Nigeria: To be or not to be?

For the sake of objectivity, all I need from you now is an OPEN MIND, no more, no less. I can convince you only if you want to be convinced. And, in order for me to convince you, it is of utmost importance for you not to just be open minded, but receptive to the information that I am about to present to you. This is the minimum requirement or prerequisite in order for you to get the maximum value from this article.

Before reading further, may I please ask you to write on a sheet of paper 5 things that you want for yourself, your family and ethnic group. If properly done, your wish list should contain 15 items or wishes. The wishes in each group or category may be the same. I want to remind you that this article is very important for our discussion and analysis. Thank you for your understanding and co-operation.

IS THIS THE NIGERIA THAT YOU WANT? IS THIS THE NIGERIA OF YOUR DREAM?

The next exercise in our analysis is to answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to all the following questions below. Don’t just read and answer Yes or No quickly to the questions, pause over each question and try to think it over. Try to ask yourself why I have asked you this question. What is the motive? Doing that will give you a better understanding of the implication of each question. Please do not skip any of the questions. Some of the questions may resemble, but in actual fact they are different. Yes I understand that they are too many. I simply can’t help it. Since we are dealing with a very important issue, we just can’t afford to leave any stone unturned. In order to bring ALL the pieces together to form a complete and ‘meaningful picture’ in your brain, we are compelled to carry out a ‘thorough analysis.’ All the questions are mandatory and very important for our analysis. Finally, I also want to remind you, in case you have forgotten, or don’t know, that the key to good analysis is not only in asking ‘the right’ questions, but providing or getting correct and unbiased and answers to them. Thank you again for your understanding and co-operation. So, here we go.

ARE YOU contented? YES OR NO?

1. Are you contented being ruled by incompetent, corrupt, visionless and morally bankrupt leaders? (Yes or No)

2. Do you think that it is fair to be passed over for a candidate that is much less qualified than you because he is from another ethnic group?

3. Are you in support of QUOTA SYSTEM which allows mediocres to occupy public posts despite the fact that there are much better candidates?

4. Are you ready to dash out 95% of your life earnings to strangers?

5. Do you agree to be paid just 5% of your life earnings without any cogent reason or justification?

6. Are you contented with the fact that the leading candidates in the last

presidential election were Buhari, Atiku and Yaradua?

7. Are you contented living without regular supply of water despite the fact that Nigeria has some of the highest number of rivers in the world?

8. Are you contented living without regular power supply despite the fact that Nigeria is situated right at the equator and blessed with abundance of gas?

9. Are you contented with the fact that your land is being polluted my multinational oil companies without any repercussions?

10. Are you contented with the fact that the fish in your rivers are disappearing fast and already inedible because of pollution of your rivers by multinational oil companies?

11. Are you contented with the fact multinational oil companies pay Nigeria just 5% for drilling Nigeria‘s oil?

12. Are you contented with the fact that multinational oil companies and other foreign companies operating in Nigeria use different tax schemes, including offshore taxation to avoid paying Nigeria billions of dollars in taxes?

13. Are you contented with the fact that multinational oil companies import cooks, technicians, etc, to work in Nigeria despite the fact that the unemployment rate in Nigeria is very high?

14. Do you want Nigeria to continue to be ruled by incompetent retired military officers or/and mediocre civilian presidents?

15. Are you contented with the fact that Nigeria has been ruled practically by people with military background?

16. Are you contented with the fact that Buhari, one of the 3 leading candidates in the last presidential election, overthrew Shehu Shagari, a democratically elected civilian president in 1983?

17. Are you contented with the fact Nigeria has been ruled since independence practically by northerners despite the fact there are many regions and ethnic groups in Nigeria?

18. Are you contented with the fact that power has been monopolised since independence practically by the north?

19. Are you contented living with Nigeria‘s fraudulent Constitution that deprives bonafide owners the right to the use of their land, mineral and human resources, first and foremost, for their own development?

20. Are you contented with the fact that the Senate president of Nigeria is a corrupt retired military officer despite the fact that |Nigeria is blessed with some of the best lawyers, with impeccable reputation, in the world?

21. Are you contented with the fact that Nigeria uses QUOTA SYSTEM or ROTATION to choose her president, ministers, ambassadors, diplomats, news casters, scholarship students, directors of government parastals?

22. Are you contented with the way the last presidential election was conducted?

23. Are you contented with the fact that Yaradua squandered millions of naira by flying to Germany to treat ordinary catarrh?

24. Are you contented with the fact that foreigners are predominantly employed by multinational oil companies despite the fact that there are many Nigerians who have all the necessary qualifications to do the same job, and the unemployment rate in the country is very high?

25. Are you contented with the fact that the probability of your ethnic group producing the president is infinitesimal or practically equal to zero despite the fact that you have more than enough people who are more than capable?

26. Are you contented with the fact that Nigerians live on less than $1 a day despite the abundance of mineral resources?

27. Are you contented with the fact that Buhari, one of the leading candidates in the last presidential election ignored the invitation of the Oputa panel to testify before it?

28. Are you contented with the fact that Nigeria built a refinery in Kaduna, located almost at the edge of the country, while the oil field wells are located in the Niger delta, the opposite end of the country?

29. Are you contented with the fact that the major sectors of Nigeria‘s economy are dominated by mediocre foreign nationals despite the fact that Nigeria is blessed with some of the best brains in the world?

30. Are you contented with the fact that you pay exhorbitant price for petroleum, even more than countries without oil, despite the fact that Nigeria is ranked as the 6th largest exporter of crude oil in the world?

31. Are you contented with the fact that there is no adequate health care program for you and your family despite the fact that Nigeria has made hundreds of billions of dollars from oil?

32. Are you contented with the fact that Atiku, one of the 3 leading candidates in the last presidential election, has his background from the customs, which is considered as the second most corrupt government institution in Nigeria?

33. Are you contented with the fact that Atiku, one of the 3 leading candidates in the last presidential election, was allowed to stand for election despite the fact that he was publicly accused by his boss, Obasanjo, of corruption, and the country as a whole believes that he is corrupt?

34. Are you contented with the fact that Buhari, one of the leading candidates, in the last presidential election, has his background from the military, which is regarded as the most incompetent, corrupt, visionless and morally bankrupt government institution?

35. Are you contented with the fact that there is no adequate pension programme for you and your family?

36. Are you contented with the fact that Nigeria has 35-39 ministers despite the fact that China, the most populated country in the world; Russia, the largest country in the world by land mass, the United States with the largest economy in the world run their respective economies much more effectively with much less number of ministers?

37. Are you contented with the fact that the average life span in Nigeria is a shocking 42.2 years despite the fact that it has made hundred of billions of dollars from oil?

38. Are you contented with the fact that Nigeria does not have a single internationally acclaimed indigenous company?

39. Are you contented with the fact that Nigeria does not have a single functioning infrastructure despite the hundreds of billions of dollars made from oil?

40. Are you contented with the fact that Nigeria has not thought it fit to make provisions for you to vote wherever you may be outside Nigeria, as other semocratic countries have done for their citizens?

41. Are you contented with the history of Nigeria so far?

42. Are you contented with the fact that hundreds of thousands of Nigerians die every year from curable diseases because the Nigerian government has not invested in health care programmes?

43. Are you contented with the fact that thousands of highly qualified Nigerian medical personnel were compelled to leave Nigeria because the government has ruined the economy, and abandoned them to their faith?

44. Are you contented to be living abroad and developing the economies of other countries?