A weird mixture of poverty and affluence is what you see all around you, under the bridge at Ojuelegba, you see families so poor even beggars call them poor. They can neither feed nor afford the rent of a single room even in the slums of Ajegunle. Their children, some of school age, roam the streets begging for alms in the heavy traffic, running after flashy luxury cars, often wound-up and driven by people living in high-brew areas such as Ikoyi and Lekki.
This unhealthy cacophony of extreme poverty and flamboyance in our towns and cities all around the country is infuriating at the least, and can be attributed to the vexation being expressed by these deprived population in the form of brutal robberies, militancy, kidnapping and aggression towards those perceived to be the ‘rich’ in the society, and who are often accused of amassing illegal wealth through corruption, importation of fake and substandard products or outright stealing from government treasury.
Though these extremely affluent people are often fenced out by high perimeter estate walls or live in exclusive government reserved areas with security everywhere. And very often the poor share the same neighbourhood, ride on the same road, shop in the same market and suffer the effects of the same poor infrastructure such as power, water, roads and healthcare. It is impossible to separate the rich from the poor.
Nigeria's increasing poverty profile is not out of lack of resources but bad governance and corruption. The causes of poverty in Nigeria are well known and the consequential challenges are shared evenly by both the rich and the poor. Having known the problems, what is expected is to find solutions to these challenges. To the amazement of all, we even know the solutions, but the big worry is no one seems to be committed to effecting this change.
In reminding us of the solutions, good government will take the front burner. Equal rights and justice comes next. The later is very crucial to the survival of the nation as it determines our basic freedom and liberties. De-tribalizing our body polity is essential create mutual respect and peaceful co-existence amongst the various tribes in Nigeria.
It is evident that the ills of the society can be corrected by fighting and rebellion but by the re-engineering of our social disposition and laws governing us. The constitution we operate was impossed on us and was never constituted by the people taking cognisance of our diverse social, religious, cultural and ethnic interest. That needs to be done if we need to enjoy enduring peace and harmony.
I am therefore strongly in support of the review of the constitution in view of the agitations and calls by pro-democracy groups for a sovereign national conference, as against insistence by government for the constitution to be reviewed by the National Assemble. I recommend a combination of both by way of the submission of referandums by pro-democracy groups and the various regional groupings to the national assembly for compilation and review through a public deliberation which will give the various groups the opportunity to defend their proposals.
The outcome of such a deliberation will produce a mutual document that can now become a bill called ‘the review of the Nigeria Constitution Bill 2010.” It is only when this bill is passed into law that we can claim to have a New Constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria.
Peace is what strenghtens a nation, war destroys it. In the heat of the struggle and agitations, let us remember our goal – one indivisible and virile nation, where peace and justice reign.
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