Bangers, The Fire Brigade Approach And Another Call To Duty

Adeola Aderounmu

In the past and even this year, the Lagos State Government had tried without success to prohibit the use of firecrackers and other fireworks (popularly called knockouts and bangers in Nigeria).

The fire disaster that took place in Lagos this week is another wakeup call on many fronts.

The unfortunate incidents reminded me of one of my earliest articles published both on the Nigeria Village Square and in the Nigerian Guardian Newspaper. The article first published in 2007 is titled: What is Fire Brigade Approach?

In that article, I defined The Fire Brigade Approach as “Nigerians spending last minutes efforts in trying to solve a problem that has been there forever”. That definition borrowed from what I knew of the Fire Brigade while growing up in Nigeria still sadly fit the working approaches of several institutions and agencies in Nigeria today.

No one will likely succeed in stopping the use of fireworks during celebrations or festivities. Some traditions are too strong to kill.

It will require adequate regulations to monitor the safe sale and proper use of these fireworks.

It should not be possible for any businessman or woman to just be able to import or take possession of these dangerous things simply because they are business persons.

The federal and state governments in Nigeria should monitor and approve companies that are fit to undertake such businesses and these should not be based on sentiments or family connections.

Wholesale and retail outlets that distribute these products should have adequate safety procedures to deal with accidents. It is even better to have procedures that will prevent the accidents in the first place.

Considering the fire outbreak in Lagos, it is clear that there are no regulations or they are not followed. Often in Nigeria, the time is not taken to do things meticulously. In many cases no one is ensuring that the regulations are followed especially when bribes can be paid to make rules worthless and inconsequential.

I cannot still imagine that knock-outs as we call them are sold in such a congested area in Lagos. Obviously whether they have done that for several years is not the question, the point is that it has always been a disaster in the making. Then it happened!
With adequate and proper planning, such an accident (if it occurred) should have happened in an industrial area or a shopping area out of town. I mean a building that houses fireworks should either be isolated somewhere or has walls made of fire-resistant materials that will prevent the spread of accidental fire.

On other fronts some of the abnormal things about Nigeria were furthermore exposed by the ugly fire incident which has claimed one life and injured several others. The damage also included a number of houses.

Do we know if there are in-house emergency arrangements in the building where the fireworks are sold? I have not read about fire-extinguishers being used while awaiting the arrival of the fire brigade.

Generally this accident calls for a review of emergency handling situations in Nigeria.

Minor, major, man-made and natural disasters need to be reviewed in Nigeria.

People need to be taught how to deal with minor accidents so that they don’t escalate to major accidents. In certain accidents in Nigeria, stampede has led to more casualties than the original causes of the accidents.

People need to be taught how to prevent domestic and environmental accidents. When they happened they need to know how to deal with the situation immediately and what to do while seeking or waiting for help.

How many Nigerians have been educated that firecrackers are supposed to be mainly outdoor hobbies, something done at some reasonable distance from places of abode? I remembered how people threw bangers at each other in Nigeria and in fact that it was okay to aim them at another man’s flat or compound!

I knew people who held bangers in their hands till they explode and I’d seen at least two boys whose hands were blistered from such experiments.

Sadly too I recall many ugly incidents-including deaths-related to the use of fireworks in Nigeria.

Nigerians are also fond of looking and forming unnecessary crowd at the scene of accidents. Still what kind of crowd gathered in such a way that
it took the fire brigade about an hour to get through?

If the sirens were blowing out loud, does it means that Nigerians have become deaf that they couldn’t hear the siren or could it be that the sounds of sirens have become meaningless considering the misuse/abuse over the years? Where was the Nigerian Police during all these?

One man even took the helmet of a fireman. Was that a joke? The fire brigade and emergency workers can claim in this case that their work have been hindered or hampered by crowd gathering and doing nothing but taking pictures to be posted on social networks. Some heartless people actually visit scenes of accidents to steal or loot.

However, one man was reported to be scooping water with a bucket from a nearby source. Lagos (and Lagos Island in particular) is lineated, permeated and surrounded by water and the fire brigade always runs short of it. The disgust is the same when you see people who don’t have safe water to drink.

In any case, this man-made accident is another wakeup call.

The concerned Lagos State Government agencies or authorities should rise, step up and do that which is necessary to prevent another tragedy of this nature. It is not enough to earn or share money through official titles. It is not wise to wait for the next tragedy before something is done. The jobs must be done now and people need to be educated and informed.

