by Cheta Nwanze

One of the main benefits of the scrapping of JAMB and that other waste, NECO, is that it would begin the process of (hopefully) cutting the massive overheads that we incur in our Education Ministry.

One issue that has remained on the front burner in the Western World, but not much talked about here, is the behaviour of so-called spiritual leaders towards members of their flock, particularly the most vulnerable, children. It is very easy to see why that issue won’t be in focus here, being that we are a very religious, not necessarily spiritual, people. However, when you open the papers in the morning and read stories about “Pastors” such as Mr. Atunde, it becomes a bit more difficult to ignore. It must be pointed out that issues of rape and sexual depravity especially towards minors, and not just by Pastors or Imams, appear to be on the rise. In all honesty, I don’t think they are on the rise. My belief is that they are just better reported now that some of our society’s inhibitions are going out of the window. A few days ago, I saw a shocking tweet from @Africainmotion concerning abuse in our land. It would appear that between half and two-thirds of Nigerian women suffer from domestic abuse, and there is research to back it up. AFAIK, there is no reliable data concerning child abuse, yet. Sadly, this is one topic I don’t expect the FG to take too much of an interest in, after all, they pardon paedophile rapists these days…

Still on our kids (ostensibly our future), yesterday, we talked about the brilliant idea to scrap that monumental waste called JAMB. As is usual with any decision made in our country sadly, it would be politicised. Some callers into Nigeria Info’s phone-in programme late afternoon yesterday felt that scrapping JAMB has ethnic overtones. “How?” is a question that came to my head immediately, before I remembered what corner of Planet Earth I’m in. In any event, one of the main benefits of the scrapping of JAMB and that other waste, NECO, is that it would begin the process of (hopefully) cutting the massive overheads that we incur in our Education Ministry. Sadly though, staff of NECO don’t see it that way. An unnamed staff of NECO wondered why the FG would accept the Steve Oronsaye report (which called for the reduction in the number of MDAs), and said, “Britain with lesser population has many examination bodies and here we are about to kill the only one we have. It will be sad if the Federal Government finally approves the scrapping of NECO”. Sentimental rubbish that we say in order to remain on the gravy train. Keeping our eye on the ball in this case would be the issue of saving our economy the rather small amount of N288 billions per year.

Speaking of money to be saved, and then promptly wasted, a huge amount of money is set to be spent on petrol and diesel in the coming days as a Presidential blouse has warned those of us in Lagos about an impending shutdown of power. Apparently a “scheduled” gas maintenance exercise in far away Escravos will affect the supply to our power stations. “The PTFP is coordinating with the relevant project owners to further mitigate the effect of the expected power shortfall,” Awele Okigbo shrilled, while in the distance, my generator coughed to life.

Quote of the day 

“I was 28 when I was 40 because I gave my life to Christ and was born again. My age is not of the physical but of the spiritual,” Taribo West tells jealous former employer, Zarko Zecevic to accept Jesus.

Bits and bobs

Rather than pull it down and make the land useful for something else other than eating fish, the FG will concession the National Stadium in Lagos to people who would likely use it for religious revivals. The other one in Abuja, will, well, compete with the ThisDay Tent for the weekly church services.

On the same day it was reported that the Beret at Orile-Iganmu would be turned into a five star hotel. The report was promptly denied.

The former landlord of Abuja has been told by yet another group to shut his trap. Problem is that the people talking were in charge of NITEL in the days when one had to wait for two days in order to make a five minute international call.

Not happy about their inability to bully the justice system in a serious country, some boys will be taking to the creeks to express their displeasure about the incarceration of their #OgaAtTheTop.

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.