One narrative of the last few years that has refused to change is the argument that Nigeria is not just a poor country but the poverty capital of the world. Last week, I learnt a lot about the subject at an exciting school’s debate where speakers argued for and against the topic, “Nigeria’s poverty is artificial.” The position of the winner of the debate was that Nigeria’s alleged poverty is fake news.
To better understand how wealthy Nigeria is, the debaters insisted that we should avoid the temptation of federalizing the subject because many state governments and individuals do also meet the cost of huge projects. It is an open secret that although the results of local government elections are usually fabricated in government houses ahead of the event, stategovernmentsdo vote and actually expend huge sums on the logistics of elections as well as voter suppression.
The legislators have clearly avoided ruffling other people’s feathers. We now know for example that oversight functions notwithstanding, ministers and heads of agencies are not challenged for allegedly having a fleet of the same vehicle that the legislators demand. According to senator Karimi’s school of thought, ministers have up to 3 SUV cars; yet, no one talks about that, it is only legislators that everyone criticises.