Date Published: 09/03/09
The problems of Nigeria: Can't Governor Shekarau be of help?
By Saka Raji Audu E-Mail: sakaraj@yahoo.com
Nigeria, the giant of Africa and the thirteen poorest nations in the world, got her independence from the western imperialist nation. It was on 1 st October 1960, at the old Racecourse in Lagos now Tafawa Balewa square, the British Union Jack was lowered and the flag of Nigeria (Green-White-Green) was hoisted up in its place. There was ‘tears of joy’ by every Nigerian present at the occasion particularly the Mc-caulays, the Azikiwes, the Balewas and the Chief Awolowos.
Independence, we understand, signifies the process of acquiring political, cultural and socio-economic sovereignty by any nation that has been under the directives and control of another nation. But in Nigeria’s context, it is the formal handing over of the political control of the country by the recognition of Nigeria as capable of controlling her personnel, resources and national interest. In discussing independence particularly as it affects Nigeria, the question that rightly comes to mind is, why do we need freedom or independence? Or still, allow me to put it in another way. What kind of freedom do we need?
Really, we need freedom to be able to build a truly free country without any detrimental attachment or agreement. We need independence to build prosperous and healthy nation and to make ourselves self sufficient in food production by promoting agricultural and expanding education to encompass all levels of learning for both children and adult.
It is through independence that we would be able to encourage and develop scientific and technical education. It is when the country is integrated that there would be a sense of belonging and pride in being a citizen of Nigeria. It is in the realization of this objective that when the government was handed over to the late Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (the golden voice of Africa) and the late Dr. Nnamidi Azikiwe (the Zik of Africa) that their federal cabinet was composed of representatives of all parts of the country. But, how really are we able to achieve this objective in nearly forty-nine years of freedom and relief?
From the time of the late Tafawa Balewa and the late Dr. Nnamidi Azikiwe through General Agonyi Ironsi and Yakubu Gowon down to the late General Murtala Ramat Muhammad and Olusegun Obansanjo through President Shehu Aliyu Shagari and from General Muhammadu Buhari and the late Tunde Idiagbon through President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida to Chief Ernest Shonekan down to the late General Sani Abacha through General Abubakar Abdulsalam to the Civilian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and presently Alhaji Musa Umar Yar’dua. The question is, what have we achieved?
Naturally, Nigeria has recorded some successes in some ways. She has undergone a lot of changes as compared to the period before the independence of 1960. During the 60 years of British subjugation, Nigeria and Nigerians were not able to think and reason for themselves. We were politically, economically, socially and culturally handicapped. Our children were not allowed to attend school of their choice except those approved by the colonial masters. In contradistinction to these woes, we should be proud today that the reverse is now the case. Nigeria has transformed from her 35million population in 1960 to estimated 140 million people, going by the 2006 census figure.
Parliamentary system of government led us to military, then presidential regime. Nigeria with a handful primary and post primary schools and single University in 1960 could now proudly boast of hundreds of primary, post primary schools and many universities and colleges of education. It is not an exaggeration to say that the sky is now our limit in terms of acquiring knowledge. This is not all.
Nigeria moved fast from the four regional structures through twelve states structure to nineteen states. Today, the country has thirty-six states apart from the federal capital territory in Abuja. The agitation for more states however has continued to rent the air.
Despite the above cosmetic achievements, one could still observe that Nigeria has been in adolescent age crawling to come together as a corporate and indivisible entity. Apart from the country’s political hotchpotch, there is also lack of unity, poor management of resources, indiscipline, unpatriotic, greed and lack of vision. We have had twelve different leaders among who include six military officers and six civilians. Yet, we have had political and economic unrest.
Since these years, we have not been able to find a lasting solution to our economic quagmire and political instability. The country’s various economic measures since 1960 have defied solution. Tribalism and religious bigotry are cankerworms that have continued to jeopardize our corporate existence.
Almost forty nine years ago when we supposedly attained self-government, most Nigerians still do not recognize other Nigerians as Nigerians but as tribal or religious fellows. This is why the late Prime Minister, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the first leader of the country was treacherously murdered out of tribal sentiment in the 1966 coup.
Nigeria was also forced to witness sectional civil war in 1967 that lasted for 30 months. 1976 was not spared of sectional or tribal intolerance. General Murtala Muhammad, the man whom we regarded as the lone hero was brutally murdered in a coup d’etat by some disgruntled element of the Nigerian army.
