Still on Nigeria...

By

Ameena Indimi

ameenaindimi@yahoo.com

 

George Bernard Shaw once Said “Some men see things as they are and ask why: I dream things that never were and say, why not” and in essence that goes to the root and heart of the often confused, sometimes comical and always downright diabolical and paradoxical Nigerian quagmire, ‘why does a country so rich in resources human and otherwise continue to degenerate at such an unprecedented and accelerated rate’.

Since the inception of this government. There has been much dialogue, much torrents of abuse directed at a few and all and still we are worse off now than we were yesterday, last year and too many yesteryears to count, but saddest of all, we are still non the wiser. Mistakes of the past still remain as such, mere mistakes firmly rooted in history rather than lessons to learn from, opportunities have become windows for the opportunistic and opportune to saunter in and make their illicit fortunes.

All that have opinions have opined, all that have fears about our country have brought those fears to the forefront only for them to be debunked and stripped of all their self respect and dignity, to be ridiculed and abused by the powers that are in a very public, and humiliating national lynching the likes our country has never seen before .We have talked, screamed till we are hoarse in the mouth and still no one seems to be listening. Rather than finding a way of constructing a more communicative and consultative dialogue, rather than establishing a system where the governed speak and air their grievances, while the governors listen and take steps to rectifying and pacifying the aggrieved parties, instead we have created a very fastidious, a very abusive mode of talking at one another, a bidding war of some sort, with the winner out talking and out screaming all of them and us. We have perfected finger pointing to an art, “who dunnit and who is to blame for it” has somehow become the tenet of our national existence. Responsible governance is now a gaffe, and impunity the fashionable gown of choice. If you want to see our elected officials at there best, simply attempt to strip them of the immunity they so enjoy, and they will rise to the challenge and strip you bare of all your decorum and self respect like a bunch of wild hyenas incapacitating their prey.

WE have been emotionally raped and plundered by those we elected to be our voices and been left out in the cold as if our plight was not the main reason they were put there in the first place. They are so busy politicking and conniving with each other, manipulating the populace, offering senseless sound bites at inopportune moments to ensure that the new dawn of governance carries them along with it, while conveniently forgetting that had they performed their duties in the first place, delivered their people from these atrocious times, they will be carried into more prosperous and promising times on the shoulders of the very people they represent and hailed as Nigeria‘s brightest and saviors, basking in the respect and adulation of their people, how strange these breed of politicians are.

So many steps have been taken, too many workshop and talk fests have been launched with no change and still this administration still trumpets its many achievements. There is no shame in failing, the greatest crime is in not trying. So long as this administration continues to extol its phantom success in tackling the national shame, Nigeria will continue to flourish, pardon me, rot in this cesspool we call home. Before any dialogue can commence, we need to come together as a whole and accept our shortcomings. The populace to some degree have taken comfort and solace in debunking all responsibility and neatly handing it to the leaders, but history will not look at us as charitably as we seem to. History will remember us as the most lethargic, the most uninvolved citizens ever. If our leaders are unaccountable, it is because we don’t hold them accountable, if they are corrupt, it is because we ourselves are civilly bankrupt and corrupt, and if we think them rowdy, irresponsible and not capable of leading hungry dogs to their mangers, it is simply because we celebrate and solicit such mediocrity in governance.

Again, so much talk and preparations were made for a National conference, so much fanfare and condemnation from every corner and all for what, so that a bunch of our learned, our leaders can commemorate yet another overpriced session of who dunnit, and who is to blame for it while no one takes the full responsibility of man handling our nation. From my vantage view, there is no reason for national dialogue. Our main problem is that in Nigeria, should we be honest with ourselves, we don’t like each other. It is not a North vs. South thing, it is as simple as it is tragic, no ethnic clan likes or respects the other. The Igbo’s feel they have been marginalized for too long, the Yoruba’s don’t think they have had the power for long enough as they have not exacted their revenge on the neglect they suffered for so long in the hands of the incompetent Northerners, the Hausa Fulani, think the southerners are governing on borrowed time and it is now high time power was returned to its rightful owners, the Northerners and so many other petty grievances. Every indigenous ethnic group feels like they are the lone rangers on the noble quest to topple power from one another, that is why our media is replete with power struggles from within and out side our borders, be it the illustrious sons of the land or the elite Nigerians in ‘Diaspora’. Too much talk and not enough planning has always been the bane of our collective existence, now is the time to back all that talk with adequate and realistic planning.

