20th April, 2015
By Mac Durugbo
On Tuesday, November 11, 2014, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola SAN, delivered what I may call a very incisive lecture titled “Building a New Nigeria by New Nigerians”, at the 2014 Youth Summit organized by Act Now, a non-governmental organization, at the Muson Centre Lagos. Like in all his lectures, especially on leadership, the Governor spoke extensively about belief in and commitment to Nigeria. In trying to portray the futility of seeking refuge in other lands in the name of seeking greener pastures, the Governor asked one relevant question: “Where would we have escaped to if those citizens of those countries had run away from their own problems?”
This question is central to the topic of that lecture principally because it touches on the core of the problem of Nigeria today. I also consider it central to the task before the incoming administration of General Muhammadu Buhari, which is to fix Nigeria. There is no country in the world today where Nigerians cannot be found; from the skilled and highly prized professional to even those who have neither qualification nor skill. For the first category, they either apply for jobs in foreign lands or travel to such countries where their skills are highly prized. Today, many Nigerian doctors, engineers, architects and other professionals have transferred their services abroad. The unskilled take the greatest risks in order to leave Nigeria as if there is war. Sun-scourged bones and skeletons often mark the desert trails of those attempted to escape across the Sahara. Many Nigerians have also reportedly drowned in their attempts to cross into other countries. Others have been arrested as illegal aliens and clamped into prisons in foreign countries from where they are either deported at the end of many years service or died.
These young Nigerians “escape” only to find out that life there is not easier and sometimes tougher than in Nigeria and, like the Governor said, without papers and a work permit, they will do menial work and almost slave and will barely find enough to survive. Those who have survived today are some of the best brains that this country has ever produced. They are out there in Saudi Arabia, Dubai, United States of America, Britain, India, China, Russia, and even African countries, doing what they ought to be doing in Nigeria. The unskilled take unimaginable risks in the countries of their sojourn, preferring face any consequences of their activities than to return to Nigeria. However, one thing common to them all is that they still long for their country of birth. They are not immune, as it were, to the age old saying of “East or West home is the best”. Even those of them who have become part of the countries of their sojourn, as well as their children, oftentimes encounter discrimination among their peers in work places, in schools, and even in places of fun and play. Without exactly being told in words that they don’t belong, they feel it. But yet they prefer to live among people who despise them, no matter how subtly, and treat them as second class citizens.
This raises the first question: What is wrong with Nigeria? With large human and material resources that are the envy of the rest of the world, why is Nigeria still tottering like a giant walking with the spindle feet of a mosquito? All over the world today, Nigerian professionals form a large percentage of the workforce, enriching other economies while their country lies prostrate. Citizens of other nations come here and use the vast human and material resources in our land to enrich their countries while we slave for them. We do a lot of things to even attract them to come and invest here – tax holidays, rebates, free trade zones and 100 percent transfer of profit. Nigerian investors prefer to invest outside our economy. They build refineries outside the country and take our crude oil there for refining from where they import the petroleum products into the country after receiving huge amounts from our government as fuel subsidy. We have four refineries across the country but none works. Attempts to repair them over the years have failed, not because they could not be repaired but because some influential people in and out of the government would not want it so. From the foregoing, therefore, the answer to the first question is obviously corruption and lack of focussed and committed leadership. Nigeria, as a nation, has suffered the scourges of corruption and inept leadership. The twin evil has destroyed the high hopes, brought by Independence, of a nation where diversity should be a source of strength.
Instead what the nation has had are opportunists who have sought power for selfish ends.
They have mortgaged the nation among themselves and seized her vast human and material resources as their private estate.
From the Military interregnum from 1966 to the final return of democracy in 1999, Nigeria lay prostrate; raped by self appointed leaders, who came as self-acclaimed messiahs and left later after using their positions to amass wealth for themselves at the expense of the ordinary Nigerian. From 1999 to date, not much has changed. Our Presidential system of Government is rated the most expensive in the world today with members of Parliament fixing outrageous salaries and remunerations for themselves and governors arranging life pensions of sometimes 300 percent of their salaries while in service and remunerations to take care of themselves and their families out of service. That is why in the last 16 years the annual budgets of the Federal and most state governments have consistently recorded over 70 per cent of Recurrent Expenditure with less than 30 per cent (sometimes as low as 14 percent) of the budget left for Capital Expenditure. The nation has witnessed situations in some states where half of the monthly allocation from the Federation Account (a substantial portion of the revenue of some states) went to political godfathers who installed governors of such states during elections. The practice, I suppose, is still going on in some states today. That is why some states can neither pay salaries of their staff nor carrying out any developmental projects.
The second vital question is: Who will rebuild Nigeria from the rubbles of the present “unliveable” Nigeria where nothing seems to work. The answer lies again in leadership; a focused and determined leadership which is sufficiently passionate about the Nigerian Project. The Nigerian Project, by the way, represents the original quest of our founding fathers encapsulated in the first Nigerian National Anthem at Independence;
Nigeria we hail thee;
Our own dear Native Land;
Though tribe and tongue may differ;
In Brotherhood we stand;
Nigerians are proud to serve;
Our Sovereign Motherland.
That is the Nigerian Project and whoever must lead this nation must be sufficiently passionate about it. The Nigeria that must emerge is one which every Nigerian will hail as Native to every Nigerian no matter what part of the country he or she lives or what language he or she speaks. The new Nigeria must be one in which every Nigerian must be proud to identify with in any part of the world. It must be a Nigeria in which every Nigerian is his or her brothers (sister’s) keeper, standing in brotherhood against external aggression. Finally, the Nigeria of our collective dream must be a Nigeria which every Nigerian will be proud to serve to the extent of laying down his life for her.
All these requirements do not need any elaboration. For example, as it is today, Nigeria cannot be said to be Native to every Nigerian with people being discriminated against in some states on account of tribe and tongue. In some states, it has even led to loss of life. Not many Nigerians are proud to serve this country or identify with her beyond her shores. The reason is not far-fetched. Aside the inept leadership earlier mentioned, the reputation of Nigeria has been torn to shreds internationally by her leaders and their cronies who have put her at the pinnacle of global corruption and economic crime rating. And how many Nigerians would want to lay down their lives for her? Who would want to die for a country that would not provide the basic needs of life for him? Who would want to lay down his life for a country which will raise no hand in his defence if he is maltreated in other countries? Moreover, who would like to die for a country which makes no provision for him or her? That is the crux of the matter.
Last Line
As the new administration of General Muhammadu Buhari assumes leadership of the country on May 29 (or May 28?), therefore, all eyes are on him to fix Nigeria. Is he passionate about the Nigerian Project? There is no doubt about it going by his campaign slogan of CHANGE and his promises to tackle Corruption and Insecurity among other ills currently bedevilling the nation. He has shown sufficient knowledge of Nigeria’s problems and how to go about providing solutions to them. He is a Made-in-Nigeria Nigerian. That will, doubtless, stand him in good stead. Besides, he will not be alone. His party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), will be there to assist him. The Party already has a template of good governance and excellent leadership. Lagos, the Centre of Excellence and City of Aquatic Splendour, is that template. So, as we all wait to witness this glorious dawn of a new Nigeria, I say:
CONGRATULATIONS FELLOW NIGERIANS!
•Durugbo is a political analyst and social commentator based in Lagos.