Nigeria: Our leaders, our people

Second, and most importantly, this yearly chore of doing a critique of the state of the motherland at each Independence Day sometimes becomes very boring because of the monotony of the outcome. Somehow, things do not seem to change; the story of our country appears to have tragically become caught up in that terrible state […]

Second, and most importantly, this yearly chore of doing a critique of the state of the motherland at each Independence Day sometimes becomes very boring because of the monotony of the outcome. Somehow, things do not seem to change; the story of our country appears to have tragically become caught up in that terrible state of motion without movement or progress. So, year-in-year-out, the analyst realizes, to his chagrin, that the analyses he churns out at every October 1 are mere repetitions of the recurring circle of woes, failures and disappointments in which the country has, more or less, become inextricably trapped.

So, to be able to conveniently circumvent these obstacles, we must find a way out if we have to say something on this most auspicious occasion in the annals of our country. For me, this opening presented itself just in the nick of time; through the air waves – on the morning of 29 September, 2009. It was the news analysis after the 7.00 AM news on the network service of Radio Nigeria. It was titled ‘African Leaders and Underdevelopment’. Although it contained grains of the usual platitudinous outpourings about the persistent backwardness of the African continent, its very sobering tone and unsettling depth would rend the heart of even the most zealous hater of Mother Africa.

Africa, which unarguably has one of the largest concentrations of natural resources in the world, is home to the world’s poorest folk; while the citizens of Asian countries such as China and, even, Vietnam, among others, are today basking in the euphoria of increased GDP, generally improved standards of living, etc, more than 80% of Africans, especially those of us in Sub-Saharan Africa, live on less than a dollar a day. And so on and so forth. Indeed, the picture is gloomy and uninspiring.

And as if this was not depressing enough, one of the leading news headlines on the global scene was the shooting, only the day before, of at least 150 members of the opposition at a stadium in Conakry, Guinea, by policemen. Reason? They had dared to hold a peaceful rally to protest moves by the head of the military junta ruling the country, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, to contest the forthcoming presidential election slated for January next year. He had seized power in a military coup last year immediately after the demise of President Lansana Caonte (who had ruled for more than twenty years) and set the date for general elections. Then he went ahead to give his word of honour that he and members of the junta would not contest in the elections. But along the line he changed his mind. Now, he and his fellow conspirators are rumoured to harbor the urge to contest. And in order to make good his plan, he is alleged to be plotting to change the date of the polls in a manner that will favour him. Many Guineans perceive this to be a prelude to manipulating the elections. Thus the peaceful rally that turned bloody.

Now, let us come back home. Of course, the above scenarios have been our lot – both as Africans and as Nigerians – in the last 49 years. But there is a slightly new dimension to this matter which my recent experiences have taught me. As a result, I have come to accept, although grudgingly, the reasoning that, most likely than not, a people deserves the kind of leadership it gets.

True, a large part of Africa’s ruling elite is responsible for the bleak aspect of things on the continent. But, curiously, when you take a closer look at the true nature of the situation, you find out that it is the very people on whose behalf we talk that, in most cases, serve as accessories to their very own predicament. Surprisingly, through years and years of being subjected to exploitation, these people have come to believe that it is their destiny and lot to live in dire penury, want and disease. As a result, they complacently and comfortably accept their place as the footstool of this self-serving political class.

Sadly, you daily encounter such extremes of this psychosis when you hear a visibly pauperized man utter the caustic remark, “Since our governor prefers to build roads and hospitals with our money, instead of giving us food to chop, he had also better be ready to give us the money with which to buy the cars to use on such roads.” Of course we all know understand what ‘food to chop’ means in Nigerian political parlance. Implicit, therefore, in this warped sense of reasoning is the belief that the ordinary man on the streets would rather have government dole out peanuts to him as gifts than prudently manage such resources and deploy them to areas that will meet his long-term needs. Here, leadership is seen as a jamboree where the helmsman is construed as a Father Christmas who superintends the sharing of the state’s resources to groups and individuals for their self-aggrandizement. What obscenity.

That is why the culture of political patronage and the entrenchment of idle, jobbing politicians at the lower rungs – whose stock in trade is mischief making and fueling the kinds of innuendo that confer on their masters a dubious legitimacy –  has become the order of the day. As a matter of fact, the pervasive tradition is for the political leader to divert state resources to servicing this army of political hangers-on and their godfathers to the detriment of the overall development of an already devastated people and society. No wonder, daily, you find throngs of people queuing at the doorsteps of politicians and lobbies of political office holders from dusk to dawn begging for money to pay school fees, hospital bills, bury loved ones, feed their families, etc.

However, it must be said that at the root of this malaise is the inability of the majority of the people to fully understand their strategic place in the scheme of things; the fact that government is at their behest; that leaders are indeed their servants and not the other way round. On the whole, however, at the bottom of this are illiteracy and a lack of understanding of the true meaning of democracy on the part of the victims – the people.

It is worthy of note that civil society groups in the country have been vigorously working towards not only making the electorate fully grasp the real meaning of democracy, they have also done a great deal in letting them know that their leaders are accountable to them and the ways and means by which these can be achieved. But beyond this, the Nigerian people must of necessity know that they unjustly misconstrue democracy if they conceive it as a short-cut to enriching individuals to the detriment of the whole society.

Gyang is the Personal Assistant to the Plateau State Governor. [email protected]