Patriotic Thoughts: Central Line With West-Idahosa

There is indeed racism in the world, but Nigerian ethnic and religious segregation is probably worse than any racist society.

Here, some ethnic and religious groups occupy 90% of positions in key government sectors without the requisite know-how to move our country forward. This is prevalent across the country.

The poverty circle continues to expand daily. About 133 million people live in extreme multidimensional poverty using $2.5 per day as the living standard.

At $5 per day, 90% of the population lives in extreme poverty. There is no consensus about lifting people out of poverty by the so-called political class except for the bogus campaign sloganeering often heard before elections about how honey would flow on the streets.

Ethnic domination in Nigeria continues to foster insecurity as people are killed around the nation, including farmlands. The short and long-term effect is food insecurity leading to a chronic increase in food prices beyond the reach of nearly all.

There is so much infrastructure deficit in the country, and Nyesom Wike, whatever his shortcomings, MUST be commended for trying to begin a rebirth of infrastructural development.

Our nepotistic management of national resources has rendered our nation so broke that the Government cannot pay for its services. It is now borrowing from pillar to post to fund unpatriotic budget padding, which often catapults public resources into private pockets.

Regrettably, many businessmen have quit their businesses to engage in politics, which seems to be the only lucrative sector in the country. Some others are busy setting up places of worship all over the country to exploit our helpless majority, who now look up to divine intervention to solve the country’s myriad of man-made problems.

We have a very corrupt and inefficient public service fired by ethnic and religious colouration. The irony is that the so-called elite supporters are gradually beginning to cry like most ordinary people.

We all now know the overall cost of essential goods and services in this clime. The racist societies so talked about are on top of the ladder of prosperity despite the colour of those who inhabit them.

Imagine the number of elected and appointed Nigerians in the Governments of these countries and how they get the opportunities to contribute to uplifting such societies.

How many persons in Nigeria from one state are allowed to hold the office of a councillor in another state within the same country despite their birth in such constituencies? We have so much work to do. 2023 allows us to reset, or Nigerians will continue to “Japa” out of the hell we have primitively created for ourselves.