WEDNESDAY COLUMN BY USSIJU MEDANER
info@medaner.com, justme4justice@yahoo.com
I have continued to ask myself, why is Nigeria not working despite all serious efforts at making it working? Despite all our blessedness as a nation, why can’t we translate to a flourishing nation, ably supporting its population? What do the Asian giants that rose up yesterday have that we don’t have? Nothing, except that we are black! Is there something wrong in our skin colour that corrupts our heads and ruins our system? The answer is “NO!” But there seems to be something wrong – that we must not shy away from but to confront it head-on.
More than a decade ago, I wrote an article addressing the deliberate attempts by Nigerians to take over from our then colonial lords to become the new lord over their people, with more biting and doubled usurpation of our communal rights and properties. I will always insist there was a time when nations’ dominating nations and usurping their rights was not much of an offense because it was to a larger essence, an acceptable norm of the time, though abusive and demonic. But a time had come, when nations dominating nations became an offense, and the colonial lords had to let go.
We came into a new era of what we celebrated as independence across the corners of our continent. We believed we fought for it, and somehow truthfully, our resistance did signal the end of submission, and the non-negotiable need for a new order of global relationship. The colonial masters let go of the ropes, but unfortunately, the rope only changed hands. We didn’t really become free; we gained independence from the white masters only to become slaves to a selected few and sworn groups within our population, and across our continent.
The current situation of Nigeria and indeed the majority of African nations today is pathetic, but it can never be blamed on any forces outside our countries and continent, regardless of the fact that external players continue to undermine our capacity to develop. For every abuse we receive from America and Europe today, it is because our own people open the door for them to exploit us, in an attempt to equally exploit us. Also, the slow if not backward development of the black community in America when compared to other minority groups lends yet another credence to the problem of the black man which this piece is concerned about.
We came into political independence with a screwed mind and disposition. The early indigenous leaders then rode with the global political order of political revolution, particularly to hastily achieve political independence but with also what seem nor to be an acute unpreparedness, a lack of conviction and lack of a viable foundational blueprint to chart the course of the nations. It was all about let us chase the colonialists out first and then become the new lords over new political entities. As if it was that easy and straightforward! No sooner did we fight for political independence than we began to romance corruption from the very beginning. We began to raise and bred individuals and groups that wanted to manipulate the systems for personal control; and unfortunately, corrupt individuals and entities succeeded in implanting themselves and hijacking the system to serve their selfish and parochial interests rather than for the benefit of the new nations and the people – which still continues till date. We started brewing lords and gods among our population; communal, collective and common resources became something to be perpetually cornered to the minute elements which become the norm and with impunity because we refused to reject it from the outset and rather than responding appropriately, we were celebrating the new lords and submitting to them, until, it was too late for the country and the continent to be truly free. What we have now and what we are now are a few among us, selfishly controlling the wealth of the nation, while the people, the masses are struggling with penury.
These same people, in a bid to perpetuate their hold on our collective resources, once again open the door back to the once gone colonial masters to return to us in what we now call neo-colonisation. Of course, there is no way back for them, if people among us would not aid them. So, we have the most deadly return of usurpation of our resources, jointly coordinated by internal and external forces. Libya was totally brought to its knees; a once flourishing nation becomes a wreckage to allow unhindered illegitimate access to the resources of the nation. Today, the only people benefiting from the continued existence of Libya are the perpetrators of the damage of the nation; as the majority of Libyans have gone down with the ruins.
It is the same story in Sudan, now Southern and Northern Sudan. Peace went away till today because they wanted control. They continue to exploit the nations’ resources without provisions for its wellness and viability; in fact, they prefer it remains broken. And we cannot totally blame all these on powers from without, as the people within, though too few a number to be regarded as representatives of the people, wanted absolute power and control and collusively secure it.
Talk about Nigeria, the most populous nation in the continent, and the supposed big brother of the continent, the story is even worse. Sixty-five years after independence, we are still like a nation subdued and crying for freedom. A nation blessed all round with vast resources, abundant enough to sustain our population and build generational wealth for our people and still feed many of our neighbours and continent members, has become a nation perennially on its knees, begging for survival, and a population continuously living on forlorn promises and dashed hopes; the wealth of a nation of over two hundred and forty million people revolving in the hands of less than ten thousand people.
Nigeria continues to struggle with the dangers and brutality of insecurity; an uncountable number of our people are gruesomely killed almost everyday, and without hope of a solution in the horizon. We continue to ask why we cannot rid Nigeria of insecurity. Why does it remain perpetually impossible for the Nigeria Army to totally decimate the insurgents and end the operational capacities of bandits across the states where they are domicile? How can we continue to expend more and more of our national income on provision of security that is becoming more alien to our system by the day? The answer is very simple. As much as we pretend to ignore the realities, we will continue to deceive ourselves while the perpetrators will all continue to feed hugely on our pains. More than 75 percent of the high end insecurity and criminality in Nigeria are manipulated and orchestrated by strongmen within the system both for economic and political gains. Is it hidden that the predominant cause of insecurity along the north central states, including Plateau and its environs is the struggle to control the huge solid mineral in the axis?
