Nigeria at 59

I had kept a tradition of commemorating our independence with this column. I have not done so since the nation turned 56 because my “words came back to me in shades of mediocrity” as Simon and Garfunkel sang in their epic song, ‘I am a Rock’. The nation has progressively fallen short of my expectations at […]

I had kept a tradition of commemorating our independence with this column. I have not done so since the nation turned 56 because my “words came back to me in shades of mediocrity” as Simon and Garfunkel sang in their epic song, ‘I am a Rock’. The nation has progressively fallen short of my expectations at every anniversary, and the problems are so much the same if not even worse. I recall this summary at our 56th anniversary:- “…I have reason to cheer up. We have caged Boko Haram. We could still be better, but we were in bad shape until President Muhammadu Buhari took charge. Our profligate life at 52, 53, 54, and 55 under President Jonathan has finally culminated in the recession we are having to deal with, but I am glad we have the recession under a strong leader (with few weaknesses, and with a people stiff necked in corruption), for those democratic institutions are responding. Nigeria at 56 is faced with the challenge of irresponsive institutions – irresponsive to the demands of revival and nation building. To name them, the Judiciary, the Legislature, the Press, and the Public. We really want change, but without due institutional response, Nigeria is merely a country with potential, her people, living only on hope of greatness.” This sentiment expressed then,  clarifies my hopes when President Buhari won the 2015 elections to lead Nigeria and note my wailing then, not against President Buhari but against Nigerians. A strong leader (with few weaknesses, and with a people stiff necked in corruption) said a lot then and still does. We are four years down the line and Nigeria is 59.

In his broadcast to the nation yesterday, it was a languid President who sounded frustrated at having to recall his statement of four years ago, that “change does not just happen… We must change our lawless habits, our attitude to public office and public trust… simply put, to bring about change, we must change ourselves by being law-abiding citizens.” Obviously those institutions have remained irresponsive to the demands of revival and nation building. Therein lie our problems at 59. Nigerians have lost confidence in the lawful process of achieving goals and appear to be lawless collectively in pursuit of desires. Thus if the promised change has not been delivered by President Muhammadu Buhari, this is where the problem lies.

The challenge facing Nigeria at 59 is decidedly how to change the attitude of the citizenry. Nigerians have become radically estranged from the dream of nationhood in 1960, when all regions rallied round the flag. “Though tribe and tongue may differ, in brotherhood we stand” the loud promise of the anthem then. Today, Nigerians instead, feel a sense of belonging to their tribe and religion first, and have difficulty in accepting a belonging to the nation. The reason is mainly that adults of 50 and above were born at independence in 1960 and have little sentimental attachment to the aspirations of the nation’s founding fathers referred to by President Buhari in his broadcast. Indeed when President Buhari says to “remember the sacrifices made by our founders and great leaders past; by soldiers, by distinguished public servants; by traditional leaders, by our workers —- sacrifices on which Nigeria has been built over the 59 years since Independence in 1960…” he was addressing a majority of citizens disgruntled by the brunt they now bear which they ascribe to the failures of those past leaders. Buhari seemed disconnected from the mainstream of this Nigerian thought. Majority of 50 year olds can not relate to Awo, Azikiwe, Sardauna, or Tafawa Balewa, the heroes referred to. He was addressing “elders” whose life expectancy unlike his own is 52. None of them read History as a subject. Nigerians 50 to 59 years old are national elders already who harbour bitterness and regrets that those founding fathers and those who came after them through over 25 years of military rule have bequeathed to them the hapless nation that Nigeria is today, for an inheritance.

Incidentally, China is also celebrating its 70th Anniversary today, 20 years older than Nigeria. Read what the erudite Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II wrote last week in comparison. Said Emir Sanusi, “In 1974 when Deng Xiaoping started opening up in China, China had 700 million people living in poverty. 700 million in 1974. Today, in our own lifetime, China has only 30 million people living in extreme poverty.  In 40 years, China has lifted 670 million people out of poverty. In 1974, China had only 8 million university graduates. In the whole of China, 8 million. Today, China has more than 300 million graduates or equivalent; that is more than the entire population of the United States of America.”

It is narratives like this that make you weep for Nigeria at 59. What did China get right that Nigeria did not get right? Nigeria is a sick and dying nation, the cure does not lie in diagnostics but in urgent action as in a village fire outbreak, to urgently get right, what China got so rightly. President Muhammadu Buhari has to address the leadership question and attempt to inspire the nation towards unity,  patriotism and respect for the law. His broadcast to the nation was without passion for the people and sounded as if he is exasperated at the irresponsiveness of the challenges to all the antidotes he is applying. Boko Haram, all pervading nationwide criminal behaviour and lawlessness, the allure of corruption and the gravitation of the citizenry towards corrupt enrichment are all in the prevailing cultural narratives that must respond to countermeasures, if we are to succeed. The fight against Boko Haram has lasted longer than it should have been by his own standards. When he appreciates that  “we have been able to achieve the present results” in the counterinsurgency and worsening insecurity, what results is the President looking at? The national insecurity has overwhelmed the security institutions and reflects poorly on the service chiefs that he has maintained all through his first term in respect of continuity.

Our entire democracy is not rested on a good foundation. It is costly, divisive and corrupt. The process is itself all corrupting – the constitution appears to have deliberately inbuilt provisions that lead the institutions including the judiciary into the temptation of corruption. It all boils down to the fact that Nigeria must restructure in all ramifications or continue to tear up along all its fault lines. It can not afford to turn 60 this way.