WHAT SCHOOLKIDS WANT FROM BUHARI’S GOVT:
Popcorn, ice cream, lunchpack, pencil, water colour, ‘Ben 10’, ‘Rio’ ‘Power Ranger’, ‘Tom and Jerry’, ‘Over the Head’, etc
By JET STANLEY MADU and VERA WISDOM-BASSEY
Before you read the cover story of this edition of Education Review, promise us that you are not going to laugh at our kids in nursery and primary schools for expressing their views on what they want from the soon-to-be-sworn-in Muhammadu Buhari-led government.
We know what you adults want from him. Help us pay arrears of our workers’ salaries because we are broke, say the governors. Don’t forget us now that your kingdom has come, say friends, schoolmates and associates. Make sure you deal decisively with those Boko Haram insurgents exploding bombs here and there like firecrackers and maiming lives, urge the rest of adult Nigerians. In fact, take the fight right into their den and give them the fight of their lives.
“They shouldn’t expect miracles to happen a couple of months after we’ve taken over because the destruction took so many years – 16 years of the ruling party’s rule of this country,” Buhari was quoted to have said in an interview with BBC. “For five, six years, the Nigerian enforcement law agencies, including the military, couldn’t secure 14 local governments. How can I promise miracles when I come?”
“He must do miracle oo whether he likes it or not,” one cheeky fellow posted on a social media, in reaction to the President-elect’s outburst. “What does he mean by we shouldn’t expect miracle?”, another fellow asked. “He has been preparing for over 16 years now, so he must hit the ground running.”
That’s one problem with adults’ request. They put you in a fix. They bit off for you more than your small mouth can chew. They expect too much, not minding whether you can do it or not. But not so with kiddies’ requests! As you will soon discover from your reading of this story, they make their demands on things you can easily afford. Don’t expect miracles o! We don’t think the President-elect, due to be sworn in, in three days time will ever have cause to use such expression after reading these little demands of schoolkids. What’smore, tomorrow is the Children’s Day. There’s no better way, perhaps, to celebrate this year’s event! Please, enjoy.
Interesting! Although three-year-old Caleb Iheagwam, in Nursery 1, at Clitterhouse Infant and Junior School, Rumuokoro, Port Harcourt, Rivers State does not know Buhari personally (“I don’t know him,” he emphatically told Education Review, “I only know Jonathan on the television”), all the same he would want him, on being sworn in, to give his mother “plenty of money” to buy popcorn, ice cream, Tom and Jerry, Rio for him while Daniel, his five-year-old brother would want him to pay his mother so that she too can buy for him ‘Tom and Jerry’, ‘Over the Head’, pencil and water colour.
Please, meet five-year-old Farida Salaudeen, a Nursery 2 pupil of Edana Montessori School, Lagos. Any gift from Buhari will just do. But get ready for surprises as you talk with five-year-old Joy Amarachi Emmanuel, of Leads Nursery and Primary School, Ijegun, Egba, Lagos. She does not want anything from Buhari..Now, that is surprising, isn’t it? But not so, Justus, her seven-year-old brother. He is fully armed with his wish list and he would want Buhari to buy “Ben 10” and “Power Ranger” for him. Your surprise is raised to the second power as you run into six-year-old Onyemaeze Chukwudifu, Primary 1 pupil of Prime Montessori Schools, Satellite Town, Lagos. Like Amarachi, she does not want anything from Buhari government. Reason? “My daddy and mummy have been giving me everything I need and I am sure they will continue to give me.” But his nine-year-old elder sister, Florence, a Primary 4 pupil, of the same school would want Buhari to provide her with “light” (electricity) to read her books.
While seven-year-old George Kenneth, a Primary 3 pupil of Sacred Heart School, Iba Housing Estate, Lagos, would want Buhari to buy books and pencil for him, four-year-old Kanyima Okere, of Kings Foundation Primary School Agboju, Lagos, told Education Review that he would prefer to be given children’s game videos. Not so for 11-year-old Fawaz Frazza, a Primary 6 pupil of Prime Montessori School Satellite Town, Lagos. His request is anything but selfish. He would rather that Buhari government ensureed that Primary 5 pupils do not leave primary school for secondary school, as some are doing at the moment, without first finishing their primary six education while his twin-brother, Audu, would want his government to stop Boko Haram attacks, to give jobs to the jobless and to stop corruption.
Seven-year-old Kamsi Onyeka of Cuddly Kids School, Ago Palace Way, Lagos would like to see Buahri’s government “kill all the armed robbers who have been disturbing us” while six-year-old Uzoeto Stephanie, a Primary 2 pupil of the same school would like to see him repair all the roads leading to Goodness Estate which he said are in very bad shape.
Poor Amarachi Akueme. Like Stephanie, the six-year-old, Primary 2 Pupil of Cuddly Kids School would not only want to see Buhari government repair all the bad roads in Nigeria, she would also want to have enlarge the size of her parents’ shop which she said is not wide enough. Seven-year-old Divine Anyausi, a Primary 2 of the same school, would want to see his administration provide lunchpack for every school kid in Nigeria while Akone Ahmed, also a Primary 2 would prefer to see him “give my parents money and to repair all the houses that are broken down. I want him to give my daddy and mummy a job.”
Enomie Osofie, a Primary 6 pupil of Life Moulders Primary and Nursery School, Ishashi, Iba, Lagos, would want his administration to “stop armed robbery and bribery and corruption in this country” while Nwoke Malachy wants him to build good schools, “and to stop all the killings in our schools, to give us electric power and to make Nigeria better for us.”
Nine-year-old Ezene Morrison of Crestgate School, Ishashi, Lagos, wants him “to stop Boko Haram, build power supply, build more private schools, give us agriculture and bring back Chibok girls” while 10-year-old Desmond Anani of the same school wants him “to give us constant power supply, and security and stop the bombings.” Nine-year-old Joseph Ogungbenro, a J.S.S. 1 pupil wants him to provide good roads and good teachers while 10-year-old Obi Caleb wants him to provide his school with good equipment.
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