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Author: FRANKLIN CELESTE OKEREKE
Posted to the web: 11/10/2006 5:05:09 AM

NIGERIA, THE PEOPLE AND THE LEADERS 

 

Franklin Celeste Okereke,

Dublin, Ireland

 

Nigeria, as a geographical entity, traverses huge human and material potentials which we never harnessed, articulated or properly managed to contribute to our own human, political, economic and social advancement. It is land flowing with milk and honey but people still eat stones and drink blood! It is land blessed with intelligentsia which foreign countries have benefited more; but here we still lack necessary manpower for development. Nigeria has become a land that devours its inhabitants. Life becomes harder and harder everyday for the people. People go to bed very unsure of the kind of armed robbers that will knock at their doors. Worse still, they are scared to wake up in the morning to face the day, not being sure what to do. There is complete frustration and it increasingly seems better not to be born a Nigerian….. but the deed is done. There is no going back.  What is actually wrong with us? This is a question every devoted and concerned Nigerians keep asking. The answer seems far-fetched but quite comprehensibly we can apportion blame to all of us - citizens.

 

The people - Nigerians

Nigeria has had great personalities as leaders since independence in 1960 but we, Nigerians, have always believed that they have achieved little or nothing so far to deserve any kind of respect. There are incessant criticisms, castigations, condemnation and damnation of governments and their programmes. Is it not time we Nigerians start changing our mindset and realise that nationalism and patriotism start within our minds. It is not possible that all our governments (both military and civilian) are bad and that none can boast of any achievement, but because our minds have been shut from the good, we can only see the bad, and probably the ugly too. This is not fair to the nation and it affects all of us irrespective of where you are in any part of the world, including me in Dublin. Whatever names parents give their children is what the rest of the world would call them. Continuous negative labelling of our leaders will always cast an indelible negative aspersion not only to the Nigerian leadership or government but also to all Nigerian citizens all over the world. This is neither patriotic nor nationalistic!

 

Other nationals have taken advantage of what we call ourselves and come out with much damaging and disrespectful theories about Nigeria. For instance, any flight arriving from Nigeria is matched with top security at the airport and every Nigerian in the flight is subjected to a lengthy agonising, dehumanising and disrespectful search. Show your green passport anywhere in the world and you will be taken as a suspect immediately for a crime not committed. Who would you blame for all these disgrace – our leaders or ourselves?

 

The rest of the world is closely watching us as time draws to yet another general election in the country. Let us think of sharp minds that can understand our nation and vote for them irrespective of the mistakes of the past which could have been influenced by environment and people like you and me. Let us not give the world any reason to take advantage of whatever they find from us to measure our dear country, Nigeria.

 

Drawing analysis from Europe and the west in general from where we borrowed our democratic values, it has never been straight always with the leaders but the people think first the nation. Let us take some examples: the former Prime Minister of Ireland, Reynolds, was recently accused of belonging to the board of a construction company while in power and has used his position to influence and advance the company economically but still regarded as a very respectful Irish leader and neither the panel nor the press discredited him, Tony Blair was accused of using his position to buy a mortgage of about £4.5m for his retirement home but he still an ingenious, pragmatic and ebullient politician Britain has produced since Winston Churchill, John Prescott, British Deputy Prime Minister is presently undergoing a serious sex scandal where he has had relationships with three women including his own secretary. This scandal, among others, caused the labour government to concede more seats in the local government elections which prompted a major cabinet shake up. He was stripped of his duties and portfolio as the Deputy prime Minister but nobody is swearing at him or calling for his castration. Silvia Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister has been long accused of using his position to advance his multi-million media empire but he is still a darling of most Italians despite loosing the recent election to centre right coalition.  Bill Clinton’s sex scandal in USA has not reduced his popularity and respect among Americans, John F. Kennedy’ s romance with Marylin Monroe in the 60’s did not stop him from being, and still is the most remembered and popular of all US presidents. It is then fallacious for Nigerians to think that politics in Nigeria is far from that of the rest of the world and it more disheartening and disgusting the way we think about our leaders, past and present. They are not more corrupt than their counterparts in other parts of the world and deserve more respect than presently have. It is not fair, for instance, for Nigerians to think that if IBB austerity measure (SAP) did not enrich every Nigerian he should be barred from contesting election.

 

We must realise a fact: every policy or law a government makes is either a gain or loss to some sectors of the economy, and if you belong to the disadvantaged that should not be a basis for subjective criticisms.  

 

Secondly, we must realise that leaders are also human beings and therefore have needs, just like you and me, which must be fulfilled. Gratification of these needs should not be blown out of proportion or over-politicised just because they are in power. Extreme politicisation could lead to de-imaging of our country which in turn reflects to you and me as Nigerians. It is never too late to give up our prejudices.

