06 Apr 2009 |
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by Deji Saanu “The greatest danger to a good speaker is when they dont know when to 'stop speaking'!...there is always the danger to over-stretch one's strong points and that is the danger Dr. Akinyilu is gradually slipping into”. I hate to be bitter but l am angry! I am one of those millions of Nigerians who “qualify” to be called “Nigerians in Diaspora”, just because l am located abroad. Apart from that un-enviable tag of being ‘a Diasporan’, now l am being called “dishonorable, divisive and bad-mouthing my own beloved country! Nothing can be more treasonable than a citizen that is dishonorable, divisive and bad-mouthing his own country but hey, can this really be true of me or other Nigerians in Diaspora?! This is certainly untrue, and such allegations are deplorable. I’ve observed with shock, this “seething hatred” for Nigerians in Diaspora being planted by and sustained by our leaders in Nigeria, in the heart of our fellow brothers – Nigerians at home. In the first place, “Nigerians abroad” have a comparatively, additional stake in Nigeria since as they say, East or West, Home is the Best”! Nigerians in Diaspora are like “travelers engaged on a long journey, hoping to return home one day, to a good home, a home better than they left it; not a home on fire or one that is completely burnt-out! Nigerians in Diaspora, like “loners in a strange land”, have left siblings, parents and families at home. While looking out for themselves, they are also praying for those they left at home, hoping they will go back one day and meet them in good health and as such, are always ‘critically interested’ in what is happening back home in Nigeria, since it affects their families and thus, has a psychological effect on their own wellbeing too, even in faraway Diaspora. The wellbeing of Nigeria is the wellbeing of her citizens everywhere, more-so those in Diaspora. So, why would a Nigerian like me, in Diaspora, become dishonorable, divisive and good at bad-mouthing the same Nigeria l love, so much so as to cause weeping and gnashing of teeth, if we are to believe the words of our ‘new-improved’ Information Minister? What is it about this “Information Ministry” that makes “Snakes and Judas” out of otherwise good human-beings? Subsequent Information Ministers, from the days of Babangida, have been skilled at deceiving Nigerians, mis-informing Nigerians, telling us the inverse of reality, as we see it with our naked eyes! This (mis)Information Ministry lies and distorts reality, all in an effort to “sell bullsh*t” to Nigerians. I still remember in the 80’s and early 90’s, when there is a public protest and the “kill-and-go” Mobile Policemen or soldiers are sent-in to quell the riots, they kill half a dozen people, right there is the presence of eye-witnesses but shamelessly, one Information Minister will go on NTA (their perpetual mouth-piece back then) to tell Nigerians that “there was no incident” and the protest went peacefully! When “preventable accidents” happen and lives are lost (like in the Ikeja Bomb blast, Pipe line explosions, University Student protest, road carnage, Ejigbo plane crash, to name a few), it became a tradition for Nigerians to listen to “Foreign News Stations” for ‘authentic news’ since we have all grown accustomed to our own “Information Ministers and Government’ lying to us through their lips, without blinking! We’ve had situation when government Information Minister comes out to tell us government has no plan to increase the price of fuel and before the day ends, the same government has jerked-up the pump-price of the essential commodity! Permit my ignorance but what exactly is the job of a Nigerian Information Minister, aside deceiving the Nigerian populace? Is that office created solely to mis-inform, create chaos and bamboozle Nigerians? We’ve had situations where our President is sited in a foreign capital (and so reported by a foreign media) while his Information Minister is telling Nigerians at home that he is inside Aso rock? We had Information Ministers lie to Nigerians about the state of health of our President, like Nigerians are some “enemy entity” that must be kept at bay! It is with such questions in mind that l am worried by the recent pronouncement of our highly respected cabinet Information Minister, a woman l so much love, l had said elsewhere that l wish our Presidents have the same zeal and dedication she uses in fighting drug cabals (when she was D.G NAFDAC) but since the “mis-information virus” in that ministry took over, l can hardly think she is the same person again?.! While the separation between "Home-based" and Diaspora-based Nigerians is just a diversionary ploy, (like they do in our football-house; instead of developing football, they create a separate class called foreign-based and create animosity between them so much so that every footballer that can kick a ball wants to travel abroad by all means possible so as to acquire the title ‘foreign-based’! The result is what we experience now when football minnows like Malawi come and hold us to a goalless draw, at home! ) we can not deny the fact that it is impossible not to see the stark differences in life and living standard, when you have