Nigeria: An Evolving Giant

Nigeria just marked its 13 years of unbroken civilian rule after the military held on to power between 31st December, 1983 to 29th May, 1999.  Before then, we had a civilian rule that was interrupted after it had been in the saddle for just four years (when President Shehu Shagari held forth between 1979 to 1983).  Before 1979, the military had held power between 1966 to that time. At independence, we had a civilian regime under the leadership of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa that was overthrown by the first coup which was however unsuccessful but gave birth to the reign of military rule in Nigeria.

In total, Nigeria had been subjected to military rulership for a whole period of 25 years of 51 + years of our existence as a nation.  This is the first time we are enjoying an uninterrupted period of 13 years without any military incursion in our political affairs.  While this calls for some measure of celebration, the civilian leadership have not lived up to the expectations of the potentials that Nigeria is known for.

Our leadership and by extension our nation is bedeviled by corruption both in low and high places; self-centered leadership; lack of vision and purpose in the political system and a serious misplacement of priorities by successive governments.  Patriotism is therefore not a culture that is common with us; it is actually alien.  Government is then seen as "Father Christmas" that must be patronized and lobbied to get your own share of the national cake.  Politicians therefore garner for votes from their constituencies so they can be represented at the center to ensure "development" comes to the community so represented.  While this in itself is not a bad idea, the voters do not vote with the big picture in their mind - they do not see the fact that the elected representatives must first of all work on ensuring there is a stable institution that they can call a nation before it can be strong enough to provide a platform for the actualization of the aspiration of its different constituent parts.  The politicians in campaigning for votes, using the sentiments of going to represent the "people" have other agendas up their sleeves.

Nigeria, 51 years and counting, 13 years of democratic rule and running is a sleeping giant.  The current regime appears to have been fired up by the huge expectations the electorates placed on its shoulders and appears to be working its way up the ladder of positioning Nigeria as a nation to be reckoned with.  I am aware that there are motley of issues that it has to deal with.  The strange issue of Boko Haram, which is gradually become a political tool in the hand of the opposition to rubbish the government; the incessant epileptic power supply or a non-existent power system; the huge unemployment especially among the youths and the total near absence of basic infrastructure like roads, housing and potable water.

A close look at the Jonathan administration reveals that it is dealing with a myriad of issues all at the same time.  Even the best opposition candidates would not have performed better in the circumstance.  The sincerity of the government, to me, is not in doubt.  But that they have perfectly worked to ensure a total deliverance of Nigeria from the woods is what remains debatable.  Governance is a process and even the corruption we talk about cannot be eradicated in one day; same with poverty.  The question we should seek to answer is whether the government is doing its best to tackle the many problems.

The last one year has been interesting.  The President and his team have fared well in the circumstance and we should be magnanimous in our criticism.  I know there is anger in the land about corruption, mis-governance and all that but violence and unmitigated protests will not solve any problem.  It aggravates issues.  As a people, we must learn to sit down to articulate our problems and issues and see how to proffer solutions to them.  That is the meaning of democracy.  There is no room for jungle response to issues.

Nigeria will survive the storm and we will come out a better and bigger nation.  A giant is emerging from the West Coast of Afroca that would become a world leader in virtually every sphere of things.  God is counting on you and I to make that a reality.

God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria...  Naija for life!

NIGERIA: A difficult jigsaw puzzle?

It beats my thoughts how everything negative is possible in Nigeria save progressive activities.  Yet this is one nation on the face of the earth that has the capacity to rule the world.  On paper, in the 1960s, we were compared to Brazil, China and India.  Today, we are struggling for relevance with Lilliputians like Ghana, Benin Republic & at the worst case, Somalia!

