Have you ever
bought an item and then get home to find that it is substandard, expired or
even out rightly bad? Have you ever been diagnosed of poison owing to what you
ate? Or even incurred certain reactions due the use of some items soaps,
creams, etc.?
We live in a
world where the capitalist maxim dog eats dog [even man eats man] holds
sway. The import of this is that man must do anything to earn money. This trend
has even been promoted with the concept of globalization where some countries
[especially African countries] have become dumping grounds for toxic waste in
the name of products.
When Walter
Rodney wrote his classic How Europe
Underdeveloped Africa, the focus through colonialism, West impoverished the
African continent; enslaving her people and carting away her natural resources
to build its industries back home.
Now many years
after that book was written in 1976, African no longer talks about colonialism
but neo colonialism, imperialism the impact of Multinational Corporation etc.
My point? We
live in an era where Africans are Under developing
Africa! But enough all the socio-political theoretical constructions,
assumptions and generalizations, let us look at the matter at hand.
We live in a world
of growing inequalities between the mindlessly rich and the hopelessly poor,
where one percent of the population control 80% of the Nation's wealth. We live
in a Society where the gender agenda is still a topical issue debated across
the globe, where we recognize the invaluable contributions of women to National
and global development but yet are not disposed to engage them in that
developmental process.
In
Nigeria, we continue to experience the exploitative nature of business men and
women. The late Prof. Dora Akunyili during her stint as DG NAFDAC was very
emphatic in her quest to sanitize the drug industry. While she did achieve a
lot, the reverse can be said of NAFDAC in this current dispensation. Our
penchants for self-aggrandizement continue to stimulate our cunning nature,
drive our cheating and fuel our greed.
Yes, our greed!
It
is this greed that has now become our new need, pushing us to cut corners, and
do things in half measures. From the garri seller at the markets, who use beat
up the measuring pans, to the importers of goods from China and elsewhere who
cut down on the standard of such goods to shore up their profits to the
detriment of unsuspecting clients and customers; those who sell chalks in the
name of medicines. Not forgetting the fuel stations that continue to cheat the
public by adjusting their pumps.
Daily
we hear of millions of dollars, billions of Naira being stolen, misappropriated
or even missing [it makes me seek]. This shows that the greed of our people
continue to increase all in a bid to satisfy ‘their growing needs’.
Someone
once said that Nigeria has enough resources and wealth for everyone’s needs and
not everyone’s greed, hence the abject poverty we find ourselves in.
Call
it the paradox of want in the midst of plenty and you won’t be wrong.
It
is our collective greed that leads to our collective state of poverty. We have
enough to go round everyone with regards to our commonwealth. We are a blessed country and the
only way we all can benefit from God's manifold blessings is when we learn to
share, to give and to bless others as God has blessed us. Nigeria has been
blessed to meet everyone's needs and not everyone's greed.
Half
measures kill people, destroy destinies; promotes and sustains mediocrity.
Be contented with what you have! Have a sense of
Christian Charity and be Spiritually Sensitive
OjisiEmezie
0 comments