Forty years ago, I was a participant in a ceremony that marked the beginning of Nigeria’s sovereignty as a nation-state. As a member of the Boys Scouts at St. Stephen’s Anglican School, Ora, Igbomina, in the then Western Region, I was one of four youngsters who hoisted the Nigerian flag, for the first time, on a tall bamboo pole in front of the Ora Town Hall on October 1, 1960. Weeks before that historic day, we had been taught that beginning from October 1, we would no longer sing K’Olorun doba si (i.e., God, save the Queen). Rather, we had a new three-stanza anthem whose lyrics we had learned in English and Yoruba. With eyes fixed on the newly hoisted flag, it was with youthful gusto and patriotic zeal that we proudly sang:
Nigeria, a ki o ……..Nigeria, we hail thee
Ile wa to so won….. Our own dear native land
Loto ede ateya yato….. Though tribe and tongue may differ
Sibe a je okan…….. In brotherhood we stand
Nigeria A fe sin o…. Nigerians all are proud to serve
Ile wa t’aj’ogunba …..Our sovereign motherland
In 1960, Independence Day held great promise for us all. As the second stanza of our then national anthem proclaimed, we had hoped that “our flag shall be a symbol that truth and justice reign.” Unfortunately, a tiny minority among us hijacked our nation’s promissory note. This cabal of military locusts and parasitic politicians turned the promise into a nightmare for the rest of us. The prosperity we envisioned forty years ago has evaporated like mist. The bright stars that lit the Nigerian firmament in 1960 remain eclipsed by the hideous umbra of profligate banditry as Nigeria engages in Forbacky dances.
You may wonder what sort of dance Forbacky is. Forbacky, my first contribution to the lexicon of the English language is a combination and contraction of two antithetical words- “forward” and “backward.” When a person dances forward and backward, expending lots of energy but ending at the exact spot from where he started, that is Forbacky dance! It is a dance with plenty of motions but little or no direction- a perfect depiction of the tragedy of movement without progress. You might also have asked yourself: “How could a dance foretell the destiny of a nation?” The answer is simple. A dance is rarely an involuntary neuromuscular activity. Rather, it is the physical and deliberate display of emotion in response to some pleasure. Because dancing is a voluntary, cerebral activity, a man can be defined in part, by the occasions that induce him to dance. Likewise, the direction of a society can be assessed by the occasions that induce its leaders to act, or in this context, to dance.
Thus, the inspiration for the title of my talk today is Nigeria’s man of the hour- His Excellency, President Olusegun Obasanjo. According to newspaper reports, our President has been in a dancing mood in recent times. Not too long ago, President Obasanjo and the Honorable Dr. Chuba Okadigbo, former Senate President, danced with each other’s spouse at the opening of the official residence of the Senate President. I imagined that the four of them danced forward and backwards, gyrating their bellies, while sycophantic lyrics boomed in flattery of these political juggernauts whom the late Dr. Kingsley Mbadiwe would have called “men of timber and caliber.” In attendance at this dim-witted cornucopia of prodigality in which the scarce resources of a poor nation were being imprudently wasted were the usual bevy of parasitic courtiers, expert bootlickers and professional yes-men and women- all exhibiting their teeth in the semi-drunken guffaws of privilege run amuck! Not too long after that, according to newspaper reports, our President went into the Chapel at the Presidential Villa, formerly known as Aso Rock and again danced to the cheers of his friends and staff. This time, the dance was prompted by the removal from office of the very man whose wife he danced with a few days earlier!
What then can we learn from the Forbacky dances of our President? Plenty! When the leaders of our Executive and Legislative arms of government created a dance jamboree to “open” a house, they were hardheartedly flaunting obscene luxury in a desert of grueling want. For over eleven years now, I have lived in Mount Lebanon, a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. For many of these years, one of our neighbors was Rick Santorum, a young man who was elected to the United States Senate six years ago. Some of Santorum’s supporters were disappointed when a few years ago, Rick sold his house and moved his family to Virginia. Questioned on the rationale for not maintaining his residence in Mount Lebanon, Santorum explained that he was not rich enough to afford two houses. In order to buy a house in Virginia or anywhere near Washington D.C., he had to sell his house in Mount Lebanon. If only Santorum had been elected into the Senate of Nigeria rather than that of the United States of America.
