Africa

Nigeria at 50: Two Wasted Generations!

/ Adeola / 14 Comments

By Adeola Aderounmu

This post should now read: Nigeria at 53, third generation on the wasteline!

Goodluck Jonathan and his crew are further driving this country into everlasting perdition.

Nigerian politicians are still looting and stealing the country blind.

Impunity is at a record high, executive recklessness unabated, corruption without equal on a global scale, militants are lords and terrorists are on the loose. They just murdered more than 50 students in their sleep.

Lawlessness abounds and the animal kingdom syndrome persists.

Nigeria is on the expressway to hell.
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Original article from 2010 below:

One of the major inexplicable factors that continue to keep Nigeria in the doldrums is the myopic tendency of the general population including surprisingly the literate sector. Suddenly we kept quiet despite the fact that we know that (USD110) N17b earmarked for Nigeria’s 50th anniversary celebration is not only ostentatious but also wicked, malicious, ill-timed and very unnecessary.

The non-essentiality of the expensive celebration at the national level is not related to the wealth of Nigeria. There are retired army generals in Nigeria who boast of more wealth than some nations in Africa. Money is not Nigeria’s problem. Those who continue to rank Nigeria among the poorest countries in the world must develop better parameters for defining their expressions in relative terms.

When describing the nature of poverty and penury among the populace it will be worthwhile to present them against the backdrop of what has been done to the resources and oil revenues since 1960. Nigerian rulers, dictators, politicians and tyrants have stolen more money from the national coffers than probably any other country on the surface of the earth. Nigeria is therefore not a poor country per se. But the people are impoverished no thanks to the extreme mismanagement of the various rulers, the current ruler being no exception in any way.

Nigeria is 50 years on October 1st 2010. This time in our history does not call for any national celebration. It ought to be a time of sober reflection. Nigeria used to be the giant and pride of Africa. That was back in the days. Today, Nigeria’s economic and politics portray sad pictures. Our educational system is so bad that several Nigerian students are now trooping to Ghana for tutorship.

Those who have looted, stole and destroyed the country have several of their children and family members abroad for education and comfort. To be sure, some people who have genuinely attained economic sufficiency also travel abroad for educational reasons.

It is not only the educational system in Nigeria that has suffered. Almost every aspect of our lives in Nigeria has suffered tremendous setback in such a way that the overall quality of life for the ordinary Nigerian is below the acceptable level for humans.

In the Niger Delta for example where most of our revenues are generated life is far from being a beauty to behold. National and international conspiracies have transformed the rich oil fields to killing fields and a valley of death and despair. Even the locals have not helped matter. As governors, fake elders and senseless followers they have contributed to the devastation of their heritage.

In Nigeria electricity generation is near 0%. Millions of Nigerians and thousands of businesses, big and small, depend on power generators that also generate toxic fumes and devastating noises. Nigerian businesses are growing and developing faster in Ghana than in Nigeria whereas the Nigerian environment is now widely videoed and used in documentaries to emphasize environmental disasters.

Health care has been so neglected that almost every Nigerian politician travel abroad to seek medical help. Last week both Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan took their doctors with them to the US. Where should the ordinary Nigerian people go for medical help? They have no money and still depend on the dilapidated health facilities scattered around Nigeria.

Apart from education and health there is a general breakdown in the provision and availability of other basic infrastructure. Water is scarce and Nigeria made the global news in August 2010 as a result of deaths related to cholera. Toilets are primitive in many localities and the level of sanity is extremely low.

[As I write 2 days to our 50th anniversary, an avoidable flood situation is sweeping people away in Northern Nigeria and people are swimming to safety on calabashes. Millions are displaced. The news and images spread internationally but NTA’s cameras continue to shy away from the disaster. The focus is on the billions of naira been wasted on parties here and there to mark Nigeria’s failures].

In addition to cholera, malaria also remains a threat to human lives especially in children under 4 years of age and pregnant women. Nigeria is likely the only country in the world with records of polio incidence. While the politicians and the corrupt public and private individuals continue to amass wealth, the generality of the masses-more than 70%-continue to live in abject poverty. They suffer neglect and live day-in-day-out in hopelessness.