Reflect a little on our economic potentials: With oil reserve to last for more than 30 years, we are currently earning not less than 20 million US dollars daily from crude oil sale.  Our solid mineral potentials is virtually limitless.  From Plateau through Benue to the Western and Southern region, our soil is filled with literal gold in terms of solid minerals.  We have one of the best agricultural land mass in the world.  We can produce millions of tonnes of groundnuts annual in the north.  Same with rice.  Benue is home to yam and cassava and annual production at mechanized level can peak at a level that we can feed the entire West Coast of Africa.

Our human capital is enormous.  Our people are all over the world making monumental impact on different economies.  Barring our educational standards that has miserably fallen, we boost of one of the best crop of endowed people in terms of the capacity to learn and reach the peak of every profession.  Unfortunately, it is with the same propensity that we can learn to do wrong!

Our population is another plus.  China and other big nations have used their population to their advantage.  We are blessed with two of the biggest rivers on the continent.  Our culture is rich and our landscape is vast and imposing.  From the north to the south, all year round, our climate is clement and we are so blessed not to have any kind seasonal natural disaster.  How much more can a nation ask for?
YET...

We remain at a crossroads over 50 years after we gained nationhood in terms of political independence from the British.  Ours has been a case of a massive successful failure... bedeviled by ethnic bigotry, corruption, distrust and religious intolerance.  Besides the misfortune of military incursion into our body polity, we have had to deal with very unacceptable level of clueless leadership.

HOWEVER, I believe that we can change the tide.  The time to do that is now...  We can reverse the trend and build a BETTER NIGERIA.

Those who believe that Nigeria's leadership is their birthright must give up such a fight of making the country ungovernable before they wake up one day and discover that they have got gravel in their mouths... their kids may not have a place to call their own eventually because no single person has the monopoly of violence.

Those who think that they can line their pockets with every government money they control should watch it lest they remain behind bars for life because the coming silent revolution will swallow every corruption person.

Ethnic bigots, religious fanatics and tribal champions should quit their dreams.  It will simply not work.

It is time for the government to redouble its efforts in youth empowerment, power generation and distribution to achieve a zero point of power cut, build more refineries to cut cost and shift government revenue base more to other IGR than the oil fields that may dry up in about 35 years.  Build more roads, connect the hinterland with the waterways, link up villages to cities and educate our kids with the best curriculum.

THE TIME TO BUILD NIGERIA IS HERE... all those who do things they can't explain in line with purposeful living should repent and come to terms with reality.  Nigeria is living in the 21st century, we cannot operate with the tools and mindset of the 20th century or the dark ages.

God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Naija for life!

Does Leadership Mean Something Else in Nigeria?

It hurts to know that in Nigeria, we are taught one theory in school about how a responsible person, citizen or Nigerian should live his life yet in practical terms, we see a totally different thing on display right before our eyes even at the leadership level.  We are promised all sorts during electioneering campaigns but we are left to survive on our own whenever the elections are over and public officials or the politicians are in office.  That has prompted me to ask this question "Does Leadership Mean Something Else in Nigeria?".

Let me attempt to describe what leadership mean in Nigeria:

1.  It is a time to make money:  

People who are in elective or appointed offices in Nigeria are there only for the sake of what is in it for them.  Otherwise, how do we explain the uproar and the kind of threats the National Assembly issue whoever cares to listen anytime there is a discussion that relates to the pruning down of their jumbo pay and allowances.  What work are they doing that is different from the guys in the Federal Ministry of Finance or those in the Ministry of Environment?  The Directors who work in other ministries are more of bureaucrats than the politicians who fill up the National Assembly who mostly got their position because of the amount of money they were able to throw around during the elections.  

It is about money making... The House of Representative Committee investigating the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) have become immersed in controversies of bribe giving and bribe taking.  Even the SEC Director General is not innocent.  How do we explain a meal of N85,000 per time?  Where was she living before taking up the appointment?  How come she could not get a "befitting" accommodation all of a sudden in the Federal Capital after working there for almost 3 months?  N30,000,000.00 (N30 million) is a lot of money and this can pay the salaries of over 30 Nigerians in one whole year... but some woman is wasting it on hotel bills when an accommodation (no matter how palatial) can be rented in the highbrow places in Abuja for just N3 million per annum?  What kind of leaders do we have here?

