NASARAWA'S MILLIONAIRE LIONS

[usman11]

NASARAWA'S MILLIONAIRE LIONS
Editorial
Tuesday, March 31, 2009

IT is one of the disturbing paradoxes which characterise the polity in Nigeria that the state government in Nasarawa spends about 18 million Naira per annum for the upkeep of two lions now under the care of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments in its Zoological Garden in Jos. Prior to being moved to the Zoological Garden in Jos, the lions had served the erstwhile Governor of Nasarawa State, Alhaji Abdulahi Adamu, as part of his security detail, which he allegedly deployed to ward off perceived enemies in the Government House, Lafia!

ACCORDING to a newspaper report, when the current state governor, Aliyu Akwe Doma, assumed duties, he expressed his reservations about keeping the ferocious carnivores in the Government House and promptly made arrangements for their transfer by contacting the National Commission for Museum and Monuments and an agreement was reached between the state government and the Director General of the Commission for keeping the two lions at the Zoological Gardens in Jos.

AS part of the arrangement to transfer the lions to the zoological gardens in Jos, Governor Doma agreed to part with the sum of 1.5 million Naira monthly for the upkeep of the lions. In other words, the state government would spend N18 million annually on the maintenance of the two lions.

THIS is a ludicrous and chilling paradox in an economy where the average minimum wage for human beings engaged by the government is about N7,500 per month or N250 per day. The hefty amount expended on the lions will conveniently pay the salaries of 200 workers.

AS a matter of fact, the allowance of 1.5 million Naira per month for the two lions puts them at par with the elite class in Nigeria. And what this means, curiously, is that these lions are valued more than human beings. It is apposite to note that Nasarawa State ranks high on the poverty index in Nigeria and in his first few months in office, Governor Doma found it almost impossible to pay the salaries of the workers in his state.

THE decision to keep two lions as part of the security checks by former Governor Adamu was frivolous and it betrayed a manner of thinking that ought to have been challenged by the state's House of Assembly, especially because his reason for procuring these lions, to ward off perceived enemies at the Government House, Lafia, lacked merit. He was not an emperor like the famed Haile Sellasie of Ethiopia. For a democratically elected governor of a state to have used the state's money to acquire those lions at the expense of developmental programmes is criminal, to say the least, especially because the reasons given for acquiring those ferocious 'pets' were as spurious as they were laughable. It even showed the kind of quality of thinking that is available to those who are in leadership positions in Nigeria.

THE Nasarawa lions issue then is an expose on the quality of leadership in Nigeria. It also reveals why it would be foolish to continue to allow this mediocre leadership to make decisions for the right-thinking citizens of the country

[usman11]

lol!!!!When did Lions start becoming security guards? I am really curious as to how these lions were supposed to protect the Governor. Don't lions just attack and eat anything in sight including humans, and even its owners? Gosh! Nigeria is one big comedy theater. They never cease to amuse  :D

[Muhsin]

lol!!!!When did Lions start becoming security guards? I am really curious as to how these lions were supposed to protect the Governor. Don't lions just attack and eat anything in sight including humans, and even its owners? Gosh! Nigeria is one big comedy theater. They never cease to amuse  :D

...and to surprise, for I found that more astonishing than amusing, fellow.  :)