the religions of the world and considered to be anti-social. It is equally regarded as a human aberration medically.

Fundamentally, marriage is best consummated for sound minds, who can take decisions on their own, and matured minds who can be regarded as rational in decision making.

For a minor in marriage, coercion is the tool, and this does not consider the fundamentals of love as basic to two different people, male and female coming together as husband and wife.

The institution of marriage states that the two to be involved in marriage must have done a detailed assessment in the process of wooing each other, based on certain considerations of natural importance : beauty, parental wealth, academic pedigree and probably religion.

Of any of the four chosen, there must have been a time lapse, regarded as courtship period for the two to understudy their areas of strength,weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

And in this modern time, counseling must predominate and extend to personality traits compatibility as well as blood group and genotype class to determine a hitch free union.

Parental consent then follows, before witnesses and people are called for the socio-spiritual ceremony.

Love, passion as well as acceptable character or attitude are equally considered.

However, under a minor involved marriage, the above considerations are absent, while the influences cuts across parental influences based on business consideration.

On the other hand, way ward and reckless lifestyles leading to unavoidable pregnancies could force parents to organize for a minor involved marriage, perhaps to save face of for the girl child to have a good care under the roof of the elderly man.

Minor involved in marriage could lead to Vesico-vaginal fistula(VVF) and in another breadth it could be disgusting to the growing girl child and this could result in serious attempt's by the girl to kill the husband, who she may develop hatred for because of his oppressive tendencies and the lack of love in the relationship.

The health of the minor under forced marriages may result in serious medical conditions and unfortunately, the man involved goes about unhurt in search of another victim.

It is also unfortunate that most of those involved belong to the elite class, who most of the times equally claim to know so much about their religion.

But alas, we must not forget the fact that all religions teach morals and are strictly against one inflicting injuries on the other.

This is a period where the whole world now clamors for equality of access and treatment to the boy and girl child. And that the girl child and women generally, must always be spared from agonies of maltreatment such as domestic violence, are, pedophilia and other forms of sexual abuse.

Proverbially, when we eat unripe fruits, we plunge ourselves into the problem of stomach ache.

So also marriage to a minor is bereft of any pleasure, respect and care. Hence, the right of such a girl to have access to good education and have a successful career life is already in jeopardy.

All women have values which must not be destroyed by the selfish desire of men.

A girl in a forced marriage has already lost a promising future of good growth profile and development.

Her God given talents are already torn into shreds, while society will remain at a loss due to this practice.

This is why several countries that had earlier been into this practice, are making changes by shifting the minimum age for marriage to 18 years old for their girl child.

At this, level of growth, the pelvic girdle is strong enough to carry the load or pressure of pregnancy.

The child at this age is expected to have acquired a minimum certificate of Nigeria’s Senior Secondary School Certificate standard. This implies that she can take decisions that may be favorable to her and her future, even when she finds herself in the web of a love tango.

Parents need to be properly educated on the issue of the need to protect the interest of their children, most especially the girl child.

Child rearing must follow a universal guiding code of value, protection, safety, respect, inclusion, attention and freedom.

If we are able to follow this valuable guidance in child rearing,cases of incest, rape, pedophilia and minor involved in marriage would never arise.

The girl child is a valuable better half and must be treated equally like their male counterparts.

Circumstances wherein men work and women stay at home to cater for the home and children, is no longer in vogue as the running of the home is now a joint responsibility of the husband and wife in an environment of career driven development.

We must therefore, avoid minor involved marriages to respect the divine institution of marriage as supported by our culture and all our religions including Islam and Christianity.

Besides this, we must consider the health challenges that may accompany minor involved marriages, to safe guard the girl child.

Instead there is a need to pursue the cause of women emancipation to be voices to be reckoned with in society and for each nation to be able to achieve in the areas of 35 per cent affirmative action for women at the various decision making points.

Only women, who are not abused, but supported in the cause of their growth and development without truncated period of minor involved in marriage , can be supported to achieve the various international opportunities open for their advancement.

A nation accomplishing this, would be regarded to be fair in the competitive world of global best practices. Nigerians must say no to Child Marriage.

Government at all levels, parents and guardians have been called upon to protect children and wards from all forms of sexual abuse.

This call was made recently, by the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke at the Shafaudeen Ishrat 2020 opening ceremony and Kiddies sports, at Wakjaiye, Ibadan, Nigeria.

‘’Government, Parents, schools officials need to protect the interest of our children not to be raped or forced into unholy sexual abuse. We must therefore be caring, watchful, monitor, examine, question and even teach sex education. Starting from the mother to the girl child and the father to the boy child, using experiences already inbuilt in them, while government medical centers and personnel on health related matters should take care of this at formal level’’.

‘’Parents must be aware of warning signs. Identify bad peer group, keep positive and open but effective communication to empower the children to have sufficient research against predators. Children must cultivate the habit of reporting feelings and events to parents, no matter how trivial and even against all odds of threats’’, Prof. Olagoke advised.

Children should be encouraged to join voluntary organizations.

These voluntary organizations go a long way in molding the character and behaviour of children.

Parents and guardians have the responsibility to ensure that their children and wards engage in indoor and out door games.

Indoor Games : Scrabble, Monopoly, Ludo etc. Outdoor Games : Table Tennis, Volley ball, Handball, Football, Athletics etc.

Sadly, in a number of societies, parents aid and abet their children to commit crimes.

Voluntary Organizations 1)The Boys Scouts Association 2) The Girls Guide Association 3) The Red Cross Society among several others.

Nigerians have been called upon to put their hopes in God for the solution to their sufferings.

This call was made by Pastor Opeymei Ajayi in a chat with Federationews2day.

