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Port Harcourt Is Ripe For Traffic Management Technology (1)

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2 years ago

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Last week, a reader wrote to the editor of the paper, detailing how lawless Port Harcourt residents have become on major roads. The letter pointed out how commercial drivers and other members of the public have turned major junctions, roundabouts, and bus terminals in the city to motor parks and markets. On investigation, it turned out that the situation was worse than expected in all the locations, including Education Bus Stop Mile 1; Port Harcourt Zoo; Waterlines Roundabout; St. John’s Bus Stop, Rumuolumeni; Garrison Roundabout; Amadi-Ama Roundabout; Lagos Bus Stop and Aggrey Road.The title of the letter to the Editor that informed this opinion piece was framed as a question: “Is Port Harcourt a Lawless City?” Even though I might not be inclined to use such stark language, but as one who lives and works in this city and a journalist with an acute sense of observation, suffice it to say that we can do much better than what is easily observable, the level of lawlessness on roads in Port Harcourt and its environs is incomprehensible. Unfortunately, since it has become second nature for Nigerians to naturally go against laid-down rules in any area of public life, no right-thinking person would expect any kind of change without government intervention.

Interestingly, since the return of democracy in 1999, there have been varied levels of government intervention to bring sanity to our roads. For instance, before the state government intervention of 2009 that gave birth to the defunct Rivers State Road Traffic Management Authority (TIMA-RIV), there have been interventions by Obio/Akpor and Port Harcourt City Local Government Areas (LGA). But these interventions were not necessarily set up to serve the interest of the public, rather, they were used to settle some stakeholders (political settlement). The road decongestion taskforce set up by these local governments had no clear chain of reporting, and consequently, no clear rules of engagement. The resultant outfits from the two Local Governments made matters worse because they became exploitation machines that were willing to use any means at their disposal, including harassment and arbitrary impoundment to extract huge amounts of money from members of the public.

But when TIMA-RIV was set up following the signing of the Road Traffic Law No.6 of 2009 by former Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi; Port Harcourt residents heaved a sigh of relief. There was a clear chain of command, and residents were assured of the existence of clear rules of engagement, and modus operandi. Sadly, the relief did not last long due to the endemic nature of corruption in our society. The cars of members of the public were impounded at random, and visitors coming to the city for the first time were not spared, even in areas with minimal, or zero traffic signs; the issue of steep fines for what was arbitrarily tagged reckless driving, and the associated psychiatric evaluation was unimaginable.TIMA-RIV was empowered to carry out the following functions: (1) Control traffic and enforce state laws relating to the safe use of vehicles on the road; (2) Deter road users from the commission of road traffic offences and apprehend road traffic offenders;(3) Conduct highly visible day and night traffic patrols to enforce traffic rules and regulations and clear highway of obstruction; (4) Enforce the use of bus stops and bus terminals. However, it unleashed terror on those it was meant to serve; and by the time the tenure of Governor Amaechi’s administration was winding down, the cry of Port Harcourt motorists against TIM-RIV was almost unbearable, leading to their disbandment at the outset of the Governor Wike’s administration.

With TIMA-RIV gone, it was laissez-faire again across Port Harcourt City, because a good number of us are inherently lawless, including members of the security agencies who are in the habit of showing the worst example on the road, especially when they ferry so-called big men across town. To plug the gap created by the disbandment of TIMA-RIV, in August 2019, Governor Wike inaugurated the Taskforce on Illegal Street Trading and Motor Parks following his assent of the Rivers State Street Trading, Illegal Markets & Motor Parks (Prohibition) Bill No. 8 of 2019.During the inauguration of the taskforce, the Governor reiterated that the task force has the responsibility of cleaning up the streets, and ensuring that nobody trades on roads; but most importantly, he said: “We are not inaugurating you to extort money from traders and mechanics.” Surprisingly, barely one year after their inauguration, the taskforce was dissolved by the Governor due to highhandedness, and other vices, including engaging in fights with motorists and street traders, which often led to the destruction of vehicles and goods and injuries to some members of the public. Although most of the illegal activities of some members of the taskforce were somewhat under the radar, the accident of a pregnant driver who eventually died as a result of mortal injuries sustained in a collision with a vehicle belonging to the taskforce around Agip Junction was the last straw that broke the camel’s back.However, because the roads in Port Harcourt cannot be left unattended, especially with the ever-increasing number of vehicles and commuters, the Governor reconstituted the taskforce in January 2021 under the leadership of DSP Felix Nwadibe (rtd).

