The attention of the whole world has now shifted from such countries as South Sudan, Somalia and Central African Republic to Nigeria, making some commentators on and observers of global events fear the end of Nigeria is imminent. The fears are palpable. Even Nigerians themselves live in fear of the unknown, hunted by the Armageddon prophecies by some notable global personalities some time ago.
I recall particularly the warnings of two former United States Ambassadors to Nigeria – Jeter and Campbell. These men have consistently written about the impending implosion and cataclysm. They had advised, as far back as 2010, that Nigeria should take measures to forestall the plots by some unscrupulous elements to cause it to disintegrate. Another American – Negroponte – was more acerbic and pointed: He unambiguously warned that Nigeria might disintegrate by the Year 2015 if measures were not taken to stop the steady drift to anarchy.
Negroponte and the two Ambassadors were correct in their observations: things are definitely not well with our nation. We may pretend nothing is happening, yet the ominous signs are everywhere.
I, as a person, have warned many times in the past 7 years for us to beware of the evil people who go about spreading hate stories about Nigeria and whipping up undue sentiments, which run antithetical to our national interests. I have also empathically called for a total war on corruption and other ills that threaten our national existence. Unfortunately, on many occasions such clarion calls have been taken for granted. The enemies of democracy and progress take such innocuous calls to bizarre heights to curry favour and denigrate my person.
For anyone who cares to know, I have never made a comment on any national situation for personal aggrandizement. Whatever I write or say is always guided by patriotism and personal convictions. This is why I can look at anybody in the face and tell him the truth. Truth in itself is bitter. And it takes an honest and selfless person to speak the truth.
We are agreed that the tragedy of our national development is the scarcity of men and women who can courageously speak the truth. Painfully, many of those in positions of authority always want to be told what is pleasing to their ears only. Many of them rarely brook any opposition and see anybody who speaks the truth to them as an enemy or detractor. How can any leader succeed if all he wants to hear is what is appetizing to his ears? That is what is called sycophancy. And our political landscape is replete in large numbers with sycophants and bootlickers. They go about telling lies and painting others in bad light in order to remain relevant in the eyes of their paymasters. They have no modicum of conscience and all they care for are their selfish interests.
Nigeria is where it is today because of the antics of these sycophants and charlatans. They are the same people responsible for Nigerian leaders, past and present, not doing that which they ought to have done. And when they have sweet-tongued one into making regrettable mistakes they abandon you for another person. Their stock-in-trade is subtle blackmail, praise-singing and hagiography. Like leeches and parasites they stick to their victim and suck him viciously to, even, a state of anaemia. There is nothing like pity or benevolence in their lexicon. In the fit of their greed they can even kill to retain their earthly fiefdoms.
For the 8 years I was governor, I saw these infamous people in very large numbers. They came in diverse shapes and tactics. Because I was focused and tactful, I was able to evade their traps. Even now they still stalk whoever they have made a target, applying all kinds of antics and tricks to entrap you.
Imagine what has been the lot of those in leadership at the top, especially at this period of national crises! I do not envy President Goodluck Jonathan at all. He is going through hell at this time. I can feel his pain. I can feel his frustration. I listened to him on Sunday with a deep sense of empathy as he explained the monstrous dimension the Boko Haram sect had taken in recent times. From his countenance, all I could see was frustration. But cheerfully I did not see despondency in his face. He looked rather rattled, but not subdued. He spoke with some measure of optimism that what had gone wrong today could be a thing of the past tomorrow. But do those who work with him feel the same frustration? Or are they simply a party to the fuelling of his frustrations, pretending to advise him?
Unless one has been a player in a challenging leadership theatre, it will be difficult to quantify what pain such leaders go through for the sake of the people they govern. The President may not be a perfect person but, definitely, he is not a bad person. Rather he is a circumstantial leader who emerged on the scene when Nigeria was at a crossroads. He has beautiful dreams about Nigeria, but the challenges at hand have diminished the beauty of his dreams. This is exemplified in his Transformational Agenda, which has the potentialities to take Nigeria to the global economic arena. If it were in times of normal happenstances the sterling qualities of his leadership style would have shined like a million stars.
Now what can be done to steady the ship of state in the face of the present security challenges? This is where prioritization comes to play. We need to prioritize our challenges and tackle them with equal intensity, honesty and vigour. There is no way we can resign ourselves to fate and wait for Nigeria to disintegrate. I have written in this column countless times about the need for Nigerians to show greater love for our fatherland. When things turn sour we are expected to rise up to the challenge. Evils thrive in our nation because those expected to speak up in the face of adversity have chosen to keep silent.
There is no challenge – no matter how intractable – we cannot surmount if we pooled resources and energies to confront it. I stated clearly in this column last week that those who engaged in evil in our society were often people we knew and who lived among us. They are no spirits. What happens is that if we failed to expose them then we, ourselves, become victims of their devious escapades. That is why a famous British poet and statesman, Edmund Burke, says, all it takes for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing. Definitely, many of us, Nigerians, have failed to stand up against the forces of oppression and suppression for fear of chastisement.
