*Says activities of thugs in state cause of living at cost higher than earning
*People, who used to live on govt and no longer have access to free money, have gone into crimes, reason for insecurity – General
*Insists Buhari inherited backlog of ‘seriously damaged’ economy
*Sad public institutions are not being run for good of the targetted people
*Says the political class using poverty as tool to control psychology of the Nigerian masses
By BASHIR ADEFAKA
As more concerned think-tanks continue to brainstorm and bare their minds on the current situation in Nigeria, a retired Army General has said the failure of Federal Government to hold Lagos dear to its heart is major problem that must quickly be looked into being, according to him, the core of the problems.
The retired officer, Major General Adekunle Abdullahi Martins, a former Commander Nigerian Army Ordnance Corps, spoke at length in an interview with The DEFENDER Saturday morning, during which he said, “you don’t leave the economy like of Lagos, upon which other economies depend, in the hands of mediocres, hoodlums and their sponsors. What you have is hardship across the land and it is what we are witnessing.”.
The former military top bras said President Muhammdu Buhari had done quite well enough but that some backlog areas needed to be looked into for his good work and performances to show.
“Once they can hold the economy of Lagos dear to themselves, automatically it will impact positively well on the others. But if you leave the economy of Lagos in the hands of thugs and their sponsors who dictate prices of food and fares that people pay to transport themselves and their goods, they will not make life comfortable for people.”
File: Major General Adekunle Abdullahi Martins (now retired), decorating Martin Elendu with his new rank of Brigadier General assisted by Mrs Elendu, while serving as Commander, Nigerian Army Ordnance Corps, Abati Barracks, Ojuelegba, Lagos, few months before his retirement on 9 January of 2015.
General Martins said the bottom line of the whole situation was that the Buhari’s Administration inherited a seriously damaged economy due to unpardonable corruption of the past and that it got worsened because, people, who had all their lives depended on government, have now gone into crimes because they no longer have access to free money hence the heightened insecurity the country has witnessed.
He said people just decided to set up one agitation or another not for any collective purpose but to force government to negotiate with them with intent to make money for themselves.
“They are the ones causing this insecurity, believe me,” the General said.
“And also, those who are crying and blaming President Buhari may not really be blameworthy for doing so because one; they do not feel secured, they are hit by abject poverty and so they are hungry. What you see happening, I must tell you, no single region in Nigeria wants to break away because they all know that to attempt it is to declare war on themselves and no one wants to go and do what has no justification.
“The political class are using poverty as tool to control the minds and psychology of the Nigerian masses. It is the reason, despite the effort the current Buhari’s Administration has made, public hospitals still are neither affordable nor safe for the sick people. God forbid that you are sick, if you go to public hospital, they make you cough out huge amount of money before they attend to you. If one does not have the money, that is death. We have seen it happening and how many Nigerians can afford to travel abroad for medical treatment?
“Same thing is public schools. More terrible things are happening in government schools and those who even manage to pass through that, they graduate and there is no hope of a good living. I have seen a medical doctor who graduated and his take home pay cannot take him anywhere. But he sees an illiterate, who dropped out of secondary school and is now a thug, who is now rich. Yet they say it is he that has money that has idea.”
The former Commandant, Nigerian Army College of Logistics, said it was not as if Nigeria was never great before, adding the indices that made up the better country of the past to include the effectiveness of the middle class with a doing well artisanship.
“While we were growing up, we saw welders, carpenters, tailors, air dressers, many people of skills who were doing well. But today those artisans have dumped those trades for thuggery because there is more money in it than what they were trained to do and the political class are happy to encourage this. Still, they do the thuggery in the day and still carry guns and go to rob in the night.
“This is how insecurity came about and when people don’t feel secured and safe, they would cry out and you cannot blame them for crying. And the insecurity was caused by those who no longer have access to free money as a result of the Buhari’s anti-corruption programme and therefore no farmer can go to farm and grow crops. This leads to scarcity of food and then when we don’t produce, you have situation where our Naira is devalued, hence, we are into serious economic problem despite sincerity of government. What you then have is poverty and you have situation of hunger.”
