2019: The Year of the Elephant!
The Chinese Zodiac, known as Sheng Xiao is a classification scheme which assigns an animal and its reputed attributes to each year in a repeating 12-year cycle. Each of the 12 animals has characteristics which are supposedly found in people born in the year of that animal! These animals are the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, […]
The Chinese Zodiac, known as Sheng Xiao is a classification scheme which assigns an animal and its reputed attributes to each year in a repeating 12-year cycle. Each of the 12 animals has characteristics which are supposedly found in people born in the year of that animal! These animals are the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig. Although not known for naming years after animals, Nigerians are not averse to naming other things after them, even though sometimes completely inappropriately.
As such the nation is burdened with the “Super Eagles” football team that has “soared” from the heights of being the 5th rated team in the world in 1994 to languishing at a current position of 31st. The Nigerian basketball team called D’Tigers is generally considered to be one of the best national basketball teams in the African Zone, but has proved to be particularly toothless when facing top-ranked teams in the World Cup. Also quite inappropriately the logo for the now defunct national airline Nigeria Airways was a flying elephant! It should hardly come as a surprise that the elephant couldn’t fly and was grounded finally when the airline formally ceased operations in 2003.
One of the most embarrassing and upsetting ironies about Nigeria with all its claims of being the “Giant of Africa” is the lack of a national airline, especially when smaller, less resource-endowed African nations such as Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda are successfully and profitably operating their own. The less said about the farcical attempt to re-launch a Nigerian National carrier the better. However Nigeria Airways logo of an elephant is significant because in Nigeria the year 2019 could be referred to as the year of the elephant as relates to the parable of the blind men and the elephant. Although the parable originated in the Indian subcontinent, its meaning differs between countries. The parable is a story of a group of blind men who have never come across an elephant before and want to learn what it is by touching it. Each of the blind men touches a different part of the body and describes an elephant based upon their limited experience of the part they touched.
When they realize that their descriptions are all different they come to suspect each other of lying and eventually come to blows. The moral of the story is that humans have a tendency to claim absolute truth based upon their limited subjective experience in which they ignore other people’s experiences. This has been the case with the federal government in 2019 whose spokespersons always talk down to citizens from their position of privilege at public expense. The parable of the elephant has been adapted to describe the Nigerian situation. In the adaptation four blind men called Mr. North, Mr. East, Mr. South-South and Mr. West touched the elephant called Nigeria. Mr. North touched the elephant’s ear and concluded that Nigeria was a good thing like a fan which brought breeze and shade to provide succour from his debilitating environment.
Mr. East touched the elephant’s tail and concluded that Nigeria was not a good thing because it was like a whip which could be used to flog him. Mr. South-South touched the elephant’s trunk and concluded that Nigeria was not a good thing because it was like a big hose pipe which could be used to syphon all his oil wealth away from his ancestral land. Lastly Mr. West touched the elephant’s body and concluded that Nigeria was like a big house and could be a good thing as long as he was permanently one of those in charge of running its affairs. Whether or not one agrees with the various characterizations, there is no disputing that in 2019 it became clear that the Government has failed to articulate any generally accepted vision for the nation and inculcate it into the citizenry. As a result the various composite groups all view Nigeria differently.
This difference in perception is more pronounced with respect to the way and manner in which government views its actions and performance. In his Christmas Address to the nation President Muhammadu Buhari described 2019 as a “very successful” year. It certainly was successful for him personally, having been declared winner of the Presidential Elections in a Supreme Court verdict which left a lot to be desired in its content as well as delivery. 2019 wasn’t successful for the Nigerian Army. From videos leaking to social media they appear to be suffering unreported casualties and are fighting to repel attacks rather than being on the offensive. Also it wasn’t a successful year for the bulk of the citizenry who experienced a well-documented decline in their economic fortunes and standards of living.
As the nation moves into the new-year government has yet to replace the discredited “Vision 2020” with any well-articulated vision. Those in power still haven’t been able to change the situation in which a land so bountifully blessed with enough for all, is the home of such poverty and inequality. In 2019 Nigeria continued to be plagued at both State and Federal level by governments of “mission” rather than of “vision”. A Mission defines a government’s objectives and approach to reaching the objectives. A Vision describes the desired future position of the nation. Other than the superficial “bright and prosperous future” there has been no concrete vision statement to guide the various missions the government is undertaking.
Repairing roads and other infrastructure, the anti-corruption war, and defeating insurgency are all missions not visions. Having won the election the All Progressives Congress (APC) must provide a detailed Vision Statement to guide citizens during this time of change, help define performance standards, establish a framework for ethical behaviour, enlist support for its policies, and inspire citizens to be more patriotic. If not then 2020 from the onset is in danger of going down as another year of the elephant in Nigeria.