"A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people" John F Kennedy. "LORD ! HELP ! Godly men are fast disappearing. Where in all the world can dependable men be found? Everyone deceives and flatters and lies. There is no sincerity left.". Psalms 12:1-2 NLT ; "Many people work for the money they earn, not for the conscience they have" Mark Debo Taiwo; "The opportunist thinks of me and today. The statesmen think of us and tomorrow”. Dwight D Eisen hower[1890-1969] a general and former U S President in a speech at Lafayette College,Easton,Pennsylvania.

I had read with astonishment the response of President's men to the statement credited to Prof Ben Nwabueze, the former Secretary of Education during Abacha's regime at a function organized by the Igbo Youth Movement in Enugu on Sat. 16th Feb,2013, that symptoms of a failed state are manifesting already in Nigeria. My position is not to hold brief for anybody but to state the obvious. Dr Doyin Okupe's response was that , facts and figures do not suggest anything near a failed state in the country. According to Dr Okupe "A failed state is where there is erosion of legitimate authority, where there is instability and country cannot afford to provide public services like the provision of light , good roads, water supply , and security services -- -- --There are guaranteed laws and services in Nigeria- - -" If a highly placed man like Dr Okupe could not call a spade a spade because of his present position, but try to dissuade the minds of the masses that there are no facts and figures indicating that Nigeria is already showing symptoms of a failed state is detrimental . Unlike Franklin Roosevelt who noticed in his country and said "I can see one - third of the national , ill -- housed, ill -- clad, ill -- nourished" which compelled and prompted him to work and provided social services and amenities for his people in his days , the Nigerian political appointees only apple polish their principals and give forlorn hope and fake assurance of development that never existed.
Without any fear of contradiction, Nigeria is not yet a failed state, but on the verge of becoming one if urgent attention is not apply to salvage the current trend. Regrettably, report after report continues to place the country at the bottom rung of ranking in human development indices. In 2011, Nigeria ranked number fourteen in the Failed States Index. "A failed state is one that is unable to perform its duties on several levels: when violence cascades into an all - out internal war ,when standards of living massively deteriorate , when the infrastructure of ordinary life decays, and when the greed of the rulers overwhelms their responsibilities to better their people and surroundings" A recent United Nations Development Program Study identifies Nigeria as one of the worst places on earth for a child to be born, a terrible and ignoble identity she shares with some states like Somalia, Afghanistan, Chad and Iraq. Sadly enough we have been classified as the saddest people on earth losing our former enviable position of the happiest people on earth. On the state of our roads which Dr Okupe claimed the government is providing , were been rated the second worst roads in the world with over 5,000 deaths recorded on those death--trap and life---claiming roads according to FRSC in 2011, without signs of significant reduction. United Nations on Food Security sometimes raised alarm that Nigeria is among some countries of the world that will face food security in the near future if urgent steps are not taking. The Food Import Bill of Nigeria in 2007 --- 2010 alone was N98trillion or $628billion. On the average Nigeria spends N24.5trillion yearly which is about $160b , while rice alone was $1bn in 2012. This scenario has caused the price of food to skyrocket with many nationals ill--nourished. In America, an average home spend about 12% of their income on food while in Nigeria an average family spend about 87% of their income on food alone. Therefore, any developing economy must aim at food self-sufficiency. Without food security, there can never be national security. A hungry man is an angry menthe UNICEF reported that 43% of under-five children in Nigeria were stunted. Over 10million Nigerian Children are out of school . Economic and Socio--Cultural factors keep nearly 40% of Nigerian Children aged between 6years and 14years out of school. UNESCO Country Director, Prof Hassana Alidou who spoke at the launch of the 2012 Education For All (EFA) affirmed that Nigeria has some of the worst education indicators globally with 10.5m children out of school and the costs of education in Nigeria are generally prohibitive. According to National Bureau of Statistics[NBS] Nigeria's poverty rate stood at 69% in 2010 ,while now is about 71% with 93.3% of Nigerians considered themselves to be poor in 2010 against 75.5% recorded in 2004. Unemployment rose from more than 12million in 2010 to over 14million in 2011, with the figure increasing by 1.8 million between Dec 2010 and June 2011.Unemployment is highest among people aged between 15years and 24years,and 25years and 44years. NBS data also showed that over 22million of the active population are either unwilling or unable to work or are working than 40hours per week on the average. Experts opined that 49% of the unemployed reside in the Urban area, 39.7% of the unemployed are in the rural areas. What it means is there is a disconnect between the economic growth achieved in the country in the last 5years. The Regional Director of the United Nations Development Organization (UNIDO) Representative in Nigeria and to ECOWAS , Dr Patrick Kormawa, equally advised that Nigeria should develop a foreign direct investment strategy that will facilitate the creation of jobs for millions of unemployed in the country because $8bn FDI is not having direct impact on the masses. He averred that about 4.5m new job seekers are added to the unemployed population in Nigeria annually. About 100,000 workers lost their jobs in construction industry because of governments failure to pay for contracts executed, completed and certified. National Union of Civil Engineering Construction, Furniture and Wood Workers [NUCECFWW], Construction and Civil Engineering Senior Staff Association [CCESSA], Multi---National Corporations [MNC] and Indigenous Contractors sacked over 100,000 workers because of the Federal and State Governments ‘debts of over N100bn owing the companies according to Dr Augustine Etafo, President of CCESSA . This also would swell up the rank of unemployed people at the labour market, creating idle hands for terrorism, kidnapping and other forms of social vices affecting the socio---political and economic stability of the nation. In the Boko-Haram insurgency alone , about 4,000 innocent souls had been lost through hostage taking , killing and kidnapping of foreigners, killing and assassination of security officers, like the killing of 12 police officers in bayelsa state recently, Kwara State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Chinwike Adatu was also assassinated in Enugu on Sat. 2nd of March, 2013, bombing of schools and churches , security outposts and formations, with the killing of about 100 people in Kaduna's bombing on Monday,18: 3: 13. Furthermore was the case of Mr Bamigbetan, a Local Government Chairman who was kidnapped in Lagos state while returning from office.

Moreover, The Attorney - General of the Federation and Minister of Justice ,Mr. Mohammed Adoke SAN also disclosed in Abuja while delivering an address at the national dialogue on "Torture ,Extra - Judicial Killings and National Security: Human Rights Implications" organized by National Human Rights Commission, that the Nigerian Police had carried out extra - judicial killings of over 7,195 people , mostly detainees in the last 4years.

"A nation that
Pastor Mark Debo Taiwo{JP} National Coordinator,

Operation Moving Nigeria Forward; & Nigerian Anti - Corruption Initiative

Ogbomoso.08038264924;08099820299
debotaiwo@ymail.ccom;markdebotaiwo@gmail.com