Emma Okonji
The former Head of Department, Mass Communication, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Professor Ralph Akifeleye, has called for the immediate solutions to address the identified potholes in President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
Akinfeleye, who is the current Chairman of UNILAG television and radio stations, also decried the poor state of the country’s educational sector and called for the scrapping of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
Citing Chapter 2, Section 22 of the Nigerian Constitution, which empowers the media to hold government accountable to the people when he spoke during the weekend in Lagos at the launch of Walure Capital Technology Hub where he delivered a paper on the theme: “Potholes in Nigeria’s Democracy—The Role of the Media,” Akinfeleye said: “The media therefore has critical role in holding government accountable to the people for bad governance that has created several potholes in Nigerian democracy.”
According to him, the potholes are obstacle to good governance, and should be leveled in order to create a better avenue for good governance.
He listed some of the potholes to include unending insecurity, incessant disruption in the educational sector, high foreign exchange rates, corrupt judiciary, poor electricity supply, poor healthcare delivery system, corruption in police force and high cost of transportation, among others.
Akinfeleye said that the security challenges in the country has become worrisome and scaring going by the way people are kidnapped and killed mercilessly even after the killers must have collected ransom from the family of their victims.
Worried about the poor state of the country’s educational system, where the schools are shut down for the past six months just because the government has refused to address the crisis in the educational sector, Akinfeleye said the situation has left the school system with several potholes, beginning from the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
He faulted the Ministry of Education for handling the issues rocking the Nigerian universities with kid’s glove.
“JAMB in my judgment is no longer a regulator, but has turned itself into a trader that is extorting money from candidates by hiking the cost of JAMB forms every year. Since JAMB now trades at the expense of parents who bear the brunt of the hike, the body should therefore be scrapped, because it is no longer serving the purpose for which it was established,” Akinfeleye said.
Lagos State Commissioner for Physical Planning, Mr. Idris Salako, in his good will message, commended the founder of Walure Capital, Mr. Samuel Adeleye, for the launch of the technology hub, which he said, would help tech savvy Nigerians to develop their technology skills and create digital jobs for the Nigerian citizens.
