HOW NIGERIAN STATE GOVERNORS CREATE POVERTY

There is an old Chinese adage which states that if you teach a child to fish, he will feed for a life time but if you give him fish he will eat for one day. It was Ex Governor Peter Obi that said that creating job is not the function of the government, rather the government should provide the enabling environment so that the private sectors can create jobs. Instead of providing the enabling environment for private sectors to create lasting jobs, Nigerian state governors fall on top of one another trying to create jobs and trying to pay people who are in temporary jobs before they pay those who are career civil servants.

For example the governor of Borno state recently employed over 700 aides, the governor of Yobe followed suit by employing over 750 aides. Governor of Edo state employed 192 special assistants. The list goes on and one. Every governor is employing people to hover around him or her and accompany him or her to every trip, Of course they are fully aware that at the end of 4 year term, those aides will not only be jobless, they would have lost the skills they had before they were employed as aides. When they are eventually kicked out by next governor they will constitute nuisance in the society because they have become used to the fine things of life without any income to sustain the habit or even a pension or insurance for basic income until they find their new job.

I would suggest that instead of employing 700 aides and special assistants, governors should go back to the olden days when every state in Nigeria had several companies and business ventures where people are gainfully employed and in the process they are learning useful skills that will sustain them even if the company collapses. A few states have actually done some soul searching but majority of the states in Nigeria are selling the little assets they still have and governors are gathering youths to feed and drive around for four years or at most 8 years and thereafter to your tents oh Israel.

A poor man who is willing to do a dirty job will not be poor for too long.Whereas a poor man who is waiting for a white collar job and huge income is gambling with time. He or she may succeed in no time or take a life time to break even.