10/12/2017
UNBUDDLING THE PLOTS AGAINST KWARA YOUTHS
10/12/2017
The developments in Kwara state along time, and more obviously in the recent clime are highly unfair, unacceptable and condemnable by any progressive and forward thinking Kwaran as it is not only antithetical to youth development but spells doom for social stability, economic growth and prosperity of Kwara state and its people.
The prevailing Kwara under Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed is a Kwara where the children of the poor and average Kwarans, who predominate the Kwara populace are strategically deprived the opportunity of affordable education, a Kwara where the potentials of commoners are tactically prevented from actualization, a Kwara where the citizens are overwhelmed with distrust and suspicion of the ruling class on every policy made and actions taken. This is because the government in place has practically convinced Kwarans with its inconsistency, insensitivity and gross display of lack of compassion.
Reminiscing over some of the events that unfolded lately, I was left with the conclusion that these actions of our dear state government are nothing but a plot against the youth populace. Do we talk about the exorbitant fees you have to pay as tuition in the only state owned University in Kwara state (KWASU), the exponentially increasing tuition fess of the Kwara state polytechnic on annual basis and that of Kwara state College of Arabic and Islamic Legal Studies (CAILS), the seemingly unending strikes of our state owned Colleges of Educations (COEDs), the poor state of educational infrastructures across all level of education in Kwara state or the latest tuition fees fixed for the newly commissioned International Vocation and Technical College (IVTEC) amounting to #325,000 to learn building, welding, automotive among others? It is noteworthy that trainees are to incure training material and personal protection tools expenses on their own distinct from the terminal tuition fees.
As a government, it is expected to be its responsibility to ensure the interest of the citizens are protected and their prosperity guaranteed, either socially, economically or physically. Any government acting in contravention to the stated objectives is nothing but an irresponsible government. An irresponsible government is such that is inconsistent, one whose policies and actions are neither in tandem with the interest of her people nor in congruence with national pursuit. This is a period of economic resuscitation from the shocks of economic recession, a period where all hands are on desk to diversify the Nigerian economy away from oil, consequently, the Federal Government through its agents such as Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Bank of Industry (BOI) among others have accelerated its efforts in promoting entrepreneurship through the encouragement of technical training in a bid to ensure we have small business owners whom have been found to be drivers of economic growth in developed countries like China and the United State.
Just June 2016, the Federal Government of Nigeria through the ITF under the National Industrial Skill Development Program (NISDP) trained over 300 Kwarans in Aluminium Fabrication, Painting Technology and Catering Services free of charge. Each participant was paid #5,000 stipend on a monthly basis for transport and other logistics for the training and presented certificates after the training. The same thing is applicable to the River State Vocational and Technical College (RVTEC), where enrolment is free for all River State indigenes and all trainings available at our own IVTEC, Ajase-Ipo is available there as well. In addition, each trainees of Rivers decent are entitled to #20,000 monthly salary. But our Kwara government charges as high as #350,000 to provide our youths the same training. This is a typical injustice against Kwarans.
The relevance of my narration is to convincingly identify the government with the holistic interest of truly empowering the youths for local prosperity and national productivity and the government with the parochial objective of continuous exploitation and exclusion of its own citizen from the public goods produced from their common patrimony. It demonstrates a clear distinction between the government that desires and working for its own people to thrive and the government that is insensitive of the plight of its people and only poised to instill perpetual deprivation, poverty and penury on them. If you make education and vocational training unaffordable, what should be the hope of the poor people to survive?
I am sure your minds will be bewildered with the thought that; ‘is it compulsory for the wards of a common man to be trained at IVTEC?’No, it is not compulsory, but the implication of such outrageous tuition fees is the fact that it becomes a reference point for artisans who charges very meager or even no price for training their apprentices to also raise their prices, instead of our own government to encourage affordable vocational learning, it has brazenly discouraged it and Kwarans should not be surprised to witness a surge in apprenticeship fees charged by artisans, they should hold Kwara state government responsible for that. Secondly, there is no reasonable justification for making public goods unaffordable for taxpayers! If youths are dropped out of school because of extremely high tuition fees and dropping out to face the reality that he/she cannot afford apprenticeship, it must be the case that our government is writing to social calamity born out of the economic equality they are deliberately imposing on us all.
This is a civil servant state where our parents earns salaries that are not near competitive on the national scale, their salary structures have remained the same over the years, the tuition fees of the wards are however subjected to annual increment without any meaningful development in our higher institutions of learning. It is therefore clear that a serious war has been declared by Kwara state government against the youths of Kwara state, if they are not fair to us, it will be so unfortunate for us to also be unfair to ourselves. It is always very sad when the same youths are their agents of chaos, bedeviling and falsehood propagation.
Let’s begin to ask them why their wards were never engaged in defending their fathers and mothers, let’s begin to ask why their own wards are not “Good Boys” leaders, let’s begin to ask why their wards are not attending our public institutions that they are even making unaffordable to us. Until they can provide justifiable answers to these questions, fronting for them on some subjective grounds as youths will amount to doing great injustice to ourselves.
“If the Bourgeois can unite against us, let’s not be divided against ourselves”.
Comr. Ibrahim Sheriff (Gold) is a Masters Student of Kwara State University and a Kwaran Socio-Political Analyst, he is also a Columnist and Sub-Editor with Fresh Insight Newspaper.
