Dying for a circular
“Is this is how public institutions die?” I wondered after seeing another example of this malaise.
I have always been
puzzled by the low level of trust that Nigerians have for their public
institutions and I am yet to understand why anything owned by the
government is looked upon with derision, particularly where performance
and transparency are concerned.
A friend told me
the trend started when the late Murtala Muhammed brutally sacked civil
servants at a time when Nigeria’s civil service was reputed as the most
vibrant in Africa.
I realised that although they are called public institutions, the public does not own them.
Instead of owning
their institutions by asking questions and demanding answers, Nigerians
malinger while investors cash in on a mismanaged institution. So, when
public schools were dying, the public asked questions but did not
insist on answers.
Consequently, the savvy South-Westerner established privately owned schools and the public embraced the idea.
A local government
chairman in Lagos said it is the children of the poorest of the poor
that attend public schools in his council.
He observed that
parents send their children to private schools even when they are not
financially capable of doing so. They would rather go into debt than
opt for public schools.
The same trend is
creeping into our university education system. Many civil servants now
have their children in privately owned, and by Nigerian economic
indices, hugely expensive universities. This trend is capable of
increasing the potential targets of the anti-corruption agency, EFCC.
When the
locomotive engines of trains stopped roaring, the public played the
ostrich. The business acumen of the South-Easterner saw the rail line
as a veritable spot to sell used clothes and shoes. Once in a blue
moon, a train comes around and kills an unsuspecting poor buyer.
The pressure of
transportation was offloaded onto the roads with the surge in the
number of heavy trucks crisscrossing from north to south. Our roads
degenerated faster, causing unprecedented carnage and loss of
productive man-hours to traffic jams. Nigerian roads are a bus stop
away from the morgue and it is now commonplace to see road transport
companies hiring “pastors,” whose job is to offer prayers of protection
against road accidents. Our roads are now blood-sucking demons.
For two months,
medical doctors in public hospitals in Lagos have been on strike and
the public, in its usual reticence remains aloof, like it does not feel
the impact. Yet, the public is at the receiving end, losing several
lives to the impasse between the doctors and the government. The
menacing impact of the strike gains in significance when one considers
the fact that most Nigerians go to hospital when an ailment has defied
self-medication.
While the strike
continues, some “pro-democracy” and “good governance” civil society
organisations have held “anti-IBB” rallies in Lagos and I cringe,
wondering whether IBB is the one killing patients or the government
they trust so much. These groups are quick to spot corruption and
maladministration at the federal level and to praise the Lagos State
government, even where the credit is not deserved.
When the rumour
about the plan to impeach the state governor, Babatunde Fashola,
reached its peak, thousands of Lagosians, under the aegis of different
organisations, stormed the House of Assembly, threatening to lynch the
lawmakers if they did not desist from the unpopular move. The state
governor, lawmakers, Oba of Lagos, and the governor emeritus of the
state have all intervened in the matter of the doctors’ strike with no
headway.
Though, the
traditional kingship system has been relegated to just cultural issues,
the gene of submissiveness to the monarch is still obviously dominant
in Nigerians. Therefore, as if the government is always right in its
decisions and the doctors are a bunch of stubborn children, some are
calling for the striking medics to be sacked.
The doctors have
one demand: that government publish a circular documenting its decision
to implement a new salary structure from 2011. But each intervening
entity has one appeal: please go back to work.
Can the civil society organisations ask the government why it is difficult to publish a circular?
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