The ugly trend in the 1979 and June 12, 1993 imbroglio were also a sad event in the political history of Nigeria. Corruption, nepotism, religious acrimony, thuggery, etc were the practice. The elections we have had for about five decades were mainly anchored on sentiment. Within these years, nobody voted for a candidate who is a ‘Nigerian’ and who has the will to serve our national and corporate interest but a candidate we think, is very close to us not minding his or her competence.
Of equal note is that, within the forty-nine years of the so called independence, thousands of souls have perished under the guise of religion and tribalism which I could simply describe as the handiwork of devils that are always out to cause confusion and whose reasons are no other than to destroy mankind. Our forty-nine years of independence is therefore, a carry over of the ills we fought against in the hands of British colonialists. The only difference is in colour otherwise the attitudes have been the same.
Our republics in our 49 years of sojourn have had one trouble or the other. Both the military and the civilians have had their equal share in the various attempts to balkanize and destroy Nigeria. One could still remember the general malpractices that served as basis of unhealthy competition for power. The absence of political ideology also constituted a setback to the country’s development efforts.
Unfortunately, our 60 years of colonial mentality are the product of all these evil machinations. But forty-nine years of our independence should be enough to rediscover our country and us. Instead we are still swimming in the orgy of colonial hangover. The worst hit of this imperial onslaught are the elites, who see themselves as the custodians of the western values and culture. Their inability to perform the role of shaping our cultural consciousness is directly manifested into fake egocentrism. It is very much tragic to observe that what we celebrate as independence on yearly basis is, to me, a colonial holocaust and 49 years of political, economic, social and cultural crises and dependence.
Nigeria is one of the world’s 10 most populous nations strategically vital, rich in natural resources especially oil. It also possesses minerals of strategic and agro-industrial value such as uranium, coal, gold, columbite and limestone. In 1980s it possessed a large variety of agricultural products than many African countries. Such products were palm produce, groundnuts, cocoa, rubber and cotton.
During this period, Nigeria was the largest producer of palm oil and palm kernels in the world. In the production of groundnuts, Nigeria was ranked first and later second in the production of cocoa. Beginning from the early 1970s, production of these agricultural items declined considerably and greater attention paid to petroleum with the production capacity of two million barrels a day in 1976. This made Nigeria the sixth largest exporter of oil in the world.
The production of petroleum placed Nigeria in a prominent position in its external relations. Between 1975 and 1979 during the Murtala regime, Nigeria recorded an astronomical growth in its oil revenue and increased its influence in the western world particularly the United States, the Netherlands, Britain, and France, which bought 31.9%, 15.85%, 12% and 10.4% of Nigeria’s oil respectively. As a result of the insatiable demand for Nigeria’s oil throughout the industrial world, Nigeria’s economic capability added immense credibility to the country’s integrity.
The export of petroleum earned for Nigeria about 9.1billion dollars in 1976 and this accounted for 90% of export and foreign exchange earnings. In 1979, Nigeria’s Gross National Product (GNP) rose to 27.3 billion dollars. There was a considerable increase in total output of the country’s economy between 1960 and 1979. Thus, the discovery of oil in Nigeria transformed the country from depending on cash crop production to a nation solely dependent on oil, an era known as petrol-naira economy.
The failure of subsequent Nigerian leaders to manage our oil earnings judiciously led to the country’s chronic economic woes. For instance, between 1970 and 1983, Nigeria earned a total of 140billion dollars because the price of Nigerian oil rose from two dollars a barrel to 40 dollars in 1980. By October 1979, when the civilian took over the affairs of Nigeria, the country had an external reserve of N2.3 billion and up to 1983; Nigeria earned N40.5billion from the export of crude oil alone.
Unfortunately, when the military took over on 31 st December 1983, the external reserve disappeared and the country’s external debt jumped from N1.0 billion to N10.21billion. In his 39 pages address to elected members of the National Assembly in 1992, the former President Babangida said that Nigeria’s external debt had reached about N630 billion. How did this huge amount come? It came through payment and over payment of fictitious imports with goods cover of import licence from the Federal Ministry of Commerce. A lot of siphoning also took place through kickbacks and the commission from the N795 million Ajaokuta Steel Mill contract awarded to Fourgerolle, Dumez, Julius Berger, etc. The Nigerian economy was indeed wrecked through award of inflated contracts. For instance, before the Obasanjo regime left office in 1979, it awarded a contract for work at Sapele, Onne and Lagos Ports at N179million. But when the civilians took over, the contract was reviewed and inflated to N458 million.
In the 1980s, oil accounted for about 97% of Nigeria’s export earnings and drastic shift from food production to importation of food items. The food importation gave rise to “lootocrats.” In the Guardian of 3 rd December, 1985 it was reported that Nigeria lost a little more than N6billion in the second Republic through dubious commodity pricing in which some British Banks were involved. The swindle the report revealed was three times more than the figure Nigeria was asking from the International Monetary Fund (I.M.F.).
