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The ways the elite manipulates the poor in Nigeria

At 50, Nigeria celebrated her golden jubilee anniversary. For one thing, the country's landscapehas had tremendous positive change. Since the colonialist left the shores of the country, thecountry has not been visited by any high flying disaster, natural or man-made, save for a 30-

month civil war that took more than a million lives. But today, there are two groups of peoplethat celebrated the golden jubilee; the elites and the poor. In the 50 years of Nigeria'sindependence, the country has not attained any form of infrastructural development strides, thecountry is now termed the 'sleeping giant' of Africa by the international community. Since theend of the civil war in 1970, the country has enjoyed unprecedented growth thanks to high oilprices and billions of foreign direct investment, mainly in oil and gas. Pumping around 2.2million bpd of oil, the country has gained international recognition for its rapidly expandingeconomy and no form of development.

Two third of the population continue to live on less than 1$ per day according to a World Bankreport. While there is money in the country to build hospitals for those who can afford the fees,

most Nigerians struggle to access even health care which lacks trained staff and infrastructureparticular in the rural areas. Private schools rake in astronomical fees to educate the children ofthe elite, one third of the country's children are of the school system, there is an enormous gapbetween the rich and the poor, and a lot of people are not aware of how rich Nigeria really is.People who live in the rural areas or urban centers don't see the oil rigs offshore, they don't knowhow much money there is, they don't see the new constructions and flashy cars, and theexpensive restaurants. The large majority of the population remains in a permanent state ofpoverty. The poor are not considered when policies are made; the elite make sure the poorremain the way they are. The gap between the rich and poor in Nigeria is widening day-by-day,and there is no sign that it is going to be any different in the nearest future. Most of thedevelopment strategies regarding provision of infrastructures which most of our political leaders

at the Federal and State levels seem to have been operating on, strategies that short changed themajority of the Nigerian population. In Nigeria, the leadership class seems to have beenpromoting a development pattern from which some large cities emerge with state-of -the artfacilities, skyscrapers, government lodges, five star hotels etc. While most of the inhabitants ofthose cities have no access to life's basic necessities, including the most important of them all-water. Social amenities meant to be used in the communes between the haves and haves not,which themselves reduce the daily drudgeries of the poor are thought of by the ruling elite to bemeant for cities inhabited by the moneyed class. At the State level, it is fast becoming a norm forthe leadership class with acquiescence of the rest of the elite to put nearly all the state's availablecapital development resources into providing secure and living centers only at the state capital,thus, impoverishing the majority of the population that lives outside those centers, if not

imperiling them. The phenomenon of elite oriented development pattern drives most Nigeriansinto owning two homes-one in the city and the other one in their rural areas of origin.

A February 5, 1976 Decree establishing the Federal Capital Development Authority places thedevelopment of Nigeria's new capital city, Abuja in the hands of the Federal Government. It hasremained so now, the city has a population of about 780,000 on Nigeria's 140 million people. Butwhen the per capita government expenditure on provision of infrastructure for Abuja is placed onthe same scale with that of the rest of Nigeria, the Abuja 'tip of the scale instantly touches the

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ground'. This lays bare the anomalies in Nigeria's elite oriented development pattern.

Ikem's speech in the twelfth chapter of Achebe's Anthill of the Savannah indicates the slew ofthe problems that Nigerians face under the elite's power. Ikem proves that those in power ignorethe needs of the using religion and money as tools to maintain their power, they enslave the

masses off their culture.

Late last year (2010), we were plagued with information credited by the CBN Governor in theperson of Lamido Sanusi Lamido, that the National Assembly gulps 25% of the FederalGovernment overhead costs in the 2010 budget, that is a sheer waste of national resources; just toincrease the minimum wage of the Nigerian workers from the mere N9775 to N18500 made theLabour unions in the country embark on a three days warning strike before the FederalGovernment acceded to their request, but if it were the politicians, their salaries are increasedalmost every time and they themselves determines the amount they can receive.

The mechanisms the elite use to make sure the divide remains, as Karl Marx said, that the elite

would employ mechanisms using instruments of the state; the elite makes use of religion andmoney in order to ensure that the poor remains the way they are.

The poor are a irrelevant bunch in the Nigerian state and it is only during elections that the poorare remembered. The elite make use of the poor during elections in order to rig elections and tocause violence and mayhem.

Nigeria is a country where the poor can do anything for money, including selling their votes for afew naira notes.

It is a known secret that the ethno-religious and communal clashes in the country are caused bythe elite who sits in their air-conditioned offices and manipulate the ignorant citizens of thecountry to cause violence.

The poor themselves are not helping matters, they are not concerned about their welfare, all theywant is money, money, money, and they allow themselves to be used by the elite.

Nigeria should rise up to the challenge and change this anomaly. They should not allowthemselves to be used by politicians who are not concerned about their well being.

Nigerians should endeavour not to be used as puppets by the elite.

The poor should ensure that in this 2011 electioneering year, they should vote for their owncandidate and they should not be influenced by religion, tribe or even money. They shouldensure that their votes are cast and realize that their vote is their power.

This is the only period that the poor are relevant in the Nigerian state, and after this year'selections, they would be relegated to the background and remain irrelevant until the elite decidesto use them as the circumstances or situation permits.

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Nwakudu Ifeanyi Samuel is a 22 year graduate of Political Science

from the University of Abuja and he just completed his mandatoryNYSC in Bayelsa state where he serve in Community Secondary

School, ofonI.