He contunued by making his own suggestion: “President Muhammadu Buhari still have the time now to act by tackling poverty and hunger and do it concurrently with standing up more tactically to the face of insecurity elements and their sponsors. Let him do these and see if Nigerians will complain again, especially now that they have learned their lessons how not to wail unnecessarily,” General Martins said.
Activities of thugs in Lagos cause a living at cost higher than earning
Specifically, he explained how failure of Federal Government, especially in this better one, to show interest in how the economy of Lagos is managed is reason for why life is hard as people are being made to live life at higher cost than their earnings.
“Poverty and hunger are damaging the economy and as a result, there is no security. That is how it is all round, have you seen where people attack themselves, going into others’ houses to loot them? During #EndSARS that almost happened because they attacked super markets in Lagos, in Cross River they did the same thing and in Ibadan they went to where an individual stored his goods and looted them.
“So, what are we talking about? When survival becomes a challenge, people will have to feed and live on the other ones.
“That is why I will want to advice leadership of the Federal Government. They must hold dear to themselves the economy that other economies in the country depend upon; economy on which the entirety of the country depends upon, they must not leave it in the hands of mediocre.
“Once they can hold the economy of Lagos dear to themselves, automatically it will impact positively well on the others. But if you leave the economy of Lagos in the hands of thugs and their sponsors who dictate prices of food and fares that people pay to transport themselves and their goods, they will not make life comfortable for people.
“You live in a particular part of Lagos, all of those areas, how many roads have they done? There is no water, there is no health. If you go to public hospital in Lagos today, you must pay huge bill before they treat you; that is government hospital. For what purpose is government hospital in place if not, although money have to be paid but, to make life comfortable for people? Children can no longer go to school. Those who can afford it among the majority are now taking their children to private schools because the quality of education in government has collapsed.
“So, tell me, how do you want to run an economy like that. The economy that everybody is dependent upon like that of Lagos, if it is in the hands of hoodlums, how do you want to make it work? It can’t work.
“And then you are saying that people who are blaming Buhari should not do so. If the people, to whom he gave job to do for the good of the people he leads, fail, either by corruption or selfish interest, it is his name that people will mention. Let us sit right and think about our situation properly. I can assure you that President Muhammadu Buhari, with the capacity that I know that he has, can still achieve a lot more within the time that he has left. Let him take what happens in Lagos seriously. Let him and his administration hold Lagos dear to themselves stop the control of the place’s economy by thugs and see whether economies of other states across the country will not take shape.
“In essence, I am saying it once again that, the Federal Government should not leave the economy of Lagos in the hands of touts and their sponsors. If they heed to that, all the good works that President Buhari has done to make life comfortable for the people of Nigeria will begin to show whether some media organizations and their journalists choose to report those good works or not and Nigerians will smile because they will have been living well and good.
“This is because every state that has produced anything in Nigeria, Lagos is always the distribution point. Take for example food that is produced in the North. It is brought to Lagos and it is the people in whose hands the economy of Lagos is left by Federal Government that decide how much those food items are sold to traders who come from other parts of Southern Nigeria to buy.
“Findings have revealed how cheap the cost of these things are and used to be in the North. How come they are so hard for us once they get down to the South? Because in Lagos and its environs where they are brought to as distribution centre, the people there, who do not have the interest of the masses but of themselves at hearts, fix a price and administer oaths to say whoever does not abide by the price will face certain sanctions. Imagine that superstitious lifestyle by marketers in our markets in Lagos!
“Don’t also forget that they are the ones who decide what happens in the transportation sector also in Lagos and once these two areas: market and transportation are left in the hands of touts and those who sponsor them, there is no amount of good things that President Buhari will do that will show in the daily life of the people. They won’t be allowed to benefit by those who decide the distribution of those good things of life.
“Unfortunately, these elements have the louder media to their side and it does not appear that the Federal Government is working on alternative means of letting the people see the truth of what is happening. That is what is happening. That is why people are crying because, there is no how people will be hungry because they are being made to live at cost higher than their earnings and you think they will not complain.
“Let the President act now by ensuring that market and transportation in the nation’s economic nerve centre are taken out of control of hoodlums and their sponsors and see if things won’t change drastically, for better,” General Martins said.
