July 6, 1989
The recent so-called SAP riots have no doubt thrown light on
the dire need for public enlightenment. That university
students, tomorrow’s intellectual cream of the nation, could
so easily be misled into believing and propagating
preposterous lies and misinformation, is shamefully ironical
and strongly underlines this said need. In fact, the average
educated Nigerian I met during the crisis betrayed
astonishing ignorance of the basic principles and goals of
SAP. If then the light in us is darkness, how great is the
darkness.
Why do villagers patiently queue up with their children today
to receive vaccinations instead of fleeing into the bush as
was often the the case in the past? The answer is simple.
The need for vaccinations, the reason for this pain, has been
explained to them.
There is the need for MAMSER to be carried out with
crusading zeal. Let the farmers, the producers, the givers of
essential services, 80% toiling Nigerians, discover who our
true friends and who our true enemies are. Let us be
reminded of the mess from which we have come and be told
of the dawn towards which we are hoping. Let us be made
to realize that no constructive sacrifice is too great for a
people to make for the survival of their children and their
children’s children.
It is high time the distracting noise of the selfish vociferous
minority was countered by a vigorous propagation of the
expedience of national programmes.