Shortly after the inauguration of the new leadership of the taskforce, DSP Nwadibe, and his team went on a sensitisation tour around the city where he assured the public that: “the new outfit would maintain the expected civility of a new taskforce.” But in that same month, 11 members of the taskforce were sacked for extorting money from members of the public around Choba area in Obio/Akpor LGA of the state.That was a little more than two years ago, yet nothing has changed, and we can neither lay the blame at the feet of DSP Nwdibe, nor Governor Wike, because it is impossible to recruit saints from a corrupt society. Even if you succeed in recruiting a few, the rotten eggs will end up skewing the system for their personal gain, thereby destroying the well-intentioned plans of the government. Just last month, taxi drivers in the Rumuokoro Area of  Obio/Akpor  LGA shut down traffic in protest of a colleague that was beaten to death by members of the taskforce carrying placards with various inscriptions, including: “No more Taskforce”, “Wike save us”, “We’re tired of Extortion.” During the protest, a driver who identified himself as Wale said; “The man killed is such a quiet man. He was severely beaten and his head was hit on a concrete tarred road. We are tired of the high-handedness of the Taskforce.”Clearly, no intervention with minimal technological involvement can succeed in bringing sanity to the roads in Port Harcourt and its environs. And the reasons for this are apparent to all – a good number of us are unruly. But, when we go to some major cities, other states, or outside the country, we are quick to fall in line without being told, because we are unable to game the system. But in Nigeria, and Port Harcourt in particular, most residents are too big to wait for the green light. While some other road users willfully damage installations on the roads meant for the safety of the motoring public and pedestrians.

To be cont’d.
In this age of information technology, nothing can be left to chance. In fact, with all the new road networks, and flyovers constructed by Governor Wike, the next administration might not need a taskforce to achieve free-flowing traffic. Rather, with minimal personnel it can bring sanity to Port Harcourt roads with the deployment of ICT and traffic management technology. This approach will spare us the incivility of taskforce and police officers. In part two of this opinion, I shall present comparable success stories from cities in Nigeria and other countries, with special attention to technological trends in the field of smart traffic management and enforcement. It will be interesting to see how traffic offenders can be brought to book without any compulsion using what is obtainable in Rwanda as an example; my intention is to show us that the city of Port Harcourt is ripe for traffic management technology.