In Nigeria, the Senate would have appropriated enormous sums of money to build residences for Santorum, his colleagues and their staff. In addition, senators would have awarded themselves obscene fringe benefits such as 800 percent of their annual salary as furniture allowance! And in doing that, they would have been following in the footsteps of our self-proclaimed anti-corruption President who gave each member of his Cabinet over 3 million naira as furniture allowance! But of course, Santorum lives in a country where power means service not jobbery; privilege denotes responsibility rather than graft. We may recall that in Santorum’s country, Senator Dole served as Senate President while he and his wife, Elizabeth Dole, a member of President Reagan’s Cabinet, lived in a two-bedroom flat in the Watergate Apartment complex in Washington D.C. Incidentally, Santorum and Dole are citizens of the richest nation in human history.
In Nigeria, monkeys work and baboons chop! And so our President danced even as our treasury hemorrhaged because our Senators wasted little time in metamorphosing into “Stealators.” By proxy, the Ministers had meanwhile been corrupted into “Sinisters”. But as we say back home, “No be them fault!” If Nigerian Senators and cabinet members are entitled to over 500 percent of their annual salary as furniture allowance, so should all Nigerians working in the public service. Why have the Nigerian workers been so slow in demanding similar prorated fringe benefits? If billionaire Theophilus Danjuma, multimillionaire Tony Anenih and successful lawyer Bola Ige needed 500 percent of their salary as furniture allowance, could a very easy case not be made for every worker in the Public Service? Benefits good for the geese should be equally good for the ganders; if it was okay for ministers and senators to enjoy “good” allowances, it should be okay for the workers to do the same.
Why, therefore, are Nigerian workers so reticent in the face of the daylight roguery pervading contemporary Nigeria? Does anyone doubt that the “Stealators” and “Sinisters” who now have a field day pillaging the Nigerian treasury will continue to do so? In any case, our ancestors put it quite well: “He who refuses to slap a buffoon would never have another face to slap.” Without question, many Nigerian politicians perceive and treat the Nigerian masses as mere buffoons to be cheated and slapped. The worst tragedy of the on-going plunder of the Nigerian treasury is not that professional kleptocrats are still parading the corridors of power in our nation.
Our worst tragedy is the cadaverous unconcern of the Nigerian citizenry in the wake of massive corruption and wanton abuses of office. Not too long ago, the murderous ruthlessness of Sani Abacha was the excuse that some offered for the widespread banal inaction and reprehensible apathy that impeded a people’s revolt against the accursed regime of a proven despot and his cohort of Satanic accomplices. Is that excuse still tenable? When any arrangement, whether military or civilian, denigrates the lives of a people to a fragment of hell, should they not wake up, organize and revolt against it?
On May 29, 1999, Nigeria commenced another appointment with destiny. Destiny, of course, is never a port of history immutably preordained by the gods. Rather, it is the ultimate harvest of the unremittingly linked cascade of human thoughts, beliefs, words, actions, habits and character. Hence, we can easily peep into the future and glimpse at the destiny of Nigeria. Nations, like individuals, must sleep on whatever bed they have laid. We had hoped that under the leadership of President Obasanjo, Nigeria would promptly begin to lay a new bed- one that will be free of blood-sucking bedbugs and pestiferous lice masquerading as leaders and statesmen.
