FEATURE ARTICLE

Temple Chima UbochiSunday, December 17, 2017
[email protected]
Bonn, Germany

MAY BE, WE HAVE BEEN EXPECTING A LOT FROM DUNCES (CONCLUSION)

Continued from Part 1

Small business is engine of job creation (Sam Graves)

the greatest job creation is driven by entrepreneurs and young businesses, so they merit special attention (Elaine Chao)

Unemployment, foreclosures, bankruptcy - the cure is not more government spending, but helping businesses create jobs (Brian Sandoval)

A job is the best cure for poverty, and that's why economic development and job creation has been my principle focus. (Luther Strange)

his government doesn't know why it's there, or else Saraki will not make such careless utterances. The problem is that we elected dunces while expecting the best from them. Someone will not give what he or she doesn't have. Saraki was appointed by the former president Olusegun Obasanjo as his special assistant on budget issues in 2000; he was a governor for eight years, from 2003 till 2011; and now he leads a Senate that is a cesspool of corruption - a congregation of thieves who are taking fat salaries and allowances without doing anything tangible for Nigeria or their constituents who are "swimming" in penury. Buhari, himself, is doing nothing for Nigerians except planning on how to remain in power in 2019. For him, that's the only thing that matters, as everything else has been relegated to the back burner.

Nigerians should blame themselves for what they're going through. Nigeria's future is bleak; while the youth are suffering, they're making no move to hold the government responsible for their plight, rather they're more interested in Chelsea, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United football clubs and the outcome of their matches, than in what's going on in their own country. I weep for Nigeria when I see the youth, who should be demanding the best from the government, being so unconcerned, unconnected and only interested in matches of football clubs in foreign countries. They can even kill each other for it. Let me see if those foreign clubs will give any of them job. The government is happy when the youth are distracted, and that's why the matches will be beamed continuously to serve as opium for the youth of Nigeria.

The fact is that there's no government or any sign of a government in Nigeria, in the real sense of it - all one sees is a lull in governmental activities - and the one claiming to be the government is only breeding hardship instead of alleviating it. A point Balarabe Musa also made when he said that the APC Nigerians voted for is offering only hardship to them. On December 12, The Vanguard reported that the former governor of old Kaduna State and National Chairman of Peoples Redemption Party, PRP, Alhaji Musa, said that All Progressive Congress, APC, rode to power on the back of false and empty promises. Speaking at the 54th National Executive Committee of the party in Kaduna, on December 11, Balarabe Musa said APC has not given Nigerians anything but hardship in its three years in power with none of the promises made by the party in 2015 being fulfilled. According to him, the economy, which was one of the main campaign issues of APC, has remained comatose, unemployment has assumed critical proportions, insecurity among other issues have become life threatening and worrisome. His words:

"As you are all aware, our nation today remains in a very sorry state despite all the lofty promises and flowery speeches made by the ruling government of All Progressive Congress, APC, at the inception of the administration in 2015. The economy remains comatose, and in some sectors, particularly in industry and commerce, it is even getting worse. Monetary and fiscal management has continued to lack coherence and consistency, or even predictability and strategic planning. Unemployment, particularly among the youths, who constitute the bulk of our population, has assumed critical proportions and is now, for all practical purposes, a national emergency. Yet, this APC administration, which rode to power on the back of false promises to this generation of hapless young men and women, seems to have no answers to this ticking time bomb beyond slogans such as N-Power. In the name of an anti-corruption campaign, the government has been consistently assaulting due process and the Rule of Law. Court orders are flagrantly disobeyed by the very institutions that should enforce them. Basic democratic rights are being cynically abused. While talking glibly about fighting corruption, the government shamelessly looks askance where corruption is exposed within its own very ranks, closets and cocoons. APC, both at the centre and the states it controls, has proved that it has little or nothing else to provide Nigerians other than further mass impoverishment, frustration and hardship".

