my history essay..... Gladys Onoh

GLADYS ONOH

ENGLISH 100

10/5/2011

                                                            Economic Crisis

The election of one corrupt president after another has led to years of corruption in Nigeria. This resulted in a huge economic crisis. Due to corrupt system in Federal Republic of Nigeria, there is not much employment opportunity. In addition there is lack of basic services like electricity. Political violence is also a huge problem in the Nigerian government. This also affected the healthcare system, people can’t get treatment from government funded hospitals because poor health facilities. The only option left is going to private medical institute, which is very expensive, and most of the time only the higher middle class and upper class can afford such treatment. There are many problems that Nigeria is still facing because of corrupt government. In fact, life has become unbearable for many people.

Unemployment rate is so high that many Nigerians find it very difficult to live in their own country. Every year numerous numbers of students graduate from universities with degrees, but they are not able to get jobs. This is not because Nigerian government can’t create job, but because the people in power don’t consider other citizens than themselves. They use federal money to do things that are not relevant and things that might likely not be of any help or benefit to the citizens. The politicians and people in power go to other countries like South African to build big hotels and hospitals thereby developing and creating job opportunities for South Africans while people in their own country, are suffering. Furthermore, Nepotism is very common in Nigeria; People with no qualification will be working in high companies for they had connection with top bosses who are in charge of the place while most of the times people who have bachelor’s degree will be  found working  as waitress in restaurants and hotels.   As a result of unemployment, many youths become armed robbers because they want to be able to survive and support their family, but the government can’t offer them job. So, they have to rob rich people, banks and politicians in order to survive. They believe that they are taking revenge against the government by doing so. Some youths wouldn’t want to get education because they think it will be of no use since they can’t job even with education. My friend’s relative had a chance of going to school, to be educated and successful in future but he decided not to go, because he said it was of no importance since they is a chance that he might not get a job after he graduated. Instead he started robbing people and homes. People advised him against his choice, but he didn’t heed to people’s advice. After some months he was killed while robbing a bank.

Lack of constant electricity is another of the major problems that Nigerians are facing. As a result of this, my country is lagging behind in several ways. There is instable and insufficient production of goods. Few companies that are able to use generator as their means of electricity will produce high demand goods and sell them in a high price. Some people who can’t afford to buy those things will end up being hungry. So, they start begging on the streets. There is always high rate of stealing especially in the night because there is no light and people can’t be able to identify the robbers. One of the basic things that people need in order to survive is food and water. However, Water can’t be running if there is no electricity to operate it with. So, people end up drinking unhealthy water, which transmits water borne diseases. In addition, Hospitals don’t have adequate medical facilities because most of their facilities needs electricity in order to operate because of this, there will be poor medical treatments. People with disease especially the water borne diseases wouldn’t get treatment.

Furthermore, inadequate health facilities have taken countless number of lives. It has left poor families with no hope but to wait until their next relative will die. In Nigeria, there is high rate of death. People don’t get satisfactory treatments from hospitals. Before an individual with ill health is treated he/she has to first deposit money, no matter how severe the illness is, the individual wouldn’t be treated unless the money is deposited. Some families are not able to afford the hospital bill and they can’t go to government funded hospitals because of inadequate facilities and lack of well-trained doctors and nurses, so most of the time the patients die. This was one the case in which one of my uncles lost his wife, because the doctor that was in charge of the medical institute wasn’t educated enough to treat her. Instead of the doctor recommend taking my aunt to another hospital, he ignorantly left her to die.  Most good hospitals are private and very expensive, only the rich can afford while the poor are left to die. Higher class families are basically the ones that enjoy good thing because no one cares about the poor.

  

            Finally, during the elections there are always riots and massacre, which claims lives of many people. The different political parties tend to fight on which party wins the election. After the votes have been cast, rich politicians will take the vote boot and add it to only the candidate the will favor them. They believe that they are doing a huge favor for the candidate, so when he wins the election, he will return the favor by sharing the government money amongst themselves and by promoting their illegal businesses. Any president who doesn't comply with the way they planned it or any president who will try to change the corrupt way of Nigerian government will either be impeached or killed. The moment that Nigerians stop voting for corrupt political candidate, that moment will be a start of great turning point for Nigerian economy.