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THE 6-3-3-4 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM - FAILED IMPLEMENTATION LET NIGERIA DOWN - Lauretta Onochie

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It has bothered me in recent years why Nigeria, a nation of intelligent people is now saddled with many young people who cannot reason rationally with no articulacy skills.  You only have to watch your TV on Father's or Mother's day to see the extent of this problem. On these days, children in participating nations are interviewed about their parents. While four year olds elsewhere, are able to maturely articulate their points, nine year olds in Nigeria would only give mono-syllabled answers to leading questions, and then silence. Until another leading question comes then they answer "Yes" or "No" as the case may be. I was a National Youth Service Corp teacher in Nigeria when the 6-3-3-4 system was still at its trial stage. At the time, I thought it was an effective education formula that would bring about the much needed positive revolution in our educational system if well-implemented. And because proper and sound education is the bedrock of de

THE PRESIDENTIAL INSULT - DANIEL C.D ONYEMAKA

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President Goodluck Jonathan Like failed manifestos and vague promises erected on empty platform of inconsequential annexation of helpless Nigerians, the attacks and blood-letting have remained incessantly unstoppable. We now live in the wake of dawn of more promises heralded by the President and his spokespersons whenever such attacks are launched on innocent Nigerians. The question therefore is, "When will the occupants of Aso Rock run out of consolidation messages which they send out to the people whenever such a dastardly incident occurs without conscientious actions to arrest same. One would have wished we fought a civil war three years ago, at least, it would have probably  abated by now and freedom and safety won't be locked up in political cellular by now unlike the unpredictable recipe which we now face with our steps being calculated and counted like those walking on a field littered with fragmentation of bombs set to explode. Without mincing words,

GIVE US BUHARI, THE LEADER WE NEED - Lauretta Onochie

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Nigerians deserve better. We have just been unfortunate because we have not been given a fair chance at choosing our leaders. Corrupt and irresponsible state 'politrickcians', who are the local leprous fingers of the cabal are used to choose and impose their surrogates on Nigerians. These surrogates were used to suffocate Nigerians in a one-party-state that had a choking grip on a cluster of regional political parties. But Nigerians deserved better!  And then there was light! At the end of the tunnel, there was light! APC is the All Progressive Congress, the newest formed political party in Nigeria. It was the coming together of some of the smaller political parties in opposition. It was a MERGER which came as a result of the realisation that our nation was drifting to the edge of the precipice, in all aspects of our nationhood. Patriots, who wanted to serve our nation more profitably came together. Even progressives who were choking within the PDP, made a dash for

"THEY'RE ALL THE SAME" IS NOT A POLITICAL PARTY IN NIGERIA! - Lauretta Onochie

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I cannot count how many times I have been told, "This is Nigeria, not UK". It's usually in response to my democratic nonsense. I am a democrat. I also live in a democratic society. I was born in Nigeria. I grew up in Nigeria too. So I have a fairly good understanding of how we do things in Nigeria. I also have an understanding of what governance means in Nigeria. It's meaning and style are a far cry from what they mean, even in Ghana. Then I stumbled on a word, an English word. "Change". So many of us' Nigerians, began to dream. We began to imagine how this word, "Change", could transform the lives of all Nigerians. We dreamed of heights hitherto unattained by Nigerians that we could now attain as individuals and as a nation because of "Change"! We dreamed of reclaiming our position as the giant of Africa that roared in the days of apartheid and the world listened. We dreamed of our leaders standing shoulder to shoulder w

THE CURRENT IGBO ARE "INFERIOR IGBO." - Obi Nwakanma.

