Nigeria at 53, still e go better

I remember the painstaking preparations for the great coming event of independence, our teachers learnt the new National Anthem from a single gramophone record sent with the wordings, and we were taught the song for weeks, until we could sing it effortless. On the eve of independence, we were each given a precious gift of […]

I remember the painstaking preparations for the great coming event of independence, our teachers learnt the new National Anthem from a single gramophone record sent with the wordings, and we were taught the song for weeks, until we could sing it effortless. On the eve of independence, we were each given a precious gift of a plastic cup, and it was a joy as we sniffed our first strange scent of plastic. The cup had engraved on it, two crossed flags with our eagle crested in the middle and rested on the green bold lettering of ‘Nigeria Independence, 1st October 1960’.
We each received a flag which we cherished, proudly waving it on the day and proudly identifying ourselves as free-born. What really pierced our innocent provincial perceptions were the words of the second verse of then our National Anthem:

“Our flag shall be a symbol;
That truth and justice reign;
In peace or battle honour’d;
And this we count as gain;
To pass on to our children;
A banner without stain;”

Alas, no sooner had our colonial masters folded their flag than we began to stain the banner we had so blindly vowed in song, “to hand on to our children, a banner without stain”.
How I wish I had sense enough to have kept my cup and flag. I may have been too young to understand matters then, but the full import of a nation being independent of its colonial master was not lost on me, more so the salient matters of truth and justice.
Our immediate post colonial leaders straight from the independence celebrations at Tafawa Balewa Square began to quarrel on the question of leadership without the capacity to rise above their primordial beliefs. The foundation for our bane which is nepotism was laid, on this day, 52 years ago. Our leaders- Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Dr Michael Okpara- were each bequeathed a nation to inspire, but could not cross the divides and inspired instead only their ethnic territories and peoples, whose cause they continued to champion. Obviously, our independence meant different things to the amalgamated nationalities, and the seams have been wearing weak and tearing up. The democracy that independence brought, was derailed by a coup 6 years into its trial, and our military interregnum began – a whole 33 years and 8 baton changes, 7 of them forced. The corruption in civil rule that was the reason for the truncation of the democracy of the First Republic was remodelled and institutionalized as a permanent feature of our psyche, by the time the Military bid governance good bye in 1999.
Every one of our problems was addressed with a solution that itself became a problem far worse in display of the lack in the capacity of our leaders. For instance, to address the problem of imbalance, quota was mooted and mediocrity was infused without dealing with the empirical causes of imbalance that were glaring. Ethnicity grew in proportion and nepotism became the norm, giving birth to wanton disregard of the constitution, and short circuiting of the political process in order to sustain the regional hegemonies. To address this problem, we again did not deal with the clear and visible root causes. Instead, we created States, from 3, then 6, and then 12 until finally now, 36, with over 700 local governments in tow, multiplying and confounding the pangs of our moribund creation. It soon boiled down to the inabilities of our leaders to adopt loftier principles and ideals of nationalism and liberty and hence the birth of intolerances that have worsened to this day.
To address the fear of domination, we recognized and installed dichotomies and the principles of Zoning of elective office, pronounced in some parties and muffled in others, with the attendant promotion of national ills of corruption, and subversion of the electoral process for sustenance of the lingering hegemonies. Without a system that promoted competent ideologues, the morass is understandably unavoidable.
President Goodluck Jona-than may not be right when he says he alone cannot solve the problems of Nigeria. Without being political about it, I fear that it could be assumed as a dangerous admission of inadequacy and inability, unless we apply a simplistic meaning to his assertion, understanding that even his driver and gardener have a role to play and are depended upon. Yet on matters of national leadership, it is far more complex and indeed requires only one just man with a clear vision to take a nation to greatness. History is replete with examples, from Moses the Prophet, to Mao, Nkrumah, Lee Kuan Yew, Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela. In deed to my mind, Nigeria needs really just one man that by selflessness would provide the leadership that can inspire followership and solve the problems of our nation. After the death of General Sani Abacha, we truly had a chance to have learnt from our past with the popular handing of the mandate to President Obasanjo, a las, that chance was missed as historians are recording daily. President Obasanjo, with all his potential could not set a moral high ground on ethnicity, nepotism, corruption, and accountability. The little gains were squandered on the third term bid, the subversion of the constitutional process in his mindless feud with his Vice President Atiku Abubakar, such that in the end, President Obasanjo proved, he was not the one man, the nation needed. His suspicious choice and foisting of ailing Umaru Musa Yar’adu’a and the vicissitudes of times thereafter, led to the present outcome of the doctrine of necessity personified by the Goodluck Jonathan Administrations, and will for many years to come challenge the nation with intractable political problems.
The one thing we have missed that accounts for my feeling short changed is failure of our leadership to measure up to the possible capacity. This is the one deficiency that has lingered and accounts for our autistic and stunted growth. Nigeria has everything in abundance, except just one man. Exactly a year ago, I wrote this piece. This year, I chose to stick with the happier sentiments and hopes of a future, better assured, even against continuing confirmation of my misgivings on leadership, my disappointments with our practice of democracy, and minimal success in the war against terror. I still have the constant encouragement of my daughter’s words – “E go better”.