EmogInspiration

here seems to be an uneasy calm in the Presidency for the past few days over the health of our dear President. I would have loved to drop a line or two here but will take the advice of the Senate President and continue to pray for the quick recovery of President Yar Adua. I read in the papers (Punch) 2 weeks ago about a visit by the Venezuelan Ambassador to Nigeria Mr. Enrique Arrundell, to the Minister of Information and Communications Prof. Dora Akunyili. The purpose of his visit was clear from the beginning, that the Nigerian Government should take responsibility for the refineries and other resources available in the nation.

He made a shocking comparison that really got me thinking. He said, “In Venezuela, since 1999 we’ve never had a rise in fuel price. We only pay $1.02 to fill the tank of a car. What I pay for with N12, 000 here (Nigeria), in Venezuela, I will pay N400.” I immediately calculated, based on this figures how much it will cost me to fill my tank. So if I was in Venezuela, it will cost me N200 to fill my tank.

This thought was scary, is this possible in Nigeria? Yes it is, he even outlined steps taken by the Venezuelan Government to make this possible. The Government developed her own refineries and built fuel stations and the profit made from production and sales was used to build hospitals and schools. He testified of having gone to the University without paying a
dime and also eating 3 meals a day. Doctors go to see patients at home.

If the Government did this, I wonder if the money released will ever be used to get the job done. We need to first of all eliminate corruption from our system and then we can think of taking steps in that direction.

Our dear Minister for Information, who came into the present administration with a wonderful track record, was focused on only one thing, ‘come and take advantage of the opportunities here in Nigeria’. She said that South African investors had tapped into the huge potentials in the telecoms sector and also Venezuelan investors can do the same and even do more by investing in refineries.

Did she hear a word of what the Ambassador said? Was she reading a script or was she programmed to make her point very clear. The Venezuelan Ambassador said we should look inwards, rather than rely on foreigners to clean our house for us. Foreign investors will maximize profit at the expense of developing our country.

I think there’s a lot of work to be done and it starts from me. If I could make conscious effort to do the right things at all times and influence my immediate environment and you do the same as well, we’ll have a great nation. We will not sabotage our pipelines or vandalize electric cables and we will work to make our individual environments better.

Thank you Mr. Enrique for your observations and most importantly for speaking out. We pray they listen…