Politics in Nigeria is the greatest source of our national shame. It is one area that exposes us internationally as “incapable” of governing ourselves successfully. Somewhere along the line we threw away merit and replaced it with mediocrity.

Tribal politics rose to unassuming heights and corruption ate deep into every fabric of the society. The concept of politics-for-the-belly, self-enrichment, inexplicable insatiable, evil urge for stolen wealth and the complete absence of morality in public offices ensured that Nigeria moved from grace to grass with lightening speed. Nigerian politics to this day is dominated by criminal minds and nonentities because of the violence and deadly tendencies attached to it.

While the other nations of the world including neighbouring countries like Ghana and Benin Republic made progresses and giant leaps forward, Nigeria shamefully headed in the opposite direction. Development became stagnated as some individuals made away with the country’s wealth. The military men and the politicians alike stole with impunity and in such dimension never seen before among the human races.

The most disheartening aspect of the looting of Nigeria is that almost everyone who stole got away. Nigeria has one of the weakest anticorruption agencies in the world. The Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) started well and gave Nigerians hope but with the emergence of the third-term agenda of General Obasanjo in 2006 the agency went wayward and has never recovered. General Obasanjo made a mess of Nuhu Ribadu’s reputation by allowing Andy Uba-then presidential aide-to travel on presidential aircraft with looted funds without any consequences. Nuhu Ribadu did not resign as the boss of EFCC even when it was certain that the mission of EFCC was derailed. Today Mr. Ribadu is a presidential candidate courtesy of stolen funds. Who is fooling who in Nigeria?

Fifty years after independence Nigeria’s democracy remains in shambles and is highly disgraceful. In 2011 Nigerians are faced with presidential election which in my own estimation is a catastrophe waiting in the wings. In several essays I have argued that we don’t need elections in 2011. What we need are the structures to deliver free and fair elections in accordance to international standards. The starting point is a valid forensic-based identity registration for every living Nigerian. The arguments on these issues are available elsewhere notably on my blog.

While the government of Goodluck Jonathan will be wasting N17b (or more) on parties and prodigality millions of Nigerians will continue to live from hand to mouth and unsure of the next meal. Nigerian rulers are characterized by low levels of cognitive abilities. It doesn’t matter how little or much the education they received. It’s always the same sad story.

The amount of funds planned for this “celebration of failures” in 2010 is unwarranted. It should have been low keyed and time for sober reflections. We should have used this golden moment to evaluate where things went wrong and write genuine blueprints of how to emerge from our present pitiable predicaments.
Moreover this anniversary should have been dedicated to arresting and prosecuting all those living large as emperors with our stolen wealth. Not so.

Nigerian embassies across the world will waste funds this season to mark our ineptitudes and the world will pretend to laugh with us. In Nigeria on October 1 2010 Goodluck Jonathan will preside over the most expensive party in Nigeria’s history and cut the biggest cake ever made by man. No greater deceit. Shame is a virtue in my country of birth.

Nigerian rulers are fond of propagating lies and falsehood. They are so cut away from the realities of our lives one would think they live on another planet.

It is not a secret that most of the N17b would end up in private accounts at home and abroad because the funds have been inflated in the first place and contracts awarded to families, friends and fair-weather acquaintances. Nigerian rulers and politicians are also notorious for their capabilities to directly divert funds regardless of the original pretentious intentions. This is common in Africa and it’s a sad situation.

For the avoidance of doubts it is morally wrong for Nigeria to celebrate the 50th year anniversary in an ostentatious manner because of the resounding failure of the various governments since 1960.
Arguments against such a shameful charade have fell on deaf ears.

When Goodluck Jonathan planned or decided to execute a plan to celebrate with 10b Naira. We complained. We suggested that the money should be used to procure cancer testing machines for our dilapidated hospitals.

Mr. Yar Adua who was declared winner of the fraudulent 2007 elections died of kidney and heart problems earlier in 2010. The government of Nigeria should consider millions of Nigeria suffering/dying daily for the same/ similar reasons and procure kidney dialysis machine and other instruments relevant to the testing and treatment of kidney and heart problems.

It will also remain a human mystery why our rulers fail to see the need to divert money into the health institutions so that we can increase the life expectancy of Nigerians with figures less than 50 years. A friend of mine is planning to release a research report which amazingly revealed that the life expectancy in Nigeria is probably lower than 40 years. I have stated in several articles as well that the situation in Nigeria represents one of the hidden tragedies of modern era.

