The word so far so good has become a common cliché in our national parlance owing to the regularity or frequency of its usage. The word, “so far”, relates to a period during which time we look back in retrospect, then objectively and critically analyze or appraise the results or outcomes of our struggles or efforts, to match the resources, efforts and time expended with the end- results.
It is a period long enough, whereby we ordinarily should expect good results from our efforts, time or resources. During this time too, there is supposed to be some landmarks or milestones recorded, to justify the expenditure of time, money, talents and other resources. Ideally, such result is supposed to be positive, considering the reasonable commitment of the above variables to the project at hand.
If however, the reverse is the case, that the outcomes do not match or justify the commitment of the above resources, we could have such expression as, “so far, so bad”, that is, when things are in the extremely negative dimension. In the case of Nigeria, it is neither here nor there, hence, one can only say, “So Far, But Not So Rosy”.
As the nation celebrated yet another independence anniversary, the 48th in a grandiose manner as usual the other day, we need to sit back and reflect soberly and objectively, to see if it is worth the while after all. In fact, the million dollar question on the lips of every right-thinking Nigerian that is begging for answer is: How has Nigeria fared so far?
By way of information, the North and South Protectorates, in what is today known as Nigeria, which had hitherto existed independently of one another, were amalgamated or fused into one geographical entity by Fredrick Lord Luggard, the then Governor-general in 1914, whereupon it was baptized and given the name NIGERIA, derived from ‘Niger Area’, by Flora Shaw, a British Correspondent serving in Nigeria then, who later became the wife of Frederick Lord Luggard.
In her evolutionary/constitutional history, Nigeria gained her (flag) independence from Britain, our former colonial masters on 1st October, 1960, while she attained a Republican Status in 1963. Today, this child that was born in 1960 is forty-eight (48) years.
At the age of 48, any normal human being would have accomplished about 70% or more of his life ambitions, and should be going grey. About this period in the life of a man, he should be preparing for, if he is not already a grand father, because at 48 years of age, the human person is already fully grown and matured, hence, the saying that, “A fool at forty, is a fool forever”.
By way of reminiscences, in Nigeria, Francis Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogu, a major in the Nigerian Army at the age of 28, in January 1966, altered the political configuration of this country by leading the first military Coup d’etat in the nation’s history, thus opening the Pandora box for military dictatorship.
At age 32, General Yakubu Gowon became the Head of State of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and ruled for nine solid years. At the age of 33, Jesus Christ had accomplished the work of His ministry. Also, the Biblical accounts, specifically recorded at second Kings chapter 18 verse 2, has it that, King Hezekiah was 25 years old when he began to reign, and he ruled for 29 years in Jerusalem before joining his ancestors.
The reason for the above digression, is to give a clear picture of what is expected of any normal person at certain age and time as discussed above.
Like a human being, at age 48 Nigeria is expected to be a “mature adult”, who by this time, ought to have been fully developed. It means by implication, that at this time of her evolution, Nigeria should have sufficiently come out of the woods.
Quite regrettably however, the above does not hold for Nigeria, since at 48 years of attaining independence, Nigeria speaking frankly, is still like a toddler; as she is yet to be fully evolved politically, economically, socially and even spiritually. Little wonder then that we often hear our national leaders saying that the political experiment as we have it now, “is a learning process”. One therefore begins to wonder if such learning would proceed from cradle to grave. This is not far-fetched, when one realizes that the same actors (old brigade) that have been there over the years, are still very much in charge; which means that they have refused, neglected or failed to internalize the virtues of democracy, rule of law and good governance over the years. This may be why many Nigerians are wont to say that the problem of this country is that of leadership.
A country of over one hundred and twenty million (120m) people no doubt, has a surfeit of leadership materials given her abundant human and material (mineral) resources. In fact, the six geo-political zones in the country, can each boast of at least 1,000 potential leaders in their zone.
Having said this, one might be tempted to ask this next question: What went wrong then?
The problem with Nigeria, to be quite honest, is not that of poverty of resources - human, material/mineral or financial, rather the problem is that of poverty of conscience on the part of past leaders, due to greed, bad politics and selfishness. Leaders who would rather prefer to line their pockets, to bettering the lots of the governed, as we have seen in recent past. The followers too are to some extent to blame.
The followers (the governed) sometimes do not help matters, or how does one explain a situation where some Nigerians, well educated, who should have known better, became lackeys of the past military dictators, and even collaborated with them in looting the treasury dry. Or is it the case of several billions of Naira which this present administration pumped into the then National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) without appreciable impact?
