Nasir
El-Rufai on Friday: Young Voices: Apart from being young – with their
ages ranging from 20 to early 30s, all our young voices have a few
qualities in common. They are all honest, passionate, patriotic,
detribalized, intelligent, thoughtful and angry about the Nigerian
condition. Our last young voice for the year – Mr. ChineduEkeke has these qualities and more, and for many requires no introduction. His blogging site
www.ekekeee.com
is one of the top three platforms offering Nigerian youths an outlet to
articulate, debate and express their diverse views. When presidential
mouthpiece Reuben Abati wrote about 'collective children of anger', he
was probably referring to Chinedu and these youths whose conscience
cannot be purchased with the gift of contracts, money or positions in a
hapless federal government whose decisions and actions are daily
compromising their future!
Chinedu trained as an accountant and
works as one, but following the footsteps of accounting graduates Adamu
Adamu and Ijeoma Nwogwugwu, applies his writing talent to draw attention
to what need doing to make our nation better. His articles have been
published by Sahara Reporters and many old and new media platforms. His
more recent and extremely popular pieces include 'The Audacity of a
Rogue Regime' and 'Echoes from the Niger Delta'. Today, he writes about
the opportunity cost of corruption.It is my singular honour and
privilege to present Chinedu Ekeke to you, with our best wishes and
prayers that the insecurity, fraud and corruption we have been subjected
to in 2012, will end with this horribly Jonathanian year! Amen.
- Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai
The Opportunity Cost Of Corruption – By Chinedu Ekeke
First, corruption and national development are mutually exclusive. But I'll get back to that.
The
first sense necessary for leadership in any clime is the sense for
common good. With such mindset, the dictates of common sense no longer
assume the rigours of rocket science. The simplicity of having enough
funds for investment in massive infrastructure no longer becomes an
issue to be explained away.
Twisting of facts becomes unnecessary.
Seeking the validation of courtiers becomes unimportant to leadership.
The secret is when leadership is burdened by the desire to work for the
common good.
Without the love for country – and not loving Nigeria
has been the single qualification for attaining leadership here – no
suggestion, no matter how patriotic, will be taken by those who call the
shots in the seats of power. That is why this article will not be taken
seriously by those who need it most: the president and his team. They
don't run a government of common sense. They run a regime of miracles.
They
squander billions in subsidy fraud, dubious budget for cutleries and
banquet halls, and then 'trust' God with our national development. For
leaders who love their country, an understanding of opportunity cost, a
basic concept in Economics, helps in economic decision making.
The
opportunity cost of anything is the highest valued alternative that
must be forgone when a choice is made. It is the cost of any choice
made, or activity involved in, measured by valuing the next best
alternative not chosen or taken.
In my days in secondary school,
faced with the trouble of having to reel out in full length the
definition outlined by my Economics teacher, and to save myself the
trouble of having to cram it for the purpose of passing exams, I
resorted to just making do with the other phrase that sums it up;
"Alternative forgone".
Yes, opportunity cost is alternative
forgone. It is actually a cost, like a loss. The 'loss' here means the
loss of benefits derivable from the alternative not taken.
When we
make the choice to erect corruption as a national monument, we have
chosen to lose the benefits derivable from the national assets we would
have built with the funds stolen.
When I did an essay on the 'Time
Value Of Corruption', I highlighted what we are losing today, in
monetary terms, by having allowed people steal our billions 20 years ago
without making them pay back, and possibly go to jail. I went ahead to
do a projection on the future value of the current billions and
trillions that the Jonathan regime's friends are stealing with reckless
abandon. In analyzing the opportunity cost of corruption, I may not get
absolutely quantitative to be able to pass my message, but I will be as
expressive as I can to make my point clearly known.
As I said in my opening line, corruption and national development are mutually exclusive.
Recently,
a Sunday Punch report revealed that over N5 trillion belonging to
Nigerians has been stolen under the watch of president Goodluck Jonathan
since he ascended the presidency. I wouldn't have been as worried as I
am if there has been any effort to bring the culprits of the
earth-shattering criminality to book. The government is carrying on as
if all is well, while Nigerians, who have become victims of over three
decades of state-promoted roguery, languish under grinding poverty and
unemployment, unable to afford even the most basic needs of life in a
country so blessed by God.
As the president makes – and shows much
comfort in – the choice of allowing his cabinet members, friends, and
'privileged' fraudulent business men fritter away our petro-naira
unquestioned, it is critical we call his attention to the opportunity
cost of that choice. We are forgoing many infrastructural developmental
alternatives.
Let's look at housing. The federal government hasn't
shown that it understands the need for housing for our huge population,
that's why slums abound in the cities with the slumlords boldly ripping
helpless citizens off. With N5 trillion, and through direct labour
involvement, we can build exactly 2.5million units of 2-bedroom flats at
N2 million per flat. The houses do not need sophisticated designs or
exquisite materials: just simple designs with simple but durable
building materials. My interaction with builders has assured me that N2
million can build a 2-bedroom apartment through direct labour. Do note
that we will not need to buy land because the land belongs to the
government. Government will simply make land available. We will not also
need to include the cost of contractors, because we will be using
direct labour.