2.  It is about exploiting innocent people

I want to speak about the Pension Fund here.  These are other people's sweat and an official would take the money (not just to use and return - which in itself is a game of bad faith) and pocket it!  The Military Pensions Fund is the worst.  Living and dead retired service men queue up in the sun and in the rain, sleep on street corners and in some extreme cases die in the process and they never get their Pensions paid or regularized.  My father served in the Nigerian Army between 1968 to 1980.  He retired on medical grounds having taken gun-shot wounds from the Civil War.  As I write, the Army Authorities have not paid him a dime since 1980.  He has considered that entitlement a write-off; yet some people are feeding fat on his benefits and driving around in gleaming cars yet the long arm of the law cannot catch them because as it seems, they are above the law.  That is the meaning of leadership in Nigeria.

3.  It is about playing to the gallery

I have lived in the North for the past 22 years.  More than half of my life-time to date has been spent with my fellow Hausa/Fulani countrymen.  These are some of the simplest people to live with on the face of the earth but because they are denied education by the same people who are supposed to be their leaders, they are brain-washed en mass to the point that they carry up arms against fellow countrymen without knowing why.  These same politicians then go to the TV houses and radio stations to speak out "for our people who are marginalized!"  Who is marginalizing who?  The people are used in Nigeria rather than empowered.  Most regional leaders are champions today because they are able to shout at those in Abuja more than others.  For their efforts, those in Abuja, in a bid to quench their so-called "fire-brand activism" give them millions of naira in cash or in contract awards for projects that are never executed.  They buy cars, marry more wives, build mansions and impoverish the people the more.

We can go on and on....

 Leadership is about making a difference in the lives of people.  But here, we have in the majority, oligarchies, semi-monarchs who parade them as democrats and in the process filter the country's resources away.  Many years, a young man in Malaysia decided to lead with a vision.  Today, Malaysia stands tall as a developed nation just a little over 30 years down the line.  We know that in the late 1970s, the same Malaysia came to collect palm kernel samples from us.  Today, they are the world's largest exporter of vegetable oil.  Yet, Nigeria is a giant on its kneel as a result of rudderless leadership enmeshed in corruption and thievery.

We earn so much and yet are so poor.  This country has no reason to be poor except that we have a different definition of leadership.  There is yet, hope for Nigeria because I know people are out there who are concerned as I am... our time is coming and may God give us the wisdom to lead our people to the Promised Land.  Amen.

    

I escaped Boko Haram's Daring Bomb

Dateline was Sunday, 29th January, 2012.  The place was Naibawa Quarters, South Eastern part of the City of Kano.  I had gone to Church in the morning and returned home to sleep after lunch.  Against the run of my initial plan, I decided to stay home.  I had wanted to take a bicycle ride across the office but I changed my mind.  That was a saving grace for me.

By 5pm, I walked across with my son to a relative's house in the neighbourhood.  At exactly 6.41 pm, we heard sporadic gun shots in the neighbourhood.  We all shut down everything in house - TV, generating sets and put out all lights.  We were flat down on our faces.  The gun fire raged and was followed by heavy sounds of bombs detonating. 

The gun shots kept coming close to the house and the entire neighbourhood was in a dead silent mood.  After about 45 minutes of sporadic gun shots with the attackers having a free reign, everything went quiet.  We had escaped a major attack from the dreaded Boko Haram.  And so the reign of terror was unleashed on the Naibawa area of Kano.  By the next morning when we were counting our losses in the area, the Police Divisional Office on the Naibawa Park road was a major target.  It was bombed and what was left was just mere ashes and rubbles.  Three residents were killed in the cross fire as the Police tried to defend their station.  Fear was palpable and the residents didn't feel like staying in the neighbourhood anymore.  Security was gone and the bombing of the Police Station effectively rendered the entire axis of Anguwar Uku, Naibawa and Zaria road without any police outpost after the Yar'Akwa Police Division was bombed on the first day of the attacks on 20th January, 2012.