lived abroad, in an environment where though they dont have all the "free-goodies" Nigeria has, (Crude oil, Natural minerals, good weather, arable land, absence of natural disasters, e.t.c) they strive daily, to make life comfortable for their citizens by managing and maximizing the benefits of the little resources they have manage to build. Take a country like Ireland, with a population that is barely larger than city of Lagos (not even Lagos, as a state! and less educated citizens!!), no crude oil, no minerals, frigid weather three-quarters of the year, a “receiver-nation” of Nigeria's foreign financial aid some few years back, and so on.... yet, this country can boast of stable power supply, excellent road networks, standard housing for its citizens (and excess to share and accommodate foreigners), security o life and property boosted by an efficient Police force, efficient Rail and Tram transportation system, well equipped & staffed hospitals, well planned streets (like the Governor of Lagos state is gradually achieving), good drainage systems, e.t.c. The same can be said of other “physically and demographically tiny” nations like Japan, Angola, Sweden, Taiwan, and Ghana Now, can Nigeria’s Information Minister tell me why a Nigerian, who has lived all his life in Nigeria and suddenly finds him/herself living in a foreign land like India, Malaysia, in U.K, U.S, South Africa, Ghana, just to mention a few, (and l know there are thousands of Nigerians living in those countries), will not be "bitterly critical" and criticize this inept government for failing in its primary responsibility towards Nigerians that live within its enclave, knowing the amount of wealth at your governments disposal and the acute poverty level that pervades our polity? Are they criticizing just for the sake of criticism or because, each passing-day, they see and experience 'lost opportunities', for a nation, their country, to become great?...and not just be a “wishful participant” in the G-20 summit! Dont these Nigerians in Diaspora know first hand, that governance is not ‘rocket science’ and that it only takes a ‘honestly brave heart’ and a ‘head full of good ideas’ (rather than thieving ideas as some of your colleague-Ministers have been demonstrating!) to turn this country around? Dont these Nigerians in Diaspora know that life is far better and economic dreams can easily be realized when “electricity” is available and stable in Nigeria? Should Nigerians in Diaspora just continue to “enjoy a good life” abroad (some people’s country) while (their families) other Nigerians at home are made to live like they’ve offended God in the life-before? This would be most callous and selfish. I've met a lot of these Diaspora-Nigerians who want to come back home and invest their savings in starting some business/company back home, that would employ their fellow Nigerians but the lack of stable electric power and absence of any modicum of “discipline in governance”, coupled with the alarming level of insecurity of life and property, is giving them a second thought? I make bold to say that Nigeria’s major problem is her ruling elite. Majority of them are wicked, deceitful and criminal. No matter how you look at it, any Nigerian living abroad is a ‘second class’ citizen (even when you're naturalized, your skin color will always remain a barrier, if you doubt me, go and ask someone like the Everton star striker, Victor Anichebe) in that foreign country. Nigerians who have persevered and struggled while abroad are so eager, sometimes even desperate, to come back home, to bring their children home so that they can learn our mother-tongue. Some are so patriotic, so much so, they are intent on coming home to transfer wealth and knowledge, to their fatherland: the same country that was not there for them in their hour-of-need! What more can you do for your country...even when it does nothing for you? Nigerians in Diaspora are probably the main reason why the excruciating poverty that our leaders, yes, our Presidents and Ministers and Legislators have plunged us into, have not properly sunk-in, since ten out of every ten Nigerian abroad is directly or indirectly responsible for school fees, hospital bills, Handsets, "chop-money", maintenance allowance for aged parents and you name it, in supplement to what those “at home” are providing. Its is not uncommon to find ‘debates’ among Nigerian-family abroad, between the "husband and wife" that are traceable to the pressure of each one of them trying to satisfy the "financial expectations’ of their folks back home" in Nigeria. This should be expected, normal and healthy; Nigerians are innately a ‘caring lot’. In an age when the Westerners and other foreigners generally perceive Nigerians generally as 419-fraudsters, in an age when others think nothing-good, except the stench of corruption, can come out of Nigeria, it is these same Nigerians in Diaspora (well, a sizable majority of them) that work hard, and by their daily lifestyle and achievements, change the mindset of these foreigners. In Diaspora, there are Nigerians heading various fields of endeavor so much so that the foreigners wonder "how come these ones are so different"? Nigerians whether at home or abroad, are the same but those