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Promoting Development Of Underdevelopment By Rimaye, Musa Ado
The nation’s leaders appear to be suffering from collective amnesia, allowing the follower ship to wallow in precipice, in a democracy of confusion. The polity is in disarray, social fabric degenerating and there is the inability of the leaders to provide mechanism to overhaul the deprivation and pauperization of the poor masses of the country.
Today, the survival of the ordinary man has a big question mark in front of it. Healthcare has deteriorated, resulting in high maternal mortality and infant mortality rates; agriculture has been jettisoned, leaving the ordinary farmer without fertilizer, tractors/equipment, improved seeds/seedlings and/or subsidy of any kind. The least said about the energy sector the better because every living felon in the country knows what is happening in the sector where government continue to pump public money without any results and nobody has any explanation as to what happened to the money.
Corruption menace has ravaged the principle of accountability and probity which rendered the spirit of nationhood weak. The arrogant display of mostly ill-gotten wealth has continued to attract indignation and hatred from the poor. People in responsible positions demonstrate such lack of self-control and inability to successfully relate with their colleagues and those who have to work with them almost on a daily basis. Most occupants of position of authority act as if they are the only repositories of knowledge and that humility and integrity are not to be found in their dictionaries.
One major trend in the development of the Nigerian power elite is their obsessive concern with acquiring wealth and power which it can bring. The essentially business attitude which most of the elite have developed to the affairs of the nation means that most of them devote their thinking and scheming on how well they can do for themselves from the material resources available to the populace.
And living in style, that is, conspicuous consumption is clearly one of the main distinguishing features of the top Nigerian elite. Palatial residential houses, flashy and imposing cars, gorgeous apparel, lavish funeral, wedding and child naming ceremonies and parties are among the luxuries which the typical Nigerian “big man’’ considers absolutely necessary for the maintenance of a public image benefiting his importance.
Political corruption in Nigeria has always been perpetuated by the Nigerian power elite. Political corruption has been manifested in electoral malpractices, excessive patronage, enemy incapacitation, abuse of executive powers, constitutional indiscipline, legislative influence, influencing the judiciary and appeals to primordial sentiments.
The existing political climate is highly disorienting, unfriendly and depressing. It nurtures the wrong values, habits and priorities. Ignorance, stereotyping, greed and blind competition for power have displaced knowledge, rationality, moderation and tolerance as the key currencies in almost all transactions.
True economic development involves not merely raising per capita incomes but also diversification of the economic structure. It means improvements in material welfare especially for persons with the lowest income; the eradication of mass poverty with its correlates of illiteracy and disease and early death. The organization of the economy in such a way that productive employment is general among the working age population; rather than the situation of a privilege minority.
Due to the backwardness in agriculture, there appears to be an insignificant improvement in nutrition. The lack of priority in agriculture lies at the root of continued rural poverty and we all know that majority of Nigerians lives in the rural areas. It helps to explain not only why farmers and their households are under nourished but also why they cannot afford to spend much on building materials, kerosene and health needs. And they are Nigerians too!
Violent crime has now spread to the rural areas of Nigeria, so much so that even farms and homes are no longer safe from village urchins, turned new breed local superheroes, "traditional Godfathers", and "Area Men". Villagers are robbed frequently while taking their goods to urban markets. Impassable roads that stretch endlessly across the nation make local commercial transactions difficult, and extremely risky. The resulting hardship is taking its toll on life in rural Nigeria, further exacerbating the massive exodus of rural folks into cities and towns, only for them to become "boy boys", "house girls", "touts", "okada" riders, "pure water" hawkers, and/or trainee bandits.
Without measurable progress on such basic issues as comprehensive strategic national development planning, fiscal discipline, and prosecutions for (mega, mini, macro- and/or micro-) corruption, no external support, no matter how well-intentioned, will have any meaningful impact on Nigeria’s deeply entrenched problems of aggravated poverty, and arrested development, occasioned by the moribund worldview of Nigeria’s power grabbing maniacs.
The main purpose of individual life is the same as that of the life of the whole community namely, happiness, peace, prosperity and progress, and the strict observance of national interests and laws. A society which shall fight all symptoms of anomie, such as corruption, crime, hooliganism and all other deviant behaviours that may lead to inner lack of happiness in the life of individuals and the nation is what we are looking for.
A Nigeria in which all citizens are brothers and friends, and are bound by bonds of affection, nationalism, and patriotism; such that no one group – tribal or religious – shall antagonize any other again; but each shall endeavour to understand, appreciate and support the other in a collective effort to enhance and protect the collective heritage of the country is what we desperately need.
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