''These days things have gone wrong. There is hardship everywhere. Families are increasingly finding it difficult to feed. Nigerians should look up to God, to alleviate their sufferings. Nigerians should call upon God to see us through. When Nigerians put their hopes in God, the myriad of challenges  confronting the country shall have solutions. Both the leaders and followers should call on God to intervene. When there is hope there is life'', Pastor Ajayi stated.

Even though a sizable number of ”pressmen” as government officials always say, are on the payroll of the ruling party in Nigeria today, that does not distract professionally resolute Journalists from outlining the chameleon nature of governance.

Failure is a recurrent feature, when the people’s voices are ignored and the imposition of the desires of a few occupy the front page. Politicians have over the years groomed army of youths to promote their selfish interests.

Majority of these youths do not necessarily possess the basic qualification-Senior Secondary School Certificate(SSCE) to make any meaningful impact in life.

To fill the vacuum, politicians console these category of youths with limitless supply of outlawed substances and alcohol, so long as the youths do their bidding.

The unemployment rate in Nigeria is at an all time high, with unemployable graduates constituting  a significant number of the unemployed.

Of worry is the fact that most Primary, Secondary and tertiary institutions of learning are ill equipped and have on their pay rolls, poorly motivated manpower to impart the required knowledge. 

State Governments now employ graduates to positions originally meant for unskilled labor, as political patronage and nepotism determines who gets what.

Professionalism no longer  exists in the civil service of most states, as workers continue to redefine their positions to reflect the survival of the fittest ideology currently in vogue. It is on record and it is already a reference point that the All Progressives Congress(APC), the ruling party had its first progressive governance lecture series on 24 February, 2014, in Ibadan, Nigeria.

At the lecture series, Ayo Teriba, Chief Executive Officer, Economic Associates, delivered a lecture titled ”NIGERIA’s HIGH GROWTH-HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT PARADOX”. Teriba had said, ”As Nigeria’s growth surged in the past one and a half decades, unemployment rate has increased three fold. Elected officials have been unable to translate growth to increased employment, largely because they have left the task of fiscal and monetary policy management growth, constrained domestic demand and worsened the employment rate. 

To make democratic governance a tool for delivering economic tangible and enduring economic benefits in the future, Nigeria needs to make monthly employment data available before the end of each month, fix rail transportation, rethink fiscal policy, refocus monetary policy and ensure that elected officials accept responsibility for policy formulation and coordination”.

However,  the future is here and it is doubtful if Teriba’s recommendation are being followed. Interestingly, Owelle Rochas Okorocha,the then Governor of Imo state and Chairman, Progressives Governors Forum had lamented ”the current unemployment situation in Nigeria is unacceptable and is a danger to the social, economic and political stability of Nigeria.

It also impacts negatively on our ambitions as a country, after all, how can Nigeria, with over 20 million youths who have no jobs and millions of others wasting away claim that we want to be a major  power in the comity of  nations ?''

''That claim would be laughable if not tragic-tragic because we come across as refusing to empower the youths on whose shoulders will rest the task of taking Nigeria to the next level.

We can no longer remain insensitive to issues around unemployment and crises of governance in Nigeria”. Will the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration reverse the current trend of economic and other sectoral challenges ? Nigerians are already taking note and stock of the activities of the present administration for reference in the near future.

The United States of America has written off and undisclosed amount of Somalia's debt.

This disclosure was made by Somalia-born Congresswoman Ilhan Omar on her verified Twitter handle.

“I am thrilled we were able to secure debt relief for Somalia today. This doesn’t just have an impact on Somalis in Somalia, but on the thousands of Somali- Americans who live in my district and have family in the region,” Omar said.

Somalia is indebted to  the United States of America to the tune of $1Billion spread over the past years,  its entire  entire debt is $4.7 Billion

 In October, Norway announced  bridging loan approval for Somalia to enable it pay arrears  a $350million debt owed  the World Bank.

The failure of authors, publishers and Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies to abide by the legal deposit law in Nigeria and poor funding have been identified as the major challenges confronting the National Library of Nigeria(NLN).

This was the submission of Mrs. Laureta Isioma Ekwemuka of the Legal Deposit Department of the National Library, in a paper titled ‘’Evaluation of Legal Deposit Collection at the National Library of Nigeria(2014–2018) at the South Western zonal session of the Nationa Library two day sensitization workshop on Legal Deposit Compliance ISBN & ISSN, held in Ibadan.

‘’Some major challenges of the National Library include the uncooperative attitude of Authors, Publishers, Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies, when it comes to the submission of copies of published works to the National Library. So many Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies publish quarterly, bi-annually and annually, but they do not deposit copies of their published works to the National Library. Another major challenge is lack of adequate funding. We have been trying our best to overcome these challenges’’, Mrs. Ekwemuka stated.

Similarly, in a paper titled ‘’Evaluation of ISBN/ISSN Acquisition at the National Library of Nigeria(2014–2018), Mrs Taye Abena of the International Standards and Programs Departments expressed worry over the proliferation of fake ISBN numbers saying’’ people tend to do things their own way, they go to publishers to collect fake ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits, in the process of collection, 3 digits are removed, and these three digits represent the numbers of the international center’’.

In his remarks, the Head of Branch, Oyo state, Mr. Bashiru Salawu warned Nigerians not to obtain the ISBN and ISSN from sources other than the National Library, adding’’ISBN and ISSN emanating from other sources are fake’’.

The National Library Act was passed in 1964 and later reviewed in 1970 with emphasis on deposit obligations and bibliographical functions.

The Act №29 of 1970 applies throughout the country and has supremacy over any library laws of state governments in the event of jurisdiction conflicts. Read the Act here-https://bit.ly/2Pou5ck