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I am a Nigerian and always proud to be one , a citizen of an area that
covers approximately 924,000 sq km, with an exploding
population of about one hundred and forty-five million
people and blessed with about two hundred and fifty ethnic
tribes. A very rich nation blessed by God with human and
natural abundance. Membership of almost all the major
International organizations around the globe, the likes of
the all powerful United Nations (UN), The World Bank,
International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Trade Organization
(WTO),ECOWAS, the Africa Union, OPEC, the Commonwealth, Food
and Agricultural Organization, (FAO),International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA),International Bank for Reconstruction
and Development (IBRD), International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO),The International Confederation of Free
Trade Unions (ICFTU),International Labour Organization (ILO),International
Communication Union (ICU), International Organization for
Migration (IOM), the International Red Cross and Red
Crescent Movement (IFRCS), the INTERPOL among others,
including the famous G groups: G24,G15,G77, and other
various International bodies too numerous to mentioned.
A great adventurous nation Indeed, but what has all these
international adventures contributed to the transformation
of this ‘giant of Africa’ and its people. A salient question
begging for answer is: what happened to Nigeria my beloved
country, known for its rich groundnut pyramid, vast cocoa
land, rich palm oil trade and the other numerous rich
agriculture products found in all the corners of our
spacious fertile land? I mean that Nigeria reputed to be
rich in Bitumen, Petrol, Tin, Coal, Iron ore, Lead, Zinc,
Gold and the other numerous discovered and undiscovered rare
metal pegmatite scattered abundantly across all the seven
hundred and seventy-four local government councils across
the country.
The reality is that one does not really need the assistance
of a soothsayer or modern day consultant, for one to know
that God indeed has blessed this great nation with ‘almost
everything’ on earth. What then could be said to be the
factors militating against the proper development of this
‘great nation, with great people’? Under a reasonable
circumstance the membership of Nigeria in some of the above
listed International bodies, should have placed it as one of
the most organized countries not only in the Africa
continent, but as one of the well organized and developed in
the world. Unfortunately, the scenario we have today has not
really tallied with our international reputation.
The Nigeria I see today is totally different from that
Nigeria I used to know, hear and read about back in school,
that rich country with solid educational infrastructure,
efficient rail system, effective health -care sector,
reliable power supply and a vibrant economy. This Nigeria
that had just celebrated its fifty years as an independent
nation, to be honest, is different from the one promised us
by our patriotic and nationalist leaders, the likes of great
Nnamdi Azikwe, the amiable and visionary Ahmadu Bello and
the erudite Obafemi Awolowo of blessed memory, and the other
nationalist leaders who fought diplomatically for the
attainment of independence from colonialism. Could this be
the same Nigeria with patriotic sport-men and women, the
likes of Garba Okoye, the famous Thunder Balogun, Dick
Tiger, Hogan Bassey, the Odegbamis, the Okalas, the Owolabis,
the Dahiru Sadis, the Mary Onyali, Innocent Egbunike, Power
Mike and the others too numerous to mention.
I am finding it hard to believe that this is the same sport
loving nation with some of the best sport facilities in
sub-Saharan Africa that had competent sport administrators
and athletes that could compete boldly anywhere in the
world. What happened to that country called Nigeria that
proudly hosted one of the world spectacular International
cultural festivals (FESTAC 77)? Could this be the same
country now unattractive to tourists and foreign investors?
This largely due to infrastructural decay and lack of
maintenance culture.
What happened to that Nigeria that had so many surpluses
that it thought it wise to raise wages of its then vibrant
civil service with the mouth watering ‘Odoji’ windfall?
Could this be the same Nigeria with an efficient
corrupt-free civil service, laced with visionary and
God-fearing men and women drawn from all the regions
irrespective of tribes and religion? Is this present country
that has just won the tag of an unquantifiable golden medal
as an independent sovereign nation really moving forward or
taking more steps backward, behind some of its Africa
neighbours and indeed far behind its counterparts in its
various International membership organizations?
Funnily, our membership of most of these International
bodies has done nothing to alleviate or reduce the daily
biting of poverty among our countrymen and women, neither
has our position as one of the sixth largest oil producing
nations and a bona fide member of OPEC reduced the
sky-rocketing price of petroleum products or cut down the
unjustifiable price of kerosene to our towns and villages.
What has our membership of the Commonwealth or the United
Nation brought to us? Or our membership of the International
Labour Organization (ILO), the International Confederation
of Trade Union (ICFTU) done to tackle the high rate of
unemployment across the country or help resuscitate most of
our collapsed industries? Has it changed the daily
exploitation of Nigerians by our so-called ‘foreign
partners’ in most of the few foreign dominated companies
still operating in the country? Again what has our
membership of the International Communication Union (ICU)
done to the daily exploitation of Nigerians with high call
tariffs and exorbitant price of assessing the Internet?
