Comedian Alibaba reacts to the FG's plan to sell Tafawa Balewa Square, National Arts Theatre and selected power plants to fund the budget

It was revealed a day ago that the Federal Government has concluded plans to sell the Tafawa Balewa Square, the National Arts Theatre and some selected power plants under the National Integrated Power Projects NIPP. This is to generate sufficient revenue to finance the 2018 to 2020 budgets.

Veteran comedian Alibaba reacted to this today, writing;

Something just happened right now! We are selling off the things we already have, things that should be maximized to generate more funds in the future, TO FUND THE NOW. WOW!. DUBAI is building infrastructures to create jobs, draw people to DUBAI, while using same infrastructures to earn more money for the government. But here in Nigeria, because we CAN NOT think up the strategy to earn money, we can not create things to generate money, we have resorted to selling. This has been our bane.

Since the colonial masters left, we have not been able to create substantive wealth generating institutions. All we know how to do is sell. Sell. Sell. Sell. And when we realized that we would need to add value to anything in any areas of our nation, to earn more, we shut down those ventures. Oil palm went. Rubber. Coal. Power generation. Refineries. Ground nuts. Cocoa. Human capital. Education. Security. We just shut everything down and started selling crude. We sell and use the money. That's all we do. We can not add value. All we know how to do is sell all we have and when we get the money, we embezzle some, misappropriate others and waste the rest. In the end, job opportunities are not created, life is not improved, economy doesnt grow, education is in shambles, roads are left to deteriorate, pensions owed, Salaries are owed, budget is always in deficit, and more iconic infrastructures will be sold. And we blame people for running out to seek a better life and be caught in the web of slavery.