Yes, Nigeria danced forward on May 29, 1999 when after years of pernicious military dictatorships, Chief Obasanjo was inaugurated as civilian President. But before we could say Kenule Saro-wiwa, Nigeria had danced backwards when Obasanjo recycled into the corridor of power the very despicable cast of characters- expert kleptocrats, professional sycophants, reprobate autocrats, pestiferous parasites and internal colonialists cum predatory marauders who steadfastly aided Babangida and Abacha in the ruination of our motherland. Forbacky dances! Having inhaled the chloroform of complacency with its anesthetizing effect, many of us revel in the malaise of misplaced optimism. In sad reality, the prognosis for Nigeria is very, very, bad. Nothing portends Nigeria’s precarious destiny better than the forbacky dances of the last 16 months. Three years ago, Nigerian pro democracy groups and activists flooded the Commonwealth Conference in Edinburg Scotland in a determined effort to derail the Satanic ambition of Sani Abacha. Also present at that conference were the errand boys of Sani Abacha. One of them, Chief Tony Anenih, constantly spewed threats at those who dared to challenge the wishes of his master. Today, he is not only a senior member of Obasanjo’s cabinet, he is among Obasanjo’s closest confidants! Any wonder then, that Obasanjo’s government remains saddled by endless avoidable blunders! Forbacky dance!
Nigeria danced forward when Obasanjo asserted that his highest loyalty would be to the Nigerian people. But before we could say Alfred Rewane, Nigeria was dancing backwards as it became clear that Obasanjo is still a hostage of the retired generals and their civilian surrogates who sponsored his candidacy. The repulsive appointment of the very people that systematically ruined our educational system as the Chancellors of our premier Universities spoke volumes. Those who remember that Prof. Tunde Adeniran, Obasanjo’s Minister of Education, had been Babangida’s lackey at MAMSER should not have been surprised at all. Indeed, the surprise should be that Babangida’s wife (alias Mamangida) was excluded from the list of Chancellors! Who knows, our Minister of Education might soon rectify this omission. We have to await his expression of Nigeria’s gratitude to Her Excellency, Mamangida, for her contributions to Nigerian womanhood through her “Better Life for Women” charades. Whatever reward is good for the boss might be just as good for the boss’s wife. But let us leave the ridiculous for the sublime.
Nigeria danced forward when President Obasanjo announced his crusade against corruption as part of the rebirth of our nation. Jesus spoke of the difficulty of a camel passing through the needle’s eye. Of course, Jesus was not a Nigerian! Otherwise, He would have known that in Nigeria, an elephant, even if it carries a hippopotamus on its back, will easily pass through the needle’s eye! No wonder, before we could say Kudirat Abiola, Nigeria was already dancing backwards because Obasanjo’s vision of rebirth allows for giant camels of corruption to easily pass through the needle’s eye of justice! Take the clear-cut case of Buhari, former Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives. The Office of the President asserted that the Buhari scandal was a matter solely for the legislative arm of government to investigate. It is difficult to find a graver dereliction of duty in the guise of maintaining the separation of the responsibilities of the different arms of government.
The truth is that whereas the Legislature and Judiciary, respectively, make and interpret the law, it is the Executive that is charged with the enforcement of laws and constitutional provisions. Does the Police Force, an arm of the Executive, have a higher duty than the investigation of alleged violations of the law? Likewise, does the Ministry of Justice have a higher calling than ensuring the faithful prosecution of those who break the law? Yes, Nigeria danced backwards when our President reneged so soon on his much-publicized promise that there shall be no sacred cows in his war against corruption. The Buhari scandal was an acid test for the seriousness of Nigerians and our Federal Government to create a nation free of the autolysis of corruption and the putrefaction of inaction which, for so long, had debilitated our nation. Alas! A golden opportunity to sanitize our polity and set lofty standards for our country’s political leadership was frittered via subterranean compromises by the Obasanjo Government. No wonder, the apostles of impudent criminality recently attempted to resurrect Buhari as Speaker of the Federal House. Even for Nigeria, it was an embarrassingly crude step in the forbacky dance of political decadence!