A lady who had dragged her boyfriend to the station to report him for some domestic issues barely left the station after reporting the guy and leaving him in the station before the attack happened.  Her boyfriend was dead by the time the attacks retreated.  What a way to end one's life.

Kano, Nigeria's second biggest commercial city has been under siege for nearly two weeks.  In spite of the huge deployment of troops to the streets, Boko Haram kept pace with their terrorizing attacks in various parts of the city after the coordinated attacks of Friday, January 20, 2012.  That speaks volume of how unintelligent our fight against terror is.  In the heat of all these, I have seen mobile policemen posted at road-blocks around the city which have become a major menace still collecting or exhorting money from motorists and do not hide this at all.  The way these security guys are positioned, they cannot stand any surprise attack at all.

The morning of the attack on Naibawa, while I was walking across to Church in the neighbourhood, I saw surveillance helicopters flying overhead and then wondered why they could not pick out the attackers in the evening. 

The truth is that these attackers are way ahead of our security intelligence.  It is high time the Nigerian authorities deploy more sophisticated methods of nipping in the bud the spate of terrorists attacks that leaves innocent citizens victims all the time.  If we keep applying the same methods for a new problem, we will never get anywhere.

The economic impact of these attacks is monumental.  Kano is gradually becoming a ghost city with the massive exodus of non-natives from the area.  People who have made Kano a home of sort are now leaving in droves.  Why would they stay?  They can no longer be guaranteed safety. 

What does these all portend for the corporate existence of Nigeria?  Some politicians are still playing politics of sentiments with this inflammable problem.  The northern politicians are saying government should negotiate with Boko Haram and grant them amnesty like the Niger Delta militants were treated.  The question is:  How do you discuss with a faceless group whose agenda is more treacherous than advocacy?  They want to overthrow the government of Nigeria and enthrone an Islamic Republic.  They insist they want all Christians to leave northern Nigeria and then confuse matters by saying they are revenging the killings of Moslems in some conflict areas in Nigeria.

Whoever is behind these group should know one thing for sure:  Whatever has a beginning has an end.  Osama bin Ladin didn't last forever.  He was picked out.  So will Boko Haram end ingloriously.  At the end of the day, Nigeria will stand either as a one indivisible entity or a group of nation-states with the destinies of the people of the different nations still making progress. 

There is light at the end of the tunnel.

NIGERIA: The mistake of 1914...

In 1914, the British colonial masters in their bid to control the administration of the Northern and Southern Protectorates of their colonies decided to amalgamate the two of them.  In doing this, the British did not take into consideration the fact that these two different nation-states were not compatible.  However, because of their ultimate motive of mere administrative convenience and to advance their purpose of mastering the mass of people, they did not care one bit about the compatibility of the two different people.  They went ahead to name the two nations Nigeria and insisted they were one.  In spite of the forced marriage, the two nation-states remain till this day but only now fragmented into different nationalities and today Nigeria is about 6 countries forced into one confused nation.

By 1960 when the British handed over power to us at Independence, we had dissolved into three different nations and they handed over power to an abstract entity called Nigeria but the real power was in the hands of the Northern Protectorate under the guidance of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.  He was a mere paper leader but the real leader of Nigeria was the Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello.  The other nations in the arrangement were the Oduduwa led by Sir Michael Akintola with an emissary in the person of Obafemi Awolowo.  Biafra was another nation which was led by Sir Michael Okpala but had a paper tiger at the center in the person of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.  This arrangement subsisted with many crisis for only six years.  Obviously, these nations pretending to be Nigeria could not co-exist very well.  At the dawn of independence, there were crisis in the West which we now refer to as the "Wild Wild West".  The Tiv riots in the early 60s was also an evidence of a forced marriage between people of different destinies.

