Article published in The Nation Newspaper
28/10/2009
How dare PHNC promise us and Uninterrupted Power Supply, UPS, ‘task force’ to ‘minimise power loss’ for ‘common football’ when it gives no committment to give power constantly to save human lives in facilities like hospitals, for youth to read and prepare for exams late into night and power for ‘Non-Generator Nigerians’ to live a normal UPS 21st Century life like other citizens of Africa not to talk of Europe and America. Shame and disgrace on our PHNC. So PHNC can force its men to ‘perform’ UPS for 22 men chasing a football while our children have no footballs or power to read with. Football is the new God. Football is more important to PHCN than our mothers dying in childbirth, aka maternal mortality, and 30m children reading in the dark – for a brighter tomorrow? PHNC should stop insulting us. So PHNC can give maximum power, 24/7. Let it dare not ‘TOSS’ the football mob but not the mother dying in hospitals. Perhaps we need international football matches night and day for 24/7 UPS for all Fellow Nigerians.
One is disgusted by the media mileage and credit claimed by government delivering ‘petty’ ividends of democracy like desks, chairs, books and science equipment to schools. We celebrate mediocrity and elevate the mundane to the magnificent, the silly to the spectacular, failure to the fantastic and the routine to the resplendant. Are we so retarded? So now a roof over our children’s classroom, science equipment in a science laboratory, desks and chairs, books in a library and medicines in a hospital pharmacy are so unusual as to be ‘wonderful achievements’. This is negative publicity.
Politicians and government must answer the question –‘Who made you God over us and not servant for us?’. They arrogate the fattest salaries and allowances, first seats, best cars and then wonder why ASUU goes on strike. Though the crisis in the education sector seems solved, at least partially, there will never be any real solutions until the politicians serve and or until they have millked the ‘petroleum’ cow to death. We need an inter-linked salary structure where the politician keys into everyone else’s chart. Then, in future the politican must think twice before awarding a ‘windfall salary’ or ‘bonanza allowance’ to himself. Mininimum wage is still around N7,000 –the cost of a tea break in Abuja. Enough of monkey chop and the baboon work. The fact, as sociologists at NISER teaches students, is that massive disparity in and non-liveable wages result in massive unrest, insecurity, increased crime and murder and more fights. Unfortunately the more naira we earn the higher rent, transport and food costs. Even the 50% ASUU salary hike will soon or has already been rendered insignificant by the escalating cost of living, marrying and especially dying in Nigeria. Most ASUU members will now buy generators, to catch up with the politicians, if they do not already own one, and then proceed to fuel them at N50-100,000/ month.
To really help Nigeirans, government must address ‘poverty reduction’ issues to reduce the cost of living and doing business. The power issue stands out as from pauper to professor to poltiician we must make and use our own power because of government ineptitude. Transportation costs are a function of fuel costs and road worthiness. Again government throws us the bone that the refineries will soon be working. Who believes that? Most Lagos to Benin is forced at extra cost in time and fuel, to take the route through Ekiti. This continuous and cyclical monumental failure of government to maintain and keep motorable what are arguably among the three most important roads in Nigeria is unbelievable incompetence and corruption and would result in the fall of an properly elected government in any normal democracy.
In December 2009, called ‘FRSC Ember?’ month, the Ore Benin road should normally expect 20-30 million citizens and 1+million vehicle trips, but it will not because it is impassable and no one is doing anything serious about it. They are not even bold enough to declare it ‘CLOSED’. In a civilised society the ORE BENIN EXPRESSWAY, sorry for mis-using that word ‘Expressway’, would have been declared a NATURAL DISASTER on par with an international tsunami or flood even though we know the failure of the road is strictly a NATIONAL DISASTER due to incompetence and corruption of governance and politics. All efforts must be moboilised to get it working immediately. Even we non-engineers know the old PWD, ‘Pothole Work Department’, method should work and solve unemployment in villages along the route. The lack of roadworthiness of this road costs between N1 and N2 billion in lost revenues, accidents, delays and diversions and anguish to Nigerians. We need to mobilise 1000 tipper loads of gravel, 25 graders and 50 rollers under 20 contractors using 1000 men. The road must be devided into segments for contant maintenance. Bad roads kill. Millions of us can no longer stand by in unending traffic jams while corruption and incompetence allow undue process. Closure leading to bigger contracts. Only ‘visionless’ Nigeria prefers this retrogressive unsustainable and counterproductive method. No ’20-20-20 visionary’ country allows its roads to close. Nigeria must release the grip of politicians on our road contracts and give them to Nigerian expert engineers and Julius Berger to get the job done. This is indeed a ‘Wasted Decade+ of Decadent Democracy’ with just 337 days to CountdownNigeria@50.sol