POVERTY
Transparency international in 2005 ranked Nigeria as 152 of the world 157 poorest nations, as more than 50% of Nigerians live under $1 per day. There is no blackmail in this as we see sorry evidence of poverty in urban and rural areas. The world bank also estimates that only 1% of Nigerians benefit from the countries huge oil revenue, the bulk of our oil revenue end up in white elephant projects like the Festival of Arts and Culture embarked upon by the General Obasonjo administration in 1977; while others end up in frivolous contracts and in private accounts abroad. The FESTAC edifice in Lagos called the National Theater is now a den of Robbers and Public toilet. What a waste!
A miserable and unbalanced meal a day is now luxury in most homes, accommodation in urban areas is a mirage for most Nigerians, as we cannot afford galloping house rents. Medicare is beyond the reach of Nigerians as our dilapidated hospitals are mere consultation and prescription centers. Helpless Nigerians leaves the hospitals without money to procure their drugs, some of us before the day go dark, resort to primitive unscientific concoctions and millions die in the process.
Many of our people who are lucky to secure European and American visas flee out of the country to take up menial jobs abroad. Every responsible Government strives to provide her people with the basics of life such as food and shelter. While we suffer under man made poverty, our political leaders go on jamborees abroad with public funds and even flaunt their opulence before our very faces.
It is imperative to note that, with the way things are going, politically, socially and economically, we have come naturally to the elastic limit of our national endurance. Most Nigerians during election and on the ballot consciously elected their Hancock leaders for a turn around in their fate to restore DIGNITY to their fellow countrymen as embodied in our National Anthem and in their oath of office.
YOUTH DISEMPOWERMENT
In every country or even community youths are the engines of socio-economic development. Age gives the youth the advantage of strength, motivation, innovation and adventure. An ageing population is a spent force. It has mainly experience to give to the society, and is obviously less productive than the youths. Economically youths are 70% of the work force and any country that neglects this fact and depends on the ageing population through the recycling process is destined for doom.
Through employment embargoes in the Public Service spanning over 25years now and the failure of the private sector to actively engage in reasonable production millions of Niger Delta youths are rendered idle and unproductive, thereby resorting to militancy, kidnapping and other social vices too many to be mentioned here. There are cases of Nigerian graduates who have remained unemployed for over ten years. In most cases they went through Federal Educational institutions with public funds by way of Government subsidies and capital investments in these institutions. The result is a colossal waste of valuable public funds and productive labour necessary for the socio-economic advancement of the nation.
The neglect of the youths in the economic process of this country has so many socio-economic consequences, economic revival and growth despite several government visionary programmes will continue to remain a mirage. The Nation’s youths are impoverished and their remix for survival have become ready agents of destruction, anarchy and confusion in the service of the privileged few who are mostly politicians.
Many of our youths are now experts in international scam called ‘419’ and the ‘Yahoo-Yahoo’ panorama in Nigeria. This activity of Nigerian youths which was born out of a degenerated national economy has become an anathema to our country; created international loss of confidence in Nigeria and its people and has scared away much needed foreign capital and enterprise.
In our present day nascent democratically coined due process/rule of law mechanism, the principle of succession and continuity is ignored in this country with fatal consequences. As the Youths are denied administrative, political and economic training and involvement in our nation, we are steadily heading towards anarchy because nature abhors vacuum and the aged will inevitably quit the stage someday for their inexperienced successors to run a jungle government. Is this not an Irony of a Nation?
The youths of America fights American battles, and answer patriotic calls to duty for what their country does for them. To have job, or being employed in America is not to go hungry or begging; their country cares for them in times of distress, while our experience in Nigeria is different. The leadership of our country has been very selfish, non visionary, insensitive to the youths and have killed in them every sense of patriotism and nationalism.
The purpose of this book is to provide an advocacy channel in the removal of every obstacle to foreign investment inherent in the indigenization decree, which is a part of the constitutional concurrent list of states’ fundamental rights in the country; liberalize further the economy, reduce unemployment to its barest minimum and move the nation out of its economic quagmire.
The present administration’s policies on the application of the 7 point Agenda is a challenge to the youths of Rivers State, Beyelsa, Edo, Ondo and elsewhere in other parts of Niger Delta, the East and South-South geo-political zones; underpinning this administration and its successive ones, several methods of political card-scoring techniques have been initiated. The masses have thrown their support on this current Yar ‘Adua/Jonathan Administration as they have collectively, with all hands on deck pulled down anti-progressive structures in our country that at best serve the interest of a few at the expense of the majority.
It is paramount to note that few things in the scheme of things is required to galvanize development in the nation, through the execution of three (3) or at least four (4) of the overall number 7-plus-2-point Agenda, and as long as governance is concern the masses actually do not have a clue on bent economic, political and socio-political issues in terms of development. This may be in their crude state, yet we cannot underscore the economic importance of the youth so far in Mr. President’s 7 point Agenda policy.
Nigerians’ hope for better patriotic governance is yet to come, but we must all work out modalities collectively towards sustaining our democracy and undivided federalism. The case is half solved if this administration through its think-tank is able to combine all technical and academic scholarship in result reaching goals. Non governmental organization, International donor agencies and Multinational Corporation can also share in the overall implementations of the MDGs and the 7-point Agenda; instead of hiding in the shadows of dirty politics. While donor agencies, NGOs and private philanthropic Organisation have be praised for a job well done in several communities, a handful of multi-national organization have received such recommendation in terms of civil/corporate responsibilities.
