By Peter Akpah
A renounced Consultant Psychiatrist Dr Piwuna Christopher Goson of the university of jos has in his opinion criticize the government for being none proactive in addressing some of the critical issues and problems affecting the state, Dr Piwuna disclosed this in a statement that’s has touched so may areas in the country as it relates to the socioeconomic and the main problems confronting the state and the nation at Large, the consultant came out with some critical areas as is matters the state and the state of the nation. For the past 8 months, the world has been abuzz with reports of increasing rate of infection and deaths of covid-19. From an infection rate of 1-2 in a week, Plateau has reported 150 in a day and instead of our leaders to brace up to reality, they shamelessly explain it away, that it is due to backlog of results, as if that makes it better and should not alarm us. Beside the structural hindrances created by long years of criminal neglect of the sector, there is also the very weak and uncoordinated, even confused manner in which the fight against the virus is been waged in Plateau. People should not be deceived, the figures they are giving the public cannot be relied upon, it is not reflective of the daily trend of the outbreak, and it could be much higher. Unfortunately, the fight is been led by HE, the governor himself. COVID-19 has revealed the long crimes of chronic neglect in the areas of health and education, leading to glaring inequalities in wages, housing and hunger. In societies where lives matter, more efforts are being made to mitigate the effects of this pandemic. We are witnesses to people who wait for days up to a week to receive positive result. What happens in between the days of waiting is obvious – spread. Everyone who lives in this state will agree with me that, the efforts of the state government to contain this virus have declined; it is shambolic and we are all left to our fate. While the public has a role to play and they are not playing it well in order to arrest the spread, government has the ultimate responsibility for our health. Individuals cannot control opening and closing of markets, governments do. Individuals cannot ramp up testing and tracing, governments do. Individuals due to poor leadership at all levels of government cannot address the economic hardship occasioned by the pandemic but governments can help. But what we have is the semblance of a government, a façade who often operate as if they are reading from a script with no clarity on what they need to do or total absence of mind to attend to issues affecting everyday Nigerian.
With the response by our government to this pandemic, we are heading for a black hole. To change course, government must do the following:
Give civil servants tax relief
Politicians who are saving their “stolen money” for elections should open food banks for the needy.
The elderly and the sick that do not have health insurance should be given their medication for free.
This is the time for members of the legislature who regularly collect constituency allowances to use it pay school fees for their constituents and examination fee for school children.
Government must revisit the opening of markets and public spaces, not with a view to shut them down totally, but ensure measures are in place to control the spread of the virus. Perhaps, why they have not done that already is because they don’t go to terminus market or Farin Gada market or even Kabong markets. They shop in controlled environments.
The Cycle of Violence
Most of the places all around the world that have peace, probably had war in the past. So, what stops us from having peace in our state and our nation? The reason is simple, that despite the several commissions of inquiry and peace initiatives, the so-called root causes of insecurity still persist because our leaders profit from these conflicts, otherwise, why are they not doing enough to fight poverty, low income earnings and the pervasive state of despair by fellow countrymen? Young people are drawn to violence and crime in an atmosphere of hopeless poverty. Life becomes cheap and violence and insurgency becomes the order of the day, with a weak state that primarily depends on quarterly subventions substantially increases the chances of unrest. That is why I find the comments by government officials at the federal level on the recent #RevolutionNow baffling to say the least. To be clear, I fully support a revolution but I differ with Omoyele Sowore in the means to revolutionize our country. I believe our country is too diverse and polarized- thanks to our leaders, to achieve a revolution as they want it. We have also suffered too much violence and bloodshed in this country, which disproportionately affects ordinary Nigerians, so, we must avoid any move that could lead to violence. We must find a class response of our own to what the ruling class is doing to us. What breeds violence in these protests is that those who are sitting on our resources are using violence against us by sending police with tear gas to arrest us. In the light of the above, I make the following recommendation.
All those who believe that our country has been ruined by the current rulers and the system should organize themselves, wherever they are, to throw out the “bandits” that occupy the 36 government houses in the country. Going to Abuja and Lagos alone, will not bring about the needed change. STAY WHERE YOU ARE AND ORGANIZE
Young people and all Nigerians should be encouraged to participate in democratic processes that will lead to change.
In Plateau State, in view of the unfolding reality, I call on the governor of Plateau, Mr. Simon Bako Lalong to resign his office for his lack of capacity and incompetence in achieving the vision/agenda he set for himself. There is no aspect of either the 5 point agenda or revised 3 point agenda that he has achieved.
I call on him as a lawyer to also resign his office as governor because he swore to protect and secure the state, something he has woefully failed to do. He and his government are always behind; paying condolences after violence have been visited on helpless citizens.
Failure to resign his office, the legislative arm of government should commence processes that will ease him out of office. Simple.
In conclusion, I urge all young people in this state to keep hope alive and use not only the social media to ‘drive the bandits’ out of our states, but organize themselves from bottom up. It is only when we develop the critical mass at the state level that we can effectively drive the government at the federal level and all their elitist collaborators out of government.
In Plateau, we like to say Plateau is a Christian State, therefore, as we come out of our Churches, we must determine in our hearts to speak the truth always. Plateau leaders and all those in government should tell the governor, enough is enough, resign and go, you have failed.
Lastly, I urge you to reflect on a stanza from the hymn ‘fading away like the star’ SS&S 798:
… “Only the truth that in life we have spoken,
Only the seed that on earth we have sown.
These shall pass onward when we are forgotten,
Fruits of the harvest and what we have done.
I am aware that some people will come after me for the position I have taken. It is ok. Some may argue that the problems did not start with his administration and so, why make the call now? My answer is that, we must begin somewhere. Leaders must be called to account for their time in office and justify the mandate given to them. If not now, then when? But please let us keep it civil, let us agree to disagree, but ultimately, let us generate discourse that will save our state, our nation and our families.
Be remembered for something, be remembered for Nigeria, and be remembered for Plateau.
Solidarity forever, aluta continua, Victoria acerta
Mr. Udo noted that the Government has done a lot in the area of testing and sensitization hence the decision of OSIWA to support the capacity of the State to respond to those affected and improve contact tracing by donating the ambulance.
Governor Lalong appreciated the gesture by OSIWA saying it has come timely as Plateau State has increased its capacity for testing and now clearly understands the magnitude of the disease.
He assured OSIWA that his administration was more than willing to partner in areas of peace building, inclusive and transparent governance as well as gender related matters.
Sourcenews24/update.com 