Nigeria-daily-becoming-an-enigma-as-the-gap-between-the-haves-and-the-have-nots-continue-to-increase-in-the-midst-of-abundant-wealth-and-resources
September 7, 2020 | News
NIGERIA DAILY BECOMING AN ENIGMA – AS THE GAP BETWEEN THE HAVES AND THE HAVE-NOTS CONTINUE TO INCREASE IN THE MIDST OF ABUNDANT WEALTH AND RESOURCES
Is it not wickedness, cruelty and man’s inhumanity against man that our past and present Nigerian political leaders at all levels of Government have not been able to use the abundant natural and human resourcefulness evident in this country to address the deplorable living standard. Its citizens have been exposed to for as long as we can remember? Is it not an irony, and almost an enigma that, despite Nigeria’s vast natural resources and enormous human potentials across all boards; the gap between the poor and the rich, the haves and the have-nots, the governed and the government – keeps increasing and expanding rather than closing-up. One would have thought that, considering how ‘blessed’ Nigeria is, the issues of life-threatening poverty, hardship, underdevelopment and backwardness will not be that prevailing in the country.
The most annoying part of this pathetic situation in Nigeria is that it seems as if our Nigerian political leaders at all levels, are hardly moved emotionally, empathetic or even understand how bad the poverty and underdevelopment situation is in the country. Many of them, do not even have an iota of idea of the sort of sufferings, hardships and poverty countless Nigerians are made to grapple and deal with every day of their lives. We are certain that if they really do care, as political leaders and custodians of the nation’s wealth, they would not be doing a lot of the things they heartlessly do in the name of ‘government work’.
Perhaps, many of them, and some of us seriously need to do a ‘reality check’ on this issue. Just go out and take a critical look around you, especially in urban centers and then you will see what many Nigerians are daily going through. And then ask yourself, for those over forty years; was this the situation in the country when you were younger? Truth is, the abject poverty in the land faced by many Nigerians, have subjected them to settle for the occupation of hawking of all kinds of goods/wares along major roads and highways just to make a living. Many of them, including children spend hours daily on the roads/highways, at the risk of being knocked-down by vehicles, just trying to sell sachet water (aka pure-water), Bread, Groundnuts, etc., under the hot sun and during heavy rains. Often times, these hardworking Nigerians will not be able to sell up to Two hundred naira a day. Yet, we have government officials all around us who steal public funds meant for development of the country that would improve the standard of living of its citizenry, as foreign investments and businesses are attracted by what they government must have done. It is only when the Nigerian government at all levels are doing what is expected of them that these Nigerians, some of whom are graduates, will be gainfully doing something other than hawking.
Someone recently circulated a post on social media nothing how he interviewed 3 pure-water sellers and according to them: sometimes, it takes about 6 hours to sell 20 sachets of water which amounts to a total of N200 which is even less than a dollar now. From the N200, the profit is only about N40 as the pure-water sellers have to pay the wholesalers their money back as well as cover the price for ice block which was used to cool the water. The long and short of it is that some of them make only N40 in 6 hours of hustling under the hot sun, risking their lives on express roads. As if that is not bad enough, when passengers and drivers reach the traffic stops, they prefer to dash N20, N50 or even N100 to beggars and fake sufferers who sometimes make about N1,500 a day doing nothing but begging, leaving them richer, luckier and safer than the pure water sellers who are young entrepreneurs serving the larger community with their trade, and trying to make ends meet. The generator of the said post then advised that: when next you are at a traffic stop, please: Dash (tip) the pure-water seller instead. Buy pure-water to patronize them and if the change is (N10, or even N20, you can leave it with them. Say something nice to them. Greet them, encourage them, slow down, don’t knock them down. Even if you will not buy the pure water, if they ask you to buy, rather than ignoring them and facing front as if they are not humans, you can look at them, smile and say “Thank you.”
In another post via social media, someone else expressed his experience when he recently visited Accra and had to talk with an Executive of the Swedish Ghana Medical Centre established in 2013. The Centre uses state-of-the-art radiation cancer treatment equipment and techniques that is absolutely not available anywhere in Nigeria. In his words: “I was curious: Why Ghana? Why not Nigeria? The story goes that the Swedes originally preferred Nigeria: big country, big market and large number of cancer patients. But demand for bribes by Nigerian officials frustrated the initiative to establish the Centre. So, Accra gained, Nigeria lost. Nigerians fly in droves (medical tourism) to Accra to get treatment at the Accra Centre. But this is not an isolated case. There are many such cases. Indeed, during the President Obasanjo administration, strong efforts were made to attract foreign investors to the Communication and Real Sectors. But bribery and corruption frustrated many of the foreign investors and drove away industries that ought to generate massive revenues, create jobs and world class services to Nigerians. Promise of a great national future was sacrificed on the altar of bribery by greedy, corrupt public office holders in government.”
