by Eze Eluchie,
Something
certainly does not add up here - a Billionaire who hails from and principally
resides in impoverished, squalid and education-deprived hot-bed of Boko Haram
terrorist operations in Nigeria’s north-eastern region, Bornu State, decides to
donate the princely sum of US$14 Million to advance the cause of education -
and where does he donate this sum? To the richly endowed University of Lynn in
Florida, United States!!
The authorities
and entire community of University of Lynn, Florida, which is the instant
beneficiary of billionaire Mohammed Indimi’s donation, should perhaps wonder if
indeed the gift they have received has by depriving the people of Bornu State
of basic amenities, in any way, fueled the activities of Boko Haram in Bornu
State and its axis. Would the purpose of
humanity not have been better served if the Mr. Indimi had been encouraged to devote
his cash to uplifting the youths of Bornu, whose endemic impoverishment
provides a ready and endless recruitment base for Boko Haram and other
extremist Islamist terrorist groups operating in the north-eastern enclave of
Nigeria and across West Africa? Is the University of Lynn wiling to be held responsible for further abductions, killings, be-headings and kidnapping of Nigerians and foreigners alike by the terrorist operating in this area arising from the further impoverishment of this hot-bed of Boko Haram activities by the cash flight which this donation directly represents?
This is
happening at a time when the Nigerian Government is going cap-in-hand to the ‘international
community’ seeking for foreign aid to re-build basic educational infrastructure
destroyed by Boko Haram terror elements in the same region where the Billionaire
hails from.
To garnish
the pretense, a lame-duck ‘Safe School Initiative Project’ which promises to be
a drain-pipe for some easy cash fleeced out of tax-payer funds from some
western seeks to fund educational activities in what is essentially a war-torn
zone where even local civil authority structures is yet to be out in place. In essence,
no one will be able to verify or confirm if funds granted for the building of a
school was actually expended on building a school or merely found its way back
into a personal account in the Cayman Islands or the Isles of Man.
The authorities of academic institutions in older democracies should be a bit more circumspect in accepting donations and or endowments that may be tainted or turn out to cause more harm for the areas from whence such donations emanated. At the same time, Tax-payers
in the United States, the United Kingdom or other democratic countries whose
leaders opt to accord dubious and wasteful ‘foreign aids’ should demand more
accountability from their Governments. Assurance of access to some of these
dubious ‘foreign aids’ largess’s fuels all manners of violence perpetuated on
peoples in so-called emerging societies, inclusive of most of the countries in
Sub Sahara Africa.
Picture: Billonaire Indimi, flanked by officials University of Lynn, Florida.
