This is a salient moment in Nigeria’s history. About three months ago, elections with grave implications for the future of Nigeria and Nigerians were conducted and the results marked a dramatic shift in the Nigerian political schema. Undoubtedly, Nigeria faces gargantuan challenges. Shrinking oil revenues, crumbling infrastructures, leakages in collecting non oil revenues, galloping unemployment rates , spiraling inflation and drastic fall in the value of the naira. The result- Poverty that is magnanimous in its degree of cruelty bestrides Nigeria’s vast landscape like an invading army that has just conquered a foreign land. Preposterously, while public officers, party members, traditional rulers, leaders’ of thought, religious leaders and their sidekicks are getting extremely wealthier, the middle class that was virtually resuscitated during the Obasanjo regime is gradually going into extinction. With poverty on the rampage creating ruination and havoc in its path and coupled with the effects of the harsh economic situation, Nigeria may have one of the most unequal and uneven distributions of wealth and income in Africa.
The reality is that over the past three months, the value of worker wages and family income has declined greatly. To tell the truth, most Nigerians may have lost hope, some are living either perilously on a cliffhanger or precariously like birds perched on a wire. They are struggling to buy petrol in their cars and generators, to pay their bills, to keep their businesses afloat, to feed their families and battling to survive in an economically harsh and unfavorable terrain. We are witnesses to the anomalous situation of retirees fending for their children who are university graduates on their meager, irregular and virtually insignificant pensions. Majorities of Nigerians cannot find good paying work, manage 3d jobs with dismal wages and do not have a decent roof over their heads. Majorities of families cannot even send their kids to colleges of their choices hence Nigeria has the unenviable record for having the highest number of out of school children in the world. We have seen children die because of ordinary malaria and inability of their parents to afford N500 for drugs. Nigeria’s report card for child and maternal health is not encouraging at all. The 2013 World Children Report classified Nigeria as the 14th nation with the highest Under 5 Mortality rates in the world. Also the World Health Organization (WHO) in a report on ‘Trends in maternal mortality: 1990-2013’ classified Nigeria as one of the 10 countries of the world that contribute about 60 per cent of the world’s maternal mortality burden. It is no longer news that millions of Nigerians sleep on empty stomach because they either cannot afford to buy food or maintain the 0-1-0/1-0-0/0-0-1 feeding system daily. It is that bad.
My heart bleeds and a magnimous sensation of melancholy overwhelms me whenever I think about the present nadir that Nigeria has tragically found itself. Just how did we get to this sorry pass?, why is it that we are always the architects of our own misfortunes? How can Nigeria be the only OPEC Nation that still imports petrol?, How can Nigeria be the OPEC Nation with the lowest standard of living and poorest human capital development indices?. Once reputed to have more natural resources than all association of south east Asian nations put together, Nigeria’ current predicament is humanly inconceivable.. It is just beyond comprehension and beggars belief how despite the array of manpower, mineral and natural resources, Nigeria can be categorized as a toddler at 56years. However with the manner our past leaders at all tiers, levels and arms ran the country aground in total disdain of the future of the nation, the welfare of the people and the state of our tomorrow, nobody should be shocked that despite earning close to or if not more than one trillion dollars in oil revenues in the past forty years Nigeria is still ranked among the poorest countries in the world. No one should be surprised that a country that gave the world the likes of Aguda, Anyaoku, Soyinka, Mabogunje etc has made a miserable mess of governing itself. No one should be astonished that qualitative medical services are either inaccessible or nonexistent in a country that has produced several renowned physicians like Ransome Kuti, Ogunlesi, Akinkugbe, Lambo .We can recall, that the World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim, while addressing participants at the Council on Foreign Relations, CFR, meeting in New York mid last year pointed out that two-thirds of the world’s extreme poor are concentrated in just five countries – India, China, Nigeria, Bangladesh, and the Democratic Republic of Congo,”
The most bizarre and inexplicable aspect is that most of the present crop of leaders studied overseas and still scamper there frequently over the most mundane of things. They see how things are done, how things are working, how public funds are utilized, how public officials live modestly and how the welfare of the citizenry is accorded priority attention by Governments. But I cannot fathom why they cannot practicalize what they see, read or learn?, are they not challenged by the way things work effortlessly overseas?, Doesn’t the pathetic state of the nation elicit their concern? Are they unperturbed about the poor pace of development in Nigeria?. Are they not moved by the plight of Nigerians?,, Is it an herculean task to dispose refuse, construct good roads, maintain infrastructures or pay salaries promptly? Is it daunting or exceptional to build schools , provide basic qualitative education or ensure health care for all?, why does it seem virtually impossible to guarantee mere safety of lives and properties in Nigeria?. Why is it practically unattainable to provide either potable water or power supply throughout the country?, What in heaven’s name can make public officials to be defiantly and openly basking in unspeakable extravagance, while the people they are suppose to be serving are sinking in revolting deprivation? Why should Nigeria be the worst place to be born in the world in 2013? What kind of self inflicted morass have we found ourselves?, Why is it that things pertaining to the progress of Nigeria and welfare of Nigerians seem difficult to attain despite all the resources at our disposal?
