When I read recent reports that the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva has admonished Nigerians to be ready to bear the pains of increased petrol pump price as crude oil price climbs above $60 per barrel, I could not help but wonder what sort of self-centered and greedy politicians do we have in this country? Leaders, whose only trade and stock are to continually take from the system without giving anything back, other than empty promises.
It is quite disappointing to hear such a statement from representatives of the Nigerian Federal Government. And they expect that the Nigerian people should understand and adapt. For how long will the Nigerian people bear the pains of hardship, suffering, hunger, unemployment, insecurity, and what have you? Why can’t the Nigerian politicians, especially those at the National Assembly and top government officials, forfeit their outrageous salaries and allowances, which still remains amongst the highest in the world, in exchange for the provision required to address petrol price increase, and subsidize the price for the common Nigerians? What sacrifice have they made as ‘PUBLIC SERVANTS’ supposedly elected and appointed in the Government space to SERVE the Nigerian people? Why tell Nigerians, which you people are meant to serve, to keep enduring the sufferings and the hardships coming ahead, but you prefer to keep enjoying the comfort and exuberance lifestyle provided by the public offices you occupy?
What sort of irresponsible statement should we call that? Bear what nonsense? Political leaders only think and focus on their bellies and comfort, without any empathy and regard for the sufferings, hardship, and dangers daily faced/experienced by the people. I saw a video of the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, claiming complete ignorance of the insecurity situation in Nigeria, and it makes one wonder. This is a former Governor of Rivers State for eight years, and a Minister of the ruling party at the Federal level, claiming ignorance of the insecurity situation in the country simply because he is the Minister of Transportation. Is that kind of a person qualified to even be a Councilor, not to mention being a Minister and a member of the Federal Executive Council? One then begins to wonder of what importance is their weekly briefings about the happenings in the country? Must one be a security operative officer in other to talk about the security of lives and property in the country? What stops Amaechi from contributing his position on the insecurity across the country?
This again shows that all we have around us in this country are a bunch of ‘brainless politicians’ that are without a vision, and apparently have no meaningful contribution to make towards the development of the country. A bunch of people who are not ready to make the needed sacrifices required in the discharge of their statutory duties, so that the society and its citizenry will be better off, while they, in turn, would leave indelible marks in the annals of history. For any society and its people to move from one level of development to another, there must be sacrifices that have to be made, especially the ones that will disrupt the comfort that the political leaders are used to.
For real, Nigerians need to wake up and realize that, what we have is mostly criminals in office. Even after they leave, they go to another office to still rob Nigerians. The truth is until Nigeria cuts its outrageous cost of Governance across all levels of Government, we would never achieve the desired development. But the Nigerian Federal Government under the President Muhammadu Buhari administration should not expect the Nigerian people to keep understanding and adapting to these hardships they throw on the people. It will only take a matter of time, for the people to seriously revolt, having been pushed to the wall. There is so much a person can take at a time!
Zik Gbemre.
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