Also in the issue of 5 th December, 1986, the Financial Times of London published on page 28 indicated a six month report of the trading activities of the Johnson Matthey Bank (JMB), a London based Bank thickly involved in the much publicized scandalous rip-off of the Nigerian economy and people. The scandal of Johnson Matthey Bank which came to light in June 1985 showed the kind of fraud that helped to wreck our economy which included fake documentation for none existent goods. As at that time, the estimated size of Nigeria’s debt was about five billion dollars but the I.M.F. claimed nine billion dollars. All these fictitious claims were part of an organized fraud by Nigerian lootocratic crooks and their foreign collaborators.
In 1986 when the Military administration introduced the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), an average Nigerian thought that at least, the programme was going to yield positive results leading to the recovery of our economy. Nigerians readily gave the sacrifices needed in this regard with the hope that everything was going to be normal in two or three years. After these years, the unemployment issue continued; corrupt practices were reported on daily basis. The purchasing power of the country’s currency, the naira, continued to reduce unabated. We later realized that the gains of SAP (if any) were benefited by a few, while the ordinary people continued to suffer. As a matter of fact, the SAP only brought kwashiorkor to the masses children. A survey of fifty children conducted in a hospital in Zaria in 1988 showed that 32% revealed marasmus, 30% kwashiorkor, 16% had marasmus-kwashiorkor and 22% were under nourished.
In 1989, the Federal Government in its claim to restructure the economy removed the subsidy on petroleum products. The effect of the 1989 removal of oil subsidy was a very big blow on the lives of the common man. In November 1993, there was a change of pump price of petrol from 70 kobo to N3.25k. In 1994, a lot of profits were made from the sale of fuel. This was the period of fuel bunkering. Yet, nothing was done about our refineries. Although PTF was established to provide some social services, a lot of profits made from the fuel increase went into personal pockets. In year 2000 we witnessed stronger increase in the price of fuel, still nothing was done.
Again, in 1991 when the supposed mother of all wars started, Nigeria made a lot of profits out of her petroleum products. According to a report by the News watch magazine of 6 th January 1995, a total amount of $571.78 million (N12.58billion) was realized from crude oil sales during the Gulf crisis. This money was realized as a result of the increase in demand and the hike in the prices of oil following its scarcity in the international market, a short falls of four million barrels per day. This money also formed a part of $12.4 billion (N272.8 billion) realized in oil sales between September 1988 and June 1994 placed in special accounts.
The profit made by Nigeria during the Gulf crisis was so encouraging to the extent that Nsikak Essien, an editor with the then Concord press satirically prayed in one of his writings that God should never allow the Gulf crisis to end so that Nigeria would continue to make the huge profits out of her oil. The question is this, where was the large sums Nigeria made during the Gulf crisis? What was it used for and in whose interest? From the statement of the expenditure of the $571.78 million profits made during the Gulf war from the so called dedicated accounts, the beneficiaries of the Gulf war oil proceed according to Professor Usman Hassan, in his book “ups and down of Nigerian Government and Economy” (1995, Panisau publication), included Nigeria Embassies in London, Riyadh, Teheran, Niamey, Pakistan and Israel. Others were Ministry of Defence, security, TV equipment for ABU Zaria, documentary film on Nigeria, TV/Video for the Presidency, Ceremonial uniform for the Army, staff welfare; Dodan Barracks/Aso Rock; President’s travel abroad, travel of first lady abroad, medical equipment for Aso Rock and gifts to Liberia and Ghana.
Virtually, the fuel money lodged in both dedicated and special accounts between 1988 and 1994 was never used at any time to build up the country’s external reserves. These two accounts were operated in such an extravagant manner. Indeed, if the money had been used judiciously, the naira exchange rate would have been so strong that N1.00 would have been exchanged for $1.00. At least, if part of the money had been used in debt servicing payment per annum, the country would have been able to clear its interests for three years and enter further generous rescheduling arrangements from the London and Paris clubs. Instead, the special and dedicated accounts for fuel money were nothing but drain pipes and conduit for corruption.
From the expenses incurred from the 1991 oil windfall, where lies the interest of the common man? Were our refineries repaired? Why didn’t the government in power then think of establishing more refineries for the country? As a result of our poor state of our refineries, the country had imported fuel from Venezuela but when that country went into problem, Nigeria was seriously put into serious situation because the imported fuel was not forthcoming due to the protest in Venezuela. Assuming Venezuela had gone into full-scale war, how did the Nigerian government want the country to survive without petrol?
