It cannot be mere popularity. He already has that. It cannot be more beautiful women. Nor can it be cars. His fleet across his numerous homes worldwide in far flung cities boasts of several major luxurious brands. Private jets? He joined that exclusive class years back. Does he still desire political office for personal aggrandizement? We think not as his personal charity expenses dwarfs what any politician legitimately earns anywhere in the world.
Perhaps we ask the wrong question as man’s wants are insatiable. Even the richest men in the world still want more money ! So is our Star Billionaire Anioma Prince merely looking to make more money by his numerous acts of philanthropy?
He is giving out modest bungalows to some fortunate folks from his town, his scholarship mentees are bursting at the seams, flood and fire victims across Nigeria are being compensated as well as displaced persons who are victims of communal clashes.
To say nothing about his university which is currently being built frantically and employs hundreds already despite not being completed yet.
But he wants to do more, not only for Anioma but for Africa. For all black people of the world who are victims of the MALARIA scourge that kills about 500,000 Nigerians annually. Malaria kills more people than Covid19 yet out government is yet to declare a state of emergency on malaria. Some statistics will help drive home this clear and present danger.
According to the World Health Organisation, Who, Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, 94% of malaria victims worldwide are in Africa. If we take into account the unreported causes of death in rural Africa then we will know that the situation is much worse than the statistics suggest.
This is the situation that our philanthropic Prince is set to single handedly solve! What a large hearted man! He undertook a trip to the south Pole, Antarctica, to drive awareness. He did not go alone. He sponsored many. The result is that he has dolled out millions of dollars to help fund research and a vaccine remedy which will also include fumigation of the entire continent as the vector, the female Anopheles species of mosquitoes is the sole identified carrier of malaria. All mosquitoes bite humans but only the said specie injects you with the malaria venom in addition to the bite.
Solutions like insecticides, anti malaria drugs, mosquito treated nets have proven to be less effective in totally eradicating it. The ailment even develops resistance to drug over time and some strains remain untreatable resulting in certain death.
For some reason, Ned Nwoko wants us to live longer in Africa and by so doing our youths will be better positioned to add to our gross domestic production, GDP. That done, life will be more abundant for all as more people will be able to escape the poverty trap by being more productive. This is originality in thinking. We wish him well and hope that his inconsequential detractors will let him be so that he is not distracted from improving the lot of not only our people but humanity as a whole which is now his turf. Global citizenship.
But if the envy continues as we suspect it will, he should then take the ways of the Eagle bird to heart. The Eagle elevates his game by flying in the eye of the storm towards the sun where oxygen is scarce. The Eagle is well adapted to just open its wings and effortlessly fly higher as its lungs need little oxygen for survival. The Raven bird which has a knack for perching on the eagle’s back and pecking at its neck whilst in flight needs a lot of oxygen to survive at that height. It finds out too late that it cannot as it falls off the eagle’s back to its certain death. The Eagle remains focused all the time.
Our Star Prince we suspect is already deploying this strategy with his kick back malaria strategy. We await something of the same magnitude from ‘ndi iwe’. Not happening, even in a billion years.
As at today, they have neither his heart of gold nor his very legitimate resources. Bank loans or fronting for people will not put you in Ned Nwoko’s league. Try as much as you can. You may make the money eventually but you are born with a heart of gold to genuinely help humanity. You don’t develop it. You either have it in you from birth or you don’t. Simple. ‘Ogu sia ‘.
