Long, long time ago, we have always been cheated, cheatable and cheating ourselves.The royal Niger company expedition and UAC charade traded and raided us leaving no gains but ruins. There was this saw-mill in okura-olafia, what was left behind? Hippo at oforachi heaped off our trees and vegetation, the Nifor and oilpalm companies in ochaja and Acharu-Egume, no gains. The Ajaokuta steel is a huge entertainment, like an experiment in craft by tiny tots.The sanitary ware company in ofukolo-Idah died on arrival. The Cement companies in Obajana & Alo ravaged and damaged our roads, no gains save peanuts and the frequent accidents the trucks are notorious for skidding Okada riders off road, smashing golf’s.There is this huge complex in amuna-ogodo junction believed to be linked to production of coal bilets, till now no production goes on nor is there a publicly known ownership.
At itobe tons of ceramic tiles flows out of BNL and ‘china’- or Royal. A company buys off recyclables for balloons and disposables and churns out iron rods in droves.The reward is low paying jobs and environmental pollution. For cashew, we are contented with just selling off the nuts, buy new mattresses and motorcycles, load in perpper soup and brag off at the slightest family meeting.Beside this, alot of illegal mining goes on with the many untapped natural resources numbering about twenty nine(29) lying fallow in the state.
Zero in more on Kogi east, ours is even a more pathetic case of these narratives.The famous Anyigba world bank assisted Agricproject ended in some family pockets. History books has their names.
Fast forward to the, ọdagbọ-okaba coal has the best quality second only to India’s, such that it was even quarried and labelled Enugu coal till today.
Our own Fadama funds where are the Mega farms? Agriculture which goes beyond farming is our greatest comparative advantage but we care not. I once did a survey in Millet farming in Zamfara state: I got sick walking a distance of uninterrupted milletfarm as distanced as ankpa to okpo belonging to just one mallam. I was surprised to discover the extent of farming in America. A typical American will boast of vast capacity to feed their about 350+million population. Matty’s farm for example is larger than all the farmers in the famed ‘Atuma’ in Ankpa or ibaji put together.Hi-tech agro-allied intervention is the way to go now.
So, why have we nothing to show for all these goodlucks of nature?
Two, as it was back then so it is today. Some cheap community leaders or and lucky opportunists, unfortunate elites and inexposed chiefs get few tips, buy second handed cars, marry new wife or wives, take chieftaincy titles, erect a Shagari 1982styled bungalow, get sick, die off and leave behind confused orphans, a disabled house wife or wives and wretched communities. The schools are in bad state and shape.The civil servants are hungry and angry. The farmers too can barely feed their own. With the economy and small businesses in the hands of the Ankpa-Anyigba-idah ibos and the Hausa abokis, we operate a borrowed economy and a disproportionately dependent supply chain. Everywhere, there is pain and panic.
I weep bitterly for my people and our land.
We as a people are of no consequence. Sad but true.(knowledge is power, but solutions always lie in the problems.
This is a wake up stimulus for aspiring leaders.You need researchers, data and experts more than thugs. If you are usefu and relevant no one will want to ordinarily harm you. The rat lives in perpetual fear because of guilt, stealing, eating certificates or clothes, Maggi, ebola, nuctornal activities and hoarding. Why the over security hype? Are u like the rat? )