The point is that we have no government in Nigeria but looters marauding as government officials. Buhari is leading a band of thieves. On Monday, November 11, the Vanguard reported that the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, said that "Federal Government will release, that week, additional N750 billion for capital projects to ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government as contained in the 2017 budget". So, tell me how a government should wait until the second week of December to release funds budgeted for that year's capital projects? It means that the government officials will have a field day with the money. I'm sure those projects are also captured in the 2018 budget, so, the remaining money for 2017 must be shared before the year runs out. They will tell us that this or that was budgeted for one project or another, but in the end, no one sees any project embarked upon. So, where did the budgeted money go?

Also, on March 27, 2017, The Vanguard also reported that the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, revealed that "Capital releases to Federal Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, MDAs, for the 2016 budget, have reached a record N1 trillion, the highest ever in Nigeria's annual funding for capital projects". And my question then and now is: Who can pinpoint any project where they invested such whopping sum? That money was as good as embezzled, and still, Buhari will be deceiving the gullible, claiming to be fighting corruption. Buhari, his government, and his APC are corrupt and might have stolen, in three years, almost what Obasanjo, Yar'Adua, Jonathan and PDP stole in sixteen years.

The Nigerian Monitor just tells us about Ibrahim Tumsah Musa: The 'Most' Corrupt Civil Servant, Allegedly Richer Than Four Governors: "The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Apo, Abuja, has ordered that 86 luxury vehicles, together with four houses and a quarry plant in Abuja, belonging to a civil servant, Mr. Ibrahim Tumsah, be temporarily forfeited to the Federal Government. Ibrahim Tumsah Musa has been described as the country's most corrupt civil servant. All the 86 vehicles, 23 of which were said to be armored, linked to him, were described by detectives as brand new. The court's forfeiture orders also affected four houses, two of which are located in Wuse II; one in Wuse Zone 7, and the other in Jabi, all in Abuja. According to Secret Reporters, Tumsah has been serving in Ministry of Power, Works and Housing as Director of Finance and Accounts simply to amass the general wealth of the nation to himself and family. It was gathered that the Director who earn less than N500, 000 a month has properties splashed all over Abuja, Kaduna and Yobe where he hails from, using his name, brother, children, and wives to acquire them".

The problem we have in Nigeria is that our officials - politicians or civil servants - are stealing without sense. Tell me what this thief who calls himself Ibrahim Tumsah is doing with 86 vehicles or four houses? Assuming he had common sense, he would have known that loot of such magnitude will sooner or later implicate him. I wonder how people can be so heartless to corruptly amass such wealth when millions of Nigerians are unable to afford even a meal a day; so many children are out of school due to the inability of their parents to afford their school fees; and so many other Nigerians are dying from minor illnesses due to their inability to get the medical treatment they needed because of lack of money. Tell me if those thieves with so many cars will ride in two vehicles at the same time; will those having many private jets fly in two jets at a time; or, will those with so many houses sleep in two houses at a time? When the time to die comes, will these thieves skip it by telling death that they have many cars or many houses or many private jets and as such should be spared?

On another issue: The ABC News, on December 14, 2017, reports that dozens of Nigerian state governors, on Thursday, December 14, approved the transfer of $1 billion to aid the federal government's fight against the deadly Boko Haram insurgency, signaling that previous announcements of victory over the Islamic extremists had come too soon. The transfer makes up nearly half of the $2.3 billion held in the account. The $1 billion will be spent on purchasing security equipment, procuring intelligence and logistics. The decision was made during a meeting of the National Economic Council. But, President Muhammadu Buhari, a year ago, announced that Boko Haram had been "crushed"? How can they still spend such an amount on a crushed enemy? The vexing part of it is that Nigeria has only $2.4 billion in that Excess Crude Account, and now $1 billion is going out of it for the fight against "an already defeated enemy". That tells you how corrupt Buhari's government is. To sum it up: it's now clear to all that Buhari is the General Officer Commanding (GOC) a battalion of thieves.

Not only that Buhari's government is fantastically corrupt, it's also mischievous. It's partially closing the Enugu Airport during this period of festivities and mass return. The government had from January until November to carry out the so-called repairs but had to wait until this rush period just to "punish" the south-easterners who would use that Airport now. Sage Travels reports that Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, will be temporarily shut down this month as the federal government has concluded plans to start repair work on the runway. From the information obtained by sagetravels.com, the airport will be closed from 3 pm daily 14th December to 21st December 2017. After 6 days of reopening, the airport will be closed again from 27th December 2017 and reopen on 4th January 2018.

