Nigeria is at a very critical crossroads as a nation. And the nation is in dire need of a pragmatic leadership to stir it out of troubled waters. For over 50 years, we have tettered along as a nation which drifts along without a clearly defined path. Every successive government has tried to carry out "sweeping reforms" that practically erases whatever little gain its predecessors in office had garnered while it was in office. This is partly due to the incessant military incursions in the polity of the country and coupled with the lack of leadership foresight and pragmatism by their civilian counterparts while in charge.
This is the 21st century and the whole world is grappling with unprecedented economic challenges. While a purpose-driven economic agenda is the immediate desire of a sane nation, Nigeria is contending with more other fundamental challenges that deserves critical attention if any economic theory is to have a lasting effect on its soil.
Multi-cultural/religious crisis
Our nation is sharply divided between the North and South, Christianity and Islam, Tribes and Ethnic groupings and all these interests are seeking very selfish portion of the soul of the country. The question really is this: Are we ready to dwell together as one people, one nation with one destiny? This is not about some politicians forcing us through laws made by a few people in the National Assembly or some 1914 forced coallition made by Lord Lugard's British Colonial masters. Can we sincerely ask ourselves from Sokoto to Calabar, Maiduguri to Lagos and from Kano to Port Harcourt if we are ready to dwell together as one nation and place other considerations like religion, tribe and regional groups aside as secondary? Can we sincerely first and foremost be Nigerians before we break into our tribes and religions? If we cannot get a leadership to resolve this seeming and intractable jig-saw puzzle for us as a nation, no medicine can possibly cure the many other social vices that confront us as a nation.
President Goodluck Jonathan does not look like that kind of leader who can confront these questions and ask Nigerians to debate on it. He seems to have towed the line of other leaders who just pay lip service to the cliche "unity in diversity" without addressing the fundamental questions. Are we really ready to be Nigerians indeed? We need a leader who can confront this question and get answers and go for the jogular! There is no point being afraid of breaking our nation down into nation-states for the sake of sustainable development. There is no point being a giant with no direction in focus.
This may be the most audacious blog post I have written on the Nigerian state.
The Current Debate on Oil Subsidy Removal
The oil subsidy appears to be the only thing the impoverished Nigerian enjoys from its clueless governments over the years. I have had issues in the last couple of years lambasting the late Colonel Gaddafi who ruled over Libya with iron fists for 42 years before going down to a popular revolution that started early this year. Gaddafi was a maximum ruler but he provided infrastructure for his people. He gave the Libyans water, gave them good roads and the average Libyans never really complained of extreme poverty the kind we have in Nigeria. They just wanted a better society than what they had. They wanted freedom in the political space, a democracy where they can be free to choose their own leaders. That is what really caused the frustration which resulted in the revolution which has been carried out now.
Nigerian leaders talk about freedom of speech and a democracy which is actually meaningless to the ordinary Nigerian. The other day, I took a trip to nearby Jigawa State in North West Nigeria from my base in Kano. What I saw on my way (pictures of which I posted on my facebook page) really shocked me. A little less than 20 kilometers outside the sprawling commercial city of Kano, mud houses littered everywhere on the route to Dutse, the Jigawa State capital. These people who live in these mud houses were completely cut off from civilization without electricity and water. They live in houses that were good only in the first decade of the last century! Yet they live in a Nigeria where leaders steal billions of dollars which were allocated to their states for the development of the country! Are they not worst than Colonel Gaddafi? Shouldn't they be executed publicly for corruption? Didn't Gaddafi deserve a better treatment compared to his Nigerian counterparts?
What really is the Nigerian enjoying from its government? How does the billions of naira realized from the sale of crude oil trickle down to the Nigerian? Only about 20 million Nigerians actually work for the government agencies, Organized Private Sector and quasi-governmental agencies. Of a population of 160 million people, does the government create any conducive environment for the entrepreneurship of the remaining 140 million people? The rest of us who survive by any means are simply lost and have no consciousness of government. We are not secured - the police is just a relic of whatever it was meant to be - even milking the citizens who are trying to eke out a life by collecting N20 naira bribes from them on the street. The entire country is wallowing in a huge darkness that is a huge embarassment to our size and resources as a nation. The entire country in urban centers now run on generators. We are emitting more gasious substance than the entire industries in the world - causing unprecedented global warming. Why are we complaining of the spate of flooding in our cities this last raining season? Check out the gas emission from our generators. Someone should take the measurement and the shock we will find from the revelations will be awesome.
