Bridging the Gap Between the Rich and the Poor

By

Yakubu Muhammad

ymrigasa@gmail.com  

The fact that Nigeria is the sixth richest oil producer in the world is a  good and at the same time a bad news to majority of Nigerians. It's good because it sends out a positive image of the country to the outside world to a point that its citizens are globally viewed and unknowingly rated as moderately rich especially now that among them is the richest African and the world's 304th richest man in the person of Alhaji Aliko Dangote.The bad side of the news is the real position of Nigerians' economic status notwithstanding the oil boom. It's indeed painful when you are introvertly suffering but extroverty considered lucky for having something you hardly benefit from.

Treading the line of history, Nigerians were economically better-off before the discovery of oil. It's said that our people were more vibrant, hard-working, self-reliant and productive, while the leaders then were more considerate, God-fearing, just, helpful and patriotic.

Both the rulers and the ruled played their respective roles very well so that life was made meaningful and fruitful. Things, however, began to change with the discovery of oil and the subsequent advent of its wealth. Government turned its direction towards the newly dicoverered national gift while people soft-pedalled in their endeavours turning their whole attention to the oil wealth. This attitude has created disturbing social and economic problems for the country widening the already existing economic gap and social imbalance between the ruling class and the rich on one hand, and the common masses on the other.

Now the country as an entity is getting richer while its larger population is getting poorer in spite of the boost in our daily oil production coupled with its record high price in world market. All sectors of the economy have been badly hit by government's neglect owing to the fact that members of the ruling class and the rich no  

longer require the services of such dilapidated insitutions because they have a better alternative.

The educational sector, for instance, can only boast of having in large number squanderers of itrs resources. School buildings and other structures are left unrepaired and without the necessary equipments required for their successful operations. Teachers especially of primary and secondary schools are underpaid. Their monthly salary cannot suffice them to even cater for their basic needs for a period of ten days without having to incur debt upon themselves. Those of them with family burden have to resort to minor and sometimes risky ventures like operating commercial motorcycles (achaba) in their effort to make ends meet. The students on their part hardly attend their classes due to lack of enough teachers. They, therefore, render the school premises playing grounds to while away their learning periods. In such circumstances, it becomes irrational for one to expect any qualitative education from such schools.

Similar or even more dire problems are obtainable in the health sector. Hospitals have become mere consulting centres where if the patient is lucky to see the doctor, the doctor prescribes medication for the patient to go elsewhere and look for the drugs to buy at exorbitant prices because of their inavailability in our hospitals. No matter how critical the condition of a patient, he'd have to join a long queue in order to see the doctor only for an appointment on the date for the start of his operation despite the expected consequences that he may die before the date. On the other hand, the well-to-do fly out of the country just for a routine of their medical check-ups.

Even the environment has been segregated between classes of Nigerian populace. While the well-to-do live comfortably at GRAs with full services of water and power supplies, the less previledged dwell in ghetto areas under disgusting unhiegenic condition with no safe drinking water or light to illuminate their bedrooms at night.

What Nigeria needs to address all these problems is no more than a good leadership. People who are pious, just, patriotic and trustworthy should lead the affairs of the country. Our current leaders only attend organised symposia and fora annually to deliver lengthy lectures on the virtues and good leadership qualities of our past national heroes without having an iota of wish to be like them in terms of  simplicity, morality, love for the country and the common people, true observance of the rule of law and due process, judicious use of national resources for the overall benefit of the citizenry and lack of greed and avarice.

Nigeria is said to be worth a whopping sum over 60 billion dollars in foreign reserve. No time in history has the country become so stupendously rich and its people so magnanimously poor. People of other oil producing countries enjoy the benefits accrued from any slight hike in the price of oil at world market, while Nigerians pay dearly for epileptic services of government parastatals. One could recall a time during the previous administration when Kuwaitis were individually given S500 each as a gift by their government due to hike of the oil price in global market, while back home here our government was increasing domestic prices of petroleum products for the seventh time and maybe for the same reason.

If not for the technological advancement that consricts the world into a global village and so information about any country becomes rapidly available at the click of a button, foreigners living outside the shores of the country wouldn't believe the fact that most Nigerians are living below poverty line. Indentifiable factors serving as a hindrance to Nigerians' economic progress include corruption, nepotism, political godfatherism, brutal system of  capitalism and government's insensitivity to the woes of the people.

To alleviate the harsh economic hardship of Nigerians, government should sincerely and seriously enforce its policy of zero tolerance on corruption paving the way to legal prosecution of corrupt officials no matter how highly placed. Unless government turns blind eyes in dealing with its corrupt officials, corruption as the bane of progress will continue to persist.