The many odds against Nigeria

WEDNESDAY COLUMN BY USSIJU MEDANER

info@medaner.com, justme4justice@yahoo.com

I have asked myself many times introspectively, when will Nigeria begin to work for Nigerians? Yet, each of the times, I have been sincere to myself with the only response that is feasible. That Nigeria is not working today is a result of the failure of every Nigerian, and the failures of every age bracket, group and association with a critical role to play in the organisation of the nation’s wellness. We are where we are today because the citizens have failed in their roles to hold their leaders accountable, the opposition has failed to present positive, nationally beneficial and sustainable democratic voice and policy pathways, and the government over time since independence, has failed to deliver the kind of governance that maximises the standard of organisation of the country and the living conditions of its people. We are all culpable in the deteriorating condition of the national system; as much as it would require the readiness of all of us to do what is right and needed to set the country on the path to glory.

When it matters most for us to discuss issues of national importance, we are easily deranged and distracted, and turn around to focus on irrelevancies, while the system continues to rot. The politicians seek and wait to take advantage of critical issues as they arise to amass exploitable political popularity, without caring about what impact their responses will make regarding the situations, especially in the longer term. The youths derive fun in publishing all new events and disturbing national issues to topics on social media, and thereby creating more challenges for the system. Like I have written on several occasions, we are now a nation of one week, one event. A nation with such a short and weak memory that we hardly remember yesterday. We are that nation, where the greatest enemy of our commonwealth would become our darling overnight for unbelievable reasons.

Our fleeting nature of public memory has literally and repeatedly translated Nigeria’s enemies of yesterday to today’s celebrated leaders. This is the extraordinary power of shifting narratives, political expediency and the abnormal human tendency to forget. But, in our case, it is not about forgetting; it is about not caring for national wellness but personal gains and emotional biases for our satisfactions. This is where we find ourselves because, foundationally we are a nation that celebrates pragmatism over principle. We don’t care about ideology or vision; talk less of its consistency. Religious sentiment, tribal jingoism, and group alignments are enough reasons for us to accept any personality as the chosen one to the detriment of the whole.

The period between 1999 and 2007 was a tough one for many sectors within the Nigeria system. The painful formative period saw the glaring erosion of the opportunity to set up a flourishing energy sector. We saw huge and enough investment in the sector being run under, without any acceptable accountability till date. During the same period, we witnessed the country losing out on its manufacturing capacity, including the one it built before then; national manufacturing entities were sold out at ridiculously meager amounts to incapable individuals who literally ran them aground – perhaps, to profitably sell off the underlying assets at the detriment of national development – all in the name of privatisation. It was during the same period that the nation’s railway went down and totally died. The Nigeria air fleet collapsed. The national refineries all packed up and the destructive subsidy regime kicked in. Yet, the two men who spearheaded the much destruction of the systems are today heroes we celebrate and a section of the country is seriously rooting for, to rule the country again.

Today, unfortunately, we have continued with a culture of propagating unproductive emotional biases and non-correlative actions to issues affecting the country. A serious event captured my attention in the last few days, coming from the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 presidential election; a man who should, by providence, stand as the figure of constructive opposition in the country. As unfortunate as it could be, he remains an attractive figure to what has become the desire of his many followers, who are interested in hearing all sorts of negatives about the country – especially being reeled out in figures; like at every other time and opportunity, pulling down the country outside the shores of Nigeria. While delivering a lecture at Johns Hopkins University in the United States sometime last week, he boldly disparages his own nation with a fake narrative, stating that Nigeria has more poor people than China, Vietnam and Indonesia combined. As outrageous as it appears, it shows the level of commitment of our politicians to use any means possible to gain popularity, even if it means pulling down everything along the line.

While it is obvious that the percentage of people living below the poverty line in Nigeria is greater than the percentage in each of the country he cited, exaggerating it to Nigeria having more figure than the three combined was apparently aimed at scoring a point with his followership in the country who are every eager and waiting for another figure; and it would always remain an act of lack of patriotism to freely disparage the country, while presenting oneself as a saint, having been a leader in the same country without contributing anything meaningful and capable of addressing poverty in the country. If you had been that leader you project today, wouldn’t the state you governed for eight years be a testimonial of your capacity?

I will not appreciate anyone who considers belittling the country at every opportunity as a worthy leader for our people. Where was Obi before the days he accidently bumped into the presidential limelight? Where was he after his uncelebrated tenures as the governor of his home state of Anambra? Silent, right? Busy with his business and unconcerned with Nigeria’s issues as long as he could overtly and covertly and freely undermine the nation’s productive capacity by continuously benefiting from mass importation of consumer goods into the country. The same Obi who suddenly emerged as the beneficiary of the ENDSARS movement is now the messiah, gallivanting the country with a sudden sweet mouth and all round good deeds.

This was the same man who has no traceable evidence of legacy policies or projects that positively address poverty as governor of his state for a period of eight years. The same man who had a problem explaining his involvement in the investment of Anambra state monies in a company he co-owned during the 2019 presidential debate. The same man who prides himself in accumulating savings for a state begging for development in a bank where he has an obvious vested interest. A religious bigot who did not hide his preference for his co-adherents, catholic, at the expense of other denominations while he was governor of his state; and it remains on record reportedly that he instructed the Christian community to take back their country from the other main religion, in the build-up to the 2023 election.

Is it not strange or an absolute desperacy to win an election, if not, how would a man be at ease with destroying his own house and people in the presence of strangers without feeling any remorse? Has Peter Obi ever seen any leader from any of the countries he so much loves, at any time, do the same thing with their country, or are they perfect? No. Most of them have worse systems than Nigeria.

The odds against our nation, Nigeria are too much and on all sides; the government since 1999, coming into a fresh democracy, has consistently made it a duty to romance corruption. And our responses to corruption are obviously defined by politics and never about the need to eradicate the menace. For instance, presidents can be corrupt and remain untouchable because we owe them respect for having ruled us. Politicians must be given leverages to escape the hammers on corruption because their support is immensely needed to win future elections. Connection and political reasoning are enough to negotiate and  quash corruption cases. Otherwise, what happened to the Dasuki-gate, Jonathan’s wife’s corruption cases, and the countless post-Jonathan celebrated corruption cases? How many serving members of the National Assembly currently have corruption cases with the anti-graft agencies, or have their cases terminated without plausible explanations? How many ministers of the Federation, past and serving have their running corruption cases silenced and literally abandoned. Having over 80 percent of all our political leaders today as men and women who are still facing corruption charges from the past or who had serious financial offenses against the country forgiven without restitutions and punishments is an absolute indication that all odds are against the country’s capacity to come out of its many challenges.

Just last week, we saw the Ghanaian president suspended one of his appointees because of corruption. We have seen presidents and leaders of other nations tried for corruption and other offenses against their countries. We have seen them jailed without consequences, but here, our former corrupt leaders are the godfathers of today’s politics. They are the saints we worship today. Tell me, is there any one of them castigated for usurping our commonwealth? No, not one. All odds are against us!