Every government official is just thinking on how to get more petrol money into his pocket without recourse to how such money comes, even if it means leaving the majority of the poor in abject poverty and squalor. It is therefore common these days to see how businessmen and women are building new petrol stations on daily basis because, it has since been discovered that the sale of petrol is the quickest way to get rich. Our talented and energetic children have abandoned education and farm for the sales of oil on the street just to get quick profit. Our politicians are always on each other’s throat on how to share the oil money. Hardly a day passes without reading or hearing one form of oil scandal especially at the government circle.
The government too has also discovered that people are making huge profit from the sales of oil. So, it should also make its own profit through increase in petrol, diesel and kerosene prices as witnessed during Babangida, Abacha and President Obasanjo administrations. The masses should be tired of crook lies that the essence of petrol increase was to carry out repairs on our damaged refineries or establish new ones. Indeed, one cannot just accept this cheap excuse to constant review of our oil price by every government that found itself on the throne. The mismanagement of our oil sector by every key players of our economy ought to have been seriously addressed.
On 12 th June 1993, the Nigerian electorates went to the polling booths and cast their precious votes for the man they had wanted as President of Nigeria, the late Chief M.K.O. Abiola. The election took place amidst heavy electoral fraud, complaints and countless inadequacies. The political scenarios of the June 12th Presidential election almost sent Nigeria and Nigerians into massive graveyards like the 1967’s episode. Indeed, the electoral process became stultified and inconclusive. It is now a history that Nigerians must not forget in a hurry. We are however, still very much grateful that in spite of the ugly trends of the 1993 Presidential election, Nigeria was able to pass through the difficult waters and survive. Unfortunately, the personalities, the region and the tribal gurus that had desperately preached against the unity and for the balkanization of the country after the failed June 12 presidential election were later made to enjoy the fruits of the plant they neither sowed nor watered.
Hitherto, when we had the opportunity to conduct another fresh Presidential election tagged, the fourth republic, in 1999, the democratic feature of popular participation was changed to democratic zoning and pacification. We were forced to bow to tribal sentiments and threats of disintegration and extinction. In any case, nobody was afraid of the threat but we just have to maintain peace and unity for the country even as it meant looking for a man that had just been pardoned from the prison as President of the country.
We then started shopping for the personality that cuts across all strata of deliberations from the troubled region. We could not find any one. Suddenly, Chief Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo, an erstwhile Head of state who was serving 25years jail term and had already clocked three years in it struck our desperate mind. He was unchained, pardoned and released from the prison by the General Abdulsalam Abubakar led military administration. This was not the end.
Chief Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo, (OAO) even though I do not know why the media call him OBJ, quickly baptized himself of the traumatic psychology of a prisoner and entered the political train of the country as a born again. He became a democrat, joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and declared his presidential ambition. The north and the eastern part of the country welcomed him, but in the 1999 Presidential primaries. General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd) perfected the magic wand for the man deserted by his people.
When the presidential election came, the northerners were convinced to trust Chief Olusegun Obasanjo for a President thinking that he was once their ‘boy.’ They never knew that they were cuddling a python. They voted for him massively with the hope of using him to their advantage. But Obasanjo’s constituencies, the western states also suspected that their son would be a total sell out and a toy in the hands of those that had ‘deprived’ them of a President in 1993. At that time, they were still nursing the wound of the June 12 1993 Presidential election crisis. They voted against Obasanjo for Olu Falae. This however did not make any difference. Olusegun defeated Olu Falae on a landslide victory.
During the acceptance speech of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as the new President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 1999, he promised to fight corruption head on and maintained a balance and just democratic society. He made other impressive statements in his nation wide broadcast that nearly convinced us that we have reached the promise land.
No sooner had he resumed office than the ‘baptized’ Obasanjo started to manifest. His tribal region that did not work for his success matched to Aso rock and presented agenda for execution. The late Chief Bola Ige told us all about the Afenifere Agenda before his unfortunate death. His cabinet composition was tilted to the west. Secondly, instead of the President to squarely face how to revive our economic doldrums, he was planning and executing political revenge mission. He arrested some perceived enemy and punished them accordingly. The corruption the President so much prepared to fight could not yield any tangible result. There is corruption in high places, in the two Chambers, among some of the governors, among Directors, Ministers and government officers, police, customs, immigration, lecturers, politicians, public and private sectors, etc. Corruption is unlimited and it appeared that the members of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission and that of Economic and Financial Crime Commission could not effectively deal with the situation. Most federal roads are death traps and unemployment is still very much pronounced. Only those that are extremely lucky and play the ball well that is not complaining. The value of our currency continues to depreciate.
