A Letter To The Richest Families Of Nigeria, By Mawuna Koutonin

Editor’s note: In this week’s column, Mawuna Koutonin appeals to the most powerful and influential, well-off Nigerians, the richest families of Nigeria. Some of the most important things in life cannot be purchased or privatized, that is why, especially during the festive season, it is important to understand that public goods must be fought for and protected collectively.

It’s that time of the year when our moods change, our hearts soften. The light on the streets and in houses changes. The music in noisy bars, restaurants, commercial centers also changes. We easily get out of our way to think about others, our closest friends, our loved ones, parents. We think about what would make them happy. We spend time guessing, searching and hunting for the special present that would brighten their faces, enlighten their mood and bring smiles to their lips.

Some of us would travel long distances to reconnect with families at other parts of the world or country. It’s also the time of the year when we realize more sensitively how much our happiness is never a heroic trophy or the fruit of a lonely quest, but something that is only possible to achieve and experience collectively.

Yet, beyond presents and laughter, I wish to share with you three life-changing, mind-altering observations that could have a positive impact on common future in Nigeria.

The first observation is about the air we breathe. The second is about how we educate our kids. And the third one is about the safety of our properties and ourselves.

You cannot buy clean air

Some people in Lagos drink only bottled water from a supermarket because the city tap water is not clean enough. That’s often made me wonder why the same people don’t travel with oxygen tanks and masks since Lagos city air is one of the dirtiest environments in the world.

Simple answer: you can buy clean water, but you cannot buy clean air or install air filters all around your house, or any place you go. The air in your city is a public “good,” not something that could be privatized, owned or customized. Of course, you still can buy clean bottled air and wear oxygen mask wherever you go, but your life would be miserable.

Air is something your share with everyone else, poor or rich. The rich would breathe the same air as the poor, and rich men can’t pay to get better air in the city exclusively for themselves. Either the air is clean for all or it’s dirty for all.

In conclusion, the environment where you live is a public asset. It’s either good for all, or bad for all. It’s not like money.

Receiving education at private schools is useless

So, you want the best education for your kids and you send them to best private school in town. They’ve got best professors and best environment for study, and they’ve graduated with high distinctions.

Now, your kids want to start their business and need employees. Would they hire employees only from the best private schools in town?

Likely, the other kids who have attended the premium private schools are also from other wealthy families and would either head to big corporations or start their own business. Even if you’d be able to hire them, they would cost you too much for a fledging business. You need kids from less privileged background with the qualification and the attitude to make your business successful.

Here comes the ugly reality. What if the public school had failed those underprivileged kids? What if they did not get a chance to develop the right skills and attitude at the low-end schools where they were parked for an illusion of education?

You’d end up with a lot of not-well-trained kids, unqualified for any specific job. Your startup would suffer, and you’d have to spend a lot of money to fix them.

The conclusion here is loud and clear: education, like air, is a public asset. Either you get a good education for all, or the few who got it would have hard time to succeed in their country, because of lack of skills on the market, due to the failure of good quality mass education.

You cannot save your family alone when it comes to education because you need qualified people from all backgrounds to achieve your goals or simply to get good service in the public administration, at hotels, in a restaurant, etc.

Education is the single most important asset for families and countries. It’s been proven to be the best investment to lift a family or a country out of poverty. The only condition is that education is useful only when it’s a good mass education, not an elite education system.

You cannot be safe alone

The same arguments above regarding clean air and education are valid for safety. You cannot be safe alone in your city, in your country or in the world. Safety is a collective asset or a public good.

You can build yourself a secure, satellite-monitored house with video cameras all around, but you don’t have your own roads, your own restaurants, your own shopping centers, your own public administration, etc. You’d have to use public places, and those are many areas where your safety is not guaranteed if your city, your country is unsafe.

The growing attitude of “saving myself and my family only” is an illusion and would fail us collectively. Like we have seen above with clean air, good education and safety, you cannot expect to get any of them specifically for yourself unless they are collective or public goods.

Public goods cannot be privatized or owned. Money cannot buy them.

There are many things in life that require us to look beyond ourselves and think in a more collective mode. And, as privileged Nigerian, you can use your status to help Nigeria change in a good way.

Author, Mawuna R. Koutonin

Mawuna Remarque Koutonin is an editor of SiliconAfrica.com and a social activist for Africa Renaissance. Koutonin’s ultimate dream is to open a world-class human potential development school in Africa in 2017. Follow @siliconafrica on Twitter.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the original author. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of Naij.com, its editors or other contributors.

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