possibly go wrong.
Indeed, unease lays the head that wears the
crown. Having headed a
commission in my department, I sure can
imagine all the pressure amidst
eyes of expectation and castigation; lips of
encouragement and backbiting,
views of admirers and critiques alike, all these
and more, not forgetting
the ever present- low budget.
Indeed, running the affairs of the
community, the state and the nation at
large, is not an easy ordeal. Even the visionary
leaders of our history
books have not been known to please the world.
No wonder some even lose
their life fighting for national reformation.
However, they did well to
leave their footprints in the sand of time.
There has been problem in various compounding
degrees across the world.
This is because no two persons have the same
ideology in the same
proportion (I stand corrected). There exist a
certain level of variance and
that, is the root of international
disagreements world over.
From land dispute in far Jordan, illegal
migration in Italy, poor wages in
Brazil, unemployment in south Africa, power
tussle in Egypt and Somalia, to
terrorism in the Middle East; giving rise to
groups like Al-shabab,
Al-Queda, ISIS and Boko haram; and at our
home front- poor educational
standard especially in the North, lack of social
amenities, unemployment,
political vendetta, poor wages, un-
industrialization, oil bunkry, sea
piracy and insurgency…all these and more all
boils down to disagreement
stemmed from unequal ideology.
Even the ideology of ONE NIGERIA still remains
in contention; with the
North, ab initio, refusing to be part of it (in
the first republic)
insisting on having 80% of everything in
NIGERIA if they are to partake in
it. One would think it was their allround wisdom that got
them at the helm of
affairs in Nigeria’s security and economic
terrain. This had been a grand plan
from time, and is still standing- that they
should have the majority of
seats in every council; even when the learned
majority constitutes a minor
ratio of the central Northern states.
The Awolowo led West maintained that Nigeria
is not a nation but a mere
geographical nomenclature. History has it that
he had the opportunity to
change that before the civil war of 1966, but
took a wrong stand and this
is the result of that decision (even though I
think his hands were tied
owing to the fact that the capital base – Lagos
was fully overwhelmed by
Northern soldiers).
The Lt Col. Ojukwu led East lost the battle for
the freedom of the Eastern region and 'they' became
“eternal” slaves/outcast of Nigeria despite
their high intellect and
craftsmanship. Thus a comic acronym of the
currency NAIRA to mean “Never
Allow Igbos Rule Again”.
The “minority” Southerners, the hub of
Nigeria’s economy, despite their
bargaining power did not have the population
to take a stand for or against
“One Nigeria”. They choicelessly had to blend
in; even though records have
it that, they sided Biafra -in part- during the civil war.
Amidst our differences in ideology, prowess,
language, culture, tradition,
values; we still chose to live together under the
same Nigerian roof. One
would in the least bit presume, think, hope
that alas, we have found a
common ground for agreement however, that
seems not to be the case.
The North has kept on pressing for absolute
power, the East dominating the
national economy in all parts of the nation,
the South now fully utilizing
their bargaining chips and the West still
blending in, save for the
privileged Lagos and Benin, which were the
ruling empires of the old western
Nigeria.
Over time, our eyes have been made open to
the wealth of Nigeria’s earth
crust. The vast spread of minerals ranging
from Tin, Bronze, Brass, Iron
Steel, Cobalt to Coal, Gold, Agriculture and top-of-
the-list; Crude oil. These
goodies have transformed Nigeria over time.
From the Ife art culture to the
Bronzes of Benin; to the era of agriculture as a
means of foreign exchange
and now the mega Crude oil. These God-given
resources have made Nigeria a
rich nation amongst the nations of the world.
At present it stands as the
fastest growing economy in Africa thus the
name Giant of Africa.
I dare say, in the outside world, Nigeria is
viewed as the richest solely
black nation in Africa but we that live therein
would have differing
opinion. That teeny-weeny bit of difference
in ideology has led to the
mismanagement of the internally generated
funds of the nation. The law
makers has left our border open to all forms of
imports that has made
Nigeria the dumping ground for foreign waste
products, throwing chairs and
exchanging blows weekly, always on furniture
allowance that equals the
salary of a professor; the political juggernauts
have embezzled our funds
to a tune much more than their entire
generation can spend; non-visionary
governors embarking on projects that are not
relevant to the immediate
needs of our citizenry and under-utilization
of the structures on ground in
the state. Always on low budget! No internally
generated fund, always
waiting for imbursement from federation
account. Legislators making laws
that suit their selfish agenda. The entire
wealth of the nation been
rotated amongst 13% of the elite few at the
detriment of the 87% that voted
them in.
We have had elections upon elections, media
chats upon media chats, confabs
upon confabs yet the nations seems to be
deteriorating down the slope.
Naira value keeps going down, educational
standard down, employment rate
down, industries shutting down, transport cost
on the rise, poverty in
general on the rise, but despite these the rich
keeps getting richer.
There is no panacea that will restore the glory
over night. The policy
makers must step down from their high horses,
shun every form of
high-handedness and join hands together to
make the nation great (again).
We have oil, we have tax payment, we have
industries, we have democracy, we
have fertile grounds, we have privatization,
great leaders, history books,
foreign treaties, technology, we have the
resources that meets the
population – we have the compass, list and the
map, how then do we keep
getting it wrong.