Again we find ourselves at the foot of yet another noble crusade, but this time pioneered and let by our illustrious president. He is leading us on the noble quest of purging his government of the corrupt plenty thereby delivering us to the promised land, the land of hav plenty, the land of opportunity, and oh yes, the land of the free but only this time he is not getting any breaks. Instead of having the whole population singing his praise for rising so admirably to the challenge, all he has been met are cynicism, criticism, condemnation, and bastardization of his efforts.

Come on Nigeria, after all he did give us the national conference we had been praying for, albeit a little different from what we had wanted, with most participating in the conference being hand picked stooges from his government, and lets not forget the wanton disregard and under representation for the women folks that make up more than half the population of this country, but hey, I am not complaining, after all we did get the national conference.

Its been five years into the new Millennium, and so far nothing to show for it. Power is still a scarce resource, the price of petroleum products still climbing, and jobs scarce. To say that this is the product of misplaced priorities and absence of real leadership would seem to me the biggest understatement of the decade. Most our leaders are out of touch with the realities of the every day Nigerian. When you visit their homes, they generate their own power, produce there own water, have their own private militia guarding them and their properties, have a horde of teachers tutoring their children, getting them ready for the abroad education that is certain to follow, Can open their own taxi cab service should they wish to (should you count the number of cars in their garage) in essence they are their own brand of government, so what do they care if the real government falls to shamble. Their battles are not to put food on the table, but to keep diesel in their generators, spending money for their children, and keeping up appearances so that the joneses living next door can admire and envy them.

Every body is complaining about corruption being the bane of Nigeria, but if the truth be told, so long as government officials are underpaid, so long as government excesses are not checked and for as long as Nigeria remains with out a vision, then corruption will ensue as it is the natural by-product of disorder.

When you look at the progress our other African Brethren are making, you wonder why not us as well? After all we are just as smart, just as hard working as the next but …….

When you go to Lagos, you see all these young men and women scavenging the street, in the immense heat trying to sell there wares, moving from one potential customer to the next, sometimes mustering enough courage even to smile at you, wish you a good day even if you don’t buy from them, knowing the kind of misery and hopelessness that will be awaiting them at the end of their days. Always makes me wonder the mountains these young people would be climbing given a proper education, a chance……..

You Visit Maiduguri, with our barren lands, the dessert encroaching on our once fertile lands without a care in the world, knowing that non of us would lift a hand to stop it. With our once rich, promising lake Chad Basin slowly quietly receding into the recesses of a once hopeful future with non to mourn it, oh the wasted opportunities………

Go to Kano, the once bustling metropolis of the north, full of factories whirring into the wee hours of the night, the once busy commercial artery of the north, now eerily quite from factories shutting down, once an industrial paragon, now a shabby Shadow of its former glorious self.

You look at Ministers like El-Rufai, knowing they have the prowess to accomplish great things, and wondering just how much they can do if they were put in ministries like Agriculture, or industry, Just imagine him applying his legendary zeal to changing the face of Agriculture as we know it. Or how he can create many more opportunities for the every day Nigerian only if……..

I dream a Nigeria where, there is an equality for all, rich or poor, where we all have access to quality education and healthcare. I see a country where there is a Nigerian dream that is attainable and not just a figment of ones musings, not a dream that is just a mirage of what could be. I see a country rising to heights of such stupendous success that we become the beacon of hope for the forgotten continent but I guess I am digressing, ………..the musings of a hopeful mind.