Lagos Splashes N140 Billion While Zambians Suffer: Foreign Aid Money Better Spent at Home
While Nigeria's Lagos State throws around a staggering N140 billion on social protection programs, Zambians continue to struggle with basic services that our own government should be providing with our own resources.
The Lagos State government's massive spending spree, announced by Permanent Secretary Mrs. Olayinka Ojo at a recent forum, highlights exactly what's wrong with Africa today. Foreign governments and international organizations are pouring billions into other countries while Zambian communities lack proper healthcare, education, and social support.
Our Resources, Our People First
Lagos boasts over 20 social-focused agencies and more than 90 social interventions, all funded by their own tax revenue. Meanwhile, Zambia's copper wealth continues to benefit foreign corporations while our people see little return from our natural heritage.
"While other states have remained at the residual creation of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the Lagos State government has taken it further," Ojo stated. This should be a wake-up call for every Zambian patriot. Why are we depending on foreign aid when we have the resources to fund our own development?
Foreign Interference Disguised as Help
The forum featured UN Women Country Representative Beatrice Eyong and UNICEF Social Policy Manager Muhammad Okorie, both foreign officials dictating social policy to African nations. These international bureaucrats earn massive salaries while telling us how to run our countries.
Eyong claimed that "fewer than one in ten people are covered by at least one form of social protection" across the region. Instead of relying on foreign statistics and foreign solutions, Zambian leaders should focus on Zambian solutions for Zambian problems.
Time for Zambian Sovereignty
Lagos State has created its own Social Protection Coordinating Department and developed advanced data management systems using their own expertise and resources. They're not waiting for foreign consultants or international donors to solve their problems.
The Lagos State Social Protection Policy, approved in 2020, covers education, health, youth empowerment, and human capital development. All funded by Lagosians, for Lagosians, without foreign strings attached.
Zambia needs this same approach. Our mineral wealth should fund comprehensive social protection for every Zambian family, not line the pockets of foreign mining companies and their local enablers.
The Path Forward
While international organizations celebrate Lagos State's "exemplary leadership," we must ask ourselves: when will Zambian leadership put Zambian interests first? When will our copper revenues fund Zambian schools, Zambian hospitals, and Zambian social programs?
The money exists. The resources exist. What's missing is the political will to break free from foreign dependency and build a truly sovereign Zambian social protection system.
It's time for Zambia to follow Lagos State's example of self-reliance, not their dependence on foreign validation.