The major casualty of the predicament of the Nigerian federation in the last 40 years is the South-Western. Almost all those factors that made it the hub of the country have either crumbled or gasping for breath. All the gains of the zone from the progressive actions of its progenitors have crumbled like the proverbial pack of cards. All areas it had pioneered are annoyingly in a bad shape.Education, which formed the fulcrum for the rapid development of Yorubaland has remained in a suffocating state. The infrastructure is in shambles, while the huge number of manufacturing industries that once dotted Lagos, have virtually closed shops. With the fast-dwindling fortunes in the industrial and productive sector nose diving, unemployment has continued to soar with the dire consequences of a disturbing upsurge in violent crimes.A profligate political and business elite have conspired to ruin the national economy, which in the main, had its heart in Yorubaland. The conspiracy has also been characterized by the systematic marginalisation of the South-West from the corporate sector, which had been in the firm control of the zone because of the positive impact created by the free education policy of the then Western regional government. The political leadership had ensured proper resource management. Its vision was to harness the human and natural endowments of the Yorubaland for the overall benefit of the vast majority of the people and towards making sure that the zone became a pacesetter in the country. Then, Ibadan, the present Oyo State capital, acted as the political headquarters of Yorubaland and nobody disputed it. Because of its access to sea and early contact with western civilisation, Lagos was the main industrial base of the zone, while other areas famous for one form of agricultural produce or another in the hinterland, supplied raw materials for the industries. All these factors ensured a rapid socio-cultural, economic integration of the defunct Western Region. The vibrancy was guaranteed and buoyed by the foresight and dynamism Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and his team of principled, disciplined and cultured men who had an eye on history. But internal political bickering and intolerance, coupled with misplaced priorities much more than external factors, have systematically destroyed those prized heritages and values from the first generation of Yoruba leaders. The sustained inability by the leaders to frontally unite and confront a common enemy created many crevices in Yorubaland, giving room for some external forces to cause further damage to unity of the zone. Through external machination, filth, indolence, avarice, and other vices soon overshadowed the cherished ancestral value of the Yoruba such as industry, valour, integrity, piety and hospitality.However, how ready now is the Yorubaland to recreate the past glorious era of commonwealth by fully harnessing its enormous potential to advantage' Are the leaders, regardless of political persuasions, prepared this time round, to faithfully protect the commonwealth from external assault and sabotage within and outside as has been witnessed in the ;last 40 years following the collapse of the second republic' One of the strategies capable of reenacting prosperity in the zone is the criminally neglected agriculture, a trend that has created serious ripple effects on the lives of millions of the people. Many rural communities no longer have access to the basic things of life, thus the ceaseless rural-urban drift. But the desire to bring revamp agriculture must be pegged on a Marshal Plan and insulated from undue politics for it to succeed. This is because the bane of the zone in the last 13 years of civil is that most state policies and programmes have been clouded in unbridled political manoeuvres. So, all leaders from the region need to take a cue from other parts of the country.Governors from the Northern, who came into office under different political platforms, as well as other categories of leaders from the zone, have consistently held separate meetings without attacking one another or working across purposes. Leaders of different persuasions from the South-East have equally met at a number of times to promote the interest of their people. Such meetings are scarcely turned into an avenue by the stakeholders to exhibit undue political intolerance. Not so in Yorubaland anymore! Name-calling, disdain and scorn, character assassination and mudslinging often characterise the rank and file of the various leaders. Nonetheless, the Yoruba need to strike a consensus on where the region must be in the next few years to avert a lurking danger in the face of worrisome challenges facing the country. A workable strategy capable of carrying the majority on the path of rebirth, recovery and revolution in the economy, infrastructure, science and technology are desirable without further delay. One of the general expectations from the people is that in the next two years, governors in the zone should have been able to achieve self-sufficient in staple food production, while pursuing an aggressive cash crop policies in their respective states. They must work to achieve food security, and encourage neighbourhood farming even among the elite, while secondary schools should be made to cultivate seasonal arable crops as was the practice during the administration of the late Chief Bola Ige in old Oyo State. The leaders should use the strident agitation for a constitution amendment by the various stakeholders in the federation as another clarion call for them to further look inward and mobilise all for an altruistic concepts that can reinvigorate the Yoruba nation, and at the same time guaranteeing a holistic renaissance in Yorubaland. But, food security should be the considered as the stepping stone and indeed, launching pad in the quest to restore the glory of the race and bring an end to the gradual marginalisation of the zone by the Nigerian state. Oderemi, 08023501874 (sms only)'''''''..FEEDBACK: Is Fashola Still Working': 'Your article is timely. It is increasingly becoming difficult for a farmer to bring his produce to any market to sell these days if you are not a member of a union. Union is killing productivity and the South-West governments must see to it.''Bola A. Adetula, Owo, Ondo State.''''''''''..Please, who won the Edo July 14 governorship election' Kindly explain to me.' Taiwo in Ibadan'''''''''''''''I don't know what I can make of your piece. If I may ask you, if oshiomhole did not win, who then won' I am sure you are not from Edo State and so, you have no locus standi to give your parochial judgment without verdict. Maybe, if your favourite party, PDP had won, you would have been happy. Those of us from Edo State know where the shoe pinches and that was what you saw on the streets of Edo State when INEC announced the winner of the election.' Felix'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''Plateau killings: Nigeria, We hail thee!The gruesome killings of Christians in the North by Boko Haram sect are becoming absolutely unbearable, which I'm afraid are capable leading to another civil war again if something concrete is not done now. To my own understanding as well as other well- meaning Nigerians, the problem behind the current crisis is nothing but corruption. You cannot guarantee obedience in an atmosphere of lawlessness.' Samuel in Port-Harcourt.''''''''''''''''Oderemi, we are in a time that you don't rely on the so-called federal government security because that particular local government in Plateau Sate, where the killings occurred, was under a state of emergency...' 07069088199''''''''''''''..'Kunle, it is people like you that fuel this crisis on the Plateau. Try to check the records what happened at Dogo na Hawa where the whole people were massacred and stuffed in wells and pit latrines' There was a day in which over 800 innocent Muslims were killed by the Birom Christian militia. Also last year on Sallah day, Muslims were surrounded and roasted. What goes round, comes round.' 08033362745
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