abroad have the “Benefit of Environment”, an environment that allows everyone to become whatever they desire to become in life....the same enabling environment that the Information Minister and her cabinet members have denied and continue to deny Nigerians at home; the same environment some of them “ship” the family members off to enjoy abroad – we see them over here every day but why they cannot replicate the same environment at home, with all the ,wealth and power, the country gave them, is beyond my little, “Diaspora-infested” mind and thinking!. It is high time our leaders, those who have chosen to accept “position of authority” to serve, to know that they can no longer pool the wool over anyone’s eyes. The world is a global village and we all saw how “intelligent leaders” met at the G-20 summit in London, to discuss how to confront the global financial crisis. Indian leader was there, Nigerian leader probably did not “accept” his invitation because….your guess was good! That was a very “loud statement and a report card” on our leadership. When the world says the leadership of the most populous black nation on earth (my son says we are brown and not black, and l quite agree with him) don’t count, in world affairs, then something must definitely be wrong!..and until we can look ourselves straight in the eye and call a spade a spade, instead of diverting attention to chasing shadows, we might just be a long way from even realizing we are naked! “He who does not know, and does not know that he does not know is christened a “compound fool”…the mother of all fools, as ‘Sadam’ would call it. Maybe Nigerians in Diaspora should be held responsible for the non-invitation of Nigeria, a conclusion that does not seem beyond the antics of the “Information Ministry”. Our leaders, from the President to his Cabinet members, should realize that “you can not buy experience” and by definition, experience is something you have (experienced) gone through. I am not totally sure if Nigerians back home know what it translates-to, to have “un-interrupted power supply” for over three years? No pun is intended but let me just mention a few things it translates to…and anyone can deduct these things from their “life-experience” and see if there is much left, in this “one life” that we all go through! A few things among many, that “un-interrupted power supply” translates to: 1.) Your hearing is protected and you can really enjoy music without the loud volume as obtained on most Nigerian streets and household since the noise of generators, both big and ‘l-better-pass-you’ are absent. There is serenity in the atmosphere. Babies sleep and everyone can have a really ‘deep, resounding’ sleep. 2.) It could add over fifteen years to ones lifespan since the obnoxious fumes from those power generators, a direct cause of lung diseases among Nigerians, especially among infants, is eliminated. A “No Smoking-indoors culture ”, obtainable in virtually all European cities, will be meaningless in the Nigerian context since your Generator will kill you faster than smoking a packet of cigarette everyday and no one is immune from it. 3.) You don’t have to run to the market everyday to buy perishable foods since you can stock your freezer (and we stock fish/meat for over three months, one of the best way for households to preserve ‘Yam tuber’ for months on-end, before consumption, is to drop it in the freezer and bring it out to thaw, about 6-hours before peeling, give it a try please) …..and take from there-in, in bits. 4.) You save an average minimum of 15,000 naira annually (depending on distance of your market), from the cost, plus time of “commuting’ to-and-from the market, cost of food that is wasted (stews gone stale, Eba growing mould, e.t.c., when left unfrozen because your freezer/fridge has turned to a cupboard). 5.) You save a few lives since the tendency to be involved in a road mishap is directly proportional, all things being equal, to the time spent commuting on the road and you don’t have to frequent that market, that much. Also, efficient and functional traffic management lights, only possible where there is stable electricity, prevent accidents, reduce time spent in traffic and make driving a pleasant experience as opposed to the “high-tension, swearing-prone driving” that is obtainable in a our major cities. Lets forget for now, the bad example and negative impression ‘a swearing parent’ (or those that even engage in fisty-cuffs, after the “you hit my car” grammars starts) makes on the children in the cars involved in a brush! 6.) How many Nigerians would have been alive today, if power were constant in our country and some of these unfortunate ones, (getting roasted in a Generator fire or fuel explosion is not my favorite way of dying), could have been Doctors, Nurses and who knows, maybe we have murdered (roasted) the ‘best President’ we could have had, in a Generator explosion? Imagine if President Obama was one of those kids that died from inhaling Generator fumes at Ibadan, in “the East”, in Lagos and so many other unreported places? He would never have realized his dreams and you need to be alive to say “Yes We Can”! Would l be wrong to say the Nigerian government has “roasted” so many dreams? 