Muhammad Al-Ghazali
6 October 2008
column
Conventional wisdom prescribes that a fool at forty is condemned to be a fool forever.
If we accept that truism for the fact that it obviously is, then it certainly portends a very bad omen for our dear nation which 'celebrated' its 48th anniversary last week literally wearing the greying beard of advanced adulthood and the stinking diapers of infancy going by all available United Nations development indices.
Lost, as we have always been in the patently hypocritical and narcissistic politics of our times, it is ever so embarrassing to accept that once upon a time- less than four decades ago to be precise- Nigeria, along with nations such as Malaysia, and Brazil, were players in the same league or shared the same development pedestal with us. Now, sadly, the only thing we have in common is our membership of the United Nations.
In fact, if we continue on the same path of wastefulness, missed opportunities and unbridled corruption, we risk inhaling the dust left behind by the express train of development chartered by more disciplined albeit lesser endowed nations from our own hemisphere. Going by the 2007 World Bank report for instance, the economies of Mauritania (19.8%), Angola (17.6%), Sudan (9.6%), Mozambique (7.9%) and Malawi (7.8%) experienced faster annual growth rates than Nigeria. The truth, so brutal in its reality, is that unless we mend our ways pretty soon, those nations too will leave us in their wake.
Since last week when we mourned, rather than Celebrated the our 48th independence anniversary, commentators have continued to adduce reasons for our stunted development our initial promise and abundant natural resources and I concede they all have their points. However, in my view, the critical factor militating against any meaningful development and progress in Nigeria has always been the enormous contempt, and disrespect we have for each other at group and individual levels.
It was not for nothing that I commenced today's discourse with a quotation from the rich legacy of Ashley Montagu, the naturalized American Englishman of Jewish ancestry, whose studies, particularly the book "Man's Most Dangerous Myth: The Fallacy of Race" exposed the biological myths on the notion of white supremacy. Our problem is not so much that of skin pigmentation but the aggravated state of our ethnicity syndrome.
I may not subscribe to all the views expressed by Montagu on the impact of anthropology on national development on religious grounds, but there are sufficient lessons to be learnt from his logic to question why, after 48 years of independence, Nigerians still remain so mortally distrustful of each other on the grounds of ethnicity.
Ethnic irredentism continues to define our politics and even the way we react to serious matters of executive graft and mal-administration. The militants in the Niger Delta creeks - and I submit that the non-criminal elements in their ranks are rebels with a cause - believe the man from Sokoto has no business investigating corruption allegations against their kinsmen because oil, the principal cash cow for now, is extracted from underneath their feet.
48 years after colonial rule, you dare not question the unsavoury impudence so glaring in CBN Governor Chukwuma Soludo's handling of Nigeria's membership of the African Finance Corporation (AFC), without attracting the wrath of his Igbo brethren who wondered what business a bloody cattleman has delving into such affairs when I expressed my opinion on the matter. The same attitude is exhibited by all the major ethnic groups in the country with varying degrees of decorum and moderation.
Therefore, in a nation lacking absolute standards on how to measure or judge our leaders, and resulting from our failure over time to harmonize our views on what constitutes corruption and incompetent leadership, the common man on the street has wittingly, or unwittingly, been left at the mercy of a growing colony of a gluttonous tribe of Nigerians, whose loyalty is not to the nation or any specific ethnic group, but to themselves and their progeny. The examples are everywhere.
Last week, a shadowy consortium of Nigerian investors expressed the interest to purchase the crisis-ridden English Premiership football club Newcastle United for the astonishing sum of 350 million British pounds. Presently, most of the football clubs in Nigeria have no stadiums of their own or even proper training pitches! Most of the clubs could also be bought and turned around for a fraction of the same amount.
The identities of the potential investors remain unknown, but obviously if they are willing to invest such a huge amount on such a risky venture, it must be chicken change to them. They are at least assured that, no one will question the source of their stupendous wealth in Nigeria, even in the midst of our ocean of pervasive poverty. Few questions would also be asked about how much income tax they paid to the state over time. In Nigeria, all it takes to escape prosecution is to steal billions and not pennies.
We have also proven that in this country only the poor ever go to jail or have their hands amputated for stealing cattle. Therefore, unless we delude ourselves, how could the have developed beyond its present state when most wealthy Nigerians continue to demonstrate their lack of trust and confidence in their own economy? How could we have escapade the ravages of underdevelopment when we have shown in no uncertain terms that it pays to steal big?
The situation clearly explains why Nigeria remains the most conducive and most profitable habitat for all sorts of scammers, blackmailers and mediocre politicians whose only calling card and qualification remains their ethnic identities and nothing beyond that. Our predicament is compounded by the absolute paucity of visionary leadership, the primitive impulses of our people as accentuated by the preponderance of ethnic chauvinism and even class arrogance.