There are many other similar opinions by foreign investors on their experience of frustration with the bribery that destroyed dreams in Nigeria. One of them was Richard Branson, Owner of Virgin Group, who once said: “We put together a very good airline, the first airline in West Africa that was IOSA/IATA, operational safety audit accredited but unfortunately it got tied down to the politics of the country. We led the airlines for 11 years, we fought a daily battle against government agents who wanted to make a fortune from us, politicians who saw the government is 49% as a meal to seek for all kinds of favours. Watchdogs (regulatory bodies) that didn’t know what to do and were persistently asking for bribes at any point. Nigerians are generally nice but the politicians are very insane. That may be ironic because the people make up the politicians but those politicians are selfish.”
Another person was Strive Masiyiwa of Econet Wireless, who said: “1 assembled a consortium of 22 mostly institutional investors: leading banks with Lagos and Delta States in 2011. The license was $285m. we were number one with about 57% market share. Then I was told that our company must pay $9m in bribes to senior politicians (in State Government) who facilitated the raising of the money for the license. I refused to authorize the illegal payments. Meeting after meeting was held to try to get me to agree, but I would not. The money would not be paid as long as Econet was the operator and I had signing authority. The shareholders met and voted Econet Wireless Nigeria out of management. They cancelled our management contract. I had to withdraw all my staff and their families: 200 people in all. We left Nigeria. Most of our people had to be retrenched. The loss of the contract almost drove us to bankruptcy as a group.”
There are many other investors, both foreign and domestic too numerous to mention that had similar said experiences of how they were frustrated by Nigerian politicians and Government Officials who are only driven by their greed. These are obviously businesses, which ought to provide massive job opportunities to Nigerian youths, that were never realized because of bribery and corruption in high places of government. All of this, are obviously part of the reasons there are no jobs for the teeming Nigerian youths, many of whom are today being sold as slaves in places like Libya while trying to escape the hardship in their country in search of greener pastures abroad.
Our current leaders in government circles both at the federal and state levels, keep telling people that they understand the plight of our youths and the unemployment situation in the country. Yet, their daily actions and inactions are saying something else entirely. On the one side the government says they are ‘worried’ about the increase in criminal activities and the unemployment rate in the country; but on the other side we see “absolute waste” of public funds at the Federal and State levels through their salaries, bonuses, allowances and fringe benefits. The situation at the National Assembly in terms of recurrent expenditure is far worst. Whereas, countless Nigerians are living below one dollar a day and our young ones that are supposed to be leaders of tomorrow are made to face dehumanizing conditions of poverty, lack and hardship. The present crop of political leaders in the country should wake-up from their slumber and start addressing all these issues raised here.
Zik Gbemre, JP.
Is it not wickedness, cruelty and man’s inhumanity against man that our past and present Nigerian political leaders at all levels of Government have not been able to use the abundant natural and human resourcefulness evident in this country to address the deplorable living standard. Its citizens have been exposed to for as long as we can remember? Is it not an irony, and almost an enigma that, despite Nigeria’s vast natural resources and enormous human potentials across all boards; the gap between the poor and the rich, the haves and the have-nots, the governed and the government – keeps increasing and expanding rather than closing-up. One would have thought that, considering how ‘blessed’ Nigeria is, the issues of life-threatening poverty, hardship, underdevelopment and backwardness will not be that prevailing in the country.
The most annoying part of this pathetic situation in Nigeria is that it seems as if our Nigerian political leaders at all levels, are hardly moved emotionally, empathetic or even understand how bad the poverty and underdevelopment situation is in the country. Many of them, do not even have an iota of idea of the sort of sufferings, hardships and poverty countless Nigerians are made to grapple and deal with every day of their lives. We are certain that if they really do care, as political leaders and custodians of the nation’s wealth, they would not be doing a lot of the things they heartlessly do in the name of ‘government work’.
Perhaps, many of them, and some of us seriously need to do a ‘reality check’ on this issue. Just go out and take a critical look around you, especially in urban centers and then you will see what many Nigerians are daily going through. And then ask yourself, for those over forty years; was this the situation in the country when you were younger? Truth is, the abject poverty in the land faced by many Nigerians, have subjected them to settle for the occupation of hawking of all kinds of goods/wares along major roads and highways just to make a living. Many of them, including children spend hours daily on the roads/highways, at the risk of being knocked-down by vehicles, just trying to sell sachet water (aka pure-water), Bread, Groundnuts, etc., under the hot sun and during heavy rains. Often times, these hardworking Nigerians will not be able to sell up to Two hundred naira a day. Yet, we have government officials all around us who steal public funds meant for development of the country that would improve the standard of living of its citizenry, as foreign investments and businesses are attracted by what they government must have done. It is only when the Nigerian government at all levels are doing what is expected of them that these Nigerians, some of whom are graduates, will be gainfully doing something other than hawking.
