15th October, 2014
By Babatunde Raji Fashola
They say lightning does not strike in the same place twice. For the sake of all of us, I sincerely hope that this saying holds true for Nigerians.Whilst thanking my hosts, the Leadership newspaper, for inviting me to speak at this event to celebrate General Yakubu Gowon, a patriot and public servant of no mean repute, I apologize that I must open with such words of what I may call frugally measured hope.
This is because the circumstances which thrust a young General Gowon upon our Nation as a leader in the 1960s are not too different from what appears on Nigeria’s political and social landscape from what any honest Nigerian can see.
Indeed the dark clouds that gather are this time prefaced by an ominous prediction about the continuity of our union from a place far away.
If anybody has any doubt about what I say, I will recall history and go back to a speech delivered on Sunday 5th February 1970 in which it was partly said as follows:-
“Before and since the end of the civil war, we have heard a good deal about physical reconstruction, with particular and almost exclusive reference to the reconstruction of roads, bridges, airports, buildings, market-places and other such-like material and concrete objects which were damaged during the war.
“I know, and I want to assure you, that all the Governments of the Federation are already busy making gargantuan preparations to the end that every trace, however slight, of the extensive physical damage done during the war shall be totally erased within the next year or two. But, if the rebuilding of roads, bridges, etc. were all that needed to be done, then the task of reconstruction would be an exceedingly easy proposition.
For Nigeria has the requisite material and financial, as well as the human resources to tackle these jobs effectively and expeditiously. In addition, it has a large circle of friendly countries which are prepared to come to its aid as and when required.
But before we have travelled far on the road of material reconstruction, we must realise, and do so vividly and truthfully, that the most crucial areas of reconstruction are the minds of Nigerian citizens on both sides of the fighting line.
“In other words, in addition to material reconstruction, there is an urgent and massive need for moral and spiritual reconstruction as well: the kind of reconstruction which will help to demolish morbid desire for naked power and domination; abuse and misuse of power and office; greed, selfishness, and intolerance; nepotism, favouritism, jobbery, bribery, and other forms of corruption; and erect, in their places, probity, tolerance, altruism, and devotion; equality of treatment, justice, equity, and fair play to all.”
This speech was given by Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
For those who still need to be persuaded, I ask further, why would we gather to celebrate the 80th birthday anniversary of General Gowon, who led us through a bitter civil war, inaugurated a rebuilding process built on 3Rs of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Reconciliation and 44 years after that process we will gather to discuss a topic such as “Rebuilding the Nation: Lessons from other Lands” if all was well with Nigeria.
Why are we not at this occasion celebrating our arrival on the moon?
I do not know how General Gowon feels inwardly as he continues to lead prayers for Nigeria, but I would not be happy that today’s Nigeria is what lives were sacrificed to keep together, if I were him. Nevertheless, I personally know that all is not lost. I am an optimist. I am convinced that the problems are man-made, and therefore men and women can and will solve them.
I have believed as a child and continue to believe as an adult in the great promise of Nigeria. Whether we like it or not, the promise of Nigeria will be fulfilled. What I do not know is when. Whether it will happen in my lifetime or after. It would be nice to experience it. I can visualize it.
The world’s largest collection of black people, blessed in many more ways than one, diverse in human and material resources, and if only it can unite in its purpose and mission.
I would love to live that dream. And it is possible. But it must start with us.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Nigeria has not changed. It is us Nigerians who have changed. As one commentator put it, we have lost our innocence.
The assets of Nigeria, in men and material resources, have continued to grow or at least remained undiminished.
What has diminished in many vast quantities are our values.
We have refused to look in the mirror because we know what we will see and we are not ready to confront it.
What we will see is a people who appear unsure again how to define good and bad.
In order to avoid the confrontation that we must have with ourselves, amongst ourselves and within ourselves, we have thrown up false reasons. The constitution is bad. It is our diversity. It is our religion or it is our ethnicity. So, in order to avoid the truth, we have lived in our own bubble, amending constitution after constitution as if that was the problem.
Instead of the many Constitutional Conferences that we have had, what we really need is a conference of values.
Nigerians have not experienced the promise of this country because our values and moral codes have gone in different directions.
Ever so often, when the Nigerian people have asked the leadership for a better life, we seem to miss the question or we avoid it; we give them a new law or a new document, or we set up one Committee.
The ordinary Nigerian will not be as interested in what is written in the Constitution, as he will be interested in safety, food, shelter, prosperity, education and work.
But when we finally agree to look in the mirror, we will see that these things have been denied by our values.
From the shortage of electric power, to the deficit of roads, insecurity and crime, sub-optimal economy, high interest rate, poor exchange rates, the poor value issues and misuse of power, greed, selfishness, intolerance, nepotism, favouritism, bribery and other forms of corruption identified since 1970, lie at the heart and as root-cause.
Therefore on discussing my topic, as chosen by my hosts, which is: Rebuilding the Nation, Lessons from Other Lands, my approach today will be to share some of the problems that we are all too familiar with as examples of what must change.
Then I will proceed to look at other places and make possible comparisons, in order to show what they have experienced, and what they did, as lessons that we may consider; if we must re-build our nation.
Let me start with some of the problems.
And I will not say anything that comes from me. I will only repeat what some ordinary Nigerians have said and what some of you may have read.
