Nigeria: A formula for failure
By Levi Obijiofor

TOO many metaphors have been used to describe the crisis of leadership in Nigeria, including the intractable nature of the country's problems. The most appropriate metaphor, in my judgement, is the one that depicts Nigeria as a mischievous, accident-prone child. The moment you wheel the kid out of the operating theatre, you discover there are a lot more injuries requiring urgent surgery.

Where do you start to analyse the numerous problems that have overwhelmed this country for the past 48 years? Our problems are almost inoperable. The economy is in bad shape. Our healthcare system is bleeding profusely and needs urgent blood transfusion and a massive overhaul. The education sector is struggling to recover from the destructive consequences of years of federal neglect. Federal and state public service has been turned into private service. The agricultural sector has been abandoned.

Today, everyone is complaining about the soaring prices of foodstuff and the inability of many countries to feed their population. Nigeria is one of those countries where hungry people far outnumber the rest of the population. It is a recipe for disaster.

Here is the irony of our situation. Basic services such as electricity, good network of roads, drinking water and public housing long regarded as the undeniable rights of every citizen now constitute new age luxuries, available only to those who can afford them. The political system has defied all manner of electoral experiments and voting procedures. Our political arena has been hijacked by yesterday's men who want to remain relevant even as global events suggest they are a hopeless breed. In Nigeria, many politicians contest elections with the primary goal of enriching themselves or defrauding their country even before they have served half their tenure. Our political leaders expect to be served by their electors rather than serve their constituencies.

Since independence in October 1960, we have watched a procession of military and political leaders grab television and radio microphones to promise us they have figured out the solutions to the nation's problems. Like experienced conmen, they have mastered the art of scamming an unsuspecting public. They know how to rouse a dispirited nation in times of despair. The harder and more determined they come for our votes, the less suspicious we are of their adulterated intentions.

Every political or military leader who emerged on the national stage since independence (with the possible exception of Murtala Muhammed), came with a bag full of promises but left the stage with a bag full of unfulfilled promises. By the time the nation uncovered the counterfeit value of their promises, it had become too late to do anything. These deceptive apostles of national rediscovery would have stuffed their kits with ill-acquired national wealth and disappeared from the stage.

For a country so blessed with human and natural resources, Nigeria has been so unfortunate. For the past 48 years, the country has had to contend with political comedians thrown at our faces by our own flawed political process. The problem with the country's underdevelopment does not rest solely with under-performance by purposeless political leaders. For nearly five decades since independence, we have had to accommodate military leaders who imposed themselves on us by their sheer ability to organise successful coups and threaten everyone with the barrel of their guns.

Has it not been said that a nation deserves the leaders it gets? Yes, particularly self-appointed military leaders who were not given any electoral mandate to rule over us, not to mention politicians who emerged through rigged and contentious voting procedures. Since independence, the country has been denied genuine socioeconomic development such as improvements in the living standards of the people, provision of basic infrastructure, valuable healthcare system, effective network of air, sea, as well as road and rail transportation system, and efficient telecommunications network.

Why has Nigeria become a country where virtually everything has ceased to work? Why does everyone carry mobile phones in their hip pockets even when network services are difficult to access? You criticise poor services offered by telecommunications providers and someone springs on your face with a trite reminder that, before the advent of mobile telephony, things used to be much worse. Why do we accept poor standards today on the basis that the past used to be worse than the present? It is this kind of creepy argument that tends to justify the way we are treated as second-class citizens by foreign businesses that make huge profits even in our own country.

On a larger scale, the gradual collapse of Nigeria is indeed evidence of the failure of public and private institutions in the country. It is also proof of the failure of political leadership, including the failure of the public to stand up and hold the leaders accountable for their transgressions. Take a look at the decrepit state of federal roads (not to mention state owned roads) and you will realise the high level of the financial swindle that goes on unchecked at the federal and state levels.

Every year, the Presidency announces with ceremony the stupendous amount of money that has been set aside for major capital projects in the country. At the end of the budget year, we do not hear about the completion of those projects. And no one accounts for the unused money. In the past eight years and beyond, billions of naira were set aside at the federal level for road construction and reconstruction across the country. More than eight years on, the existing roads look like obstacle courses deliberately set up to test drivers on how to overcome emergencies on our roads. Nothing much has happened to federal roads to suggest that the money allocated for road repairs has been utilised legitimately and appropriately.

There is something spineless about a majority of the population. When people drive on bad roads and develop headaches or other forms of injuries, they whinge, curse, swear and shout but remain in their condition. Taxpayers are entitled to ask questions about how their money is being utilised at federal and state levels. Shouldn't we be asking questions about how the money voted for road rehabilitation has been used by federal officials?

A report in The Guardian of Monday this week highlighted the terrible state of roads across the country. Federal Transport Minister John Okechukwu Emeka was reported to have expressed shock that over 80 per cent of the country's road system is still in bad condition in spite of the vast amount of money allocated for road reconstruction by the federal government -- past and present. The admission by the minister underlines public suspicion that money allocated for federal road projects has been hijacked or misused or redirected into some other projects that have nothing to do with road rehabilitation. This is certainly not a good indication of accountability or transparency in government.

President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has consistently described himself as a "servant-leader". It is a very good doctrine to adopt in a country ravaged by years of endemic corruption and abuse of office. As a "servant-leader", Yar'Adua should lead and encourage his ministers and other senior federal officials to develop a culture of accountability and transparency. He should develop a policy that compels federal ministers to conduct quarterly or monthly open forum in various parts of the country where these public officers are asked questions about their performance?

Yar'Adua has started on a good note by insisting that all federal ministries and departments must return to the treasury, by the end of each financial year, unused money allocated to their ministries. The first victims of this presidential order are now in court. The bigger question is: would the legal sanctioning of former officials of the Health Ministry be a one-off federal policy show off or would Yar'Adua use it as a platform to underline his anti-corruption credentials? Time will tell.

