Where is Nigeria Going?
By Ola Kazeem in Lagos
Tuesday, 05 June 2007
No doubt, the Nigerian ruling class has landed itself in a very deep mess. It has created a situation that has made it extremely difficult for it to continue ruling in the old way. Within a period of eight years, all the ingredients required to sustain a minimal level of "bourgeois democracy" allowable in a neo-colonial economy like Nigeria have been completely eroded.
The Nigerian ruling class has been carrying out the policy of the IMF/World Bank over the years and is already paying dearly for this. But is there any alternative for them? Can the Nigerian ruling class refuse to do the bidding of imperialism?
Privatization, mass sackings and serious cuts in public spending on social services have created an unheard of level of inequality (a GINI coefficient of 0.75!) and extreme level of poverty with over 78% of Nigerians living on less than $1 dollar a day.
The consequences of these criminal policies are easy to see. The Nigerian ruling class has been completely discredited, without the slightest support among the people and, most expectedly, they are extremely divided among themselves, with one section accusing the other for the woes of the working class, but most unfortunately for them, both sections are completely discredited and mistrusted by the people.