One man told me that if Goodluck does not do the party that some other persons will embezzle the money. This is the level to which the Nigerian mentality has descended. We have been brainwashed so much that we can’t think right most of the time. In our dear country several people believe in the principle of “embezzling turn-by-turn”. They think that government is a venture that will at different times benefit a few people directly and directly. This illusory mindset unfortunately and tragically is dominant in Nigeria. The essence of life is almost completely eroded.

The heavily corrupt men and women in Nigerian House of Assembly confirmed the stupidity in the Nigerian political space by reviewing upward the money for the party. We forget so easily that we live in a country where scavengers make less than 200 naira a day and they have families to feed. Sometimes they earn nothing over a long period of time.

Our politicians in Nigeria are special. We are complaining that we should have a low key celebration and use this time of our 50th anniversary to map out strategies that will make us emerge a developed country in our second jubilee and all we can get for the calamities in Nigeria is a party worth N17b or more.

The money is not a big deal to those who approved it because they can steal, loot and cart away millions through exaggerated salaries and bonuses while the rest of us can go to hell.

These people who think and act foolishly owe us no apology, no probity and no accountability because we didn’t vote for them. Our politics is jungle politics where the fittest survive and win everything. The weak and losers lick their wound and beg for favours.

We are in trouble and constant dilemma.

It is hard to believe how we reason and how corruption had destroyed the essence of our lives. Invariably the issues affecting Nigeria as a 50 year old crawling nation are huge and inexhaustive in a single essay.
Has anyone even thought of how much a N17b education endowment fund would avail if it is not looted?
Curse apart, suffering will persist on the African continent and even elsewhere in the world until social justice and true freedom are fought for.

They always say the best things in life are free. Social justice and freedom have not yet made the list. They are definitely not free. The oppressed must rise, fight and take what is theirs.

For Nigerians and several countries in Africa the days of true independence and liberation are still ahead.

aderounmu@gmail.com

follow me on twitter:@aderinola

Goodluck Jonathan is just another waste of opportunity for Nigeria

/ Adeola / 3 Comments

By Adeola Aderounmu

There is a recurring dilemma with poor administration in Nigeria. No matter what the defenders of Jonathan or the previous useless rulers in Nigeria want to say in their defense they will not be justified. No, they won’t.

My argument…

When Babangida was the dictator and paramount ruler from 1986 to 1994, he was too busy with corruption and it’s institutionalization that for those 8 wasteful years he did not occur to him that Nigerians deserve good health facility.

When Babangida got sick or had a foot injury he would fly to France for treatment. I have always argued that Nigerian rulers are fools. That opinion has not changed. When the ruler of a country like Nigeria flies to France to treat a foot injury or stomach ache, then that ruler is a stupid person. What should 140m Nigerians do when they get sick?

It is not only Babangida who did such. Invariably Nigeria’s corrupt politicians take turn to queue at hospitals abroad when they are sick. This has been on-going for over 50 years. When Nigerians got independence in 1960 caution was thrown to the winds. Everything you can imagine collapsed, either gradually or suddenly.

A few years ago Babangida’s wife died in a foreign hospital.

In 8 years this guy could have used some of the monies he stole to build the best public hospital in the world in Nigeria but he didn’t.

The state governors, the state ministry of health and the federal health institutions do not see the need to make health provision in Nigeria a top priority. It became increasingly difficult to get quality health services in Nigeria. I can only imagine the cost of getting health care from private health institutions. Still the politicians prefer to go abroad.

General Adisa died in a foreign hospital and recently Ojukwu died in a London Hospital. The roll call is endless of how Nigerian go abroad to die because they (when they had the opportunity) did not see the need to build or utilize the facilities at home.

Late Yar Adua during his short spell at Aso rock-the global center of corruption-oscillated between Germany, Saudi Arabia and other countries to seek medical help. When he was governor for 8 years he could have done something to change the situation of health care delivery in Katsina. Even for his own benefit he could have set aside a certain budget to actualize the dream of getting treated in Nigeria. He almost died abroad-but he was package home to die.