The Lagos State Ministries in charge of Commerce & Trade, Environment, Information, Education, Town Planning and Industrialization should step forward and tell Lagosians the measures that have been or that are now in place to ensure the safety of lives and property. Emergency Management Agencies, the Police and the firemen/women should not be left out of the plans.

Nigeria at 50: Two Wasted Generations!

By Adeola Aderounmu

One of the major inexplicable factors that continue to keep Nigeria in the doldrums is the myopic tendency of the general population including surprisingly the literate sector. Suddenly we kept quiet despite the fact that we know that (USD110) N17b earmarked for Nigeria’s 50th anniversary celebration is not only ostentatious but also wicked, malicious, ill-timed and very unnecessary.

The non-essentiality of the expensive celebration at the national level is not related to the wealth of Nigeria. There are retired army generals in Nigeria who boast of more wealth than some nations in Africa. Money is not Nigeria’s problem. Those who continue to rank Nigeria among the poorest countries in the world must develop better parameters for defining their expressions in relative terms.

When describing the nature of poverty and penury among the populace it will be worthwhile to present them against the backdrop of what has been done to the resources and oil revenues since 1960. Nigerian rulers, dictators, politicians and tyrants have stolen more money from the national coffers than probably any other country on the surface of the earth. Nigeria is therefore not a poor country per se. But the people are impoverished no thanks to the extreme mismanagement of the various rulers, the current ruler being no exception in any way.

Nigeria is 50 years on October 1st 2010. This time in our history does not call for any national celebration. It ought to be a time of sober reflection. Nigeria used to be the giant and pride of Africa. That was back in the days. Today, Nigeria’s economic and politics portray sad pictures. Our educational system is so bad that several Nigerian students are now trooping to Ghana for tutorship.

Those who have looted, stole and destroyed the country have several of their children and family members abroad for education and comfort. To be sure, some people who have genuinely attained economic sufficiency also travel abroad for educational reasons.

It is not only the educational system in Nigeria that has suffered. Almost every aspect of our lives in Nigeria has suffered tremendous setback in such a way that the overall quality of life for the ordinary Nigerian is below the acceptable level for humans.

In the Niger Delta for example where most of our revenues are generated life is far from being a beauty to behold. National and international conspiracies have transformed the rich oil fields to killing fields and a valley of death and despair. Even the locals have not helped matter. As governors, fake elders and senseless followers they have contributed to the devastation of their heritage.

In Nigeria electricity generation is near 0%. Millions of Nigerians and thousands of businesses, big and small, depend on power generators that also generate toxic fumes and devastating noises. Nigerian businesses are growing and developing faster in Ghana than in Nigeria whereas the Nigerian environment is now widely videoed and used in documentaries to emphasize environmental disasters.

Health care has been so neglected that almost every Nigerian politician travel abroad to seek medical help. Last week both Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan took their doctors with them to the US. Where should the ordinary Nigerian people go for medical help? They have no money and still depend on the dilapidated health facilities scattered around Nigeria.

Apart from education and health there is a general breakdown in the provision and availability of other basic infrastructure. Water is scarce and Nigeria made the global news in August 2010 as a result of deaths related to cholera. Toilets are primitive in many localities and the level of sanity is extremely low.

[As I write 2 days to our 50th anniversary, an avoidable flood situation is sweeping people away in Northern Nigeria and people are swimming to safety on calabashes. Millions are displaced. The news and images spread internationally but NTA’s cameras continue to shy away from the disaster. The focus is on the billions of naira been wasted on parties here and there to mark Nigeria’s failures].

In addition to cholera, malaria also remains a threat to human lives especially in children under 4 years of age and pregnant women. Nigeria is likely the only country in the world with records of polio incidence. While the politicians and the corrupt public and private individuals continue to amass wealth, the generality of the masses-more than 70%-continue to live in abject poverty. They suffer neglect and live day-in-day-out in hopelessness.

Politics in Nigeria is the greatest source of our national shame. It is one area that exposes us internationally as “incapable” of governing ourselves successfully. Somewhere along the line we threw away merit and replaced it with mediocrity.

Tribal politics rose to unassuming heights and corruption ate deep into every fabric of the society. The concept of politics-for-the-belly, self-enrichment, inexplicable insatiable, evil urge for stolen wealth and the complete absence of morality in public offices ensured that Nigeria moved from grace to grass with lightening speed. Nigerian politics to this day is dominated by criminal minds and nonentities because of the violence and deadly tendencies attached to it.

