NATIONAL DISCOURSE ON THE STATE OF THE NATION BY DR. EVELYN OMAWUMI URHOBO, PRESIDENT/CEO, MORGAN SMART DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION BEING A PAPER PRESENTED AT THE FORMAL OPENING CEREMONY OF NATIONAL REFORMER NEWSPAPER’S OFFICE

My quick take on being asked to comment on the State of the Nation is to say that we are in very difficult times that test men souls and therefore would like to plead that all of us lovers of our dear country Nigeria, should seek the face of God and ask for His special intervention to redirect this Country to the path of greatness.

The challenges facing the country presently are quite enormous to say the least. With electricity still refusing to be stable, massive youths unemployment, oil theft still going on at unprecedented scale, the non take off of the steel sector on which our real development is going to be predicated, our epileptic oil refineries that are not functioning up timely, oil subsidy or no oil subsidy, the massive corruption going on if even we call it stealing, the value of d naira that has continued to depreciate against the dollar with the resultant effect on increase in the price of everything being a customer nation that imports everything including toothpicks, we can go on and on in a long list of challenges still confronting us as a nation.

However the most devastating challenges confronting the country presently is the terrorist activities of the dreaded Boko Harem which have continued to wreck havoc on the soul of the nation and which has exposed the underbelly of the security forces on their state of preparedness to secure our country. The wanton killings, maiming and destruction of infrastructure by this Boko Haram group the north today, remains unprecedented as it cannot be compared with similar activities of the ‘Maitasine’ group of Islamic fundamentalist group that invoked violence against the people in the north in the 1980s.

The Boko Haram activities have not only involved the horrific slaughtering of over 40 male students in a boarding school in the North East, but was quickly followed by the kidnapping of over 200 girls from their school on the 14th of april,2014. This singular action has provoked a worldwide condemnation through the #bringbackourgirlsnow campaign. The impunity with which the Boko Haram have carried out their dastardly activities in the country is a sad reminder of the level of impunity with which people who have been put in position of authority in the country, have continued to inflicted so much pain on our psychic by their refusal to carry out their responsibilities to the people they claim to govern by good governance.

From all level of governance there has been this conspiracy to prevent the people from enjoying the dividend of democracy. The failure of the various tiers of governments to deliver on their electoral promises over time especially at the grass root level, has translated into endemic poverty amongst their people in the rural communities. As it is well known in development, poverty directly translate into conflict and as long as the rampant poverty that exist everywhere in the country today is not urgently addressed, then the challenges of strife and conflict will persist in the Nation and this represents a keg of dynamite waiting to explode anytime.

The issue of impunity by government functionaries at all levels of governance in the country today, especially at the local government level that should interfaces directly with the rural populace, need to be urgently addressed to bring some respite to the local populace. The rampant poverty at the grassroots can be directly traced to the failures or refusal of the government.

functionaries to carry out their responsibilities as there are no physical evidence of how the huge funds being released to them are utilised and no one is actually asking any question. There is no evidence of accountability in the spending of public funds kept under their trust in the councils. With my in Morgan Smart Development Foundation an NG0 committed to economic empowerment of women and youths in Nigeria especially in the Niger Delta where our work is concentrated, we have continued to observed the degree of exclusion of women at all level of governance specially at community level which is most alarming and unfortunate. Because of this conspiracy of exclusion, women are suffering from a high level of poverty and deprivation in the rural communities especially in the Niger Delta. The women have been stripe of their dignity and the absence of any ability or authority to inculcate any form of values and discipline into their children has created great concern.

It is their failure to discharge their traditional roles that resulted in the youth restiveness and militancy that is now the crisis in the region. There is no evidence of government effort to address the fundamental cause of militancy which is the economic empowerment of our rural women.

There is urgent need for a Government sponsored consolidated economic empowerment programs to be put in place for the women at the grassroots to permanently address the cause of youth restiveness and militancy in the Niger Delta region. In the period leading to the election in 2015, government must exhibit more statesmanship in the governance of the country. Remaining in power must not be seen as a do or die situation. I have always noted with admiration the bill board on the east west Port Harcourt rd in the Niger Delta with the poster of Mr. President in which it proclaimed that no power is worth shedding the blood of any youth.

This is still as cogent as we go into an election year as when it was first put up some few years ago. The prognosis of the challenges abounds for all to see but we serve a merciful God. If only we can all go to him with contrite heart and truly confess our sins and ask for His intervention to help us turn this country around, then we shall have no fear comes 2015. God is waiting for our hearts.

Dr Omawumi Evelyn Urhobo

President/CE0

Morgan Smart Development Foundation

Warri

Delta State.

E-mail morganfoundation@yahoo.com.

Website: www.morgansmartfoundation.org.