THE UGLY FACE OF POVERTY CULLED FROM PENDULUM BY DELE MOMODU

PRESIDENT Goodluck Ebele was our guest in Lagos last Thursday August 26, 010. I did not know of the visit, his first as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, until my flight from Ghana touched than in Lagos. As soon as I cleared Customs and sped towards my car in order to catch a television interview appointment with the famous singer Zaaki Adzay, my driver, Mr Samuel, was quick to announce the bad news to me. "Oga, there is too much traffic everywhere today because Jonathan (President) is coming to town Sir. We were in the traffic for over two hours Sir because everywhere had been blocked."Mr Samuel would have made a good reporter but for the fact that he did not have much of formal education. But the extremely bright and energetic man has a good grasp of local politics. I was regularly entertained by his analysis. And I love him dearly. I was not in the mood to drive through any traffic but knew I was totally powerless in the hands of our overzealous security apparatchik. Since God’s case has no appeal court, I just sat calmly to enjoy Mr Samuel’s commentaries."Haa Oga, this Jonathan government is spending our money o!"I thought that was no big news again, so kept quiet. I had no intention of cracking myself up so early in the day. But my silence did not discourage Mr Samuel from waxing more loquacious for some strange reasons. He was over the top as he went on and on about how Jonathan’s people had bought white uniforms known as Aso Ebi for hundreds of rented but gaily dressed women who thronged the airport to welcome the latest Messiah of Nigeria. The traffic was still a bit heavy as we approached the Murtala Mohammed Airport two, the only airport with a semblance of sanity in Nigeria."You will soon see Jonathan’s plane where it is parked Sir,"Mr Samuel said with a tinge of excitement. For the first time I was tempted to respond to my able driver’s tantrums."Which of his planes, the one bought by President Obasanjo a few years ago or one of the three brand new planes he recently ordered?,"I asked with a dash of sarcasm. Mr Samuel said he did not know, but in his view the plane looked very new. We soon drove past the Presidential wing, at snail-speed of course, and it afforded us the opportunity of seeing our own Nigeria Air Force One. The plane was neatly parked with a few officers obviously chatting away under the belly of the plane. We noticed the fearful presence of combat soldiers squatting under some shrubs that litter the fields close to the fence. They looked very menacing. And I wonder we often call out the soldiers in peace time and under a civilian administration. Anyway, let’s leave that to our security chiefs to worry about. I would be eternally glad if they can spare us the anguish of causing unnecessary traffic jams every time our rulers are flying and driving through our cities. True leaders are usually put on display for the citizens to see and treasure. Only despots are hidden behind bullet-proof showcases. At the entrance of the Presidential Wing, I noticed the rented women for the first time. Some even carried their children on their backs. And ready to embark on some audacious treks back home. We must salute the tenacity of our women, especially these long-suffering mothers. Mr Samuel explained some smart fellow must have been contracted to hire the women in droves. This made me very curious and I asked how much each of them s likely to take home after this nerve-wracking odyssey."Haa, Oga, each of them will make at least one one thousand,"he said matter-of-factly. I couldn’t believe my ears. How could all these wonderful women leave their homes under the scorching heat to end up earning one thousand Naira. I thought that was cruelty at its crudest. Who would put an end to this vicious manipulation of poor people? Why must we continue to subject our citizens to such despicable indignity? My brains were doing some somersaults as I engaged in this interior monologue, known in Literature as stream-of-consciousness. I now understood why our rulers believe so fervently that they would continue rig elections with impunity and get away with it. Can you really blame them when they have deliberate impoverished their fellow citizens in order to exploit their weaknesses. A weak man would most wondrously accept any insult from the strong man. On Thursday, I saw the ugly face of poverty. And the words of Moshoo Abiola freshly gushed back like a tornado:"It is only a man who has not experienced poverty who would glamorise it. There is nothing to glamorise in it because it is better seen than experienced." My heart bled for this able-bodied people who could have been gainfully employed with some measure of dignity but have been turned into the holoi poloi, the wretched of the Earth, according to Franz Fanon. I was deeply touched at their epic efforts at eking a living for themselves and their children. Their husbands would also be employed as thugs to create confusion as the polling stations. And they would gladly accept the filthy jobs out of necessity than absolute voluntariness. I concluded that Nigeria still needed loads of prayers. Nothing less would do. God would have to pity us and look down on us with mercy and compassion. As to President Jonathan’s mission in Lagos, that is another matter entirely. I’m sure you must have heard or read of the atrocious contracts being dished out of Abuja now with the rapidity of pop corns? Please, don’t be fooled. It has nothing to do with any genuine concern for rebuilding our dilapidated nation. According to usually impeccable sources, the prodigal sons and daughters are already looking for all the cash they can muster in readiness for the war they plan to unleash on the rest of us next year at the polls. Some powerful and lucrative Ministries are expected to perform what Fela had called"government magic." The politicians are desperately looking for avenues to award huge