 Welcome to the Advocate. Your panelists are here to discuss thought-provoking issues in an atmosphere of laughter and seriousness. Here, we call a spade a spade and today we're here to remind you that important conversations are among the necessary tools for a saner society. In what I term, the deja vu effect of the Nigerian society, I'll be talking about the avoidance of future disasters in our country. Ruth talks about the increasing drug problem in Nigeria with heavy focus on math. The saint with no halo, Kule Lawal, is talking about a power shift in 2023 and Tonya ends with a conversation on corporate dressing. The deja vu effect of the Nigerian society. Nigerians are people that are stressed and broken. There is a different narrative every single day, which foretells of a terrible future of doom, uncontrolled violence and unparalleled impunity across board. That is, from the corridors of power to the streets of the ordinary or average Nigerian. Often times, we reference this future of total neglect and chaos, more like dub-chub-dub scenario, and we wonder when will we get there. The good news is, we are already there. Growing up in Festak in the 80s and 90s, residents of Ajigule or Jo Okokomayko looked up to Festak. It was a symbol of what we now know as Banan Island, for the residents of that part of Lagos. It arrived out to Ruleri, and of course, the only difference between Ikoi, from Ikoi rather, are the businesses, foreign missions and other strategic infrastructure put up in Ikoi. While we lived there with pride, residents of neighboring communities looked on with envy. Residing in Festak was the ambition of this neighboring residents. Many years later, the Nuvorish of these communities all moved to Festak. With the mentality of their previous communities, they unwittingly unsettled the calm, opulence and beauty of Festak. Pollution everywhere, gutter started becoming choked. Festak became noisier. Drivers would leave the statutory parking spaces and park on pavements. And there came periodic floods after a heavy rain. An uncommon event a few years ago, drinking spots sprang up in this one-time residential environment of choice. And the old residents, particularly the older children who have made some money, started staying out of Festak longer to avoid the unbearable feeling of staying in Festak. And eventually moved out of Festak. Now Festak is a shadow of itself. If you were to visit Festak for the first time, you would not understand the glory that once existed. It feels like it has gone with the wind. Why do I call this unpleasant condition good news? We are already experiencing all what we assume is to come, unknowingly. And we are getting by to prevent that unstable future of erratic violence, killings and oppression. All we need to do is to think about now, study our current situation and start working towards changing the narrative and event at a time. So the question is, what is happening now? The original residents of Festak refused to defend the integrity of their community when new residents started coming in. These are residents who didn't experience the glory days of regular waste pickup, flowing water and mutual respect among residents. We allow those who don't know the history and the tradition of this community to take over. We then turn around and complain that things are not the same anymore. Well, you know that song. Standard of education has plummeted. Local government officials have become less responsive because the residents that insist on their rights have all left the community. Street lights have become a relic of system that works and the area is less safe because now you have more out of school children and drop out who have been fortunate enough to discover the game betting structure. Festak is no longer as glamorous, as honorable and we are all moving to the glorified villages called Ibejileki anaja. Soon, all those people will left behind in Festak will make more money and see the lights in Leki and they will also relocate to these glorious villages. At that time, where do we move to? Then the cycle repeats itself. Standard of education would plummet. Local government becomes less responsive. Street lights will stop working and the area will become totally unsafe. To prevent this impending invasion of Leki aaja axis, all we needed to do was to support the new entrance in Festak to prevent that disaster of a future which has been foretold. We need to stop existing in our community and start living in it. We need to be intentional with our contribution to the development of our community. Support a school, support a child, look out for your neighbor, let the fence in your house stand for protection only and not a symbol of pride or separation by class. You don't need to care about Nigeria. Care about yourself enough to ensure that you are safe and comfortable and you cannot be safe and comfortable if your neighbor isn't safe and comfortable. Long live the federal republic of Nigeria. That felt more like an Independence Day speech. Exactly. You know for me the way I choose to look at your advocacy is that Nigerians have always assumed that class or the proper way of doing things is in a location. It's not in a location. And that's why we always have these issues. You have the same situation happening in places like in Apuja where you say okay we move to this. Lokuguma is to be quiet and settled places and now become a jam-packed type of activities. Games village is to be quite the place. It's becoming something else. And that is because we do not have any orientation exactly on how places should be run. We have no system. And if you've ever questioned anything in Nigeria, you'd understand that our biggest problem is maintenance. Very true. And it cuts across board. Every area, maintenance is a big issue. And I also think probably in addition to that will probably be the value system that we actually have within our society. Where like you mentioned everyone is thinking of himself and himself only in case where he's not even thinking that the actions of my neighbor is going to affect me. It's going to affect my children. It's going to affect my grandchildren. I mean that fact that there's no emphasis on the fact that we are in a community. You cannot live outside your community. You have to ensure that you protect your community in order for your children. Because I mean one day we live here, we die. Our children and grandchildren have to benefit from whatever money or wealth that we have accumulated over the years. And they can only get it if they live in a safe community. So there's kind of two things that I really pulled out from there. And the first being you build yourself this gilded cage, this gilded prison, high walls. You step outside, you see poverty. I have never been able to understand that. You think it's going to protect you. If everything goes down, they're going to chop the fence. It doesn't take long to put down the fence. Exactly. So what you're saying there is so on it in terms of engage with the community. Know the different people. Yes, the people who are neighbours like you who are middle class or whatever. But there's other people who are in that community. Do you know any of them? Do you engage any of them? Do you guys interact? Because the community is more than just what's inside your compound. The second thing I would say is that it's bigger than what you said. Look at climate change, right? What you said is like the micro story of the bigger story. If we look at climate change, if we're looking at what is going to happen in the future, right? We're planning for these communities. But if you say, okay, let's not make Festa town the subject matter, but let's look at climate change, right? It's the same story but on bigger scale. The local government doesn't engage with the community at a local level to educate. Because it really is about value systems as Ruth said, education. In those days, this is not the first time we're doing hand washing programme, right? In those days that was standard about basic cleanliness, about keeping your environment clean. You do not let keep legos clean. And they would have these programmes about dental, about brushing teeth, about washing hands. These were instituted. These were, every day, this was part of the government's life. Those were the days government and the people were working? Exactly. And this is something, obviously, Kunle, this is your side, that is so important to work at the local government level. Because all these points that you make is really served from there. And we can't just look at it as just reaching out to the grassroots. No, local government also has to reach out to the middle class and above. Because they are also part of that community and have a responsibility. Because everybody is contributing whether it's good or bad. And so you need to engage all the community. You know there's this lie, especially since we're talking about local government, politics is local, which means you should go to the grassroots. That's like the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Politics is local just simply means your constituents should be able to have access to you, whether high, rich or low. So yeah, we all know I just moved to Lagos and then I passed by one police barrack and there were posters of local government, there were people running for local government chairman on it. And that barrack I think is the worst thing I've seen in the world. It's terrible. There are many places but I almost had a heart attack looking at that barrack. And you see like what you're saying, which is part of, it fills into what the presentation I made is, I met somebody who stays in one of these estates in Leki and I was telling him about what a project we have for communities. I want to raise funds for police and stuff. He looked at me and laughed and he said in their community they actually take care of the police in that area and as a result the police is very, very committed to securing the area and that is what we are not doing. We rather complain about everything. We are not helping teachers, we are not helping police, we are not helping doctors. All we do is complain. And these people who are like us, they complain. So from whence come help my help? But well, up next is Ruth. Stay tuned.