A politician has donated two plastic mats to Sadada community in the Kebbe local government area of Sokoto state.
The councillor, whose name could not be verified as of the time of filing the report, also took pictures with the beneficiaries while making the donations.
Such ‘ridiculous’ donations by Nigerian politicians are not new but the recent one only shows the practice is being taken to new embarrassing heights.
The usual items included tricycles, motorcycles and grinding machines. But water sachets and shoe-shining starter kits have also been donated by politicians.
Recall that government representatives who enjoy all the pecks of office and, in many cases, funds corruptly acquired at the expense of taxpayers reportedly gave out donkeys in Kano and cassava stems in Anambra as ‘economic empowerment’.
An aide to the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, once distributed wheelbarrows with the inscription, “Gov Ortom for You,” arguing that the beneficiaries would use the wheelbarrows to run errands and hawk.
‘Wheelbarrow empowerment’ also resurfaced in Taraba as a member of the House of Representatives, Maigari Bello-Kasimu, representing Jalingo/Yorro/Zing federal constituency, distributed wheelbarrows to empower some members of his constituency.
“All of them used to hire wheelbarrows and push to earn their living, but now they have the opportunity of owning their wheelbarrows,” the spokesperson for the lawmaker, Saidu Na-Anabi, had said during the presentation.
Na-Anabi’s speech probably inspired the late caretaker chairperson of Nsukka local government area in Enugu state, Chinwe Ugwu, to give wheelbarrows to youths in the area as economic empowerment.
“These are poor people who cannot afford to buy wheelbarrows but had to hire for between N200 and N300 per day,” Ugwu had said in response to critics.
Similarly, Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, said he spent N208 million to empower Mai Shayi or tea sellers in the state by giving them items like cartons of noodles, crates of eggs, spaghetti, bread, cocoa beverage, liquid and powdered milk, brown and white sugar, nylon and cups.
While the Kano governor was beating his chest for such an “extraordinary” achievement, the late Commissioner for Education in Katsina State, Halimatu Idris, outdid him by handing goats to students at Government Girls Arabic Secondary School, Dutsinma.
The goats were reportedly given to the female students in 20 secondary schools. They were expected to return the nanny goats to the state government after a year.
Then came the Commissioner for Education in Borno state, Usman Jaha, who gave shoe-shining kits, baskets, yams and bags of oranges to his constituents in Gwoza as economic empowerment. The shoe-polishing instruments were given to men, while the baskets and fruits were used to empower the women.
As more Nigerians face economic hardship and wallow in poverty, largely occasioned by corruption, politicians further insult the populace with the donation of such ridiculous and bizarre items as so-called economic empowerment or welfare packages.