Growing up as a young boy, I was raised in a very remote but comfortable and humble background so much that the upbringing of every child in the neighborhood seems to be a community responsibility rather than of parents or the immediate family. While the benefits are conspicuously traceable in virtually all my endeavors, I beg to default for once and it is my hope that thousand will join me in this resolution.
I call my resolution a default because while growing up as a child, I was taught severally that no matter the suavity of speech, the reward for a good speech is silver and that of silence is golden. To buttress this cultural norm (value), both philosophers and counselors have countless justified the benefits of silence ranging from keeping someone free from been misunderstood to saving someone of speaking rubbish as the case may be.
However, I find solace in the words of Albert Einstein where he said-“the world is a dangerous place to live in-not because of the people who are evil but because of the people who don’t do anything about it” to say the reward for silence cannot be golden at a time like we are presently facing in Kogi state. There can’t be any golden reward for keeping quiet while the oppressed are desperately in need of who to speak on their behalf.
To set the records straight, Kogi state has never had it as bad as it is facing today, pensioners have never been subjected to hardship as they are currently into, civil servants never imagined a day when salary alert will be like a ticket to paradise here on earth, no trader ever envisaged a time when all goods will be sold out on credit without the tendency of getting at least an equivalence of the purchase cost. Death toll has increased abysmally as a result of poor nutrition and starvation.
It is very unfortunate that labor unions which were solely established to speak for and uphold the common interest of her members have all suddenly gone into extinction without shadows to at least use in tracing her stand. For the very first time, civil servants/pensioners screening and verification exercise lasted for almost a year and alas! No lesser than fifty percent of the state’s legitimate, physical, working and age long staff were declared ghost workers in day light.
For some weeks now, affected staff in various MDAs of the state is demonstrating their grievance but the umbrella body which is NLC and TUC are showing little or no remorse. In the past, developments like this are taken to industrial court by the NLC but today only God knows who is speaking for the affected staff. Overtime, traditional rulers are highly revered and by extension serve as the last bridge for resolution in matters like this but today, traditional rulers in the state seem to be in very shabby conditions too.
By and large, nothing will change if everybody maintains the quietness. “Silence is no longer golden; Kogi state is deteriorating and we hold it a duty to revive. All hands must be on deck truthfully and religiously. The protests which was reported to have taken place at Kogi state polytechnic Lokoja among other testimonies are overwhelming evidences to say the kogi state staff verification and screening exercise committee only carried out staff downsize as against the ghost workers it claim to rid off the state wage bill. Unarguably, this has subjected a lot of families into perpetual hardship, poverty, disease and untimely death caused by the inability to meet up with health demands.
Finally, I call on the state house of assembly to as a matter of urgent public importance look into the activities of the state government, utilization of bailout funds, Paris club refund use and other excesses that may be grossly responsible for the decay kogi is heading into. In conclusion, I wish to appeal to our labour leaders, spiritual leaders and traditional rulers to wake from their comfort zones and speak up against executive recklessness and maladministration. No doubt, Kogi will be truly great again!
By Comrade A M Nasir
naadejohs@gmail.com
07068416768
