Dear Mr. President,
I hope that this letter from your fellow compatriot will meet you and yours in good health and wealth. I cherish this opportunity to communicate with you, our number one citizen, since the only times I and fellow Nigerians get to see or hear from you are during your political campaign rallies, budget presentation sessions at the National Assembly or when you are making national broadcasts on issues of national importance!
You would be curious to know what my name is but with you having to deal with hundreds of visitors, aides, assistants, special advisers, cronies and hangers-on on a daily basis, I will simply call myself The Masses, which should ordinarily strike a chord in your memory without much ado!
I write to you because your government is channeling energy and resources towards staging events and festivities to mark a hundred years since the Northern and Southern protectorates were amalgamated by the British, berthing the geographical entity called Nigeria.
Your speech, at an event to seek support from the private sector in the creation of a centenary city, is what caught my eye and indeed the eyes of fellow Nigerians nationwide. This city will is expected to have all facilities and amenities of modern day cities in other parts of the world and will be self-sustaining! In referring to excerpts of that speech, you mentioned amongst other things that the city will be one in which inhabitants will not have to worry about possessing a generator because power supply will be constant, they would not have to sink boreholes because the city’s water supply will be clean and reliable, they would feel safe and secure because of adequate and effective security!
Mr. President, while I do not begrudge you having any kind of vision but do you not think that Nigerians should ordinarily be entitled to all these basic amenities without them being provided in a special centenary city. Pertinent questions that you and your aides may have overlooked include who the occupants of this new city will be? What will be the criterion for qualification? Will it cater for the upper class or the middle class or artisans and craftsmen? How many Nigerians will inhabit the city? And much more importantly, how much will this new city cost the nation, even if the private sector is to participate?
Mr. President, if indeed your dream of creating this centenary city (I am guessing it will be situated in or within the vicinity of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory) materializes, where all the aforementioned desirables are a given, do you not think that you will have a massive humanitarian crisis on your hands, if other parts of the country are not as well of? Will Nigerians, in their hundreds of millions, not relocate en mass to this new wonderland, in order to satisfy the basic needs of man for food, water, shelter and security? Or will your government decide to circumvent the constitution of the land and deny Nigerians their inalienable right to freedom of movement and habitation?
Sir, you should know that I retire for the day in great discomfort, because a neighbor of mine runs his generator throughout most nights, when the PHCN takes a leave of absence. All entreaties to him to consider others have fallen on deaf ears. As I write this letter to you, a major part of my expenditure goes to the procurement of commercially produced drinking water. My neighborhood also pays for the services of a vigilante group, who patrol our street at night, even if this measure is salutary at best! And I dare say that my experience is representative of the vast majority of Nigerians!
At that last elections Mr. president, you expressed gratitude to the Nigerian electorate for the overwhelming support your candidature received at the polls and you promised not to disappoint the faith they reposed in you! And these Nigerians reside in our many states, cities and villages; places that are in dire need of the provision of adequate security, constant power supply, affordable shelter and other basic amenities that will make life worthwhile! So the very least you owe Nigerians is to turn their neighborhoods into centenary cities, in a well thought-out pragmatic plan that is realistic and achievable.
In concluding, I can only hope that this letter will somehow evade the censorship of your aides and assistants, who determine what is eligible for your attention. And if, fortuitously, you eventually read the words written herein, I hope that you will give this point of view of a fellow compatriot careful consideration and act as you see fit. The ball, as it is said, is in your court! I shall be awaiting a reply, which would be really appreciated. I leave you now to attend to pressing matters of state, as I will do.
Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Sincerely yours for the greater good,
The Masses.
