Introduction
There are few government policies
which were designed and implemented with clinical efficiency to the
satisfaction of all citizens, all ethnic nations, all generations and all
classes in Nigeria. The successful attack and containment of Ebola, apparently,
inserted by Liberian government has shown that the problem of Nigeria is not
that of lack of ability but lack of will. The position of this article is
to re-stress the positive expectation of similar policy implementations. It is
equally the case that for Nigeria to succeed as a state, it will rest on the
effectiveness and dependability of its component parts.
De-Ideologisation
There is a consensus on the
problems of Nigeria and even another on the solutions. However the confusion on
how the solutions are derived, how they will be implemented, the circumstances
of their implementation continues to dodge logic and reason. If one patiently
reviews the various political parties across most of Nigeria’s existence, one
is prone to conclude that clarity of purpose and clarity of existence seem to
be anathema. They are mostly vehicles for elite wealth accumulation from the
‘national cake’ and consolidation of their strategic interest which is the
continued ruling of the country.
Perfect example is the current
architecture or ‘nascent democracy’ which opened the space once again for the
well-resource elite to coalesce into various ‘political parties’ devoid of the
unusual ethnic wrangling to dominate the machinery of state through ‘selection’
processes. Obviously these parties have no legitimacy. One can conclude that
these are parties of the elite, parties of the stomach, parties of the urban
space, parties of English Language and so on.
They have no principles they
adhere to, they lack any ideology to tie up their expectation or any
expectation of them, and they lack strategic initiative to address the issues
they claim to stand for. Still it is crucial to stress that on the whole ethnic
nationalism feature less in this arrangement. Elite know how to settle issues
without drawing implosion as outcomes. Such weak political dimension doesn't
and will not prepare the ground for successful positive representation of
Nigeria.
Abuse of Ethnic Nationalism
A lot of noise is made about
ethic nationalism which is more nuanced etymologically than tribalism. There are many gaps in inserting ethnic
function in the political because in the real term, there is no evidence of
satisfaction that ethnic platform provides for all under its banner &
geography. If it is deposited as the
progressive expression of diversity, then the logic of negative utility for
portraying political advancement will be eliminated.
So far there is no state
in Nigeria with significant majority of an ethnic nation that is a focal point
of high economic growth, high human development, high economic development,
huge industrial production and high educational attainment. This is despite the
fact that each of the states draw their full entry on the federation
account. Who accepts to be deceived by
the ethnic nationalism mantra?One must migrate his/her
political nuance away from misguided colonial melee which subscribed to
division and disaggregation of peoples to advance geopolitical interest of the
coloniser. Basic geography teaches that
objects/entities that are closer have more in common than those farther apart.
It is rather stupid to proclaim difference with gusto when an entire
geopolitical neighbourhood may have started the migration journey from the same
area many generations in the past. Ethnic nations do not just emerge in a
neighbourhood, it is not accidental. For those who harbour the assumption of
total domination of one ethnic nation against the other, you need not look
further to accept a defeated position. Only blood, tears and waste will triumph
with no solution in sight. Sadly the
same individuals travel North to realise that they are unwanted regardless of
their sub-ethnicity or Christian religiosity, Africans are not admitted period!
Many irrational individuals wearing politicians garb find the temporal platform
to play such ill-fated ethnic card of course for the money, wealth and
position.
State Should Be Rich
Despite the inherent flaw in the
political architecture that currently plays out as centralised federalism, no
one can firmly stand up to successfully challenge these flaws if the those in charge
of states collected their rightful resources and refuse to invest them in the
peoples in whose names the resources are stolen, embezzled, corrupted and
sequestered. Aren't the citizens of
states entitled to the benefits of these states in real time? In states where
accountability and probity are rejected ab
initio and stealing of state resources is approved with impunity, dignity will
not accompany these resource recycling entities. The only viable investment left behind is institutional
decays of monumental proportion.
Some individuals are fond of
comparing their states with others. My question is usually simple. How many
individuals or families migrate to your state in search of work, better
security and higher standard of living? How many new graduates think of your
state or migrate or stay put after completing national service? There are few
states in the country where performance measured in those parameters stand the
test. In the name of platitude and sheer stupidity, many state officials are
blinded to huge brain drain from their states to the few internal (national) attractors
and foreign countries. Serious states try very hard to retain their new
graduates, to recoup some of their investment and get them to have serious
post-graduate links with the state beyond their origin.
At the end of the day we are confronted
with litany of blindness and celebration of stupidity in many states that load
up the train of excuse to justify deliberate regressive performance because
‘oil is flowing with pressure’. Be careful when you try to suggest to another
Nigerian that your state is better or that your ethnic nation is smarter
because you’ll be rightly confronted to present evidence.
Resource Nationalism with
Human Face
Nigeria is blessed with many
natural resources but petroleum have upstaged them in an intergenerational coup
d’état and became king (for now). With
attention fully focused on this usurper-king, other natural resources seem to
be ‘fair game’ to any and all exploiters. Even foreigners are in the act since
the entire political and institutional architecture is weak. So where is the resource nationalism? Is it
only for petroleum? As finite resource, is it obvious that the bigger resource
is the population? The human beings, the citizens!
Projection will always indicate
increase in production in the coming years.
It is also evident that the oil exploration and extraction is taking
place in a dehumanising situation of Nigerians under whose lands these
resources are flowing from. Is the
current and long term extraction of resources sustainable? How can a state be enriching
and imposing poverty simultaneously? It is not an existential struggle but a
deliberate celebration of mischief, abuse and regression. It is equally an
evidence of instability of the mind, instability of purpose and opaqueness of
collective raison d'être.
Conclusion
Positive hope for Nigeria is not
misplaced. Historical evidence indicates that development and advancement
follows patterns and breaking the spell of maldevelopment is a deliberate
calculation. The elite have a responsibility to lead the attack but history is
replete with examples of their failure and the outcomes. No status remain
unchanged after few generations, Nigeria is currently not ready for an
honourable place in the comity of nations.
Just a potential for now! More work needs to be done, most importantly
in understanding and redefining who we are, what we stand for and evidencing
processes and institutions to buttress the claims. Curiously the wind of geopolitical change may
force convergence of pleasant storms from the East and doldrumic whimper from
the West to our collective strategic advantage.
No comments:
Post a Comment