The popular PTF that was helping the masses in the aspect of road construction and drug provision was quashed. The lower and upper houses are not spared of the political crises and corrupt practices. We could not tune on our radio, television or open newspapers or magazine without hearing or seeing one form of trouble or the other coming from the Aso Rock or the two chambers.
The worst hit of the economic enslavement is the sale of virtually all government security outfits and parastatals in the name of privatization. All the government’s properties were virtually sold out. The Nigeria Airways, NNPC, NITEL, Mints, Media, Hotels, etc seized to be ours like the Bakassi Peninsular. Even those that work in private sectors are not safe. There are inadequate electricity, scarcity of diesel, black oil and petrol for generating plant. Even, where these commodities are available, their high costs are very much discouraging. The huge tax by government, high interest rate and high cost of capital, the value added tax (VAT), the high rate of customs duty, taxes from various government agencies and frustration at the clearing port have effect on wages, salary and turnover.
Still, we are told of the government’s approval that every expatriate foreigner that wants to work in Nigeria would pay a little above to N50,000- as Residence Permit on yearly basis as against the usual N2,500- knowing full well that majority of the private companies that employ Nigerian workforce are owned by foreigners. The question, is it possible for these expatriates to pay such huge amount of money without retrenching or punishing the Nigerian workforce? This does not concern the government as long as those that matter make gains out of the Residence Permit project. We are also told that the production of this project was contracted to foreign Indian firm. This is again too bad. In spite of all these odd, OBJ was busy shuttling between the country and outside world. His frequent outside journeys could not even influence the naïve judgment passed in favour of Cameroon by the International Court of Justice on Bakassi Peninsular
In 1993, some industrialized western nations especially the U.S and Britain were invited to monitor the June 12 presidential election. After the election, these countries issued threat of sanctions against Nigeria with a warning that the federal military government of Nigeria should give democracy a chance by handing over to American Puppet regime by August 27 that year. This sad development started happening immediately the Nigerian Centre for Democratic Studies (CDS) withdrew the accreditation of the eight United States Citizens scheduled to monitor the presidential election of June 12.
The withdrawal of the accreditation cards, according to the then Director General of CDS, Professor Omoruyi, was done in anticipation of the cynical attitude of the United States government towards Nigerian transition programme. Likewise, in 2003 elections, foreigners were invited to monitor the presidential/gubernatorial elections. The foreign observers' reports after such type of elections in Nigeria are always negative and inconsistent aimed at causing friction among the peace-loving Nigerians.
The reason for such political bashing on Nigeria is not far- fetched especially when one realizes the crude interest of the so called developed nations that is always ready to destroy third world countries under the guise of championing the cause of democracy. Ironically, the western countries have no enviable record of realistic democracy considering their criminal activities in the world.
For a long time, some of the western countries particularly America and Britain have been looking for ways of using Nigeria’s volatile ethnic society to cause confusion and hatred among the peace loving Nigerians. America in particular, had been one of the causes of the downfall of Nigeria’s economy. For instance, as far back as in 1975, a secret study was prepared for the U.S. congress and whose recommendation was to seize Venezuela and Nigeria oil fields. Many options were also advanced on how Europe and America could go about destroying the oil producing countries and their future generations.
During this period, ruthless and merciless specialists on third world economy were equally said to have started bombarding the British audience with all sorts of theories on how to address the issue of crude oil as well as how to deal with OPEC countries. The western countries are always willing to deal with non-Arab oil producing countries such as Angola, Venezuela, Nigeria, etc. They drew the Arab OPEC members closer and encouraged their big elites to emigrate to Europe and America with oil booty.
Highly placed military officers of Nigeria were drawn closer to Buckingham palace and the white House. Instead of these people to emulate Arabs to invest Nigeria’s oil earnings in the then collapsing European and American industries, individual top Nigerian government functionaries only engaged in building sprawling mansions and rest houses.
In the second Republic, America and Britain were directly involved in Nigeria body politics. Every Nigerian, particularly our second Republic Ministers, Governors, Permanent secretaries and other classes of Nigerians amassed wealth and opened private accounts in London and Zurich. Mighty houses were equally bought for relaxation. This was disclosed during the 1975 probe of public officers by Murtala/Obasanjo administration. Thereafter, those whose motives were to destroy Nigeria mercilessly killed General Murtala Mohammed. Though it was not proven, many people believed that the death of Murtala was a CIA inspired political assassination.
