Continued from last week
IT is in order speedily to lift Nigeria out of the quagmire of underdevelopment, and then quickly develop her that four cardinal programmes, which I will now restate, have been formulated.
Free education at all levels: We advocate that free education in all the institutions of learning and instruction, throughout Nigeria should be introduced forthwith. We advocate that as from the next school session, secondary education should, like primary education, become compulsory. Textbooks should be free at all levels. Adult education should also be free either as from this year, or as soon from next year as arrangements for its introduction can be completed.
Education is, as we have noted a fundamental right, and it is the inalienable right of every Nigerian citizen to be educated free by the State. To treat education as a privilege, the opportunity to acquire which is limited to the children of the well-to-do and the rich, or which must be paid for from loan given to the student by the state, is a most misguided policy. Consequently, we insist that all loans given to students in this connection, which remained unpaid as at October 1, 1979, should be written off forthwith, if they have not been written off already.
For the avoidance of doubt, by free education we mean the abolition not only of fees but also of all kinds of levies, by whatever name called that are still being imposed and collected in some parts of the country.
Already what we advocate under education are already being implemented in the five states controlled by the UPN. But our advocacy is for the whole of Nigeria. These is no attempt here to ram any programme down the throat of any Governor. However, it must be borne in mind that certain parts of the country have lost twenty-one years in the race for free universal primary education, with resultant deep-seated suspicions on the part of the educational “have nots” towards the educational “haves.”
As a corporate entity, the country cannot afford a further widening of the gap. I believe that practically all the Governors would like to see young Nigerians under their respective care educated free at all levels, if they have adequate funds. Here Alhaji Shehu Shagari comes in. The salvation of the country, and the full development of all our citizens, especially the young and adolescence are in the hands of the twenty of them. They must see to it that in the allocation of revenue, the full development of every Nigerian — his education and health — is given the topmost priority. Anyone who makes this impossible will be committing an unremissible crime against Nigeria and its good people.
Integrated rural development: Under this programme, we intend to transform the rural areas so that those who inhabit therein may enjoy a new lease of life. The programme, therefore, entails more than the mere improvement of farming technique or what Alhaji Shehu Shagari calls “green revolution.” It includes the reorganisation of the rural areas into optimum communities or OPTICOMS which will be provided with all the modern amenities that town-dwellers enjoy, such as primary and secondary schools; teacher-training, technical, agricultural, and commercial colleges, etc., pipeborne water, electricity, decent housing, and roads, and of course, modernisation of farming methods, including efficient storage and marketing with a view to enhancing considerably the incomes of farmers, and their standards of living.
Free health care: This programme embraces both preventive and curative health care for all.
Other things being equal the productivity of everyone of us, in any sphere, depends on the degree of health each of us enjoys. And if our aim is to develop every Nigerian in order that Nigeria may become developed, then it is the duty of the Government of the day to ensure that everyone of us is as healthy as modern medical science can be make him. Our emphasis is on preventive health care, because we realize that prevention is not only better but also cheaper than cure.
In this connection it must be further .emphasized that the maintenance of good health does not consist in the use of curative or preventive medications alone. According to WHO’s definition.
Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well- being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
To keep well and healthy, every Nigerian needs, in addition to all the things we have mentioned on health care, suitable and adequate food, suitable and adequate shelter, and suitable and adequate clothing. But we all know that he cannot procure food, shelter, and clothing in suitable and adequate quantum unless he has the wherewithal. And all of us — especially those of us who are called upon now top lead the country — all of us also know that the vast majority of our people lack the wherewithal, so much so that they hunger and starve all the days of their lives. It is for this and other reasons that we insist on a national minimum living wage, and an agricultural revolution which will make it possible for farmers to earn a living income. In short, we insist that our economic policy should be so fashioned and oriented as to raise the minimum wage of workers or the minimum income of farmers to at least N200.00 per month.
Full employment: From our point of view, one of the worst contributories to economic underdevelopment is underemployment or unemployment of human resources. If man is the sole creative and purposive dynamic in nature, as we have rightly identified him to be, no stone should be left unturned – first to develop him, and then to employ him.
This epitomizes what should be our national objectives — the full development and the full employment of every Nigerian citizen. These are the primary objectives which we earnestly pursue; and which we ardently commend for acceptance by all those who have the best interests of all our people at heart, and who are conscientiously intent on the peace, progress and stability of Nigeria, and on the harmonious relationship among the diverse groups within the Federation.
Once again, I most warmly congratulate the Governor, Chief Bisi Onabanjo, and the entire people of Ogun State on the Silver Jubilee Anniversary of the introduction of Free Universal Primary Education in Ogun State.
Concluded