As our representatives, our leaders at all arms, tiers and levels of Government are expected in line with global best practices to exhibit modesty in the deployment of public resources and allocation of perquisites for their personal use. The state has an obligation to create conditions that will enable people have the opportunity to thrive and prosper. Governments ought to strive by policies, actions and programmes to promote the wellbeing of people. Unfortunately, while the people are sinking into an abyss of squalor, poverty and hopelessness, the leaders are swimming in the sea of opulence, affluence and wealth. Just last year, the Economist published a report that Nigerian lawmakers are the highest paid in the world. This is the height of superciliousness, heartlessness, greediness and atavism. It is plainly unjustifiable and unconscionable!. What one observes is the weird desire of current office holders to surpass the profligacy of their predecessors. A food for thought: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in its 2013 Human Development Index Report 2013 stated that Nigeria is not one of the African countries recording remarkable improvement in its human development index. The Report listed Angola, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Tanzania as among the African countries that made the greatest strides in Human Development Index improvement since 2000.
Nigeria was ranked amongst countries with low development index at 153 out of 186 countries that were ranked. Life expectancy in Nigeria is placed at 52 years old while other health indicators reveal that only 1.9 per cent of the nation’s budget is expended on health. 68.0 per cent of Nigerians are stated to be living below $1.25 daily while adult illiteracy rate for adult (both sexes) is 61.3 per cent. The report comes despite the reported growth in the Nigerian economy, despite the widespread assertion that it is among the fastest growing economies in the world and the recent revalidation which has resulted in the claim that Nigeria is the biggest economy in Africa. It is common knowledge that some of these official government statistics are often inaccurate and bretton woods ratings could be misleading. But what cannot be disputed is that Nigeria actually has the highest number of unemployed graduates in Africa, a sad development given that in a country with Nigeria’s resources, everybody who is willing and able should be able to secure a job that can guarantee him or her an adequate income. In addition, by now Nigeria should have a well developed social security scheme that should cater for the unemployed, sick, underemployed, injured, physically challenged and people who have lost their jobs.
The truth is that Nigerians are disenchanted with the performance of their representatives at the legislative and executive arms of government. They seem to be more concerned with feathering their nests at the expense of their constituents. I dont see any reason why they should be enjoying estacodes, furniture, meal, wardrobe, entertainment and a host of allowances ranging from the sublime to the ludicrous running into millions of naira when the masses whom they claim to represent can hardly afford three square meals per day. I stand to be controverted that even in the so called western democracies that we seek to mimic every now and then, public officials do not lavish public funds on their personal comfort like their Nigerian counterparts. They regard public service as an avenue to serve, to make an impact and leave indelible footprints in the sands of time. But in Nigeria, the reverse and the outlandish is the case, as public officials have equated service with mindboggling plundering and self aggrandizement. It is simply the peak of vaingloriousness and sociopathy to see public officials at the federal, state and local government levels, name projects executed with public funds after themselves. Nigeria is steeped in a situation where, despite feeding fat on our collective misery and totally shortchanging us, yet the leaders still seek to finally seek to eviscerate all the modicums of humanity from the people. Someone once remarked that the average Nigerian leader is peerless globally in the art of squandering and lavishing state funds . It is time to put an end to this insanity called needless and wasteful spending on and by public officials so that we can free funds to service the people in terms of affordable and accessible education, health care facilities, agricultural incentives, small business development and poverty alleviation packages
The generality of Nigerians i.e the youths, women, aged, sick, physically challenged, children, refugees, families, homeless etc have sacrificed so much and endured too many hardships . The time is ripe for the incoming administrations at all tiers to stand up for, stand for and places the Nigerian people first. It’s time for them to stand with the millions of economically emasculated and financially hemorrhaged Nigerians out there who have lost their jobs, dignity, homes, lives, futures etc as a result of bad leadership. Instead of listening to the assortment of campaign contributors, party apparatchiks, spin doctors, sycophants, media hacks, palace courtiers, contract hagglers, corporate freeloaders etc that suffocate and clog them and their offices, it is time for our leaders to start listening to the voices of overwhelming majority of Nigerians who are badly in need of a change in their deplorable socio-economic and political conditions. We want leaders who will put the welfare and wellbeing of the people first, leaders who are responsive to our situations, leaders with milk of kindness, empathy and selflessness flowing through their veins. Leaders of natural benignancy and innate compassion who genuinely and saliently have the people at heart, leaders who will make safeguarding the welfare and interests of the people and country their paramount concern and sincerely, assiduously and innovatively work for them. Leaders who can gauge the pulse of the people and strive to actualize their needs and optimize their potentials. Leaders who have the capacity to shun grandiose, meaningless and white elephant projects for basic amenities and social services. Leaders that can create condusive climes that will guarantee basic social, political, cultural and economic rights, avail Nigerians the opportunities to self actualize, while at the same time harnessing all its potentials towards lifting the nation and its peoples from its current depth of despondency to the highway of development.
At this stage , the message to the current Buhari administration is that welfare of the Nigerian citizen must be paramount, non negotiable and inviolable. Nigerians and Nigeria deserves no less than this
Adekunle Theophilius, Pilot facilitator INEE conflict sensitive education, Nigeria and Chief Training and Manpower Develiopment Officer, MINILS