I read an un-refuted statement credited to Mr. President that those who have another country other than Nigeria can leave. Should I say I am fortunate to still claim Nigeria as my only country; Every day I am making sacrifices for her survival only that I now demand that the sacrifice I make must not be entirely at my expense but at the expense of all, otherwise our labour and that of our past heroes may end up being an effort in futility. I am sick and tired of Kano collecting huge VAT revenue from alcohol beverage consumption at the expense of Lagos and Onitsha.
For reasons of the above and many other sundry ones, let me quickly add that my belief in the unity of Nigeria is different from the sovereignty fetish of the old guards who fought in the ill-fated Nigeria-Biafra civil war and yet did nothing to progressively foster the same unity they fought for.
Given their idea of an indissoluble nation there would appear to be little chance of winning popular support for self-determination but that’s not the case as the same old guards over times sustained a primitive agenda that fuels separatist agenda. Here I find it difficult to expressly urge those on the streets demanding restructuring to halt for how do you faithfully uphold the integrity and honour of a country where your participation in the top echelon of the economy and politics is based on the account of your religion, tribe or language? It ought not be so!
I was a witness to the divisive politics that brought APC and the current leadership to power. It was bad politics played by both sides.  As a small player, I saw that our nation was hugely divided and polarized. I prayed against what I feared most happening to Nigeria in my life time. Thank God we survived.
I had expected the new administration to take deliberate steps in uniting the country. In congratulating the then in-coming president, I saluted the courage and statesmanship of the out- going president who not only conceded defeat but refused to challenge any aspect of that election in court. This was a foundation never laid before which we would have taken advantage of but instead, like the teachable moments of the civil war, that opportunity was also missed in pursuit of vendetta and vindictive politics.
I had at different times asked for respect of the federal character principle in the distribution of positions and projects but the government appears to be continually looking just North as if the South, in particular the south East doesn’t matter.  Why would Nigerian Government borrow nearly $30BN and yet no single project in the entire South East meets the priority of the Government for intervention:  Not even 2nd Niger Bridge or the death traps that federal roads in the east have become; not even the hundreds of erosion sites or reviving the Oji Power Station or the coal in Enugu and environs. Not even completing the Enugu International Airport or rehabilitating the South East rail line matters. It doesn’t matter to the leaders of Nigeria that generations of Igbo yet unborn will be part of repaying this loan and yet the region, due to poor politics, is not considered worthy as beneficiaries.
Listening to the Federal Ministry of Finance, I reached the conclusion that the minister is struggling to defend the indefensible, by claiming the earmarked programs for the fund are not regional. If not regional I wonder if they are national or international. It’s unfortunate that we have people in position of trust who rather than serve Nigeria are working to please the almighty ‘oga’ else ‘oga’ gets angry.
A breakdown of how the loan would be spent on infra¬structure between 2016 and 2018 shows that none of the projects contained is locat¬ed in the South East geo-polit¬ical zone.
The Finance Ministry said the $29.960 billion loan is de¬signed to address infrastructure deficit in the country.
But in a statement released to journalists on the projects to be funded by the loan, there was no single infra¬structural project allocated to the South East – an area most acutely hit by poor infrastruc¬ture and an acute shortage of various social amenities.
According to the statement, issued by the Special Assistant to the Minister of Finance on Media, Mr. Festus Akanbi, in¬frastructural projects are allo¬cated $18.3 billion.
The projects to be embarked upon are the Mambilla Hydro Electric Power Project ($4.8 billion), the Moderni¬sation Coastal Railway Project (Calabar-Port Harcourt-Onne Deep Sea Port Segment) valued at $3.5 billion and the Abuja Mass Transit Rail Project (Phase 2) put at $1.6 billion.
Others are the Lagos-Kano Railway Modernization Project (Lagos-Ibadan Segment Dou¬ble Track) estimated at $1.3 bil¬lion and the Lagos-Kano Rail¬way Modernization Project (Kano-Kaduna Segment Dou¬ble Track) valued at $1.1 bil¬lion.
The balance of $11 billion will be expended on Eurobond ($4.5 billion), Federal Govern¬ment Budget Support ($3.5 bil¬lion), Social Support for Educa¬tion and Health ($2.2 billion), Agriculture ($1.2 billion), and Economic Management and Statistics ($.2 billion).
According to the statement, the borrowing has a three-year plan covering proposed pro¬jects for 2016-2018 and is ex¬pected to be phased over the three-year period.
The ministry said that the borrowings are highly conces¬sional (non-commercial), with low interest rates and long ten¬ors.
The Federal Government affirmed that the funding is being sought from multilateral institutions such as the World Bank, the Africa Development Bank (AfDB), the Islamic De¬velopment Bank (IDB), Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) and the China Exim Bank.
The planned Eurobond is¬suance in the international capital markets, the statement pointed out, is the only com¬mercial source of funding.
But when contacted on the apparent omission of the South East on the project allocation, he said that the loan has noth¬ing to do with regional consid¬eration. He said the gov¬ernment would still reflect all the regions in the 2017 Budget.
Akanbi said: “I don’t have an answer to your question. This is just a Federal Govern¬ment thing that was presented. It’s not a regional thing. There are other projects like ag¬riculture.
“These are strategic things just like intervention for three years’ programme. That does not stop the Federal Govern¬ment from planning for all the regions next year and in the 2018 budget. It’s just for sup¬port. It’s not the main thing, just an ad-hoc initiative.
“The government is going to sit down and work on the 2017 budget and all the regions will be covered. It has nothing to do with regions. These are specific projects on ground”.
These guys are funny. Why must the South East be the one to always wait? Why must we always be an afterthought in Nigeria? Are we not part and parcel of this nation? All of the above coming from the Minister of Finance showed the government never thought through the borrowing stuff and how to spread the spending for the common good of all or they are just borrowing for the heck of it and  like most black nations scrambling on free stuffs which aren’t entirely free after all.
Whatever we do, I think we must try to consider Nigeria as one. As much as possible we should accommodate all parts of the country in the scheme of things. The current government is pushing the Igbo out of Nigeria and it is not good. All part of Nigeria requires intervention and support. The South East despite its progress still suffers huge infrastructural deficit. Let me remind the Federal Government that we shall lose nothing as a nation being our brother’s keeper or sister’s keeper. We must stop to use government policies to create disgruntled citizens. Our politics must aim to unite rather than divide us.

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