By:  Raphael Pepple

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Opinion

Humanity and Sun Worship

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2 weeks ago

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September 8, 2025

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Quote:”In this, the solar messiah lives on—not confined to any one culture or doctrine, but as a timeless symbol of humanity’s deepest longing for light, life, and liberation”.
From when man became conscious of his environment and began to gaze into the velvety night skies for answers to the mystery and bewilderment of his existence, his imaginative sensibilities took his thoughts in every conceivable and inconceivable direction. His observations of the visible cosmos informed speculations and conjectures that birthed beliefs. Naturally, this differed from community to community and reflected the peculiarities of peoples across the ethnocultural mosaic of humanity. Obviously, the most visible sky body that impacted and still impacts man’s everyday life is the sun. Stealthily, it sneaks up from the eastern horizon without a sound and chases away the dread of cold and darkness of the night, warms the body and provides illumination for man’s daily survivalist activities until darkness sets in and swallows it at the west end of the horizon. With time, man realised the positive effect of the sun on animals and crops, man’s source of sustainability. Thus commenced the belief in the sun as the giver and sustainer of life, hence sun worship across the world. What a benevolent mysterious entity in the clouds! What a worshipful entity!  Beliefs are imbibed through acculturation and insipid indoctrination handed down from antiquity through customs, tradition, folkways and more. Generally, beliefs are accepted as given, without question; so, they are based on delusions and illusions. Confronted with facts, beliefs are either discarded or morphed into knowledge inforrmed by education, empiricism and science; most beliefs yield to new knowledge just as theories respond when confronted by facts in the Hegelian tradition.      . For instance, it was believed that planet earth is flat until Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) committed what was considered “heresy” by contending that it is spherical. On the orders of the Holy See, Galileo was tied to the stake until he recanted.
Eventually, science proved otherwise, thereby jettisoning the old belief and vindicating Galileo. Today, the spherical essence of the earth is elementary Geography. Hosea says that “my people suffer because of lack of knowledge”. Also, man is admonished to “ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you”. These two Biblical injunctions categorically nudge man towards Gnosticism, which is, succinctly stated, knowledge. It therefore behoves humanity to consistently and persistently seek knowledge towards improving the human condition, and attaining atonement (at-one-ment) with God (whoever or whatever He, She, They or It is). A study of major world religions shows that from Horus of Egyptian mythology to Jesus of Christian theology, there were numerous messianic figures whose epic share instructive commonalities with that of Jesus; incidentally, these figures preexisted Jesus with the minimum of five centuries. A chronology of these religious figures is as follows: Horus (Egypt, 3000BC), Attis (Greek, 1200BC), Mithra (Persia, 1200BC), Krishna (India, 900BC) and Dionysus, (Greek, 500BC). The commonalities in the epics are that they were (1) of mysterious birth (born of virgin), (2) born on December 25, (3) visited at birth by three star-guided wisemen/kings, (4) survived infanticide, (5) child prodigy at twelve, (6) had twelve followers, (7) known by the same gestural names such as “Lord of Lords”, “Prince of Peace”, “Savior” etc., (8) performed wondrous works, and ((9) killed, buried and resurrected on the third day. Specifically speaking, an incisive look at the above phenomenon shows that the epic of Jesus is a replica of Horus who was baptised by Anup the Baptizer (John the Baptist?) at the age of thirty years, raised El-Azur-us (Lazarus?) and had the same sobriquets: “The way, the truth, the light”, “the Messiah”, “God’s anointed son”, “Son of Man”, “the good shepherd”, “lamb of God”, “the Word”, “the morning star” and “the light of the world”.