7.) Quite a large number of our young men hang around the neighborhood in daytime, discussing the “British Football Premiership” when they’re supposed to be ‘economically productive” ….and laying your golden nest so that you can retire early in life, are denied the opportunity to be who you are supposed to be: employers of labor. You’ve tried your best in life, you’ve listened to parents, you’ve studied hard at night but that “Science Degree qualification”, without the requisite “practical lab experience” just dont cut-it in the real world! University Labs without electricity means ‘practical classes are stuffed! Trying your hands on that business idea you’ve always dreamed of, seems impossible when you factor-in the cost of buying the 5KVA Generator required to power your Server, Client systems, UPS and the Aircon to keep them dust-free and cool-running. Okay, maybe you just want to set-up a Barbing Saloon to keep ‘body & soul’ together but how would it have been if you don’t have to buy a Generator and don’t have to use your ‘sales’ to buy Petrol, day-in, day-out? What about the danger posed by inflammable fuel, to your life, your business and life of your customers? 8.) Can you imagine, as a Nigerian in Nigeria, the joy of being able to “get work”, anytime you wanted or felt like working? Prior to the global recession we are going through, I wont say what some decent ladies/men, who just want to do a good days job and earn their pay, have gone through, to secure a job. It is better left to the imagination if have never been a victim and l cant blame them, “hunger” is a close relative of unemployment especially in a Nigeria where there are no “Social Benefits” to fall back on when you’re still out looking for work; “Life is brutal, Reality is even more brutal”. Assuming there was stable electricity, a few factories, notably the “volume employment” Textile factories, will still be in operation and l bet, how many of our men and women will be honorably making money and taking care of their responsibility. It is those who make this impossible, our leaders, Ministers, “honorable” Legislators, that are dishonorable, not Nigerians in Diaspora! 9.) Its not uncommon also to see young graduates turn ‘sophisticated armed robbers’, venting their anger on the society, a society that has led them down, as they claim. Your government, your cabinet, Madam, has let the youths down, you are responsible for some of their woes. You gave them little choice. They see some of your colleagues, like the Legislators, taking home millions of naira for “sleeping on duty” (we see them on TV!), as constituency allowance, they hear about how much dollars was seized from Minister A, at Heathrow airport, how much Minister B has stashed in a Caribbean bank, how many millions of naira Minister D’s mansion in Abuja costs and they wonder, what else they have to do to stay afloat, a case of being ‘thirsty in the abundance of water! Some of these armed robbers would be decent men and women, if you and your ilks have done your duty to this great nation called Nigeria but you would rather engage in bad-mouthing Nigerians in Diaspora, just to give Nigerians at home “something to chew-on”? I can go on till tomorrow but l want to pause and ask: Ø Is it Nigerians in Diaspora that are responsible for all the failures mentioned above? The answer is NO Ø Is it Nigerians in Diaspora that loot Nigeria’s treasury? Answer is NO Ø Is it Nigerians in Diaspora that divert money meant for infrastructure to some foreign account in Cayman Islands or Swiss account? Answer is NO Ø Is it Nigerians in Diaspora that are charge with providing electricity, good roads, furnished hospitals, basic housing, employment, standard education, security of life and property, in Nigeria? Answer still remains NO So, what exactly have “Diasporans” done wrong apart from identifying where subsequent “thieves in power” have failed the nation and pointing them out with the often dashed hope that they would have a change of heart? But then, l can understand your grouse, Nigerians in Diaspora are “exposed to the good life”. They are exposed to how government officials should behave and attend to government business. Nigerians in Diaspora are exposed to constant power supply an all the attendant benefits and want the same thing for their folks back home. Nigerians in Diaspora attend hospitals that cure illness, not ones that are frustratingly saddled with just “disposing-off corpse” so much so that even our President is not averse to sharing in such “Diaspora-hospitality” but what about the other 140million Nigerians, the unfortunate ones who have no access to public funds? Nigerians in Diaspora have seen how a country should be run, by intelligent and selfless people and since they are patriotic Nigerians, with families at home, with a sense of responsibility to their fellow Nigerians, they have refused to keep quiet and because they enjoy the “freedom of Information” you deny those at home, they can have access to those secret bank accounts where you stash our collective patrimony. More-so, Nigerians in Diaspora are somehow, at least for now, immune to the kind of “hired assassins” that killed Dele Giwa, Alfred Rilwane, Kudirat Abiola, Bola Ige……hired assassins by those who don’t find comfort