For many years, the Nigerian political elite have been on holidays. They lived on borrowed money, spent unearned credit, drank choice champagne and enjoyed the good life. Boy! They went on like the party would never end.
After the Reggae, play the blues! I am not sure that even my incredibly creative brother, Harry Song, knows the full meaning of the words of his sassy song, Reggae Blues that created commotion on the dance floor across Nigeria, a few years ago. Our politicians and their cohorts are done dancing the Reggae. Now the Blues is playing to millions of innocent Nigerians struggling with hyper- inflation, joblessness, kidnapping, banditry, etc. It is not funny.
You have a right to say what you may about a certain Ngozi Okonjo Iweala who is now Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO). You may indeed have your opinion about her good management or lack of it of the Nigerian economy while she was Finance Minister. Madam repeatedly warned Nigerians that one day soon, the bubble would burst, and the day of reckoning would come. I am not sure anyone knew how quickly the bubble would burst and how loud the burst would be. Now, here we are. There is no more gala to share.
Does anyone remember the Sovereign Wealth Fund? At the time that Nigeria was giddily pumping crude oil and shipping it across the world for $108 a barrel, Dr. Iweala warned that some of that money should be saved in a rainy-day fund so that whenever oil lost its luster, Nigerians would have something to eat. A good number of our raunchy governors, behaving like drunk sailors, warned the finance minister to stay off 'their money'. They reminded her that she did not win any election. They demanded that the money be given to them pronto and they rocked at home and abroad, bought choice houses in cities everywhere and dashed tear-rubber Range Rover jeeps to young girls.
After the Reggae, play the blues! The Nigerian nation used to be a major exporter of crude oil. Suddenly, every monkey began to connect his private pipe to the trunk lines carrying Nigeria's crude. While Nigeria pumped crude, the money flowed into the private pockets of monkeys, none of which so far has been arraigned and tried. What is the fantastic answer of our government to the situation? Borrow and borrow and borrow! Our nation is awash with debt leaving our children to sorrow and sorrow and sorrow.
After the Reggae, play the blues! Whether you like it or not, we are in big trouble. We have over 200 million very hungry mouths to feed. The Naira is behaving like an Olympic diver and inflation is driving Nigerians crazy. Our CBN Governor, Godwin Emiefele, practically had to go into hiding as Nigerian politicians plotted to deal with him for trying to end their party of free Naira spending.
I was alarmed as I watched a prominent presidential candidate on TV make mockery of Peter Obi for saving money for the people of Anambra State while he was governor of that state. This presidential candidate said that Obi was "wicked" to have saved money that he could have spent in Anambra State. I have wondered how this gentleman runs his home. He has no savings? He spends every money that comes his way? Where are the zillions of naira he is pumping into his ubiquitous campaign coming from? Current income or borrowed funds?
In exactly five weeks, Nigerians will be going to the polls to elect a leader that has the courage to save this country from drifting into hopelessness and anarchy. That leader must be ready to end Nigeria's Holiday on Suicide Island. The leader must do things differently. He must be prudent with public funds. He must be miserly when it comes to spending the peoples' money. He must be stingy with Nigeria's scarce resources. He must stop the unending party of the many non-productive political job boys.
I am committed to voting for a guy who understands why it is important to save. I am committed to voting for the guy who when the job boys besiege him asking, 'where is the gala, where is the booze?', he will look at them straight in the face and say, "The Holiday is over. The money is in a savings account".
See you next week.