Nigeria danced forward when President Obasanjo promised to give high priority to the sinfully neglected Delta region of Nigeria and its untold environmental degradations. But before we could say Moshood Abiola, Nigeria was dancing backwards as our military inflicted Odi with carnage and genocide. Today, the Delta region of Nigeria remains a curse on Nigeria. If there is God, and I very fervently believe that there is God, Nigeria will neither prosper nor know peace until the injustices done to the Niger Delta are redressed.
It is easy to list, ad infinitum, the egregious lapses – what I call forbacky dances – of the Obasanjo government. Without question, we have witnessed in the last sixteen months a perennial catalogue of grave errors of commission and egregious blunders of omission by the Obasanjo government. However, egregious as these lapses are, they are not Nigeria’s greatest problems. Rather, if we, Nigerians, want to know our greatest problems, all we need to do is stare at a mirror. As William Shakespeare wrote, “the fault, dear Brutus is not in our stars but in ourselves, that we are underlings.” We take humiliations in a masterly manner from year to year. Inexpedient as it may be, we carry our lives in crushing reticence and in the supreme contentment of waiting. Perennially, we waddle in the cesspool of half-truth and outright falsehood about how to terminate our pathology of paralysis. Because these fallacies and falsehoods have crippled us for far too long, I must debunk five of them although my doing so comes with the risk of being misunderstood. It is a risk I soberly but gladly now take.
Fallacy Number One: God loves Nigeria and Only God will save Nigeria: Whenever Nigeria’s problems are discussed, it does not take long before someone asserts, with an air of sanctimoniousness, that “only God can save Nigeria.” Sometimes, those who make such assertions cloak themselves in the toga of intellectual sophistry as they mockingly ask an activist: “What changes have been achieved on account of your activism?” Of course, it is easy to countermand such scoffers by asking them in return: “Why has God not changed Nigeria despite your prayers and the religious fervor of Nigerians? Despite endless prayers, fasting, retreats, revivals and million-man jamborees, why do Nigerian telephones and power supply constantly fail? Most Japanese care nothing about the Bible or the Koran but their telephones work, as do their railway system and other public utilities.
By contrast, why are Nigerian post offices, passport and immigration offices, educational institutions and public utilities in such state of chaos and dysfunction? Does God not love Nigeria? Can the omnipotent God not cure the problems of NEPA in an instant? Why do preventable diseases like meningitis, cholera, typhoid, malaria and malnutrition continue to denigrate the lives our people to a fragment of hell? Does God not care? Is He not able to save? The answers are simple: God cares; He is able to save. But we, Nigerians, deceive ourselves when we parade religious dogma as authentic spirituality. In today’s Nigeria, the name of Jesus has been reduced to a magical mantra invoked like a metaphysical abracadabra by those who are doctrinally too erroneous, intellectually too lazy, politically too obtuse, socially too reactionary and ideologically too confused. Because they are also spiritually too undiscerning, attitudinally too miserly, physically too undisciplined and psychologically too detached, they are of little use to God or man! For Moses, Joshua, Nehemiah, Esther, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Nahum, Obadiah, Micah, Habakkuk, John the Baptist and yes, Jesus Christ, faith was not a fatalistic resignation in the face of challenges. Indeed, even in the most supernal of tasks, that of saving of a soul, the Apostle Paul says, “we are laborers together with God” (1 Corinthians 3: 9). God loves Nigeria and will use Nigerians to rescue Nigeria from its rut. Those who use God’s holy name as canopy for their inaction and dereliction of civic duty forget that the essence of true religion lies not in sanctimonious creed but in sanctified deed. It is true that the Bible says that the just shall live by faith (Habakkuk 4: 2). However, faith without works is metaphysical hogwash. Indeed, the Apostle James bluntly calls it “dead religion.”
Fallacy Number Two: All that Nigeria needs is a good government, and God has raised Obasanjo to provide it. Because of a juvenile interpretation of Scriptures, especially the 13th Chapter of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, there are those who constantly assert that Obasanjo was raised by God to provide the only need of Nigeria-a good government. Such people should be reminded that God was alive when Mussolini, Josef Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Idi Amin, Mobutu Sesesoko, Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha and other despots ascended to power.
