Opinion: Arise o Nigerians! We need some ‘shined thinking’

RAHEEM WASIU MAYOWA

As an individual, whose life fails to change for better even, upon accorded every necessary opportunity, his or her life needs to be evaluated. In the same vein, a country, naturally endowed with abundant human and material resources one can think of, and yet, its citizens are swimming in lagoon of misery and poverty, we need not be told by a seer that the country needs to be sincerely and more importantly, passionately examined.

Nigeria has come this far since independence in 1960. No one can quantify the amount of resources that has been spent in the name of governance both locally and nationally.

People have died serving Nigeria and substantial numbers of the citizens have retired after meritoriously serving their fatherland. Systems of government have severally changed, just as rulers have come and gone. Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba have, at one time or the other been saddled with the responsibility of steering the affairs of the nation, as both Christians and Muslims have occupied the positions of leadership.

Both the educated and “non-educated” have been made to lead. Yet and regrettably, Nigerian nation remains the same. In fact, we can rightly say the country has come, seen but yet to conquer. Why? Public services are collapsing, as human resources degenerate. Virtually everything handled by the government fails to succeed. No stable power supply, just as municipal water projects become moribund. Education systems have been bastardised, road infrastructures are turning to death traps. The housing sector is nothing to write home about. Sizeble population of the citizens hide their heads in shanties called homes while many others who are extremely unlucky sleep under bridges and in market places around the cities, all in a bid to fulfill their natural existence. Youths, with their young talent and energy are not employed and no one care to ponder on the consequences of such, which of course the country has being recently reaping. The list of woe is endless.

While all these persistently happen and seemingly endless, the country’s leaders, majority of whose journey to the positions of authority is not without moving around cap at hand begging to be voted, are busy allocating undue wealth of the nation to themselves.

They enjoy the best of everything one can think of: housing, education, health facilities among others. Their wards attend best schools abroad, so they care less, if Nigerian Universities are shut permanently. For ailments that common Nigerians live with on daily basis for lack of resources, the leaders alongside their family members have the wherewithal to attend the best hospitals abroad. They are thus not bothered if our health facilities here at home entirely collapse. They can fly to wherever they want in Nigeria, so it is none of their business if other citizens use months travelling from the North down South, due to roads dotted with ditches. They have money and influence to buy places for their wards in government ministries and parastatals upon completion of their degrees and the children also have their father’s loots to fall back on, so they don’t give a damn seeing youths roaming about for lack of jobs.

My argument! If politics according to what a school of thought defined as judicious allocation of resources to cater for the varying needs of the populace is actually anything to reckon with, and also, Nigerian leaders are truly the representatives of the citizens on whose mandate they are elected, then the question is, have Nigerian leaders and representatives been allocating the resources judiciously? Have they not been given more shares to themselves at the expenses of the masses by whose mandate they are at the top?

Considering the overall population of the country, what percentage have they been sharing as against the public without which they cannot legitimately occupy those positions? Even the little resources to which they can lay claim to have allocated to the public services and utilities, have they not devised means to corner such by way of embezzling out of it, so that what eventually gets to the contractors are not enough to execute enduring projects?

The recent revelation by a national weekly paper, of the huge amount of money earned by the national assembly members and other public office holders in the country is an eyesore. In fact, it is a white collar robbery of the nation’s hard earned resources. For what job or services at least, that Nigerians can see will a Senator earn 35million naira?

For how many years? In the first instance, the two arms of the National Assembly is a duplication of duty, doing what can be perfectly done by one single house. So, if for whatever reasons, genuine or counterfeit, we must keep the two arms, they should be made to share the emoluments meant for just one house. This will certainly lead to having the excess resources to be used for meaningful developmental projects. In Britain and other developed worlds, they operate only one house and they have stories of success to show for it.

Unarguably, Nigerian business is managed by managers who could be aptly described as indolent and non-performing, particularly judging from the sorry state of the public infrastructures in the country.

Yet, they want to milk the country dry for services which do not in any way translate to better living for the masses. Is it not shameful or doesn’t it call for reflection, collecting salaries and God knows allowances for a business outfit for which nothing on ground can be shown as its gains? They claim and of course, are proud to be managers in a country where refineries are not working, power supply erratic, motorable roads non-available and where all public infrastructures and utilities are dysfunctional. They need to be asked whether in their various personal business outfits, they continue to pay workers even though the companies are running at a loss. Nigerian business is running at a loss for God sake! If they must milk the country dry for being at the helm of affairs of an unsuccessful ventures, how much do the Dangotes, the Mike Adenugas, the Femi Otedola and the likes earn as managers of their respective successful business empires?

Nigerians must not only shine their eyes, we must shine our thinking. Shined eyes cannot see beyond where they are, whereas shined thinking will look at the past, reflect on the present situations and then be able to project on the future. When is Nigeria going to get it right? In an attempt to cover their ineptitude, they often say: America, Britain and other developed world have had to toe this path before they developed? Mustn’t we learn from their mistakes and avoid their bad past so as to move forward? After all, a Yoruba adage goes thus: “agba to jin si koto, o ko ara iyoku logbon” meaning: an old one that falls into a pit, teaches others a lesson. Must Nigeria with all the brains with which we are endowed, repeat American or British ugly pasts before we get to the promised land? Have we not had enough of that in the past fifty three years?