 Reacting to the uncanny commonalities in the multiplicity of theological posturing across religions, Thomas Paine (1737-1809) opined that “the Christian religion is a parody on the worship of the sun in which they put a man called Christ in the place of the sun and pay him the adoration originally payed to the sun”. Again, it is worrisome that the disciples of Jesus and virtually all biblical characters bear English names rather than Jewish or Palestinian names. Given this and the fact that they do not bear Roman names since Palestine was under Roman imperialism at the time, is telltale of strong English influence in the Christian scripture; this view is furthered by the fact that Shakespeare is carefully and craftily obfuscated in Psalm. With the above, a thawed mind would certainly agree with Paine who, in rejecting the doctrines of institutional religion, averred that “my country is the world and to do good is my religion”.  Obviously, the epic of these messianic figures is a reenactment of the same old astro-theological account of the sun’s annual journey on the equinox, the Winter Solstice. Undoubtedly, from Horus to Jesus, man has been neck deep in the practice of sun worship. The multiplicity of belief systems with broad philosophical diversities and sometimes contradictory and conflicting tenets impress the individual with discerning mind that humanity is groping in the dark with each religious group claiming to be the right way. Perhaps, this informed the averment of Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka thus: “I am not a Christian or Muslim; neither am I an Atheist. I am a humanist; I believe in Humanism”; this is an echo of Thomas Paine. B From the falcon-eyed Horus of ancient Egypt to the crucified and risen Christ of Christianity, the motif of the solar savior has echoed across civilizations as a profound symbol of renewal, hope, and cosmic order.
Each figure—whether Mithras emerging from the rock, Dionysus reborn from death, Krishna revealing divine light, or Zoroaster proclaiming truth against darkness—embodies a facet of the sun’s eternal cycle: birth, death, and resurrection. These stories are not merely religious doctrines but reflections of a deeper mythological and psychological archetype rooted in the human experience of nature, time, and the search for meaning. The sun, in its rising and setting, becomes a metaphor for life’s cyclical nature, and the messiah—a figure who overcomes death to bring light—becomes the vessel for humanity’s spiritual aspirations. While the names, cultures, and theologies may differ, the archetypal solar messiah remains constant: a divine figure who brings order out of chaos, light out of darkness, and life out of death. Recognizing these shared motifs does not diminish the unique identities of these traditions; rather, it reveals a universal spiritual  grammar through which humans, across time and space, have sought to express the inexpressible.
The eternal return of the solar savior is not just a religious myth—it is a mirror of the enduring human hope that after every night comes dawn, after every fall comes rising, and after every death, a possibility of rebirth. In this, the solar messiah lives on—not confined to any one culture or doctrine, but as a timeless symbol of humanity’s deepest longing for light, life, and liberation. The spirituality of the Torah, Bhagavad Gita, the Holy Bible, the Noble Quran and literature of other religions is absolutely in no doubt; they are indubitably, Books of Life. However, man must study them with his intellect switched on in order to discard the numerous fairytales and authorial biases. This thawed state of mind enables the true seeker to burrow beneath the narratives and unearth the deep meanings that are obfuscated in allegories, parables, metaphors and other “dark sayings”.
 Humanity should realise that regardless of geology and ideology, we share the same biology; therefore, we should jettison the mind control beliefs in vicarious remission of sins, the promise of multiple voluptuous virgins etc. and work towards the brotherhood of man. Imagine a world without the divisive and destructive doctrines of institutional religion; where there is nothing to kill or die for; a world where people do to others as they wish others do unto them; where humanity returns to pre-Babelian linguistic singularity or communicates by telepathy; a world that eschews greed and men look out for each others’ need; a world in which global cohesion is such that the races (Black, Red, Yellow, and White) coalesce into one colour and humanity becomes a race of tan.    Utopian? It is realizable if only man embraces the consciousness of the Divine, devoid of the man-made doctrines of institutional religion. That would be the Biblical Land of Canaan and St. Augustine’s City of God, which is governed by King Solomon’s “the righteous” and Plato’s “philosopher king”.
By: Jason Osai
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Opinion

