Nigeria is one country where laughter remains the only solution to all the drama and story-story that goes on within the corridors power, especially in the allocation of the nation's resources.
It is no longer news that the National Assembly yesterday passed the 2012 budget of N4.8 trillion. What is however strange is the revelation that President Goodluck Jonathan allocated more money to the maintenance of ex-Niger Delta militants than Nigeria's critical health sector.
A breakdown of the budget shows that the Amnesty Programme for ex-militants has a recurrent expenditure of N66,176,411,902 while the entire health sector was allocated N60,920,219,702.
The staggering allocation to the ex-militants is separate from the huge amount also allocated to the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, which is to gulp another N48,673,424,630.
In other words, the ex-militants and NDDC, which ought to create a conducive atmosphere to discourage militancy in the Niger Delta, were cumulatively allocated N114 billion.
One wonders where this country is heading with this kind of spending pattern. Who knows how much government will be allocating to Boko Haram if and when they agree to a cease fire?
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