Wasted lives in Nigeria

By Clement Udegbe

THE Children of Nigeria are among the many in developing nations that have a bleak or even no future judging by what our leaders are doing in the nation.

A friend asked why the comments about Nigeria, and her deliberate refusal to move, why spoil your joy? But it is necessary to see good triumph over evil. An Igbo proverb says that it is evil when the goat delivers its new born under the tether, when an Elder is  at  home.

We have to keep talking, and speaking till we  have  what  we desire, till real change comes, till the rich and powerful turn their hearts to God, and fear Him in this nation.

For Christians, Jesus says that whatever we do for the Children, and the poor we do for Him. Problem is that we insist on running a nation with two religions and it is not working! While Christians think and strive to help the poor and down trodden to fit into the world Jesus wills for us, our brothers in the north do not really border. They have Almajiris.

They love to accumulate the money and have their poor beg and queue for food, in shameful raiments.

President Goodluck Jonathan who built more schools for Almajiris, than any president in Nigeria since independence was booted out by the same north. Their clear message was “leave us the way we are, go away with your education for the poor!” And so Nigeria continues  to build and nurture wasted lives.

In Southern Kaduna where Christianity has worked to send more Children to school than most other areas in the north, they recently descended on them and killed over 800 persons, burnt over 1400 houses, inflicting poverty and lack on the children.

No one was arrested, thanks to herdsmen, the foot soldiers of Islamisation of Nigeria.

I weep for the wasted lives of Nigeria. I cry for wasted youth of the  8th largest oil exporting nation of the world.  I cry for a nation that never blinks when her youth in the South East are killed, and in the oil producing South South, for whatever reasons. Children whom we have given nothing are shot at always!

Robert Nestor Marley, the late reggae maestro sang that in the abundance of water the fool is thirsty. I do not mean and will never say  that my Country is a foolish nation. God Forbid!

However, here is the list of income from oil exports in the world this year; Saudi Arabia-US$136.2 billion (20.1% of total crude oil exports), Russia-$73.7 billion (10.9%),Iraq-$46.3 billion (6.8%),Canada- $39.5 billion (5.8%), United Arab Emirates – $38.9 billion (5.7%), Kuwait -$30.7 billion (4.5%),Iran- $29.1 billion (4.3%),and Nigeria, $27 billion (4%). In spite of this wealth, an estimated 52 per cent of children in Nigeria, Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia and Pakistan are stunted, wasted or both while a minority grow up with adequate nutrition.

According to the latest edition of The Global Nutrition Report 2016, published recently; To combat malnutrition, in Nigeria, over N200.3 billion ($937 million) investment is needed, which would save 290,000 lives, and avert three million cases of stunting a year. Our Federal Ministry of health says  “Malnutrition results in impaired cognitive development  in children, which goes on to have a bearing on their entire life chances and opportunities. It takes a village to raise a child, so it is our responsibility as a community and a country to bring an end to malnutrition by supporting adequate and sufficient nutrition. By doing this we secure not just the future of our children, but also that of our country.” Why then do we have Almajiris in the north if this is so for all parts of our great nation?

Nigeria is blessed with abundance of water from heaven as rain, in the oceans, rivers and their tributaries. But According to Wilkipedia, in 2015, 67% of the total population had access to “at least basic water supply”. This was 82% of the urban population and 54% of the rural population.

In 2015, about 60 million people lacked access to “at least basic” water. As for sanitation, only 33% of the total population had access to “at least basic” sanitation.

This was 39% of the urban population and 27% of the rural population. Approximately 122 million people still lacked access to “at least basic” sanitation.

In urban areas, access to standpipes substituted to a large extent to piped water access.

Adequate sanitation is typically in the form of septic tanks, as there is no central sewerage system, except for some areas of Abuja and Lagos. There is no record of central sewer system anywhere in the South East. Lagos planned to increase the number of waste water treatment plants, but even the change seem to have chained that too.

In Festac Town where I am familiar with, we had water works that supplied water but all that stopped since 1993, destroyed by the military management style. Politicians have not been able to overcome that challenge, while lack of potable water continues to waste lives.

During the 2014 presidential elections, Governor Babatunde Fashola as he then was, told his listeners on prime television that electricity production and distribution does not require rocket science. He has remained the Minister in charge of power, and darkness has reigned more in Nigerian homes than ever before. 56 % of urban Nigeria and less than 34 % of rural Nigeria has access to electricity. When these reports say access to electricity, they saw poles of electric and wires around the place, but the fact remains that like in my v illage in Orlu LGA, Imo state, we have poles and even transformers, that have not carried electricity for over two years since All Progressives Confress, APC,  came to power!

Electricity generation and distribution is one area foreign direct investments can help, but who will invest to produce electricity that will be delivered to a national distribution system that will not pay for power supplied.

The system has become so corrupt, that bills continue to rise in villages that have seen no electricity for years! Wasted lives!!

 

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