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  • 9/24/2023
Transcript
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)

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