During the stalemated June 12 1993 Presidential election, the election also witnessed foreign party sponsors who came to Nigeria with bags full of pound sterling and dollars. The conventions of the two political parties in Jos and Port Harcourt saw foreigners as observers and advisers. The so-called foreign observers were commissioned to carry out special research on our politics, which they used to their advantage. As a result of the foreign involvement in Nigerian politics, our politicians became divided and prominent among them became foreign stooges.
To further show that these foreign enemies of OPEC countries were only out to destroy the peaceful co-existence of oil producing countries like Nigeria, only fake persons with foreign connections as well as those that lack vision were financed to contest elections. How could the same America and Britain that led our second Republic leaders to squander Nigeria’s billions and made them to borrow, compile and dump known and unknown debts on Nigeria say that they are fighting for our interest? Indeed, it is rather unfortunate that Nigeria, the largest black nation has become a toy in the hands of international crooks.
If America and Britain are honest with the people of Nigeria, one would have expected them to publicise all Nigerian business caucus that have amassed the country’s wealth only to dump such reckless money in London, Zurich and John Matthey Bank. I don’t think that Nigerians are fools that can be deceived in the name of restoring democracy in the world.
Similar attitude of the foreign countries towards Nigeria was also exhibited during the April 2003 elections conducted in Nigeria. In the government avowed desire to keep faith with the outside world, many foreigners were invited and accredited as election observers to monitor the elections. At least, for the first time in the political history of Nigeria, the April 12, 19 and May 3 elections were held throughout the country without much rancour. The people of Nigeria showed to the world that indeed, they are making progress in their match to democracy. Our electoral supervisory body (INEC) wasted no time in declaring the results of the elections, unlike what happened at Florida in the United States of America where the results of the election that brought the former President George W. Bush to power was not announced until after weeks of doctoring figures and confusion. The world is fully aware too that after the declaration of Bush as the eventual winner of that hanky-panky election, his main rival, the former vice president of Bill Clinton had to be shortchanged.
In their shameless desire to cause artificial crisis in Nigeria, the foreign observers in the 2003 presidential/Gubernatorial elections came with a well-doctored and engineered report about the elections. The consistent inconsistency of the foreign observers’ report is a testimony that they are never sincere with Nigerian political development. If not, how could the foreign observers/monitors of the April elections claim that the entire conduct of the elections was free and fair, only to go to another paragraph of the same report and say that the elections were full of malpractices and irregularities. Whatever is their intention by these two contradictory statements, Nigerians should know better and simply understand that the foreign observers/monitors in the April 19 presidential/Gubernatorial elections in Nigeria are never serious and so, their fake report should be thrown to the dustbin.
In view of these, America and other industrialized nations should always try to leave Nigeria alone since they have been part of the contributory factor in the downfall of the country’s economy. They should stop meddling in the internal political affairs of Nigeria. We are sovereign country and know what is good for us. America’s criminal activities in Somalia, Liberia, Sudan, Yugoslavia, Cuba, Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia and such related 3 rd world countries must not be extended to Nigeria under the cover of democracy. “The time has come when we should make it clear that we can decide for ourselves; that we know our own interest and how to protect those interest, that we are capable of resolving Africa’s problems without presumptuous lessons in ideological dangers which, more often than not, have no relevance for us, nor for the problem at hand.”
In Nigeria today, it is not an individual merit that matters but whom one knows and how highly placed one is. The word merit has been replaced overnight with something else. Only parents with well-connected ‘godfathers’ can now boast of that 1960s dream where things were purely based on merit. In those days, people of sound academic qualifications were the assets of the society. They therefore struggled in whatever they were doing especially in academic line, to excel.
Parents were very much concerned about their children’s education because they knew what it meant to be educated. Poor parents went to great trouble to cater for the education of their children. Education was highly competitive, as nobody wanted to lag behind. Many parents rewarded their children endeavours. In 1970s, graduates were sure of getting good jobs anywhere they so wished. It was common for newly employed graduates to own private cars as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, and sadly too, all of a sudden, the reverse now is the case. The university education that commanded respect has seriously been challenged and relegated to the background and its pride thrown to the dogs. Because of the ugly trend and the changing circumstances in our society, merit is no more regarded as ‘worthwhile.’ As a result of low educational performance of children, a lot of sad development began to manifest in our society. Those who made their wealth in the late 70s and early 80s and still want the good trend to continue with their kith and kin, use dubious ways to force their relations into the system. Rather than encourage their children to read well, they make them realize that with money and connections, nothing is impossible. This marked the beginning of ‘godfathers' syndrome’ in Nigeria.
