When Bill Gate-crashed

Microsoft founder Bill Gates arrival in Nigeria for talks with national and local leaders including experts in agriculture, economics, primary healthcare and nutrition was a major news headline on Tuesday, 3rd September 2024. Shockingly, some Nigerians started salivating and others gushing over the visit. A famous former Senator who identifies as a ‘Comrade’ even went as far as hailing the American billionaire as a friend indeed of our beleaguered country.
In the course of his unsolicited visit, Bill Gates, Co-chair of the Gates Foundation met with many Nigerian leaders, traditional and religious leaders, youths and partners purportedly to address the nation’s economic crises, health challenges and to help drive innovations and improve nutrition in Africa.

A statement by the Foundation said that the co-chair also participated in a pan-African virtual dialogue addressing malnutrition through integrated health, agriculture and financing solutions.

The most intrusive aspect of the visit was Gates’ participation in a meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) headed by Vice President Kashim Shettima held at the Council Chambers of the State House on 4th September 2024. Escorted by Nigeria’s leading money mascot, Aliko Dangote, Bill Gates got an opportunity to literally gate-crash into the Executive Council Chambers at Aso Villa where he had the rare opportunity of lecturing the entire Federal Government including Vice President and ministers. Admitting an outsider to a convention of this Constitutional body is illegal if not treasonable but worse still was that Gates’ contributions were totally toxic as expected.

After stating the obvious fact that Nigeria’s economy has stagnated and that the country’s debt exceeded 50 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product for the first time since 2001, he recommended more taxation to remedy the malady! Excusing him on account of his lack of economic expertise is naïve. His input is absolutely in pursuit of an agenda of the USA to create the chaos necessary to break-up Nigeria and pave the path for full American control on the continent.

“Nigeria’s economic leaders have done some difficult, but necessary things, like unifying the exchange rate. The next great hurdle is raising revenue. I understand this is a politically sensitive area. Nigerians are struggling. Incomes have fallen. Prices have soared. And like in many other countries, people are protesting” Gates stated adding that “Taxes are never popular. That’s true in America too. But they’re part of a social compact.”

His polemics are patently duplicitous. The living standards in the two countries are worlds apart as are the services enjoyed by the respective citizens. Subsidies on agriculture, education, energy and healthcare have been serially severed in Nigeria while being regularly enhanced in the US. It is like those who argue that fuel is cheaper in this country than in its wealthier counterparts without contrasting this with the income levels of their corresponding citizens.

Sadly, not a single member of the National Economic Council or the plethora of indigenous professors has countered the computer geek. Does being a billionaire make a man an infallible economist? Worse still, what level of inferiority complex could compel the NEC to consider counsel from an apparent adversary?

Bill Gates’ past performance in helping Nigeria and other African countries are enough indicators of where his unsolicited advice will push the parameters of poverty in the country. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which is a self-proclaimed non-profit organisation fighting poverty, disease and inequity around the world opened its offices in Nigeria in 2009. According to its mission statement, “We want all of Nigeria’s children, mothers and families to be able to lead healthy and productive lives, and we want the country’s most marginalized people to have opportunities to lift themselves out of poverty. To work toward these goals, we partner with the government, the private sector and civil society organizations.”

Fifteen years down the line and a budget of $2.8 billion representing the Foundation’s “largest commitment in all of Africa,” all the indices have worsened. Thus, today every hour, 100 children under 5 years die of malnutrition in Nigeria, according to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF). In other words, Nigeria loses about 2,400 children to malnutrition daily.

Also, according to the Global Hunger Trend, there has been an increase in malnourished children compared to the previous year. In 2023, the proportion of malnourished children increased from 9.3 per cent to 15.9 per cent. As of last year, 35 million children under five years of age suffered from malnourishment. Also, 12 million children had stunted growth, 3 million wasted from excessive and rapid weight loss, and 23.5 million were anaemic.

This severe depopulation far from depressing the “philanthropist” and occupying his attention seems to be in line with his alleged goal of reducing the global population. So, instead of addressing the escalating calamity, he urged the government to increase the tax burden on impoverished citizens probably to help them think twice about producing more children.

The second major message of the philanderer posing as philanthropist was for Nigeria to embrace the new generation of innovative crop varieties that have shorter growing periods, higher yields and greater resistance to pests, as part of solutions to solve the food crisis in the country. According to Gates, “To make the most of new crop varieties, Nigeria needs to speed up the regulatory process to approve them. That process is important and should always be taken seriously.” Read: patronise Monsanto now, forfeit more of your freedoms and enable me resume my status as the richest man on the planet.

The Federal Government of Nigeria must stop according attention to avowed adversaries of the country. It must stop listening indiscriminately to self-serving individuals and international institutions in whatever guise. Bringing Bill Gates and other such intruders into the National Economic Council meeting or similarly sensitive sessions is like discussing your survival strategies with an assigned assassin.

Hassan-Tom writes from Abuja.