Frankly speaking, a Nigerian venture where Mr. President alongside his numerous ministers and special advisers, thirty six state governors with their uncountable Commissioners and 774 local government Chairmen are managers and cannot boast of stable power supply, pipe borne water, working refineries and all year round motorable roads, you will all agree with me that venture is nothing but a failure. Scores of managers in whose reign as administrators, youths are not gainfully engaged, public schools collapse, public infrastructures are dying and lives of citizens are not valued and secured, that is certainly not the choice we hope for, and neither do Nigerians deserve it.

If what thousands or more of leaders cannot achieve, one man is achieving it, I don’t think we need a soothsayer to know they are not performing and so, have no business whatsoever being there. Obviously, Nigerian business has been run aground. Nigerian leaders cannot give the citizens a working refinery, Dangote has promised to give and of which, based on his business antecedents, we know he can do, then, what venture are Nigerians leaders managing for which they should be earning such outrageous salaries. If Dangote can fix the refinery and handle power project to fruition, Mike Adenuga can single handedly make Glo network to succeed when Nigerian MTEL was a stillbirth, then, what business are they doing being in Abuja? Is this not a manifestation of a home slavery?

Rather than limit privatization to the public enterprises in the country, don’t Nigerians think it is high time we privatized the Presidency to Dangotes, States to Mike Adenugas and the Local Governments to Femi Otedolas? At least, Nigeria will sign Memorandum of Understanding with them. They will put highly qualified personnel, who they think can deliver us better services, the kind of which our crop of leaders have failed to offer the public. This, I suggest will save us the cost of maintaining the bundle of failures we call leaders, who can hardly boost of a single functional public infrastructure. Food for thought!

The comparative analysis of the emoluments of public office holders in the world shows that Nigerians earn most, even far above their American and British counterparts. What an irony! Reaping high where little or nothing is sown. What have they on ground to justify these jumbo emoluments of theirs? If this has been the cases in the United State of America, U.K and Saudi Arabia, it would have been non-issue. At least, the led can actually feel the services of the leaders in their lives. In those climes, governance has number of positive impacts on the life of the citizens in terms of employment, housing, road infrastructures, health facilities, education and others. In fact, one needs not be told that poor people there are always happy because they suffer not the poverty of means. And, that is the more reason that our people including the leaders are running there. Despite these numerous scorecards of theirs, the leadership never enslave the citizens by allocating resources to themselves beyond what is reasonable to sustain them.

Here at home, the reverse is the case. Why for God sake will Senators and Governors not misbehave, when they have to themselves wealth for which they hardly sweat? Why will many of them not attempt to build mansions on rivers and mountains in places where none of their forefathers have ever dreamt of going to? Why will they not be making case for child marriage when they are so stupendously rich that they don’t know where to invest their ill-gotten money? Whereas they should compel themselves to start marrying prostitutes with the aim of reforming them to be better citizens, after all, it is their greed and insensitivity to the predicaments of the masses that force those into prostitution in the first instance.

If one may ask at this juncture, who actually fix the emoluments and allowances of Nigerian political office holders? And who approves such outrageous amount of money for rogues for doing nothing whereas ridiculous peanuts are approved for the true workers (civil servants) majority of who hardly have a befitting house to themselves till retirement? Well, the havoc has been done, but the truth remains that Nigerians have for long been shortchanged and this is the right time for us to take our destiny in our hands. If we fail to act now, then a time will certainly come when some of the so called Senators, Honourables and Governors would demand to buy Nigerian children for Suya meat.

We only have a choice, our destiny is in our hands; we can therefore either make or mar it. No nation prospers on injustice, but none will make it just except the citizens themselves.

Another general election is around the corner, we have by now, known those who have the interest of the masses at heart by what they have delivered, it is not about parties neither is it by promises or names they call themselves. We have had enough of that, only to be accompanied by nothing but disappointments. Let there be no single person or group of people who will sacrifice their destiny and that of coming generations for Congo of rice and salt. Let issues be our yardsticks for voting rather than tissues. Let us all vote for prosperity as against frivolity.

Whatever names they call themselves, let’s Nigerians not be deceived by their antics. Nigeria must change for better and the time is now.

It is only in Nigeria that Senators and other Representatives will come to their constituencies distributing Stoves, Lantern, Bathroom Slippers and Tooth Brush, in the name of what they variously brand as poverty alleviation programmes and dividends of democracy. This is nothing but Poverty elevation! They know once people are free from poverty, enlightened and educated, the positions they occupy become more competitive and challenged. Hence, they will want the citizens to remain in perpetual wretchedness. Reflection! A word is enough for the wise, mind you, only if the wise is wise enough to read an in depth meaning to it.

RAHEEM WASIU MAYOWA writes from DEPARTMENT OF URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING, LADOKE AKINTOLA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, OGBOMOSO, OSUN State, Western Nigeria