“Why should I read when I know that with my father’s connections and money, I can fix myself anywhere in the society” becomes the thought of children born with silver spoon in their mouth. Thus, they became lazy with their books. Most wealthy parents send their children to university today, not to acquire knowledge but just to get the paper qualification. This is why rich students in the universities do not mind the type of degree they obtain from school. In-as-much-as their rich parents will be there to use money and dubious connection in securing place for them, they would be contented.
In contemporary Nigeria, one realizes that people of questionable academic education are the ones ‘controlling’ certain private and public sectors of the economy, their incompetence notwithstanding. The few who obtain sound academic qualifications in the society but with poor parental background and lack of a ‘godfather’ go nowhere. Such people face all sorts of hazards in the hands of those who use money and connections to ‘fire and hire.’ They are often frustrated.
It no longer pays to possess a ‘good degree’ these days. To do so is to indirectly commit a crime not spelt out in the Nigerian constitution, particularly when the beneficiaries of such good certificates come from poor background. A friend of mine with upper second-class degree in Economics from one of the reputable federal universities in Nigeria once applied for a job in a private company. He was lucky to be short listed for interview. During the interview, my friend was able to show the panel that really, he was equal to the task. Unfortunately, for my friend, he was not given the job. Why? Because most of the panel members have not got such knowledge and neither do they have such brilliant chap in their houses. They had a psychological impression that my friend was too good and would be a threat to them once employed. Instead, someone with an ordinary pass degree, in the same field was offered the job. “What a job for the boy?”
Just put an application for a job with your curriculum vitae attached. When the officer-in-charge opens it and reads through and sees that you are a brilliant person in your academic field, he begins to panic. He either hides your application or does something to it. If the applicant cares to make a follow-up and meet the officer-in-charge, the man would pretend to be sympathetic only to direct you wrongly. That is how one will be deceived and frustrated until one quits.
The question is, should a university graduate blame himself or herself for obtaining a good degree? Why on earth all these should happen? The few examples given above are a few of thousands of innocent souls that suffer in the hands of conservative dropouts who see no good in those who obtain good certificates. This partly ‘explains’ why Nigeria and some other black African countries remain under developed. As for those who know the value of university education and therefore struggle to make good out of it, they should continue in such spirit. No amount of frustration and psychological torture should prevent people from achieving their desired goals.
Despite all of the above unfortunate observations about Nigeria's problems, I am still convinced that there is some one that could still do the country good if given the chance. This is where the present people's governor of Kano State, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau as alternative remedy to the foregoing problems of Nigeria comes to play. Indeed, one is optimistic that with his kind of leadership, especially when one looks at his unprecedented achievements he has so far recorded for the people of the most populous state, Kano, there is no doubt that as a new generation politician; he will be able to get rid off the age long political and socio-economic problems that have been bedeviling the country. As a gentleman of impeccable character, he cannot allow any social, political and economic convulsions to continue to happen to Nigeria and Nigerians.
As a matter of fact, there are so many things that differentiate the governor of Kano State from most of his colleagues in other states of the federation. It is this distinctive approach to issues that any one who truly has concern for Nigeria should consider as panacea in asking and begging Governor Shekarau to honourably accept the people's call for him to rescue the pathetic situation of the country.
In order to move the country out of its socio-economic and political quagmires, we require leaders that have the fear of God, no matter how little. We need leaders that truly represent the yeaning and aspirations of Nigerians, irrespective of tribal, religious and political affiliations. We need leaders that strongly believe in the unity of our diversity. Indeed, we need leaders that are consistent in tackling problems and issues rather than parochial sentiments. We need principled leaders that can stand on their oars and call a spade a spade.
One of these hard-to-get leaders that have distinguishably carved a niche for him self is Malam (Dr) Ibrahim Shekarau of Kano State. An in-depth discourse of this man's display of high level of leadership acumen will certainly suffice why he should win the hearts of Nigerians, due mainly to his impeccable political disposition that has cut across all strata of the country. He is so far the longest serving democratic governor of Kano State, having been popularly voted to power in April 2003 and has successfully completed six years in the good governance of the state. He has transformed Kano State from neglect to recognition, from instability to peaceful co-existence, from weak infrastructure to solid one, from structural decoration to both human and structural developments and from indignity to human dignity and respect. All these transformation would not have been possible without the political will, vision, mission, foresight and fear of God in the art of governance which are also required for the progress and advancement of the country.