Whichever, way we look at it, the past leaders are more to blame for our present woes, because the rot did not just start today.
Governance/rulership is supposed to be a kind of “social contract”, a two-way traffic where the people willingly relinquished their individuality, their ego, their might, their bestiality or ‘animal instincts’ etc. and subjugate same at the mercy of one individual, whom the group collectively agree to lead them, rather than luxuriate in a “Hobbesian state of nature”, where might is right, and ‘dog eats dog’.
Let us not forget that this single individual (the leader) so chosen, may not be the brightest, the best, the most powerful, the most intelligent or the richest of the lot, but by sheer benevolence or providence, he evokes the confidence of others, that they collectively make him the custodian of their collective mandate, collective trust and collective destiny, while the led are fellow trustees to the same commonwealth; the leader thus become the ‘primus inter pares’ - first among equals.
The circumstance of his ascension to the throne as seen above, ought to ignite in him, the feeling of love. compassion and care for the governed, who made him the leader, but on the contrary, he sees himself as a demi-god and rides roughshod over the people to whom power belongs and pockets their ‘trust’ (resources) and even pockets or assaults their collective destiny, that these people end up wallowing in abject poverty in the midst of plenty, resulting in anger and frustration.
The above, has been the lot of our past leaders in Nigeria over the years, which invariably accounts for why nothing seems to work in Nigeria, that the nation seems to be in a state of ‘arrested development’ in spite of our abundant human and natural endowments. These leaders steal the nation blind, thereby becoming richer than the nation, which slumps into a beggarly condition.
By way of privileged insight, and without exaggeration, it is worthy of mention here that, in spite of the nation’s wealth, the other West African countries (both Anglo and Franco phone) that gained their independence about the same time with us, save for a few that are war-ravaged and landlocked, have moved ahead on the fast tracks of justice, peace, security, stability, growth and development, while it is not so rosy with Nigeria in spite of our journey so far. At the moment, Ghana, one of these West African countries mentioned above, has become a comfortable and safe heaven, a home away from home for most prominent Nigerians and other nationals, where most of them now prefer to live and transact their businesses.
The above does not smack of lack of patriotism on the part of these Nigerians, particularly when one looks at the various sectors of the Nigerian economy, one cannot but observe their embarrassing performances in spite of the tax payers money and the nation’s abundant resources.
For instance, in the area of security, Nigeria scores very low, given the spate of robbery, assassination, kidnapping, ritual murders etc., most of which are never traced, a tendency which seems to make the Nigerian environment unsafe and unsecured for both Nigerians and foreigners. Till date, the killers of Dele Giwa, Bola Ige, (former Nigerian Minister of Justice); Funso Williams, Daramola, etc are still at large.
Security and safety are two crucial variables, which must not be taken for granted. It is only when the environment is safe and secure that one can peacefully and quietly enjoy the other amenities, and be relaxed enough to think of doing business.
Accidents on the high ways and even in the townships, which are becoming rampant lately, are often traceable to the nature of our (bad) roads, which are invariably riddled with pot holes; this accounts for the fatality of most of the road mishaps, apart from a handful that occur due to human errors.
The housing sub-sector is nothing to write home about in our 48 years of nationhood, as majority of Nigerians do not have access to cheap, decent and comfortable accommodation, compared with what certain class of Nigerians enjoy at government expense at Asokoro and Maitama in Abuja and other choice areas like Victoria Island, Ikoyl, V.G.C. etc. in Lagos.
Another dimension to the housing palaver in Nigeria is that there is the simultaneous co-existence of slums and other high brow residential areas in the so-called urban centres. For instance, high brow areas such as Maitama and Asokoro exist side by side with Mabuchi, Yanyan, Maraba etc. in Abuja the F.C.T.; in Lagos, Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Victoria Garden City and lately Aja estate, coexist with Ajegunie, Badia, Amukoko which are slums. The fact that there are some pockets of slums in most of the so-called urban areas, speaks eloquently for the poor state of housing delivery in Nigeria at 48 years of independence. Worse still, people still sleep under the bridge in Lagos, when they are not sick upstairs.
