It
is very hard to explain to a non-Nigerian abroad that Nigeria is a country of
over 200 million people. He/she would wonder how a country of over 200 million
citizens became so tamed to the point of stupidity — that a few individuals
could keep millions of people locked in hell for over 20 years would have been
termed impossible, but as the world has come to know, there’s nothing
impossible in Nigeria. We hold the record of the most persevering people on
earth. We have an unbelievable threshold for endurance.
One
of the reasons why I think Nigeria may never recover from her present
predicament is because as a people, Nigerians love poverty. This is the only
country in the world where a politician steals money and the people provide
tangible reasons why the politician is actually supposed to steal.
This
is the only country in the world where it has become acceptable that whoever
gets into government is advised to loot with impunity. Looting of government
funds is now fashionably done on a turn-by-turn basis. Listening to Nigerians
defend their kinsmen who have looted the country is very sad: Abi if you get
there, you sef no go chop? Abeg leave my brother make him chop him own, after
all when your brother dey there, himself too chop. Life na turn by turn. This is
the mentality of the average Nigerian on the street.
If
not for our level of docility, our government wouldn’t have the effrontery to
tell us that they spent millions of naira to open a Facebook account. The
National Assembly wouldn’t embarrass us by asking the founders of Facebook down
here to set up their Facebook accounts. A governor wouldn’t tell us he spent
N72m of taxpayers’ money to build a personal website and still be made a
minister of the federal republic in this current dispensation.
The
hard and soft copies of the 2016 budget documents President Muhammadu Buhari
handed over to the National Assembly on December 22, 2015 was declared missing
a couple of days back and Nigerians have been screaming like banshees how the
country had been placed at the forefront of ridicule, forgetting that we have
been living in ridicule for ages. Is the shame of a missing budget more
embarrassing than the content of the budget itself?
With
all the fight against corruption, what has changed? Have the police stopped
collecting money illegally on our streets? Has impunity stopped in our petrol
stations where fuel is blatantly and flagrantly sold above the recommended
price? Has the leadership of Nigeria stopped living in comfort while the people
live in poverty? Must we continue funding 10 airplanes in the midst of
gargantuan poverty? The exchange rate is at an unprecedented high of N305 to a
dollar and the minimum wage of N18,000 is about $64 and this same government
has been advising us on the need to be prudent in our spending while public
officials have failed to reduce their level of comfort. Even the proposed 2016
budget submitted to the joint session of the National Assembly showed that
Buhari himself failed to heed to his own advice of being prudent.
How
do you consider the stealing of the proposed budget as an embarrassment when
President Buhari and Vice-President Osinbajo will be spending N2.2bn on travels
and transport, foodstuffs and catering materials, refreshment and meals as well
as honorarium in the 2016 fiscal year? This is a figure that is N710m higher
than what was budgeted for the same under the immediate past government in
2015. A further breakdown of the budget for the presidency also includes
general renovation of the Guest House at N387m, complete furnishing of the
Guest House at N45m, purchase of computers for N27.5m and the construction and
provision of recreational facilities for N764m.
A
sum of N3.6bn was budgeted for BMW saloon cars for principal officers and
another N189m was allocated for tyres for operational vehicles in the
presidency. What is more embarrassing to you? That over 300 girls were
kidnapped and nothing has been done to bring them back? Is it not more
embarrassing that our soldiers are being slaughtered by a bunch of untrained
terrorists because of the corruption within the military hierarchy? Is it not
more embarrassing that the PDP is already calling for the impeachment of the
president just after nine months of assuming office?
Abeg
abeg, May God bless whoever stole the budget. He/she is a patriot. I believe
he/she, like everyone else in the country, must have lost hope in our useless
National Assembly and can’t trust them to cut down the discrepancies in the
budget.
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