It is common knowledge that
Nigeria ranks amongst the seven highest producers of
crude petroleum in the world. We also do know that
crude oil has not given up it’s leadership position
as economy booster. Whereas other frontline
oil-producing countries like Saudi Arabia,Kuwait,
Iran etc speak nuclear, Nigeria still battles with
feeding it’s people. This does not mean that there
are no excessively rich Nigerians whose wealth if
equitably distributed will instantly render the
phrase ‘poverty in Nigeria’ non-existent. The bad
news is that majority of Nigerian families fall
within poverty range while a small percent
comprising former military rulers,
presidents,governors and their lieutenants, and some
young men and women who ammased wealth through
various unaccounted for fair or foul means. Some of
these young overnight millionaires and billionaires
made their money by serving as conduit tools for
siphoning the country’s treasury into the overseas
personal bank accounts of their masters vis-à-vis
president(s),governors, chairpersons of local
governments and heads of govt ministries and
parastatals. In fairness however some of these
wealthy young guys made it through hardwork in
transparently honest businesses. With this scenario
about Nigeria in view it is very difficult for
foreign countries and even we Nigerians in diaspora
to understand or defend the continued impression of
poverty in Nigeria as eloquently emphasized in
President Yar’Adua’s 7-Point agenda. There are two
likely reasons the federal government has chosen to
present the country as poverty-stricken rather than
do the right thing that will readily erase all
vestiges of poverty from our country; that is
retrieving as much of the nation’s finances as
possible stolen by the former leaders like Olusegun
Obasanjo,Atiku Abubakar, Ibrahim Babangida,
Abdusallam Abubakar and numerous others whose total
loot is estimated in trillions of dollars which
conveniently takes care of the nation’s ten year
budget. The Yar’Adua’s administration could be doing
what it is doing (1) To attract financial and moral
support from wealthy foreign humanitarian
organizations and governments. (2) By not
investigating prosecuting their dishonest
predecessors and retrieving the nation’s stolen
money the intent is to guarantee and ensure a
prosecution-free loot for the incumbents on their
exit from power. Besides the agony of these
unfortunate poor Nigerians watching the ostentatious
display and reckless spending of their money by
these unchallengeable remoursless former leaders
makes the intentions of the government even more
hypocritical and dishonest.
If this administration were honest and not
hypocritical, why would the EFCC wait this long to
go for both Olusegun Obasanjo and Atiku Abubakar who
openly told Nigerians and the world at large about
each others loots. What other source could have
provided stronger and more reliable evidence than
hearing directly from the two topmost leaders during
their tenure who by virtue of their official
closeness knew themselves inside-out. The greatest
insult to Nigerians is the open television broadcast
cum display of the reconciliation of these two
enemies of Nigeria performed in Ogun state in the
watchful eyes of Yar’Adua, and the EFCC. This
reconciliation move was arranged by other offending
party big shots in order to stop any possible more
future aggressive revealations that might expose and
hurt them. Afterall it does not require a genius to
know that money/funds looted from any government or
organisation’’s treasury are best disbursed or
invested into personal enterprises when all mouths
are shut If Obasanjo and Atiku Abubakar are so much
above the law because they are ex-president and
ex-vice president, where lies the rule of law that
Yar’Adua has been too loud about? Perhaps senator
Iyabo Obasanjo Bello by virtue of inheritance as
ex-president’s daughter, is entitled to the same
immunity that her own ten million naira N10,000000
scandal was hurriedly put to rest. Even the senate
committee that was investigating the case suddenly
either got dissolved or put into ther cooler/freezer
and nobody is talking about it instead that
shameless senator Iyabo boldly stands up on the
senate floor as a committee chair-person, most days
of senate meetings/deliberations to show Nigerians
that she is not just a sacred cow but also above the
law. Shame to David Mark and his Kangaroo senate.
Senator Ken Nnamani’s senate would neither have
tolerated senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello’s official
misconduct for one moment, nor haulted an already
investigating panel/committee on the matter not to
think of allowing her head any senate committee. If
Ken Nnamani and his administration could
successfully frustrate her father Olusegun
Obasanjo’s mad inordinate ambition of wanting a
third term as President, who then is Iyabo? But
should Nigerians really be surprised at the dismal
performance of the incumbent senate president David
Mark if majority in his senatorial zone are of the
strong opinion that he did not win the last
election, that he is in the senate by rigging and
connivance of the election tribunal. If that belief
was reliable, what else should one expect?
The
obvious conclusion is that Yar’Adua;s government is
fully aware of the quickest way of recovering from
these notorious past leaders the big stolen money
that could be used to create millions of middle
manpower and minimum wage jobs thereby at least
reducing considerably the level of poverty in our
country. Afterall no country not even USA is
poverty-free. If this administration therefore
continues with it’s propaganda about poverty
eradication without doing what it should start with
for the fear that such an action would hurt their
chances of making their own money on leaving office,
then the regime is hypocritical, dishonest and
ofcourse corrupt. Consequently the inclusion of
“eradication of corruption” in President Yar’Adua’s
7-Point Agenda is intended to mislead and deceive
the world because it requires an honest leadership
to eradicate corruption. When the national
assemblymen who are put in place to check the
excesses of the executive have been so emasculated
that they now blindly endorse all executive actions
who then is gonno bail the cat?. If all leaders are
comfortably wealthy and corrupt, how then can they
ever plan to eradicate poverty, a condition that
resulted from their corrupt handling of the nation’s
finances. For Nigerians to ever hope for
poverty-free country, a completely change of
attitude must be paramount amongst the leaders.
Selfishness greed and wanton desire to amass wealth
for their future generations must be the qualities
never to be considered for the country’s leadership
positions. I hope that President Yar’Adua’s
administration will strive to achieve it. God bless
Nigeria.
Erasmus U Ikedilo
Maryland, USA
Posted
April 12th, 2009