Electricity is another ‘sore thumb’ that merits some mention here. While Ghana, our next door neighbour, which we in fact supplied electricity back in the days, celebrated three years of uninterrupted power supply the other day, darkness has been the lot of Nigerians, no thanks to incessant power outages, which now compels most Nigerians to shop for Standby Generators that invariably work round the clock. I doubt if we can boldly celebrate a week of uninterrupted power supply in Nigeria even in Abuja, the seat of government, where there was an embarrassing power outage during the 8th All Africa Games hosted by Nigeria at the New National Stadium in the Federal Capital Territory, even in the presence of our August guests who were in attendance from around the world. This trend has sort of made most of the forward- looking Governors to look inward in the area of Independent Power Plant like the Gas Turbine, as a way of finding an alternative to the Power Holding Company of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Agriculture sadly enough, has since been relegated to the background with the discovery of oil in the late 1950s, and given the level of poverty that pervades the land, not many can afford two square meals a day. Successive governments over the years, have come up with one agricultural programme or the other without any appreciable breakthrough. Malaysia, one of the fastest growing economies in the world today, was reported to have come to Nigeria in the past to shop for oil palm and rubber seeds, today this country has recorded breakthrough in these endeavours, that Nigeria now looks up to Malaysia for the importation of rubber and oil palm products (vegetable oil) etc. There is in fact, food crises in Nigeria today, that calls for urgent attention n the country, as many people daily live with hunger as a constant companion.
The slogan: “water is life, pay to have it”, is almost overtaken by events, as this water is never there, even where the people are willing, eager and able to pay for it; so much so that, the taps are dry for the better parts of the year. This trend has led to the proliferation of boreholes, where untreated water is daily being dispensed to unsuspecting Nigerians at some costs, who are left with no choice but try to survive, and this often results in epidemic.
Talking frankly as a Nigerian, the proliferation of boreholes in the 21 century Nigeria, which is the “Giant of Africa” is not a healthy development, in fact, it is an indictment on the government’s inability to meet the basic needs of the people. Thus, the so-called giant so to speak, is either a “sleeping giant” or is a “clay-footed giant”, because under normal circumstances, the giant is capable of doing great things, but the reverse appears to be the case in our situation.
The above (absence of water, light, food and housing) may have informed the wisdom of Nigeria’s musical icon of blessed memory, Fela Anikulapo Kuti (a philosopher of no mean repute) when he sang thus:
“Water, light, food, house, yeparipa O, wetin do them? You mean you no know, if, tell you, you go hear am... where you go see am, eno dey! E dey...”
The other question being asked is: Why are we so blessed and yet so poor? Corruption is one factor. The present regime is trying to fight it with renewed vigour, and it does appear there is little success.
Talking about corruption the war has been on for quite some time under different guise, but without encouraging results. One of the reasons, apart from the (political) crises in the country then, why Nzeogu struck, was as a result of “graft (corruption) in high and low places; those who demanded ten percent” etc. (using their exact words).
In the 1980s during the administration of President Shehu Shagari, this war on corruption was code-named ‘Ethical Revolution;’ in the Buhari - ldiagbon regime, it was ‘War Against Indiscipline’ (W.A.I.). In President Babangida regime, it was ‘Mass Mobilization for Social Justice and Economic Recovery (MAMSER); in the late General Sanni Abacha regime, he re-introduced W.A.I, but with a ‘C’ added - ‘War Against Indiscipline and Corruption’ (WAIC). Ironically, after his death, the billions of different currencies he stashed away in foreign banks were discovered, and some of these foreign leaders have been magnanimous enough to repatriate some of these money back to Nigeria.
Today in Nigeria, there is a “renewed war” on corruption with the establishment of two powerful agencies ‘Independent Corrupt’ Practices Commission (LC.P.C.) and the Economic and ‘Financial Crimes Commission’ (E.F.C.C.) to actualize this objective.
Much as these recent efforts at fighting corruption are hailed in several quarters, being well-intentioned, the way and manner the war is being prosecuted however leaves much to be desired, as recent events in the country seems to indicate that the whole exercise smacks of vindictiveness and witch hunting, as it is sometimes targeted against a few unlucky folks, while the big fish go scot-free, or are even pampered. There is therefore the urgent need for the government to redefine the focus and the modus operandi of these agencies, to make them live up to expectation thereby erasing this negative impression.
In our 48 years of independence, Nigeria has been able to hold her own against other countries of the world in the field of sports, to this end, her leadership in this area both at the sub-regional and continental levels is undisputed.