It is time we shake off this dust of stupidity, concentrate on our economy, politics, society, culture and people, other than going through an unfortunate marigold of our national taboo. While 78% of Nigerian may claim the “it is well” syndrome, many Nigerians are of the nation that our national development is eminent, without this our long-protected federalism is in jeopardy and the foundation of our people; in terms of unity and peace may linger anti-clockwise.
THE PARADOX OF NIGER-DELTA CRISIS.
I may fail in my hypothesis to typically equate the sum-total of the overall reality principles of poverty, and wealth in correspondence with their aggravating limits in the Nigeria socio-economic dynamics. A lot of our activities in so
cieties today can be defined by a sharp series of limitation on every living thing, at least those with corporate existence; the final boundary being death.
In the ideal world of matter, we only have so much energy to expend before our strength are gone or where we get tired, only so much in the way of food and resources is available to us; our skills and capacities can go only so far. Every one of us lives within the aforementioned limits, both the poor and the wealthy, in fact every living thing in the animal world live within this threshold. What differentiates us from animals is that while we are colossal replica of sufficient reason for our existence, and while we may have all the necessary reason bequeathed to all of the essential monads (we being subjects containing predicates). Though animals too have the same, yet minor sufficient monads for existence. It does not try to fly higher or run faster or expend endless energies amassing a pile of food (or in the case of man wealth), for that would exhaust it and leave it vulnerable to attack and other forms of degeneration and degradation. It simply tries to make the most of what it has. A monkey, for instance, instinctively practices an economy of motion and jumping, yet never wasting effort.
The above behooves the state of poverty, and the hypothesis we have exhausted so far explains all the exemplary variables, and their awareness of their limits, forced to make the most of what they have, they are endlessly inventive without efforts, yet accurate motion. Necessity has a powerful effect in their creativity.
Although the wealthy and affluent have course to remain contented, nevertheless the rich also cry, and they suffer much by virtue of the necessitated ignorance of their limits. The problem face by the rich and wealthy that live in a society of abundance is that they some times in more than 92% variation lose a sense of limit. They are carefully shielded from death, misery, pains, troubles etc, and pass months, even years, without contemplating those regulating limits. The rich imagine endless time at their disposal and slowly drift further from reality; they imagine endless energy drawn to their fantasies and testacy, thinking they can get what they want simply by trying harder – by virtue of this analysis I am a living witness.
An accurate example can be drawn using the variances that exist in most societies in the Niger Delta; I have been of several impoverished communities in the Niger Delta Oil Producing Communities, what anyone will see is usually disheartening, only seen in movies and textbooks; yet the poverty in this places caused by high level conspiracy between the federal government, Multinational corporations, state government, local government, political jobbers and mediocre in high places, the ‘who’s who’ in Nigeria, the oil magnet, the boy that does the dirty work, and the blue-bloods etc. while the poor or the inhabitant of these communities suffers the consequence of the spillage and economic sabotage done to the places in the name of federalism or the ‘one Nigeria ‘ syndrome, yet this obsession and greed has thwarted justices and fairness even within the ambit of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria.
The Federal structure and their unholy romance with the conspirators have fashioned a new name, a ceasefire roll call for the aggrieved (Militants) groups of Niger Delta; they nick-named called “Amnesty”. Those very wealthy people who perpetrated this necessary evil, (one can’t blame them) have begun to see everything as limitless the goodwill of friends and their perpetrators, the possibilities of wealth and fame. The question is, who does really need the Amnesty; those sabotaging or those whose land and prosperity are being sabotaged?
The rich possesses more classes and books and they can extend their talents and skills to the points where they become different people. Technology can make everything achievable, with their obsession exceeding the limit of conscience and justice. Their thoughts have transformed the goodwill in them into the worst form of barbarity and inhumanity against their countrymen. They have exceeded their limits to the threshold of ignorance; to a height of murder; assassination, genocide and civil injustice against their fellow citizen simply for a limited resources, which by right belong to the inhabitant of same society they intend to annihilate. This facts negates the fundamental human right advocated by Transparency International, it flows into the heart of civil liberty and social contract contained in our hallow Constitution.
Since 1958 Oil in the Niger-Delta has made a lot of wealthy Nigerian especially the Northerners sick and psychotic, this schizophrenic tendencies is transmissive and non-contagions. These folks in the north, west, and east and in the south-south Niger-Delta, who swims in the abundance of oil have restored to high level conspiracy with the federal structure in preparatory genocide, this in collaboration with multinational companies, strategists in the federal structure the presidency and every body in the cartel of national, continental and international conspirators. It is now a do or die affair, the great mystical political Order and the caretakers of Nigeria cannot claim innocence, they certainly have a clue of the ongoing national oil crisis, and manslaughter in Gbaramatu in Delta State. The aforementioned are one of the series of abominations, barbarity and perpetuated against the Niger-Delta region by the federal government and its cohorts.
Apologist may argue on this matter, and will refute any blame levied on the federal government. A thoughtful reflection on the whole scenario will assist us in who carried the huge blame, as the communities themselves also share in this atrocity, as they recurrently perpetrated self-style economic and environmental degradation through pipe vandal, bombardment of Multinational oil companies’ facilities operating in the region, kidnapping and other forms of criminal activities.
As regard the affluent that have fattened themselves with the blood and sweat of the innocent, and have provoked ethnic violence and other religiously motivated conflict across the country for seemingly political reasons understand the rhetoric to amass wealth. Abundance makes them swim in dreams, for in dreams there are no limits but the manipulation of grandeur. In reality it makes them very poor simply for the unavailability of peace, civil liberty and justice in their lives. Instinctively these folks are not happy, and can’t move freely. Due to unguided actions and collaboration in the grand conspiracy, have limited their freedom. It makes them soft and decadent, bored with what they have and in need of constant stocks to remind them that they are alive.
