The Sick Man of Africa

By

Obeya Francis K.

USA

fkizito1@yahoo.com

 

As I settle down to write this piece, naija has become forty-five years and thirty-one minutes old. I have been wracking my brains these past few days thinking of the most appropriate things to say concerning the nation that is already five years later than biblical Israel in the bid to find the Promised Land. I have thought of words of hope but even hope seems to have an expiry date these days on this gunpowder keg we are sitting  called Nigeria, I thought of words of exhortation like the Apostle Paul writing to the Roman Christians but my people have been suffering and smiling for so long that they probably can give me a full lecture on endurance and patience. Any way one looks at it, the appropriate pseudonym to describe Nigeria is “the sick man of Africa.”

 

Turkey in the period 1850-1922 was aptly named the sick man of Europe. This was because that country once the pride of the Ottoman Empire lagged far behind her European sisters in terms of the economic, political, industrial and social development. When the rest of Europe was making giant strides towards improvement in the above-listed sectors, Turkey was lagging far behind due to myriad of reasons which discussions will only tend to detract from the purpose of this article. What is of interest is to examine why the country that 45 years ago, had a lot of promise and was once touted as the “giant of Africa” remains stunted in growth and undeniably inherits the title of “the sick man of Africa.”

 

Each time I ponder the Nigerian situation, I try to peer into the minds of those who brought Nigeria into being. Those who agitated for our independence. Who were they? What sort of people were these? What motivated them to want independence? What sort of plans did they have for Nigeria? How far were they willing to go to secure an independent Nigeria? Would they have taken to the jungle like Kenyatta’s mau mau if the British had proved a tough nut to crack? Or would they have gone on hunger strike like India’s Gandhi in protest to British cruelty and oppression? Would we value Nigeria more if the story of her independence was written in blood? Would we have been more intolerant of corruption, tribal wars, religious riots, armed robbery, coups or any general societal ill if we had gained our independence through the smoking barrel of a gun? If Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Ahmadu Bello were alive today to see what their brainchild has grown to be I wonder what they’d think. Would Zik endorse MASSOB? Awo OPC? And Sardauna, APC respectively? What would be their opinions of leaders who rob their people dry and stash the loot in foreign lands? I am sure that they will pursue their original vision for this country and ensure that naija is a model African country, a land where all blacks will look upon as their mecca, where all myths about black power, thought, civilization, technology, science, arts and culture will be dispelled and the truth of what it means to be a black man will be revealed. Alas! How we have sacrificed that vision for thirty pieces of si lver on the altar of selfish greed.

 

This is indeed a very sick country. A country of over a hundred million people with a major percentage living below the poverty line. A land where the distribution of wealth is in the hands of a selected few and where there is no hope in the horizon. This is a place where the people have been lied to so many times by those who have wangled their ways into position of authority that they can no longer distinguish between a truth and a lie. Unemployment has so taken its toll on this country’s workforce that the unemployed  resort to armed robbery, fraud, internet scams and reckless adventurism just to escape the attendant poverty that often accompanies joblessness. This “pride of Africa” is so steeped in corruption that it is regarded in international circles as the most corrupt country in the world second only to Pakistan. It has evolved from a selfless land of peace and agriculture to a selfish society of “chwa chwa,” “ egunje,” and “ilalobo” Bribery has become so ingrained in the national psyche that to be accepted in certain quarters one must boast about his penchant for engaging in “runs.” In Nigeria, like Sodom of old, the righteous are hidden under a bushel since it is an embarrassment to be “good” and the good cop is one who is ardent in extorting his daily “roja” on the highway, an intelligent lecturer is one who sleeps with most female students (or has the highest amount of free recharge phone cards courtesy of marks-seeking students,) a good civil servant is one who knows how to locate a “missing” file after his hands have been greased with the right amount. In the upper echelon, leaders of the society and top civil servants are busy milking the country dry, saving public funds in private accounts for their moronic offspring to inherit and lord over children of the underprivileged in a bid to continue this vicious cycle that serves no good. A chron icle of the ills that afflict this land of plenty shall someday be told in the hearing of the people. The list is endless.

 

At a time such as this, this “sick man’s” children can be found in cybercafés across the country invading chatrooms in droves looking for ways to escape the sinking ship. Methods employed range from open solicitation of funds to marriage proposals to desperate men and women in a bid to secure green cards and escape the evil empire. This brain drain paints a gloomy picture of helplessness and hopelessness in a land that once had surplus.

 

At the birth of Christ, he received gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. On naija’s birthday today, all I offer are panadol, bandage and a condom; panadol to cure him of his headache, bandage to wrap up the wounds of the assaults he has endured and condom to offer to those who rape him so hoping they will have the conscience to use it. I long for the day the “sick man” recovers and begins to walk again. Happy Birthday Nigeria. Happy birthday sick man of Africa.

 



"Dreams must surely come true else God will not inspire us to have them." --- Rabindranath Tagore.