Similarly, in the field of education, we are breaking new grounds, at least with the registration by the National University Commission, of several private universities to open up the educational space for Nigerians and foreigners alike in the country. This is coupled with the launching by the Obasanjo-led administration of the Universal Basic Education (U.B.E.), which is to guarantee free and compulsory education from primary to junior secondary school level.
Same cannot be said of the petroleum sub-sector, which has witnessed too many upward price adjustments lately, to the detriment of hapless Nigerians, who are made to purchase these products at exorbitant prices. It is a known fact today that the average Nigerian cannot afford kerosene to cook, at the current price of between N80.00 to N90.00 per litre; fuel (P.M.S.) at N70.00, diesel N140.
Even at the above prices, they are scarce most of the time as Nigeria has to import these products massively to augment the little that is available locally, since the refineries, for a long time have been performing below their installed capacities. All these are happening despite our being the 6th largest producer of petroleum. Regrettably, Nigeria from every available statistics, is the world’s poorest petroleum producer. Too sad!.
This no doubt is the challenge of leadership. Japan is by far poorer than Nigeria in terms of mineral resources as she has no single mineral resources to depend on, but with good leadership coupled with good management, Japan is one of the richest countries in the world today. Here in Nigeria, with abundant minerals such as oil, natural gas, coal, columbite, tantalite, bauxite, limestone, uranium, dolomite, to mention but a few, we are yet to make headway at 48
Politically, we do not as yet seem to be getting it right as we still do things the old way. Thuggery, violence, political assassinations, mudslinging etc. all of which characterized the politics of early 1960s Nigeria are still very much with us. Nothing seems to have changed, as we have the unfortunate lot of recycling the “old brigade”. When they are not there by themselves, they become surrogates and dictate the pace for their protégés, little wonder that there have been policy failures down the ages, because “old wine is being put in new bottles”, and we see the “hand of Esau and the voice of Jacob” at work. We have not evolved a political culture that is based on ideology and rule of law. We see the past leaders most times flouting court orders with impunity. We see Nigerian leaders using public service to solve personal problems at the detriment of the governed. We see Nigerian leader, securing the services of thugs to guarantee them victory at the polls; where this victory is a function of a monopoly of violence and financial wherewithal of the office seeker rather than his popularity or his party manifesto. It is only in Nigeria that political thugs sacked a duly constituted (State) Government, by setting ablaze the House of Assembly, the Court and even the Government House and nothing happened. How can all these happen in the 21st century Nigeria and after having attained independence since 48 years now; where the legal system and the criminal justice system seem to be well developed and fully functioning?
It is also pertinent to mention here that at forty eight years of independence, and 50 years of oil exploration and exploitation in the country, not much can be shown for it by the zone from where this product is got in abundant supply. This is talking about the south-south geo-political zone, which has been sustaining this nation for several decades now, and yet is today lying prostrate, licking her wounds as she has sad tales of neglect, abandonment, marginalization among others, to tell. What an irony of fate for “the goose that lays the golden egg”.
Lest we forget, this zone, which is the “honey pot” of the nation, had been bled (milked) profusely since 1956 to sustain the nation with the oil and natural gas from this zone, without any meaningful development of the zone, that today this zone is a pitiable spectacle, given her backwardness in terms of infrastructural facilities; the oil and gas in fact, dooms in this zone and booms outside.
Having regard to the litany of woes above, one can see the justification for the topic: Nigeria In Perspectives: So Far, But Not So Rosy. This is because, given our vast human and material/mineral resources vis-a-vis the level of development, which portrays an “under-achiever syndrome” we can say that it is not yet” Uhuru”, as the political independence we had over four decades now, is not worth the kind of grand celebration that usually characterize our anniversary because things do not seem to be looking up, things are not so rosy for the vast majority of Nigerians. If anything at all, the achievements we have had so far, are very marginal relative to the wealth of this nation.
Nigeria at forty- eight given her enormous potentials is supposed to be out of the doldrums, and in fact, take her leadership position as the real Giant of Africa at both the sub-regional and continental levels, but it is a Lilliputian. In spite of all that God in His infinite wisdom and benevolence has endowed the nation with, it is still like a ‘kwashiorkor’ in the comity of nations.
The nation has also witnessed at 48 the complete disappearance of the middle class, leaving behind the upper and lower classes; which presupposes that one is either a bourgeois or a common man, (and there is no middle ground in between.
Having regard to the foregoing therefore let us reflect soberly on the occasion of our independence anniversary, on the way forward, rather than indulging in elaborate celebration.
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