4th April, 2013
By Sulaimon Mojeed-Sanni
Across every strata of our national life, there seems to be boiling silences of grudge, vendetta and desire to spill blood. There is this new psyche of over-consciousness that has been launched on our being. We used to be one group of people with a carefree attitude, accommodating and loving. But in the last three years, an average Nigerian has developed this scanner-like attitude, everybody is perceived as a potential bomber, kidnapper, ritualist or rapist.
We have lost our freedom to ourselves and our lives are now in complete state of danger! Sincerely speaking, in the minds of many, insecurity is now a norm. Protect yourself or blame yourself. The citizens are fast getting immune to shocks of deadly bomb attacks and ricocheting sounds of “unidentified” gunmen’s bullets. What, however, jolted me to disbelief, is the ease with which Nigerian leaders and its state apparatuses decide to move on, without any modicum of sympathy for lives lost other than the rhetoric of being in charge.
We are a nation at risk, on the brink of collapse and God forbid, we repeat the unfortunate event in 1967-70; the three years of avoidable carnage that has refused to heal even though Nigerians in their characteristic manner try to gloss over the topic of civil war to assume there is true amity in the land. And the moment a few like the late literary icon, Prof. Chinua Achebe, had exponentially tried to give a victim-witness account, they have been castigated for keeping age-long grudge, thereby not allowing sleeping dogs to lie. But if the truth needs be told, all isn’t well with this nation. We aren’t at ease, the centre isn’t holding, the leaders aren’t our people and soon enough if remedies aren’t provided, the nation might fall apart.
War is one thing every nation tries to avoid, either civil, religious, ethnic, cold or world war; the consequence is usually a collateral damage that can’t be measured in naira terms. The photographic representation of the nation as it is presently situated is not short of a nation at war. With shattered remains of bodies every now and then, gunmen/herdsmen chopping down humans, with daily living shrouded in fear and uncertainty. The numeric ratio of widows and orphans have been on geometric increase, our educational sector remain comatose, rising insecurity and unemployment have become a national adhesive.
War is the continuation of politics and indeed ego and fanaticism by other means. It is over the years caused by the irrational thinking, lack of diplomatic manoeuvring and selfishness of the parties involved. In order to prosecute a war, a nation halts its progress and often slips into collateral depreciation. One thing is certain, we must as a nation first admit we are in a hydra-headed war. We are in war of terror as represented by Boko Haram, militancy and kidnapping all hiding under the cloak of fighting for beliefs and resource control. We are at war with leadership ineptitude, unemployment, mediocrity, sycophants, nepotism, favouritism, insecurity, corruption and above all the ghosts in government!
In an interview with Guardian Newspaper,UK marking late Prof. Chinua Achebe’s 80th Birthday, he was quoted as saying, “Nigeria is on the brink of a precipice” and that “we urgently have to face up to our responsibilities before it is too late”. What we presently run in Nigeria is disproportionate Duumvirate; a government of two high ranking officers (Boko Haram and Federal Government) acting together and neither getting better edge. Between 2009 to date over 3,000 souls both military and civilians have been lost in the purported unholy “holy” crusade. Our security apparatuses have been paralysed as the government moves from the known to the unknown; from Boko Haram in government to ghosts hacking us down. It is abysmally irritating and smacks of security collapse for President Goodluck Jonathan, the Chief Security Officer of the nation to openly admit he is up again ghosts(Boko Haram), when he is not Merlin (a seasonal film where witches and wizards operate against the rule of constituted authority)!
Despite soaring security budget, insecurity still pervades the country. Budgetary allocation for security for 2013 is N1.055 trillion!
If insecurity paralysed the country, corruption has buried it. “Corruption in Nigeria has passed the alarming and entered the fatal stage, and Nigeria will die if we continue to pretend that she is only slightly indisposed.” Professor Abubakar Momoh of the Department of Political Science, Lagos State University, LASU, at a lecture in January opined that “the only Federal character that is obvious in Nigeria of today is corruption. That is the only chapter of our national life where everybody has a common communion”. Between 1999 and now, over $400bn has been pilfered from the national treasury. Civil society analysts have estimated that figure to be greater than the GDP of Belgium and Sweden. Our kleptomaniac representatives have stolen more than the entire economy of a European state! The Nigerian press, while doing their job, splash news about stolen billions of naira on the pages of newspapers which are in turn thrust on our faces everyday at the newsstands. And we the citizens in our docile, forgiving and forgetful selves just allow everything to pass! Only a slight increase in the price of staple foods such as bread and sugar had once triggered revolutions in France, Egypt and the Caribbean. Why can’t we just get angry enough?
As much as our government has been pilloried for inefficiency, the unemployment quake could have sent a shiver of impending destruction down the spine of any sensible government but not ours! Former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo at a recent gathering in Lagos put our impending risk more succinctly: “Nigeria has watered down her moral standards to the point where many of the youth are confused, discouraged, in deep trouble and streets are full of violence as a result of youth unemployment:” The report stating that about 20.3 million Nigerians are currently jobless and not employed in any form of job, by the Statistician-General of the Federation, Dr. Hemi Kale, is rather mild when compared with the fact over 72% of graduates are unemployed. If secondary school drop-outs, those in the informal sector and those grossly underemployed are added to the statistics, we sure have a risk of war at hand!
Every aspect of national life is encircled by the dominant spirit of violence, corruption and indecency. The government rubs it in with its Santa Clause attitude of pardon to disgraceful elements who have chosen to smear the country’s name with tar. No good intention youth would witness such arrogance of presidential pardon and remain committed to that cause of fighting for a better Nigeria and indeed good governance. A government that derives pleasure in “beggar and settlement approach” to security and corruption only postpones the doomsday. Because amnesty was used to tame Niger Delta militancy, insurgent agents in the north are seeking their fair share. In the end, it will end up being a rat race, nobody wins and what we spent so much to curb becomes a time bomb. The peace such indecisive manipulation births is that of the graveyard, it would erupt soon enough.
Our present predicament is a by-product of misplaced priorities. The government must create an enduring platform for dialogue. The dialogue I envisage is not the type that would involve handing out loafs of bread to citizens, but that which establishes bakeries, create credit facilities to run them, put infrastructure in place to enhance distribution and social amenities in view of complications and working hazards. After the unbundling and subsequent privatization of Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, effort should be made to actually make power available. A success story around power is enough to hand President Jonathan a second term ticket(in case he decides to run). Rather than share the proceeds from the Subsidy Re-Investment Programme(Sure-P) amongst party loyalists, the fund should be painstakingly invested in infrastructure and be seen to have been invested to achieve palliative measures designed to cushion the effect of the removal of oil subsidy.
To get anything meaningful out of our present predicament, the President needs to seriously fight corruption and not adore it. He should also not bring the nation into ridicule by granting state pardon to established criminals. And ending on the words of Cardinal Onaiyekan, “Anger is mounting in the land, especially among the youth whose patience is running out”. If care is not taken, Nigeria might be at risk.
•Mojeed-Sanni wrote from Lagos. Email: [email protected] Twitter handle: @Sanity0407