My thoughts about many things

WEDNESDAY COLUMN BY USSIJU MEDANER

This week as I ponder about issues and events as they unfolded in the past months And days and the effects they continue to bear on present-day Nigeria, I cannot but give in to the urge to write randomly about these happenings that collectively culminate to where we are today as a nation and as a people.

I must say that even though I am most times swayed towards doing the same thing, I have come to the utmost conclusion that fixating on everything that is not working with the country, while both ignoring the positives and doing absolutely nothing in our individual capacity to contribute to providing solutions to the problems is a major disaster for the country. Nigeria is not totally on its knees; our economy may seem not good at the moment, corruption may remain a challenge and insecurity deals a serious blow to the nation, yet, there are lots of great things happening that we can build on to change the narratives of our national fortune, even as we muscle efforts to correct the anomalies. There are industries that, despite the corruption and systemic decays, are still flourishing. We need to identify these and constitute them into a rallying point to rebuild our nation.

A visit to social media is the last thing I want to do these days. The space has become a dumping site for all the perceived, created, imagined and sometimes genuine problems of Nigeria. You can’t visit social media and return without becoming emotionally battered about the prospect of a better Nigeria. Hardly do you see anyone having anything good and positive to say about the country, and occasionally, you see a barrage of attacks on anyone who dare say anything positive about the country or the system? It thus has become obvious that we seem to derive some emotional satisfaction in the maintained and habitual propagation of negatives about Nigeria.  What about “God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria ?” That is not in our reckoning. We must find a way out of these rubbles, and begin to see Nigeria as the only place we have to call our home, and it is our responsibility to make it work. I wonder what it would take us to love this country, and whatever it is, it is something we must find ways to make a mandatory act for all Nigerians.

I came across some news from Botswana that really troubled my mind when I realized how degraded and separated Nigeria has become overtime. The whole country decided to come together to build a university from scratch; every male citizen of the country contributing one cow each toward the project. It sounds both unbelievable and beautiful; the University of Botswana was indeed built through a fund-raising campaign called “One man, One Beast”. The cows’ meat was sold to European countries and the money invested to build the university. That is the power of oneness, a virtue out rightly missing in Nigeria. We would rather magnify our differences to deepen our separations than to agree to do anything good in the name of the country.

It is so easy for Nigerians to turn against Nigeria. We easily do that once we feel unsatisfied or not favored by turn out of certain events and realities. I just saw and watch a video of Nnamdi Kanu preaching peace and one Nigeria in 2012; that was twelve years ago, asking the government to fight Boko haram and end terrorism in the country. And I ask myself, what changed? How did the same man who showed genuine concern for the peace of the country just yesterday suddenly began to see it as a zoo four years later? The answer is simple; concern for personal interest and sectional interest above national interest has caused more and more Nigerians to throw away patriotism to the country in the dustbin. Once our political party of interest did not win the election, it matters nothing to us if the country collapsed. Once our region or religion feel sidelined, we don’t care if it because we lost a contested election or not.

How long do we continue these endless hassles? Once, it was fulanization and islamization rhetoric; for almost eight years, we rob the nation of peaceful coexistence, all because we created rhetoric to undermine the administration of a President of Fulani extraction. Today, we hardly remember those words, as much as we all admit they were never happening or real.  Today, it is orchestrated and targeted attacks on the policies of the incumbent President, not giving the policies any opening to bud or a benefit of doubt to prove themselves. What policy that is worthwhile do we think would not require time to bring expected results. The politicians know this, the conflict entrepreneur activists know this but they would prefer to antagonize them, because what is important to them has never been any great policy, but continuous access to national wealth for personal aggrandizements.

This past week, I read of the World Bank support for the current government policies in Nigeria and the advice that we sustain the same for at least fifteen years to reap the intended outcomes.  As many have known, I am an unrepentant believer in the policies; but I must equally affirm the fact that I am terribly worried about the immediate consequences of the policies and the huge burdens on the Nigerian people in the last fourteen months. I am scared of what would become of Nigerians in the next one year, if the trajectory remains the same as it is now, not to talk of the next fifteen years.  We must see the policies to fruition, but the government must equally think out of the bag on what immediate trajectory can ameliorate the immediate suffering of Nigerians. If this is not done, I don’t see Nigerians waiting for another two years talk less of fifteen years.

Food insecurity has become an issue we cannot afford to ignore as a nation, the Food and agriculture Organisation of the United Nation (FAO) has warned that as nearly as 31.8 million Nigerians are currently at the danger of acute food insecurity and its consequences. The united nation has therefore in its recent food insecurity outlook, placed Nigeria among the world most food insecurity hit nations. This is one index we cannot afford to overlook. It is real; and it is capable of leading to many unpleasant reactions. How do we end physical insecurity among a population that cannot Feed itself?  Impossible! Hunger literally drives people to justified crimes.   How do we expect a hungry population to listen and support government actions?

It is not negotiable; the government must see beyond the current limits of palliatives to some interventions that would speak more loudly to the people, limit the hardships they face and create the much-needed trust in the government policies’ capacity to alter the national development narrative positively as promised. To get this done, it won’t be the federal government action in isolation; the local government, more importantly, must stand up to its constitutional responsibilities. If today, the 774 local government administration would effectively expend just a meagre 30 per cent of their monthly allocations in agriculture and small-scale businesses financial interventions for the next eight months, we will see across the entire country, approximately 40 per cent of Nigeria immediately relieved, and that is a lot of response in a short time.

I am talking about the local government administration’s substantial direct involvement in agricultural practices across the country. Starting with producing food, to cottage processing and collaborations with all willing farmers to do the same in personal capacities, we will in the next two years, effectively resolve the nation food insecurity problem. And believe me, we may not know now, but that is the major challenge facing Nigeria today; Nigerians can’t feed themselves. If we produce enough food to feed ourselves, we would also have to a large extent altered the economic imbalance that forced poverty on many Nigerians. Businesses would be created; many more citizens across the 774 local government areas would be more gainfully engaged.

This is the more reason why the federal government and states must implement to the letter the autonomy of the local government. From indications coming from states, it is obvious that some  governors are not ready or interested of freeing their unhinged access to the local government funds. We have seen states submitting bills to their houses of assembly to force the local government funds back to the state government purse. And also very worrisome it is that months after the much celebrated Supreme Court judgement, the local government allocations are still paid to the state accounts, and we have continue to see the state governors dominating the system of local government administration in the country. This need to come to balance!

I also read of a state government that budgeted N4.6 billion for 20 vehicles; that is 230 million naira per car at a time the country is facing economic challenges. The same state budgeted 700 million naira to purchase 50 torchlight and 100 walkie talkie. I wasn’t surprised because while we all pretend not to know, that is the norm in some the states of the federation. How else do some governors all eventually become almost richer than the states they govern after eight years on the seat? How do you explain the wage bill of most states reducing when the monthly allocations to the state almost tripled since May 2023? We are going nowhere until we beam the light on the some states and call them to accountability and prudence with the state resources. The President and the government at the center may not really be our problem.

I am rounding up my many musing about issues this week with a brief eye opening reality. One of the spectacles we enjoy so much as Nigerians today are the fights among political parties and politicians. We flow so much and so easily with the tussle, take sides, while they continue to use national resources to settle their scores. We fail to realize, that at no time is any of these fight for the cause of a better Nigeria. They fight for share of the national wealth, to be taken into their personal purses; and we stay on the lines spurring them on and helping them win the wars. Nigerians, be wise. Wake up and face what are the realities.

GOD BLESS THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA!