05 Apr 2009 |
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Akunyili: dishonourable, divisive “Nigerians in the Diaspora are the worst when it comes to bad mouthing Nigeria,” Mrs. Dora Akunyil said in an interview published in The Sun last Sunday. “When you hear Nigerians overseas talk about Nigeria, you will weep for this country.” When the Minister first indicated she would not be content with being Minister of Information, but would rather rebrand our country, I thought she was just being dishonourable. It seems we must take her a little more seriously because her methods are more vicious than her mission. The truth is that if the Akunyili that insists she will rebrand Nigeria in a vacuum is the real Akunyili, this Akunyili is more bogus than the drugs she tried to rid the country of in her previous reincarnation. As the Minister will find, it is a philosophical, logical and tactical error to try to separate Nigerians abroad from their kin in the homeland. I believe that the only division that is realistic and honest is that between those who suffer from Nigeria’s poor image, and those that are responsible for it. If Mrs. Akunyili cannot understand or accept this distinction, she is just another political jobber and sycophant: another overzealous Information Minister that, like a bug, is dancing too close to the flame. There have been many Ministers like that since 1960: men who schemed and lied against their country in favour of their government. Why is Mrs. Akunyili’s money-spinning scheme doomed for a resounding failure? Let me restate some of the ways:
I could write for days about how Mrs. Akunyili is heading for infamy. But I am sure that deep down, she knows it already. What we need is not to make Nigeria look great, but to make her great. But Mrs. Akunyili’s worst offence is the effort to divide Nigerians. I do not see how she can blame Nigerians in the Diaspora for speaking out against the nation’s ills. Our journalists speak persistently against these ills. Nigerians in the East and the North and the West are hurting, and speaking. Tall Nigerians are calling this government names, as are short Nigerians. Men are criticizing, as are women. Professors are speaking, as are plumbers. Why are Nigerians in the Diaspora being isolated? Why is the truth suddenly becoming optional to Mrs. Akunyili? Nigerians outside the center-circle of power and influence in Nigeria are tired of being divided by governments and their officials because that is easier to achieve than to fulfill the substantial and constitutional responsibilities of office. Most Nigerians abroad are often people who were forced out because they lacked the stomach for the kind of malfeasance that the current government wears like a badge. Most Nigerians left Nigeria because they were denied fair or professional opportunity by the kinds of manipulative, double-talking and irresponsible governments that Mrs. Akunyili has served. No matter what they achieve abroad, however, they are seen as “Nigerians,” to be held in suspicion. Are they also to be denied the opportunity to speak out? When government officials steal, or ignore the most reprehensible cases of official misconduct and corruption, it is Nigerians abroad who suffer the greater embarrassment and rejection. Is it wrong of them to point this out? Who gave Mrs. Akunyili the authority to define patriotism? In recognition of the failure of governance, she did tell her interviewers: “If you are a leader, you lead well; if you are an ordinary citizen, be a good follower…government is doing its own bit for the people (and) at the same time fighting corruption.” Where is her government leading “well”? If she knows, it is her job to inform the world about it. And “doing its bit” is neither a job description nor an achievement for a government. Does that mean we have water to drink, or peace in which to drink it? The Minister claims the government is “fighting corruption.” Where, and how is this taking place? Outside the government, I know nobody: in the North or the South, at home and abroad, who agrees with the Minister. On the contrary, the corrupt and fraudulent are thriving openly, while the rest of us suffer the consequences of national, continental and international disrespect. The Rebrand Nigeria scheme is an acknowledgement that something is seriously wrong with us. But it is diagnosis that is followed by the wrong prescription, and that puts the patient in mortal danger. If Mrs. Akunyil ever read Greek mythology, she will remember the sixth labour of Heracles: to clean the Augean stables. Augeas, the King of Elis, not only owned legions of cattle, the stables had never been cleaned, and cleaning the mountains of manure appeared to be an impossible task. But that was precisely why he gave the task to Heracles. In Dr. Akunyili’s schema, Heracles should have found a can of paint and painted over the cow dung. He should have found a can of air freshener and simply sprayed the air. But Heracles used his remarkable strength to break down he wall at the rear of the stables. He the dug a canal into the stables, and diverted the nearby Alpheus and the Peneus rivers into it. When they merged, they became a powerful force that tore through the stables, completely cleaning what had been thought to be a permanent condition. The water and the manure also went on to fertilize barren fields below, making them once again available for farming, nourishment and renewal. This is the challenge before Nigeria. Unless we clean our Augean stables, there is no way of getting rid of the stench let alone of fertilizing the soil for growth. We cannot wish this away. We cannot paint this over.
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