Abdul Mahmud

thumb|Abdul Mahmud Abdul Mahmud is a Nigerian lawyer, social critic, columnist, human rights advocate, knowledge worker, essayist, poet, former Students' union leader and activist. He is currently the President, Public Interest Lawyers League (PILL), a body of professional and independent group of lawyers committed to the promotion and enforcement of the rights of vulnerable and minority groups, deepening of democracy and governance and the expansion of public interest law. He is a third-generation Nigerian poet whose works appear under the nom de guerre, Obemata. Some of his poems have also been translated into Polish, Lithuanian and French language. Quotes The former labour leader who built his reputation challenging governments, confronting economic injustice and defending ordinary Nigerians appeared, after entering the highest circles of partisan politics, to have surrendered much of that instinct to the demands of political loyalty. Critics who once applauded his fearless interventions increasingly saw a politician more inclined to defend the government than to question it, even when the facts demanded uncomfortable conversations. Roads occupy a place in national development that no government should underestimate. They are not strips of asphalt connecting one town to another. They remain the principal arteries through which the Nigerian economy continues to function. Commerce does not wait for political speeches. Every damaged highway extracts its own invisible tax upon the economy through higher transport costs, lost productivity and avoidable accidents. Public schools across the country are collapsing in slow motion. Roofs leak when the rains arrive. Desks are broken or entirely absent. Teachers are poorly trained, poorly paid, and frequently overwhelmed. Libraries do not exist in many schools. Laboratories are little more than fantasies. Toilets are unusable or nonexistent. In some schools pupils bring plastic chairs from home. In others they bring nothing at all and simply sit on the ground. For millions of Nigerian children, who the governors of the country have consistently described as “the leaders of tomorrow”, this has become the meaning of education. The classroom on the floor by Abdul Mahmud A system that no longer educates the children of the powerful quickly loses the attention of power itself. In many countries the quality of public schools improves precisely because the children of political leaders attend them. When leaders have a personal stake in public education they are compelled to fix it. Nigeria presents the opposite example. The ruling elite have effectively exited public education altogether. Once they left the system, it was quietly abandoned. Public schools were reduced to warehouses for the children of the poor. External links Abdul Aminu Mahmud Category: Living people Category:Lawyers from Nigeria Category:Social critics Category:Columnists Category:Activists from Nigeria Category:Human rights activists Category:Essayists from Nigeria Category:Poets from Nigeria