By Orji Kalu (Kalu Leadership Series)
Saturday, November 15, 2008
I am never tired asking the question: What really went wrong with Nigeria? Every patriotic and responsible Nigerian must pause and ponder and then ask himself this question and proffer an answer to it. It is one question that demands sincerity of heart, self-purge, and true immolation. Unless we tackle this question by embarking on a national rebirth anchored on deep patriotism, then all the efforts we are making to rewrite the chequered history of Nigeria will amount to an exercise in absolute futility.
It is important to provide reminiscences on the Nigeria of yesteryears. There was a time life in Nigeria was pleasurable and safe. I am talking about the period before the civil war, even up to the early 80’s. For those born before the civil war life was memorable and easy. At that time our leaders were truly patriotic and altruistic. Their major reason for vying for political offices was to contribute to the development of the nation. It was this patriotic zeal that prompted the Great Zik of Africa to abandon his well-paid job in Pennsylvania to come back to Nigeria to establish the Morning Post in the Gold Coast (now Ghana) in 1934 as a major force for the independence struggle.
It would have been easier for Zik to stay back in the U.S. and shun the agitation for independence, but the excitable patriotism in him took over and influenced him to choose to sacrifice self in favour of the common good of the majority.
What about the First Prime Minister of Nigeria, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa; the Sardauna of Sokoto and Premier of Northern Nigeria, Sir Ahmadu Bello; the Premier of Eastern Nigeria, Dr. Michael Iheonukara Okpara; the Premier of Western Nigeria, Chief Obafemi Awolowo; and the Premier of Mid-Western Nigeria, Chief Okotie-Eboh. These men worked assiduously to reposition Nigeria and place it on the global map.
What of Kashim Imam (the governor of Northern Nigeria), Chief Mariereri (the governor of Mid-Western Nigeria), Dr. Akanu Ibiam (the governor of Eastern Nigeria) and Chief Odeleye Fadahunsi (the governor of Western Nigeria)?
I have not forgotten the selfless role played by the erudite Prof. Eni Njoku, Sam Ikoku, Ozumba Mbadiwe, Mallam Aminu Kano, and Joseph Tarka.
The women were not left out. This is where great women activists such as Chief Margaret Ekpo, Madam Anikulapo-Kuti come into focus. The unforgettable Aba Women Riot of 1929 was spearheaded by the late Margaret Ekpo. She remained active, despite old age, until she breathed her last.
One can safely say, therefore, that these great Nigerians demonstrated, by their courage, a readiness to pay the supreme price to make Nigeria succeed. This accounted for the high level of transparency and accountability and altruism that ruled their lives both as individuals and public officers. They were also detribalized and this paved the way for inter-ethnic cross-fertilization of ideas that promoted vibrant national economic and political ideals.
Can we ever forget the place Nigeria occupied on the global map, particularly in the area of agriculture? There was a time Nigeria was the world’s largest producer of groundnut and palm oil. Remember the legendary Kano Groundnut Pyramids? Today the pyramids have disappeared, making Nigeria to now depend on the importation of all kinds of groundnut oils from Asia. It is common knowledge that Malaysia came to Nigeria to take some hybrids of palm nut for the first time. They took it home, developed it and, today, rank as the world’s largest producer of palm oil. What, therefore, went wrong? Why did Malaysia overtake Nigeria less than 50 years after?
Before the Civil War some regions of Nigeria excelled in different kinds of agricultural produce. At that time agriculture was the mainstay of the nation’s economy. I still remember Mid-Western Nigeria was leading in rubber; Eastern Region palm oil and cashew nuts; Western Region cocoa; and the North groundnut. With the discovery of oil in commercial quantity, in Oloibri Bayelsa State, came the neglect of agriculture. The numerous farms settlements across the country gradually became moribund because of the shift of attention to oil. The consequence of this shift was persistent agitation by oil producing communities for autonomy, shortage of staple food, and massive importation of food such as fish, chicken, beef, rice, etc.
What reason do we have for importing rice, groundnut oil, cashew nuts, and other basic farm produce when we have the capacity of producing them in large quantity?
What caused the civil war? Why should a great nation, as Nigeria, be dismembered by unnecessary war that left many of our people either dead or displaced? The war that raged for 30 months ended abruptly, without victor or vanquished. Why then did we have to fight in the first place? What caused the war should have been resolved if our leaders had shown some restraint. The same factor that triggered off the war is still stirring us in the face. Injustice has remained at the centre of the political instability in Nigeria, and all of Africa. It is injustice that causes hatred, strife, and ethnic hegemony. The Niger Delta is today engulfed by war of attrition and hate. They are squabbling in order to secure a bigger space for the existence of their people. They want autonomy and more control over their resources.
