In a democratic system of government, leaders are meant to be responsible for every of their actions and inactions. The citizens are also constitutionally right to make certain demands. . Essentially how they are being governed and how the resources that are meant for the public consumption are being harnessed.
This is the expected and obtainable modus operandi in any ideal society. However, this seems not to hold true in our own clime because of how democracy has overnight been transformed into Autocracy.
Whatever leaders does are thus seen as a show of kindness and mercy and not a function of their responsibility. Most of the masses show of displeasures over time have persistently met with a roadblock and an undeniable abuse of their intellects. The same people that voted them in amounts to nothing. Their struggles and clamours are seen as a mere noise and distraction. That is the irony of the society we find ourselves.
To an average American leaders, the masses concerns is a top list of their priority. Their leaders also may have their flaws, but at least to a reasonable extent, they have a listening ear and heart to their followers. The more reason they are democratically stable than we do and are termed developed world.
The opposite of the above is what is obtainable in our states. A retrospective look at the address given by the Governor of Oyo state to the aggrieved students of LAUTECH who have been on an incessant strike of eight month justifies the truism of this piece.
The video which went viral seemingly sounds and looks incredibly ridiculous that a friend of mine have to confirm if it is real. Well, I told him that, that is the sad reality of the nation we have found ourselves. When leaders become intellectually abusive, we only need a miracle to wriggle out of the whole mess.
That the school was closed for eight months does not even sound like a news in the hearings of our self-acclaimed constituted authorities. And these are men that rode on the wing of ‘Awolowo ideology’ when it comes to education in order to be trusted with power. How sad is it to see that they betrayed the ideology of this great sage?
For the Governor of the state to have said that, “This is not the first time the gate of the school will be closed and that it is not his problem” and many others is very sad and show the level of importance attached to the education in this part of the world. They cannot really know how wasteful eight months could be in the pursuit of one’s educational career since their wards are flown out of the country to study. And one can ask if this is the same manner in which schools were being closed down during their time.
The body language is a clear pontification to what may be the fate of education in this country in years to come. That a country can conveniently joke with the future of his youths is a pathetic development.
When the government of a state failed, it tends to seek for the lost identity. Leadership authority can only be sustained by good deeds with deep affection for the masses and not trying to earn it by beating your chest that they should know you are a constituted authority. It is just like a father telling his son that, don’t you know I am your father? If this happens, it means that there is a missing link- responsibility.
The constituted authorities have done little or nothing to better the situation of the country. Instead, they have caused us more havoc than expected. Their power is a shame to the integrity of a formidable education in the country.
I pray there is a quick sanctuary of reasoning wherein our leaders will be able to rightly evaluate how they have hemorrhage this sector and then put on a thinking cap on how to make things bounce back. Till then, we would continually be in a stupefying retrogression. It is not a curse but an unarguable reality of life.
It is time for our leaders to borrow not a modicum of common sense but a large bulk of knowledge from men like Nelson Mandela who believes that, “Education is the only potent tool to change the world” and not what can be treated as a trash bin. When we get to this stage, we can then say boldly that we are ready for a better tomorrow.
