(Continued from Part l last Friday)
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The leaking pipelines of WASTE in Nigeria include but are not limited to:
Over-budgeting, Budget padding, Bribery, and Corruption,
Contract inflation,
Lack of Due Process in the awards, executions, and payments of contracts,
Corruption-infested nominations of political party candidates,
Voting process and vote buying
Judgments buying and selling, and Employment’s sales with price tags like goods in Super Markets.
These have become the NORMS all over Nigeria’s local, state, and federal governments. All the political vices of our nation have been unfortunately tagged as “politics”. WASTES are seen as ethical, moral, and the only quick way to ‘make it’ in Nigeria but they have led to our sufferings amidst plenty. Indeed, “Nigeria We Hail Thee”.
Why are the younger generations leaving Nigeria in drones, under the umbrella of JAPA? It is because they can no longer trust their leaders anymore or see their features safe in their hands. Some said they would rather work as slaves in the countries of their choice than die of lack and wants as free-borns in their fatherland.
Simply, they are no longer proud to be called Nigerians. A country where people are committing suicide for lack of basic essentials of life – like food, shelter, and security. A country where life is no longer safe in the church or mosque. A country where the leaders display their stolen people’s commonwealth with audacity, immunity, and impunity, and a flagrant display of Kleptomania.
A country where the youths are proud of Nigeria only when to use its passports for border crossing. The standard of living of Nigerians can rise to the levels of development that are comparable to the G7 countries, our youths and young adults now rush for economic shelter if our wastes can be eliminated by removing all identifiable wasteful sources of waste.
The elimination of WASTE should start from the Presidency to the states, FCT, and local governments. The budget of the Presidency would require a real surgical OPERATION. The President and family should pay for their food and drinks. The costs of food, drinks, and entertainment other than those of state visitors to the Villa shall be paid by the President.
The convoy of Mr. President should not be more than seven vehicles. The fleet of the Presidential jets should not be more than five airplanes including that of the Vice President. Unofficial use of the jets or cars should be charged and paid for by Mr. President.
The office of the First Lady at the Federal and state Governments should be scraped. Nigerians didn’t vote for them. The First Ladies are virtually running a parallel executive office at all levels. They are a nagging parasite and a very unnecessary channel of WASTE. I don’t care if these are constitutional creations or just a personal innovation.
The First Lady is no lady other than the wife of the President or the Governors and ridiculously by imitation, the wife of the Local Government Chairman. With due respect, their husbands are responsible enough to take care of their wives and families without recourse to using taxpayer’s money. Officially, there is nothing the First Ladies can do that the Minister of Women’s Affairs cannot do, and even better so also her counterparts at the State level.
The budgetary allocations for all these unnecessary and very wasteful portfolios are mind-boggling and more than enough to set up medium-scale industries at the Federal and in each State for the gainful employment of our youths who are now slaving in other countries not more endowed than Nigeria.
All foreign visits for the next four years by the President and Vice President, after REFORMS should not be entertained except through designated competent officials. There is much to be done here at home than globe-throttling.
All the fanfare at Eagle Square preceding the taking over by the new Presidents is very much an unnecessary waste of resources and time. The greatest sin against Nigeria is the four-year ritual of renovating the Aso Rock Presidential Villa by each of the incoming presidents at unimaginable costs to the Nigerians. In 2023, it was reported that it cost a whooping sum of about N40.62 billion to renovate the Aso Rock Villa just vacated by the outgoing President Mohamed Buhari as reported by news media. This is aside from another reported N15 or so billion used for renovating the residence of the Vice President. Are some of us Nigerians really created by the true God who is not wasteful? Nigerians deserve to know if these are true or false.
Quote, from ICIR – International Center for Investigative Reporting (March 23, 2024)
“DESPITE the hardship facing Nigeria and the country’s current wobbling economy, President Bola Tinubu approved N40.62 billion of public funds for the renovation and maintenance of the State House headquarters, otherwise known as Aso Rock Villa, in the nation’s capital, Abuja, findings from the 2024 budget have shown”. The media hinted that the cost of the renovation in 2023 was ‘over 100% more than the former presidents’. This means each of the former presidents spent a minimum of N20.3 billion each to cut their own pile of the national cake.
