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10 Jan, 2011 | Author: | Andre J-SalakovPublic Law Centre/Public Defender Service/Lawyers Without Frontiers)
“The character and behavioural traits of a nation state or of any person or any living being on land or in the ocean, is embedded in the name that any such nation state, person or living being carries”, Andre John-Salakov in POLICY SCIENCE, A Science of Explanation (1992)
In the Holy Bible we learn that “By their Deeds ye shall know them”. There is no agreement that we shall ever know the ways of Nigeria or Nigerians. Nigeria is rich in confusion, diverse cultures, mismanagement. Indeed there is no such thing as “consensus ad idem” [a meeting of minds] among Nigerians of all ages as to the true meaning and effect of the name “Nigeria”. For millions of Nigerians, the name “Nigeria” is synonymous with all things negative.
The name “Nigeria” is synonymous with abject poverty on a huge scale. It is synonymous with human sufferings, unhappiness, hard labour for millions of people, destitution, desperation, frustration, distress, high blood pressure, hypertension or palpitation or irregular heart beats. Paradoxically, it is also synonymous with obscene riches in the hands of 0.5% of the population, estimated at some 150 million.
The question on the lips of every inhabitant of Nigeria is what should or could be done now to redeem the name of Nigeria. What should Nigerians do to purge their country of its bad image? Charity begins at home. Nigerians should, first and foremost mend the broken pieces of the country’s diverse cultures.
Nigeria is blessed with all the WONDERS of the Universe – monsoon rain, moon, scorching sun that could turn any white man or white woman or child into a Brazilian blend coffee. There is scorching sun that can blind the eyes in seconds if exposed to its rays. There is regular snow in Jos! Would you believe? There is abundance of natural resources that could easily sustain Nigerians until the DAY OF JUDGMENT.
There is oil; there is gas, and Nigeria is also blessed with herbal fruits. Nigeria is the one and only country in the whole wide world where the root or stem of plants are endowed with natural healing powers of their own. For example, palm wine is an effective cure for malaria fever. Palm wine is made from palm tree. And there are roots which replenish human blood; these are roots which, when boiled and consumed as a beverage, replenish human blood faster than dexorange blood tonic. Nigeria is blessed. Praise the Lord. Yet, since Independence, Nigeria has been plagued by foes and woes. Today, in 2011 Nigeria is a time-bomb, ready to explode yet again.
In Ezekiel 12: 2, 3 we learn these words “Son of man, you dwell in the midst of the house of the rebellious, who have eyes to see but see not, who have ears to hear and hear not, for they are a rebellious house.
Therefore, Son of man, prepare your belongings for removing and going into exile, and move out by day in their sight; and you shall remove from your place to another place in their sight. It may be they will consider and perceive that they are a rebellious house”.
Many Nigerian politicians are bleeding Nigeria to death. Many business tycoons are responsible for the disgraceful state of the economy. Electric power is rationed nationwide. There is no such thing as electricity 24/7. Obviously, it is not in the financial interest of the importers of billions of generators for Nigerians to light their homes at night or make use of electric kettles during the day.
Lawyers representing NEPA in a Federal High Court case recently argued that NEPA owed trillions of naira to its creditors. The irony iS, of course, that the lawyer who made that outrageous claim cannot produce THE Profit and Loss account in respect of NEPA’s dealings in any one year, since its creation.
Moreover, that lawyer could not produce any balance sheet. Millions of households are charged ridiculous amounts of money for electricity which they do not use but like everything else to do with Nigeria, NEPA does not give receipts for monies collected. So, no one really knows how much NEPA is worth and no one really knows how much of THE monies collected from Nigerians go into the pockets of the management and how much money goes into the bank account of the corporation. The way that THE management of NEPA carries out its activities, is criminal.
There is no way of knowing just how many lives are lost in Nigerian HospitaL Wards when life support machines are switched OFF because of power failure. Children and new born babies and elderly patients die every minute of the day in Nigerian hospitals because of NEPA’s criminality. No one has ever taken on NEPA.
The reality is simply that Nigeria is a country without any credible system of local, central, regional or federal government administration. Even the National Assembly has no telephone.
There is no way one can contact a government department, because there is no landline. Civil servants and their bosses carry mobile phones all over the places. There is nothing to stop them to throw a sim card away only to replace it with another the following day. There is no government department that has a landline. This does not speak well of a country which aspires to join the SECURITY COUNCIL of the UNITED NATIONS.
Any onlooker can be forgiven for thinking that Nigerians are living on their wits and deceiving the rest of the world. Any such observer can also be forgiven for forming the opinion that the Nigerian Establishment thrives on deception. The total conduct of the federal government and state governors does not make sense at all. Where is transparency? Where is democracy?
Many would argue that the problem facing Nigeria is a problem of leadership. Many would say that the country is unfortunate to be led by selfish people; people who specialize in embezzlement and money laundering.
Abacha was not the first to embezzle money. He was not the first to launder money. He was not the last to do those things, either. Today, there are important people who travel to London on a Friday with millions of US dollars, monies belonging to a state government, only to return the following day, with nothing to declare.
With all of these things going, Nigeria is no longer a safe place to live. Nigerians are leaving Nigeria in their thousands every day of the week, except weekends. A visit to the offices of the Nigeria Immigration Service in Lagos, Ibadan, and elsewhere, is evidence that Nigeria is no longer a safe place for millions of Nigerians.
Category Nigeria |
(Andre John-Salakov/Public Law Centre/Public Defender Service/Lawyers Without Frontiers)
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