Catastrophe upon disaster. More citizen kidnappings including distinguished and revered Professor Agbaje of University of Ibadan with savage murder of policemen and others. More than 80+ murdered including policemen in two weeks. More condolences from our Condolence President abroad. He, though abroad, in turn has received flood condolences from Charles 111.
FLOODS: Please reach out – through relatives, friends, enemies and organisations – to those estimated direct 10million victims of the devastating floods. Add the whole population that has felt this destructive flood through breaks in supply chains in fuel, food, finance, family, friends or workforce, through loss of income generated in or sent elsewhere from flooded areas. Of course, receiving rivers from other countries, we listen as the federal government say the Lagdo Dam in the Adamawa Plateau Region of Cameroon (PS Google ‘Adamawa Emirate’), sometimes opened to prevent their dam bursting, is not contributory to Nigeria’s flood. We have no control over a foreign technical decision. But we do have responsibility for the effects of Nigeria’s floods.
Citizens, rich and poor, have built with personal greed or social need, to fulfil ‘Personal House’ ambitions anywhere and with impunity; bribing where necessary to perpetrate an illegality, converting it into a ‘legalised illegal action’ like ‘building on a road or waterway setback’ or ‘cutting part of someone else’s land into your own’ or quietly ‘reallocating/selling for the Nth time, the same land to someone else’. I have been victim in the latter two examples. The lack of any consistent nationwide reduction in the 10+m housing deficit has forced many to Do it Yourself ‘DIY’ with compromises in choice of land and construction shortcuts contributing to building failures and the epidemic of uncompleted buildings from inadequate funds.
How many have stolen or ‘had to’ or ‘been forced’ to steal in bulk to build houses ‘cash down’ instantly, unlike abroad where 10-30 year mortgages are the norm.
Sadly, most are being forced to bribe even when it is ‘not necessary’ to bend the law. A ‘not necessary bribe’ is to ensure the normal course of a legitimate process at normal pace. Sadly, a bribery trail is usually ‘necessary and inevitable’ to give normal wings for the progress of, and to prevent the ‘disappearance’ of every form, file or order through the shifting maze of government tunnels of ‘Pop-Up Old or New but never fully revealed instructions’ in the potholed and tortuously meandering road to ‘MAD Approval’. MAD= Ministries, Agencies & Departments which makes citizens ‘real mad’.
For example there were 17 required items on a ‘secret’ list to register a service and as the provider fulfilled No 1 only then was No 2 revealed etc. He went to that office 17 times instead of once to collect the list and secondly to submit all 17 items. The 2022 Law School Graduands have just had to travel from all over the country by road, rail and air in these perilously expensive, fuel shortage, times and report in Abuja just to put their signature on a single document, 10 seconds work, and then go back home – all 1400 or so. What danger and cost? Do we do ‘Time and Motion’ studies on the effect of actions?
Each step one takes almost always requires ‘financial settlement of everyone everywhere’ and even if the boss is innocent, facilitating officials will secretly hamper progress to frustrate or bleed you instead. Some unsent will demand ‘on the boss’s behalf’ and disappear with the brown envelope.
Is there one Nigerian who wakes happy to visit, without deep prayers or depression, a ‘MAD’ anywhere in Nigeria? Every government function is fraught with the threat of sanction against you. Even a report to the police. Every building ever built faced several MAD different ‘Big Red Xs’ painted on the wall, repeatedly stopping construction, sometimes sincere but often to ensure gratification. No one considers the honest owner’s embarrassment.
Like the unbridled false accusations of illegal meter connection by DISCOs-I was victim last month- and the terroristic traffic extortion scams by all traffic agencies-I am a serial victim.
Many Nigerians have turned illegality into legality and have wrongly built, knowingly blocking outflow rainwater channels. Even government landfill programmes fill new land higher than the inland cities reversing outflow drainage creating potential town and city lagoons. Protesting engineers and citizens ignored by deaf ‘Development Or Die’ or ‘You Must Suffer For Development’ government and private sector ears. Were disaster and damage scenarios buried?
In the enlightened struggle for new real estate, the old real estate can ‘go to hell’ with no lesson learnt in the new plans. Many houses are built solely to extort from the tenant- with minimum social amenities and outrageous serially annual doubling of the rent if such exist. I have been a victim also.
Many Fellow Nigerians now live in traditional old flood plains and now ‘new upper-class construction’ has created backlash for new flood plains with huge personal, life, property, financial, goods and infrastructural losses in vehicle, road, power, school, office damage now estimated in trillions, uninsured and even if insured, it is unlikely to be covered by insurance world. Add unrecoverable village, farm, livestock losses and the already disastrous fuel and food supply cuts nationwide and untamed insecurity from opportunistic and professional local and international marauders amidst deteriorating security as security personnel and their families are among the survivors.
Catastrophe!! – flood, kidnapping, killings , Abuja threat Upon disaster!!! – politics.
