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24 — VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2020 YOUR LUCK TODAY By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139 AQUARIUS; Early part of the day may bring you good opportunity along your business/business lines. Work and your health must be taken very seriously PISCES; Like yesterday the Moon will operate from your Star sign again to the betterment of your cause. Think of both your immediate and far future now. ARIES You can still count on the supports of your tried and trusted friends. But it’s imperative you keep secrets as much as you can positively do. TAURUS; The more receptive and willing you are to give and take co-operation the better for you today. It’s wrong of you to neglect your friends in need now. GEMINI; You’ll have the needed opportunity to consolidate on progress you have recorded yesterday along your career/business lines. Try to work harder. L E I S U R E TAKE HEART — ELLA RANDLE “Remember, all of the things to be thankful for that many of us take for granted.” - Take Heart Quotes- Being grateful for the things you have received, tangible or intangible, makes you feel more positive emotions, improves your health, help you to deal with adversity and build strong relationships. -Ella Randle- TERROR MUDA in “Never say goodbye” SAYINGS OF OUR PEOPLE Dine with a stranger but save your love for your family. ~ Ethiopian proverb By Kola Fayemi CANCER; Element of luck will work favourably for you. Therefore you’re advised to expand the scope of your tentacle for better results. It’s another fairly favourable day for lovers who are more enterprising today. LEO; Joining forces with other people is not a sin but it’s important everybody knows the clear term of the venture , be it of short or longer duration. Be very practical. VIRGO; Many of you’ll travel either physically or within your mind; whichever one you’re involved with the out come will be favourable. Be more receptive, especially if your priority is commercial success. Take your new ideas more seriously today LIBRA; Similar to yesterday but, today more emphasis’ll be on money. Thus those of you who are more financially ambitious’ll have better and rewarding day than others. However that is not to say you should neglect your health. SCORPIO; Positive things are happening from (and around) you. The more enterprising you are the better for you today. And some of you will be mixing business & pleasure without harm. Lovers can have their way moderately. DUDU in “ROLLING HOT” “HOT” By A.O.OLAIDE ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLING ASTROLOGICAL our date e and place of COUNSELLING birth th to the Astr tr Send your dat trological Counselling, P.M.B 100 007, 7, Apapa, Lagos BASIC CHARACTERISTICS OF AQUARIUS Aquarius is ruled by freedom loving Uranus-the planet of unpredictability, eccentricity and genius. Aquarius is friendly, loving, hopeful and very altruistic in nature. That is why they are nice persons who truly care for others, especially the less fortunate ones. They are loyal friend willing to belong to powerful social clubs or reasonable community. The quality of Aquarius is fixed. That means it is important for them to watch the way they change their minds on important issues; Uranus factor makes all Aquarius natives freedom loving and whoever tries to impose any idea on you will be resented. The element of Aquarius is the air. That makes you an intelligent person with fair share of sense of humour. Aquarius is the star sign that rules considerable social influence, and the natives of this star have better chances to have at least some influential friends. Then, Aquarians are truly good friends and bad enemies; it is not in the best interest of anybody to frustrate an Aquarian.. Aquarius being a scientific sign. Aquarians can be inventive. Any Aquarian who falls to take his sudden flashes of ideas seriously is doom (to fail eventually) because, Uranus the ruler of Aquarius, usually bring success to Aquarians unexpectedly through ideas that come suddenly, and unexpected luck usually accompany their sudden inspiration and/or ideas. The most dangerous weak points of Aquarian are the tendencies to procrastinate things and willingness to take opponents or enemies for granted I mean you must not believe that some body you might have had heated argument with will not try to undermine your progress after what will look like intervention of peace makers. VIRGINIA dadadekola@yahoo.com HOME & ABROAD By Lawrence Akapa
COVID-19 and Nigerians FOR the first time in recorded history countries not formally at war have shut their borders against their neighbours. Even traditional allies in the global set-up could not sustain the pretence that things were normal and life could go on as usual. So it was that the United States after choosing to keep its doors open to visitors from the United Kingdom and Ireland after initially closing it to other countries in Europe stepped back to shut their skies on flight from these two countries. The cause of this global anxiety is Covid-19, the virus that first broke out in December 2019 in Wuhan in the Chinese province of Hubei. Viewed initially as a problem for the Chinese to resolve, Covid-19 has now ensured a lockdown of the world. The possibility, real threat of global annihilation that was long foretold, is no longer an issue of mere speculation. Except that the present danger is more of a biological warfare than the nuclear war the world long feared. There is no known cure for this virus that is believed to have its origins in the animal world but which might have found its way among human beings due to uncontrolled human tinkering with the world of our so-called lower brethren. For months after East Asia reeled under the clouds of Covid- 19 and millions of Chinese citizens were locked down in their cities, the rest of the world looked on. But by early February this year, it was clear that Covid-19 was no longer a Chinese affair as the virus started finding its way to other countries in other regions of the world. Even then, Africa appeared detached as the statistics for Covid-19 or corona virus as it is otherwise known remained starkly low in the continent. At this time, countries in Europe were beginning to take precaution, shutting their borders to and restricting flights from regions most affected by the virus. This was when countries in Africa, including Nigeria, ought to have started moving. But rather than take active steps to prevent the spread of the virus to their parts of the world, people were busy peddling rumours of African