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A Letter To The Nigerian House of Senate 6years Ago





PROPOSED PRIVATE BILL


To The Nigerian senate
Topic: A well informed public

Dear Sir
According to the Nigerian constitution of 1999, every person has right to life, right to dignity of human person, right to personal liberty, right to private and family life, right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, right to freedom of expression and the press, right to freedom of movement, right to associate or disassociate, right to fair hearing, among others.  All of the above provision is beautiful but the application lacks constructive implementation. All of the above provision can only be fully enjoyed when the average Nigerian that sells in Oshodi market or mile2 market understands the full benefit of chapter five of the 1999 constitution. Most of this market people are often harassed by fellow market people who forcefully insist that every person in the market place must be members of market union. This is sad and a breach of the fundamental human right of the individuals concerned.  Because they do not know that they have the right to associate or disassociate they are forced to comply against their will and desire.

In Nigeria today, we have adults who are ignorant of their fundamental human right. This has translated into a society of chaos; a society where lawlessness has become the order of the day. This decay has overwhelmed our nation.  It has become a national issue and urgent attention is needed to address it. Indeed our individual contributions cannot be overlooked in the course of building a better Nigeria as both the private and the government shoulders the responsibility to liaise and proffer solutions.

I hereby advocate that the Nigerian constitution should be taught in both the urban and rural areas of our community. A committee of lawyers and law professors should be attached to our
·        Churches
·        Mosques
·        Political groups
·        Social groups
·        Cooperative societies
·        Work places and villages

The Nigerian constitution needs to be taken to the grass root level; everyone needs to be informed. This is a task that private individual professors of law and lawyers must join the government to do with the sole purpose of educating and eradicating ignorance. The need to reform the minds of the adult Nigerians cannot be over emphasized even as we strive to teach the younger generation the importance and the efficacy of the law at their early stage in life. This should be done with great urgency to remedy the existing decay. Our present situation has called for such urgent attention which cannot be denied any longer unless we are ready to languish in a deeper chaos.

 Disadvantages of an uninformed society
a)   High ratio of Poverty
b)   High ratio of Indiscipline/corruption
c)     Injustice                                                                                                                
d)   Manipulation
e)   Deprivation
f)     Crime
g)   Murder
h)   Police/military brutality
And all manner of injustice.

An uninformed society breeds
·        People who do not know their fundamental human right.
·        People who do not give back to the society but would rather depend on government for every little need.
·        People who hold back useful information from the police.
·        People who lack self confidence.
·        People who are not patriotic.

 Advantages of a well informed society
There is justice in the country
There is economic stability and growth
There is peace    
There is no/low level of discrimination
 There is no/low level of inequality
The goal of national unity is enhanced
Police brutality and injustice becomes a thing of the past or reduced to the barest minimum.                                                                                                        
 
An informed society breeds;
People who do not sell their vote
People who contribute to national growth and development
People who are more productive in their work places
People who have self confidence because they know their right
People who are patriotic
People who are law abiding/disciplined

The hope of this great country is in the future of the younger generation.  As such, they should be well equipped to change the decay caused by the older generations. They are our  basic tools to change the present calamity from further deterioration.
Let the Nigerian constitution especially chapter five be simplified and taught at the elementary level in our educational institutions. This is essential to help them get acquainted with the law early in life. They will redoubtably know the law and abide by the law when they grow up. This is what we need to equip the young generation so that they don’t become a victim of an ignorant society as it is the order of the day.
Repetition they say is the law of lasting impression, this principle needs to be abducted in the implementation in order to achieve the purpose of this review. This means that the fundamental human right law both surface and in-depth should be taught at all levels irrespective of our technical discipline in school. When the law is taught at the elementary level and continued even up to tertiary institution level, it will be well imbibed in the heart of such generation.
Knowing the law early enough will help the children to be better citizens, good leaders and ultimately a well informed society. The child right law should also be fully implemented in all the states in Nigeria in order to make a better future for the Nigerian child, a future where people are ready to stake their lives for the betterment of the country.

An uninformed society is a deformed society, let’s act now!


 Lovette Gibson
GRADUATING STUDENT OF LAGOS STATE POLYTECHNIC 2009 BATCH /AUTHOR

This letter was mailed and delivered to the house of senate in May 2010

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