allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Class Interest And Country's Political Economy (Page 1 of 2)

In spite of the insitence of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua on the pursuance of due process and rule of law to re-position the nation and its economy Idumange John in this write-up pointed out that emphasis on the rule of law alone cannot bring the nation out of the stagnation and mediocrity foisted on the masses by the past dictators.

In the 1970s through the 80s, the doctrine of socialism as encapsulated in Marxism-Leninism were preached in the temples of Nigeria's ivory tower. At the time the hallmark of intellectual radicalism was whether a lecturer understood the nexus between the goings-on in the society and Marx's dialectical materialism, especially, the historical epochs that emerged as a result of production relations of society. While there was a reservoir of Marxist intellectuals in the first generation universities, a few others dotted all the faculties of Social Sciences and Humanities in other institutions of higher learning. Nigeria-Soviet relations also flourished beyond the confines of education and even permeated the cultural dimensions. The Eskor Toyos, Edwin Madunagus, Babatopes, Anikpos and other renowned scholars angrily preached Marxism to students in the temples of the ivory towers any time there was an opportunity to do so.

The addresses of statesmen were not complete without a condemnation of class interest and the rich-poor gap. Convocation lectures, inaugural lectures and other intellectual discourses were incomplete without a blend of Marxist analysis. Academic staff unions were vibrant because their leaders did not create any opportunity to be swayed by politicians or settled with "Ghana Must Go", as such unedifying practices were anathema to pristine Marxism-Leninism which deprecates oppression, abhors injustice and hates marginalization of any kind. When academic unions embarked on strike, all members of the academic community were clear as to the purposes and objectives of such industrial actions. Collective contracts were either honoured or the industrial action persisted.

This is no longer the case, because politics has made a wild incursion into the ivory tower. It is now difficult to distinguish between politicians and intellectuals as both sing praises in such a way that, even tyrants and petty despots are eulogized as benevolent leaders. For what? For purposes of political appointments that will pave the way for primitive accumulation.

For Marx, a good society is one that is free from class interest and exploitation. Today, all over the world, Marx's theory of increasing misery and the polarity of society as defined by wealth and poverty is the unblemished truth.

Today, the Nigerian higher educational system is under-developed. Over the years funding has not kept pace with the exponential expansion of the system. Inadequate funding has resulted in the acute shortage of all educational inputs. A more acute dimension of under-funding is the underdevelopment of research. Applied research is the only tool that can enable Nigeria to grapple with the emerging knowledge economy and the neo-liberal modes of wealth creation. The under-funding of research in universities automatically undermines development and innovation. Therefore, scholars who are enthusiastic about research and development have the natural tendency to migrate to other lands where political leaders understand the nexus between research and development. This tendency has culminated in "brain-drain and there is no sign that the syndrome will abate in the foreseeable future.

Even students who travel abroad on study scholarship find it most convenient to remain there as immigrants or illegal aliens rather than come back home to face the tedious working conditions in Nigeria. The syndrome has assumed a more frightening dimension within the academia where university lecturers transfer their services to oil companies, banking institutions and other more lucrative jobs. Some of them have been forced out of the ivory tower to become importers.

The same group of self serving politicians destroys the tertiary educational system and sends their children abroad to attend some of the well equipped universities where high academic standards are maintained. The trick has been for the elite class to maintain the status quo by giving their children better education and prepare them for better positions in industry, banking, manufacturing and other departments of the corporate world. Thus, politicians deliberately under-fund higher education, bastardise standards in order to create welcome excuses for patronising institutions abroad.

The economic team has for the past five years been pushing for bourgeois reforms which are essentially designed to widen the gap between the rich and the poor. The economic team has been mouthing that Nigeria will join the big league of the first 20 most industrialised economies come 2020. Vision 2020 is a strange postulation for a country wrestling to provide basic infrastructure such as electricity and health facilities. In fact, the technocrats propagating such heresies are either eurocentric capitalist apologists or bourgeois pretenders who have failed to tell Nigerians that economics is an organic discipline, not a phenomenon that is susceptible to some metaphysical manipulations. These are the IMF fifth columnists the Obasanjo administration put together to privatise all the assets of the country. On the surface, the argument in favour of privatisation is to make such corporations work. But the real intention of the capitalists is to use privatisation as a trick to buy-up these corporations to establish cruel monopoly, muzzle competition and engage in profiteering to the sorrow of the masses.

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