NIGERIA AT 100: Celebration Of Poverty Amidst Plenty

I live in Agege, one of the working class settlements in Lagos (a friend called it a more advanced slum than Ajegunle). I woke up this morning with much bitterness and dissatisfaction with the status quo. I felt very sorry for my country.

 

For four days running we have had no power, many things have been left undone as a result of this. The lack of power supply has also led to the absence of water supply. I'm worried about how to get water to take my bath before going to work (a friend just told me he washed only his face this morning with a sachet of water because he has an early morning appointment to meet up). 

 

We would have powered the water-pumping machine with our generator but there is no fuel to get it running. For five days now, there has been fuel scarcity in Lagos and it’s environ.


Our situation is now a case of "no electricity, no water and no fuel"! The great Abami Eda succinctly captured this scenario in his song “Suffer head”.  Fela sang “naso so water for Africa…ordinary water for man to drink nko…e no dey! …Plenty energy for Africa, naso so Energy for Africa…light for ordinary man nko…e no dey…” It is a very pathetic situation. I became so enraged because it is not that resources are scarce, it is not that we've run out of crude oil or water supply. It is just a sheer mismanagement of resources by our leaders and utter failure of capitalism - a system that places profiteering above the satisfaction of human needs.

Nigeria is indeed one of the richest countries in the world yet a greater number of Nigerians live in abject poverty.  We are the 9th largest producer of crude oil in the world yet we pay heavily for the purchase of petrol, diesel and kerosene and often experience scarcity of these products. We are blessed with many water bodies with two of the largest rivers in Africa, River Niger and River Benue passing across the Nigerian landscape, and a very rich forest and savannah vegetation, yet our people die of thirst and hunger. Our sad story is best captured in an article titled 'Nigeria settles Paris Club debt' published by the BBC on Friday, April 21, 2006:

"Nigeria is one of the world's biggest oil exporters, but it is also one of the world's poorest countries, with the majority of the population living on less than $1 per day."

This is the sorry state of Nigeria at 100!
If Nigeria was to be a man, I am sure it would have been a very sick and weak old man given the numerous problems facing the country. I beg to ask, can a sick and weak man celebrate his 100 years birthday? If Nigeria as a man can also be called a father for having given birth to over 170 million children, would he have been able to celebrate his 100th birthday amidst the killing of about 100 of his children by the Boko Haram sect? Definitely NOT! In most traditional societies in Nigeria, the loss of a loved one is marked with a period of mourning out of respect for the deceased. The deceased's parents and wife/wives are not allowed to travel let alone celebrate during this period. And anyone who choose to celebrate or rejoice over the death of the deceased is tagged a witch or wizard and held responsible for the death.

Given the analysis above, the centenary celebration marking the 100th anniversary of the amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorate and the birth of Nigeria is nothing but a show of shame, and dishonour to the 59 students in Yobe State killed by the Boko Haram Sect on 25th February, 2014 just 3 days to the Centenary Celebration Award Night.

A responsible and humane government would have suspended the celebration in honour of these children.
What I want to celebrate in Nigeria is not 100 years of poverty amidst plenty. Rather, I am looking forward to celebrating 100 years of constant power supply; 100 years of fuel price stability and regular fuel supply; 100 years of stable supply of clean water for all, 100 years of peace and tranquility in Nigeria.

When that moment of celebration will come I don’t know but one thing I know is that a system change is more needed now than ever.
By Ewebiyi Keye James