When Global Peace Hangs In The East

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2 weeks ago

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September 8, 2025

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Quote:”As  crises anywhere reflect everywhere, households around the world have continued to suffer the consequences of a global economy strained by supply chain pressures of prosecuting wars”.
It was alarming to watch the heavy military exchanges between Israel and Iran as witnessed weeks ago. The strategies and technologies deployed were enthralling, yet regrettable for the trail of destruction. Disturbingly, our big, wide planet harbours no safe places anymore, nor any impregnable shields, as no part of the earth is anymore off-limits from the destructive ordnances of military volleys. Yet that Israel-Iran clash was just one out of many Israel have had to fight since 2023. Elsewhere in Eastern Europe, another heart-rending carnage had been raging since 2021 in Ukraine. Hostilities in the Middle-East and Eastern Europe, even as they continue to drain world resources have proved almost intractable, as well as presenting the foremost opportunities for testing the latest arms technologies. It’s puzzling how upon vows by several US regimes to disengage from costly foreign combats, the East appears to ensnare the West in ways that complicate roles and intensions. As  crises anywhere reflect everywhere, households around the world have continued to suffer the consequences of a global economy strained by supply chain pressures of prosecuting wars. Throttled by Gaza wars, commodity prices skyrocketing since 2021 have spread hardships that breed unrest around the globe. While hostilities between the Israelis and Palestinians are rooted in ancestry, those in Eastern Europe stem from the emergence of Marxist theories in the late 19th centuries, the consequential revolutions and the dawning of disillusionment. It’s noteworthy to examine the issues.Whereas historical records in the Egyptian Merneptah Stele, site Israelis as early as the 13th century BC existing as two kingdoms of Israel and Judah (the precursor for Jew) in an area then referred to as ‘Canaan,’ Arabs had arrived more than a millennium later.
Around the eighth century BC Israelis had been conquered by the Assyrians who deported most to Babylonia. A dynasty having been progressively erased, Israelis as captives changed overlords from Assyrians to the Romans up until about AD 135 when following a failed Jewish revolt, Roman Emperor Hadrian expelled Jewish remnants from Jerusalem and coalesced the city into “Syria-Palestina,” Palestina been coined from Philistine, a coastal arch-enemy to Israel. Later on as Israelis remained scattered globally in exile, Islamic conquests that swept from the Arabian Peninsula in the seventh century BC over-took the Romans to capture the Middle-East, bringing-in a large number of Arab settlers. 1,200 years later, from the reigns of the Abbasid Caliphate to the Ottoman Empire, the Arabs had reached an overwhelming majority in the region, with a diminished Jewish minority.  By 1917, the territory which included present day Jordan fell under the control of the British who in 1923 named it “Mandatory Palestine.”Meanwhile, racial antagonism against Jews as strangers grew in Europe, culminating in the holocaust of the Second World War, thus forcing Diaspora Jews to yearn for return to their ancestral homeland. The longing for the city of Zion whereupon an independent Jewish state of Israel would be established, became the metaphor that drove a nationalistic movement known as Zionism. But tensions mounted as world stakeholders, driven by sympathy over the horrors of the holocaust, supported Jews to return home to a territory already occupied by Arabs. It turned explosive when, in 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 181 that partitioned Mandatory Palestine into “Independent Arab and Jewish States.”
Had Iran and other opposing Arab nations seen the need to accommodate that resolution, the decades of bloody clashes could have been averted. Iran however got flipped between being a foe, or an ally to Israel, up until 1979 when revolutions swept-off a friendlier monarchy, turning Iran into an anti-Israeli, anti-American theocracy that, projecting radical Shiite Islamism, set as avowed state policies the goals of ‘annihilating’ Israel and expelling her allies from the Middle-East. The suspicion against America became outstanding as it was accused of helping stage a coup d’états that reinstated the Shah in 1953. Ever since, Iran’s Supreme Revolutionary Council headed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, later succeeded by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, engaged Israel in proxy wars by allegedly spearheading an “Axis of Resistance,” of teams of armed Islamist Shiites who surrounding Israel, amass and point thousands of weapons against it.  Faced by Hamas in Lebanon, Hezbollah in Palestine, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, and recently by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the Taliban and Al-Qaida in Afghanistan, Israel posits in an existential, do-or-die warfare that sets the psyche of its nationals on daily combat readiness. The recent Gaza war and its regional spillovers since 2023 is one of such aftermaths, whereupon crossing the border into Israel on July 7, 2023, Hamas had attacked and killed over a thousand Israelis. Whereas Israel returned fire and destruction to Hamas in Lebanon, Hezbollah in Palestine, and helped topple a government in Syria, it got to ultra-escalation when it confronted Iran between June 13 and 24, 2025, in what is now referred to as the Twelve-Day War.
As short as the war lasted, it’s so far the mother of all Gaza spillovers. Even as it may reshape the future of the region’s power landscapes, it exposed an alarming reality that when nations point stockpiles of warheads against each, rather than engage in mutual co-existence, Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) becomes inevitable.For Eastern Europe, hostilities trace back to Marxism-inspired Bolshevik revolutions that created the defunct Union of Soviet Socialist Republic, a communist party headquartered in Russia. The disintegration of the USSR remains a point of remorse to a remnant of that era’s leaders who, craving for restoration of a lost era, are bent on expansionism, even as concerned nationalities object..
By: Joseph Nwankwor
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Opinion

Balancing Religious Freedom and Community Rights

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1 month ago

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August 18, 2025

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Quote:”Communities have rights to peace, safety, and quality of life. Noise pollution, crowds, or other impacts from religious activities can affect these rights. Balancing these interests requires consideration and dialogue”.