Among his pairs, even in his political party, he is the only governor that stands tall and has remained focused, not minding the activities of some political detractors. As a detribalized man of substance, he has been able to bring together the different ethnic groups in the state without favour or bias. This is why since he came to power some six years ago, both the indigenes and non-indigenes in the state have been living peacefully together without any form of molestation, unlike what was obtainable before his coming as governor of the state. Not even the implementation of the Islamic legal system- the Shariah has affected the co-habitation of the divergent faiths in the state. This is because, contrary to the negative thinkers, the government of Shekarau has painstakingly ensured that the practice of Shariah in Kano, is within the ambit of the law, which gives room to other faiths to practice their faith as they deem fit without hindrance. Shekarau's societal reorientation, its impact on the attitude and behavioural change of his people, his inclusion of non-indigenes in the state affairs, his hard-to-provoke peaceful mind, the reduction of ethno-religious discrimination and above all, his penchant for accountability and transparency have all accounted for the relative stability, peace and harmony in the state.
Other impressive achievements of Shekarau as the governor of Kano State since 2003 are initiation of independent Power Plant (IPP) project, rehabilitation of rusted water pipe, rehabilitation of rural and urban roads, establishment of Hajj Commission, promotion of the Islamic legal system, Shari'ah, introduction of dress code in schools, establishment of anti-corruption agency in the state Checking out social corruption through the State Censor's board, creation of employment opportunity in the civil service, upgrading the status of Malams and Ulamas, rehabilitation of roads in Sabon Gari areas, enhancement of human development drive, provision of adequate fertilizer/subsidy to farmers, rehabilitation of ten rounds about within the metropolis, successful conduct of the local government election in November, 2007, none interference of media contents, leading to freedom of expression, rehabilitation of mosques across the state, enhanced the status of traditional rulers and teachers in the state, sponsoring of indigent students abroad for further studies, provision of working tools to security outfits in the state for maintenance of law and order in the state, establishment of Hisbah guards/commission, free feeding for the less privileged, trade conflict resolutions in the state and abolition of hospital cards.
The government of Shekarau also performed well in the establishment of urology centre , sitting of new singer Market known as Kanawa International Market, distribution of laptops to secondary teachers and members of the State Government House Press, renovation of General Hospitals in the state, promotion of Corporate Social Responsibility, Hosting the first Kano Business submit, settlement of entitlements of PDP councilors, which the previous administration of PDP refused to pay, sanity to urban planning and management, financially prudent through publication of monthly revenues and expenditures, settlement of heavy outstanding pension to pensioners in the state, inclusion of non-indigenes in his government by appointing three non-indigenes as Special Advisers, employment of medical doctors, nurses and paramedical staff, establishment of women affairs and social welfare ministry, decongestion of prison through review of cases, prompt and regular payments of salaries, pensions and gratuities, renovation of many health centres, initiation of mass-housing scheme with outside experts to undertake, supply of rural electricity to six villages, sponsoring patients abroad for medical treatment where the need arises and renovation of Government House to its befitting status, construction of dilapidated industrial roads in Bompai, Sharada and Challawa renovation of Director of Press Office after 40 years of negligence and donation of Permanent Orientation Camp to NYSC in the state. Shekarau also worked hard for the accreditation of all the thirteen (13) Academic Programmes of Kano State University of Technology, KSUT, provision of basic health equipment, drugs and renovation of many health centres in the state, increase in Students Scholarship, settlement of about N1billion debt inherited from KASCO, establishment of Rural Electrification Management and State Environmental Board and establishment of Project Monitoring and Evaluation Directorate to enhance probity and accountability. The people of the state are also happy with Shekarau government for its prompt intervention and resolving the issue of the Pfizer tragedy in favour of the victims. All these achievements resulted in the various awards and recognitions of Malam Ibrahim Shekarau by various ethnic groups across the country and beyond. Going by these feats, it is therefore not easy for the opposition to stomach all these developments taking place in the state. This explains some of the undue criticisms the anti-progressive elements have deliberately mounted on the government either directly or through their sponsored agents in the media. To my mind, this is normal because in a society where falsehood tends to dominate people's life, truth in that society becomes extremely difficult. This is why one must commend the active and hard working governor of Kano State for having achieved a lot in the face of falsehood.
With the above achievements so far recorded by Governor Shekarau, one is of the belief that he is now in the position to also lend a helping hand to serve the country towards alleviating her persistent problems and that of Nigerians. People of progressive mind should start thinking on this direction and ensuring that Malam (Dr) Ibrahim Shekarau is seriously persuaded for the national assignment. He should be an alternative remedy to Nigeria's long term socio-economic and political challenges. Whether or not Shekarau will accept the plea from Nigerians, time shall tell.
Saka Raji Audu writes from Kano and can be reached on his email: sakaraj@yahoo.com