immunity to Covid-19. It was, perhaps, under this illusion that Nigerian leaders lived doing little. As the threat of the virus reaching Nigeria loomed larger and ordinary Nigerians got anxious, Revisiting Nigeria’s social contract By TITI SANNI NIGERIA at independence was a vibrant promising entity which was on a clear path to economic prosperity. The air of optimism on what the future held could not be mistaken with each of the geographical regions having carved out their niche in mainstay agricultural production. The enthusiasm that greeted the independence was a validation of the commitment of Nigerians to take their destiny in their own hands and join forces to nurture a new country on the path to delivering on the dividends of independence. Fast-forward 21st century, Nigeria records 45 per cent of its population living in extreme poverty, according to recent Bretton Woods report. It is easy for anyone with a modicum of decency to become frustrated with the current situation. The country is drowned in the conundrum of failing political and economic institutions such that may come to a point of disintegration or preference for the breakdown of law and order in an effort to reset as happened in other jurisdictions. Quite naturally, the new century evolves progressively with new levels of expectations. There is much more to demand from political leadership, same way there is a lot to ask from citizens. Nonetheless, the social contract pendulum swings more toward the latter. Most societies evolved from largely monarchical and autocratic system where the ruler was supreme to a modern system where rulership is replaced with leadership and everyone is deemed subject to the rule of law. While the system allows for some immunity to shield from distractions on civil matters, modern day leaders get convicted when short on moral and criminal grounds. However, as the rest of the world evolves in this social balancing, Nigeria appears to draw back. In the Nigeria of 2020, despite evident mismanagement which keeps the country poor, it remains a mirage to question leadership over their time in power. In other climes, first step to reset for prosperity was to bring past leaders to justice on how they have handled resources during their time. Ghana, South Korea, Egypt, South Africa, the United States are few among countries which have tried and sometimes handed down convictions and jail terms for bad leadership. Except as a decoy for military take-over, Nigerian political leaders have remained reverently above the law. With a rigged judicial system and lack of will to revamp, anything can be explained away. Ours is the country with fine human resources, we have proved, till date, incapable of fostering a system of free and fair elections, a situation which makes it impossible to match the true will of the people with the quality of leadership. We are woefully blinded by religion and ethnicity to our detriment. Any group of people which places meritocracy below these paltry and biased considerations set the recipe for a rigged system. Such people are quick to resign to predestination and clannish prejudices. Denmark, Sweden, Norway, The Netherlands and Switzerland are five of top 10 countries said to be the best places to live in, yet these are five of top 10 whose adults describe themselves as atheist. Nigeria with all her overt religiosity and spirituality ranks significantly high as a poverty zone of the world. In any system that does not operate on merit, there exists vested interests who profit from prejudices and will do everything to perpetuate themselves. In Nigeria, these interests see government apparels as their only sources of accumulating wealth and status. They create a rigid leadership unwilling to commit to the strengthening of the rule of law and accountability. These socio-political cabals live solely in the moment. Instead of saving and catering for the future, they borrow from it. They are threatened by the freedom of speech and the development of the human index. They lay siege both within and outside government and hurl vile attacks against anyone who dares to speak against the status quo. The sparse voices of education and reasoning are very quickly drowned by the forces of political hooligans. The inverse relationship between our fine human resources and the quality of our leadership is more worrisome considering the Abuja simply went to sleep while sluggish steps that were limited to our airports were taken to arrest the spread of the virus. But even then, the attitude from Abuja was one of doubt and tentativeness. It didn’t look like they believed in the existence of the virus. Not until an Italian business man visiting the country suddenly took ill and was diagnosed with the virus did Nigerians know that the virus has slipped into our country. That was Nigeria’s index case. Rather than act fast, Abuja was still full of assurances that Nigeria was up to the task of containing the spread of the virus. Government and its supporters took their lack What other selfish motives accounted for Abuja’s delay in protecting Nigerians from the ravages of corona virus at a much earlier and less prohibitive stage? of initiative for invincibility, allowing what could have been restricted to the airports to gradually spread across several states of the country. From Lagos to Ogun, Ekiti to Oyo and Abuja, Covid-19 is gradually spreading, with the number of people down with the virus officially put at 30 as at March 22. Lagos had the largest number of 22 people. There is every reason to believe that the national figure is much higher. Between the first and the third week in March, Nigerians were anxious to hear from their leaders. They craved words of assurance Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2020 — 25 Send Opinions & Letters to: opinions1234@yahoo.com from Muhammadu Buhari as they could see leaders in other parts of the world doing. But there were none and rather than take necessary steps to restrict flight from affected regions of the world into the country, President Buhari and his team remained mutely unconcerned until last week when restriction was placed on flights from 13 countries. It was then left for governors in the different states, particularly Lagos under Babajide Sanwo-Olu whose state was beginning to look like the ground zero of the virus in Nigeria to act fast. For a state that was just emerging from the avoidable mess of an explosion that destroyed many houses and left many dead in Abule Ado, Lagos rose admirably to the challenge, followed by Ogun State, another state on the frontline of states exposed