Politics of the Stomach
by Samuel Akinyele Caulcrick

 Shocking! That is how I will describe how I felt after I learnt that China had all along been a beneficiary of the World Food Program (WFP) until just last year. The United Nations, only last year, officially removed China from the world food program and urged the Mega State to start contributing to the efforts of WFP. China , on WFP and Nigeria was not? Come on! Give me a break. Yes, China was. However, China is no longer classified poor and can now feed its people. This meant that all along, Nigeria being a member of the United Nations Organisation had fed the poor of China , somewhat. Yet, Nigeria ’s underfed many were technically unqualified to be recipients of the largesse of the UN in respect of the need for food. It is a known fact that millions of Nigerians go to bed hungry. Feeding formulas have, however, been ingeniously devised. From the time of Umaru Dikko’s “not yet eating from the dustbin” till now, it has been a 1-0-0 or 0-1-0 or 0-0-1. This is breakfast only; lunch only or dinner only feeding formula. The faces you see at the bus stops as you drive past are hungry faces, surely.

The quest to know why Nigeria ’s poor was discriminated against, urged me to sound other people’s opinion. I had a chance meeting with a politician from the Southwest Sussex, England . I asked him why is it that China qualified to be on the World Food Program and Nigeria did not. The answer was what I had already feared – the lifestyle of a few Nigerians. He told me what I have always suspected. He said that even though the reports from most European Embassies in Nigeria suggest that many Nigerians are underfed; Nigeria ’s classification in terms of rich-poor ratings became an obstacle to qualify for food relief. According to the gentleman, it would be politically suicidal for a politician in Europe to canvas for food relief for Nigerians when European voters see our lifestyle and the type of properties owned within their midst by some Nigerians. Said he further, ‘in reality, China has less than £2billion (two billion British pounds sterling) of private money worldwide outside of China but you cannot say the same about Nigeria . 

When I told a Nigerian friend who hails from Yola what I learnt, he was not surprised. He insisted that many of us do not know how bad it is in Nigeria . He said the last time he went to his village; he was served food without meat. When he complained, they told him that that is how they eat because they cannot afford animal protein. Similar stories abound in all our rural areas in Nigeria . The reports that are coming out of every corner of Nigeria are all the same. Poverty is staring at the people in the face in the midst of plenty. Another Nigerian stated that it is not our culture to eat plenty of animal protein in any case. He said jokingly, ‘When they ask someone what he is going to eat in Nigeria, the answer is usually, eba, rice, fufu, amala, tuwo, or gari, etc. So, he is served with plenty of any of those but with a small amount of animal protein because he did not ask for meat. …Whereas in the West, people would ask for the animal protein first, such as steak, fish, pork, lamb or seafood, etc and they, therefore, get big portions of any of these which are only then garnished with the likes of rice or potatoes or whatever.

Jokes apart, it is sad to think that many Nigerians go hungry because of the perception of the outside world. Technically, Nigeria is not a poor country and should be able to feed its people. When last year in July, I think, the World Bank and the International Monetary Funds (IMF) decided to forgive some poor countries their debt - Nigeria did not qualify. The same reasons were advanced - Nigerians buy properties abroad fully paid for, in cash and not even through mortgages. It would, therefore, be a hard sell to convince the citizens of those countries to contribute to feed the unfortunate underprivileged Nigerians.

Now, for the Nigerian politician from my village – who had ridden on my back for too long! The year 2007 is the time to let him know that my back is hurting. My back can no longer bear him and I refuse to let him ride on my weary back any longer. How dare him tell me, yet again that the man from the other village is the cause of my problems? Yet, there is nobody from the other village in our local government or our State government. How dare he? He rode to prominence by being selected, not on merit, to represent my village but he ended up representing only himself and his family. He collects allocations meant for the developments of our village and pockets them. To add insults to the injury, he exported the loot to a foreign land. For that and his ostentatious display of the illegal wealth, unfortunate members of the village and I are thus denied of needed help. Yet, he still has the guts to approach me to vote for him in 2007. He sure has another think coming.

It is easier to calculate than all the yardsticks of our relatively short national history, the size of damage that has been wreaked on us by this self centred politician. He eats and dines with his peers from other villages at the centre – louses like him – where they share, for self, the national wealth. But only remembers he is from our village at a time like this (election time) or when he runs into a problem with the other louses. At such times, he whips up sentiments amongst us that whatever difficulty he was experiencing is because he his from our village. In the past, we would rise up and support him but not anymore, because now we know that people from the other villages do not discriminate against us; only against him. Now he says it is time for our village to produce the next President. So that what? We have seen that the lives of Toyin, Jide, Ade, Femi, etc. did not change for the better in the last 7 years. Yet Obasanjo is their kinsman. These are people, just like us in our village, at the bottom of the social ladder. Similarly, the standard of living of the masses of the North went from bad to worst in the 35 years that the North controlled the presidency. So, why should I believe that he will be different and pitch his tent against the rich in our favour?

For the world to hear, we in our village have resolved to only vote for the man or woman, be it, yellow; green; blue; south-southerner; easterner; northerner or even a repeat of south westerner if he or she has a program to lift us from this rot. Come to think of it, Nigeria had never been divided in reality on ethnic lines, except as a mirage, only on social hierarchy. The Nigerian press has never explored the possibility of this social phenomenon, because the press in Nigeria is owned by these same social exploiters. The Oni of Ife, for instance, is Ado Bayero-of-Kano’s best friend. All Nigerians interact, without any problem, with the people from other areas in the same social hierarchical platform. Only the leaders have always sown the seed of tribal hatred. They knew that if they misrepresented the facts by stigmatising the other tribes as the bane of our problems, we would carry up arms in their defence. But that is no more. These politicians should be made the flotsams of our society and unless they are consigned as the jetsam, we will never make any progress.

On 23 November 2006, I posted an article (National Realisation Point). In which I reiterated the damage the devaluation of the naira wreaked on Nigeria ’s economy. Two days after, we had our first neophyte in the person of great importance. On 26 November 2006, the Sunday Sun newspaper in Nigeria published a report of Idika Kalu’s penitence on the Naira. The former Finance Minister under IBB and the chief stoker of the fires on the SAP train seems to have woken up and realised that we are on the wrong economic track. I was in Abu Dhabi , UAE, when a friend called and urged me to read the news report on the Internet. Coincidentally, Abu Dhabi unwittingly might have impacted negatively on Nigeria ’s political and economic development in the 1980s. This, however, is a topic for another day. Anyways, I quote the Sun Newspapers, ‘Speaking in Lagos at a seminar with the theme “National Economic Renewal Options for Nigeria” organised by the National Patriotic Group, the one-time Finance Minister described the decision of the Babangida regime to devalue the naira as a blunder.’

Could this signal the beginning of the National Realisation Point as I entreated in that article? If so, then whoever takes the driver’s seat on our economic train could start to apply the brakes, slow down, stop and make a reversal if necessary. This present track isn’t taking us to no-where!

I wish everybody in the Village a Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2007.

Samuel Akinyele Caulcrick, UK , is the author of the book The Devil Must Be Laughing.

ISBN 1-4241-2196-5

Publisher- PublishAmerica. 

Robot  Villager

# 1 Now, for the Nigerian politician from my village – who had ridden on my back for too long! T...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 14.12.2006 07:10