Nigeria: A Call For Inter-Ethnic Harmony

 By Ayo Oyoze Baje 

“Those beating the drums of war, with their tactless tongues and others stoking the flames of disunity with their treasonable songs, in our dear nation Nigeria must be reminded that war is no picnic in paradise.”  – A. O. Baje (Opinion essay titled: ‘Do not Turn Nigeria into the Devil’s Playground’ published on June 22, 2017). 

Lest we forget, the above stated note of warning added that: “War, propelled by the twin evils of Hatred and Anger escalates to the fore over unresolved, yet preventable misunderstanding between communities and countries. The winged monster rides on the wave crest of base sentiments, fuelled by hate speeches given a free reign by the powers that be. 

Simon Ekpa, The Little Man In Finland

 By Achike Chude

There is a man in Finland. He is perhaps one of those economic migrant Nigerians who fled the country in search of greener pastures. No one knew about him, and no one really cared. Well, perhaps not everyone. He once won a 100-meter silver medal for Nigeria at the African Junior Athletic Championship in Cameroon in 2003.

*Ekpa 

But things have changed for him. He is now a lawyer. He is a member of the National Coalition Party of Finland and was a candidate in the 2022 Finnish county elections. Get this! He ran for election to become a government official to serve the interest of the Finnish people. In Nigeria, he says that elections must not hold in the South East.

Proscription Of ASUU?

 By Achike Chude

And so we are told that the federal government, having failed to honour its agreement with ASUU, has now come up with the ingenious and perfect solution which is the speculated plan to proscribe the union. And just like in the dark days of military dictatorship, the government has propped up, encouraged, and is facilitating the emergence of a rival academic group within the university system to break the rank of ASUU.

When you have a minister of Labour in a country whose doctors went on strike due to the same government’s refusal to honour another agreement and the minister says that the frustrated doctors can run away from the country because Nigeria has enough doctors, then you should weep and gnash your teeth – because you know that the minister is guilty of egregious lies. 

What a perverse and deleterious state of affairs! Because the recommended doctor to patients ratio of the United Nations is 1:600 (one doctor to six hundred patients). Nigeria’s doctor to patients’ ratio is 1:6000 (one doctor to six thousand patients). And worse, it will take 120 years for Nigeria to have enough doctors if they are no longer leaving the country.