Back to the unemployment issue: Saraki should have been more intelligent than he is. Having studied medicine at the London Hospital Medical College of the University of London from 1982 to 1987, and practiced as a medical doctor at Rush Green Hospital in London, he knows that it's the government that makes policies, and then creates conducive environment for the private sector to create jobs. When the government is stifling businesses, as Buhari's government is doing, why shouldn't unemployment bloom? Remember what Buhari did to Atiku for declaring his intention to challenge him in 2019 presidential election. Buhari revoked the license of one of his companies, and that company is one of biggest employers of labor in Nigeria (the jobs will go if the company closes). Buhari also ordered the expatriate staff of Atiku's communication company to leave Nigeria, and that order might "kill" that company and the jobs it's offering to many Nigerians. Remember how Buhari put Ibeto Cement out of business because of where the owner comes from. Lately, Buhari has been trying to slow Innoson Motor Manufacturing Company, Nnewi (IVM), down, even when the motor company is set to expand through the establishment of another world-class vehicle manufacturing plant in Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom State.

Saraki and others should have known that unemployment will rise when Buhari and his government were wiping out the middle class and the medium/small scale businesses. The middle class is the engine that powers the economy in all well-organized countries, and when the middle class thrives, jobs will be created. Medium and small scale businesses are the real creators of jobs in better countries. It is those who employ two to ten people who reduce unemployment. Medium and small scale businesses are many, and if each one of them employs about 5 people, then calculate how many jobs they have created nationally. Big companies are few; and even if they employ a thousand workers, it will still be like a drop in a pan when compared to the jobs the medium and small scale businesses have created. Unfortunately, the middle class, the medium and small scale businesses are almost non-existent or are struggling in Nigeria - they can no longer help in bringing unemployment down - and for that, we should thank Buhari for his cluelessness.

May be, Saraki knows better but does want to antagonize Buhari by saying something that will make him, Buhari, to unleash the EFCC after him, or make his case with the Code of Conduct Bureau to be revived. If that's the case, then, that's cowardice.

Let me tell Saraki that people like him are responsible for the unemployment in Nigeria, and should be blamed for it. He should not forget that the Code of Conduct Bureau slammed a 13-count charge of corruption on him in 2015. In charge number ABT/01/15, dated September 11 and filed before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Mr. Saraki was accused of offenses ranging from an anticipatory declaration of assets to making false declaration of assets in forms he filed before the Code of Conduct Bureau while he was governor of Kwara State. But, as usual, in June 2017, after greasing some palms, a court of appeal then dismissed 15 charges against the Senate president relating to an alleged false declaration of assets, but it upheld three other charges against him. Soon, he will be acquitted of all charges (if he plays a good boy to Buhari without criticizing him). Saraki, his father and family "killed" the Societe General Bank of Nigeria - The Sarakis bankrupted that bank. The Sahara Reporters, on June 30, 2015, wrote "Exclusive documents obtained by SaharaReporters reveal that Senate President Bukola Saraki, along with other members of his family, played a role in bankrupting Societe Generale Bank of Nigeria (SGBN), in one of the most compelling failed bank dramas in Nigeria's economic history".

Saraki should know that when they bankrupted Societe General Bank, so many Nigerians lost their jobs, and, of course, their savings - that also increased the unemployment rate in Nigeria. When corrupt politicians or civil servants like Saraki or Ibrahim Tumsah (mentioned earlier) embezzle the public money that should have been used to build more industries or fix the education sector, the result is more increase in the unemployment rate. So, if Saraki doesn't know who to blame for the high rate of unemployment in Nigeria, he should look in the mirror, and there he will see one of the problems of Nigeria. The Saraki's mishpocha is corrupt to the bone, thereby contributing, wittingly or unwittingly, to the high level of unemployment In Nigeria.

Infact, using John Kennedy Toole's words, the Buhari's government is a confederacy of dunces and thieves.

TIT BITS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyxYTUSxQ-s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nMjMHUOxhI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIZulvupGSQ

THE THANX IS ALL YOURS!!!

Continued from Part 1

IMAGES IN THE NEWS