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Guardian Nigeria

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00:00 Welcome to Inside Stuff with me, Martins Olodja.

00:02 (upbeat music)

00:05 This episode, we'll talk about

00:10 stop serving the gods of small things.

00:13 We'll see that we are a big country.

00:16 We should be boasting of critical,

00:19 robust, critical infrastructure.

00:22 We don't have critical infrastructure,

00:24 it's a big country.

00:26 We are big countries, one writer here

00:30 talked about giant in the sun.

00:33 We are being talked of as the giant of Africa.

00:38 Are we really the giant of Africa?

00:42 Well, the current president just told

00:44 the international community, even before UNGA,

00:47 that we are back.

00:51 So if we are back, we should be back

00:54 to serving the god of big things.

00:59 What are these big things

01:00 that we are talking about in a country?

01:02 Critical infrastructure.

01:03 Look at the railway.

01:08 Our fathers used to talk about the railway,

01:11 but now when government is talking about railway,

01:15 the one that we can know in 36 states of the federation.

01:20 So there is a railway, train service

01:25 from Abuja to Kaduna.

01:29 Abuja to Kaduna, the capital,

01:33 that is the political capital of the north.

01:35 When you get to Kaduna, where do you go from there?

01:38 There are 18 other states that you have to go to.

01:43 In the same vein, they said that,

01:45 oh, we developed one from Lagos to Ibadan.

01:51 We have five other states in southwest alone.

01:55 Whereas Lagos being the commercial capital

01:59 of Nigeria and indeed West Africa.

02:02 Where do we go from there?

02:05 When you enter one train,

02:09 you join it from Lagos to Ibadan.

02:12 When you get to Ibadan, where do you go from there?

02:15 What happened to the god of big things

02:19 in southwest that we should have developed facilities

02:23 from Ibadan to Abeokuta, Ibadan,

02:27 to Akure, Adoikiti and other states?

02:32 Where is their own, even from anywhere in the east,

02:36 in eastern part of Nigeria and even the south-south?

02:40 No integrated transportation facility.

02:45 We have traveled around the world.

02:49 We cannot find a country, vast country like this

02:52 without robust mass transit system.

02:57 We are talking about palliative now.

02:59 What more can leaders do to their citizens

03:03 that will be better than this?

03:05 If we are talking about mass transit system,

03:09 we'll be able to solve a lot of our problems.

03:12 If we can move from one place to the other,

03:14 we can fly from one place to the other

03:16 without having to pay so much,

03:18 without any young person that is working now,

03:22 that's thinking of buying his or her own car.

03:26 Why?

03:27 Because there is no mass transit system.

03:29 Even in a place like Lagos,

03:32 Lagos that we should be proud of,

03:34 there's no mass transit system.

03:36 We are talking about blue line, yes?

03:40 Red line will come, green line will come,

03:42 blue line will, all sorts of colorful lines will come.

03:48 But because of the population

03:50 and because of the network that should carry people,

03:55 things may pale into insignificance.

04:02 And these are issues.

04:05 And I think that we should serve the God

04:11 that will provide us big things,

04:14 big thinkers, leaders with big ideas

04:18 that will do something in a way

04:22 that will take a road transportation system

04:27 from Lagos to the capital of Nigeria,

04:29 Lagos to the oil city in Port Harcourt,

04:33 they call Garden City.

04:34 By this time, that is some minutes to 5 p.m.,

04:41 I should be able to put a good car on the road

04:44 and go to my state capital in Akure.

04:47 But I cannot because we do not have good roads.

04:52 Even inside Lagos, the third mainland bridge,

04:56 the potholes there at this time now cause traffic.

05:01 We should be thinking of big things,

05:02 where big country with the most populous

05:05 black nation on earth, yes?

05:07 The most populous in Africa.

05:09 The black race looks up to Nigeria,

05:12 but Nigeria doesn't seem to like the God of big things.

05:16 We like small things.

05:17 We have Toyota, Toyota car products everywhere,

05:22 but there is no Toyota manufacturing company

05:26 assembly plant in Nigeria

05:28 because we serve the God of small things.

05:31 This is not good for us.

05:33 We want to join our leaders,

05:34 therefore, to continue to serve the God of big things

05:39 that will enable us to have the universities

05:43 that will make us to link our problems to our education.

05:48 That curriculum should be built around problems.

05:53 Higher education is to solve problems of society,

05:57 but because we serve the God of small things

06:00 and we have small, small things around education,

06:03 small budget around education,

06:05 even our lecturers cannot allow their own children

06:08 to attend the universities and polytechnics

06:11 where they teach because we serve the God of small things.

06:16 Therefore, we want to enjoy our new leaders

06:19 to begin to serve the God of big things

06:22 that will make the world to say,

06:24 "Look, yes, it's an aviation hub.

06:27 "Let us take our children there."

06:29 I once met a woman in Miami, Florida in 2007.

06:36 The woman did her degree at the University of Hibana.

06:41 She came all the way from the United States to read English.

06:48 She told me that she was a classmate

06:51 to now Professor Gigi Darra, who was at the time

06:56 the chairman of the editorial board of The Guardian.

07:02 He's a professor.

07:03 Our products of University of Hibana,

07:05 our premier university, what happened?

07:08 What happened to the God of big things

07:11 that set up that kind of university

07:13 with even university teaching hospital

07:18 patterned after the University of London teaching hospital?

07:23 What happened to our UCH,

07:27 which the God of big things built for us?

07:31 Why are we now serving the God of small things?

07:34 We cannot boast of robust system,

07:38 master system, education system, any kind of system.

07:43 Therefore, whoever serves the God of big things,

07:47 we'll be thinking of investing in science and technology.

07:52 That is what the God of big things use,

07:56 will use to serve a country like this one.

08:00 Therefore, our leaders should continue

08:03 to serve the God of big things

08:05 so that we become big in the eye of the world.

08:08 Thank you, Lord, we meet again next week.

08:11 Send your comments to the comment section.

08:13 It is me, Martins Oloja.

08:15 (upbeat music)

08:18 (upbeat music)

Stop serving the God of small things | Inside Stuff

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