While the other nations of the world including neighbouring countries like Ghana and Benin Republic made progresses and giant leaps forward, Nigeria shamefully headed in the opposite direction. Development became stagnated as some individuals made away with the country’s wealth. The military men and the politicians alike stole with impunity and in such dimension never seen before among the human races.

The most disheartening aspect of the looting of Nigeria is that almost everyone who stole got away. Nigeria has one of the weakest anticorruption agencies in the world. The Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) started well and gave Nigerians hope but with the emergence of the third-term agenda of General Obasanjo in 2006 the agency went wayward and has never recovered. General Obasanjo made a mess of Nuhu Ribadu’s reputation by allowing Andy Uba-then presidential aide-to travel on presidential aircraft with looted funds without any consequences. Nuhu Ribadu did not resign as the boss of EFCC even when it was certain that the mission of EFCC was derailed. Today Mr. Ribadu is a presidential candidate courtesy of stolen funds. Who is fooling who in Nigeria?

Fifty years after independence Nigeria’s democracy remains in shambles and is highly disgraceful. In 2011 Nigerians are faced with presidential election which in my own estimation is a catastrophe waiting in the wings. In several essays I have argued that we don’t need elections in 2011. What we need are the structures to deliver free and fair elections in accordance to international standards. The starting point is a valid forensic-based identity registration for every living Nigerian. The arguments on these issues are available elsewhere notably on my blog.

While the government of Goodluck Jonathan will be wasting N17b (or more) on parties and prodigality millions of Nigerians will continue to live from hand to mouth and unsure of the next meal. Nigerian rulers are characterized by low levels of cognitive abilities. It doesn’t matter how little or much the education they received. It’s always the same sad story.

The amount of funds planned for this “celebration of failures” in 2010 is unwarranted. It should have been low keyed and time for sober reflections. We should have used this golden moment to evaluate where things went wrong and write genuine blueprints of how to emerge from our present pitiable predicaments.
Moreover this anniversary should have been dedicated to arresting and prosecuting all those living large as emperors with our stolen wealth. Not so.

Nigerian embassies across the world will waste funds this season to mark our ineptitudes and the world will pretend to laugh with us. In Nigeria on October 1 2010 Goodluck Jonathan will preside over the most expensive party in Nigeria’s history and cut the biggest cake ever made by man. No greater deceit. Shame is a virtue in my country of birth.

Nigerian rulers are fond of propagating lies and falsehood. They are so cut away from the realities of our lives one would think they live on another planet.

It is not a secret that most of the N17b would end up in private accounts at home and abroad because the funds have been inflated in the first place and contracts awarded to families, friends and fair-weather acquaintances. Nigerian rulers and politicians are also notorious for their capabilities to directly divert funds regardless of the original pretentious intentions. This is common in Africa and it’s a sad situation.

For the avoidance of doubts it is morally wrong for Nigeria to celebrate the 50th year anniversary in an ostentatious manner because of the resounding failure of the various governments since 1960.
Arguments against such a shameful charade have fell on deaf ears.

When Goodluck Jonathan planned or decided to execute a plan to celebrate with 10b Naira. We complained. We suggested that the money should be used to procure cancer testing machines for our dilapidated hospitals.

Mr. Yar Adua who was declared winner of the fraudulent 2007 elections died of kidney and heart problems earlier in 2010. The government of Nigeria should consider millions of Nigeria suffering/dying daily for the same/ similar reasons and procure kidney dialysis machine and other instruments relevant to the testing and treatment of kidney and heart problems.

It will also remain a human mystery why our rulers fail to see the need to divert money into the health institutions so that we can increase the life expectancy of Nigerians with figures less than 50 years. A friend of mine is planning to release a research report which amazingly revealed that the life expectancy in Nigeria is probably lower than 40 years. I have stated in several articles as well that the situation in Nigeria represents one of the hidden tragedies of modern era.

One man told me that if Goodluck does not do the party that some other persons will embezzle the money. This is the level to which the Nigerian mentality has descended. We have been brainwashed so much that we can’t think right most of the time. In our dear country several people believe in the principle of “embezzling turn-by-turn”. They think that government is a venture that will at different times benefit a few people directly and directly. This illusory mindset unfortunately and tragically is dominant in Nigeria. The essence of life is almost completely eroded.

