Just outside President Goodluck
Jonathan's office sat 17 ambulances, just in case he or one of his aides fell
ill. They were seldom if ever used.
No actual health-care facility
nationwide had as many, and in fact a few still have none at all. But as soon
as a Nigerian newspaper took a photo of the ambulances and published a story
about them, they suddenly disappeared -- probably to an underground garage.
Jonathan is president of Nigeria,
which should be among the world's most prosperous nations. After all, it
produces an estimated 2.4 million barrels of oil each and every day. With oil
now selling at $93.61 a barrel, that's $224 million in income daily. And yet
many hospitals can't afford to buy an ambulance. The reason, in my view:
Nigeria is the most corrupt nation on earth.
Sure, Transparency International
lists almost three dozen states as more corrupt -- Chad, Haiti, Laos, Yemen,
Cambodia and the like. But are any of those nations as wealthy as Nigeria --
taking in $81 billion annually, just from the sale of oil? No, not even one of
them. So Nigeria steals and squanders more money than any other nation, making
it the world's most corrupt, by that measure.
Nigerian journalist Musikilu Mojeed
finds all this so discouraging.
"With its geopolitical power,
economic resources and middle class," he laments, "no country (with
the possible exception of Saudi Arabia and Egypt) has the power to change the
course of black/African civilization like Nigeria." After all, Nigeria is
Africa's most populous state -- and large, twice the size of California.
So Nigerians are living an
opportunity squandered -- particularly now. Egypt is in turmoil. In just the
last few days, in fact, many Egyptians have been calling for a military coup --
anything to rid the state of its widely despised Muslim Brotherhood government.
And a new report by the World Economic Forum ranked Egypt the least safe and
secure tourist destination among 140 tourist nations evaluated.
Egypt has lost its place as the
Arab/African worlds' leader, and Saudi Arabia never had it. So for Nigeria, the
time is ripe. But its leaders seem interested only in stealing the state's
money to make themselves rich beyond imaging. Think about it: $81 billion a
year just from the oil, while most every local government official still tells
his people the nation just doesn't have enough money to fix the roads, schools
or hospitals. (Roads are in such terrible shape that government officials
generally travel any distance by helicopter.)
And Nigeria's people -- well, they
are as mistreated as any on earth. In only nine nations -- among them Liberia,
Sierra Leone and Somalia -- do more mothers die during childbirth. And in only
10 states, including Chad, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe, is the average life
expectancy lower. Right now the average Nigerian's average life span ends at
52. That may be why the median age of Nigerians is just 18.
A few months ago, the Economist
Intelligence Unit published an evaluation of the best places for babies to born
in 2013, given their probable welfare as children and the chance for a safe,
comfortable, prosperous life. Switzerland, Australia and Norway were the top
three. The United States came in at 16th, largely because "babies will
inherit the large debts of the boomer generation."
Dead last: Nigeria. "It is the
worst place for a baby to enter the world in 2013," the report said.
Even with all that wealth, only just
over half the population has access to clean drinking water, and one-third to a
toilet, UNICEF says. Two-thirds live below the poverty line. Only one child in
four who contracts pneumonia is given antibiotics, and only about half the
population is literate.
The CIA also cites endemic
"soil degradation; rapid deforestation; urban air and water
pollution." All this in a county whose gross domestic product stands at
$236 billion a year, in the same league as Denmark, Chile, Israel and the
United Arab Emirates -- prosperous, successful states to be envied.
Goodluck Jonathan is certainly aware
of all of this. After all, taking the oath of office, he swore to "devote
myself to the service and well-being of the people of Nigeria. So help me
God."
Well, just last week he demonstrated
who he really is and what he stands for when he pardoned a former state
governor who'd been convicted of embezzling state funds and laundering the
money. That pardon triggered a broad, angry uproar.
Good luck, Mr. Jonathan. It's time
you were impeached.
(Joel Brinkley is the Hearst
professional in residence at Stanford University and a Pulitzer Prize-winning
former correspondent for The New York Times.)
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