A Nigerian Youth League Publication

The weak do not struggle and docile communities never see development!! These are the words that play in my mind as I wonder and ponder the reality of the Nigerian state. We’ve seen it all, from the 1^st republic to the 2^nd and now the 3^rd democratic phases of our development or rather underdevelopment. It is no surprise that even as I write this article the Federal Republic of Nigeria is a “healthy” ailing nation. This is going to be a brief transcript of what I’ve seen in Nigeria since my relocation from the proverbial Egypt to the promise land of my forefathers. It is going to catalogue my observations since my home coming; and the manner I believe the revolution for a greater Nigeria must take, for us to be successful as a nation. The dye has already been cast since our generation has no equal footing in comparison to our fore bearers. Call it the 21^st century syndrome, however ours is a generation that must struggle to survive and dare to go where no other has been to excel. It is a common notion within our rank and file that success exists only in the belly of the beast. Let those who dare dip their wanton hands in and either get bitten or swallowed up by the beast called the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

I arrived to meet a country where the only driving motivation of the majority is financial. Albeit that this is what every successful capitalist nation is built upon, ours has become a malignant tumor that is contributing to our incessant under development. Take for example my observation, whilst on a trip to my home town; where the Chairman of the local government had the audacity to put up a campaign sign board claiming that his tenure had given the people “5 years of consistently development”. The irony of his sarcastic gesture was that this was put up on a road that had not seen any maintenance for the past 20 years. The road had fallen into total disrepair and yet to the chagrin of the people he had done well by them. This is a typical scenario in Nigeria where the people do not see anything wrong with their existence as far as few of them can curry favors from the corrupt elected officials of the state. This is truly amazing.

In this context I muse, wondering if the people really care for the collective growth as it appears that the only thing that matters to them is their individual pockets. The populace do not care what happens to the fiscal policy of the state as they are too myopic to see the effects of their inaction; whilst the supposedly enlightened subclass continues to enjoy the proceeds of our national crisis via lobbying and adopting of “Chairmen” that will ensure their financial subsistence in the evolving Nigeria. It’s either this, or the people of our country have completely lost hope in our nationhood and only wish that we continue to co-exist in our similitude of a nation under God. If this continues in the polity {which all indication shows it will}, Nigeria will surely not grow but act like the hermit crab which takes on a larger shell in a guise to show size and strength whilst in actual fact hasn’t grown an extra inch.

The syndrome of the “Chairmen” as stated above is not new to our existence. The 1^st and 2^nd republic of the motherland brought forth the “Big Men”, where a word of patronage from a “Big Man” could change one’s fortunes forever. These “Big Men” were the first set of individuals to profit from the demise of the national interest. They were the ministers, governors and directors of the 1^st republic. It goes to show that our nation hasn’t changed a tad bit since the 60’s as the “Big Men” have now been replaced by the “Chairmen”. 40 years and we find that the country hasn’t learnt anything from its past but progresses to change the acronyms given to its plunderers. “Godfatherism” is another one of the many names given to the people that proactively ensure that our underdevelopment is the status quo. Patronage is a very important part of any democracy as can be seen from the Obama elections in the US where the Kennedys’ patronage of Barack Obama may add more grit o his campaign.

The patronage afforded by these “Chairmen” is fundamentally preferential treatment of their minions in matters of finance within the polity. This in itself has a lot of antecedents in Nigeria and it is perceived as the way of the typical “enlightened” Nigerian. Find yourself a “Chairman” and you may just become part of a hand picked elite of the Nigerian state who supposedly hold the key to bringing us the change that is required for us to move forward as a nation. The issue here is whether one can champion change when he is part and parcel of the problem? Your Chairmen expect returns for their favors and you in turn need to pay your minions as the moment you adopt a Chairman, inadvertently you become a Chairman to others who expect their dues. This is Nigeria’s definition of redistribution of wealth through the hands of a select few. The painful thing is that they all forget that they belong to the collective entity called Nigeria and that until the collective good is served, every Chairman out there will require maximum security to live in Nigeria, high barbed wired fences in their homes as well as a retinue of security operatives to move in the country they call home. They will not feel safe in their homes as the majority of the populace are suffering in silence and will turn to violence given the opportunity. Wealth is uncommon to the average Nigerian and as such any wealthy individual out there sticks out like a sore thumb for the less privileged to pluck out from a hungry and angry mob.

The Nigerian factor is an acceptable syndrome by the ruling elite. This is the worst of my observations because as we carried our crusade to certain parts of the polity, I found that the “Naija factor” as it is commonly referred, is a well oiled strategy to let the incoming Nigerians {Nigerians in Diaspora} as well as the well meaning Nigerians know that the status quo is a creation of the elite; and as such must be maintained to ensure that our collective aspirations as a country are thwarted by the same people that should uphold it. The “Naija factor” has become somewhat of a battle cry by the ruling elite to say “we don’t need any change in this country”. I was recently a witness to an unjust act by the Nigerian police force where the lawyer of an innocent individual {I believe that one is still innocent until proven guilty} was instructed out of the interrogation room at a police station in Abuja the federal capital city. Mindful of this misnomer, I made statements to that effect of which there was a loud reprimand by all and sundry that “this is Naija and not the UK”. I was shocked out of my wits more so at the UK trained lawyer who walked out without objection.

I was later to find out that there was no charge being brought against the innocent individual and that the only reason he was there was because the case was reported by a former Director General of a government parastatal. I then realized that it was convenient to use the Naija factor as a mode of disregarding the rule of law and ethics to suit ones own agenda. When trying to make sense of it all I was told that this is Nigeria and that rules applicable to the UK wasn’t necessary to Nigeria in that our convoluted way of judging issues with a complete lack of commonsensical and ethical considerations works best for us. I adamantly refuse to accept this incredulous notion and stick to my understanding that the issues facing Nigeria need to be looked upon as nothing more than a problem and the “Naija factor” be perceived as nothing more than the peculiar socio-economic and political environment of our society. What I find is the former; the Naija factor is now the convenient excuse for lack of a better explanation to our decades of underdevelopment........

To be continued in Part 2

Robot  # 1 | 21.08.2008 22:13

A Nigerian Youth League Publication The weak do not str...Read the full article.