On BBC yesterday, there was a report on certain features of the Nigerian economy, particularly on how the Nigerian economy is to be measured. The report points out the fact that the Nigerian economy could be much bigger than has been realised.

This is a feeling I have had for some time now, but I lacked sufficient skill in econometrics to confirm my feelings. But as my vehicle made it from one end of Lagos to another last night, to visit a friend, and as we meandered through the sea of traffic and sheer humanity, I was reminded that this country is a mirage with yet unmessured potentials.

Nigeria has the best capacity in the world to produce a millionaire every minute. It is a market not to mess with. However, as the BBC report points out, there is an extraordinary abnormality about Nigeria. Just as Nigeria churns out millionaires in minutes, it also breeds tens of millions of the excluded people. But this I refer to millions of our fellow citizens excluded from the pool of privileges, comfort, and the opportunity to live normal life. These are the desperate and forsaken masses of Nigerian poor. These have no housing, no healthcare, no security or safety, no peace of the mind. And despite the abundant food and fruits and opportunity to produce more, the excluded Nigerians also lack food. The most worrisome about this abnormality is that it is nearly totally man-made. It is a condition created by the greedy few who rule or control Nigeria.

They are from all the ethnic groups – so don’t blame ethnicity. They are also from all the religions – so blame it not on the religions. It is totally shocking that the increasing gap between the haves and the have-nots is widening. Just as I am embarrassed to drive my Mercedes throught the slums of Lagos, passing hawkers and child-labourers who would not make in a whole year enough to buy one tire on my Mercedes, the Nigerian haves must stop and reconsider the situation on the ground. It is like I am mocking them if my car were to pass through their slum streets in slow speed of Lagos traffic.

My worry is this: If an average man like me feels this way, why is it that the really rich Nigerians don’t worry about the situation? It doesn’t take much to understand that the rich will never have any real peace until the excluded people become less excluded. The gap between the haves and the have-nots can only breed instability, discontent, rampant crimes, disaffection, war and strife. That forces the rich into a miserable life also. That is why the Nigerian rich cannot drive around town in their convertibles. That is why they think of driving in miserable iron mongers known as bullet-proof vehicles.

The Nigerian Government and the rich Nigerians must stop now and worry about our excluded brothers and sisters. It is not okay for them to just be there to supply cheap labour and cheap sex. They ought to be empowered to live, and not just to exist. They must be empowered, not just for their own good, but for the good and wellbeing of the rich also. Without such empowerment and a sustained process of inclusion, the Nigerian rich are just as poor as the excluded, in the end.

•Emeka Ugwuonye, Esquire, lawyer and activist, whose photo appears alongside this piece, writes from Lagos.

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