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At best, the Federal
Government’s newly inaugurated lady
Chauffeur training scheme (LCTS) is
worthy of being dismissed as
substantially lacking in creativity, innovation
and sustainability.
Rather
than spend the scarce public fund in
this good -for- nothing venture, it is
therefore canvassed that the Federal
Government should consider the
introduction of specialized technology
skills’ acquisition scheme specifically
targeted at training younger Nigerian
ladies to become middle level
technicians in the petroleum and
Environmental sectors and other
technology related skills that will
make them job creators rather than job
seekers.
Like
most other schemes introduced by some Government
institutions and political office
holders that never last, the new
ladies’ drivers’ training scheme is
absolutely bereft of creativity,
innovation and therefore is not a
sustainable Job creation effort in the
twenty first century.
Come
to think of it, is the pressing service
need of most Nigerians that of
commercial drivers? Assuming without
conceding that Nigeria is in short
supply of commercial drivers making it
imperative that female citizens be
encouraged to embrace commercial
driving as a profession, what is the
quantum of contribution to the overall
national wealth and economy will the
commercial drivers make towards
bringing our country back from the
brinks and principle of economic
collapse which it has reached because
of the monumental corruption, bribery,
inefficiency of past and current
political office holders and the civil
servants? Another question to be asked
is how many unemployed persons would be
taken out of the streets if commercial
driving is now the way out when in
actual fact making someone a commercial
driver will rather than take the person
out of the streets will deepen the
involvement of such persons in the
vices associated with motor park touts?
This is not to say that all commercial
drivers are touts and the objective of
this piece is not to belittle the
commercial drivers. But I ask, how many
of the female children of these
political office holders would be
encouraged to participate in the lady
chauffeur training scheme being
spearheaded by the wife of the
President?
To
assume leadership position comes with a
big demand and those who aspire to
become leaders must have real vision on
how to transform their societies and
must not engage in activities that
would not bear good fruits that would
last. I am of the strong belief that in
these days and age, what my government
should be thinking of is not to dwell
in the past primitive practice but
should introduce modern,
technology-inclined job creation
schemes for Nigerian women rather than
waste scarce public fund to produce
mere artisans and commercial drivers
which are not the pressing needs of
most Nigerian consumers. Is Government
unaware that the local content law
which prescribes mainstreaming of
indigenous technicians and middle level
experts in the foreign dominated
Nigeria’s crude oil industry is
observed in the breach by the
multi-national crude oil companies
operating in Nigeria because of claims
by them that local experts are in short
supply? Why can we not for once be
forward looking as a nation by training
a pool of twenty first century
compliant technicians from among our
thousands of unemployed female
graduates to be deployed to work in the
Railway sector whenever the huge
resources committed into rebuilding the
moribund venture by Government begin to
bear fruits that would last?
I
sincerely think that every right
thinking and forward looking Nigerian
should be very worried that at a time
that India has successfully launched a
long range surface to air nuclear
missile anchored by an Indian young
lady Miss. Tessy Thomas, and in an era
that developing countries like South
Africa, Botswana, Bangladesh among
others, are investing heavily in the
training of their women in the
technology and Aviation Industries,
Nigeria is still behaving as if we are
in the eighteenth century by training
female commercial drivers as if that is
the most pressing service need of
Nigeria and Nigerians. This downward
thinking of officials of government is
a clear manifestation of the dearth of
quality vision among those who are
privileged to assume political offices
or be married to powerful persons in
Government.
If
anything, what is expected of political
leadership with vision is the
formulation and implementation of
projects and schemes to create
sustainable employment opportunities
because unemployment among younger
citizens is the root of the
unprecedented crime rate in the country
which demands a lot more from
Government to address it pragmatically
rather than engage in the bonanza of
sharing tricycles and second hand
automobiles to just a few selected
female citizens in the name of the
so-called lady chauffeur training
scheme.
If
truth be told, Nigerian Government and
other leading stakeholders in the
private sector should concentrate
energy and resources towards training
young Nigerian ladies to become
competent pilots, and scientists who
can build the much needed security
architecture that Nigeria needs to
check the unprecedented rise in
terror-related violence. Government
should not behave as if we live in
stone age by mass producing commercial
drivers whose services are not needed.
To even hear the wife of the President
say that Nigerians will soon begin to
experience the joy of being driven by
lady commercial drivers shows that
those who hurriedly packaged the scheme
for this gentle lady did not reflect
deeply so as to evolve a better job
creation scheme for the Nigerian women.
The lady chauffeur training scheme is
pedestrian and cheap thinking at best
and must be discarded.
Although
I was happy when recently Miss.
Blessing Liman was celebrated as the
first female fighter pilot but at the
same time I felt ashamed that Nigeria
with all the big name that we gave to
ourselves as the giant of Africa has
only just produced the first female
fighter pilot nearly fifty two years
after gaining independence and even
with the unfortunate but historic fact
that Nigeria has had three years of
civil war and yet Nigeria has only in
2012 produced our first female fighter
pilot. I expected that the Nigerian
women political leaders including the
wife of the President should have
brainstormed among themselves on how to
consolidate this little gain to ensure
that a lot more female citizens become
fighter pilots, civilian pilots and
middle level technicians, engineers and
sundry experts to revamp our dwindling
local economy. Bill Newman in his book
"10 laws of Leadership"
pointed out vividly that; "Vision
is the key to understanding leadership.
Without vision you are just playing
games with your life. Men and Women
with vision see more and further than others.
Leaders have empires in their
brains".
Mr.
Newman built his theory from what
Winston Churchill wrote that; "The
empires of the future are the empires
of the mind". Only by the
development of human capacity of
younger Nigerians to acquire the right
kinds of skills in high demands around
the World will Nigeria become a better
society.
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