The heavily corrupt men and women in Nigerian House of Assembly confirmed the stupidity in the Nigerian political space by reviewing upward the money for the party. We forget so easily that we live in a country where scavengers make less than 200 naira a day and they have families to feed. Sometimes they earn nothing over a long period of time.

Our politicians in Nigeria are special. We are complaining that we should have a low key celebration and use this time of our 50th anniversary to map out strategies that will make us emerge a developed country in our second jubilee and all we can get for the calamities in Nigeria is a party worth N17b or more.

The money is not a big deal to those who approved it because they can steal, loot and cart away millions through exaggerated salaries and bonuses while the rest of us can go to hell.

These people who think and act foolishly owe us no apology, no probity and no accountability because we didn’t vote for them. Our politics is jungle politics where the fittest survive and win everything. The weak and losers lick their wound and beg for favours.

We are in trouble and constant dilemma.

It is hard to believe how we reason and how corruption had destroyed the essence of our lives. Invariably the issues affecting Nigeria as a 50 year old crawling nation are huge and inexhaustive in a single essay.
Has anyone even thought of how much a N17b education endowment fund would avail if it is not looted?
Curse apart, suffering will persist on the African continent and even elsewhere in the world until social justice and true freedom are fought for.

They always say the best things in life are free. Social justice and freedom have not yet made the list. They are definitely not free. The oppressed must rise, fight and take what is theirs.

For Nigerians and several countries in Africa the days of true independence and liberation are still ahead.

aderounmu@gmail.com

Nigeria’s NEPA (PHCN) is the most useless organization in Africa

By Adeola Aderounmu

The national power provider in Nigeria popularly called NEPA is probably the most useless government company or organization in Africa, if not in the world.

Power supply is almost absent despite billions of dollars earmarked for this company annually. The problem with NEPA has been treated in several essays here.

http://aderinola.wordpress.com/2008/06/24/if-nepa-goes-on-strike

http://aderinola.wordpress.com/2009/07/13/everybody-is-on-strike-in-nigeria

Power supply in Nigeria is worse than a nightmare.

Every Nigerian family/household now has a generator. The size, numbers and quality of your generation is even a revelation of your economic strength. Therefore generators have names and one popular one is “I pass my neighbor”. I pass my neighbor is one the smallest generators you can buy and if your neighbor doesn’t have any, definitely you are richer than him/her.

What is even worse is that you will pay monthly for electricity bills whether you have used it or not. NEPA is a government agency in Nigeria that is duping the people of billions of naira across the country everyday.

USELESS NEPA AND USELESS GOVERNMENT PROMISING END TO BLACKOUT IN 1986

 

Sometimes you can have electricity for 2 or 3 days only in a month, yet your bill will be on the rise. NEPA forces you to pay anyway. The option is that NEPA can “cut” your light so that you are deprived of resting your generator for those (2 or 3 days) of interrupted power supply.

NEPA is one of the biggest woes in Nigeria. Among other national calamities in Nigeria NEPA is a clear revelation of the total absence of intelligence among the evil ruling class.

Some countries in the world have had uninterrupted power supplies for hundreds of years and Nigeria cannot boast of 24 hours of uninterrupted power. Nigerian rulers are fools to the core.

What would have been more rewarding than to set a one-agenda program of ensuring that power is steady in Nigeria? Since 1999 rogues, thieves and looters have paraded the landscape of Nigeria.
They are all thieves.

Before 1999 it was the same story but things got worse under civilian looters. There is no sense in Nigerian politics and policy.
On what will the economy rest? What is the backbone of technology, science, innovations, growth and development if not constant power supply?

Several companies both big and small run on own power generations.
Those who cannot do have left Nigeria and others have packed up totally. Nigeria has about 5 to 6 generations of unemployed graduates and unemployment generally will be on the rise in the absence of power.

There are no genuine commitments from any Nigerian government to make power constant. A serious / an embarrassed government will almost invariably shed other agenda or program to ensure that power supply is constant at all cost, at any cost. Not Nigeria where fools are in power all the time. It’s a shame, a disgrace beyond human comprehension.

The kind of power supply in Nigeria does not correlate with the fact that people pay bills for electricity. By now the government of Jonathan should be so ashamed to even ask people to continue to pay NEPA bills.

The way things are in Nigeria, people should not be paying for electricity until it is constant and assuring. That much the government owed the people.