Obasanjo’s wife Stella died while Obasanjo was the president. She went abroad to do a beauty operation and never returned. If the health institutions in Nigeria had been given adequate attention-who knows-the operation could have been carried out in Nigeria, it could have been successful. Many people hate to even talk or hear about beauty operations because they think people should be proud of their bodies while not neglecting the concept of healthy living.

Who can forget when Atiku Abubakar went to London to get clutches? This is supposed to be the vice president of Nigeria and a former state governor. Tell me why Nigerian political rulers are not fools?

It is against the backdrop of these ugly precedents and incidents that the recent trip of Patience Jonathan to a foreign hospital becomes yet another sad development in the history of Nigeria. Patience Jonathan is receiving treatment abroad. The presidency can afford to waste tax payers’ money in facilitating the treatment of Mrs. Jonathan abroad.

Of lesser importance is the nature of her sickness. In a country where red is white and black is green no one knows exactly what is wrong with Mrs. Jonathan. This is because the government reported that she is on a “rest vacation” as the media reports food poisoning, to ruptured appendix and food poisoning.

But where should the rest of Nigerians go when they are sick? The presidency is saying that there are no health facilities in Nigeria and that Nigerians can rot away or go to hell! If the unreliable Nigerian presidency is not saying this, then what is the message when Mrs. Jonathan cannot be treated by any hospital in Abuja or Lagos? Or is the message that Nigerian doctors are incompetent? I would seriously disagree with the latter.

One of my best friends lost his mother a few weeks ago. If the health care is Nigeria was working fine, she would still be alive. She had a disease that was treatable and manageable. Several thousands of Nigerians have died has a result of illnesses that can be treated or managed to prolong their lives-but they never got the chance.

Nigeria still has probably the highest maternal related deaths in the world and remains a hot spot for malaria related deaths.

The government of Nigeria represented by the incompetent presidency, the useless lawmakers, the useless governors, and several collections of corrupt people is an evil organization where the occupiers of power care first for themselves (and their families) and almost never for the people. It is sad that the people of Nigeria have not “run over” these governments over the years. It is really unbelievable.

There will be no justification for the people living hopelessly in Nigeria and dying from preventable causes while the presidency and the rest of the politicians merry in Nigeria, merry abroad and die abroad or almost dying abroad as in the case of late Musa Yar Adua.

In every Nigerian family there are people who need medical attention. There are friends and acquaintances who need a little health provisions. Every now and then we see how Nigerians desperately try to raise a certain amount of money to help friends and family members. Often it is too late even as the money comes in as drops. In many cases there are desperations to fly the victims to a foreign country! This is a sad situation.

This is the reason for my argument that the present regime headed by Mr. Jonathan is just another useless regime. This guy has been around for sometime, first in Bayelsa where he cannot point to any reputable or tangible project he did and now in Aso rock. In all of these years, just like the fools who ruled Nigeria in the past, Mr. Jonathan and the corrupt presidency that he represents has not seen the reason to build a hospital or to support one that he and his family can utilize.

Tell me, where is the hope of the common man in Nigeria?

John Atta Mills Passes On

/ Adeola / 1 Comment

By Adeola Aderounmu

Ghana’s president John Atta Mills has died in Accra.

Atta was 68 years old and has been ruling Ghana since 2009.

He succeeded John Kufuor who completed his tenure, going on two terms.

The vice president of Ghana John Mahama would become the new president in line with the constitution of Ghana.

In 2009 Nigeria’s President Mr. Yar Adua also died in office after a protracted illness and a prolonged hide-and-seek game with the nature of his illness.

May the soul of John Atta Mills rest in peace and may Ghana’s true democracy continue to be a shining example to the rest of Africa.

Nigerian Woman Denied Job Because of Tattoo

/ Adeola / 4 Comments

By Adeola Aderounmu

I responded with (a hidden) outrage to a Facebook post by two of my friends that a Nigerian woman was denied a job opportunity because she had a tattoo on her arm.

Apparently the interview was over and the panel of 4 interviewers was satisfied with her qualifications and suitability for the job. But when she stretched her hands to hand over her certificates the tattoo on her arm was revealed. At that point she lost the job!

