Federal republic of inequality and oppression (I)

Nigeria’s economy hangs on a fiscal cliff, ready to tip over into eternity. The society is also on the brink like never before. Kaduna is back at war and in curfew. Jos is not easy to contemplate. Shiites rocked Abuja last Saturday. The entire country is tinderbox as a result of politics. The ruling party has foisted thuggery and cheating. Their ‘main contender’ operate the same template. The game is all about money. A leading state governor was seen stuffing huge wads of dollars in his many pockets; a very good example to those coming behind and a justification for them to get to political positions by all means. The country is disconnected from north to south, east to west. Many are holding their breath for the day when the final whistle will be blown; ‘game over!’. It seems this country was created only to be looted. A parasitic country; a man-eat-man country of oppression and inequality.

In all these some of our people insist on dancing between the status quo (Buhari) and status quo ante (Atiku). As we hang on a fiscal cliff, all maxed out on debts like a junkie ($76bn and more to come), with reserves fast shrinking, and having lost almost all benefits from our crude oil (we get only 36% of the proceeds), and with poverty increasing in the land, many of our people say they want more of the same solutions of the past 19 years. The same oppressors. I know it is hard to do, but we must open the eyes of our people by all means. For one Nigeria is now the global capital, the very epicentre, ground zero, of inequality and oppression.

OXFAM said so recently in their report. Inequality grew in Nigeria than any other country in the world. It dovetails with my research around budgeting too. Nigeria makes the least provision for its people year on year, only better than DR Congo. However in terms of leveraging the size of its population and economy, Nigeria performs most woefully, having the very lowest budget to GDP ratio in the entire world. The problem we seem to have is that the oppressors of Nigeria are also holding themselves down. It is said that you cannot actually pin a man down except you stay down with him. So Nigeria’s oppressors are local champions. If they let Nigerians breathe, and thrive, even they will achieve more exploits in life and in comparison to other peoples of the world. But they are not interested.

Obasanjo/Atiku’s team put the economy in a coma. Jonathan killed it. Buhari’s team is trying hard to bury the economy. None of these guys are good for the economy or society. The only hope for the Nigerian economy is for it to be urgently wheeled into emergency where a team of patriotic, young, clearminded paramedics and a fantastic medical team can use a defibrillator to hopefully get its heart beating again, stabilize it and commence a much needed surgery. The way we are hooked on debt, is akin to being plugged to a life support machine. We are plugged to life support with parts of the economy already in the grave. We need to take new decisions. We need sheer genius at this moment, if all of us must be rescued. Those guys who brag about working in World Bank and so, whom Atiku wants to bring along if he wins, cannot save this situation. We are hearing them already. Atiku is being egged on by right-wing newspapers like The Economist of UK. They are propping him up. They want further devaluation of the currency. The ideas of these World Bank/ Goldman Sachs type and their local collaborators are so disconnected from reality. They have deliberately maintained only a shallow understanding of the Nigerian society. They are phoney economists - their economics does not consider the sociopsychology of Nigeria. Not even the tacit and veiled apologies from the IMF and World Bank over time, for giving bad antidotes to African countries can convince these guys to be contrite. They only see Nigeria as a country to be had. I discovered while reading a book titled This Present Darkness overnight that people like Okotie-Eboh used to collect commission for bringing in Foreign Investors in the early 1960s. The ‘investors’ probably pay. No wonder some people act like corporate ‘agberos’ for foreign investors; they have convinced us that only foreign capital can save Nigeria. Very wrong. It’s just another setup.

Federal government further reduces 2019 budget proposals

But in all of these, Nigeria is great at oppressing its people. I have put up a petition for 2019 budget to be increased to at least N15 trillion, so that we can match countries like Cameroon in the per capita provision we make for our people. At the time I submitted by petition to which I have now written a reminder having been naturally ignored - the budget proposals for 2019 was N8.9 trillion. I recently watched the Minister for Budget, Udo Udoma doing a budget briefing. They had further reduced the 2019 budget to N8.6 trillion. I was shocked. But there is no outrage among Nigerians. Maybe Nigerians know there is nothing for them in all these budgets. In the N8.6 trillion reduced budget - reduced in the face of a healthy growth in population and growing inflation which is presently at 11.24% (meaning that in real terms that budget is like N7.5 trillion) we have to back out a budget of N831 billion for INEC alone, and another N1.2 trillion at least, for fuel subsidy (otherwise called under recovery) By the time the powerful people stretch their hands and take their cuts (including sundry allowances and perks, ghost workers, and kickbacks), there will surely be nothing in it for the people. For one, there is absolutely NO PROVISION for salary increase for long-suffering government workers in the 2019 budget. You cannot plan to increase salaries and reduce the budget at the same time, can you?