I am from Nigeria and it saddens me sometimes to see the state that it has fallen into. Nigeria is a country with many natural resources, talents, money but it is also a severely mismanaged country
Let's take this into the different sectors in the country :
1.The Educational sector:
The various university associations are currently on strike. It's easy for the students to complain that either the NASU, ASUU or SSANU go on strike frequently but how do you justify the situation in which the workers are not paid salaries for months at a time and these people have families to feed and take care of. The funny thing is most of these government officials either send their kids to expensive private universities or they send them to school that are out of the country. I guess people don't care about things that have no personal effects on their life.
2. The Health sector
Most of these hospitals are overcrowded and have sub-par or inadequate facilities. You hear a lot of cases of people dying because their doctors were not qualified or they were misdiagnosed or given the wrong prescription drugs. The doctors are always going on strike for better salaries too. The health sector in the country is terrible but nobody cares because the people in a position to solve the issues also have enough money to fly out of the country if they have any health problems. Our president was quick to chastise former President Yar'adua for seeking health care out of the country but now, here he is doing the same thing. He has spent more of his tenure out of the country than within the country.
3. The Financial sector
We are having issues with different government officials embezzling funds or mismanaging money. We are always told why salaries are not being paid on time or at all is because the country is low on funds, yet everyday we see news of government officials being caught with stolen funds and yet they get away with slaps on their wrists and paying fines but no serious jail time and yet we expect the country to become better.
4. Agriculture/ International Trade
Nigeria as a country is one of the highest importers of goods and yet we barely export anything apart from Oil. We rely heavily on Crude Oil exportation to make international revenue and ignore the cash crops within the country that can also be exported out. Agriculture is practically an abandoned practice on a large scale and only done on this level by a few people as agriculture in Nigeria is mainly considered as something done by poor village farmers. Crops such as groundnut, cocoa, yam, cassava and various other crops are ignored. Counterfeit or substandard goods are bought abroad just because they are cheap and then, they are sold within the country, without a care that they could cause harm, just for the large profit margin.
5. Employment Rate
The country has more graduates than jobs. Most of the people graduating from universities end up out of school, jobless and penniless except a lucky few who have the necessary connections. At the end of the day, these graduates turn to unlawful activities just to make a living. Most people don't think to start their own legitimate business but the few that do want to start their own business, often times do not have the capital.
I feel most of these issues can be solved if the government actually allocates the funds to the right places and also provide loans to fresh graduates to aid in the creation of new companies, which would also provide employment opportunities. Money should be sent to the proper recipients and not diverted for personal and selfish use. Those caught misappropriating funds should be punished with the full force of the law to serve as a deterrent to future wrongdoers.
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