Dear Uncle Iyi : Truth be told, I don’t know how to describe how I’m feeling writing you this letter. I don’t know if I should write you this letter based on an uncle – nephew, son - father relationship or just as a concerned and passionate Nigerian - to a Nigerian Legislator.

One thing I do know for certain, I could have written you this letter in the comfort of my office located in the capital of one of the greatest countries on earth, but I chose to travel back here to Nigeria our fatherland where I spent my childhood to share this moment with Eric Obuh aka Vocal Slender, Mr.Joseph Orij and Esther Ogunnake. These three individuals were featured in the controversial BBC documentary titled “Welcome to Lagos” Google "BBC. Welcome to Lagos. Ep 1 [part 3/6] and "BBC. Welcome to Lagos. Ep 3 [part 5/6]"

The names Vocal Slender, Joseph and Esther may sound non familiar to you and inconsequential but to me, I deeply cherish their personalities for what they represent in Nigeria of today. In a society like ours where those engaged in criminal activities are celebrated by the society and those engaged in menial jobs for survival because of the love for the dignity of their persons are ridiculed or mocked. These individuals chose to earn a living from the dumpsite; they chose to make a name for themselves from those things that have been thrown away by those who feel they don’t need them. Eric and Joseph in particular, may have elected to delve in criminality which is a thriving business to a lot of desperate youth here in Nigeria. As persons or individuals from the Niger Delta and South East, two areas notorious for hostage taken and kidnapping, they could as well have armed themselves with guns and embarked on the lucrative crime of kidnapping, but they chose to live a life of dignity not minding, the danger and the health hazards experienced in the dumpsite where they make a living.

It’s no news that Nigeria as a Nation is a very blessed country and definitely has no business with poverty. If anyone in Nigeria is to know this as a fact, you are that person. You are the Senate Chairman of Committee on Appropriation and Budget of the Nation. If my understanding serves me right, meaning, for every dollar Nigeria as a Nation earns on oil revenue and such, you my uncle, Senator Iyiola Omisore is the one that heads the committee that performs the appropriation ensuring each kobo of the tax payers money is duly appropriated and channeled for the development of our great Nation Nigeria. As you already know, Nigeria is one of the highest oil producing oil country in the world and yet we have nothing to show for it.  A recent survey shows 50% of Nigerians were living in poverty as of 1999 and as of today, over 75% are living in abject poverty. Looting in Nigeria in the last 40 years would have been enough to rebuild the whole of Europe 3 times over after the second world war, EFCC reiterated they have recovered over TWO TRILLION Nigerian Naira cash (roughly $850 million)  and properties from corrupt politicians, Banks Mds  and likes in the last eight years. Another survey shows that Nigeria as a country is loosing 10% of its purchasing power on a monthly basis, common Nigerian clamor for 18,000 Naira minimum wages (roughly $120) yet you and our  leaders forget about the adverse effects it will have on the Nigerian economy and to the common man. I’m now left to conclude that the Nigerian law makers who were elected to be the mouth piece of the people seems to be the ones that careless how the people feel, each house member earns about 240 million Naira yearly (roughly $1.2 million) for a four year tenure just to amend laws and  create laws to govern Nigeria.  Even President Obama who happens to be my boss and who is considered the most powerful man in the world doesn’t earn half of what you and the other Nigerian legislators earn not to talk about your counterparts in the United States Senates. I was told that a State in Nigeria has spent over 600 million Naira in the last four years and NOTHING tangible can be accounted for, no new hospital was built, schools remain dilapidated, and a childhood friend also shared with me that recently a water tank erected to serve the needs of a community collapsed and killed about eight children while in class. To me, all these are nothing but heart breaking! From North to South, East to West, from the boundaries of remote villages in Osun State to the remote villages in the Cross River States, millions of Nigerian families, face the same problem of deprivation in the mist of plenty. It is the same story of despair and lack of hope. With all due respect, from what you and our leaders have instilled in us, Nigerians are now compelled to conclude that there’s no way forward.

I write to you today as a concerned and passionate Nigerian in the name of Generation Hope to plead with you and our leaders on behalf of our founding fathers-those who came before you, on behalf of my generation (Generation Hope)- those to come after you and for the most part, on behalf of millions and millions of families all around the Nation,  now is the time for you and our leaders to listen to the voices and cries of my generation and we all crying in one voice Enough is Enough. When is it all going to stop? When are you and our other leaders going to start bringing hope to the millions of hopeless youth across the Nation? When is the nation’s common wealth going to start going around? I just can’t fathom how a country can be producing 2.2 million barrels of oil a day and a barrel of oil on the world market is about $60 per barrel. Nigerian population is roughly 150million, literally, we earn as much as our population a day just on crude oil revenue and yet more than half of the Nation’s population is in poverty to the extent that a common Nigerian man don’t have access to basic human necessities. It’s unimaginably sad.

All over the world, beginning from the United States of America, the wind of change is blowing and definitely when I say this, I speak on behalf of my generation; my generation DOES NOT want to be left behind. Now is the time for every Nigerian to start benefiting for the Nation’s commonwealth, now is the time for you and our leaders to start investing into the future of our youth, and now is the time for you and our leaders to start looking beyond political, tribal, ethnic and religious differences and put emphasis on those things that bring us all together as a Nation. Like the saying goes, a single drop of water doesn’t make an ocean and definitely a single tree doesn’t make a forest. Every Nigerian will have to play a role in moving this great country forward. It’s only right for us as a Nation to reclaim that title Giant of Africa/ Hope of Africa.  This should be no news to you, if Nigeria fails the whole of Africa fails. The United States of America was not “born” great, the current and past leaders of the country made it was it is today. It’s only right for you and our leaders to make Nigeria great. The time is now. Now is the time for you to be part of the solution. Now is the time for you and our leaders to take us to that promise land we all Nigerians been crying for since we got out independence from the Great Britain.

