Here's
his article culled from News Rescue
He
Just outside President Goodluck Jonathan's office sat 17 ambulances, just in case he or one of his aides fell ill. They
were seldom if ever used.
No
actual health-care facility nationwide had as many, and in fact a few still
have none at all. But as soon as a Nigerian newspaper took a photo of the
ambulances and published a story about them, they suddenly disappeared —
probably to an underground garage.
Jonathan
is president of Nigeria, which should be among the world’s most prosperous
nations. After all, it produces an estimated 2.4 million barrels of oil each
and every day. With oil now selling at $93.61 a barrel, that’s $224 million in
income daily. And yet many hospitals can’t afford to buy an ambulance. The
reason, in my view: Nigeria is the most corrupt nation on earth.
Sure,
Transparency International lists almost three dozen states as more corrupt —
Chad, Haiti, Laos, Yemen, Cambodia and the like. But are any of those nations
as wealthy as Nigeria — taking in $81 billion annually, just from the sale of
oil? No, not even one of them. So Nigeria steals and squanders more money than
any other nation, making it the world’s most corrupt, by that measure.
You
should continue it get's interesting
Nigerian
journalist Musikilu Mojeed finds all this so discouraging.
“With its
geopolitical power, economic resources and middle class,” he laments, “no
country (with the possible exception of Saudi Arabia and Egypt) has the power
to change the course of black/African civilization like Nigeria.” After all,
Nigeria is Africa’s most populous state — and large, twice the size of
California.
So
Nigerians are living an opportunity squandered — particularly now. Egypt is in
turmoil. In just the last few days, in fact, many Egyptians have been calling
for a military coup — anything to rid the state of its widely despised Muslim
Brotherhood government. And a new report by the World Economic Forum ranked
Egypt the least safe and secure tourist destination among 140 tourist nations
evaluated.
Egypt has
lost its place as the Arab/African worlds’ leader, and Saudi Arabia never had
it. So for Nigeria, the time is ripe. But its leaders seem interested only in
stealing the state’s money to make themselves rich beyond imaging. Think about
it: $81 billion a year just from the oil, while most every local government
official still tells his people the nation just doesn’t have enough money to
fix the roads, schools or hospitals. (Roads are in such terrible shape that
government officials generally travel any distance by helicopter.)
And
Nigeria’s people — well, they are as mistreated as any on earth. In only nine
nations — among them Liberia, Sierra Leone and Somalia — do more mothers die
during childbirth. And in only 10 states, including Chad, Afghanistan and
Zimbabwe, is the average life expectancy lower. Right now the average
Nigerian’s average life span ends at 52. That may be why the median age of
Nigerians is just 18.
A few
months ago, the Economist Intelligence Unit published an evaluation of the best
places for babies to born in 2013, given their probable welfare as children and
the chance for a safe, comfortable, prosperous life. Switzerland, Australia and
Norway were the top three. The United States came in at 16th, largely because
“babies will inherit the large debts of the boomer generation.”
Dead last:
Nigeria. “It is the worst place for a baby to enter the world in 2013,” the
report said.
Even with
all that wealth, only just over half the population has access to clean
drinking water, and one-third to a toilet, UNICEF says. Two-thirds live below
the poverty line. Only one child in four who contracts pneumonia is given
antibiotics, and only about half the population is literate.
The CIA
also cites endemic “soil degradation; rapid deforestation; urban air and water
pollution.” All this in a county whose gross domestic product stands at $236
billion a year, in the same league as Denmark, Chile, Israel and the United
Arab Emirates — prosperous, successful states to be envied.
Goodluck
Jonathan is certainly aware of all of this. After all, taking the oath of
office, he swore to “devote myself to the service and well-being of the people
of Nigeria. So help me God.”
Well, just
last week he demonstrated who he really is and what he stands for when he
pardoned a former state governor who’d been convicted of embezzling state funds
and laundering the money.
That
pardon triggered a broad, angry uproar.
Good luck,
Mr. Jonathan. It’s time you were impeached.
What say ye my people? Cos na true this guy talk! *smh*
What say ye my people? Cos na true this guy talk! *smh*
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