Our visionless leaders have sold their conscience to greed,
forgetting that the strength of our population should
naturally make us one of the most competitive business
nations in the world. Instead Nigerians are daily
blindfolded with ‘ cheap raffle promos’ and other loud
promotional self-serving promos, that hardly add any value
to the society in terms of corporate responsibilities, as
obtained in other prudent nations. Here the service
providers are happy and daily smiling away with huge capital
flights, while we are daily conned into expensive talking.
Could this really be the same serene Nigeria with safe
roads, world class infrastructure, clean environment and
creative people? No! – Someone should wake me up from my
chimera. This can’t be the same place now ravaged by death
trap roads, armed robberies, kidnappers, assassins,
cultists, corruption, religion intolerance, extremism,
fatalism, nepotism, hypocrisy, unpatriotism, political
mediocrity and blander disregard to the rule of law and
respect for individual creativity, economic freedom,
maladministration and mismanagement of various government
agencies across the country, left behind by our visionary
past patriotic leaders. Someone should boldly tell me this
is not the same Nigeria that spearheaded the formation of
the Organization of Africa Unity (Africa Union), now
swimming disgracefully in politics of regionalization and
division. What happened to that country that made us proud
as a people, with a vibrant leader like the late General
Murtala Ramat Mohammed, who was not only an efficient
Nigerian leader, but a strong voice from Africa that made us
believe that indeed “Africa has come of age”. A patriotic
soldier who effectively demonstrated the reality that
leadership is not all about khaki or ‘Caftan’ but
commitment, principle, vision and the fear of God. He came
in and did in six months what many of our past and present
leaders are still stumbling blindly to do in the past thirty
four years after his death. And today our hitherto vibrant
respected voice in the competitive global stage has
continued to shrink, drowning helplessly like a drowning man
on a high sea.
Today Nigerians are branded with different aliases: from
419ers, drug pushers, terrorists, kidnappers, corrupt
people, yahoo men and women, human and body traffickers,
’ojoro’ people and what have you. Worst our membership of
the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has done
nothing to interfere or assist Nigerians in the Diaspora,
daily deported like sheep from various countries across the
globe, especially from Britain our so-called ‘Colonial
Godfather’ and head of the commonwealth, including America
the land of ‘equal opportunity and freedom’. Again, what has
been the contribution of the rich Nigeria Diaspora
population to the effective development of the Nigeria
project over the past thirty years, like their counterparts
in India, China, Ghana, South Africa and other nations with
large intellectual capital in the Diaspora?
What happened to that Nigeria that had patriotic
politicians, with political ideas, eloquent speeches, and
nationalism as their trademark? Are the current crops of
‘siddon chop’ politicians purported to be representing the
‘people’ really doing what they are supposed to be doing in
the states and national assemblies? What single bill have
they proposed since the past ten years that has made any
impact in the lives of the ordinary Nigerians that anyone of
them can boldly come out to pinpoint to the world? Why is
the Nigeria of today practising one of the most expensive
democracies in the world shrouded in political
assassinations, lack of political ideas, political
corruption and imposition and election ringing? Could this
be the same country that had eloquent politicians and
leaders like Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Mallam Aminu Kano,
Chief Anthony Enahiro, Chief Michael Okpara, Hajia Gambo
Sawaba,Ladi Kwali, Madam Margaret Ekpo, Mrs Funmilayo
Ransome-Kuti and the many others who came, saw and
conquered?
Where is that country that had some of the best entertaining
artists in the globe, the likes of Fela Anikulapo Kuti,
Mamman Shata, King Sunny Ade, and the rest who were a strong
brand in the musical world? Is this the same country that
brought out some of the best literary minds in the world,
the likes of Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, and Abubakar Imam?
Could this now be the same Nigeria that once had a vibrant
cinema, patriotic actors and actress like Ogunde, Kassimu
Yaro, Chief Zebrudaya, Chief Eleyimi, Baba Sala, Jaguar and
the rest? What has happened to educative and enlightening
national TV programmes the likes of the Village Headmaster,
Cock-Crow at Dawn, the New Masquerade and other screen
presentations that bonded us as a prosperous nation? Today
they have all been forced out of our mind set, with foreign
movies and culture, and our celebrated but not too
successful Nollywood, left in the hands of mediocrities.
Fifty years is a golden age, and Nigeria as a nation has
passed through some trying periods, largely man-made
problems that could effectively be tackled by its over 145
million people, but the ship seems to be sinking under
visionless leadership and maladministration by its ‘selected
captains’ and one question that would keep rising today and
tomorrow from generations of born and yet unborn Nigerians
would be “What happened to the ‘giant of Africa? Unless we
all come together to rescue our big rich ship from sinking
into that dirty mouldy water, some of our greedy leaders are
blindly and greedily navigating us towards a dangerous and
violent storm as the next year elections approach.
God bless Nigeria our beloved country.
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Published
October 15th, 2010
