IF Gov. Fashola truly loves Lagos State let him leave a self-generative legacy. A legacy that will build the infrastructures of an enduring solution to the states problem. A legacy that will regenerate itself. That legacy is EDUCATION.
Plato goes further by saying: “If the citizens are well educated, they will readily see through the difficulties that beset them and meet emergencies as they arise”. He further believes that education is the positive means by which the ruler can shape human nature in the right direction to produce a harmonious state.
One of America’s most popular Presidents-John F. Kennedy once said: “Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in Education”. Another great philosopher, Horace Mann, believes that: “A human being is not in any proper sense human till he is educated”. Peter Broughman also contends that “education makes people easy to lead but difficult to drive, easy to govern but impossible to enslave”.
Aristotle who was the most outstanding student of Plato also puts it very brutally thus: “Educated men are as much superior to uneducated men as the living are to the dead”. Aristotle believes that uneducated men are like dead men.
The present status quo concerning education in Lagos is to enslave Lagosians and make it possible for them to know only violence as their fundamental human right, as it is impossible to enslave the masses when they are educated.
The Lagos State government must know that such an astronomical increase in school fees will only keep the students at home and worsen the crime rate in the State. In the short term, Fashola will continue to win his elections with these uneducated masses but in the long run, they will make Lagos State ungovernable for the Governor through violence which is the only language they have been taught, tuition free.
How does Gov. Fashola expect a man on N 10,000.00 (ten Thousand naira only) per month to pay School fees of N348000.00 (for medical students) per session? Even most state goverments have not accepted to pay the slave wage of N18, 000.00 per month as advised by the Federal Government.
The Lagos State government has not told Lagosians the truth about its internally generated revenue, IGR. While the government puts this at N18, billion monthly, an unofficial source in Alausa puts it at over N60 billion. With the monthly Federal allocation of N6 billion, Lagos State Government official monthly revenue is estimated at N22 billion, while unofficial sources put total revenue accruing to Lagos at about N66 billion.
This source also adds that revenue figures from the 2010 Fashola-introduced property tax are mind-boggling. Even let us assume that each property/house pays a conservative N3000, Lagosians should themselves calculate the billions from that sum.
Governor Fashola should be grateful to the society that educated him free of charge. It is, therefore, an unpardonable ingratitude and a heinous crime for him now to shoot and kill these same people who educated him, for depriving a people of education is tantamount to murder in line with Aristotle’s reasoning that “educated people are as much superior to uneducated people as the living are to the dead”.
In Lagos State, nothing is free. You will get the rudest shock of your life when you attempt to use a toilet at Alausa Secretariat or in any Lagos State designated office. I was once told at the Alausa Secretariat by a policeman after protesting the toilet fee: “My friend pay your money; you think say this na Freetown. Nothing is free here o!”.
The Governor must realise that the people are entitled to some social benefits from government like education, housing, water, good roads, etc. Now that education and housing are for the rich only, the Governor must resist pressure from above to do “Father Christmas” with Lagos State tax payers money by consolidating party positions in all states of the Federation.
The Governor must also realise that most Lagosians are unemployed, unempowered and poor. In Nigeria only government workers are billionaires because of unchecked corruption.
I am, therefore, specifically appealing to Gov. Fashola to declare tertiary institutions in Lagos State tuition free as I am convinced that Lagos State Government has enough funds to turn its only university into another Harvard, if the billions spent to expand the radius of its political party is downsized.
Mr. Thomas, a public affairs analyst, wrote from Lagos.
Plato goes further by saying: “If the citizens are well educated, they will readily see through the difficulties that beset them and meet emergencies as they arise”. He further believes that education is the positive means by which the ruler can shape human nature in the right direction to produce a harmonious state.
One of America’s most popular Presidents-John F. Kennedy once said: “Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in Education”. Another great philosopher, Horace Mann, believes that: “A human being is not in any proper sense human till he is educated”. Peter Broughman also contends that “education makes people easy to lead but difficult to drive, easy to govern but impossible to enslave”.
Aristotle who was the most outstanding student of Plato also puts it very brutally thus: “Educated men are as much superior to uneducated men as the living are to the dead”. Aristotle believes that uneducated men are like dead men.
The present status quo concerning education in Lagos is to enslave Lagosians and make it possible for them to know only violence as their fundamental human right, as it is impossible to enslave the masses when they are educated.
The Lagos State government must know that such an astronomical increase in school fees will only keep the students at home and worsen the crime rate in the State. In the short term, Fashola will continue to win his elections with these uneducated masses but in the long run, they will make Lagos State ungovernable for the Governor through violence which is the only language they have been taught, tuition free.
How does Gov. Fashola expect a man on N 10,000.00 (ten Thousand naira only) per month to pay School fees of N348000.00 (for medical students) per session? Even most state goverments have not accepted to pay the slave wage of N18, 000.00 per month as advised by the Federal Government.
The Lagos State government has not told Lagosians the truth about its internally generated revenue, IGR. While the government puts this at N18, billion monthly, an unofficial source in Alausa puts it at over N60 billion. With the monthly Federal allocation of N6 billion, Lagos State Government official monthly revenue is estimated at N22 billion, while unofficial sources put total revenue accruing to Lagos at about N66 billion.
This source also adds that revenue figures from the 2010 Fashola-introduced property tax are mind-boggling. Even let us assume that each property/house pays a conservative N3000, Lagosians should themselves calculate the billions from that sum.
Governor Fashola should be grateful to the society that educated him free of charge. It is, therefore, an unpardonable ingratitude and a heinous crime for him now to shoot and kill these same people who educated him, for depriving a people of education is tantamount to murder in line with Aristotle’s reasoning that “educated people are as much superior to uneducated people as the living are to the dead”.
In Lagos State, nothing is free. You will get the rudest shock of your life when you attempt to use a toilet at Alausa Secretariat or in any Lagos State designated office. I was once told at the Alausa Secretariat by a policeman after protesting the toilet fee: “My friend pay your money; you think say this na Freetown. Nothing is free here o!”.
The Governor must realise that the people are entitled to some social benefits from government like education, housing, water, good roads, etc. Now that education and housing are for the rich only, the Governor must resist pressure from above to do “Father Christmas” with Lagos State tax payers money by consolidating party positions in all states of the Federation.
The Governor must also realise that most Lagosians are unemployed, unempowered and poor. In Nigeria only government workers are billionaires because of unchecked corruption.
I am, therefore, specifically appealing to Gov. Fashola to declare tertiary institutions in Lagos State tuition free as I am convinced that Lagos State Government has enough funds to turn its only university into another Harvard, if the billions spent to expand the radius of its political party is downsized.
Mr. Thomas, a public affairs analyst, wrote from Lagos.
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