Someone recently circulated a post on social media nothing how he interviewed 3 pure-water sellers and according to them: sometimes, it takes about 6 hours to sell 20 sachets of water which amounts to a total of N200 which is even less than a dollar now. From the N200, the profit is only about N40 as the pure-water sellers have to pay the wholesalers their money back as well as cover the price for ice block which was used to cool the water. The long and short of it is that some of them make only N40 in 6 hours of hustling under the hot sun, risking their lives on express roads. As if that is not bad enough, when passengers and drivers reach the traffic stops, they prefer to dash N20, N50 or even N100 to beggars and fake sufferers who sometimes make about N1,500 a day doing nothing but begging, leaving them richer, luckier and safer than the pure water sellers who are young entrepreneurs serving the larger community with their trade, and trying to make ends meet. The generator of the said post then advised that: when next you are at a traffic stop, please: Dash (tip) the pure-water seller instead. Buy pure-water to patronize them and if the change is (N10, or even N20, you can leave it with them. Say something nice to them. Greet them, encourage them, slow down, don’t knock them down. Even if you will not buy the pure water, if they ask you to buy, rather than ignoring them and facing front as if they are not humans, you can look at them, smile and say “Thank you.”
In another post via social media, someone else expressed his experience when he recently visited Accra and had to talk with an Executive of the Swedish Ghana Medical Centre established in 2013. The Centre uses state-of-the-art radiation cancer treatment equipment and techniques that is absolutely not available anywhere in Nigeria. In his words: “I was curious: Why Ghana? Why not Nigeria? The story goes that the Swedes originally preferred Nigeria: big country, big market and large number of cancer patients. But demand for bribes by Nigerian officials frustrated the initiative to establish the Centre. So, Accra gained, Nigeria lost. Nigerians fly in droves (medical tourism) to Accra to get treatment at the Accra Centre. But this is not an isolated case. There are many such cases. Indeed, during the President Obasanjo administration, strong efforts were made to attract foreign investors to the Communication and Real Sectors. But bribery and corruption frustrated many of the foreign investors and drove away industries that ought to generate massive revenues, create jobs and world class services to Nigerians. Promise of a great national future was sacrificed on the altar of bribery by greedy, corrupt public office holders in government.”
There are many other similar opinions by foreign investors on their experience of frustration with the bribery that destroyed dreams in Nigeria. One of them was Richard Branson, Owner of Virgin Group, who once said: “We put together a very good airline, the first airline in West Africa that was IOSA/IATA, operational safety audit accredited but unfortunately it got tied down to the politics of the country. We led the airlines for 11 years, we fought a daily battle against government agents who wanted to make a fortune from us, politicians who saw the government is 49% as a meal to seek for all kinds of favours. Watchdogs (regulatory bodies) that didn’t know what to do and were persistently asking for bribes at any point. Nigerians are generally nice but the politicians are very insane. That may be ironic because the people make up the politicians but those politicians are selfish.”
Another person was Strive Masiyiwa of Econet Wireless, who said: “1 assembled a consortium of 22 mostly institutional investors: leading banks with Lagos and Delta States in 2011. The license was $285m. we were number one with about 57% market share. Then I was told that our company must pay $9m in bribes to senior politicians (in State Government) who facilitated the raising of the money for the license. I refused to authorize the illegal payments. Meeting after meeting was held to try to get me to agree, but I would not. The money would not be paid as long as Econet was the operator and I had signing authority. The shareholders met and voted Econet Wireless Nigeria out of management. They cancelled our management contract. I had to withdraw all my staff and their families: 200 people in all. We left Nigeria. Most of our people had to be retrenched. The loss of the contract almost drove us to bankruptcy as a group.”
There are many other investors, both foreign and domestic too numerous to mention that had similar said experiences of how they were frustrated by Nigerian politicians and Government Officials who are only driven by their greed. These are obviously businesses, which ought to provide massive job opportunities to Nigerian youths, that were never realized because of bribery and corruption in high places of government. All of this, are obviously part of the reasons there are no jobs for the teeming Nigerian youths, many of whom are today being sold as slaves in places like Libya while trying to escape the hardship in their country in search of greener pastures abroad.
Our current leaders in government circles both at the federal and state levels, keep telling people that they understand the plight of our youths and the unemployment situation in the country. Yet, their daily actions and inactions are saying something else entirely. On the one side the government says they are ‘worried’ about the increase in criminal activities and the unemployment rate in the country; but on the other side we see “absolute waste” of public funds at the Federal and State levels through their salaries, bonuses, allowances and fringe benefits. The situation at the National Assembly in terms of recurrent expenditure is far worst. Whereas, countless Nigerians are living below one dollar a day and our young ones that are supposed to be leaders of tomorrow are made to face dehumanizing conditions of poverty, lack and hardship. The present crop of political leaders in the country should wake-up from their slumber and start addressing all these issues raised here.
Zik Gbemre, JP.