‘E no konsain me, e konsain you?’

Think about it: we have the worst airports in the world. Despite our huge travel population, we ran Nigeria Airways into the ground but nobody ever went to jail. Think about it: even trains of the Abuja-Railway line that were commissioned only a few month

Sometimes, all you need is a little proof. Proof of why we should be ashamed as leaders and citizens. The Nigerian presidency and its army of powerful people who travel the country and the world in all those executive jets and expensive luxury cars. That includes you, yes.

You ought to be ashamed, if you are a Minister or ministerial aide who bears laughter and briefing notes into the federal cabinet meeting every week.

Senate President Bukola Saraki and each man and woman who loves to preface his or her name with the title Senator or Honourable, you should be particularly ashamed. You claim specific federal legislative constituencies, and therefore to be closer to the people.

You should be ashamed if you are a civil servant in the government, particularly if your title contains the word Permanent or Director.

You should be ashamed, if you have taken a salary from any government since one Ibrahim Bademasi Babangida moved the seat of the federal government into Abuja. That means you too, military president Babangida and Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan.

The shame is also yours: all Ministers and Permanent Secretaries and assorted DirectorsManaging and Pretending-who have held high positions in federal power in Abuja in the past 27 years.

You should be ashamed, Mr. & Mrs. Citizen, if you have participated in the desecration of a public project, including by doing nothing or saying nothing, or taking advantage.

You should be ashamed, each and all, because of the story, “SHOCKING: The shanty, dumpsite concealed within Nigeria’s Federal Secretariat,” published last week by Premium Times, with pictures that should make us all go and hide.

This story is not the biggest, but it is one of the most fundamental proofs of the hollowness of governance and citizenship in Nigeria. And you ought to be ashamed because it is substantial proof of the damage you have either committed, colluded in, or permitted.

The story is essentially a revelation that right within the twin-complex of the Federal Secretariat in Abuja is a smelly, filthy shanty which has become an institution. Developed from an uncompleted building, but now strewn with a mountain of filth, it is the residence of many and a business address for others.

It is patronized by civil servants, big and small, but it belongs to nobody.

According to the medium: “The shanty, which exists outside the federal capital city masterplan, without interference by government, is located in an abandoned building within the secretariat complex, with prominent government establishments, including the federal ministries of finance, education and health, as well as Louis Edet House (Nigeria Police Force Headquarters) among its neighbours.”

Asked how such a place could have escaped the attention of those maintaining the secretariat, one worker said: “Lots of people sleep [there]. Millions of naira [are] allocated for the maintenance of the complex but the big bosses are squandering it.” But that is the good part. The place was observed for three weeks by a diligent reporter, who then attempted to get some answers. “I have been here for over two years, I assist my madam to cook,” one woman said. The “kitchen” is a smelly, water-logged area.

One man is a meat seller, his customers the civil servants. Another is a carwash operator, and his patrons also include civil servants who work in the secretariat.

Passing the buck about the maintenance of the place, the Office of the Head of Service pointed at the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation which in turn said it has asked the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), to assume the responsibility.

The FCT Minister pointed to the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), where spokesperson Lamin Ishaku, through a subordinate, threw the ball back to the FCTA, specifically, the Director of Maintenance and Facilities of the FCTA, whose secretary threw it to Vivian Adewoye, the spokesperson to that Director.

Adewoye looped it back to the FCDA, pointing out it has a vote in the 2017 budget for “building and renovation” at the federal secretariat. “When they finish building and renovating, they hand it over to us (FCTA) for maintenance,” she said.

And then the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), its offices just one and a half miles away, and despite running an “environmental monitoring unit,” swore to Premium Times it had never heard of the shanty.

Said spokesman Muktar Ibrahim, “The board is not aware of an abandoned building in the secretariat. Because apart from the waste, an abandoned building also has security implications. We would have done evacuation if we knew…”

Of course, that is not true, given that AEPB has been in operation in Abuja for 18 years. And that is why this shame ought to be felt by all who have been related to governance in the city from the federal to the municipal levels for 30 years, and indeed since independence in 1960.

Why? Because this story is our story, and is much bigger than the shanty. It is really our attitude to public service that it exposes, and represents. This horrible attitude is the reason for the hundreds of thousands of uncompleted projects throughout the country, and throughout our history.

Every Nigerian knows of entire institutions that barely function (some of them must be lubricated with a little cash, Buhari or no Buhari), and offices, and facilities. Think about it: airports, roads, elevators, which are always in disrepair. The River Nigeria, once a majestic and elegant river to look at in Lokoja, is trickling down to the size of a small stream, used in places for garbage-dumping.

Think about it: some federal properties in Lagos, including the old Federal Secretariat, the former NITEL Headquarters, the Independence Building, have either been abandoned or are on the verge of being abandoned.

Think about it: we have the worst airports in the world. Despite our huge travel population, we ran Nigeria Airways into the ground but nobody ever went to jail. Think about it: even trains of the Abuja-Railway line that were commissioned only a few months ago by Mr. Buhari are already breaking down.

We take these habits abroad as well, Nigerian diplomatic outfits bungling the delivery of routine services. Why should you be ashamed? Because the facilities and properties used by you, Mr./Mrs. Official, current or former, are never of shanty-quality. The offices of our big officials are always in pristine condition. Their cars, their elevators, their toilets, their kitchens and executive jets where applicable, never have any complaints.

Shame you never care to look beyond your own interest. That is why we had to sell Nigeria Airways and why the current presidency, rather than explain how its funds are spent, would rather commercialize the State House Clinic, despite the security implications of the decision.

It explains why our governments are always looking for large sums to spend, glittering hypocritically as they spend lavishly on new capital projects while they ignore existing ones.

But the concept of development is empty if it is not grounded in the protection and maintenance of what you already have.