I will start with Alade Fawole who writes on the back page of Tribune Newspapers and what he said in the Tuesday edition of 7th October 2014, which he titled “The Mo Ibrahim index exposed the ugliness of Nigeria’s underdevelopment.”
He said in part as follows:
“A few months ago, after the Nigerian economy was officially rebased, a mere statistical abracadabra that placed Nigeria as having the largest economy in Africa ahead of South Africa which had rightly occupied that position for decades, our national officials were giddy with celebration, effusively touted the wielding of that magic wand called rebasing as another evidence of the success of President Jonathan’s transformation agenda.
“And they did their level best to persuade us of the ‘benefits’ of this newly minted status. Many perceptive analysts advised cautious jubilation at the time, stating that the mere statistical manipulation or creative accounting exercise neither reflected the actual economic realities on the ground in the country nor would it make any meaningful impact on the lives and living standards of the 70 percent ordinary Nigerians who survive on less than two dollars a day.
“Fancy economic statistics that fail to translate into positive improvement in the living conditions of the mass of the people is at best useless.
“Every commentator with a contrary view was at the time regarded in official circles in Abuja as either working for the opposition party, (the accusation routinely levelled at anybody who disagrees with government), or he/she was downright unappreciative if not also unpatriotic.
“But the reality is that this rebasing did not, and has not, addressed chronic poverty, infrastructure decay, creeping authoritarianism, mass youth unemployment, adult underemployment, burgeoning insecurity and overall bad governance, and other challenges that confront the country.
“The 2014 Ibrahim Index on African Governance (IIAG), an annual review on governance in Africa of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, released on Monday, September 29, ranks Nigeria among the worst governed countries in Africa. It has revealed the stark ugliness of Nigeria’s underdeveloped status in the world.
“Of the 52 countries profiled, Nigeria is placed number 37, far below its principal competitor and continental rival, South Africa, which ranks number 4, after Mauritius, Cape Verde and Botswana in that order. Nigeria scoring 45.8 not only ranks below the West African average of 52.2, it ranks scandalously lower than the overall African average of 51.5!
What makes this highly atrocious and humiliating, in my humble view, is that Nigeria is the undisputed sub-regional ‘superpower’ by several statistical considerations. It all shows that the rebasing was just another statistical hocus pocus contrived to hoodwink the people that they are actually more prosperous than previously imagined.
“Let’s return to the 2014 Ibrahim Index. Eleven West African countries, among them post-conflict states like Liberia and Sierra Leone still coping with the devastating consequences of civil wars, rank ahead of Nigeria!
“How much more scandalous can things get? All the 52 African countries were judged on four basic premises, namely: Safety and Rule of Law, Participation and Human Rights, Sustainable Economic Opportunity, and Human Development, and Nigeria ranked poorly in virtually all of them.
“It is customary during major national celebrations for our governments to reel out their wonderful achievements. This year’s nationwide independence anniversary broadcast by President Goodluck Jonathan on 1st October did not disappoint…as usual it was full of self-praise and effusive celebration of the government’s fantastic achievements.
“Among the things that caught my attention is the President’s claim that ‘we have been able to sustain a big, strong and influential country with a robust economy. We are currently in our sixteenth year of uninterrupted democratic rule, daily improving on the consolidation of our democratic process.’ “Add to that sundry claims of the power sector reforms that will bring us electricity, ‘giant strides in the agricultural sector’ and sundry policies meant to fast-track job creation, inclusive growth and industrialisation, upgrade existing infrastructure, and all that. Coming just two days after the release of the Ibrahim Index, the speech and all the fancy claims rang rather hollow and unconvincing.
“While a little self-congratulation may not be completely out of place, it’s high time the government came down from its high horse to acknowledge the ugly realities of Nigeria’s underdevelopment, and began to come up with innovative ways of solving them so that Nigeria can in the next few years emerge from this sorry state.
“Not much will be achieved by wallowing in self-congratulations instead of facing the facts. I don’t know about our government, but I consider it shameful, scandalous and unacceptable that a big country endowed with abundant natural and human resources like Nigeria would place thirty-seventh in Africa and tenth out of sixteen in the West Africa sub-region. The only appropriate appellation for it is ‘big for nothing country’.”
I will also quickly refer you to the views expressed by Abimbola Adelakun who writes on the back page of Punch Newspapers and this is part of what she had to say in the Tuesday October 9th 2014 edition about security (on which we have received a poor rating) in a piece she titled “The battle the Army needs to win.”
She said:
“How, one wonders, does a fundamentalist sect without any training in modern warfare defeat Army officers? Boko Haram, ab initio, is a copycat organisation; no original thought.
“They are as vicious as any psychopath armed with high-octane weapons can be. Their videos portray them as a disorganised band whose major strength is the worthlessness of their lives which they never hesitate to throw away.
On this page some weeks back, I noted that now that ISIS beheads people on video, Boko Haram too will soon follow suit – and they did! Boko Haram is asymptotic of the spectacularisation of violence elsewhere. Even their triumph is barely original. How can such a group endlessly confound the Nigerian Army if not for the politics of war?”
•To be continued tomorrow.
•Fashola delivered this speech at the Leadership Annual Conference and 2013 Awards Presentation on Tuesday, 14 October, 2014 at THISDAY Dome, Abuja