The point here is not that Obasanjo belongs to this phylum of despots. Rather, one is debunking the fallacy of ascribing all events in history to God. My Evangelical Christian faith is comfortable with the notion of God’s permissive will enabling Obasanjo to become our President. However, Christians know that sometimes, the permissive will of God is completely different from His directive will. The election of Chief Obasanjo as the President of Nigeria was directed not by God but by a survivalist, self-serving cabal of current and retired Generals. On at least two occasions, I published articles about Obasanjo’s antecedents showing why he would be a very bad President at this momentous pass of Nigeria’s history. Of course, the view of one person, no matter how considered, need not prevail.
Flawed as the electoral process was, Chief Obasanjo emerged as President and deserved the support of all Nigerians. In accordance with the finest tradition of democratic liberalism, I immediately not only offered President Obasanjo my congratulations, I pledged to him my daily prayers and whatever support I can render to ensure his success. Hence, despite the personal discomfort of the exercise, I published a scathing article in six Nigerian newspapers taking the leadership of the AD and Afenifere to task over their objection to Chief Ige serving in the Obasanjo cabinet. Unfortunately, it is now obvious that all Nigeria will get from President Obasanjo is administrative tinkering. A federalism gone asunder is the albatross strangling Nigeria’s neck. Obasanjo has no intention to free us from this Draconian octopus with its suffocating tentacles. In any case, in the name of national unity, it was Obasanjo’s earlier regime that buried voracious termites beneath the wood of Nigerian federalism. Nigeria will never know peace or prosperity for as long as we adhere to the current overbearing, centralist system in which the Federal Government has the audacity to fix the salaries of state functionaries. Is it imaginable that the US Federal Government would establish a salary structure that binds the States of California, New York, Mississippi, Texas and Minnesota?
In what other federal system in the world are taxes collected from one state and dispersed to others? The fundamental defects in the structure of Nigerian Federation will still be with us after Obasanjo leaves office. Unchanging changes: forbacky dance indeed! Why are Delta region states not given the control of the resources within their territory? Does the United States Federal Government control the oil of Texas, Oklahoma or Louisiana? Why should only the Federal Government have a police force? Some have argued that because regional police forces had sometimes been used as instruments of victimization in the past, they should remain disbanded. By that very logic, the Nigerian Police Force and the entire Nigerian Military should be disbanded. Certainly, they too have been used on too many occasions as instruments of oppression. Were we not eyewitnesses to the use of the Nigerian Police Force to subvert the electoral wishes of the people in many parts of Nigeria during the 1983 election? Was the apparatus of the federal police and the military not used to terrorize the Nigerian people during the dark days of Babangida and Abacha? Should they too be disbanded?
As military dictator, Obasanjo’s regime was the first in Nigerian history to assign military officers as governors of states from where they did not originate. The fixation on unity, as if it is an end unto itself, was the pernicious foundation for the internal colonialism of the Babangida-Abacha years. As military dictator, Obasanjo’s regime was the first to forcibly either ban or acquire the ownership of private newspapers. Today, we still do not have any constitutional guarantees against such acquisition. As military dictator, Obasanjo’s regime was the first in Nigerian history to sack Nigerian workers en masse without established due process. The Nigerian civil service, once among the best in the world, collapsed under the weight of misguided passion for so-called national discipline because sober judgement and due process were recklessly trampled. Twenty-five years later, among Obasanjo’s first acts as President was the sacking of workers who, again, were denied due process.
