Yesterday, 29th September, I was at Princeton University, the No 1 University in USA, (US-News), as Keynote Speaker at Chinua Achebe International Symposium and 40th anniversary of his booklet "The Trouble with Nigeria"
I elucidated to the audience how cumulative bad leadership, over the years, has done great harm to the Nigerian nation, using the periods 1980-1983 and 2020-2023 to illustrate. Our Political Leaders have turned Governance into a gigantic criminal enterprise, and wickedly
plundered our commonwealth, which made our country to become among the very few Nations in world developing backwards. The world is about to exit fossil fuel, and yet we cannot point to sustainable investment or savings from the trillions of petro-dollars we have earned since
1959. Consequently, we are classified among failing/failed States, and below are just few illustrations of our predicament.
1. Within the said period our poverty numbers have quadrupled to 130 million people living under multi-dimensional poverty, making us the undisputed poverty capital of the world. 2. We now have over 22 million out of school children, again another undisputed champion in the world
3. We are now among 5 most dangerous or unsafe countries in the world. 4. Our GDP per capita in 1981 was $2180, and in 2020/21 was 2097, which not only shows that there was no growth, but infact we are far worse.
5. Our currency Naira exchanged =N=1/$1.60, in fact in September 1983, =N =1,000,000 = $1,500,000 **And** 40 years after September 2023, =N=1,000,000 = $1,000.
6. Our minimum monthly wage in 1980/1983 was =N=125 which was then $190-200. States of Kano and Kaduna under PRP Party led by our Revered Leader Aminu Kano with Governors Abubakar Rimi, and Balarabe Musa paid additional =N=2 making =N=127 which was above $200.
@PeterObi @BOGbadams Is God not wonderful? You warned the ethnic bigots and religious fanatics that no region/tribe/religion buys bread cheaper at their locations but they chose the part of lies and deceit. Now we are here
@PeterObi You will never be president no one in yin family will ever be president! Agulu fraud!
To grow the value of our Naira, the government needs to stop borrowing and start looking inward for value propositions within the country itself. We have alternatives to oil and gas, but it is not going to be the fastest way to raise funds because so much as been siphoned by the government officials.