While Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo was basking in the international spotlight as host of the Commonwealth summit, his impoverished countrymen were angrily demanding to know what was in it for them.
Heads of state and government from 52 Commonwealth nations descended on the Nigerian capital for four days of talks, kicked off with a grandiose opening ceremony attended by Britain’s visiting Queen Elizabeth II and then a weekend retreat at the presidential villa.
But Kabir Dange (42) a meat seller in the central Garki district of the Nigerian capital just a short distance from the summit venue, fumed that his government had got its priorities wrong.
”What does a Commonwealth summit mean to me? It is just to talk and talk endlessly. My 10-year-old daughter died last month of typhoid fever because I could not afford the cost of treatment in a hospital here, yet the government is hosting this big event. It is a shame,” Dange complained.
Staging the event is a major coup for Obasanjo, the former dictator turned elected leader whose country only returned to the Commonwealth fold four years ago when democracy was restored after decades of coups and brutal military regimes.
But most of Nigeria’s 126-million population live in abject poverty, with 75% surviving on less than a dollar a day, and the number of poor has actually doubled since it began pumping oil three decades ago.
Segun Adekile (35) an Abuja taxi driver, dismissed the Commonwealth summit as an extravagance.
”It is a waste of time and resources, a pure jamboree staged to make millionaires of some Nigerians. Hosting Chogm is not the immediate priority of most Nigerians,” said Adekile, a father of three.
But Obasanjo’s spokeswoman Remi Oyo insisted that the summit would play a vital role in rehabilitating Nigeria’s international image and creating new business and trade opportunities.
”Nigeria five years ago was still being treated like a pariah state following the event of 1995. The CHOGM provides an
opportunity to demonstrate the acceptance of Nigeria into the international fold,” she said.
Nigeria, a former British colony like most of the Commonwealth’s 54 member states, was suspended from the body in 1995 following the execution of writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight fellow leaders of the put-upon Ogoni minority.
The government wants the summit to be a showcase for Nigeria’s colourful cultural heritage and tradition, with local press reports voicing hopes it could create about one million jobs. It has also provided an opportunity to fix some of the country’s creaking infrastructure, rebuild some long-abandoned projects such as hotels and spruce up the capital with a new lick of paint.
”The CHOGM opens new economic, business and investment opportunities for Nigeria. It also shows that Nigeria is at peace with itself and it has the capacity to host an event of this magnitude,” Oyo said.
But a journalist who works for the state-run News Agency of Nigeria said he did not share Oyo’s optimism.
”The giant power generator mounted outside the summit hall is not a good advertisement for a country seeking foreign investment.
I do not think that anybody will invest in a country that does not have a stable power supply,” he said on condition of anonymity.
Critics of the state-run National Electric Power Authority (Nepa) derisively turn its acronym to mean ”Never Expect Power Always,” with less than half the population covered by the grid and other areas suffering frequent power cuts.
”The whole idea about hosting Chogm is just playing the big man in Africa,” said a Liberian national who has been resident in Nigeria for more than a decade. – Sapa-AFP