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Rich country; poor country

“As I see it, there were more of the bad and ugly than the good.” This came from a fellow whose plate was stacked full…

“As I see it, there were more of the bad and ugly than the good.” This came from a fellow whose plate was stacked full with fried chicken and turkey parts. “And it all started with the ordeal of the Chibok girls whose abduction served as the precursor of bad tidings in the year.”
“The Chibok girls’ abduction occurred in April but earlier between January and April there had been no shortage of happenings– bomb explosions, sackings of villages and rural settlements like Konduga, Benisheik and others and ambushes and abductions etc by Boko Haram.” Another person corrected. By now the discussion had become free for all. “So, the Chibok girls’ abduction may have concentrated minds and galvanised popular action to make government that was in denial about the incident act to bring the girls home, still more horrendously violent acts occurred that made the Chibok incident pale into insignificance”.
“By the way, where really are the girls now?”
“Still in Mambisa forest where they were taken 9 months ago”.—The fellow who had been eating fried chicken parts volunteered.
“No, that’s not possible. They would have been rescued if they were still in Mambisa forest. For all practical purposes, we have lost the girls. Remember, Shekau himself said he would marry them off or sell them like cheap commodities or useless household items. For all we know, he and his group may have gone ahead to do just that”.
A long silence followed as if everyone was pondering over the reality of pawning people’s children as if they were disposable items and not humans with flesh and blood.
“Well, not being able to bring the girls back home for all of 9 months will haunt this government and portray it as weak and unable to protect Nigerians. This and the fact of the violent killings that have been going on unabated may constitute the Achilles Heels of the Goodluck Jonathan government as the country moves towards elections”.
“I think we should leave politics alone”.  Mutum intervened. “As host I do not want to separate fights that might ensue if our discussions veer into the issue of Buhari vs Jonathan. Being Xmas let’s maintain the strictly merry and convivial atmosphere that is subsisting”, he added. “So, enough of the Chibok girls, violence and Boko Haram; what about the economy where does it belong?”
“Certainly not under good category”- the fellow eating fried chicken and turkey said spiritedly. –“If you ask me, I will categorise it under ugly.”
“But wouldn’t that be too harsh, remember earlier in the year Nigeria’s economy was pronounced as the largest on the continent”—. Mutum was really determined to play the role of the moderating host.
“Lucky you, you are not a salariat”
“And what’s that mean?” Someone asked perplexed.
“It means salary earners”—another offered.
“So why don’t you simply say so, instead of using that fancy word which I’m sure may not even be in the dictionary”.
“Anyway, if I may continue, Nigeria has since moved from being the biggest economy on the continent to one that is owing government employees 3 months’ salaries, thanks to oil price that has bottomed out in the international market which at one fell swoop turned Nigeria, a rich country into a poor one over night”.
“As for being both rich and poor at the same time, it was the plummeting oil price that caused it. Nigeria has been like that since inception. While others build their economy with their oil windfall money, Nigeria squandered and frittered away its own with heedless abandon. Major sectors like agriculture -that was the mainstay of the economy before oil was struck and took over as foreign exchange earner, as well as the manufacturing sector were criminally abandoned. And despite several shocks like the current fall in oil price, the earlier ones of 1979 and the middle 1980s, successive governments never saw the exigency of re-structuring the economy from being solely dependent on oil. Yes, intentions were expressed but they remained what they were: platitudes and expressions of mere aspiration that were never to be concretely effected. The effect has been that Nigeria’s economy continues to suffer the vagaries of boom and bust in relation to whether the oil price is high or low”.
“Well said! Are we then agreed that the economy be categorised squarely in the ugly category?”
“Definitely! Yes!!… If there is something worse, it deserves it!!!” — chorused the gathering.
“Gentlemen, now we’ve come to the hard part. Nothing can be so irredeemably totally bad, so surely 2014 must have a saving grace, something good that occurred that helped to relieve the unremitting surfeit of bad news in the year” — Mutum again intervened, smoothly nudging the gathering towards a consideration of the good tidings of the year.
‘‘Our handling of Ebola’’—a portly overweight fellow broke his silence. He had been quietly savouring the tuwo da miyan kuka he had been eating. I put his silence down to the characteristic attitude of civil servants who hold the notion that they must not express independent views publicly, too seriously. After a brief silence he continued, ‘’Nigeria practically squelched the virus in its tracks before it could leave Lagos. It showed that despite the doomsayers, if Nigerians are threatened and they put their minds to it, good results can be achieved’’.
“Yes, but the clockwork efficiency with which the government wiped out the virus went against the grain of its usually bungling, kneejerk manner it goes about its affairs. Still, the fact that the virus constitutes the major cause of death in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone indicates clearly that Nigeria cannot be complacent and go to sleep. Vigilance should be the watchword, otherwise another Sawyer, Taylor or even a Fofana could make Nigeria his destination in search of an elixir for his ailment. “
“ So, Kudos to government for at last scoring ‘good’ on Ebola” —Mutum asserted smoothly.
“What about the Super Eagles’ not too bad exploits in World Cup tournament in Brazil? Ours was the only team in Africa that scaled over the preliminaries into the knock out stage.”
“Whatever benefit the Mundial may have provided has been cancelled out by the failure of the team to qualify for January/February 2015 Africa Cup”.
“But that isn’t fair,” the portly fellow who had suggested it insisted. It was certain now he must be some government person. “The Africa Cup and the World Cup”, he said, “are two separate sporting events. One is global which the team qualified for by competing among other teams; the other is Africa based tournament. If the Eagles did well in one and failed in the other, each should be graded separately. So let’s award good for doing better than any other teams in Africa in the World Cup. After all, fair is only fair”.
“Good enough then”–  Mutum ruled and wished all of us merry Christmas and Happy New year in advance.

Murtala Opoola
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