Governments of Nigeria will never lift the poor out of poverty

It is more profitable for governments in Nigeria to keep the poor in poverty than to lift them out of it. You know why? The reason is very simple. It is because the poor who help them snatch ballot-boxes and get shot by trigger happy men during elections. It is the poor who rig elections for either those in power or those aspiring to get to power. It is the poor who worship politicians—when they spend money unrestrainedly, brazenly display wrist watches and cars on social media, and move around as crownless-kings amidst millions of hungry-looking-people.

Also, to get to and hold on to power is cheaper and easier in a nation—where about 90% of her citizens are deliberately being kept in poverty. No one listens to the poor. In fact, the poor are voiceless. In a nation where it is easier to pass through the eye of a needle than to get fed with a good and decent meal once a day, five thousand (5000) naira is more than enough to silence ten (10) poor folks! So why will anyone want to lift the poor out of poverty?

I am yet to see a nation that changes vision like diapers like Nigeria. It used to be “vision 2010” and other political-visions, but now, it is “vision 2050”. How can we have a vision that goes beyond either four (4) years or eight (8) years in a nation where there is no discontinuity and plenty of revulsion and odium for the citizenry? How can we have a 30year long vision in a nation where any chump and jester can just wake up one day and do whatever he or she likes?

Show me one nation, where her citizens are being treated as human beings that changes vision like diapers like we do here? I even doubt if we truly understand what vision is all about. A vision is not what you form a political committee on; it is what a whole nation needs to be baptized in and submit to, starting with those in the corridors of power. In an ideal environment, a vision leads, while others follow. We are not ready yet to have a vision as a nation. Remember, when a government does not want to do anything, it sets up a committee.

On the 27th of November, 1996, General Abacha of this world did set up a 250-member committee of private sector representatives, government ministers, academics, journalists, traditional rulers, trade union leaders and foreign business men, amongst others. This is one of the reasons for setting the committee up: “To forge a plan which will ensure that Nigeria is en-route by 2010, to becoming a developed nation in terms of economic prosperity, political stability and social harmony…” What came out of it? Nothing!

How are we going to have “social harmony” when politicians are feeding fat on our disunity? When we become united as a people, then it becomes impossible for them to govern the way they have been governing since the birth of Nigeria. Politicians know that it is impossible to greedily and uncaringly-govern a united-people, so they constantly use the wicked-tools of religion, tribe and politics to divide Nigerians. In disunity they continue to rule as they are ruling!

Also, what of “economic prosperity”? It will continue to remain as a desert mirage in a nation where those in government take pleasure in using poverty as a tool of governance, so each time a committee is formed to “lift people out of poverty”; it is just a strategy to further control the poor. “Vision 2010” was not a true vision; it was a political-hope, never a real one. What of “vision 2050”? It is the same diversionary tactic, a fabricated-political-hope that will never see the light of day.

It is not the job of Buhari’s government and subsequent ones to truly lift the poor out of poverty. No! No one is asking those in government to lift him/her out of poverty. These are the things Nigerians want from their leaders, not to give them a false hope: Give them a stable electric power, construct good roads for them and let them be able to access good drinking water, make the country conducive for them to thrive economically and let them be able to sleep with their eyes closed. And leave the rest for Nigerians to handle. They will lift themselves out of poverty.

When Nigerians travel outside of Nigeria to saner climes, no one lifts them out of poverty. Only an inane (and a fly-by-night) government says that it will lift the poor out of poverty. It is not its call. In an enabling environment, people thrive on their own, without knowing anyone who knows anyone who knows a politician. This is the type of environment Nigerians are clamoring, baying and screaming for. Stop playing politics with the lives of Nigerians!

Do politicians shift the prosperity of their own children forward? It is very easy to shift your own prosperity forward by 30years, because you are just a mere statistic in Nigeria. If you are 30years old now, by 2050, you are going to be 60years old. At 60, you are already in the twilight of your life on earth, so if you do not want to continue to be slaves, disenfranchised and voiceless in your own country, you must learn to consistently and non-violently demand for your prosperity today, not 30years later! Those who idiotically and futilely wait for the governments of Nigeria to lift them out of poverty will always end up being wasted.