Nigeria runs a democracy at least at first observation. When you turn it inside out, the seamy side of this system of government as practiced by Nigeria’s ruling class will help you understand the concept of Lootocracy better as defined here.
There are many dirty, smelly, and disgusting realities of this government. I have only decided with this piece to show you a part of it that can be good enough to keep you sane but bad enough to make you think and see why people like myself will always be discriminated against. Pay attention as I share with you an ordinarily harmless budget of the Presidency.
Take the Medical aspects of same budget. There were three (3) separate allocations related to Medicals in the Presidency. Spot the difference:
1. Drugs/Medical Supplies will cost us N402,175,400.00 this year. That is N1.1million every Fk’ing day
2. Medical Expenses cost N83,800,500 this year. That is N229,590.00 per day.
3. Purchase of Health/Medical Equipment cost N247,389,088.00 this year. That is N677,778.32 per day.
When you do the maths, medical lootocracy in the Presidency cost Nigerians over 2 million naira per day. Someone has been retardedly smart enough to separate these into three parts in the budget document in order not to make that attract the deserving criticism it would have gotten. I have equally harmlessly showed that Medical expenses cost us over N2,0000,000.00 per day in the Presidency! Imagine what this amount would do to primary health care in the rural centres. Imagine how many maternal deaths that would help prevent. Imagine the lives we have lost because these monies were not made available to those who really need it. The total amount from Medical supplies above will take care of the many deaths resulting from preventable deaths through malaria, cholera and other diseases related to poverty and inadequate health care. The people who need the medical supplies are dying every day while Lootocrats list the word “Medical” in the budget just so their private accounts get fatter.
While you think of the many lives N2million/day could save, do you know how many books N8,651,200.00 would provide in our local schools? That is how much it cost Nigerians to provide Magazines and Periodicals to the Presidency. Don’t sigh yet because there is more. Food stuff and catering materials supplies cost us N574,074,750.00. Hold up though because we also have a listing for Purchase of canteen kitchen equipment that cost N553,594,442.00. Together they sum up to N1,127,669,192.00. This is 1.127 billion Naira for kitchen matters in the Presidency. That is over 3 million naira per day! Think of how many poor, dying Nigerians 3 million/day can feed every day. Don’t dwell on the fact that the Miscellaneous aspect of the Presidency’s budget is N1,033,853,106.00 (over a billion naira). Mind that it cost us some 47 million naira per month to feed President Goodluck Jonathan and his family. You can do the maths of the daily cost of that. That is one more reason to believe the President really cares about Nigeria’s poor masses. Please do not think of what 47 million naira would do every month to Abuja’s school children in the provision of well needed milk and supplements, something which Nigerian children are deprived of in their numbers.
I know Many Nigerians are okay with just placing their worn out mattresses on a bare floor but you certainly don’t expect your President to do same except you are not a patriotic Nigerian. Would you though expect that it’d cost us N1,128,640,00.00 in the purchase of Residential Furniture in the Presidency? Discountenance the fact that the purchase of Computers and Scanners cost us N652,983,600.00.00 except you see that as money that would best serve in the provision of same in our schools. Don’t mind the fact that the same was budgeted for last year and indeed every year before then. Do you think we are doomed? Hold up.
To maintain the motor vehicle/transport equipment and fuel same in the Presidency cost us N608,700,000.00. Yes over 600 hundred million naira. What are they maintaining? Call it a Lootocracy! If you love lawns and gardens, the fact that it cost us N184,000,000.00 to provide irrigation for same in the Presidency should gladden your heart. I wonder what part of the N1.2 billion it cost to rehabilitate the State House in Marina, Lagos would actually go into maintaining it. Who lives in that State House because I know the President will not stay in Lagos for more than 30 days in all his four years if incompetence does not make him resign before then.
The above have nothing to do with money stolen from corrupt means yet, these are the official figures that are well documented in government files. The fight against corruption is one thing but the reality of Lootocracy even goes beyond covert corruption. Any time you remember the fact that we spend some 75 per cent of our national budget on recurrent expenditure and that we run a budget deficit, remember also that we are borrowing more than ever before.
On a road trip to Lagos, I met an intelligent woman who confessed she voted based on sentiments in April. She regrets that now. Please don’t get angry as those your heart helped to guide you to bring to power are now mindlessly spending your national wealth on matters inconsequential.
I don’t want to say too much so I don’t suffer more of the discrimination I suffered recently when an application to an institution was apparently denied on the basis of my articles and my revealing tweets about the realities of governance today in Nigeria. I will do more and whoever does not like that needs to budget for a tougher skin because I am here to stay. I do sometime wish we will all in our little ways do more to get involved in educating Nigerians about the badass stealing that goes on in government. They always tell me to make the solutions in my articles explicit enough and I will do that here. The solution to the above problem is for those responsible for this looting to resign or stop feeding off the poverty and pains of Nigerians.
PS: Yesterday was my birthday. Someone wrote an article that looked like a perspective of me. I enjoyed reading it here.
You can see the Presidency’s budget here
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