As military dictator, Obasanjo’s regime was the first in Nigerian history to forcibly acquire state properties and institutions without any compensation. Twenty-five years later, Obasanjo has given us no indication that he now understands the deleterious consequences of this malignant centralism. As military dictator, Obasanjo’s government eroded the autonomy of state-owned television and radio stations by imposing so-called national programs. As a consequence, those stations asphyxiated under the burden of intemperate centralism. For example, Western Nigerian Television, once the best in Africa, became a caricature of itself. Indeed, Obasanjo prepared the ground for the use of those stations in furthering the satanic ambitions of more heinous despots that later ascended to power. As military dictator, Obasanjo’s regime was allergic to open discourse and criticism. Obarogie Ohanbamu, Edwin Ikechukwu Madunagu, Areoye Oyebola, Gbolabo Ogunsanwo and many other illustrious Nigerians were forced to lose their jobs when they dared criticize Obasanjo. Twenty-five years later, in Atlanta Georgia, when a Nigerian expressed the concerns of his people, our supposedly democratic President lashed out in an autocratic outburst: “Go to hell!” Without doubt, Nigeria needs good governance.
However, there is no indication that Obasanjo now has what it takes to provide the visionary leadership that this moment demands. In any case, even if by some miracle Obasanjo were able to provide good governance, what happens when he leaves office? Wisdom dictates to us all that this simple question be given our urgent and grave attention. We desperately need a better structure, a new political arrangement in which the Presidency does not suffocate our lives by its omnipotence and omnipresence.
Fallacy Number Three: Nigerian unity is our highest national priority At independence, our nation adopted a simple motto- Unity and Faith. But the metastases of military oligarchy and its centralist tendencies have ruined Nigeria’s unity. Today, the Federation of Nigeria is a fatally flawed structural abnormality. The inordinate concentration of power in the central government is a mockery of federalism. For too long, by dishonestly touting unity as an end unto itself, survivalist dictators have created Federal monsters that gobbled at our innate diversity as if our God-created diversity is, of itself, an evil! It is now certain that President Obasanjo can never lead us out of this political silliness and intellectual dishonesty. An African does NOT cease to be human simply because he is African; a Nigerian does not cease to be African simply because of being a Nigerian. For heaven’s sake, the diversity of our nationalities as Tiv, Jukum, Ijaw, Ibiobio, Hausa, Igbo, Ogoni, Fulani, Yoruba or what have you, in no way detracts from Nigerian patriotism. In any case, our checkered history leaves us with absolutely irrefutable evidence that the harmonious coexistence of Nigerian nationalities will not be erected on the foundation of a coercive, centralist structure that discountenances our diversity. Moreover, contemporary events in many parts of the world clearly reveal that the issue of nationality is not one to be buried under the carpet of mere pretense and coerced relationship. Ask the people of Bosnia and of Yugoslavia. Ask the people of our former colonial masters, the so-called “United Kingdom” of Great Britain where the Scottish, Welsh and Irish now assert their nationalities after centuries of rigmarole.
Recently, I read a brilliant and most evocative article entitled “Stop the bus I want to get off” by Orok Edem. Edem likened Nigeria to a bus that perennially travels in the wrong direction. He opined that Nigerian Minority ethnic groups will be better by getting off the Nigerian bus. One wishes that the Nigerian experiment will succeed and the Nigerian bus will commence travelling in the right direction. Without question, a big size confers some advantages to a nation. But if our size and heterogeneity remain a hindrance to our prosperity, all of us will be better served by getting off the Nigerian bus. The legacies of Chief Obafemi Awolowo in Western Nigeria bear witness that even without oil resources, the Yorubas will be far better off the Nigerian bus. Awolowo demonstrated that with Spartan discipline and judicious husbandry of limited resources, quantum leaps of progress are possible even if a people have no oil.
Likewise, the Hausa-Fulani would be better off the Nigerian bus where they can resume the tremendous multi-faceted development that took place under the leadership of the Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello. Needless to say, the legacies of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Dr. Michael Okpara resoundingly prove that the Igbos would have been far better off had they not been forced back into the Nigerian bus. Needless to say, the Nigerian Minorities such as those in the Delta region or the Middlebelt would have done far better on their own. What is the logic or morality of this fixation on unity? Let us stay united if and only if being “united” will foster peace, liberty and prosperity for our people. Otherwise, let us convoke around a mahogany table and discuss the terms of our parting of ways. What we call unity today is nothing but coerced co-existence in which all of us are equal opportunity victims of distrust and concomitant marginalization.
