Former Minister of Petroleum, Professor Tam David-West, has assessed the prevailing socio-economic conditions of Nigerians and concluded that the impoverished masses will soon take up arms against the state.
Professor David-West made this known while delivering the 13th annual distinguished guest lecture entitled: “The Social Pyramid and Good Governance” organised by a group known as The Forum in the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, on Tuesday.
According to him, a situation where government policies and programmes were for the few rich, was unhealthy for the nation. He also noted that God, out of His love for the masses, created them in the majority in every society, noting that any government that is anti-poor, like Nigeria, is also anti-God and will be pulled down by God.
He then warned that Nigeria is daily preparing for its requiem mass in view of the social inequality currently creating upheavals in the country, and that the political class would have no hiding place when people revolted. His words: “Like Jeremy Bentham says, the happiness of the people in a society is the end of governance. But what do we have in Nigeria. The gap between the rich and the poor keeps expanding… If this gap is not narrowed, a time will soon come when the suffering masses will see no difference between living and dying and will take up arms against the state. And when this happens, Abuja cannot stand.”
