What astonishes me is that, in all these instances of stealing, our people have not the faintest idea of how to use money.
I am getting scared that we are
caught up in an age of fools. What does the Nigerian do with money?
He buys things.
Then he buys power and more
power. He traumatizes his community with his wealth, making the poor feel their
poverty and the average person bemoan his averageness.
Then he builds things: some big
towers here and there that become the talking points of lesser idiots whose
place in life is to praise those structures even as they hope to build the same
someday.
He then goes after women of all
shapes, sizes, tribes, and tongues, solely to boast about his conquests.
He then gets honored by
religious homes devoted to Mammon, where he is praised by the worshippers of
the idol there who promise the money-man a life hereafter for a slice of his
goodies.
Then he dies, hoping that
people will be talking about him. Soon he is forgotten like other fools.
Why do we Nigerians find it
hard to understand the use and meaning of big money and are stuck on this
selfish, perverted notion of wealth? All you get is, the man came to that party
in a big jeep, he has an aircraft, or two. He has an estate in Maitama or
Ikoyi, he built up a street in London. Then he unleashes that money to buy up
consciences and to stamp down truth.
His shopping list will include
pressmen, clergies, judges, and policemen. He funds his political party and is
rewarded with even more money, which he recycles the same old way.
Why is our idea of wealth so
narrow and underdeveloped?
The challenge is not money; it
is a lack of knowledge of what actually to do with it. Where people have
wisdom, they understand that once possessions go beyond a home and two cars
with ample retirement funds, the use of money is to build your community and to
build your nation.
You invest wealth in people,
beginning with your own children and those in your extended family who can be
raised.
Isn't it wonderful that not a
single man or woman among these people who have spirited away billions of naira
has thought of establishing a factory manufacturing cellphones in Nigeria?
None has thought he should put
together something to address such a huge market and potential for homegrown
development?
They can't come together and
say, 'Let's solve the electricity problem.' None has said, 'I want to make a
dent in the housing challenge. I will go into affordable housing and build new
cities.' None has said, 'Most of our universities have a shortage of hostel
accommodation. I'd like to address that' and put in two billion per school.
It is proof of a lack of sense,
a proof of scandalous stupidity that with all those billions, there is no
impact on society, and people are mostly unemployed, with no spectacular
undertakings to fire the imagination of the younger ones.
Why can't they make their money
work for society and push people forward? What's the use of money that doesn't
serve society but only buys little things like cars and airplanes, just toys to
flatter the little ego of the owner?
It is foolish to think in this
limited way and even more foolish to admire and applaud such people. It is like
drinking from a gutter.
I hope we can start to discuss
money in terms of impact, not consumption. And when I say impact, I don't mean
those demeaning things politicians do when they give out okadas and
wheelbarrows to mock the poverty of their people. I mean real impact.
Let's solve the electricity
problem.' Let some rich persons decide they want to train 500 corpers through
an Oracle certification course and drop a cheque. Someone should fund the
development of the Nigerian automobile in a university or two with N4 billion.
Another should rise and rebuild all the houses in his village and connect them
all to a potable water source. Let's have some devotion to our country, to our people
and put an end to this barbarism. Let's make ourselves great on earth!
By Dr Garuba wrote from Abuja
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