Rwanda recently finished constructing a gold refinery which has the capacity to process gold around the continent. The project cost 5 million dollars, approximately 1.8 billion naira.
One of the reasons Africans are not getting the benefits of the enormous natural resources present on the continent is because we have failed over the years to add value before exporting them. We export cocoa and buy chocolate made from cocoa. The whole of Cadbury was built with cocoa gotten from west Africa. This is a problem Rwanda seeks to address with the gold refinery.
Recall that a Nigerian named Abba Ali Yahaya was caught in 2018 with one billion naira worth of gold, illegally mined and was en route to Dubai. This is how mineral resources leaves the continent on a daily basis because we have failed to put the necessary infrastructure in place to process them.
I have met a lot of foreigners who live in luxurious hotels and all their sources of income are based on minerals gotten from Africa. Some of them have never stepped a foot on the continent.
Amidst all of these, the only concern of the acclaimed giant of Africa is to renovate the National Assembly with 37 billion Naira ( $102 Million).
Thirty-seven Billion naira if properly utilized can’t build any of these: twenty gold refineries, six tomatoes processing plants, or a 50,000 tons cocoa processing factory. Instead, the Nigerian government wants to use this huge sum to renovate a building where all the past and present criminals are cooling off.
As you can see, your pastor/imam lied. Your joblessness is not caused by the devil or village people, misplaced priorities like this is exactly one of the reasons. I blame the politicians not, I blame you!
Yes!
You!
If they call for a rally tomorrow, you will find your way there like a stray cat. You are comfortable and thanking God for crumbs when the table should be yours.
Imagine 20 gold refineries in Northern Nigeria, terrorism will reduce because there won’t be too many unemployed people to recruit. That’s not their concern, Jigawa state is planning to build 95 mosques.
Religion is the biggest mental subjugation tool in the hands of the political class. As Christianity was invented by the Romans to pacify the Jews, so are politicians today using religion to make the people have a disdain for critical thinking.
As long as most of our population keep looking up to the sky for help, we will never reach a breaking point, we will never demand what is ours with audacity.
Nkemdi C. Mordi Kenneth For Nkemdi Mordi Development Initiative (NMDI), Bringing Hope, Lighting Lives
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