in being told the truth. Thus Nigerians in Diaspora occupy a very unique position to compare and contrast, to observe and comment on the good or evils of our nation and the henchmen who are in control. Do well and we will sing and celebrate your praises to the heavens. Nigerians in Diaspora are also relatively comfortable concerning the basic needs of life, three square meals is not something to worry about, rather the choice of what to select for lunch or dinner is more like it. As full blooded Nigerians, those in Diaspora can not be lured by a “loaf of bread” to sell their conscience at polling booths (but can we blame some of those at home, after all, a hungry man is not a very rational one and “abject poverty” is being used as a deliberate tool and policy, to keep our fellow brothers in Nigeria, subservient). Putting all these together, can anyone tell me why the Nigerian in Diaspora should not stand-up to be counted, to speak truth to those in authority, for the benefit of our people, our nation, our heritage? Would Nigerians in Diaspora not be guilty to God and the unborn generation if, by virtue of their fortunate circumstance, they refuse to constructively criticize our government and its inept officials into action, into using our resources wisely, to provide for the needs of our people? Why should l drive on very smooth roads in Europe and America, work in their construction industry that makes such road, hear their government official that plan and make it possible and yet, l am expected to keep quiet when my own country is laced with failed roads or has no one passed through the Ore-Benin Express road, or the Port Harcourt –Aba road or the Aba-to-Abuja roads? Why would our President have a Mobile Ambulance at his beck while many other Nigerians in Ogooni land, in Jos, in Yobe, in Ijebu, e.t.c be allowed to die of Malaria Why should l keep quiet when Nigerian-born Doctors, working in foreign hospitals that provide wonderful equipment and working environment (of course, l need not mention that the hospitals are not run on Diesel Power Generators) for them to blossom and do research, are highly respected while my people in Nigeria die of simple ailments like cholera or typhoid? Should we not then look inwards and replicate those conditions at home? Tell me why “Madam Information” would not insult and assault Nigerians in Diaspora since we have decided not to be cowed, or keep quiet in the face of tyranny? But for heavens sake, if Nigeria is good, we all stand to benefit and walk tall, ‘a proud nation’, like the Americans, the Chinese, the Japanese.. If this is where we have gone wrong and offended our Information Minister, l for one, though highly respectful of her, owes her no apologies, in fact, we need to get more organized and chase the thieves out of “our father’s house” because only then will we, like our families at home, have a place we can call home. Nigerians in Diaspora don’t bad-mouth Nigeria, we only speak the truth, we shun sycophancy and work with those at home to call ‘a spade, a spade’ …and not “a spoon” as subsequent Ministers for Information are prone to saying.
Nigerians in Diaspora are no different from those at home, we compliment each other in our endeavor to improve our country and wrestle it from the grip of pathological Kleptomaniacs masquerading as ‘government officials’. It is actually self defeating for someone who wants to “re-brand Nigeria” to be the one engaging in this divisive campaign among Nigerians, knowing fully well that Nigerians in Diaspora are the first line of contact between Nigerians and foreigners (we live, work and sleep among them everyday) but we will never shy from our duty to educate and dis-abuse the minds of foreigners about our dear country. Nigerian in Diaspora are a hardworking and sympathetic lot. We don’t take part in raping the country, we toil day and night even in very unfriendly weather and despite that, we never forget to remember our folks back home. We happily share our sweat with our families back home and are always willing to assist financially one way or the other but all we ask is that those “in-charge” at home, our policy-makers, government officials, Ministers, ‘honorable’ Legislators like they love to be addressed, our top bureaucrats, give us a helping hand by putting a stop to some of the shameful acts they perpetuate; their brazen looting of our country’s resources, transfer of our country’s wealth to safe havens abroad, something which all foreigners are equally aware of , so that we can do a better job at defending Nigeria image wherever her name is being brought to disrepute, overseas. Nigerians in Diaspora know and believe that with just a little more effort and honesty of purpose, without the criminal deceit of our elected/selected leaders, without their divisiveness, blame-shifting and name-calling, Nigeria can become a Paradise, a Good People and a Great Nation. Lagos State is already on that path, other states should take a cue and if the Information Minister likes, she can spread the “same spirit” among her cabinet members instead of engaging in this “divide and rule” strategy. Mr. "Deji Saanu is an I.T. Specialist and Digital Security Consultant
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