My friends posted this on Facebook to warn potential applicants. I responded to one of the post and tried to educate the others who rejoined that it was wrong to disqualify a woman for the post that she was qualified for because she had a tattoo on her arm.

The counter argument was that it was against the so called “corporate policy of the company”.  I left the argument after all my efforts fell on deaf ears.

The girl was qualified for the job, period! Does her tattoo interfere with the job she will do? I doubt that.

Nigerians are in serious need of education.

I even argued that tattoos are not new to Nigerians. Before I was 6 years, I had been seeing beautiful Nigerian women wearing tattoos on their arms and legs. I mean before 1978.

In Nigeria we have people with tribal marks and incisions.

How then does a girl fall into the discriminatory class in 2012 because she bears a tattoo that was only revealed because she stretched her hands?

I told these guys that this can only happen in Nigeria. In other places that company will go down because of the law or boycott of its goods/services.

I even tried to point out that many footballers in our favourite teams wear clear tattoos and ply their trades. I told these guys that the global economy will collapse if people wearing tattoos are out of jobs.

I tried to educate these guys but they kept to their guns.

I was so angry I thought if this is the average thinking of a Nigerian graduate, then maybe the Federal Universities in Nigeria should not even be rated for performance, they should be wiped away completely until proper education is set in place.

How can Nigeria continue to produce graduates and employers of labours who would deny an applicant a job position because she has a tattoo? The 4 man panel should think about their decisions as shameful and scandalous.

I do hope this incident is isolated and not a norm in Nigeria and that Nigerian graduates can argue for reasons, not emotions. The ones that argued with me on Facebook need re-education.

HOSNI MUBARAK GOES TO JAIL

/ Adeola / 1 Comment

By Adeola Aderounmu

Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak will serve a life sentence. He is already 84, almost having nothing to lose.

Mubarak was accused to ordering the killing of protesters in 2011. It was actually very difficult to prove this case against him. The Police could have acted on its own. But Mubarak was in charge and the bulk stops at his desk.

Mubarak is ill, suffering from a heart condition. It would not be a shock if he is released on compassionate ground or if he is still allowed to continue to live at the Military Hospital.

Mubarak was a dictator. I don’t have enough knowledge to access his regime and I have refused to read Wikipedia for any details.

I am just going to complete this essay as an ignorant observer of Egypt.

Egypt remains a hot destination for tourists. Many Europeans will still spend this summer in Egypt. Therefore there must be something that Mubarak did well as a dictator or killer of protesters.

There must be something about Egypt before, during and after MUBARAK that makes it a wonderful place to live and visit.

Egypt remains a great footballing country. The images of Egypt that I see and observe are wonderful and delightful.

My own brother visited Egypt a few times as a tourist and businessman. It must be great there.

Usually I write to compare situations around the world with the country where I was born, that is Nigeria.

In Nigeria Mubarak will still be a hero like Babangida. Babangida killed several people including Dele Giwa and a generation of Nigerian young and promising military service men. Babangida rolled out the tanks in 1993 and Killed Nigerians protesting the annulment of the Presidential election won by MKO Abiola.

Babangida in one swoop stole more than 12 billion dollars during the Gulf war.

Today he is still a hero. He has never been convicted or imprisoned for any of these crimes.

When I watched the trial of Mubarak, I thought to myself: what if the Egyptians visit Nigeria and discover that Nigeria is covered by darkness because of the lack of electricity?

If they come, the Egyptians will see that there is no public education in Nigeria because nobody cares if the poor man and his children receive any education.

What if the Egyptians come to Nigeria and see that Nigerian hospitals are big jokes and that infrastructure in Nigeria is dead.

Nigerian roads are prone to accidents and they are among the worst in the world.

In Nigeria the politicians are thieves and they are wicked.

This week in Nigeria the heartless regime that continues to loot and steal decided to increase the price of something it is not providing. Nigerians will pay more for electricity while they live in darkness.

My conclusion?

If the Egyptians come to Nigeria they will fish out all the past and present rulers of Nigeria and tear them into pieces. This group includes the present president, all his serving committees, all the governors and all the people occupying government houses across Nigeria.

The Egyptians will take them out and sentence them to life imprisonment or to death. They are worse than Mubarak. They are the heroes of Nigeria. What a world!