Dear President Goodluck Jonathan,
I am not going to flatter you and I have no apologies or regrets for saying the truth whether you care about criticisms or not.
I
will not join the bandwagon of sycophants who prefer to flatter you and
pay you eye service and lip service to curry your favour.
I am not a member of the opposition and I am not a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP).
I
am not a member or sympathizer of the New PDP, because I believe in one
PDP, one Nigeria. Because as our Lord and Messiah Jesus Christ said: A
house divided against itself cannot stand (Matthew 12:22-28, New King
James Version (NKJV). So, they are just wasting their time. The sooner
they reconcile with the bona fide PDP, the better instead of heating the
polity.
Yes, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, CON, was once my boss, but I have
not seen him since 1990 when I was an active aide in the publicity
department of his presidential campaign before the June 12 crisis.
Your
excellency, no human is as excellent as the Almighty God who alone is
the perfect excellency. So, if anyone criticizes us mere mortals for our
imperfections, we should not say we don't give a damn.
It is better
to swallow a bitter pill that will heal you than eat sweet that is
nothing but sugar that will do you more harm than good in the long run.
When you do good, I will commend you.
But when you err, I will also point it out to you.
Following
ignorant Christians to Israel on their pilgrimage to hit your head on
the Western Wall in the midst of the Old City in Jerusalem has nothing
to do with Christianity, because our Messiah Jesus Christ never
commanded us to do so.
As the government wastes millions of naira of
public funds on sponsoring religious pilgrimages to Mecca and Jerusalem,
our beloved tourist attractions in Nigeria are neglected and left in
ruins. And the best our honourable minister and director-general of
tourism and culture can do is organizing costume parades called
carnivals that have little or nothing to do to boost our cultural
heritage. Nigeria is not Brazil.
The power reforms are fine. But
no applause for you until I see those who forced Prof. Bart Nnaji to
resign from your cabinet closing their generator shops and looking for
more patriotic jobs to do than fishing in troubled waters like your
kinsmen posing as Niger Delta militants in the polluted creeks and
worsening the cases of crude of thefts and you know those who are the
kingpins of illegal oil exports from our shores.
Those errand boys paraded on television and on the pages of newspapers are not the real oil thieves.
The real criminals are their paymasters and their private bank accounts in local and foreign banks are enough to catch them.
They know themselves and are members of the same club.
Of course, the importers of generators and oil thieves are partners in crime.
Your
Excellency, the resolution of the prolonged strike by the Academic
Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is not a herculean task and lest we
forget, you have also joined similar strikes when you were a lecturer
and if you of all people who should know better cannot solve the
recurrent problems doing collateral damage to government tertiary
institutions, then millions of Nigerian students who voted to elect you
have wasted their votes.
Strike or no strike, the state of government schools in general is pathetic.
Hostels
on campuses are not better than urban ghettos and the horrible
conditions of their toilets will make any normal person faint.
I
cannot understand why there should be lack of regular supply of water on
campuses when sinking boreholes is not rocket science and every hostel
can sink as many boreholes as possible and solar power installations on
campuses can provide power supply for the benefit of both the students
and others on campuses.
Installing solar panels is a great way to
save money on electricity bills. And we have more than enough sunlight
in our hot climate to generate solar energy.
Your excellency, another problem giving me nightmares is the nauseating state of both the military and police barracks.
If you go on tour of these barracks, you will be heart broken, except you have no shame or scruples.
Majority
of our military and police barracks are not fit for human accommodation
and most of them are now overcrowded with broken down bathrooms and
toilets and I weep to see what the innocent children of military and
police officers are suffering in these inhuman living conditions.
The solution is simple.
The total renovation of dilapidated military and police barracks.
Give
direct contacts for the renovation to Julius Berger and other proven
construction firms to make them modern military and police barracks and
also install solar panels in every block and on every street in the
barracks.
When we improve the living conditions of our military and
police officers; pay them better wages, it will boost their morale; they
will be well fed; well trained and well kitted to do their best in law
enforcement duties and defending the precious lives and properties of
the citizens of Nigeria.
Your excellency, if you have really done
well for government hospitals, then why should you and your beloved
First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan spend millions of dollars on foreign
medical trips with other top public officials?
The N250bn Nigeria spends annually on medical tourism is more than enough to make our own hospitals among the best in the world.
And
the best way to begin is to increase the funding for our medical
colleges and I want all medical students in Nigeria to be on full
government scholarship, because we need more medical doctors and we have
to train more and poverty should not stop any brilliant student from
studying medicine locally with the best facilities.
Your
excellency, you deserve more accolades for the billions of naira you
have invested in Nollywood and Kannywood. But many people say you are
simply pampering our actors, actresses and other practitioners in the
motion picture business in Nigeria to mobilize them for your selfish
political interests. Well, as far as I can see, the few beneficiaries
were not asked for their memberships of the PDP. But, I would prefer you
increase the N3b grant to N300b; to give grants to those who want to
invest in building more cinemas or movie theaters and studios, because
mass producing CDs and DVDs of our movies will not create more jobs.
Only building more cinemas and film studios will create millions of jobs
like the motion picture industry in America that employs more than 2.1
million workers, including costume designers to make-up artists,
stuntmen to set builders, writers to actors, accountants to dry cleaners
and contributes more than $175 billion annually to the U.S. economy.
Do
you know that the global entertainment industry is worth more than $1.
23 trillion. And we have the largest market in Africa and so Nigeria
should be making billions of dollars and not asking for your handouts.
Your excellency, that is all I have to tell you now until further notice.
I wish you the best as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. And don't tell me you don't give a damn.
~
By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, prize winning writer and Author of "In the House of Dogs", "The Prophet Lied" and other books. He is also the Founder of the annual Eko International Film Festival, Publisher/Editor of Nigerians Report Online, CEO, International Digital Post Network Limited, CEO, Screen Outdoor Open Cinema, CEO, Nigeria IMAX Project, Executive Director of Screen Naija One Village, One Cinema Project and CEO, of King of Kings Books International.
In the House of Dogs - Kindle edition by
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The USA is still far ahead of any other Country for now and in no danger of being over taken but they will surely be looking over their shoulder as China continues its march forwards world domination.
2. China $2.7bnAs with everything about China these days, they have become the world’s second-biggest movie market, taking over from Japan.
3. Japan $2.4bnDumped off second spot, Japan must be resigned to the evitable position of playing second fiddle to China from now on in the film industry.
4. France & UK $1.7bn
Coming in joint fourth France and the UK’s appetite for films shows no signs of declining, as both still maintain very strong cinema going cultures.
5. India $1.4bnThe Indian film industry has been a powerhouse for many years now, making the largest number of films in the world, buying the highest number of tickets and having the second largest screen count. However, they only come in at number 5 in box-office revenues mainly because on average their home market has the amongst the lowest ticket prices in the world.
6. Germany $1.35bnDespite being in the Euro Zone, 2012 saw Germany generate their highest ever Box office revenues increasing by 7.8%, with 135.1 million Cinema tickets sold representing an increase of 4.2%
With only a fraction of the United State’s screens, Russia is the seventh-largest film market by Box office take and is making steady progress.
8. Italy $1.01bnItaly is another Country whose film sector is being weighed down in recent times by the impact of the Euro Zone economic crisis.
9. Spain $900mPlagued by the economic woes of a shrinking market, rampant piracy, subsidy cuts, Spain’s film industry is down on the list.
10. Brazil $800mBrazil is considered to have the most accessible film industry amongst the so-called high-growth emerging BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, and China).
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