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18 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2022
LAGOS is not just a state and the
former Federal Capital Territory, it is
also the economic melting pot of
Nigeria. It is home for all Nigerians as
well as foreign nationals.
Every part of the country deserves to
be secured, no doubt. But the security
of Lagos and the Federal Capital
Territory, Abuja, is of particular
significance because they are the despite the laws prohibiting open
nation’s final frontiers. If insecurity grazing of livestock, nomadic
overwhelms these two cities, the herdsmen and their animals still occupy
perception of Nigeria’s state failure will the forests and farmlands adjoining
be complete. This must not be allowed Lagos and its immediate neighbouring
to happen.
states of Ogun and Oyo, through which
Fortunately, the threat of a terrorist the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway runs.
attack in Lagos has not materialized, at Moreover, the Long Bridge, linking
least not officially. Nigerians of all Arepo in Ogun State and Isheri in Lagos
ethno-religious and regional State, is home to thousands of
backgrounds have been cohabiting in undocumented migrants from within
relative harmony. But enough strategic and beyond the territorial precincts of
steps have not been taken to make the nation.
absolutely sure that evil elements do When people with no fixed addresses
not succeed in rupturing the peace and or identities are allowed to occupy the
security of the city-state.
forests and live under bridges, such
Like in most parts of the country, and places, right in the heart of our
Bandits at Lagos’s door
economic capital, become ungoverned
spaces. There is no way of preventing
sleeper cells of terrorists, bandits,
kidnappers, ritualists, drug merchants,
and other heinous criminals from
hibernating among them.“It was only
a matter of time before the terrorism,
banditry, and kidnapping that have been
sweeping the North, especially the
Abuja-Kaduna Expressway, descended
on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the
nation’s number one transportation
corridor.
To tackle terrorism, banditry,
herdsmen’s militant attacks, and
kidnapping, we must start by
discouraging nomadism. It may be
some people’s "culture,", but it is pitting
armed strangers against indigenous
landowners. Everywhere nomads
occupy in Nigeria is an ungoverned
space because these people and
government machinery are unknown
to each other.
Indigenous nomads should be settled
in ranches in their states of origin.
Anyone who wants to do livestock
business outside his state of origin is
free to do so under the usual terms of
doing any other business. Allowing
migrants to settle without having a fixed
address is playing with fire.
The police can continue "beefing up
security." Vigilantes like the Oodua
People’s Congress (OPC), the
Amotekun Corps, hunters, and others
can routinely organize to comb the
forests. These are mere palliatives.
Unless we integrate the bush- and
underbridge-dwelling strangers into
the full purview of governance,
innocent citizens will remain exposed
to the insecurity they breed.
YESTERDAY, the National
Bureau of Statistics, NBS,
released the result of a survey
which it conducted, with the result
that no less than 63 percent of
Nigerians are poor as at 2022.
Using a population figure of 200
million, that is about 126 million
of our fellow compatriots
statistically determined to be poor.
The NBS survey, contained in a
report titled: "The National
Multidimensional Poverty Index,
MPI, Survey Results for 2022,"
also showed that 67.5 percent of
children within the ages of 0–17
years are poor. That is interesting,
given that the survey is now
drawing attention to child
poverty, which is a phenomenon
that has been staring our
politicians in the face ever since I
could read and write.
At the launch of the NBS survey
report in Abuja, yesterday,
President Muhammadu Buhari,
represented by his Chief of Staff,
Professor Ibrahim Gambari,
reaffirmed the nation’s
commitment to eradicating
poverty, which was in line with the
Sustainable Development Goal,
SDG.
His words: "I reaffirm our
commitment to the first goal of
the SDG, which is eradicating
poverty in all its dimensions. This
government recognises the
importance of the data and the
need to deploy it in sharing your
story with a broad spectrum of
stakeholders, both domestically
and internationally. It is my hope
that with the report being
launched today, every stakeholder
Again, the national poverty
conundrum
will rise to the challenge.
Providing needed political
leadership, strategic vision, and
creative hard work to move the
needle towards eradicating
extreme poverty in Nigeria." This
is where I generate issues with our
politicians. For a long time, we
have been fed rhetoric of this
nature on countless occasions.
Just words all the time, while the
situation continues to worsen,
exponentially, if I can say so. In
fact, one leader, in the 90s,
promised ‘Health for All by Year
2000’, and ‘Housing for All by
Year 2000’, among other
promises.
The magical year 2000 came
and went, by which time the
situation in the health and
housing sectors had worsened
considerably. Twenty two years
later, we cannot even begin to talk
of challenges in the housing
sector, where a deficit of nearly
20 million housing units is said
to exist. In the health sector, the
situation is best explained by our
president, who once spent a record
103 days in London for medicals.
Only recently, he went back and
spent another two weeks.
Shame.“The question for me is:
"After identifying these problems,
what concrete, verifiable actions
have been taken to solve them?
Daily, we hear of humongous
What happened to
Buhari’s rice revolution?
I remember the
pyramids showcased
several months ago;
what happened? Why
should rice cost more
than N10,000?
figures announced by people,
which they claim to have spent on
one poverty alleviation initiative
or the other. There are no results,
and poverty is deepening, and the
situation is worsening. In deed
and without words in evidence, the
power elite stand accused of
deepening poverty by refusing to
do what it takes to reduce poverty.
Take the strike action of a
fortnight ago by commercial
drivers in Lagos. Deep down, the
strike is a rebellion against
deepening poverty in the
transportation sector, where
politicians looked on and
permitted the creation,
operation, and perpetuation of
one of the most ruthless extortion
systems ever devised by man on
this planet.
That is why Buhari's
exhortations at the launch of the
NBS Poverty Survey should be
taken with a pinch of salt, if at
all. No action will be
taken.“Cleverly, as politicians go
about campaigning, there is very
little talk about food poverty.
Those of the ruling party are not
talking about it for obvious
reasons, while those of the
opposition parties are circling
around the issue lest the
instruments and agencies of
incumbency come against them.
But the reality is with all of us.
With a sachet of ‘pure water’
now selling at N20, up from N5
seven years ago, and a bag of rice
at nearly N45,000, up from
N6,000 seven years ago too, food
poverty, or famine if you like, is
here. So, what happened to
Buhari’s rice revolution? I
remember the pyramids
showcased several months ago.
What happened? Why should rice
cost more than N10,000? Who
didn’t do what? What happened
to him or her? Remember the
amount of money said to have
been spent on feeding
schoolchildren? During the
pandemic lockdown? Or the
billions spent training fewer than
500 youths on phone repairs?
Still on the poverty issue, let me
warn us that we should expect
more rhetoric from our new
leaders at the end of this
transition. This is because very
few people in the civil service and
the public service don’t do their
work. Many just go to their airconditioned
offices, scratch a few
files with their felt-tipped gold
pens, attend one or two meetings,
and close for the day. I urge them
to emulate their Chinese
counterparts. One of the reasons
for the success of China’s statesponsored
capitalism beyond its
borders is its committed civil
service, which tracks funds
allocated for foreign enterprise
worldwide and ensures
beneficiaries remain
accountable.
We must change. It is easy to
blame our leaders, but the
followership is no better. I remain
unshaken in my belief that right
now, Nigerians do not want a good
country that works for all. They,
me, and you are only interested
in extracting as much as we can
from the Nigerian system,
building houses here, owning
homes abroad, and flaunting our
wealth in front of others who can't
see a way to the national
exchequer. That must change. If
it does not, we are doomed, and
poverty will continue to worsen.