Religious freedom, as a fundamental human right, encompasses the liberty to practise, express, and change one’s religion or belief without facing persecution, discrimination, or restriction. This right is recognized in various international human rights instruments. Article 18  of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) provides for the protection of the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion. Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) further elaborates on this right. From the afore-mentioned, individuals have the right to practise their religion or belief in worship, observance,  and teaching. This includes expressing one’s religion or belief through speech, writing, or other means of communication.They also have the right to change their religion or belief if they choose to do so.
While Religious freedom supports personal autonomy and the ability to make choices about one’s beliefs and practices, it also promotes diversity and coexistence among different religious and belief groups in a society. It  is a cornerstone of human rights, contributing to the protection of other rights and freedoms. Religious freedom became imperative to save  individuals who face persecution or discrimination for their religious beliefs or practices, check governments or communities who impose restrictions on religious expression or practice, citing various reasons like security, public order, or cultural preservation.
On the other hand, community rights refer to the rights of a community to protect their interests, culture, well-being, and other aspects that are significant to the community’s identity and functioning. These rights can encompass various dimensions including cultural preservation, economic interests, and social well-being. Communities often have rights to preserve their cultural heritage, traditions, languages, and practices. This can include protection of cultural sites, practices, and expressions. Communities may also have rights related to the management and benefit from natural resources within their territories or rights to economic development that aligns with their interests. Communities can as well ensure the social well-being of community members, including health, education, and safety. Beyond helping communities  preserve their identity and cohesion  by protecting aspects that are crucial to their way of life, support their determinations in making decisions about their own affairs, community rights can be particularly important for protecting against external pressures or exploitation.
In some climes, balancing religious freedom with community rights is a delicate task. Religious institutions play vital roles, but their activities can impact neighbors. Finding harmony between these interests is key to peaceful coexistence. Religious freedom is a fundamental right, allowing individuals and groups to practice their faith freely. However, this right isn’t absolute and must be balanced against other community rights and interests. Communities have rights to peace, safety, and quality of life. Noise pollution, crowds, or other impacts from religious activities can affect these rights. Balancing these interests requires consideration and dialogue. Noise from churches, mosques, temples, or other religious institutions can disturb neighbors. Managing noise levels is one way to balance religious expression with community peace. Many places have laws or guidelines governing noise, crowds, or other impacts from religious activities.
Understanding and complying with these frameworks can help balance interests.Dialogue between religious institutions and neighbors can prevent conflicts. By engaging with the community, religious groups can understand concerns and find mutually acceptable solutions. Religious institutions should consider impacts on neighboring properties. This includes noise, traffic, parking, and other factors affecting quality of life. In practice, balancing religious freedom and community rights requires flexibility and understanding from both sides. Religious groups can adopt practices to minimize impacts, while communities can understand the importance of religious expression. Some religious institutions successfully balance their activities with community needs through considerate scheduling, sound management, and community engagement. These examples show that balance is achievable.
Challenges arise when religious groups feel their freedom is restricted or when communities feel impacted by religious activities. Open communication can help address these challenges. Engaging with the community helps religious institutions understand local concerns. This engagement can lead to solutions that respect both religious freedom and community rights. Local authorities can facilitate balance by providing guidelines or mediating discussions between religious groups and neighbors. Their role is crucial in ensuring both sides are heard. Balancing religious freedom and community rights requires respect for diverse perspectives. Communities are made up of various groups with different needs and rights. Religious institutions can mitigate impacts through soundproofing, scheduling adjustments, or other measures. These steps can help minimize conflicts with neighbors.
Religious institutions often contribute positively to communities through charity, education, or social services. Recognizing these benefits can foster understanding.When conflicts arise, addressing them through dialogue is preferable to legal action. Mutual understanding can lead to solutions benefiting both sides.Educating both religious leaders and community members about the need for balance can prevent conflicts. Awareness of mutual rights and interests is key. Flexibility and compromise are essential in balancing religious freedom and community rights. Both sides may need to adjust to find harmony. By balancing religious freedom with community rights, communities can be more harmonious and inclusive. Respect for all interests leads to peaceful coexistence.
Above all, careful consideration of human rights principles, respect for diversity, and mechanisms for dialogue and mediation remain the hallmark of a harmonious community and religious institutions relationship