 

Programmes and policies:

There have been great plans, policies, laws and programmes by various government aimed honestly at improving the quality of life in this part of the world. Some are adjudged successful but most are discredited and regarded as colossal failures. Why?

 

Nature and non-nature, they say, is responsible for man’s avarice. Naturally, the programmes were well conceptualised by the governments but practical implementation has not been easy. This is an environmental impediment. The totality of what constitutes these environmental impediments includes you and me, and the generality of Nigerians.

 

A typical example of our contribution to government failures is very much glaring in the health sector. In August 1987, the then Federal government of Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida launched its Primary Health Care (PHC), which is similar to NHS in the UK and Ireland. Good program indeed!!!  Intended to affect the entire national population, its main objectives included accelerated healthcare personnel development, improved collection and monitoring of health data, ensured availability of essential drugs, implementation of Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), improved nutrition and promotion of health awareness among others. It is noteworthy that unscrupulous Nigerians have been involved the illicit importation and manufacturing of fake drugs and expired food into the country in collaboration with corrupt officials (both governmental and non-governmental alike) and have continued the poisoning and killing of innocent Nigerians including women and children. This is wickedness and an extreme case of man’s inhumanity to man. This is only a tip on the iceberg with in relation to our contribution to our failure as a nation.

 

Consider other areas like population census. The IBB government’s population control program came partially under the Primary Health Care (PHC). By the late 1980s, the official policy was strongly to encourage women to have no more than four children, which would represent a substantial reduction from the estimated fertility rate of almost seven children per one woman in 1987. Because no official sanctions were attached to this policy, the population kept increasing at alarming rate. When SAP was introduced to help stabilise the economy, its effect was badly felt by the large families as they could not cope to feed the mouths they have brought into the world!

 

Just like other excellent programmes by the former IBB government, the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) was designed to promote economic growth to generate income to pay off debt. Critics claim that the privatization of public enterprises, which was one of the effects of SAP, would reduce state capacity and export expansion. But realistically, corruption in our civil service has endangered the survival of public sector more than SAP itself. Privatisation would be the best option as re commended by IMF in order to ensure efficiency, probity, accountability. We need to tell ourselves the truth and stop pointing accusing fingers at our leaders for problems also caused by ourselves. 

 

Conclusion

There are always three sides to every story: your side, the other side and the truth. Let us tell ourselves the truth now. Being critical of every successive government and its programmes and policies does not suggest a positive attitude to societal advancement. It is judicious that we hold the leaders responsible because of the mandate given to them or the authority which they hold but we all must realise that it takes two to tango. In management, we say when one thing goes wrong others will go wrong and at the same time too. The government operates like a system consisting of subsystems, and any problem with the subsystems definitely affects the entire system. We, Nigerians are the subsystems of the systematic government and if there is a problem with us it automatically affects the government and its plans and programmes. Let us search our hearts as people and realise that we need to do ourselves good by thinking of what we can do for our dear country and not what the country can do for us. That is the beginning of greatnesses of a nation. It is always easy for people to talk of changing the world without talking or thinking of changing themselves first.

 

We have had many opportunities of getting beyond where we are now but the temptation, desperation and morbid craze to put ourselves first have militated greatly our advancement as a powerful economic entity.

 

Another typical example of how of our attitude towards our country has been recently demonstrated by our National Assembly who deliberated against the constitutional amendment that could have seen Obasanjo’s another four years in the office. These lawmakers have greatly impressed not only the generality of the Nigerians but the rest of democratic world and they have shown that they there to be ‘faithful, loyal and honest, to uphold our honour and glory’ as enshrined in our national pledge and not to manipulate political situations to suite the whims and caprices of some privileged few.

 

It is worthy to note that constitutional changes are not rampant in the west that brought democracy to us and when it occurs it goes through a transparent legitimate process which allows the law makers to deliberate extensively on the pros and cons. There is no doubt that lobbying is involved, but certainly, crediting the accounts of lawmakers with hard currency or compelling and/or bullying party members to toe the party line is a flagrant violation of acceptable political standards, morale and norms. USA, for instance, has only been able to make about 26 amendments to their constitution in almost 230 years. Our lawmakers came up with about 15 to 18 recommendations in our fragile 45 years of independence. This means that by the time our country turns up to 230 years we must have made not less than 77 constitutional amendments, about three times more than that of USA.

 

One thing should be clear in our minds now: we Nigerians - businessmen, professionals, students, trade unions, academicians, civil servants, politicians, market men and women, etc.- are holding our destiny for greatness. We should not see our problems as stop signs but rather as guidelines to solutions. Every little contribution, in any way, will help. Let our minds be convinced by the politicians on their experience and ideologies and not coerced, bullied, bribed into mortgaging our votes come elections 2007.Let us stick  now to politics of conviction and not of manipulation or compulsion!.