allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Where are Our Wise Men? (Page 1 of 1)

My heartfelt cry for Nigeria today is the question: where are our wise men and women? I ask this question because never before in this country has there been this feeling of national despair, this palpable feeling of dejection and hopelessness.

No one right now is feeling upbeat about Nigeria; people no longer hold any hope of a better tomorrow because there is simply no indication to inspire such expectation. The conversation you hear these days is that nothing is working. And indeed there is no sphere of our national life that you can see that some progress is being made. Nigerians now adopt a wait-and- see attitude. Everybody is waiting and expecting a miracle from God. And miracle cannot happen without some positive actions.

These times call for the wise ones. Men of wisdom; men of knowledge and men imbued with the will to act to change the situation. Where are they? We need them now to bring brilliant ideas that can transform this nation. Who are those who have an understanding of the times and who know what Nigeria has to do? Are they in hiding? Why are the voices of wise persons not being heard? Has everybody given up on Nigeria or are people simply afraid? Nigeria is seriously drifting like a rudderless ship. Where are men and women of sagacity to point to the steps that should be taken to get Nigeria on track again? There is too much despair in the land. As a patriot, I am worried sick.

Nigeria today looks like a nation in suspended animation. We have a three-tier system of government. But whether at the federal, state or local government, no one is seeing an act of innovation, a brilliant initiative and act of extraordinary wisdom being displayed by any leader of government. Everyone in position of leadership looks so ordinary, so bereft of ideas.

There is no passion, no sense of urgency on the part of any of our leaders to do something to change the situation for the better. You do not see in evidence anyone with talent with a dash of initiative and with determination to do something different and significant. There is no governor in the land that one can say has been outstanding. No governor has brought a new approach to governance. It is business as usual. We are living with the usual corrupt way of doing things.

There is no local government chairman anywhere in this vast country that has projected himself as an achiever. The local governments in particular are dead. There is no modicum of governance at that level at all. Are the chairmen on leave? All our leaders appear too ordinary. None shows any sense of mission whatsoever. We seem saddled with men and women who see governance as a very painful duty. They look like persons who have no enthusiasm for the job they said they applied for. Leaders are persons who are supposed to inspire, motivate and mobilise the citizenry to achieve set objectives. There is no state or local government where the people know about the set objectives of the government.

At the federal level, we daily hear of a certain seven-point agenda. Fifteen months of the existence of this government, there is no visible vigour in the implementation of even one of them. We are even implored to support the seven-point agenda as if some of us are suspected of being against it. Have we the people really been against any government policy or programme in this country? Our history is that we are largely patriotic followers of the actions or non-actions of our leaders. Leaders are supposed to be persons who show the people the way; who point out the direction to go; who offer people hope and infect the people with enthusiasm and passion. Our leaders at the various levels of government appear as confused as the rest of the people. They are as despondent as the rest of the citizenry too and this is amazing. If you hear about what some aggrieved and disappointed cabinet members at the federal level feel about the government of which they are a key part, you will fear for the present and future of Nigeria.

The nation is awash with petrodollars yet the country looks like one banana republic. Its roads are impassable, citizens have no access to pipe-borne water and other social amenities that others take for granted even in lesser-endowed countries than ours. Electric power supply is a luxury. The most embarrassing thing facing us at the moment is that citizens cannot find even kerosene to buy to cook their meals. The long queues for kerosene with all manners of jerry cans tell the sorry story of our country.

The Federal Government is said to have about N750 billion sitting pretty in the vaults of the Central Bank of Nigeria yet Nigerians are groaning in extreme poverty. Our situation is difficult to comprehend. In other places, they have ideas about what to do but what limits them is the money to translate their dreams into reality. In our own case, we have money aplenty but the men and women who superintend over our destiny seem to lack the wisdom about what to do with the resources God has blessed us with. Is this nation so bereft of wise men, men of ideas who can offer counsel to our leaders about which direction to go?

As I write this, one of the main news stories of the day is that the EFCC has received the nod of a court in the land to search the homes of Nuhu Ribadu and Nasir el-Rufai, two brilliant and courageous young men who have left indelible footprints in the sands of Nigeria because they are perceived by this government as its enemies. Reading this kind of story and looking at other things, one gets the impression that desperate men have taken over governance at the federal level and are out to unleash vengeance on capable men who must have stepped on their toes.

In other lands, obvious men of talent like Nuhu and Nasir would be very much sought after and not treated like criminals and saboteurs. No one seems hungry to get men of ability who have a thing or two to contribute to the greatness of Nigeria and bring them into governance. In the Bible, there is a place where it is said that the children of Issachar had an understanding of the times and they knew what Israel ought to do. I ask again, where are our own children of Issachar, men who know what we need to do now to wipe away this disturbing sense of despair?

It is disturbing indeed that people who early in the life of the Yar'adua administration had said 'Thank God Obasanjo is gone' are now looking back with nostalgia. Some are ashamed to say that they wish the Third Term project had succeeded. A friend told me yesterday that if between now and December something dramatic or earthshaking does not come from the Yar'adua government, many will begin to openly talk of the Obasanjo administration with undisguised admiration.

We wish that God bestows good health on our president and gives him a sense of mission to start real governance. The impression of him as a do-nothing president which is beginning to form needs to be dispelled.

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