Revisiting Asuu’s Demand
Bright Amirize
Quote:” It should be remembered that ASUU warned Nigerians long ago about the antics and strategies of neocolonisation, especially what follows after a nation has experienced a civil war.
An understanding or agreement reached between the Federal Government of Nigeria and Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in 2009, which had not been fully implemented, accounts for current threats by the lecturers to go on strike . One of the vital issues of vexation is the proliferation of universities in Nigeria, both public and private ones, whose qualities are not quite of global standards.  It is obvious to those who care to know the details and implications, that there is a proliferation of universities in Nigeria, whose results can hardly produce salutary outcomes in the future. What we find is that Nigerians who had made enormous wealth usually invest in 5- star hotel business, private universities,    a airlines, or in oil and gas related plants outside Nigeria. Conditions for the establishment of a private university are quite capital intensive, yet applications are many for going into such a venture.
    The demand for university education is quite high among Nigerians, thus making the proliferation of such institutions inevitable. Even with such high growth rate of universities, Nigerians scramble to go to foreign universities to study, in spite of the high cost involved in such ventures. Foreign universities also embark on scrambles to get Nigerians to seek for admissions in their institutions, despite opposition to influx of foreigner in European countries. During the tenure of Margaret Thatcher as British Prime Minister, there were Policies and moves to merge or reduce the number of tertiary institutions, because of the high costs of running and maintaining them. It is natural that when an economy is robust and friendly, states and private entrepreneurs engage in the expansion of universities, as a means of expanding the economic boom is often followed by a recession which can arise from squandering of riches and resources. Moreover, nothing is stable in human affairs.
          Therefore, the process of rise and fall of nations, organization and individuals, is common as vital aspects persons are allowed to mess up the economy rather than restore it to a robust shape again. Sadof human experiences. What can be sad is a situation where quacks, impostors and incompetent ly what some nations do during economic downturn is to exploit other naïve and unsuspecting nations, using corrupt individuals to allow foreign interpreneurs to undermine national interests.   It should be remembered that ASUU warned Nigerians long ago about the antics and strategies of neocolonisation, especially what follows after a nation has experienced a civil war. Neither can it be denied that oil and gas resources in Nigeria were key factors in the turn of events in Nigeria since 1970. ASUU’s postures on national issues did not go down well with military regimes between 1970 and 1999. Yet ASUU spoke up!
 To describe Nigeria as a fantastically corrupt nation would not tell the whole story of what undermined Nigeria’s economy. Rather, foreign interests exploited loop-hopes and weaknesses in Nigeria’s institutions to undermine the nation’s economy. For example, countries that manufacture exotic cars, which their citizens rarely use, look for foreign buyers, especially countries that invest in flamboyant and profligate lifestyles. Who would not want to import 100 exotic cars and have 10 free, even with double the price of each car? Nigerians, especially private entrepreneurs and state officials, are known to be smart procurers and rent seekers. Even in the procurement of students for foreign universities, Nigerians are making fast business. Foreign universities student population is made up largely by students from developing countries, to the extent that fear of an influx of migrants is creating unrest in many European countries. Foreign students stay put rather than return to their countries after their studies. Rather they seek to bring in their spouses or relations.
 While we are busy establishing more universities, both public and private ones, developed countries are embarking on practical, direct-experience and on-the-job training strategies. Thus universities rarely have local students, but lure students from developing countries. With so much emphasis on book-oriented learning, and non-availability of jobs after graduation, university education becomes more of cosmetic adornment, where certificate talks.  Patriotic Nigerians, who would not shy away from the truth, recognize that our plight includes frivolous hankering for tinsel rather than real gold. Rather than embrace merit and standards of lasting values, we are satisfied with flamboyant braggarts who have money to throw about, even if it requires mortgaging our conscience. Even in the university environment where ideal man-power building should be a priority, what we find is a shameless and mad rush for things that glitter, so long as they give some temporary palliative..
   It is quite sad that the stock or tribe of patriotic lecturers in the university system is diminishing fast. If that sector of a nation’s institutions is allowed to mortgage the original “Ivory-Tower ethics” then a nation’s destiny would be in jeopardy. Noble minds are still everywhere in this country but we don’t look for, recognize or encourage them. Even when they are mobilized for service, some tend to join the band-wagon.   Proliferation of universities should stop and effort be made to foster practical skill acquisition and investment in research and development, so that what we buy abroad can be produced locally. Why must we spend billions of naira to import electric meters and transformers when professionals in that field can be given the task and challenge of developing such products? Nation building is more of character building, made possible by exemplary and inspiring leadership. The culture of 25% budget padding must stop!
 
By: Sylvia ThankGod-Amadi 
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