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Little Prayer For President Yar'Adua
Little Prayer For President Yar'Adua
for President
Yar’Adua
By Victor Chendekemen Yakubu
1.
Our collective success lies on his shoulders and the burdens of our
daily lives are linked to his decisions in private and in public. His
public rating depends largely on his presidential or un-presidential
moves since he has left the domain of a private citizen to that of a
public servant-leader as president.
which can lead such a holder to believe that he’s a demigod because
his word is taken seriously. Those surrounding the president as aides
take his word as dogma. He can either destroy or build when he speaks.
He can draw praise when he goes the right direction or opprobrium when
he goes the other way.
What are my prayer points for Mr. President? I have three points in my
kitty. The first is that God will direct him in doing the right thing
at the right time with the right intention in his position. Recently
the United Nations’ 64th Session held in New York and thereafter the
G8, a powerful group of developed economies, invited our president to
participate in their proceedings. Instead of heading west he headed
east, specifically to the Middle East to attend the opening grand
ceremony of a University in Saudi Arabia.
My second point for prayer point is that God should make the president
listen to the Academic Staff Union of Universities [ASUU] and settle
their demands once and for all. It is shameful to note that both the
president and his minister of education come from the academia. Using
his background as a university lecturer, he should listen to the
demands of the striking lecturers. The UN demands that nations must
dedicate 13% of their budgets to education. Nigeria dedicates less
than 2% and even at that the money does not go to the right places.
For nearly six months now, it has been negotiation after negotiation
and no implementation of the resolutions. If it’s the Minister of
5.
Education, Dr. Sam Egwu, that is the wet blanket, the president should
do away with him because at the end of the day it is his
administration that will be blamed. Already the students are
languishing at home with nothing tangible to do other than to engage
in criminal activities.
The president should know those who are working for or against his
interest and should act accordingly. The long period this strike is
taking speaks volumes of the president’s position. This is not to talk
about the rot in the academic institutions which the president must
assist in solving or at least reducing to return credibility to our
colleges and universities.
My last prayer point for Mr. President is that God should make him
realize the rise in criminal activities and move ahead to reduce them
by beefing up internal security. There’s an increase in criminal
activities, religious and civil unrest, a rise in kidnappings of high
profile citizens and a surge of militants. Homeland security is the
6.
single most important part of national life so citizens can sleep with
both eyes closed. It’s painful when citizens cannot enjoy this freedom
even in the sanctity of their own homes and offices. The power supply
is erratic so Nigerians have developed a system of generating power
using generators referred to as I-pass-my-neighbour with carbon
monoxide pumped into the atmosphere.
More painful is the fact social services have completely dwindled and
not much is done to restore them. The police force is helpless in
tracking down armed robbers, kidnappers and those criminals who
terrorize fellow citizens in this period of great economic depression.
What is all the noise about a seven-point agenda when even one cannot
be realized? Do we need a long list of promises as if we are in an
electioneering campaign? Or are we already in second term campaigns
for Mr. President?
I have resolved to pray for President Umar Musa Yar’Adua like all
others preceding him on the hot seat at Aso Rock Villa. My reason is
simple. He needs divine assistance to direct this nation of over 150
million souls. Few citizens are privileged enough to supply their
daily bread without sweat, due to their exalted political positions,
privilege of government contracts or benevolence from politicians who
settle them. The majority do not have this born-with-a-silver-spoon
opportunity or our-time-has-come attitude. This majority struggle
through difficulties and sweat to put bread on their tables in spite
of the unfavourable conditions. Every day they battle between
7.
I need to pray for President Yar’Adua believing that God will deliver
him from the senseless and uncompromising counsel against the Nigerian
people from praise-singers, charlatans and sycophants. I have heard
complaints from people blaming the president for lack of electricity,
lack of good roads, lack of drugs in our hospitals and so many other
complaints. I have read commentaries blaming the president as papa go-
slow, Mr. Rule- of-Law and all such incendiary comments. All these are
due to the fact that he is in charge of this territorial boundary
called Nigeria at this moment. He needs our sympathy.
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V.C.O Yakubu, former Director Media Service Centre Kaduna, is priest of the
Catholic Diocese of Zaria working in the Diocese of Phoenix, Arizona USA.