I cannot believe that NEPA and the government of Nigeria especially is still asking people to pay for what is rarely available. It is robbery and very characteristic of the Nigerian government populated by thugs and thieves from the presidency to the last man in the local council area.

In my opinion this is a great scandal and it qualifies NEPA to be the worst government agency in the world today.

Mass Poverty In Nigeria, 2012

By Adeola Aderounmu

In 2012 several millions of Nigerians will live poorer and suffer more than they have ever done in recent history.
The government of Goodluck Jonathan has ensured that more than ever before more Nigerians will sink further below the poverty line. In 2012 the prices of goods and services have doubled at the same time that wages remain stagnant and unemployment remains a nationwide scourge. The government of Nigeria under Goodluck Jonathan is probably the most irresponsible government on the planet.

Mass poverty is the poverty that affects the majority of a population. More than 70% of Nigerians lack the usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions needed to lead a happy life. This unfortunate category of Nigerians lack material comfort and in plain language they live from hand to mouth.

Poverty in Nigeria is extreme. It covers a wide range: from absence of basic amenities like water, hospitals and electricity, good roads and good schools to absence of security and general hopelessness.

The broad implications of mass poverty in Nigeria cannot be over emphasized. There is frustration on the faces of over 90m people who are living on less than USD1 per day. The current changes introduced in Nigeria as a result of fuel price increase will automatically reduce the purchasing power of Nigerians. It will increase their fears and aggravate their fragile health statuses. The causes of many deaths are unascertained and the life expectancy is almost below 50 years.

Nigerians are living the lives they did not choose and which they have not completely resolved to do away with. Only a small fraction of Nigerians have genuinely crossed the poverty line through hardwork, perseverance and a stroke of luck sometimes. Several other rich Nigerians are simply crooks and thieves who stole from the treasuries. This latter category includes almost without exception the president of Nigeria, the vice president and other members of the executives serving and past.

The category, in short, includes almost all politicians who have stolen or enriched themselves on the commonwealth of Nigeria. The extensions of this group include all those who have directly and indirectly benefitted from the corrupt governments that have destroyed Nigeria since 1960 to date.

In today’s Nigeria the politicians continue to earn big while the ordinary masses continue to live desperately from one day to the other. Ordinary Nigerians are not getting what they deserved and they have not gathered enough courage to change the system radically or violently.

Nigeria is a country with now over 160 million people therefore the dimension of mass poverty in Nigeria is both dreadful and shocking. The political system in Nigeria put the outcome of these people’s lives in the hands of one man through a unilateral system of government where everything is decided by a president.

In almost all instances the presidents in Nigeria have been corrupt, senseless and outrightly foolish like the present one. For example rather than reforms that would eradicate corruption and establish viable political structures like regional governments and devolution of power, the government of Jonathan has done nothing about fighting corruption and is happy to oppress the people by keeping the power at the center and increasing the cost of living. No greater form of madness exists on earth.

Nigeria needs to fight corruption and to develop a new form of government that will ensure that power is closer to the grassroots. In that way it will be easier to monitor regional growth and development without depending on a faraway insensitive, lazy and stupid aggregation of looters aka exco and legislators.

In Nigeria there is almost no plan to provide basic infrastructure to the people. The annual budgets are made and looted. Politicians, their families and friends live extravagant life styles and spend a lot of time in their private jets. They just steal and it’s too easy because there are no prosecutions. The judiciary is utterly insane.

Despite the fact that Nigeria is situated in the tropics with access to all forms of flowing water the government cannot provide drinking water to her people. Many homes with water are the results of self-provision and investment that gulp thousands of naira annually. Bore holes are common.

The cost of transportation has escalated since January 2012 and in many places the costs have increased by over 100% compared to what they were last year. The cost of feeding has increased astronomically. People cannot eat what they want, they eat what they find.

Food, water and housing are 3 important parameters to measure the values of our lives and these things have become elusive to the masses in Nigerians. However, mass poverty in Nigeria has other ugly faces. For example, the purchasing power of the Naira is extremely weak. In some very bad situations, some people do not have money at all and there is no social security system.

There has not been efficient or functional power supply even if you can conveniently pay for it. Nigeria is generating a power outage that is too shameful to repeat online. Many businesses run on own generators and the cost of doing businesses are extremely high adding more salt to injury in the unemployment terrain.