How much was spent for the new Prime Minister of the UK to take over 10 Downing Street? The British taxpayers paid Zero Pounds and Zero Pence, for a change of government very recently. Former President Buhari never reported reared goats pigs or cows in the Aso Rock Villa to warrant such a humongous cost of renovation. We can use about N55.62 Billion to establish 10 medium-scale factories for the employment of hundreds of youths in Nigeria today.
We can resort to a Unicameral Legislature with our conscious efforts to cut waste. That would make a lot of sense from the current NONSENSES that have become our pastime. If every member of the national assembly can live in their apartments, ride their cars, and employ their aides. As a matter of economic sense, the government can build 2-bedroom apartments for them and charge equitable rents. All frivolous and “look-alike insane”, and outrageous allowances would be removed for economic contingencies. All constituency allowances should be abolished. Those who are paid, directly belong to states and Local Governments as their constituencies. Such money should be paid to the coffers of each local government and not individuals which is why it is subject to so much abuse with impunity.
All Security Votes must be removed from the President, vice president, ministers, and all others like the governors, deputy governors, and others at the state level. All these are very unnecessary and wasteful. They should all be REMOVED as a part of blocking the leaking pipes of government WASTES.
What did Nigeria do with a debt of N87 trillion (from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics), even after the removal of fuel subsidies? What did we do with the money saved from the subsidy removal, if truly removed? We despised those who could help us build our economy back to when our Naira was worthy of the paper it was printed. And when Nigeria was genuinely the Giant of Africa.
But no way for them because they didn’t belong. But now because of these deliberate acts of omission or commission, the costs of petroleum and diesel are above the means of the average Nigerian. The cost of transportation has consequently gone through the rooftops. No food from the farms, the markets, and on the tables at our homes. Our economy has grown to be the worst in decades. The poor have increased in size and in population. Our sufferings continue to increase in geometric progression. Oga o. Lord have mercy.
There are no good and motorable roads, no regular power supply, and no living wage for workers. We can not have the power to charge our phones. Our education is in shambles with an increase in school fees but a decrease in class lectures due to strikes. Someone said our colleges and universities may be for sale soon for lack of adequate funding. Our hospitals have become merely consulting clinics, where patients buy almost everything they need even cotton wool. No wonder many people are dying now more than decades past.
Our best brains have drained away into more fertile lands. Leaving our colleges and universities, hospitals, and private and public, with (professors, lecturers, doctors, and nurses), now left with only those who are left behind. All because of our cultures of WASTE. We are all suffering from the virus of wasteful acquisitiveness and kleptomania. This is why the progress we make as a country is not about how rich we are. Nigeria is very rich but without any commensurate or proportional progress.
Let us establish industries and factories based on comparative advantages throughout the Federation. My father as a farmer told me that, a farmer who cannot produce will have nothing to sell. This is what is happening to Nigeria now. We cannot produce even a pin. Let us use our savings from the removal of WASTES to set up industries to provide gainful employment, improve internal revenue by selling made-in-Nigeria products, and improve standards of living for our country’s youths, and retirees, especially senior citizens, who would now have guaranteed futures. It is the absence of a secure future that is one of the causes of the endemic corruption and waste today, especially among public officers.
The Procurement Law must be reviewed and amended to make it more localized, more judicially enforceable, effective, and effectual for both public and private sectors. The judiciary must be reviewed and advanced towards independence and transparency. A trial by a jury of peers, unlike a single-sitting judge, could be introduced. This will very much remove or reduce the possible corruption that is fast turning every judgment into “catch and carry.”
Yes, it could be rough and tough at the beginning of the Nigerian reforms. But with the sacrifice by all and the president leading the way from the front, Nigeria will be better than we all met it. Nigerians will be welcomed and respected by the Committee of Nations. After all, when the going gets tough, only the tough, dedicated, and committed get going. Sooner than later, in the New Nigeria, every Nigerian will be proud and not be ashamed to be called a Nigerian. Then, a real change would have been collectively achieved IF WE DARE TO REMOVE THE WASTES NOW!!!
Our incorporated company by our own C.A.C., “The Nigeria Waste Unlimited” would have been liquidated and folded up, and most Nigerians in the Wasted Generation would been LIBERATED. I bet you, Nigeria can Rise Again with Better Care.
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