to the killer virus. Governor Dapo Abiodun has been as active as his counterpart in Lagos, while the likes of Seyi Makinde whose state harbours one corona virus patient continues to act confused as he urges Oyo State citizens to be careful while he is anything but careful in his ways, organising campaign rallies with heavy human presence or hosting hip-hop singer, Davido who was on a musical tour of Ibadan, the state capital. All of this while a nationwide Federal Government ban on gatherings was in place! Yes, Abuja finally woke up from its deathly slumber last week when it ordered the closure of schools at all levels nationwide and sent young Nigerians of the National Youth Service Corps on orientation straight to their places of primary assignment. The government fact that few times, individuals with appreciable personal accomplishments who are political outsiders have brought themselves forward for election or attempted to cause a new political movement. Sadly, they have been dwarfed by damning voter apathy or the buying power of political moneybags. Current elections never really reinforces the hope for a new beginning. There is gross disconnect between our leadership and the citizens. People would rather provide for own amenities than supervise the process that delivers good governance and prosperity. They are oblivious of the need to ensure that the right people get elected just the same way we hire managers for our businesses because they impact similarly. It is pathetic for Nigerians to agonise in abject poverty yet incapable of thinking above our complacency and vexing to the point of staking everything As a solution, we need to review our contract. Nigerians must be prepared to look at their adversary in the eye and reset destiny. Providence rarely occurs. We cannot languish in human index and wait unto divinity. It is apt to draw from the examples of prosperous countries that take political leadership very seriously and Hong Kong offers a suitable current reference. Over the past several months, a critical section, mostly youth among the people of Hong Kong, have taken to the streets in protest against their government on principles bordering on social welfare and repulsion of influences from China. Hong Kong is a country with GDP per capita of $48,451.00 in 2018 (pre-protest) at the same time that Nigeria’s was only $2,033.00. By all standards, Hong Kong had far much higher living standard than Nigeria. Yet the people did not waver in taking their leadership to task at the risk of aggression. In contrast, it is pathetic for Nigerians to agonise in abject poverty yet incapable of thinking above our complacency and vexing to the point of staking increased the number of countries from which flights are restricted. By the end of that week all airports in the country had been put under lock. But all of this only happened after the president’s unnamed daughter had returned to the country from Britain. Now, was the delay in shutting the airports connected to the need to have the president’s daughter back in the country first? What other selfish motives accounted for Abuja’s delay in protecting Nigerians from the ravages of coronavirus at a much earlier and less prohibitive stage? Perhaps hoping to make a virtue of corruption, Aisha, the wife of the president, announced to Nigerians that her daughter was on self-isolation after her return home. How many Nigerian lives did the tardiness in acting fast cost? Now Abuja is stirring into action, it’s the turn of our religious brethren to endanger the safety of Nigerians. Many of them, Christians and Moslems alike, have been vending salvation like toast bread and blatantly disregarded government directives banning gatherings of any kind. How does one begin to make sense of this open display of contempt for the state for private gain? While this may seem an appropriate opportunity for many of them to add to their already overflowing barn, they should at the very least adhere to one of the basic tenets of their preachment: respect for authority. Are these clerics now so full of themselves that they equate themselves with the state? Why is it more difficult for them to obey rules meant for the common good than it is for them to fish in troubled waters? everything. Mediocrity persists because informed people refused to form themselves into a critical mass and have no desire to stimulate change. Instead they prefer to either flee the country legally, thereby draining the brains needed to put things right or sneak out, thereby regurgitate the second class mentality which had passed with slavery. Nonetheless, by sheer providence, Nigeria has witnessed flashes of progressive leadership that needs to be consolidated upon. We need to be deliberate to consistently raise the bar of leadership both at national and subnational levels. At the risk of stirring discord in opinions, there are few states in Nigeria whose current leaderships are perceived as progressive and are, therefore, attracting the right type of economic gravity. The states are favourably disposed to open budget. They have improved collaboration with the private sector and lead homegrown initiatives to improve the living standard of their people. Evidently, they gradually become investment destinations and economic hubs in their respective regions. These governors, in their foresight, have also been strictest advocates of child education, setting aside substantial part of their budget on education. They seek to automate processes to avoid undue influences. To foster healthier competition among states, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics should project more data on the performance of subnational economies, some of which are geographically larger than countries. By its simple definition, social contract provides that a people’s moral and political obligations are dependent upon contract or agreement among themselves to form the society they live in. Put differently, it states implicit obligations between a people and their leadership. We, as a people, must therefore take our civic duties seriously at the only solution to our autocratic leadership. Starting with the need to sanitise our electoral system, the elite must form into a critical mass and rally in strength to advance ideas of equality. We must improve in civic advocacy and the quality of our political engagements. We must see the duty of participating in elections much the same way we hire managers for our personal resources for which accountability is key. •Sanni is a Lagos-based Non-Interest Banker.
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