Facts

Nigerians are proud to live in a country with a land area of 923,773km 2, with varied vegetation and types of soil, suitable for various agricultural purposes. In 1960 and the years following, up till the early 1970s, Nigeria's economy was between the agricultural friendly ''grassroots'' and the 'white collar' city-oriented center. All that had to do with the production of goods was concentrated in the city, while a large percentage of Nigerians resided in the villages, with farming as their major occupation. The villages, then, lacked major amenities of life. Governance during this period was a chain of challenges. Then, most of the earnings from exports were from agriculture, while 65 % of Gross Domestic Product(GDP) also came from the sector. Nearly 50 % of government revenue in 1960 could be traced to agriculture. Today, as in the 60s, the provision of quantitative and qualitative education, quality health care delivery and the absence of social and ...

The about 1.4 million candidates who performed poorly in the recently released Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations(UTME) have only given flesh to the suspicion, all along, that qualitative education in Nigeria is almost extinct. Parents and guardians who channeled their energy and financial resources to ensure that their children and wards scale through the examinations, successfully, have continued to lament over the huge amount they expended on the examinations. Of worry, is the continued silence of the Federal government on the issue. This is a disturbing threat to democracy, considering the allocation to the education sector in the 2024 annual budget.

 Discrimination was the order of the day during the colonial era. In November 1947, Imoudu led others to demonstrate against racial discrimination at the Bristol Hotel, Lagos.  In the cause of the demonstration, he was physically assaulted and arrested by the Police. However, of worry, is the self-preservation approach of present day labor leaders.  At different times, he mobilized the conference of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) to protest against colonial rule and also workers and peasants for the independence movement led by Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe, during the nationwide tour of the National Council of Nigeria Citizens (NCNC), to raise funds and support for the Nigerian delegation to the constitutional conference in London.  The Labor wing of the NC-Democratic Grand Alliance, of which Imoudu was a member, won four seats in the Lagos Town Council elections in 1950.  In 1964, Imoudu led a general strike against the restriction of democracy, which was targeted at c...

  The need for an increase in wages and better working conditions prompted Michael Imoudu to lead a demonstration from the locomotive yard in Ebute metta, Lagos to the Government House situated at Marina, Lagos Island, Lagos. The Governor General of the Colony of Lagos, Bernard Bourdillon, noticed that any form of industrial action at that period, could disrupt railway supplies to the coalition, during the Second World War in 1941. It was on this premise he acceded to a 50 percent pay rise for the workers. This success, further inspired Imoudu to put forward more demands, among which were conversion of daily casual labor to salaried employment, Saturday work with pay, permanence of daily labor, holiday travel grant and payment of arrears to cover from 1932 to 1942 unpaid entitlements. This did not go down well with Bourdillon, who facilitated the termination of Imoudu’s appointment on 23 January 1943 and also ordered his arrest under the Nigeria General Defense Regulations, 1941. I...