The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has been described as an important component necessary in rebuilding the Nigeria system that will work for all in the country.
A member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Shina Abiola Peller made this disclosure in his remark at the fourth edition of the annual Shina Peller/NUJ Ramadan lecture organized for members of the union in Oyo State Council.
Hon. Peller who represents Iseyin/Itesiwaju/Kajola/Iwajowa federal constituency at the green chamber of the National Assembly pointed out that the reality on ground in Nigeria today is that its system is no longer functioning and therefore need new system which is a combination or component of people working together with a common purpose including the journalists.
According to him, “my dear brothers and sisters, I want us to have the same believe that we have that God has answered our prayer in the month of Ramadan in our nation, that God did not create in our nation bad things, God created the land before God created men and God created Nigeria with so much resources, both human resources and natural resources but today these resources have not been able to translate to result basically because of bad leadership and you will agree with me that the leadership of every nation is form by the government of that nation. So if God created land and God created men, the unfortunate thing is that God did not create government, men like us did.
If God has created a government, God would have created a perfect government that will be solution driven which will make Nigeria a better country. But always know that no matter what God has in plans must come to pass, the land that God has created must work but God will not come down from heaven to come and make it work, God will use humans and this is an opportunity for us and the time has come to make it work.
2023 we will not have an incumbent president that is contesting at the poll. This is the time for us as a generation that we must rise up and recreate Nigeria to meet the plan that the almighty God has for the land. Whether we like it or not, we must understand that we have a problem in Nigeria, we have resources that are not translating to result so what is the problem?
The problem is simply system failure, our country is suffering from a foundational defect, there is no amount of pillar, amount of patch that you want to give a pole that is suffering from foundational defect. You cannot tell me that you have not seen better politicians within the last forty years of our lives, but the reason why they have not been able to achieve the change that we so desire is because they keep fighting the present failed reality. If you want to create change, recreate a new system and you make the existing system obsolete and this is what I believe that we need as a country.
So how do we build that system? The Nigeria Union of Journalists today is an important component in rebuilding our system in Nigeria, they play a vital role in shaping the minds of the people and even the government towards understanding that it is a time for us to build institutions. We must deviate from our normal system of politics where we build aesthetics individually and they become bigger than the nation, they become semi god. This is the time for us to be able to come together and identify the strength across all levels and we are able to build a system that will function for all, putting aside all the sentiment of political party or ideology, sentiment of religion or sentiment of ethnicity.
It is the responsibility of the media to use your agenda setting to be able to divert the attention of the general public to the importance of building a system and not individuals. It is the first importance of every generation to build a bridge of hope for the generation coming behind. Whether we like it or not, if you are the richest or most powerful person, God will call for your soul one day, but it is possible for you to die and for you not to die, that is what we call legacy. What do you want to be remembered for? This is the time as a generation that we must rise up to the challenge that our first assignment is to build the bridge of hope. The generations before us have failed us; we must not pass that baton of failure to the coming generation behind us.
My brother and sister, this is the time that politicians must sacrifice for this country. In as much as we complain that we are suffering from system failure, we the politicians are the one that is contributing most to the system and even in the Bible and the Quran Prophet Ibrahim was ready to sacrifice his own son, how many of us can sacrifice our phones at this stage? This is the time for us to understand, like our guest lecturer said, anybody can give you money, money is a gift, but let your conscience take charge when you are taking that money. Our founding fathers had a plan for this country; the plan of our founding Fathers for Nigeria is for Nigeria to serve the whole Africa country, not Nigeria for Nigerians.
Where is Nigeria Airway today? So brother and sister it is the time for us to understand that it is time for us to focus on what is general. I am using this opportunity to tell you to let us build a system of love among the general populace, because without love there can never be unity and without unity there can never be peace and without peace there can never be progress. This is the time for us to put all these forward and to understand the opportunity that God has given us.
By 2023, there will not be an incumbent President; Nigeria will be transiting into glory. In 2018 before I joined party politics, I had a dream that Nigeria will become better from 2023 and I want all of us to commit ourselves to this. This is not the time to run after politicians that have been in the government for 23 years and not achieve the kind of change that the government should have. We have people that are aspiring for positions today that if they give them an opportunity and turn Nigeria into a company, they cannot hire themselves to become the manager of that company and yet they want to manage the country. My brothers, a dream that is broken down becomes a goal, a goal that is broken down becomes a plan, a plan that is back with actions make your dreams become reality.” Hon. Peller stressed
Hon. Shina Peller commended the Chairman of the union in the State, Com. Ademola Babalola for not playing politics with the programme which was initiated by his predecessor, Comrade Adewumi Faniran despite the fact that he (Faniran) was a Christian, assuring that the programme would be a continuous exercise because it provides an opportunity to come together to reflect on salient issues, identify problems and proffer solutions to the problems already identified.
While delivering his lecture on the topic, “2023 Election and Youth Participation for National Development: The Islamic Perspective”, the guest lecturer, Sheik Taofeek Akeugbagold challenged the youths to wake up from their slumber and contest for elective positions in 2023, saying they are the ones who have the mental and physical capacity to rescue Nigeria from its present political, social and economic challenges.
According to him, Nigeria has over the years continued to battle political, social and economic crisis such as terrorism, unemployment, poverty, high inflation, insecurity, decaying public infrastructure and collapse of social institutions among others.
Any country that does not allow youths to participate in decision making will not move forward. When we are talking about the progress of a country, you have to shun religious or ethnic sentiments. Religion is for moral and spiritual purposes.
It is the youths that can rescue Nigeria. It happened in Ghana, one of their leaders, Jerry Rawlings killed many people to sanitize the country. In China, it was the youths that did it. China took the youths to the industries while Nigeria took the youths to Churches and Mosques expecting miracles. Churches are making billions without paying taxes but companies that are making millions paying taxes are shut.
When you enter the United Kingdom, you will be seeing companies and industries, when you enter China, you will be seeing companies and industries but when you enter Lagos, Ibadan in Nigeria you will be seeing Churches and Mosques along the streets. We want the citizens, the government to give the youths the chance to rule the country in 2023.” The Islamic scholar retorted.
Over 300 media practitioners from different media organizations in Oyo State attended the programme which was held at the council’s Secretariat, Iyaganku, Ibadan on Monday 17th April, 2022.
