Last week, a reminder came to us on what needs to be done. To start with, a call has gone to governments at all levels to strengthen agencies connected with gathering related hydrological information in order to encourage rain water harvesting for a safe environment. A Professor of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, Olufiropo Awokola made this plea while speaking on the topic, ‘Hydrological Forecasting and Prediction: an Important Tool in Water Resources Development And Management’, at the Inaugural Lecture of the Federal University of Agriculture (FUNAAB), Abeokuta, Ogun State.
Prof. Awokola described governmental agencies as the largest employers of hydrologists, stating that it is important for them to have major interest in stimulating hydrologic education. He described water as the most important natural resource needed by man in all ramifications, saying that governments should endeavour to make water availability their priority for both rural and urban dwellers. Speaking on some of the factors militating against regular provision of water, the don highlighted population explosion, opening up of new locations, cases of new sites springing up in urban areas and power supply as some of the factors that had led to shortage of water, stating that this had further made most communities to provide reliable means of water supply for themselves.
The 73rd Inaugural Lecturer condemned the habit of policy makers making generalised decisions on the drilling of boreholes across the country without considering the geological differences in various parts of the country. According to him, “There is plenty of evidence of non-functioning boreholes in major communities across the country, some of which were constructed by some government agencies. The only way to ensure that such is reduced is if governments choose their priority right and use appropriate contractors with the right equipment and consultants that check the borehole design to handle such jobs. After completion, the government should charge the community with such borehole the responsibility of monitoring and maintenance”, he said.
Prof. Awokola, however, enjoined the Acting Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Olusola Kehinde, who was chairman at the occasion, to introduce Hydrology and Climate Change, as another area of specialisation in the Department of Civil Engineering, both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels in the institution. On the other hand, leadership has been a major challenge facing Nigeria as a nation. Hence, the citizens have been charged to look out for people, who have passion for service, accountable and committed while choosing the next crop of leaders in the coming general elections. Mr. Olalekan Sotunde, an Assistant Extension Fellow at the Agricultural Media Resources and Extension Centre gave the charge, as he pointed out that a true leader must have the quality of self-awareness, understand the system in society, and be ready to serve. “A leader is someone that cares about others, thinks of the way forward, and makes good choices that lead to development”, he said. The guest explained that the Nigerian constitution had made it difficult for leaders to do good, adding that the constitution was key and central to the development of the country. “The problem is that we don’t have a constitution that controls us for the issue of unity of the country should be discussed and enshrined in the constitution”. Sotunde, however, urged Nigerians to look out for the aforementioned qualities and antecedents of political office seekers, saying that no leader is totally good or bad.
Similarly, a tool that is critical to breeding of good leadership is sound education, hence governments at all levels have equally been admonished to make education their priority among other things in order to fight injustice because education is a strong weapon in this regard. Dr. Joseph Filani, a Chief Lecturer and Dean, School of Education, Federal College of Education (FCE), Osiele stated that education should come first in whatever the government “is trying to do and education sector should be given utmost priority among other sectors”. He stressed the need to re-orientate the populace to getting proper education for them to discover their potentials, to be relevant in society and be able to fight for themselves when they are being cheated.
“There should be a real orientation as to what education actually means”, he said. In the same vein, Dr. Amos Adediran, Principal lecturer in the Department of Social Studies, FCE Osiele, Abeokuta maintained that “the future of education lies in the hands of government.” He added that governments should be able to provide basic educational facilities that would enhance the productivity of teachers through constant training to sharpen their skills. “The government should protect the educational system at all cost. The system is not encouraging the teachers to perform well”, he stated. Dr. Adediran noted that the curriculum structure of education was good, but the implementation aspect was the problem the sector was facing. From the points raised by the various speakers above, it simply means that Nigeria has what it takes to be strong, only if we can match thoughts and actions with strong political will, to act. This is what is still pending.