contracts and reap bountiful harvests from it. What is going on in Nigeria is incredible. I had been reliably informed that the Aviation Ministry was going to make some blistering announcements and days later the prediction came to pass. I was stunned beyond words when our Minister of Aviation actually got the nod from the Federal Executive Council for the approval of N7.9b (seven billion and nine hundred thousand naira) for the purchase of generators for the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos. Is it not disheartening that our government could commit such gargantuan resources to buying generators in these austere times, especially on an infrastructure that was already primed to be privatised. It should have been obvious to any serious government that the failure of our airports came as a result of such government interventions in the past. A cursory peep at all our airports would reveal an uncanny similarity and regularity of filth and squalor. Politicians, as presently constituted in Nigeria, can never run airports successfully. They are too uncouth, shameless and greedy to facilitate modern amenities and upgrade our airports to what we see in Hong Kong and South Africa. How could we conceptually expend so much money from our collapsed economy on such capital items that could be handled by the private sector as in the case of MM2. This would have freed government from this huge and unnecessary burden. It is such a monumental tragedy that our scarce resources are not only being wasted but being used recklessly by government functionaries to compete with and destroy the private sector. The scandalous nature of this careless spending comes to fore when one considers the fact that this same prodigiously wasteful government is making desperate moves to improve power supply in the nation through the private sector. In fact, President Jonathan was ostensibly in Lagos to address stakeholders’ meeting on the necessity to attract private sector participation in generating electricity in Nigeria. Yet, this same government had barely 24 hours earlier approved a stupendous expenditure in the power sector that could have been competently handled by the private sector. Is it not sad that as far back as 2005, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) had placed an advert in the papers titled INVITATION TO TENDER FOR THE PRODUCTION AND SUPPLY OF UNINTERRUPTED AND QUALITY ELECTRIC POWER TO THE MURTALA MOHAMMED AIRPORT COMPLEX, IKEJA LAGOS asking for investors to provide power for the same airport. According to insiders in the aviation sector, several companies responded to the proposal. One of the hottest proposals was the plan to install power-generating turbines at the time but nothing happened thereafter. That possibility has been practically defeated by the illiterate decision to buy generators for the airport at this time and age. At the rate our money is being thrown around by this government, we need to go on our knees and pray against bankruptcy. God save Nigeria comPresident Goodluck Ebele was our guest in Lagos last Thursday August 26, 010. I did not know of the visit, his first as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, until my flight from Ghana touched than in Lagos. As soon as I cleared Customs and sped towards my car in order to catch a television interview appointment with the famous singer Zaaki Adzay, my driver, Mr Samuel, was quick to announce the bad news to me."Oga, there is too much traffic everywhere today because Jonathan (President) is coming to town Sir. We were in the traffic for over two hours Sir because everywhere had been blocked."Mr Samuel would have made a good reporter but for the fact that he did not have much of formal education. But the extremely bright and energetic man has a good grasp of local politics. I was regularly entertained by his analysis. And I love him dearly.I was not in the mood to drive through any traffic but knew I was totally powerless in the hands of our overzealous security apparatchik. Since God’s case has no appeal court, I just sat calmly to enjoy Mr Samuel’s commentaries."Haa Oga, this Jonathan government is spending our money o!"I thought that was no big news again, so kept quiet. I had no intention of cracking myself up so early in the day. But my silence did not discourage Mr Samuel from waxing more loquacious for some strange reasons. He was over the top as he went on and on about how Jonathan’s people had bought white uniforms known as Aso Ebi for hundreds of rented but gaily dressed women who thronged the airport to welcome the latest Messiah of Nigeria.The traffic was still a bit heavy as we approached the Murtala Mohammed Airport two, the only airport with a semblance of sanity in Nigeria."You will soon see Jonathan’s plane where it is parked Sir,"Mr Samuel said with a tinge of excitement. For the first time I was tempted to respond to my able driver’s tantrums."Which of his planes, the one bought by President Obasanjo a few years ago or one of the three brand new planes he recently ordered?,"I asked with a dash of sarcasm. Mr Samuel said he did not know, but in his view the plane looked very new. We soon drove past the Presidential wing, at snail-speed of course, and it afforded us the opportunity of seeing our own Nigeria Air Force One.The plane was neatly parked with a few officers obviously chatting away under the belly of the plane. We noticed the fearful presence of combat soldiers squatting under some shrubs that litter the fields close to the fence. They looked very menacing. And I wonder we often call out the soldiers in peace time and under a civilian administration. Anyway, let’s leave that to our security chiefs to worry about. I would be eternally glad if they can spare us the anguish of causing unnecessary traffic jams every time our rulers are flying and driving through our cities. True leaders are usually put on display for the citizens to see and treasure. Only despots are hidden behind