By Mecha Udo
I hear and read the word restructure so often these days, you get the impression it means miracle. The miracle that will wipe away corruption from our body polity, the miracle that will make religion or creed irrelevant in decision making in our country, the wand that will enthrone, equity and justice at all levels of our national affairs, the magic that will make governance less expensive and make politicians more responsible. But is that really what restructure means? The other word is agitation; this word has been made to seem to have the meaning of the state of preparation for war.
There are obvious imbalances in the Nigerian state, no doubt about that. The component units have representatives who meet regularly to supposedly discuss the affairs of their constituencies. Do not tell me to forget those ones, for that is why they were sent there in the first place. There are state assembly members who are equally expected to represent their people at the state levels. Why then do we have the issues that so agitate our minds not being addressed?
Before we blame the system, we must agree that politics and politicians have failed in every part of Nigeria, the people similarly have failed to check the excesses of the political class. We left serious governance and development for all manner of jamborees. Restructure all you care, by the time you cascade today’s politics and politicians to regions everyone of the malaise plaguing the nation today at the national level will resurface at the regional levels. The people have simply abused the system which in the first instance was not perfect, and they will yet destroy any other system, no matter how perfect you may imagine it to be. Most of those screaming restructure today are actually angling for their own fiefdom to control, there is no consideration or interest of the people and development in their clamor.
The agitations will therefore not solve any problems until we solve the problem of self and people, orientation and attitude related issue. You will find the worst form of nepotism in some of the states that are leading the agitations. The father of a leading agitator is a prominent politician and traditional Chief in one of the most abused, corrupt and violated states in the country, yet he shouts at the national stage. The compositions of the present executive committee of IPOB, where must members are from one family give a good idea of what some of these agitations are about.
As we agitate and restructure, we must rise and task our representatives to either represent or leave, we must ask our governors to either govern or vacate, we must constitute ourselves into responsible watchdogs over the business of governance. All hands in the cookie jar must be removed forthwith, the collective patrimony is not for a few to steal, and the destiny of the nation must no longer be so callously toyed with in the name of politicking. We must revert to being development focused.
What manner of restructure are we talking about? For all I care the south west of Nigeria has been restructured in a lot of areas and are indeed ready for a national restructure that will benefit them the most, yet it is the Fayoses and Femi Kayodes who are the cheer leaders of the south eastern troop. With what the south west is doing and has done, they stand the best chance of benefitting from a restructured Nigeria that favors regionalism, yet it is the easterners who are yet to get their acts together that are leading the charge. Nigeria has built the south west with Lagos as its heartbeat, it has built the north central with Abuja as the nucleus. What has Nigeria given the south east? That is hard to find. The youth in the south east are ready to confront the guns of the Nigerian Army, but flee from the thugs of the governors of their states. Even when governance has stopped in their respective states the people plead helplessness; they dare not and cannot agitate where it matters most.
Today all direct foreign investments coming into Nigeria have Lagos and Abuja as destination. The south east and south south are classified as too dangerous to drop a dime in. The foreigners coming to the south east are those who are interested in taking positions for the running of their bombs and their guns, yet the people celebrate them as endorsements. We have shot ourselves on the foot by our style of agitation which has consequently led to our exclusion from the list of investor friendly zones in Africa. It is time to review our style, we need more brains than brawn in asking for a better deal from the Nigerian state and we can start by being charitable at home.
Nigeria offers the South Easterners a broader platform to express ourselves, insisting on being huddled into a smaller space makes no sense at all. If we are as intelligent as we claim, why then do we find ourselves in a situation where we seem to be holding the short end of the stick at all times? why are we so easily outwitted politically?. Is it not a contradiction in beliefs that we are so smart yet so easily beaten back when it matters? Could this be because of the quality of persons we send out to represent us at the centre and even at the states?
Nigeria is a contest like life itself, only cowards run from the contests of wits. The panacea is for us to rise to the Nigerian challenge, we are the ones that chained ourselves and we are the ones that will unleash ourselves and impose our abilities and strength on the state of affairs in Nigeria. We have allowed men of very low and questionable pedigree to lead us and the result is what we see, which we now blame others for. You cannot compare the present crop of Igbo political leaders with our political founding fathers who led us to lead Nigeria in almost every endeavor. We must abandon greed, selfishness, avarice and nepotism and begin to build a region that we all will be proud of. We must return to choosing our leaders from amongst our very best brains; there are too many charlatans, clowns and vain glory seeking characters occupying positions of responsibility in the south east. The mean men of scam have elevated their graft to the level of governance in our states; there is need to rescue our lands from their grip and enthrone leaders who understand leadership, development, progress and such other progressive ideals. Our contemporaries play with some of their best, so we must do same or continue to be beaten.
The call is really up to us to heed as we must work ourselves out of the morass we are in and be ready for Nigeria, whatever form it may take.