Has the government of Goodluck Jonathan considered these issues before contemplating the removal of the subsidy? Whatever is draining the purse of the government is not the subsidy they give to the Nigerian people. They should do a massive pay cut for all legislators for starters! Lately I heard of the House of Representative members asking for money to buy N2.5m cars for each of them! Imagine how much that will amount to. Does anyone consider how much impact that can do on the lives of the people who are unemployed if they were given soft loans to start their own small businesses with just N500,000 each? Now the legislators are going to spend that money on cars! Don't they have cars before becoming representatives of their people? They should use their old cars and SERVE the people! That is the subsidy that should be removed!
The furniture allowances that Senators are paid every session is needless. Remove that subsidy. They already have houses. Most of them are not poor people. If they really want to serve and they know the condition of the nation's finance, they should give up their furniture allowance which runs into hundreds of millions of naira per Senator. That sum can be channelled to build infrastructures through which employment can be generated for the suffering Nigerians. That is where the subsidy should be removed.
No governor should enjoy any more security votes! Their states are not secured. They can't secure it. Remove those votes and rechannel it! Please the people's subsidy and cut your allowances and the excesses in the maintenance of government officials.
I will come back and write further on the need to avoid the meaningless desire by the government to remove oil subsidy. That will finally muzzle the common man out of existence. Any palliative measures they want to use to cushion the effect will make no difference. It will end up within the circle of officialdom.
President Jonathan, please seat up and protect the Nigerians you swore to serve on May 29, 2011. Stop running 250 kilometers in the wrong direction. Make a U-turn for the sake of the common man in Kotangora, the farmer in Ojigo, Benue State and the fisherman in Takum, Taraba State. If you fail in this duty, the goodwill you garnered during your campaign will be washed away and you will join the rest of Nigeria's leaders who bore the name but had no impact on the lives of the people. Is that the legacy you want to leave behind for your own children, and kins men in Otuoke? I think not.
This is the 21st century and the whole world is grappling with unprecedented economic challenges. While a purpose-driven economic agenda is the immediate desire of a sane nation, Nigeria is contending with more other fundamental challenges that deserves critical attention if any economic theory is to have a lasting effect on its soil.
Multi-cultural/religious crisis
Our nation is sharply divided between the North and South, Christianity and Islam, Tribes and Ethnic groupings and all these interests are seeking very selfish portion of the soul of the country. The question really is this: Are we ready to dwell together as one people, one nation with one destiny? This is not about some politicians forcing us through laws made by a few people in the National Assembly or some 1914 forced coallition made by Lord Lugard's British Colonial masters. Can we sincerely ask ourselves from Sokoto to Calabar, Maiduguri to Lagos and from Kano to Port Harcourt if we are ready to dwell together as one nation and place other considerations like religion, tribe and regional groups aside as secondary? Can we sincerely first and foremost be Nigerians before we break into our tribes and religions? If we cannot get a leadership to resolve this seeming and intractable jig-saw puzzle for us as a nation, no medicine can possibly cure the many other social vices that confront us as a nation.
President Goodluck Jonathan does not look like that kind of leader who can confront these questions and ask Nigerians to debate on it. He seems to have towed the line of other leaders who just pay lip service to the cliche "unity in diversity" without addressing the fundamental questions. Are we really ready to be Nigerians indeed? We need a leader who can confront this question and get answers and go for the jogular! There is no point being afraid of breaking our nation down into nation-states for the sake of sustainable development. There is no point being a giant with no direction in focus.
This may be the most audacious blog post I have written on the Nigerian state.
