The Final Resting Place

I had, in my past articles in the village, tried to avoid vilification of any individual because of the strong belief that we were all responsible to whatever had befallen our great country, Nigeria . Activism and passivity are both responses in a society. Whatever category each one of us fell under was an action each one of us chose. Without any doubt, therefore, our problems, I believe, will only be addressed by arguments - strong moral arguments. The first article I posted in the village, www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/the-mindset-the-blame-game/, was supposed to kick-start an argument that could veer most of us away from the mindset of blaming a few for the collective responsibility. I did not succeed that time. I agree that it is very important to let people know the extent of the stealing by those entrusted to the wealth of the country. I also agree that it is also imperative to drive home the degree of their moral bankruptcy. I, like the rest of the country, feel the pain also. To, however, think that the IBBs of our society were or are the only problems that I do not think.

Without importing instances to demonstrate the potency of activism, I will like to restate a native experience that happened within this generation of Nigerians. Following the debacle that resulted after the annulment of the 12 June 1993 election, which was one cancellation too many, the then Head of State, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB), was asked to go - by the people. The arguments put forward by most activists at that time, did not only put “IBB must go” on every Nigerian lip, it implanted it in our hearts. IBB, therefore, had no choice but to leave Aso Rock, even if he said he was stepping aside. Most importantly, IBB, with all the guns backing him, left the Rock in Abuja without a shot being fired. That was the power of activism and what constructive argument achieved, even as the people faced the barrel ends of the panoply of military hardware.

It is inherent in all of us and therefore, we can always exercise it. In all the articles I had posted thus far, I deliberately avoided writing in details the Great National Treasury Robbery that took place during IBB and Abacha time. I had, instead, concentrated on the illegal exportation of the booty. This is not because I condone the objectionable and dastardly act of embezzlement (stealing), I do not. It is because; put on a scale, the parking of the loot outside the borders of Nigeria has done more harm to the land and its people than the stealing itself. Objectively, looting of the treasury alone does not hurt the land itself, but its people and that is only because of the unjust distribution of national wealth. The flights of the country’s capital, however, is a bastardly act against the fatherland. The reason why people struggle for Independence is to preserve the sanctity of their fatherland and not to allow undue exportation of the wealth of their land. They could still steal under foreign occupation if they wished. The fatherland is also their final resting place.

My last article, www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/coming-in-from-the-cold/, highlighted how the flights of Nigeria ’s capital were perpetrated with their damaging effects. The initial figure of $226 billion, being the amount of money stolen by Nigerian government operatives alone since 1966, must have been understated. That was the correct World Bank figure early this year. Figures that are now coming out of the bank put it at an unbelievable sum of $300 billion. It came from the bank’s president, Paul Wolfowitz and he should know better. Somehow, it appears many Nigerians do not want to talk about it. Is it because we are all involved?

The Director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies at the Oxford University , Professor Paul Collier, at the behest of the Nigerian business community, delivered a lecture at a conference in Lagos in 2002. He stated that Nigerians, privately, have over $70 billion in assets abroad mostly in the UK . The award wining economist identified Nigeria ’s wealth parked outside Nigeria as the stumbling block to the country’s development. Almost all the participants at that forum had money outside, and therefore, discountenanced what the professor stood for. However, the professor, apart from the economic sense he elucidated on the issue, he is a product of a culture that sees the plundering of one’s fatherland as a taboo.

In our culture also, as indeed in other cultures around the world, the notion of the final resting place is revered. It is believed that we are a part of a particular land - connected through its food, water, minerals that made up our genes and many other things that are native, or through the genes donated by our forebears who came from that land. This has led to the concept that unless one’s remains are returned to that land after one has passed on, there would be no final rest. In religion, it is stated that we are made of dust and to the dust we shall return. So, kings and princes, who have died in exile, are regarded not to have finally rested until their remains are returned to the lands of their forebears for the final burial rite. These are beliefs and nobody knows what actually transpires between the land and the man after interment and the dust covered, and sympathisers had left the burial site. It is then between the land and the man and nobody else – not even the praise singers or the sycophants can intercede.

Supposing the concept is true and I have robbed my fatherland, I should, in order not to face the wrath of the land, state in my will to be buried where my money is. The new land that I have illegally enriched should be able to accord me a final rest and, even welcome it. Better still, if I have the kind of stupendous wealth that some of our leaders command, arguably illegally, I could opt for cremation of my body and my ashes taken into space where I will remain for ever an asteroid. That way, I will not give a damn about the fury of any land. Many, however, will not consider that as a final rest since as a planetoid I would be constantly moving. Otherwise, how will I be able to reconcile with my fatherland after being dumped in it - the land that I have cheated and plundered. Please, if you have an answer to this, let us know.

The debate is a way forward. It is not meant to prick the conscience of the few common thieves in our midst, who won’t - but for the many, who had not seen anything utterly wrong in what the common criminals did. It is not about patriotism as we define it, but about the land that has been short changed by most of us - the land whose anger is silent but furious. The land we all, one day, would want to have a final rest in. Somebody asked, in one of the beautiful articles I read in the Village, how these people manage to sleep. I suppose it is with the aid of some hard drugs. While alive, they can afford to fight insomnia with these drugs. When alone with mother earth they might need to be buried with tons of cocaine or heroin to stave off the fury of their fatherland. They can at least afford that.

Samuel Akinyele Caulcrick,

UK

Robot  Villager

# 1 ...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 28.10.2006 15:33