What Kind of Gift is This.

It’s Christmas celebration worldwide. This is a moment that brings out the best of our gratitude to God almighty that we have been able to sail through the economic hazards and catastrophes that our leaders, both past and present have subjected us into this year.

Christmas and first day of the New Year (January 1) is always marked with some sort of pomp characterized by sumptuous meals (it depends on what and how a family sees it). The most common menu on those days are rice (in all flavour), chicken (for those that can afford it). Those days are our own Thanksgiving day here.

The Gift:
Yesterday (26/12/2005) as I got home my sister anxiously informed me that Minister (a Federal Minister in Obasanjo’s cabinet from my town) gave-out rice to people. I was like and so, because I don’t really dig these people that treat people like goat and chicken (they determine when, how and what their zealots eat). I was thinking those that got those rice must have fought tooth and nail to get a fistful of it, that’s the usual scenario. The next question I asked was “was it thrown on the ground?” (so that people can squirrelly run after them.) But to my surprise I was dumbfounded when she said some children carried them to people’s house, she then showed me the package (one rubber of rice, about 1 KG).

While it was a good gesture, assuming I really need it the same way I need regular power supply. Here in this town we have over a million people, I wonder how many people would have been able to lay their hands on this largesse being doled by Mr. Minister.

My View:
I wonder for how long all these stupid politicians will continue to treat their fellow human beings like a pure water wrapper (they drink, milk and suck the content (i.e.vote),as if they really need it) and throw them into the garbage of penury

We all deserve a better deal than all these “a day out of poverty gesture” (that’s my dads comment on the gift (if you can call it that)). What we need is stable and steady power (electricity) supply, good roads, good health care services, proper accountability and responsibility, prompt payment of salaries, arrears, gratuities of pensioners, responsive behaviour to masses pleas and lamentations as well as beneficial jobs for millions of school leavers (at least they won’t need Mr. Minster’s rice if they can afford to buy from their paycheck, our people don’t need the fish, they need fishing opportunities).

Our people have endured for so long, we have banked our hopes and aspirations on democracy, but sadly what we got is kleptocrazy and lot’s of demonstration of craziness in the upper and lower echelon of our political system.

But if you all (politicians ruling but ruining Nigeria) failed to ease the aggravations you are causing us all, am telling you all here and now that it is getting to a point people called The Elastic (Suffering) Limit. Woe betides you all on that day we rise up to take what rightly belongs to us.

“There are many things we do not want about the world. Let us not just mourn them. Let us change them." -Ferdinand Marcos. (That's for you Nigerians).


Final Note:
Mr. Minister (I hope you or any of your cronies happen to read this) thanks for that kind gesture of yours, but the reality is that we don’t really need such. You all know we deserve a better deal.

Transcorp: Messiah or another White Elephant.

This is my edited response to this topic on Nairaland.com (a Nigerian forum).

Transcorp can never and will never pull Nigeria out of the economic mess she has been wallowing in for years.

I see this Transcorp thing as a big way of deceiving Nigerians into believing that an economic Messiah has come. When flamboyant people whose motive in life is all about how they can increase their own net-worth teamed together to form a mega-corporation, what you can/must expect is nothing but a big failure.

Nigeria does not need a big corporation to get out of the economic quagmire she’s in right now. What we need is/are SMEs and unflinching support from the government. The US economy is buoyant because they give qualitative support to their SMEs, they value them more than corporations like Microsoft, IBM and Boeing.

SMEs have the potentials of creating more jobs in many regions of a country than any corporation, a small SME also do have the potentials of becoming a big player in her own sector too; Microsoft, IBM, Dell etc are classical examples.

What those founders of Transcorp are trying to do is to compete with foreign multinationals, they will fail woefully because they don’t have what it takes to match these people. Though they may have the financial and political muscle, Transcorp does not have a veritable original economic, development and innovative blueprint to become a world-class player overnight like they planned to.

What Transcorp has succeeded in doing to date is buying lucrative and already money spinning companies like Nicon Hilton, I wonder where the much touted new jobs will be created from when they are buying already running companies. I think they should have aptly call themselves “NigeriaWeAreBuying Corp, (NWAB Corp)”

Mega corporations are not the saviour of any nation’s economy because those that run them are mostly people that are out of sync with what’s obtainable on the street. Enron, Worldcom are veritable examples.

I hope Transcorp will not be just one of those SMEs killers here in Nigeria. Another important fear of mine is that some unscrupulous politicians will even use the company as a front to invest their stolen billions since Baba OBJ has now made London and Swiss banks a danger zone for them, (Bravo Balogun).

When the NSE DG is also a director and one of the “owner” of Transcorp, I wonder how she will be able to sanction the company (Transcorp) when they violate set standards (if there’s any) of NSE.

Meanwhile if you don’t know, Transcorp is owned by “sons and daughter of Mr. President” (that’s what Stella Obasanjo called most of the core members). For a start where did they get the money with which they bought NICON Hilton from?

Anyway, time will tell if Transcorp is a blessing or a curse.