Change Is Dynamic: Let's Change This Government
Looking through the side window of the cab I boarded on my way to Ojuelegba in Lagos, tears began to drip down my eyes, not because of the wind that blew my eyes but the emotion that I felt knowing that the transport fare I will be paying for the taking a journey that is less than I hours.
Nigeria, my dearly beloved country, is so
blessed and rich in both natural resources and human development but we are the third capital of world poverty. What an irony!
A journey of less than one hour gulping almost $2 even though we have the natural resource for moving a car from one point to another. Crude oil from where a lot of petroleum products are extracted is our largest export and yet, the pump price of petroleum products is so high. This is Nigeria, my country.
Everything seemed wrong with our nation. Nothing is working. I would have loved to take every parastatal of the government and discuss them here but would there be a need for that? I have heard people say that there is no peace globally. Some have pointed out that governments of nations have forgotten the responsibility of care, welfare, security, employment, and all that is the characteristics of what purpose the government serves the citizens.
The first point of call is our electioneering process. I read some time ago that in an economy, there are different classes of people. That is for a nation that does not operate socialism though. A socialist state is otherwise known as a classless society where the national wealth is shared equally. This is not the same for a mixed economy of capitalist states.
The class created by the political class in a capitalist economy is popularly divided into three. At the bottom of the pyramid are the poor or peasants. In this group, the people can be subdivided into several classes. Some poor people can afford three square meals. While others can either can two or only one meal per day. Poor people are quite vulnerable. They do not necessarily have to be in this class but we're made to be there by the politicians who have made employment a benefit that these citizens ought to enjoy. Those who even get employed are not gainfully employed.
In the middle class are people who we may refer to as professionals. These are usually at the employment of the political class who now controls the economy of the nation. The engineers, lawyers, and other technocrats in different fields.
At the peak of the pyramid Is the elitist class. Few people have both economic and political power, controlling the middle and lower classes.
During the electioneering period, the peasants are bought with money and cajoled with sugar-coated words. Unfortunately, most of the lower class and middle class would end up selling their votes to the higher or elitist class who end up enslaving them the more.
This has been the Nigerian story. The rich keep getting richer to the detriment of the poor. This is unacceptable but who will bell the cat?
The other aspect that must be looked into is the area of corruption. For example, it has been recently discovered that the pipeline that transports crude oil from the source of extraction to the seaport where it would be sold off to nations whose cargo ships are already queuing up to be loaded, has been tapped at different points by some highly placed but corrupt individuals.
These people are getting wealthy by milking our collective treasury for personal aggrandizement.
I kept asking myself if humanity has lost its essence. The importance is there to improve living conditions, being the world with love and responsive ideas to solve socio-economic problems. The truth is that everyone in government or in the position of authority knows what to do to better the lot of the citizens but because of greed, everyone has turned deaf ears to what is important to be handled.
Our system is on the brink of collapse and yet some people think that governance is a thing that has to be handed over to them even if they do not have the propensity
lead this nation out from the grave pit it has fallen into.
My generation is clamoring for a change of government. One where there will be justice and equity and transparency. Where the power supply will not be a mirage, where the legislators will not be paid more than the academia. Where there will be food for all and social benefits for the unemployed. One where job opportunities will be opened to all on a merit basis and not who you know. This is the nation we all desire and in the forthcoming elections, we are ready to use our voting powers to put in who will give us that desire.
