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Many Nigerians, especially politicians and government functionaries, may have glossed over an important story last week. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 51.9 per cent of children in Kano are stunted. UNICEF’s Chief of Field Office Kano, Mr. Rahma Farah, reportedly said the figure implied that one in every two children in the state was not growing well due to chronic malnutrition. Over 10 per cent of these children are said to be wasted, a condition in which a child is too thin for their weight. The report indicated that malnutrition remained a major contributor to child mortality and poor educational outcomes in Nigeria, especially in the North.
Kano is a state that turns in one of the highest number of votes for presidential candidates in Nigeria. This is why the influential former governor of the state, Musa Kwankwaso, is courted by presidential candidates who want to win in the state.
It is believed that Kwankwaso holds the magic wand to winning any major election in Kano. He is the power-broker in the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), the ruling party in Kano State. His Kwankwasiyya Movement has been in control of Kano politics for some years now.
Recently, speculations were rife that President Bola Tinubu was wooing him to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). He actually met privately with the President in Aso Villa last month.
It is ironical that despite the importance of Kano to politicians, the majority of children in that state are chronically malnourished. In this same Kano and some other northern states, some minors were arrested and detained for joining in the hunger protests of August 2024. They were arraigned but later discharged apparently because of the outcry against their arraignment.
Obviously, the masses come last in the calculation of many Nigerian politicians. They are not bothered about the stunted children, their education or general well-being. They are mainly after what goes into their pockets.
When they award big contracts, it is not the ordinary Nigerians they have in mind. They are majorly looking at the kickbacks that will accrue from the mostly inflated contracts. Many roads are begging for rehabilitation in Nigeria. But they left them to award a N15 trillion contract for Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road. Many Nigerians have questioned the bidding process for that contract.
Similarly, the Abuja International Conference Centre (ICC) was recently renovated at the cost of N39 billion and renamed Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre. Mind you, the grandiose project was just a renovation, not newly built. General Ibrahim Babangida’s military regime built the centre in 1991 at the cost of N240 million. Weekend Trust estimated that the N39 billion could build new 1,200 classrooms or 312 new primary health care centres (PHCs). It also equals the capital expenditure of 12 federal universities or nine federal medical centres in the approved 2025 budget.
When this project was inaugurated in June 2025, schools and hospitals in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were on strike due largely to the inability of the FCT Administration to meet up with payment of salaries and other entitlements of workers.
Late last month, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved a N712.26 billion contract for the upgrade and modernization of Terminal One of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos. The project was reportedly not captured in the 2025 budget of the Ministry of Aviation. The ministry’s budget is just N71,123368,069. The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, laboured to justify the award of the contract. According to him, the terminal will be stripped down to only the carcass and rebuilt with new mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems. Additionally, he said, FEC also approved the expansion of Terminal Two, including constructing new apron, access roads, bridges and related works.
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Agreed, the need to renovate the MMIA cannot be overemphasized. The airport is not up to international standard. It is probably one of the few international airports in the world where cleaners hand over toilet tissue to people to clean their hands after using the rest rooms. The runway is not in a very good shape. The air conditioning system is not in order. The conveyor belt and baggage sorting compartment are not working properly. There are other problems airlines and passengers encounter in this airport and other Nigerian airports.
But, N712 billion? Well, a number of Nigerians have expressed concern over the high cost. Some feel it’s a ploy to fund the 2027 election. Some have wondered if there was a competitive and transparent bidding in the award of the contract. To address these concerns, there is need for transparency in the execution of the contract.
Nigerians also demand transparency in every other government action. The late President Muhammadu Buhari appointed his cronies and tribesmen in positions of authority with impunity. The incumbent President has elevated it to another level. We call it nepotism. They feel otherwise. They give their people the impression that they love them so much. But in reality they mainly use such appointments to settle friends, family members and political allies. Today, Tinubu stands accused of giving major appointments to his Yoruba kinsmen. But how has that put food on the table of the poor masses? Is the average Yoruba man better off today than four years ago?
In December 2023, some residents of Lagos Island and traders of Idumota market yelled in Yoruba, “Ebi’n pa wa o” (Hunger is killing us o), as President Tinubu’s convoy drove by. Meanwhile, Lagos is another high-vote turning state in Nigeria. It belongs to the ruling APC. But outside politicians and their cronies, how many ordinary citizens are happy with the goings on in the state? How many indigenous Lagosians can boast of enjoying a high standard of living? Yet, politicians confuse them with phantom promises and try to put a wedge in their relationship with the non-indigenous population to achieve their selfish ends. It is pathetic!
In some other parts of the country, hardship is unbearable and has turned many citizens into beggars and walking corpses. A number of people have died in stampedes to collect food palliatives in some parts of the country.
Meanwhile, doctors and nurses are on strike. They want better welfare and conditions of service. Most of them toil day and night to ensure that sick citizens are given adequate treatment with the inadequate equipment at their disposal. At the end of the day, their take-home pay hardly takes them home. They are even owed arrears of salaries and allowances.
Last month, doctors in Lagos, under the Medical Guild, went on a three-day warning strike over alleged non-payment of 12 months’ arrears owed honorary consultants under the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS), among others. The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has had to go on strike on a number of occasions to put pressure on the government to accede to their demands.
The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has threatened to go on total and indefinite nationwide strike, if its demands were not met after the expiration of its recent 21-day ultimatum. The National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) embarked on a seven-day warning strike recently. They also want better welfare and conducive work environment. Before now, the last strike of the nurses was over 40 years ago, precisely in 1984.
Some of these health professionals may soon join the over 60 per cent of Nigerian doctors said to be working abroad. The problem in the health sector is such that doctor-to-patient ratio in Nigeria is 3.9 per 10,000. This is said to be far below the global minimum. Many citizens have no choice but to resort to taking herbal concoctions to treat various ailments.
Amid all these, the profligacy of this government is unprecedented. And it is all to satiate their long appetite for opulent lifestyle. A new presidential jet cost the country $150 million. A new Vice-President’s residence cost N21 billion. Sport utility vehicles for members of the National Assembly cost N57.6 billion. Convoy vehicles for the leadership of the National Assembly cost about N7 billion.
If the amount of money being wasted daily is ploughed into education, health, agriculture and food production, Kano children will not go hungry. There wouldn’t have been any need for doctors’ and nurses’ strike. The Academic Staff Union of Universities would not have been embarking on long strikes. And there wouldn’t have been hunger and bad governance protest in 2024.
Nigerians should open their eyes. They should not allow politicians to put disunity in their relationship with one another. They should not be blinded by the N5,000 bribe some politicians give to get their votes during elections. They should vote for people with character, competence and the vision to bring about uncommon development to the country. Our past suffering should give us the resilience to stand and vote out those who have corruptly enriched themselves at the expense of the masses.
Notwithstanding the corrupt and manipulative tendencies of some people in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the judiciary, let’s resolve to do our part in the 2027 general election.
