Where is Nigeria Heading? Pictures that touches the heart. 

During Obasanjo’s eight years of misrule and waste, eight years of total and evil neglect of the country he swore to serve, Obasanjo bequeathed on Nigerian’s useless projects like the failed Rural Telephony contract in cahoots with his Chinese friends at a cost of nearly One Billion US Dollars ($1,000,000,000.00), which is about One Hundred and Thirty Billion Naira. The Obasanjo government that privatised Nitel and M-tel due to the inability of his government to run them only to go and establish a government owned mini Nitel with borrowed funds from the Chinese government and executed by Chinese companies. Obasanjo further bequeathed to Nigerians projects like the failed Weather and Communication satellite programs with combined costs of over One and Half Billion US Dollars. We have the presidential jet purchased with Eighty Million US Dollars coupled with the billions of naira guzzled on the failed third term project. Yet everyday Nigerians, ordinary Nigerians were (and are) dying, struggling and suffering from everyday, ordinary and basic problems that a conscience led government should and ought to provide. But in Nigeria, government is not about conscience, it is not about service nor is about leadership. Government in Nigeria is all about greed, greed and more greed that bothers on evil. Such evil that made Patricia Ette, the erstwhile (unelected) speaker to siphon over five million US dollars for the renovation of her official residence. The rumour mills are equally fingering David Mark, the (unelected) senate president in circa Three and Half Million US Dollars renovation quagmire, with David Mark anything is possible, with David Mark, greed has no limit, hence I am bound to agree with the rumour mills position. That topic is for another day. 

Millions of US dollars are being embezzled left, right and centre with ease by the people who are supposed to look after the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians. Yet the country is collapsing, rotting, decaying left, right and centre with ease, without the so called leaders realising the situation on the ground. The country is slowly grinding to a halt, there is lawlessness everywhere, there is acute hunger and poverty in the land, there is hopelessness and desolateness country-wide, yet the (unelected) leaders are choosing not to notice, choosing not to realise and above all chosen not to act.  

Year 2007 is coming to an end and my question is: Where is Nigeria Heading? As can be seen by these pictures (Courtesy of The News newspaper, Nigeria)

Image 1 (Graphic)

Image 2 (Graphic)
 

These are pictures of an accident involving a petrol tanker sometime last week on the Lagos – Abeokuta express road, the road that leads to Obasanjo’s state and town. Report had it that the tanker driver in trying to avoid the numerous pot-holes that litter the road lost control and crashed. The rest as they say is history. The pot-holes that were neglected by Obasanjo’s government in effect caused the accident. 

Reports had it that two days after this heart-breaking accident that the accident site remained as seen in these pictures. The corpses left to decompose. No emergency or allied services to remove the corpse, infact no body’s business, no governmental responsibility. Lagos – Abeokuta express road is a federal government owned road, so where were the federal government ‘funded’ organs that should take care of situations like this?  

Where were the police? Where were the road safety corps? What is the role of the civil defence corps? The custodian of that road, the federal ministry of works and transport, where were they? In a nutshell, what does President Yar’Adua think his job is? Where is he? For such an incident to be occurring in his country. 

For this to be happening in Nigeria of our time, the Nigeria with the 2020 vision of a great nation, the Nigeria that is talking about nuclear energy and space technology is indeed sad and hopeless to say the least.  

Like the caption of this article; Where is Nigeria Heading? Readers are invited to tell me. For the faint-hearted, please do not look for these pictures are really a touch on the heart. 
 

Odenigbo Chidi Anyaeche Mr.

London