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Nwanna, Many years ago, the General, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu spoke about the "Biafra of the mind." Only a few, I think, understood him. Well, they say, only the deep speak to the deep.  But let me attempt here to tease out Dim Ojukwu's prescription: the greatest proof of Igbo survival and aspiration must be to model, wherever Onye-Igbo stands, the ethos of innovation, excellence, ingenuity, and ability that marked the Igbo endeavor in Biafra. We must also use Biafra as the stepping stone to a higher vision of the Igbo place in the world.  There is no single proof or evidence today that the Igbo of this generation are capable of transforming any nation to which they lay claim. I have looked; I have studied the Igbo situation, and I have listened to my Igbo kinsmen, and I think something is fundamentally wrong: the Igbo are trapped in a deadening hate, self-pity and nostalgia. It is the kind of nostalgia that is both defeatist and deadly because it continu

DANGEROUS TIMES ARE HERE - NIGERIAN CRISIS AND MATTERS ARISING - PSF

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We would like to use this opportunity to commiserate with friends and families of Nigerians who lost their lives in the recent car park bombing of innocent Nigerians by merchants of death and Terrorists, suspected to be members of the “out-law” group, BOKO HARAM. We commiserate with the families of over two thousand Nigerians who have lost their lives across the northern part of our country in the last few years. We also pray for the full and speedy recovery of the entire injured and sick still in various hospitals and health care centres in and around the Federal capital city of Abuja and others convalescing at home after the tragic and fatal bombing of the Nyanya, Abuja park last Monday the 15th of April, 2014. We, the PROGRESSIVE SOLIDARITY FORUM (PSF), are concerned that the Federal government approach to resolving the Boko Haram crisis does not seem to be effective in resolving the issues surrounding the crisis, and the unnecessary loss of lives, now running into Thousands, l

A CASE FOR JUSTICE - CHIEF EMMA EJIOFOR.

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I have, once again become a year older. My brothers, sisters, friends, well-wishers and associates overwhelmed me with beautiful, soul-stirring messages of goodwill, which continue to strengthen me as I relentlessly wade through labyrinths of life. I remain indebted to all of you and I can only wish it was possible to pay personal visits to all of you to express my gratitude. As I become a year older, it is only fit and proper for me to have some reflections on one or two issues, especially the much vexed issue of the endless search for justice. The search or pursuit of justice has never been easy anywhere in the world. It is a noble cause fit only for the focused and determined individuals who are ready to seek the common good for the greater number of people. In the pursuit of justice, which culminated in the historic black man becoming the President of the most powerful nation on earth, Martin Luther King once said, “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable … Every

PARTIES BEYOND POLITICS - PAT UTOMI

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The season of politics is upon us. Should be a time to enjoy being a citizen. A time to hold people who were elected yesterday accountable and those who seek to be elected tomorrow show how their lives before desiring public office showed public spirit and service to others as well as capacity to get things done. Unfortunately, our politics does not always follow democratic expectations. While all hands need to be on deck to make that change, a few needling issues with the partnership of the moment need reflection. One of them is the limit of partisanship. The nature of traditional western Competitive partisan politics is adversarial, just like the law courts prosecutorial tradition. The sometimes unhealthy divisiveness of that tradition is the reason one argued for the one party starter in post Colonial Africa, to safeguard the unity of the colonially forged states with many centripetal forces puling at the core of its essence. All quickly found that the one-party state was an

A MISSED OPPORTUNITY? - Lauretta Onochie

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Nigeria has been seething. This is no more news. A lot has been happening and still continues to happen. The elasticity of the patience of Nigerians has been stretched beyond those of any known people on planet earth. Yes corruption and all sorts of evil have made Nigeria their abode. None of these happenings has brought joy nor reprieve from the sufferings of Nigerians in recent times. We just sit tight and take it all in our strides. We moan a little bit and then we move on to the next unwholesome news. What is wrong with us? What sort of fabric are we cut from? "What is wrong with us?", I ask again. No one can fathom what is wrong with Nigerians. The world keep wondering about us and we keep amazing them with our docility. We have gone through the fuel subsidy scam to its investigation, to the concerted effort by the Jonathan administration to discredit and kill the fuel subsidy scam report, using monarchs, government officials and PDP leaders. Nigerians reacted t