out on the streets.
They run amidst speeding vehicles just to sell one bottle of water (which is less than 50 cents).
It takes them 6 hours to sell off one pack of water, and after paying the wholesalers and ice for the
water, they are left with probably 200 naira for that day.(still less than a dollar).
And yet we lost 3.3billion Dollars? Nigeria lost such an incomprehensible amount of money
because of tax breaks offered to big companies.
Do you know what tax breaks are? They are concessions allowed by our government to the
Multinational Corporations in our country.
Our youths work so hard just to eat; they work themselves till they are ready to drop just to stay
off a life of crime because they never stood a chance!
They never got the opportunity to have an education, much less compete in the choked up labour
market. They never had a chance and they still don’t. Not because they don’t deserve to, not
because they can’t study, but because those we trust to make decisions for us. Those we trusted
to keep our future safe, allowed 3.3billion dollars walk out of our country.
Do you know how many lives would have drastically changed if this money had been put into
quality education for all? Nigerian universities only have about 500,000 entry spots leaving
about 70% of the 1.66million qualified college age Nigerians without a post-secondary
And who would employ a Nigerian except he or she is 22 years old with a masters degree with 5
years experience? You are nodding your head right now because you know that’s how bad it has
What is the way out? What needs to be done? Because they will continue to go back into the
streets, they have no choice, and some of them who find the endless struggle tiring might simply
give up and embrace a life that puts other lives in danger.
They do not deserve this. They do not deserve to have their choices made for them. You do not
deserve to have the lives they are forced to live endanger yours.
Let our government review the existing tax policies and weigh them against the importance of
Nigerian lives; let them publish all tax incentives policies and practices, they need to publish all
communications with corporations pertinent to tax incentives, and most importantly et our
government realize the importance of youths. That without us there is no future and without a
future, we have nothing.
The wellbeing of every Nigerian counts.
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