Sadiq Ibrahim Dasin
Not one, but many factors combine to make most elected politicians in Nigeria die of poverty related illnesses.
I have seen many who died and many continue to die of them.
Below is a discussion on some of the reasons many politicians die of poverty related illnesses after leaving the elective offices.
- Most elected politicians come to office from a lower income class or from no income at all and meet sudden higher income. With no background experience in making money through prolonged efforts, politicians who make money in politics cannot sustain the sudden wealth they acquire. To accumulate wealth, efforts have to be made over time, through savings and investment. Any money that did not meet another money, may not stay. As the Fulani say, ‘cede to tawai godde, jodata’.
- Predetermined income is normally spent before it comes. Salary earners know this fact. Many elected politicians do not realise that even if one’s take home pay is N10, 000,000/ monthly, it is usually spent before it comes. Before the month ends, such money is spent on purchase of items upfront as creditors will always be willing to open doors for such politicians to purchase anything they want on credit and at exorbitant prices. You take the latest yards of Babban riga, wrist watches, shoes, etc, all on credit. Your wife or wives may do the same. Once the month ends you are again in debit. When I was growing up in Kaduna, I was taught by an old uncle that ‘Albashi’ is ‘biyan bashi’. It holds true for many.
- Increased income changes one’s status and new status changes taste. Taste in dressing, cars to drive, house to live in, including one’s taste in how many wives and the type of women to marry and unarguably, the number and type of women to date. This increases cost and erodes earnings and ability to save or invest.
- Demand on resources. Once in office, electorates demand a share in the resources accruable to politicians. No problem about this since the electorates took part in securing the office from which the monies are made. But demands could be reasonable or unreasonable.
All year round and daily, it is always pay back time. You pay during Ramadan, Sallah and Christmas, you pay for fertilizers during the rainy season and dry season farming, pay for Hajj and Jerusalem, pay for church and mosque building. In fact politicians pay electorates from cradle to grave. Pay an electorate’s wedding expenses, if the wife delivered you pay for naming ceremonies, you pay hospital bills when the electorate is sick, purchase a coffin when he/she dies, transport the dead body to the village and expend on his ‘bizina’. These suck.
- ‘Tazarce’, that urge to go for more. This comes at the end of a tenure. If a politician loses reelection after a tenure, it sucks. It sucks not only the resources saved or sometimes borrowed, but sucks life out of him. If he feels or is actually cheated and goes to court and loses, it kills.
- Some even say it is swearing on falsehood that makes politicians poorer. This may not be an economic reason. But it is certainly a reason to believe as in our both religions of Christianity and Islam, if you promised but refused to fulfil the promise, the wrath of God will descend on you. Especially if you swear.
We all need to be careful. These are what sometimes make politicians come out worse than they went in. But planning one’s life may help.
I suggest that before you venture into contesting election in Nigeria, make sure you have a fall back position. Academic or business. If you can fall back to, at least where you were before being elected to the office you occupied, it is good.
Secondly, put it at the back of your mind that elected office is service. If you lose it, it will be clear to the people they lose, not you. That may not put money in your pocket, but it will enable you to hold your head high that you leave a legacy which your successors could not match. For me, that is satisfying enough. Contrary to what many think, political office is a service not a business venture.
As the salaries and allowances are huge, you need some form of financial discipline and knowledge of investment. Those who don’t have, have often ended up worse than they were.
Don’t change much when you get into an office. Maintain your friends, at least the reasonable ones. Tell everybody the truth no matter how bitter it may be. Many may not believe you. But if your conscience is clear, those who refuse to believe can go to hell. You can’t satisfy everyone no matter how much you try.
It is not easy not to change taste in women when you receive the kind of bank alerts that break telephone screens. But be modest. If you don’t find women while in elected office, they will find you anyway. How you resist them or how well you manage them will go a long way in defining not only who you are, but how you live life after office.
Just as the reasons why elected politicians die of poverty related illnesses in Nigeria is not exhaustive, suggested solutions given here are not exhaustive as well. You may suggest either way. Nobody knows it all.