Robot  Villager

# 1 Yar'Adua has started on a good note by insisting that all federal ministries and departments must re...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 25.04.2008 06:32

emenanjo  Villager

# 2 You have always been a good writer and this piece is not a bad cake. I think it's time to start proffering workable solutions otherwise we will keep on whining to no end. These problems have been on since independence. Ministries have always been told to return unspent funds every December, but most of them, don't. What they do is, when the year is drawing to a close, they start awarding fictitious contracts left, right and centre just to exhaust the monies. Unfortunately for the Health ministry, instead of doing that, they decided to share our money while LUTH and other federal hospitals are looking for quality and original drugs to give to their patients or are in total darkness. Nigeria is bedevilled with a lot of terrible contradictions. Please Obijiofor, concentrate more on workable solutions to our problems. Posted by emenanjo| 25.04.2008 08:00

PAPIG  Villager

# 3 WE THE PEOPLE HAVE A MAJOR ROLE TO PLAY IN OUR PREDICAMENT Listen to Levi Obijiofor. " You criticize poor services offered by telecommunication providers and someone springs to your face with a trite reminder that before the advent of mobile telephony, things used to be much worse". Lucky Levi. Some on this forum have insisted that this was one of the great legacies from the thief of all thieves - Olu Obasanjo, and we are not referring to a poorly educated cohort as they invariably have three letters after their names. And another by Levi. "Why do we accept poor standards today on the basis that the past used to be worse than the present?" Exactly the same reason why we accept a full blown thief as a leader on the basis that he committed less crime than their predecessors. This is fully applicable to Obasanjo with respect to Abacha and Babangida. We the people have also degenerated to the point were we have forgotten that there are still capable, selfless, honest and dedicated leaders in our fatherland capable of changing our fortunes for the best and in direct competition with emerging giants like China, India, Venezuela (if the US lets them!) and Brazil. Why would anyone with sane mind vote for an Olusegun Obasanjo when there is a Gani Fawenhinmi on offer? I chose here not to mention my hero, Lateef Kayode Jakande because of his dalliance with the homicidal maniac called Abacha. Yes, i am aware of honest citizens serving in the government of corrupt military dictators and leaving with their reputation intact. I am talking about Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti and he was an exception rather than the rule. I will deliberately repeat myself. Why would anyone put forward or even think or actually vote an Umaru Yar'Adua when there is a Balarabe Musa? Ditto voting a James Onanafe Ibori when there is a Frank Kokori (mark you, i did not say Great Ogboru); a Lucky Igbinedion when there is a Festus Iyayi or a Professor Osunbor when there is a Comrade Adams Oshiomhole? I won't mention an Obafemi Awolowo in the place of a Shehu Shagari because i may not be able to continue with this post. Yes our so called leaders are dangerously and irredeemably corrupt and we should bring all of them to account (military and civilians), what about us the people? Are we less corrupt? Until we can answer in the affirmative, do we not think we would continue to favour criminals and the depraved as our leaders? I am not sweeping aside the power of election rigging. Even taking this confounding factor aside, do we not always favour the candidate who throw wads of money at us even in a free and fair election? In Nigeria, thieves are our heroes (apology Sina Kawonise of Tribune) and therefore we should not be too surprised in our ongoing saga of perennial woes. Back to Obijiofor. "Would the legal sanctioning of former officials of the Health Ministry be a one off federal policy show off or would Umaru Yar'Adua use it as a platform to underline his anticorruption credentials? Time will tell" We should not wait for time to tell, we should make him whether he likes it or not. Can we? Yes we can. We drew his attention to the BA and Nigerians debacle and was forced to at least acknowledge our joint anger. We can do much more. Real power lies with the people and i am not referring to CORRUPT PEOPLE! I am confident we can be greater than China, India and Brasil if we harness and galvanise our human resources but we cannot ignore our individual tendency to unbridled corruption and docility which in turn gives our leaders the carte blanche to rape our commonwealth and expects us to be grateful! Levi please keep it coming and thanks. Posted by PAPIG| 26.04.2008 07:16

10Kobo  Villager

# 4 In addition to all that have been said, l also think its time we focus on some of our institutionalized, sycophantic 'men-of-the-Belly', as Reuben Abatti would call them. These are men from the Judiciary that make judicial pronouncements that defy any form of logic and give a fatal dose of migraine headache to Nigerians in general! Even their own "settlement" is no longer done in secrecy, its been eleveated to an art now and its becoming a normal thing! SHAME How do you explain the treasonable behavior of Newspapers, colunmist and their indefatigable Chief editors that organize and shower awards, mostly undeserving, on Politicians that have wreaked havoc on our economy, all for some naira-filled Ghana-must-go bags? With one stroke of the pen, they serenade us with brilliant articles and with the flip side of the same pen, they are in competition to bestow ludicrous awards on confirmed treasury looters...how can we reconcile that? It seems every critical and criticizing Journalist in the Nigeria of today is only positioning himself for a political appointment (Special assistant on Media matters, Mis-Information Minister, Presidential aide, e.t.c) or for some form of settlement or the other. (Politicians even package envelopes for "the boys" after each interview that is nothing but a charade, judging by the funny, leading questions they ask them!). Since we have sold our birthright for a plate of porridge, l guess l am tempted to concur that we deserve the vermins and leeches, we get as leaders. As for UMYA, l pray that he recovers speedily to attend to all the shenanigans thats going on daily in Nigeria or resign. We are out of patience. Perform or get out...or be booted out, whichever comes first. Cheers Posted by 10Kobo| 26.04.2008 19:52