One reason I like being a Nigerian is the fact that we never let anything bother us. A civil war? No matter, life goes on. People are killed, no problem, God knows best. Our leaders steal us blind and rip us off? No matter, we will survive anyway.

Our style has remained the same through the years. We yell, make some loud noises. The media gets caught up in the frenzy, and then the herd mentality – one commentator says something and everyone else parrots the same. Then just as quickly as it started it all fizzles away. Quiet. Dead silence. The matter is forgotten and we move on to the next big (?) debate.

A friend of mine was telling me last week that I should stop getting so angry with the world ( he really meant to say Nigeria .) He was cautioning me over my anger at the effortless doling out of cash by Nigeria 's heads of government to those whom we like to term our less fortunate brethren on the continent.

Sometime in May, the National Assembly graciously approved the loan of $10 million to our neighbours Sao Tome and Principe , at zero interest. President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua said the loan was “to assist the government [to] address some socio-economic difficulties in the country.” Now what does this actually mean.

President Yar'Adua says this $10 million loan is a sound investment for Nigeria . My friend upbraids me for being insular because I ask exactly how this can be termed a sound investment. His argument was that Nigeria was earning enough money to be generous to its neighbours without being impoverished by such actions. I agree that Nigeria is not poor. Dollar for dollar, the country earns enough money for its citizens to live a decent life. Despite numerous production shut ins, the nation still exceeds its official OPEC oil production quota. This is of course not counting how much the nation makes from sale of condensate. However all of this is on paper. Nigeria , the big brother who is on a loan granting spree is also ironically going a-borrowing. Clearly, eroding the gains of the past, the Yar'Adua government is back in the group of World Bank creditors as it solicits loans and grants from International Development Agencies ( IDA's)

Not that alone, the nation is unable to feed its population or provide social security for its citizens. But we can play father Christmas. After all, Nigeria accounts for 45 per cent of the Gross Domestic product of the West African region. Eighty per cent of Niger republic's imports pass through the Lagos ports and at zero duty. Indeed the kinds of waivers that the government and people of Niger get from importing through Lagos ports would make the Sao Tome millions seem like mere pebbles.

But I mustn't be so hard on the President and members of the national assembly. I must understand that some of our distinguished legislators have some oily business in Sao Tome . It is good neighbourliness to farm in the neighbouring village. Besides the legislators, many of our very important personalities, past heads of states, governors, and who is who in Nigerian business circles also do business in Sao Tome , making it a prized cow that must be preserved by all means.

Like Sao Tome , the Niger Delta is another cash cow that must be preserved by all means. But unlike Sao Tome , the people of the Niger Delta have no access to any dollar denominated loans from the Nigerian State . They cannot even hope for fairness or equity. When by error, the state gives them any worm filled apple; it quickly takes it away with the other hand. While they are at it, government apologists, beneficiaries of the loot stolen from the Niger Delta postulate casting aspersions on a people's legitimate struggle. But who can blame them? In Nigeria , all men especially the people of the Niger Delta are not created equal.

The latest confirmation of this is the deliberately evil petroleum law being proposed by the National Assembly. By the way this law is the third draft and no one is sure of its origin as it is a total departure from the law proposed by the oil and gas committee which government had given the assignment to come up with a draft law.

The proposed law amongst other things vests 100 per cent control of the royalties paid for oil activities on the Federal Government and not a kobo for the oil producing communities. Placed against the solid minerals act that allows communities participate and indeed make decisions when it comes to mining activities in their regions. Yet this is what the oil producing communities have been asking for since Nigeria began (remember the Willinks commission) I am not sure if government understands the implication of sending the wrong message continually. Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers state puts the matter succinctly; “they take away our resources, and they do not give us the opportunity to serve anywhere in this country or participate in the discussion on how the wealth would be shared. And they do it with impunity.”


Also in The Business Eye this week

Nigerian middle class: Again on the path of extinction

As the financial meltdown continues to take its toll on the nation's economy, the middle class, regarded as the bastion of the economy, is once again rendered vulnerable and facing a gradual but steady extermination with wider implications for the economy.

More details at www.businesseyeng.com