The staff of Federal Housing Authority can, in
conjunction with the staff of ministry of environment, supervise the
project. The houses will be spread across major cities in the six
geo-political zones with huge populations. This will help provide
accommodation for people, lessen the pressure on the badly built and
poorly maintained houses, and help clean our cities of slums.
So
the opportunity cost of N5 trillion stolen under President Jonathan's
watch is 2.5million units of low cost housing for the urban poor and
middle class.
But that is if we choose to invest the money in housing. We could choose to concentrate on electricity.
With
N5 trillion, we can build more power stations to increase significantly
our electricity generation. If we had done that within the period we
watched the privileged ones steal the money, by today we will not be
gloating over 4500 megawatts of electricity that cannot serve even
counties in the United States, let alone states. We will be talking
about 15,000 megawatts or more, generated and distributed nationwide to
revive moribund businesses and productive activities.
The opportunity cost of our stolen N5 trillion under President Jonathan is constant electric supply.
We
may also choose not to face any of the mentioned opportunity costs in
absolute terms. We may combine them in a certain proportion, building a
portion of this and a portion of that with the N5 trillion.
Even
at that, the impact of each would have been so visible that it will be
impossible for even the president's enemies to deny him the deserved
credit.
If we chose to build just 1 million housing units with N2
trillion and used the remaining N3 trillion for power stations, then the
opportunity cost of the N5 trillion stolen under President Jonathan
would have given us 1million units of 2-bedroom flats and say, about
15000megawatts of electricity.
We could, instead, choose to focus
on health care. Instead of bearing the shame of having privileged
Nigerians jet out in droves, every day, to India and the West to treat
minor and major ailments, we could build world-class hospitals with
state of the art equipment for the treatment of all kinds of ailment. In
such cases we will not need to take emergency health cases off the
shores of our country.
The opportunity cost of the N5 trillion
stolen under the watch, and official inaction, of President Jonathan is
the needless deaths of millions of Nigerians who cannot afford the cost
of foreign medical treatments, the loss of money we incur from those who
can afford it, and the loss of jobs we would have created for our
people if we had built quality hospitals that can treat ailments
qualitatively.
But it is not just about the stolen funds. There's
also the opportunity cost of profligacy and waste in government. For
instance, in one very shameful demonstration of insensitivity, the
president and his mediocre ministers approved the construction of a new
banquet hall in Aso Villa. This is in spite of an existing banquet hall
for the presidency. No serious president with about 112 million people
in his country living in squalor will dare tolerate a mere mention of a
new banquet hall from either a minister or an aide.
Every serious
leader runs his country like a family. Responsible families do not
stretch their expenses beyond their means. Our rulers are both
irresponsible and mischievous, that's why an issue as an unneeded
banquet hall will even become a subject of discourse.
But the
opportunity cost of that presidential banquet hall is well funded
tertiary institutions that can compete with the very best in, at least,
Africa, or well paved roads in some distant lands forgotten by the
federal government.
There are even more.
The opportunity
cost of spending N16billion to build a house for the VP is the
pipe-borne water that should run through our houses.
The
opportunity cost of paying N6.5billion – unaccounted for – to state
governors as security votes is well-funded and reformed police with
adequate personnel to protect our lives and property.
The
opportunity cost of letting David Mark pay himself N600million per annum
– an amount that will pay for ten years the United States presidents'
salary – is millions of jobs that we would have created for our teeming
youths.
Equally, the opportunity cost of paying a Nigerian
legislator more than the British Prime Minister is the millions of good
jobs we would have created with the inexplicably huge amounts.
Because
money is stolen in Nigeria – legally and illegally – with impunity, we
have lost the opportunity to develop our country, and compete with the
rest of the world.
Corruption and national development are
mutually exclusive, that's why you should ignore the government official
who comes on national TV to promise you development. The money for our
development is the same money they have stolen.
We will only
commence our journey into national rebirth the moment we take the
stealing of government funds seriously. We can't watch people empty our
treasury and then still pretend we will build infrastructure. It is the
money for infrastructure that has been stolen.
Corruption and infrastructural development are mutually exclusive.
PSN
Newly engaged? Janet Jackson tweeted this picture and wrote ‘Season’s Greetings! Love, Janet’
Congrats! Janet Jackson has reportedly become engaged to Qatari billionaire Wissam Al Mana
Meet
her mogul: Wissam is the managing director of Al Mana Retail, which
represents A/X Armani Exchange, and he’s a shareholder in the Saks Fifth
Avenue
One source said that the pair’s ceremony will undoubtedly be ‘a
circus,’ and Al Mana plans to hire a ‘top chef to create a custom menu.’
Loving
large: The Nutrisystem spokesperson was last seen with the luxury-brand
mogul shopping in West Hollywood earlier this month, and in July the
loved-up couple were spotted laughing on a yacht in Sardinia
The Nutrisystem spokesperson was last seen with the luxury-brand
mogul shopping in West Hollywood earlier this month, and in July the
loved-up couple were spotted laughing on a yacht in Sardinia.
Past
love: Prior to Al Mana, the Rhythm Nation songstress had an on/off
seven-year relationship with record producer Jermaine Dupri
And in 1991, she secretly married dancer, songwriter, and director René Elizondo, Jr., but the longtime couple divorced in 2000.