Imagine what is going on in Nigeria: how evil men have run a ring around a once-beautiful country – making life unbearable for Nigerians! We are held in bondage by some of our fellow citizens whose only weapon is brute force, while their major agenda is to destroy that which they could not get or control. They leave blood, agony and desolation wherever they go. These agents of darkness roar like hungry lions looking for who to devour. Is it not high time we came together to confront these monsters and enemies of progress? See how the international community has taken over our problem as if they were the cause! Women and children, young and old all over the world have taken up the gauntlet to fight for the release of our sisters abducted by terrorists in Chibok. The whole world is outraged!
What have we done as a people directly affected by the incident? We walk about as if nothing had happened, instead of sharing in the global grief. What we do by our seeming apathy is to entrench evil and make it blossom. The President and his cabinet, the military and other security agencies cannot fight the monster that reared its ugly head at these perilous times alone? They need the support and cooperation of all of us in our own little ways. There is no way evil will not be banished from our society if 200 million Nigerians unanimously say, ‘No’ to it.
The world is attracted to our present problem, because of the lurking consequences. Look at Sudan and Democratic Republic of the Congo! They are passing through terrible times in the hands of rebels. The refugee problems they have created have rattled the world. It is the same sordid situation they are working to avert in Nigeria. The United States, Britain, France and other world powers know the grave consequences of allowing Nigeria to fail. The humanitarian problems it will create will be monumental. Not only that, their investments will be imperilled as well.
The surest way to save Nigeria from annihilation is for all of us to do something today to stop the carnage going on across the country – the latest being the deadly explosions in Jos last Tuesday, which left many dead. Those who cause the troubles in our land are less than 2% of the total population. Corruption, electoral fraud and other such vices, for instance, are perpetrated by the same infinitesimal percentage.
They are the same people that fuel insurgency and stoke the embers of hatred. Through this, they create the enabling environment for evil to thrive.
The problem of security, which has brought to the fore the vulnerability of Nigeria, is tied to a number of factors; top of which is profligacy. Profligacy accounts for a sizeable percentage of our national malaises. It is responsible for the poverty ravaging the populace. What do you expect will happen when a few persons in privileged positions expropriate that which belongs to the masses? The result is anarchy. The high level of insecurity prevalent in Nigeria is attributable to poverty as well. Painfully, many of our youths are unemployed, while thousands will soon be churned out from the various NYSC camps. Where will all of them naturally head for: the labour market, which has no hope to offer them?
It is these vulnerable school leavers and jobless graduates that the criminal gangs and terrorist groups target for their manpower needs. Because these boys and girls are desperate they are eager to do anything to survive. When they are eventually recruited by the criminal and terrorist gangs they are indoctrinated, brainwashed and drafted to carry out dangerous assignments, which often lead to their destruction.
So, it is important that government take concrete steps to address the issue of employment for our teeming youth. That should be the first step to tackling insecurity in the country. The next step should be for leaders to resolve today not to engage in corruption, but to offer selfless and focused leadership to their people. It is saddening the way some of our elected leaders flaunt their ill-gotten wealth to the stupefaction of many of our poverty-stricken citizens.
Corruption is responsible for the backwardness Nigeria has suffered over the years. Take, for example, the power sector. Nigeria would have met her power needs fully a long time ago if the huge financial resources generated from oil since 1958 had been judiciously deployed. Rather the money has ended up in individuals’ private accounts – onshore and offshore. To worsen matters, nobody is seen to have done anything tangible to call them to order. We are still talking about Nigeria producing 10,000 megawatts of power in 2016 when South Africa – its closest rival – has met its 40,000 megawatts capacity already. New York alone produces 45,000 megawatts of electricity to service its local needs.
So, corruption has stalled our nation’s march to economic and social development and exposed all of us to danger in the hands of criminals who have vowed to make life intolerable for us. Government must show firm resolve to fight corruption, and this should be done with some swiftness.
There are other cankers that should be destroyed if we must save Nigeria from destruction. They include, ethnic hegemony, mutual suspicion among persons of diverse tribal leanings, religious animosity, and imbalance in the distribution of resources and political offices. These factors have separately and collectively contributed to the heightening tension we have experienced in recent times.
When I think about the abducted Chibok girls what quickly comes to my mind is the convergence of these ills and the adverse role each has played in the ongoing imbroglio. I have always believed the girls would not have been abducted if the society (that is all of us) had played our part dutifully in the defence of our national sovereignty and protection of individual’s rights and privileges. We are bound to radiate love and carry one another’s burden in prayer. What happened to Chibok could happen to any other community. This is why we must rise up and be counted now the ovation is loudest.
If we fold our arms, watch and do nothing to stop this madness, then all of us will, in no distant time, be asking the inevitable question: Nigeria: To be or not to be?
0 comments:
Post a Comment