The
Offshore Technology Conference is the largest oil and gas sector trade
show held annually in Houston, Texas. It focuses on the development of
offshore energy resources, primarily oil and natural gas. Nigeria,
always with the largest contingent, is one of the 110 countries that
participate in the event. When Nigeria shows up, you and I know,
Nigerians show off.
A Minister of the Federal Republic has
traditionally led a group of people numbering about 350 or more. It’s a
common saying at the event that the Nigerian minister barges in with “a
whole village”, and their trips paid for by the Nigerian government. A
majority of the Nigerian attendees are not necessarily government
appointees; but the government gives them a free ride to the
land-of-the-free for free.
When these guys hit
town, the whole of Houston and its suburbs know that “Princes and
Princesses” are in town. That’s how they introduce themselves to
Americans who don’t care who you are; and who only want your oil money.
Car dealerships end the season with record-profit from purchases of all
manner of exotic cars by the young and old Nigerians as they ship the
expensive toys back home immediately. When these Nigerians hit town,
they hit all the malls in wildfire shopping sprees from the galleria to
the city mall sprawling in to the suburbs in Katy and Richmond. Don’t
ask any of them a question about the depressing ostentation that your
eyes see; the response it seems has been rehearsed on the 12-hour United
Airline direct flight to Houston; “Na government money, abi na your
papa money?” The waste on this conference must be colossal. This year,
surprisingly, the minister in question and the entire “village” did not
show up because power has changed hands at home. My friends, this is not
just waste; it is delusion and dementia.
Anytime Nigerians all
over the world cuddle around the dinner table discussing Nigeria and
government representatives, questions that pop up in our heads about
some behaviours and conduct of people in and out of government often
are: “Why so much waste in government”? The more we deliberate about the
depth of waste which co-mingles with the spread of corruption, the more
I continue to believe that this lifestyle must be as a result of some
uncured cerebral Ebola.
Some of our behaviours are just out of
the sphere of sanity. It is either people don’t care at all about the
country they call theirs, or there are many of them who are just
possessed by some unholy spirit of derangement. As a bird builds its
nest to lay its head under, we have perfected a culture of waste and
abandonment in which public officials seem to thrive.
The
defunct Nigeria Airways was founded in 1958 and existed until 2003 when
waste and corruption became too overwhelming to keep it breathing. In
the early 80s, its fleet comprised about 30 high-end aircraft; but at
the last hour of its official demise, the airline had incurred debts of
more than $60m. The debt has now risen to over $76m. A competent
aviation source told me a couple of days ago that some former employees
of the defunct national carrier now hawk parts of the old aircraft
piece-by-piece to some local carriers. At the time the Nigerian Airways
was alive and kicking, the Peoples Democratic Party was not in
existence, and the All Progressives Congress had not been conceived. But
there was a government, and there were government officials who
happened to be Nigerians who helped murder the airline. What we have
is more than a culture of waste and abandonment; it’s got to be delusion
and dementia.
China constructed the world’s largest 22,000 MW
hydro-electric plant for $25bn. Nigeria spent $35.45bn for 2,500 MW. Up
till this morning in almost all of Nigeria, supply of electricity has
ceased. I heard that in the country today, there is megawatts of
darkness and gigabytes of excuses from government. What happened to all
the money expended on power? It melted like ice-cream in the oven of
waste and corruption. Those who bought the Power Holding Company of
Nigeria would have to come tell Muhammadu Buhari soon what they’ve done
with the company since ownership changed.
The federal and state
governments historically have been water-hoses of waste in different
shapes and forms. What is the role of a Minister of State where there is
a Permanent Secretary in a ministry? What are the assignments of the
retinue of aides other than functioning as human answering machines?
Personal Assistants to ministers and governors have Personal Assistants
who also have Personal Assistants. A Commissioner’s driver also has a
driver and a Chief Security Officer with a small cabinet and an
executive council that meets in Iya Sikira’s bush-meat restaurant once a
month. Wage bills of some states have increased by about 300 per cent
without a provision for a cushion to absorb the bloat. Between May 1999
and December 2010, government spent N15.6tn on maintenance of public
servants most of whom are very redundant and unproductive. These guys do
nothing in government but to carry out some fiendish flimflam.
A
narrow gauge railway is one with a track gauge measuring between 600 mm
(1 ft 11 5⁄8 in) and 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm). A standard gauge measures
about 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in). But our government awarded the contract
for a monolithic system that was abandoned in the United States and the
United Kingdom almost 200 years ago. It’s a wasteful and delusional
nation that will award contracts for a narrow gauge and locomotive
engine in the 21st century when globally, nations have embraced the
faster and more efficient standard gauge. Five years from today, the
original project (if completed) will be scrapped; and a do-over contract
will be awarded again in a sham scheme that will only grease the palms
of some political cronies.
Annually, Nigeria burns its natural
gas worth up to $2.5bn. We refuse to source market for the product and
we aren’t developing technology to keep it underground. The whole Niger
Delta territory lights up in flames emitting humongous amounts of carbon
dioxide from flares that keep uncontrollably flaring. When the air is
polluted with this element, all manner of diseases begin to afflict the
almost 10 million people who reside in this area that has no functioning
hospital that I can compare to the walk-in 24 hours clinic two blocks
from my house in Hartford. Some of the gas flares we heard have been
burning for almost 40 years. Do you call this waste? Not me! I call it
delusion and dementia.
I do not agree with President-elect
Buhari when he told some elders that he became President at the “wrong
time”. No, Buhari is here for such a time as this. This is the right
time and the choice of 15 million people was a good one. Nigeria is at
the edge of the cliff overlooking a Grand Canyon of gully and Gehenna,
and we must not plunge in headlong! No doubt, Buhari will need all the
help he can get from God and man to bring remedies. By God, he will get
help. Help for him is help for all Nigerians everywhere in the world.
His modest lifestyle will encourage plugging many holes of waste in the
system. Buhari will lead, and we will follow. When he identifies the
holes and plug them, then we can chant it the way they do in Hawaii
saluting the arrival of a friend; ALOHA, CHANGE!
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