The cost of petrol has increased from N65 per liter to N97 per liter. This makes Nigeria the most expensive place to buy petrol in any oil producing nation. The increase was necessary because of the corrupt manner the petroleum industry has been managed and to ensure that the corrupt Nigerian government officials can satisfy their evil lust for stolen wealth.

Long term measures would have been to tackle the oil mafia and to ensure that we service the existing refineries and build new ones to cater for our needs and export. But Nigerian officials now headed by Jonathan prefer that we import what we have. No greater stupidity..!

Rather than tackle the problems head on and plan a long term solution to the economic problems in Nigeria the myopic government of Jonathan decided to add to the burden of Nigerians. There are now more poor people in Nigerian than ever before.

Nigeria has Uranium in at least 18 states of the federation, I have not heard the governor of the Central Bank, Sanusi Lamido and the Minister OF Finance, Okonji-Iweala mentioned what Goodluck Jonathan is doing about it. Nigeria is almost without electricity and the country is sitting on Uranium deposit. Talk of daft people in power all the time.

Apart from Uranium there are uncountable numbers of natural resources/ mineral deposits in Nigeria. All the governments, past and present, have focused on the crude oil thereby limiting the economic growth of Nigeria. Even if the crude oil has been well managed, mass poverty will not exist in Nigeria. Agriculture has been relegated due to the greed and incompetence of all these corrupt people.

The lack of power supply, as mentioned above, has aided the mass poverty as thousands of people have been put out of job since many companies can no longer sustain their operations in the absence of it.

The situation is very demoralizing and still there are other equally important things that define the intensity and seriousness of mass poverty in Nigeria. The Nigerian masses and elites cannot travel on safe roads. The masses are more affected because there is constant chaos in the public transportation methods. The conditions are dehumanizing to say the least.

Mass poverty in Nigeria is further displayed in the health schemes. There are no solid or clear cut health care policies to care for the population especially babies, pregnant women and old people who are more helpless than other groups of people. The cost of getting good treatment at the hospital is prohibitive and the access of modern health facilities is greatly hindered. I am not sure if there are handicap friendly facilities in public places in Nigeria. The poor and helpless masses are always at the receiving end of all the misgivings of the politicians and policy makers.

Nigerian politicians continue to travel abroad, to receive treatment or to die. Nigerian hospitals are inadequate and ill-equipped.

The overall consequences of poverty are diverse. Quickly, some of these things have spiral effects and these have obviously spun down to the upcoming generations. For example as a result of the range of extreme want of necessities and the absence of material comforts, the children of the masses no longer have access to quality education.

They do not have adequate recreational facilities and their social orientations are falsely modified by various things around them and those that they are unduly exposed to. What is going on daily in Nigeria as a way of life shows very sorry states of things. Things are getting worse from day to day.

Mass poverty can also result from high rate of unemployment. There has been an upsurge in armed robbery in recent years. It is not uncommon to find school drop outs and unemployed graduates among the criminals who have become very merciless in their operations. In addition to this, it was a rude shock for me to discover recently that many primary school and secondary students now have some form of allegiance to other persons in their localities or areas. I could not believe that secret cults are no longer secrets.

True stories have been told how some young people have been killed by what seemed like cults activities in broad day lights. I was told that some were shots dead in unsuccessful robbery operations at other places. These stories are told nowadays like “it’s one of those things”. Things have really gone from bad to worse. Many years ago in Nigeria, the emphasis was on academic excellence and sporting activities at leisure. Indeed, things have changed and very worryingly too. Could all these be due to the spiral effect of poverty in action? What role does poverty play in other neglected aspects of our lives?

I am still mad at people who have refused to see the bigger picture. If you have escaped poverty by some hardwork, luck or some form of looting or stealing that does not mean that we should forget the people who are still suffering from the corruption and bad government in Nigeria. Nigeria is too corrupt, probably the most corrupt country in the world.

The politicians are looting and they call it receiving salaries and allowances. What an open scandal!

And for Nigerians living abroad you have not escaped the poverty in Nigeria. Far from it! When you are in Nigeria, you still use generators to produce the power you need. That is a sign of poverty.

You drive your fancy cars on very bad roads and have to change parts or do repairs often. That is a sign of poverty.
You live in houses with heavy security. That is a reflection of poverty and a sign of extreme insecurity.

My personal experiences and observations showed that Mass Poverty accelerated by absolute rot of governance over the years may have taken its toll on virtually all aspects of the Nigerian life.