The bandits, the agents of insecurity, are merely the gatekeepers for the heartless elements who are hell bent on usurping the gold and other solid and precious mineral deposits along that corridor. And we are most times tempted to ask questions as to who they are. Well, we may not be able to name names, but is it possible for an ordinary citizen to possess the capacity to undermine the entire system without immediate and strong consequences? No! The perpetrators are the same big men we look up to for security and safety all the time.
They are there among the politicians. They are there within the top echelon of the national security apparatus. They are there among the community heads who are supposed to be the guardians of their people; and that is the reason why they are unstoppable. The same people behind the problem are also the same people, either coordinating the solution or are strongly in positions to influence those coordinating the solution.
How on earth is it possible that a drop of our crude oil would be stolen, ferry over our own seaway, sold on our seaway and with absolute success over the decades? How is that possible in a nation that claims to have a very strong, well coordinated and active military institution and rigiments across the country, boasting of a very strong navy and naval fleets across the same water ways? The only way is if the perpetrators are the same people sending servicemen to protect national assets and the systems.
Unfortunately, we will continue to have insecurity; and it will continue to increase as the mouths of the perpetrators expand for more. Our crude oil will continue to go into private hands, furnishing private pockets. Solid minerals deposits across the country will remain properties of individuals, and insecurity will continue to be with us, except and hopefully, if we by some coincidence tumble on some visionary leaders that do not care about the outcomes for both themselves or any other person and lay their hands on the plough to clear the country of all the rubbish it harbours.
The second and equally dangerous reason behind the perpetuation of insecurity in Nigeria is politics. Far beyond the economically motivated sponsor of insecurity is the index of politically motivated insecurity in Nigeria. We had enjoy some respite over the last two years, and suddenly, we are back to what appears as the ugly status quo; all because another election season is approaching. Insecurity, whether we accept it or not, has become a tool in the hands of politicians to undermine and discredit sitting presidents in Nigeria; and I have written about this tons of times. 2019 election made an obvious reference to what politicians can achieve with insecurity. The daily massacre in Benue state alone was too much for the entire country, as we drew closer to the national election. Unbelievably, and funny enough, the sitting governor of the state and his party literally used nothing but the insecurity to campaign and they won the election in the state. The truth was that we were waking up everyday to the news of the newest attacks and the number of casualties.
It is only the shortsightedness of Nigerians, and our established tendencies to forget the past at the speed of light, that made us ignore the correlation between the time the election results were released and the period the daily attacks and killing in Benue state stopped in 2019. The same week the election was over and the party had won, the killing literally dropped down by over 95 percent. And it remains so until the dispensation of another election; and again, right now that another election cycle is here, the same format seems to have been activated to achieve a premeditated end. Do we all recall that as of the last few months, we were already celebrating substantial reduction in insecurity, most especially around the northeast corridor; while the Army was recording massive victories over the bandits across the north central; so what suddenly changed again? Election is again by the corner, and the best way the opposition can de-market the ruling party and unseat the sitting president is by projecting and sponsoring insecurity.
Nigeria, like almost all other African nations, is not faring well. The voices of the opposition are on the rise; the people aren’t comfortable, and rightly so, given the multifaceted factors that put the common man on the floor. Cost of major staples has spiked up, while income is continuously reducing, as much as purchasing power of the Naira is dropping. Except we deceive ourselves, our people barely survive, though hang on hope – that their predicament will be over with time.
We want to take all the blame for our woes to the table of the president and conveniently pour them all on the failure of the government; yet, we keep quiet at the continuous actions of non-state actors behind insecurity that literally are responsible in part for food insecurity and inflation. We kept quiet absolutely at the actions of those who were bent on disrupting the systems and making sure the changes we desire and working on do not see the light of the day. The president had his way getting the Supreme Court pronouncement on the autonomy of the local government as a tier of government, but what have the governors not done to make sure it does not work?
Subsidy was removed, CNG introduced, Naira for crude policy was enacted and the president guaranteed local supply of crude to local refineries. All these to respond to the challenges of the subsidy removal and reduce the direct consequences on the people until the pain are over; but what becomes of them. Despite all the federal government direct subsidy on conversion to CNG for commercial vehicles and thousands of them already converted, have we seen any drop in the cost of transportation? No. How was some vested interest able to organise to jeopardise the crude for naira policy that immediately led to an upward review of pump prices of products?
Nothing is working and might not work, because the forces that benefit from the former status quo are not willing to let go of the slave-master rope. I ask again, what is the problem with the black man?
GOD BLESS THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA!
