Two issues begging for resolution at the moment are the ongoing industrial action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the contentious thirty thousand naira minimum wage being demanded by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC).
The two are two sides of the same coin as they border on the ability of government to pay. Both issues have also been recurrent because, for a long time, successive governments have continued to shy away from their responsibility. There has been no administration in recent times that was not confronted by ASUU and the NLC for these same reasons. The two industrial unions merely returned to the trenches and President Muhammdu Buhari happened to be the man in charge.
The questions to ask is can Nigeria afford to settle ASUU adequately to meet the standard required of universities globally? And can the country also be able to pay the paltry minimum wage of thirty thousand naira (about $85) to workers?
The answer to the above two contending issues plaguing Nigeria at the moment is capital YES. Nigeria can conveniently meet the funding demands of ASUU and the other tertiary institution’s demands and at the same time pay the paltry thirty thousand naira ($85) minimum monthly wage being demanded by the NLC.
Reason is that Nigeria is among the richest countries in Africa and one of the richest in the world. Nigeria’s huge wealth is comparable to that of Australia, United States of America, Canada, Australia, China, Russia, India, Saudi Arabia and Brazil
The question then arises: What is the problem? What happened to Nigeria’s wealth? Where did the money go? Why is Nigeria unable to meet basic issues of governance and instead courting frequent industrial actions?
The answers are not farfetched. Money laundering, unbridled corruption, looting, stealing, graft and ramifications of all forms of rape of the common wealth have turned Nigeria into a miserable beggarly nation that could no longer meet basic needs of governance. The money which could have been used to fund education at all levels and pay a living minimum wage has been looted by people in government.
For a long time now, Nigeria has been ranked by the Transparency International as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. The leaders are the looters. The people are left in penury. Daily, most Nigerians pine away under sun and rain to eke out a living. Those who can’t cope remain sickly and die off.
It was in an attempt to stem official stealing and looting that the Obasanjo administration, in December 2002, established the Economic and Financial Crimes commission (EFCC), to tackle corruption in a way that publicly challenged the ironclad impunity enjoyed by Nigeria’s political elite. Mr. Nuhu Ribadu was appointed to lead the battle, an arduous task indeed. Since then, others have chaired the agency.
But before the EFCC was established, corruption had become entrenched and hydra-headed. The monster had crippled Nigeria. No one can say how much have been stolen from Nigeria’s public treasures at all levels of government across the federation. Certainly, it runs into trillions of dollars that could have been used to develop Nigeria and make life liveable for the citizenry.
With possibly the exception of Nigeria’s founding fathers, who served the country with uncommon commitment and patriotism, there is hardly any other public official who has occupied position in government that is totally free from this madness and murderous looting and annihilation of the people. That being the case, a few examples will show the gravity of the damage looting has done to Nigeria.
In October 2006, just four years after assuming duty as EFCC chairman, Nuhu Ribadu told the BBC that Nigerian governments have “stolen” or wasted a staggering $380 billion since independence in 1960 and that there is “nothing much” to show for the missing money. He reportedly said the money stolen from Nigeria could replicate Europe four times in the country!
Although, he said that the worst period for corruption was the 1980s and 90s, as two-thirds of the governors were being investigated at the time by the agency, it is trite to say that the magnitude of corruption that has been perpetrated in Nigeria since 1999 far outweighed what Ribadu bemoaned. While the 80s and 90s corresponded with the era of military autocracy, the period 1999 till date corresponds with the era of civilian political democratic corruption and impunity.
Again, around August 2011, the EFCC under Ribadu, in a report, revealed that since inception, the anti-graft agency had recovered a whopping $11 billion and arraigned 30 prominent national political figures. The annoying snail speed of the wheel of justice has made several other senior political figures implicated in corruption cases not to be prosecuted. The call for the establishment of special corruption court to ensure speedy trials of suspects has not materialized.
Just the other day, Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, announced that the EFCC has recovered N540 billion through whistle blower policy. All these are just a tip of the iceberg. No one can fathom the depth of corruption in Nigeria.
Virtually, on daily basis, reports of huge amounts of money being stolen through government ministries, departments, agencies, banks, NNPC and its allied oil industry establishments, state governments, local governments, name it. The sleaze is everywhere just as corruption is pervasive. It is as if a bazaar is declared to loot what could have been used to build a strong, progressive and prosperous nation.
Having stolen the wealth of the nation, government finds itself in dilemma, unable to meet up with basic demands of good governance. That is why state governors are shaking and claiming inability to pay $85 dollars as minimum wage.
But these are the same state governors that park private jets that attract huge amount of money. These are the same governors that live extravagant lifestyle. How come most other Africa countries pay higher minimum wage while Nigeria, “the giant of Africa” can’t?
The same goes with the gross underfunding of the universities. The late Chief Obafemi Awolowo built his political campaign programme on free education at all levels. The income Nigeria garners today quadruples what was garnered during the time of Awo. The way out is for the political elites to curtail their extravagancy. If looting stops, Nigeria is in a position to pay the highest minimum wage in Africa as well as have standard educational institutions comparable to those in the developed world.
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