I do not think there is any justification for violence that has engulfed our polity. But at times people are forced to take their destiny in their own hands as a way of preserving their social freedom and security. Nevertheless, I have always advocated dialogue as a way round many of our social problems. Resort to violence is not only counterproductive, but wantonly destructive.
Why do many Nigerians still live below the poverty level and struggle daily for survival? There was a time poverty was almost unnoticeable in Nigeria. Until the late 80’s, hunger was not a part of our national calamities. This was so because the cost of living then was still very low. In the mid 70’s, for instance, it cost just N5 to travel from Onitsha to Lagos on a luxury bus and less than N10 by air from Enugu to Lagos. Even up to 1986 it cost only N175 to fly from Kano to Lagos on a Nigerian Airways Airbus 320. Today, it costs N18,900 to fly from Lagos to Enugu.
I still remember it cost only 5k for a meal ticket in many Nigerian universities in the mid 70’s. During this period, it was not fashionable for people to travel abroad to study. The exchange rate was 60k to the dollar. Travelling outside of Nigeria at that time was very easy as immigration laws were not as stiff as is the case today.
It is painful that electricity is now a huge luxury. People stay for months and even years without electricity. I recall in the mid 80’s when residents of Lagos would stay for months without interruption of light. All you needed to cater to your needs was just N20 a week. At that time, a brand new Volkswagen Kombi bus cost only N14,500. Today, it runs into millions. A four-bedroom flat in Lagos cost just N4,000 per annum and N2400 in Enugu. The same accommodations go for as much as N500,000 and N250,000 respectively annually these days. What really went wrong?
Everywhere in Nigeria is flooded by tokumbo vehicles from Europe and America. These vehicles often constitute nuisance on our roads. Before the late 80’s what existed were brand new and second-hand cars. But the situation took a down-turn in the early 90’s with the global economic instability which made life tougher for Nigerians. With it also came the gradual disappearance of the middle class – a stimulator and economic livewire of any nation. What really happened?
As I said earlier, leaders in the early 60’s were more caring and selfless.
They worked their hearts out catering to the needs of their people. What kinds of leaders do we have today? Many of them vie for elective offices primarily for self-enrichment. This is why there is a morbid desire by our politicians to undo themselves at all costs. Take for example states where politicians used force to find their way into the government house. It happened in Edo, Anambra and Rivers states. Just on Tuesday this week the Court of Appeal, Benin upturned the election of Osunbor as governor and in his place pronounced Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as winner. What happened in Edo in 2007 elections also obtained in many states where elections were mindlessly rigged by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). PDP, I have said on several occasions, lacks the legitimacy to preside over the affairs of Nigerians. It is one party that has demonstrated immaturity and intolerance in the handling of the governance of Nigeria.
What about insecurity that pervades our nation. People sleep these days with their two eyes open. This deviated from the situation obtainable before the war. I recall those days in Aba, the period before the war, when many residents barely locked their doors each time they had to go out. I am sure the same thing happened in other parts of Nigeria. At that time armed robbers operated mainly on the highways, unlike these days when they move in large gangs, robbing innocent and armless residents and commuters.
I wish to state without any equivocation that the Nigerian society, as it is today, lacks the capacity to produce credible leaders. Our electoral system is bereft of functional provisions to address the endemic problems of rigging and imposition of unpopular candidates on the electorate. This is why I am elated at the ongoing reforms undertaken by the present administration to ensure a better electoral system for the country. I think, in my opinion, it will be better for Nigeria to tailor its electoral system strictly after the United States’. Even though we copied our present presidential system from America many things are still done the wrong way here. Agreed, the system is quite expensive but it has worked for the Americans for over 238 years. Why can’t it work in Nigeria?
The emergence of Barack Obama as the first black American president has opened a new vista for democratic renewal across the globe. Already, Obamaism is catching on with ferocious precision and impact. It has the capacity of correcting the ills in our electoral system as it fires the enthusiasm of the new generation for change that inspires hope.
I have done this recap in this belief that it will help set us thinking as to why we have not been making progress as nation. We must ponder and fashion the way forward as a people. The continual erosion of our national moral fibre should not be allowed to continue. We owe the next generation a big duty to leave behind a peaceful, progressive and egalitarian nation.
Our forbears did their best to bequeath a great nation to us. But our inordinate ambition for power, greed and avarice has combined to threaten the very foundation on which this nation was built.
I pray that God will someday intervene to save our nation from this gradual slip into self-destruct.
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/columnists/kalu/kalu-15-nov-2008.htm
