By Igbotako Nowinta
The pandemic coronavirus currently ravaging the whole world, including our country Nigeria, has brought to the fore the stark fact that the issue of hunger and poverty are deliberate weapons that have been mindlessly employed by ‘our rulers’ since the artificial independence in 1960. Before I proceed, it is imperative to cite the timeless words of George Bernard Shaw, as follows: “The greatest of evils and the worst of crimes is poverty.” In Nigeria, from the blast of the gun of independence, the First Republic politicians made a bonfire of all the golden opportunities that were available. The criminal military gangs that took over in January 1966 branded themselves as an ‘army of occupation,’ and succeeded in tearing the garment of our national wealth to pieces. What of the Second Republic politicians that threw every caution to the winds in their mad race to outclass one and other in the squandering of our hard earned resources? What do we have since 1999, when some groups of persons have not behaved differently from the ravaging and rampaging rulers that came before them?
No doubt, one of the greatest patriots that the Nigerian nation has ever produced was the late Professor Eskor Toyo. Ironically too, in spite of his legendary positive postulations and extraordinary talents, the Nigerian leaders failed miserably to tap or fetch from his endless stream of ‘gifts.’
When Eskor Toyo made the following remarks in 2000: “There is little of patriotism, no edifying ideology, no clear vision of an ideal and inspiring leadership, no noble conscience among the contending factions of bourgeoisie grabbers of money and power,” he was lamenting the piteous spectacle that has been the lots of the impoverished masses in Nigeria.
The pandemic coronavirus currently ravaging the whole world, including our country Nigeria, has brought to the fore the stark fact that the issue of hunger and poverty are deliberate weapons that have been mindlessly employed by ‘our rulers’ since the artificial independence in 1960.
Before I proceed, it is imperative to cite the timeless words of George Bernard Shaw, as follows: “ The greatest of evils and the worst of crimes is poverty.” In Nigeria, from the blast of the gun of independence, the First Republic politicians made a bonfire of all the golden opportunities that were available.
The criminal military gangs that took over in January 1966 branded themselves as an ‘army of occupation,’ and succeeded in tearing the garment of our national wealth to pieces.
What of the Second Republic politicians that threw every caution to the winds in their mad race to outclass one and other in the squandering of our hard earned resources? What do we have since 1999, when some groups of persons have not behaved differently from the ravaging and rampaging rulers that came before them?
The late legal cum human rights/pro-democracy icon, Chief Gani Fawehinmi succinctly exposed the tragedy that defines the Nigerian nation, when he declared thus: ‘Oil as a gift from God has been turned into a curse by wicked, insensitive, brutally, inhuman and diabolically anti-people leaders and Government in Nigeria.’
Today, most politicians are still the unique species that are consuming almost ninety percent of the wealth of our country, while the masses are left with little or nothing to cope with.
If not, why is the political class in Nigeria the highest paid in the whole wide world? What are they contributing to the gross domestic product in Nigeria? Our federal system of government is a deceitful facade that our rulers have capitalized on to stagnate the country in every way possible.
Owing to the lopsided revenue sharing formula, the component units of the federation are now completely dependent on the center (Abuja) to survive. Today, the ‘king and slave’ situation has graduated to a stage where states and local governments must beg and queue for salaries of their work sector every month.
This utterly retarding and frustrating scenario has placed the Federal Government in a position to service over bloated bureaucracies, and in the process our central government has totally abandoned its primary responsibilities of catering to the welfare of the people.
Is it not sad to note that most of our governments across various strata operate as a kind of well laid out conspiracy against the masses? During electoral contest, hunger and poverty are often used as a yard stick to humiliate and hold down our people to fall into the line of manipulation.
In a political system that has provided safe haven for some power hungry tyrants, despots and misfits, coronavirus is fast turning out to be a disease of the elite in Nigeria. We have heard of a Chief of Staff to the Aso Rock Presidential Fortress caught napping with the virus, of some State Governors going in and out of isolation, and of an Italian guy that was isolated, but has been given a clean bill of health.
How many of our poor, hungry and poverty devastated folks have gone down with the coronavirus thing? For me the coronavirus ‘pandemic’ in Nigeria is turning to be a kind of grand conspiracy by ‘concerned political cum ministerial officials’ to make brisk business in form of dollars and Euro/Pounds Sterling , at the expense of the hapless majority.
How many Nigerians have died from this ‘China’ disease? How many Nigerians have been cured and how did they get back to normal life? Now, the entire country is shut down, the poor remain miserably hungry, with prices of food stuffs, goods and services skyrocketing by the hours, while the rich and the powerful continue to suffer from over feeding and ‘unwanted’ added weight.
Between hunger and poverty in Nigeria and coronavirus, the current panicky efforts being applied shows that the Federal Government can turn the table of progress towards the masses in Nigeria by going the extra mile.
Since the coronavirus is not a respecter of any class of people, by dealing ruthlessly with the high and mighty, it affords our ‘rulers’ the wonderful opportunity to climb the ladder of social-economic paradigm shift, of placing the poor of the poorest as a priority, to put down deliberate emergency plans to lift the mass of our people from the dregs of the society.
The vaccine to cure hunger and poverty as we all know is food and good governance; hunger and poverty in Nigeria can be handled drastically, because our country has both human and natural resources to banish the twin social monsters, like what is available in United States, Canada, Switzerland, Denmark and elsewhere, where the light of good governance continues to shine.
The public policies that were designed to tackle poverty in the past crashed into tatters because of glaring confusion among policy makers on the design of appropriate policies to eradicate poverty, lack of participation by the poor; poor coordination and inability to link anti-poverty policies with other policies /sectors that should have impact on poverty.
Must the political class in Nigeria continue to be enmeshed in intractable chicanery? Can’t pervasive corruption, avarice and insatiable greed among some of our political leaders be overcome?
Looking at Chapter 2, Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy, of the 1999 Constitution, in Section 17 page 12, which states as follows :’ Government actions shall be humane; exploitation of human or natural resources in any form, whatever for reasons, other than the good of the community, shall be prevented,’ shows that Nigerians have been exploited without redress.
That Nigerian governments over the years have reaped over US$350 billion dollars for over four decades of oil exploration in the Niger Delta without any meaningful translation in the livelihood of the people, while over 70% of the people are still living in abject poverty (below US$ 1 dollar) a day is a commission of genocide against Nigerians.
Here is a crying nation of cruelly wounded citizens; l can hear the lamentation of a neighbor dying of starvation, squalor and disease.
Finally here, l think the tension being generated today by the coronavirus stuff provides an ample opportunity for our ‘rulers’ to embark on a program of democratically redressing the injustices of the protracted neglect of certain issues and interest pertaining to hunger and poverty in our country.
Nowinta Igbotako wrote: Where we are – A call for democratic revolution in Nigeria.