No government in Nigeria has seriously tackled corruption or fight poverty in real terms. There is no hope in sight as the present government is showing itself as the most useless ever in the history of Nigeria.

Ordinary Nigerians (especially those who cannot treat their leg ache, head ache and stomach ache abroad) have gone through a lot of life excruciating and traumatic experiences especially since 1999. All the hopes raised at the onset of the new found democracy have been crushed and dashed. We don’t have the form of government that we require.

Nigeria must split into different regions/ nations and corruption in all the regions must be fought totally.

The Occupy Nigeria movement should be re-arranged to form a movement for the convocation of a sovereign National Conference or a movement for the initiation of a referendum to define the way forward for Nigeria. Nigerians cannot continue like this, it is too hopeless.

Sometime must be done now to prepare for the future generations that will occupy and live in the present Niger-area.

The Regions that existed in Nigeria before the intervention of the military in 1966 must be restored. It is the only hope for the eradication of both corruption and everlasting poverty. If necessary a revolution must be initiated and sustained to achieve these aims. The power of change lies with the people and not the Labour Unions. The Labour in Nigeria is a collection of miscreants in search of personal recognition and riches.

The people must rise up once again and take what is theirs. Freedom and independence have never been offered on a platter of gold. They are earned with dedication and great sacrifices. 2012 offers a new opportunity for the change Nigerians seek.

The Foolish Jonathan Presidency

By Adeola Aderounmu

Instead of arresting corrupt Nigerians and retrieving the stolen wealth of Nigeria, Mr. Jonathan preferred to remove the (alleged, non-existent) fuel subsidy and thereby ensuring that Nigerians are further demoted down. This means that Nigerians will now be forced to survive on even less than USD1 per day.

Already there are Nigerians who have no form of material comfort. No work, no money, no social and health security.

Some, several millions to be sure, have no form of income and no hope for the next hour.

Unemployment and hopelessness are ways of life of over 40m Nigerians.

Over 90m Nigerians are unsure of the next meal.

Words are never going to be enough to repeat that the situation in Nigeria ranks among the worst human tragedies of this era. This is largely underreported.

It is sad because as one of the richest countries in the world, it is ironic that Nigerians rank among the poorest people alive. The situation in Nigeria raises a lot of issues concerning the intelligence of the black race.

Yet rather than confront the issues, Mr. Jonathan pushed them aside and hinged the resuscitation of Nigeria on the fuel subsidy. Okonjo Iweala is a disgrace to the intelligence of the black race for championing this cause.

Can Jonathan and Iweala frankly face Nigerians and tell them that removal of fuel subsidy is the solution to the problems facing Nigeria? This collective daftness should be challenged and Nigerians will be slaves forever in their own country if they allow this fuel subsidy removal to stay. It must not, even Iweala and Jonathan should be carefully probed among the corrupt Nigerians who have destroyed the Nigerian economy.

I make bold to question Iweala on the recovered Abacha’s loot. She was the finance Minister when the Swiss Government returned parts of the monies that Abacha looted. Where is the money?

Jonathan should also be reminded that his wife is among the thieves who have looted the Nigerian treasury. She could only have done that with the consent of Jonathan himself. Jonathan and his legacy in Bayelsa leave much to be desired. He has no track record to show for any positive performance in government. Nigerians are in the hands of fraudsters!

The economy of Nigeria cannot get better by removal of fuel subsidy. It will get better when Jonathan and the PDP looters stop looting the treasury.

The economy of Nigeria will get better when true federalism is re-introduced and power taken away from the corrupt Aso Rock.

The economy of Nigeria will improve if all the people who stole monies meant for national development are prosecuted and made to return the monies they stole.

The money that have been stolen from Nigeria is several trillions of naira which make Jonathan and Iweala’s argument a foolish one.

These fools cannot fight corruption because they are part of it.

Nigerians should never, never allow them to get away with this madness.

A protester gunned down by the government of Jonathan, Jan 3 2012

Jonathan is showing his true colour. Nigerians are now faced with bullets and at least 2 people have been reported killed by the Jonathan government.

The people have the right to protest against the increase in the price of fuel. Transport cost has increased to over 100% more. In some place to over 300%. The price of everything has gone up and Nigerians earn N18 000 minimum wage, which is even yet to be implemented.

This government is EVIL and it must be STOPPED by all or any means possible.