But ehn that is not the gist today sha. The most interesting and shameful thing in the latest Naija episode occurred a couple of days ago. The Nigerian Paralympic team got back from doing us proud only to be rudely awakened by the notorious and monumental ineptitude that exists in all forms and levels of the government. At the Paralympic games, the team won 13 medals which includes 6 gold, 5 silver and 2 bronze. They also made four world records, came third position in Africa and finished in the 22nd position in the world.
However when the 29-man team arrived the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) at about 2.30pm on Tuesday afternoon, there was NO official of the National Sports Commission on hand to receive them. Come see as world record holder start to dey hustle to call family members and wheel themselves round the airport. Can you just imagine? People that would be held as national heroes in other countries (The last I heard Trinidad and Tobago gave an athlete £100,000 in cash, a luxury home, 20,000 acres of land and - best of all - a free lighthouse! while the Caribbean Airlines will name a plane after the him).
I am appalled at this new low by our government officials. The same Nigerian Sports Commission that used 1.2 million naira to open a Facebook page (sounds amazing but Google it), The same Olympic committee were we had more officials than athletes, the same Olympic squad were able bodied individuals could not bring home one single medal upon the colossal amounts spent. I wonder how many aides follow each person in government and how busy really is their schedule that they could not make time to greet these heroes? I just pray that our Paralympians will get the recognition and dues they deserve and that they continue to do us proud, it just goes to show that even people with one issue or the other can still be very useful and should be treated with dignity. I hope our clueless government will invest in Paralympic sports.
That is not the main issue oh, we are still investigating this rot. As some of you know, I am presently in the UK schooling to get a PhD in Economics. Well we thank God, I got invited for a conference in the good ole US of A. I immediately contacted the US embassy by phone and booked an appointment for a visa interview and then filled their forms online. In my department I have a friend who is also doing her PhD and needs to go to Nigeria in December, so she being from St Lucia in the Caribbeans has to apply for a Nigerian visa (I don't know why they need a visa to visit their motherland, but that will be for later); We have been calling the Nigerian embassy for a whole week and the phone keeps ringing - No one answers. I tried to redeem our image by going to the website myself and trying to apply online - story.
I never finish oh, I heard our first lady is ill and I am very sorry to hear that. I also heard that she was flown to Germany for medical attention. I was wondering when we were going to finally get it right; How many Nigerians have to die abroad before we finally decide to invest in our medical sector and bring the health service back on to international standards (I heard we were very good in the 80's or so)? I am not praying that anything untoward should happen to our dear Dame. But why is it that every-time we have our so called leaders flying abroad for medical check-up - remember Yar Adua and the others (R.I.P) ? How about the common man i.e you and me? Will the government fly us abroad for medical check-up too? Abi no be our money dem dey use? And the funny thing is that there are lots of Nigerians abroad doing excellent work in medicine and other sectors abroad, if only they had the opportunity to do the same at home.
Finally, I will quickly get to my point, I was reading "The Economist" this last week and they gave the Nigerian government a proper and well deserved bashing as well. The bone of contention was as usual - electricity. Prof Nnaji that brought some credibility to the whole privatization of the power sector had to resign because he felt that their were "conflict of interests" in the whole process. Nigeria has recently been experiencing some gains in the power sector even though they were slow under Prof Bath Nnaji, I really do not know all that happened but I know this; Nigeria and Brazil are relatively equal in terms of population but Nigeria produces about 5% of the electricity that Brazil produces and until we correct this we are going nowhere.
How about the National Honours List? The Public Interest Lawyers League (PILL) called a “joke,” the 2012 National Honours List published by the federal government. In a public statement signed by its President, Abdul Mahmud, PILL said that President Goodluck Jonathan would find it difficult to justify the names put forward by his government, and wondered why the nation’s cultural icons are not in it instead.“From discredited entrepreneurs whose stars faded as their enterprises, dubious politicians who fail democracy and the people, puny public servants, with no sense of service or commitment, who make governance what it is in our country today, to the everyday jesters who walk the quarters of political governance, they remind us that ours is Kamuzu Banda’s country,” PILL said. Calling on President Jonathan to end the joke, the group argued that National Honours are not about conferring honours on patronage-seekers and bootlickers.“It is about giving recognition to individuals who commit their lives of service to the community; and it is about recognizing the stellar patriots among us,” the statement said.
So what exactly am I saying? it seems that anything the Nigerian government is involved in is rotten and mismanaged. You can see this right from the airports, to the roads to the police force, to the state governments to the local governments to the lawmakers right up to the presidency itself. The whole system is grossly inefficient and lackadaisical. You hear it when they speak and in the kind of ideas they bring forward, you see it on NTA and in the various committee meetings. The people who are in charge of looking after our interests think they are doing us a favor by doing their jobs. They see the whole process as a money making venture with no need for efficiency and accountability. That's why all government offices, agencies and parastatals are very good at what they do - Nothing, looting, or just being inept.
Anyone who is really serious about making a positive change will have to face and get rid of that. God bless..
This is an article that Jonathan and his cohorts should read, but sadly they won't. The issue you described here is so apt! Keep up the work and lets hope that we will make a change in this country!
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