IT IS ALL ABOUT 1000 NIGERIANS AS AGAINST 200 ,000,000 NIGERIANS ~ D. H Eluke
As a sort of introduction , I want to begin this episode by making some clarifications on the figures used on my title or topic. They are wholly symbolic and ought to be understood from that light . The 1000 represent the greedy , hypocritical , heinous and devilish few who occupy different political offices as either Presidents , Vice Presidents ,Ministers , National Assembly members , Governors, Deputy Governors , Commissioners , State Assembly members , Council Chairmen , Vice Chairmen ,Secretaries ,Justices of both Supreme and Appeal Courts , Judges and Magistrates and all other senior members of the top echelon in private and public businesses in Nigeria . It is instructive to note that all the senior officers in our military formations and other services fall under this cadre . Besides , the management , and governing councils of all tertiary institutions are not left out in this demonic league . All these people must allow the over 200,000,000 Nigerians to breathe !
However , the 200,000,000 represent the poorest of the poor, the poverty stricken , the downtrodden , the widows ,the orphans , widowers , the low income earners , the suffocating middle class , illiterate and unskilled populace , pensioners , and the hapless and helpless aged population and children . In all, the less privileged class in the society. These people remain the victims of the actions and inactions of the " nouveau riche" mentioned above. They eat from the crumbs which fall from the stable tables and staple meals of the overlords . They seem to have accepted their fate that nature and the designer of the Universe made it so for them . This erroneous perception is very far from the truth .
Sometime ago, a former governor of Rivers State and incumbent minister of Federal Capital Territory ( FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike, during the official inauguration of Port Harcourt Campus of the Nigerian Law School , Rivers State , had made a stunning and mind-blowing revelations that former President Muhammadu Buhari ( PMB) must be commended for paying off all the backlog of 13% oil derivation funds owed Niger Delta States from 1999 to date . A former Attorney General and Minister of Justice , Mallam Malami represented PMB. This revelation by a loquacious Wike took his class by surprise especially the PDPGF members . Since then till date , nobody , not even ,Civil Society Organisations , Labour Unions and other pressure groups had bothered to engage the governors to actually ascertain how much was paid and how they intended to expend such humongous amount of money . How did they use such monies for the betterment or welfare of the masses ? Your guess is as good as mine !
Again, during the hard biting end of subsidy removal and covid 19 , palliatives meant for the downtrodden were hoarded by some state governors and later used as festive packs for their gullible and very infinitesimal number of hungry and angry party " fatefools". They cornered all that and nobody engaged them to account for all these . Furthermore , there was another revelation of how national assembly members were given some palliatives for their constituents . Where are they ?
There is a rise in the increase of every other thing in Nigeria except the poor workers' wages . States and Local Governments get more money from FAAC monthly but none has bothered to pay off the backlog of salaries , arrears , gratuities , pensions and other entitlements of the downtrodden and ex- service men. Rather , the demons would choose to spend all these monies on frivolities . No proper funding of the education sector, poor funding of the health sector , decayed physical infrastructures , insecurity and banditry , cultism and other social vices topping the league of our malifeasance . Just recently , in the wake of the new " high- ness"in the country, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ( PBAT) had graciously announced another new wage of #35000 and directed the state governors to implement forthwith . But before now , it is instructive to note that the old living wage of #30000 was not implemented by more than 26 states of the federation . The #30000 was approved and legislated by the PMB administration . Which way ,Naija?
In the services , members of the top echelon conspire , collude and shortchange their foot soldiers on their operational benefits and entitlements . This is a common phenomenon in virtually all the services in Nigeria . Our police barracks , military barracks and domiciles of other services are better described as uninhabitable or hellish in nature . Indeed , a sight not to behold . The low ranks suffer more because they belong to the two hundred million club.
In the tertiary institutions , academics and other staff work out their skins without any commensurate pay package . They get promotions but none of such is reflected in their salaries . Allowances and research grants are not paid . Which way forward ?
It is most worrisome that our soil is arable for agro- based businesses but hunger has ravaged citizens of this country. We have poor citizens of a rich country ! Anger and hunger written boldly on faces of over two hundred million Nigerians while about a thousand are overjoyed , overfed and smiling .
In conclusion therefore , the Crux of this write up is that Nigerians must wake up earlier enough to identify and know their real enemies . Let all the poor citizens unite to upstage the overlords . The irony is that the overlords love and protect themselves while the poor hate and kill themselves in defence of their overlord masters or paymasters . Nigerians can only take back their country when the poor understand their powers and use such during elections to effect changes in leadership .THE POOR MUST BREATHE !!!
Ihuala Omerelu Shrine
Elu Kingdom
22-02-2024
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