I know you are aware of the fact that the European Parliament passed a resolution that urged the European Union of nations to stop sending financial aid to Nigeria "...until fresh elections are held." One of our most prominent political scientists - Rotimi Suberu - who is living in the United States (and working as a fellow with the U.S. Institute of Peace) said, "...There is a sense of disenchantment." And Suberu also said that the major challenge now for you is to "...salvage the legitimacy of government," and yet people will be willing to accept you if you make major strides toward political reform. Like other scholars from Nigeria, Suberu is part of the brain drain; we must make the country whole again so our bright scholars and intellectuals may return home and help us solve problems.
There are other issues I hope you can work on, as well, Mr. President. Shell Oil, as you know, has been allowing gas flares to burn and burn. Many groups have protested against the burning of these gases, which are a product of the production of crude oil. This is a terrible abuse of our environment. For one thing it contributes to global warming, and for another, it hurts the air that our citizens breathe. Chevron, Texaco, and Mobil are also exploiting our people by polluting our air - and to top it off, money these American oil companies are making is not shared fairly with Nigerians. You promised in your inaugural speech to make "dramatic improvements" in energy production; you must take action to follow through, sir.
Also, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has called on you to be a "good, honest man" who will "treat [Nigerians] right," and deal with not only the energy question, but deal with "...unemployment, health, education, bad roads, deal...
I urge you to devote energy to the plight of the poor people in rural Nigeria; these people are suffering from extreme poverty and from AIDS/HIV. According to the Journalists Against AIDS Nigeria, there are over 4 million people in our country with AIDS. This year so far, there are 169,191 new HIV cases, and also, this year 142,596 people have died of AIDS in Nigeria, the journalists point out. This is terrible, Mr. President. We must all join hands to help these people. Health services are inadequate now.
My dream for Nigeria is for a country that is free of corruption; and it is a dream for a country that provides police protection for all people, that offers a good education and dependable housing for its people too. People in my dream Nigeria have jobs and they believe their leaders are honest. This is my hope and my dream. Thank you for listening.
Works Cited
Daily Independent. (2007). Editorial: Mr. President's Inaugural Speech. Retrieved August 22, 2007 at http://www.independentonline.com.
Edirin, Etaghene. (2007). Yar'Adua Presidency Not Legitimate - NBA. All Africa. Retrieved August 23, 2007, at http://allafrica.com.
Journalists Against AIDS Nigeria. (2007). Nigeria HIV / AIDS News. Retrieved August 23, 2007 from http://www.nigeria-aids.org/index.cfm.
Miller, Talea. (2007). Nigerian President Sworn in Following Controversial Election. Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved August 22, 2007, at http://www.pbs.org.
Turner, Terisa E.; & Brownhill, Leigh. (2007). Climate Justice and Nigerian Women's Gift to Humanity. Women & Environments International Magazine, 75(75), 47-48.