In 1966, a set of military boys staged a coup and what happened was like an ethnic cleansing.  They wiped out the leaders of the North and the West and left their own leaders in the East.  Can you now see what I mean?  Three nations co-existing as one.  One decided to overturn the table and left their own leaders alive.  There was nothing nationalistic and patriotic about the 1966 coup.  It was just one of the nations trying to outwit the others after it felt there was an imbalance in the sharing of power between the North, West and East of the contraption called Nigeria.

What followed the 1966 coup was not funny.  The Igbo leader who took over after his kinsmen had eliminated politicians from the North and some from the West could not hold the country together.  He formed a unitary government which broke down in six months as he had no serious command in the Army.  The northern military elements staged a come-back and wrestled power and handed it over to a so-called neutral person in General Yakubu Gowon.  Another disgruntled group in the military led by Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu disagreed with this arrangement and gradually a revolt resulted and what we had was a 30 month Civil War that claimed the lives of more than 1 million people with the Igbos who decided to secede suffering the highest casualty.

In 1970 when Biafra surrendered to the Federal military might led by General Gowon, he declared "no victor, vanguish" and since then it has been a ding dong affair.  The North held on to power for the next 9 years through Gowon; Murtala extended it for 6 months and their stooge - General Olusegun Obasanjo held it in trust for 3 and half years and handed it back to them in 1979 with Alhaji Shehu Shagari becoming a civilian President.  Buhari stepped in - 1983 and General Ibrahim Babangida held on from 1985 to 1993.  When it looked like the Federation was going to get better with Chief MKO Abiola heading for victory after the June 12, 1993 Presidential Elections, acclaimed to be the freest and the fairest elections in our history, the elements in the North stepped up their game and helped to annul the election and General Sani Abacha came in with huge brutality.  He died 5 years later and it was again a northern leader in the person of General Abdulsalami Abubakar that stepped in even though for a short-lived period of 11 months. 

The civilian administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was a creation of the North through General Ibrahim Babangida who felt there was a need to right the wrong of the June 12 election failure.  But as it turned out, Olusegun Obasanjo of 1979 was no longer the same man in 1999.  He had wizened up and he was determined to balance things out.  But the North would have none of it!  That was where trouble started.  He was opposed at every point and when he eventually bowed out in 2007, the nation was already at its tittered edge.  His nomination of Yar'Adua for presidency did not pacify the North because they felt he was a sick man and that Goodluck Jonathan was positioned naturally to step in.  Fine, Goodluck eventually became the President but not after there was hell on all fronts about the Presidency being the turn of the North.

Many of the politicians who felt the North was cheated even went as far as saying they will make the country ungovernable.  Is that not what is happening via the Boko Haram bombings now? 

THE VERDICT:

For nearly a hundred years, we have tried to force ourselves to live together.  The mistake is way back to 1914.  Can we now see why we can't seem to work well as a nation?  This faulty foundation gave birth to the unbridled corruption in the system.  The reason is this:  we are not citizens but indigenes of regions.  Citizens contribute but indigenes claim rights.  We see ourselves as Igbo, Idoma, Igala, Yoruba and Hausa before we are Nigerians.  Distrust is deep within our fiber.  As a Christian, its simple to add that two cannot walk together except they agree... Amos 3:3.

Where are we in agreement as a people?  I can't see any from the North to the South.

Refer to my last blog of December, 2012.  It is time to gradually get this region called Nigeria into its proper place.  In my subsequent blog, I will begin to discuss the variables that will help us navigate into our different nation-states within the Nigerian landscape and foster more purposeful development.  Enough to the mindless wastes of precious human lives.  People should die for a reasonable purpose and not for NOTHING.  

Keep in touch with me.