By Adewunmi Emoruwa
A Miracle can be described as an illogical occurrence that contradicts prevailing conditions or accepted reality.
Nigeria is experiencing harsh times, we are acquainted with the stats. Most recently we are battling with acute cash shortage of the US Dollar and even the Naira, with reasons alluded ranging from restricted forex inflow as a result of rigid monetary policies, plummeting levels of economic activity or several hundreds of millions of dollars held captive, buried in bunkers and soak-aways of the allegedly corrupt. While consumption, like purchasing power is on the decline, inflation is about the only thing rising in our country. In simple English: Nigeria is broke or one would assume.
‘We are are a resilient nation’ quipped one of the politicians who got us into this mess. S/he will be fine. But is is not just himself or herself alone, a few, privileged, wild, exotic animals (we are not allowed to see) resident in Aso Rock will also be fine.
A Budget line in State House 2017 Budget caught my attention: Over Forty Million (40m) Naira will be spent to feed and cater to the wild animals in the State House. This is Nigeria where most of our citizens are not guaranteed their next meal. This is a country that is supposed to be in a recession. Haowa Bello, an inspiring young Fulani lady from Adamawa State started her leather/bag manufacturing and goat farm business which is now worth hundreds of thousands of dollars with a loan of just $200, which was about N30,000 around the time. (You can read about it here) [1] Imagine our government invested $200 (N65,000) in young enterprising Nigerians in the place of maintaining these exotic beasts, it could have created a cluster with over 600 Hauwas and about 2000 new jobs. Not too long ago, world news featured a small, little known Nigerian tannery in Kano that supplies leather to the Italian brands, Louis Vuitton and Ralph Lauren [2].