A few weeks ago the DG of the Nigerian Stock Exchange committed a grievous infraction that should have qualified her for jail, were Nigeria a more civilized democracy. The same week, however, her bulky frame appeared in the Aso Rock Villa to attend- wait for it- a very important meeting to rescue our stock market which was threatening to spiral out of control! What message, if I may ask, are we sending to the international community? I dare not even mention the other stakeholders in the economy or the larger Nigerian public.
The president Umar Yar'Adua gleefully announced during his independence anniversary broadcast last week that there are no quick fixes to our myriad of developmental problems and I partially agree. What he failed to admit is that there are still some short time measures and deliverables that can lessen the pains of the masses that should not take an eternity to implement.
Being human we are all condemned to the pursuit of liberty, peace, and prosperity wherever our urge could be satiated. Nigerians have endured so much over the years that the little that can be done to raise their living standards beyond their present subsistent level should be pursued. Long term strategic visions are important, no doubt, but giving our previous records with such blue-prints, the government can do better prioritizing the provision of basic infrastructure in our inner-cities, federal highways and the rural areas which a great majority of our people call home.
We don't need a rocket scientist to tell us that governments at all levels can make it easier for people to commute to and from their working places without stress on a daily basis. We can improve mass transportation. We can make it easier for the poor to access healthcare and safe drinking water. We could make education affordable and accessible to our people. We can put our teeming rural populace back to work by injecting capital and expertise into agriculture and food processing!
While advocating the provision of basic necessities of life to ordinary Nigerians, let no one tell me any crazy tales about the involvement of the private sector. The private sector in Nigeria is not the same as in other developed nations. In Nigeria the operators of the system are not different from those who set the rules or define the playing field. To that extent obviously, operators of the sector are also accomplices in the unprecedented corruption and exploitation that stunted our economic growth for decades.
When government provides for the basic needs of Nigerians, their creative energy will be unleashed for the better. They will become more amenable to buy into government's developmental programmes. The godfathers in the creeks and our urban centers will also have fewer recruits. There will be more harmony in the nation. The point is crucial because history has proven that no nation prospers without an appreciable degree of internal harmony and equilibrium among its principal constituents.
When General Murtala Mohammed was assassinated on that bloody Friday morning in 1976, Nigerians regardless, of their tribe, creed or class trooped to the streets in mourning. They did so because they had something at stake. Although it was part of what the late General inherited, university education was affordable in 1976. A job was waiting for you even before you graduated from university.
It was therefore hardly surprising that millions of Nigerians could be so effusive in demonstrating their grief. If some questioned his undoubted impetuosity, millions recognized the uncommon passion and urgency he brought to the act of governance. Others may have questioned his methods but never his commitment and patriotism. The same zeal and infusion of kinetic energy is sadly absent from the corridors of power at all levels presently.
With your car loan of four thousand naira, you could buy a brand new car, furnish your house, and even take a wife! With a fraction of the same amount you could also enjoy a holiday in Europe! Nigerians had fewer reasons to be rebels or criminals. It is the same atmosphere we must endeavour to recreate if we want lasting peace and progress.
It is foolhardy and downright hypocritical to demand patriotism from the people when the state has failed or refused to fulfil its own part of the bargain defined here as the provision of an enabling environment for a meaningful existence beyond subsistent levels. It is scandalous to demand more sacrifices from the people when the government has failed to jail the corrupt politicians and elites who treated our public treasuries like Aladdin's cave. It is even more preposterous for our leaders to demand our unflinching loyalty when the government is incapable of providing security for our homes and our highways. It was not for nothing that we mortgaged parts of our civil liberties for collective security.
Follows that for as long as we continue to glorify thieves and vilify or humiliate our most decent folks; for as long as we continue to lack heroes and role models in sufficient quantity and quality; for as long as we continue to ignore the immediate needs of our people in favour of unrealistic development plans; for as long as our leaders refrain to lead by personal example; for as long as our elected representatives continue to betray their constituencies in search of personal lucre, and, more fundamentally, for as long as our elections cannot pass the barest credibility test, we can hardly expect the nation to be anything but a perpetual toddler even in advanced adulthood.
Except we mend our ways and also change our backward mentality, the stranded giant called Nigeria will continue to wilt and sweat profusely in the sun for the foreseeable future. We cannot deny that presently the nation's fate appears sealed not only account of the monumental folly of our people in their mistaken assumption that only fellow natives could improve their lives, but also tragically, the greed and deceit of our leaders.
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