"By implication, kidney failure is becoming a public health issue. It is very expensive to treat. Providing cheap or free dialysis should be key to any government healthcare policy today. That is one thing the politicians can do. How many poor people can afford N25,000 for dialysis? Now imagine that a politician has kidney failure. Of course, he can afford to buy a personal dialysis machine, and paying N7m for a transplant is like buying a stick of cigarette. Someone recently told me of a politician who bought a N45 million car for his girlfriend. Why? An associate came visiting in a brand of the car and the girl lustfully told her boyfriend: “Honey, I like this car!” And that was it. So I keep asking: how can the Nigerian masses benefit from democracy? The people who queue up come rain or shine to vote politicians into office cannot afford N25,000 for dialysis, but the politician they elected into office can buy a N45m donkey for his girlfriend, just like that. That is the paradox.
The underprivileged are the biggest victims of our democracy, while the political office holders are the biggest beneficiaries. Yet by its simplest definition, the people should be the object and the subject of democracy. They form the absolute majority of the voting population. But when the billions are being spent, their interests are the least of considerations. The gap between the people and the politicians in Nigeria is too wide. Damn too wide. You find a jobless thug who has been favoured with a party’s ticket to become a lawmaker instantly transformed into a multi-millionaire. He will most likely relocate his family abroad where they will enjoy the best of education and healthcare. If he has a cold, he will fly first class abroad to receive treatment. But the people who voted him into office cannot as much as buy N2,000 worth of drugs at the pharmacy."