bullet-proof showcases.At the entrance of the Presidential Wing, I noticed the rented women for the first time. Some even carried their children on their backs. And ready to embark on some audacious treks back home. We must salute the tenacity of our women, especially these long-suffering mothers. Mr Samuel explained some smart fellow must have been contracted to hire the women in droves. This made me very curious and I asked how much each of them s likely to take home after this nerve-wracking odyssey."Haa, Oga, each of them will make at least one one thousand,"he said matter-of-factly. I couldn’t believe my ears. How could all these wonderful women leave their homes under the scorching heat to end up earning one thousand Naira. I thought that was cruelty at its crudest. Who would put an end to this vicious manipulation of poor people? Why must we continue to subject our citizens to such despicable indignity? My brains were doing some somersaults as I engaged in this interior monologue, known in Literature as stream-of-consciousness.I now understood why our rulers believe so fervently that they would continue rig elections with impunity and get away with it. Can you really blame them when they have deliberate impoverished their fellow citizens in order to exploit their weaknesses. A weak man would most wondrously accept any insult from the strong man. On Thursday, I saw the ugly face of poverty. And the words of Moshoo Abiola freshly gushed back like a tornado:"It is only a man who has not experienced poverty who would glamorise it. There is nothing to glamorise in it because it is better seen than experienced."My heart bled for this able-bodied people who could have been gainfully employed with some measure of dignity but have been turned into the holoi poloi, the wretched of the Earth, according to Franz Fanon. I was deeply touched at their epic efforts at eking a living for themselves and their children. Their husbands would also be employed as thugs to create confusion as the polling stations. And they would gladly accept the filthy jobs out of necessity than absolute voluntariness. I concluded that Nigeria still needed loads of prayers. Nothing less would do. God would have to pity us and look down on us with mercy and compassion.As to President Jonathan’s mission in Lagos, that is another matter entirely. I’m sure you must have heard or read of the atrocious contracts being dished out of Abuja now with the rapidity of pop corns? Please, don’t be fooled. It has nothing to do with any genuine concern for rebuilding our dilapidated nation. According to usually impeccable sources, the prodigal sons and daughters are already looking for all the cash they can muster in readiness for the war they plan to unleash on the rest of us next year at the polls. Some powerful and lucrative Ministries are expected to perform what Fela had called"government magic."The politicians are desperately looking for avenues to award huge contracts and reap bountiful harvests from it. What is going on in Nigeria is incredible. I had been reliably informed that the Aviation Ministry was going to make some blistering announcements and days later the prediction came to pass. I was stunned beyond words when our Minister of Aviation actually got the nod from the Federal Executive Council for the approval of N7.9b (seven billion and nine hundred thousand naira) for the purchase of generators for the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos. Is it not disheartening that our government could commit such gargantuan resources to buying generators in these austere times, especially on an infrastructure that was already primed to be privatised.It should have been obvious to any serious government that the failure of our airports came as a result of such government interventions in the past. A cursory peep at all our airports would reveal an uncanny similarity and regularity of filth and squalor. Politicians, as presently constituted in Nigeria, can never run airports successfully. They are too uncouth, shameless and greedy to facilitate modern amenities and upgrade our airports to what we see in Hong Kong and South Africa.How could we conceptually expend so much money from our collapsed economy on such capital items that could be handled by the private sector as in the case of MM2. This would have freed government from this huge and unnecessary burden. It is such a monumental tragedy that our scarce resources are not only being wasted but being used recklessly by government functionaries to compete with and destroy the private sector. The scandalous nature of this careless spending comes to fore when one considers the fact that this same prodigiously wasteful government is making desperate moves to improve power supply in the nation through the private sector.In fact, President Jonathan was ostensibly in Lagos to address stakeholders’ meeting on the necessity to attract private sector participation in generating electricity in Nigeria. Yet, this same government had barely 24 hours earlier approved a stupendous expenditure in the power sector that could have been competently handled by the private sector. Is it not sad that as far back as 2005, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) had placed an advert in the papers titled INVITATION TO TENDER FOR THE PRODUCTION AND SUPPLY OF UNINTERRUPTED AND QUALITY ELECTRIC POWER TO THE MURTALA MOHAMMED AIRPORT COMPLEX, IKEJA LAGOS asking for investors to provide power for the same airport.According to insiders in the aviation sector, several companies responded to the proposal. One of the hottest proposals was the plan to install power-generating turbines at the time but nothing happened thereafter. That possibility has been practically defeated by the illiterate decision to buy generators for the airport at this time and age. At the rate our money is being thrown around by this government, we need to go on our knees and pray against bankruptcy. God save Nigeria  I ADD, AMEN!!