The Current Debate on Oil Subsidy Removal
The oil subsidy appears to be the only thing the impoverished Nigerian enjoys from its clueless governments over the years. I have had issues in the last couple of years lambasting the late Colonel Gaddafi who ruled over Libya with iron fists for 42 years before going down to a popular revolution that started early this year. Gaddafi was a maximum ruler but he provided infrastructure for his people. He gave the Libyans water, gave them good roads and the average Libyans never really complained of extreme poverty the kind we have in Nigeria. They just wanted a better society than what they had. They wanted freedom in the political space, a democracy where they can be free to choose their own leaders. That is what really caused the frustration which resulted in the revolution which has been carried out now.
Nigerian leaders talk about freedom of speech and a democracy which is actually meaningless to the ordinary Nigerian. The other day, I took a trip to nearby Jigawa State in North West Nigeria from my base in Kano. What I saw on my way (pictures of which I posted on my facebook page) really shocked me. A little less than 20 kilometers outside the sprawling commercial city of Kano, mud houses littered everywhere on the route to Dutse, the Jigawa State capital. These people who live in these mud houses were completely cut off from civilization without electricity and water. They live in houses that were good only in the first decade of the last century! Yet they live in a Nigeria where leaders steal billions of dollars which were allocated to their states for the development of the country! Are they not worst than Colonel Gaddafi? Shouldn't they be executed publicly for corruption? Didn't Gaddafi deserve a better treatment compared to his Nigerian counterparts?
What really is the Nigerian enjoying from its government? How does the billions of naira realized from the sale of crude oil trickle down to the Nigerian? Only about 20 million Nigerians actually work for the government agencies, Organized Private Sector and quasi-governmental agencies. Of a population of 160 million people, does the government create any conducive environment for the entrepreneurship of the remaining 140 million people? The rest of us who survive by any means are simply lost and have no consciousness of government. We are not secured - the police is just a relic of whatever it was meant to be - even milking the citizens who are trying to eke out a life by collecting N20 naira bribes from them on the street. The entire country is wallowing in a huge darkness that is a huge embarassment to our size and resources as a nation. The entire country in urban centers now run on generators. We are emitting more gasious substance than the entire industries in the world - causing unprecedented global warming. Why are we complaining of the spate of flooding in our cities this last raining season? Check out the gas emission from our generators. Someone should take the measurement and the shock we will find from the revelations will be awesome.
Has the government of Goodluck Jonathan considered these issues before contemplating the removal of the subsidy? Whatever is draining the purse of the government is not the subsidy they give to the Nigerian people. They should do a massive pay cut for all legislators for starters! Lately I heard of the House of Representative members asking for money to buy N2.5m cars for each of them! Imagine how much that will amount to. Does anyone consider how much impact that can do on the lives of the people who are unemployed if they were given soft loans to start their own small businesses with just N500,000 each? Now the legislators are going to spend that money on cars! Don't they have cars before becoming representatives of their people? They should use their old cars and SERVE the people! That is the subsidy that should be removed!
The furniture allowances that Senators are paid every session is needless. Remove that subsidy. They already have houses. Most of them are not poor people. If they really want to serve and they know the condition of the nation's finance, they should give up their furniture allowance which runs into hundreds of millions of naira per Senator. That sum can be channelled to build infrastructures through which employment can be generated for the suffering Nigerians. That is where the subsidy should be removed.
No governor should enjoy any more security votes! Their states are not secured. They can't secure it. Remove those votes and rechannel it! Please the people's subsidy and cut your allowances and the excesses in the maintenance of government officials.
I will come back and write further on the need to avoid the meaningless desire by the government to remove oil subsidy. That will finally muzzle the common man out of existence. Any palliative measures they want to use to cushion the effect will make no difference. It will end up within the circle of officialdom.
President Jonathan, please seat up and protect the Nigerians you swore to serve on May 29, 2011. Stop running 250 kilometers in the wrong direction. Make a U-turn for the sake of the common man in Kotangora, the farmer in Ojigo, Benue State and the fisherman in Takum, Taraba State. If you fail in this duty, the goodwill you garnered during your campaign will be washed away and you will join the rest of Nigeria's leaders who bore the name but had no impact on the lives of the people. Is that the legacy you want to leave behind for your own children, and kins men in Otuoke? I think not.