Despite the fact that Vocal Slender, Mr. Joseph and Esther are the typical the Nigerian society considered the “Bottom of the Barrel”, I made a promise to them while at the dumpsite, I promised them that they will be the faces of HOPE for my generation. Heaven is my witness, I still don’t know why I made that promise to them but one thing I do recall, Vocal Slender said with tears in his eyes, “for the British Broadcast Corporation (BBC) crew to come to Nigeria to shoot the documentary and out of all the millions of other Nigerians that also saw the documentary all around the world, and for me to be the one that flew to Nigeria to meet with them at the dumpsite and share this moment with them is all God’s calling. What he meant by that, honestly I didn’t know but the picture that I included with this letter was a moment in one of the many dreams I’ve been having lately.
Irony of life, it happens to be my uncle (literally, I consider you as a father because you watched me growing up while spending my childhood in Nigeria) is the Senate Committee Chairman on Appropriation of the Nation and the crude oil that generates roughly 75% of the Nigerian revenue is from Niger Delta region where Vocal Slender and Mr. Joseph are both from. In the course of my visit to the dumpsite, I also met 8 college graduates that so happened to be from the Niger Delta region and they all also work at the dumpsite. Imagine, they all said they left the Niger Delta region to relocate to Lagos for a better life. I can’t but imagine what life was like for them back in the Niger Delta region.

It’s the norm all over the world that whoever “is in charge of the money” always has a major say so in any decision that needs to be made, MOST especially in the Nigerian society. It’s also a known fact that everything in Nigeria is based on “who- you- know factor”. Your Excellency, I know you, Vocal Slender, Mr. Joseph and the other Niger Deltan college graduates that works in the dumpsite now knows me, The Niger Delta people knows Vocal Slender and  Mr. Joseph. Sir, as the Senate Chairman of Committee on Appropriation of the Nation, you are one of the most influential politician in Abuja, you are a close associate of the current President of Nigeria (President Goodluck Jonathan) you know him on a one -on-one basis, you are both in the same ruling political party in the country, and you are one of the back bones of the political party.  On behalf of Vocal Slender, Mr. Joseph, the less fortunate families in the deep creek of the Niger Delta region whose voices cannot and will never be heard and on behalf of my generation, I plead with you today, the senseless killing of the innocent people in the Niger Delta region MUST STOP unless, Nigeria will never progress. I urge you and our leaders to move with tide as we are running out of time, now is the time for a new department within the Government to be established and called The Department of Homeland Security and Homeland Development and its main focus should be the development of one community at a time starting with the Niger Delta region.

I have a dream and I’ll share this with you today, the progress of Niger Delta region will be the solution and progress of Nigeria as a Nation and the progress of Nigeria will be the back bones of Africa as a Continent and eventually, the progress of Africa will be major part of the solution of the world recession.

If it is true that you and our leaders are ready to start rebranding the image of Nigeria, and if it is true that you and our leaders are ready to start practicing what you have been preaching regarding the “Build Up Nigeria” campaign, after reading this letter, if you can find it in your heart that the points that I’ve stated in this letter makes any sense and if you truly believe in your heart that the time is now for us a Nation to start re-writing the history of this country by moving it forward, I think it’s only right for you to help make my promise to Vocal Slender, Mr. Joseph and Esther come true by inviting them to Abuja to meet with you and the President so they can share their plights with you and discuss your plans towards reducing the poverty rate in Nigeria. Remember, what we all do today is definitely going to be history tomorrow and I assure you, Nigerians all over the world will smile once again if you can find it in your heart to honor this request to meet them.
Your Excellency, I sincerely hope you don’t take this letter to be disrespectful or such. I’m privileged to be the one writing you this letter and honestly, I feel that this is the least I could do in my own little way to help move this country forward. I’ve also created a non-profit organization called Ola Omisore Foundation a.k.a. Generation Hope with its main focus on creating hope and building today’s youth for the future. Vocal Slender, Mr. Joseph and Esther will be listed as board members and will be involved in daily operation decisions. Also, I’m currently in talk with the Okosuns family regarding establishing a scholarship fund on behalf of their late dad, the late Sonny Okosuns. This scholarship will help the youth from less fortunate families in Ogba, Ikeja, Lagos. (The neighborhood that I spent my childhood with the Okosuns family). We would be organizing skill acquisition programs, entrepreneurship programs, social responsibility on how to support our government the best way we can.

A new dawn for a new Nigeria, A new orientation, a new sense of belonging, restoring the lost hope of the Nigerian man, we cannot achieve this if we don’t have the enabling environment. Now is the time to hear they cry of my Generation and Generations yet unborn.


I know that the next political dispensation will bring hope to millions of youth across this great country as I have brought hope to Vocal Slender, Mr. Joseph and Esther.  The time is NOW!

Vocal Slender, Mr. Joseph, Esther and my generation awaits your prompt response.

God Bless,

NIGERIA: Good People, Great Nation.

                                       

Yours Truly.
Ola Omisore
Senior Business Advisor
Washington, DC.

P.s

Irony of life, “it’s sad that we all can see the manifestation of unity in Nigeria in the dumpsite in the documentary” – Vocal Slender.