Fallacy Number Four: Our part of Nigeria is marginalized In traveling across Nigeria, one commonly encounters the fallacy of the greener grass. “Those in the other parts of Nigeria are doing much better than “we” are; “they” have better schools, hospitals, roads etc.” Quite commonly, southerners portray the north as a region flowing with milk and honey; easterners think the westerners are doing swell; the westerners think that life is more abundant in northern and eastern Nigeria! This myth is echoed daily across Nigeria. In sad reality, Nigeria has been reduced to a fragment of hell, from Port Harcourt to Kaura Namoda and from Lagos to Nguru. Today, a Yoruba is the President in Nigeria. But how has that preferentially benefited the workers of Osun State whose salaries are rarely paid on time? We must not discountenance the ethnocentric undercurrents of Nigerian politics. But we must not allow corrupt leaders to exploit the concern about marginalization for their self-serving purposes.
In any case, when a Nigerian politician decries the marginalization of his people, his primary concern is often for himself not the people; he is craving more opportunities for graft and embezzlement. If a Yoruba Stealator enriches himself by inflating the cost of procuring computers, does that make Yorubas less marginalized than their Ibiobio compatriots? Our elite, regardless of ethnic origin, are plundering Nigeria’s treasury while sentencing the masses of all ethnic groups to marginal existence. How many of our senators or ministers are concerned that after 30 years of service, the total gratuity of a professor, engineer, lawyer, surveyor, teacher or civil servant is less than the furniture allowance of a senator or minister? What is needed is a united front by the marginalized masses of Nigeria against adventurers in power and career opportunists who have turned public service into looting service.
Fallacy Number Five: Nigeria is a rich and great country It is true that God has bequeathed Nigeria with abundant natural resources that can make us a rich and great nation. However, the truth is that nations do not become rich or great simply because they have natural resources. The Soviet Union, a nation with a surfeit of natural resources, languished in economic stagnation and eventually imploded under the crushing weight of its own internal contradictions. Their experience and ours epitomize the great gulf between greatness and potential greatness. Those who enjoy the thrill of watching a buffoon making a fool of himself may deceptively call us the “Giant of Africa” but we must not be hoodwinked by such frivolity. Of course, the antics of a buffoon in the market square is a comic relief but those who enjoy and laugh at such antics never wish to have a buffoon for a child.
The whole world has become a global village in which being “the giant of Africa” while remaining a “dwarf of the world” is nothing to sing about. The pandemics of grinding poverty, preventable diseases, ridiculous superstitions cloaked as religion, environmental degradation and technological backwardness, all sprawling across Nigeria are not indicators of greatness. Do we talk of greatness about a country where educational institutions have broken down, transportation services are backward, physical infrastructures are decrepit, and agricultural technology is primitive? Can we describe as great a nation where medical services are extremely poor, water supply is episodic, and power supply is epileptic? These variegated but all-too-familiar woes inflict economic asphyxiation and physical debilitation on our people. Yet, we talk about greatness! Likewise, how can we say that Nigeria is rich when there is more wealth in this city, Dallas Texas, than the entire country of Nigeria? Sure, Nigeria has the potential to be rich. As we speak, there are many individuals in this room today who have the potential to be rich. But unless they develop that potential, they will never be rich. Likewise, the wealth of nations is not created by wishful thinking or bloated ego. Rather, it is created and sustained by the concerted application of human ingenuity and discipline in the exploitation of natural resources.
Whither the Nigerian Bus? Ladies and Gentlemen, it is clear by now that I have not come here to paint for you a rosy picture about Nigeria’s future. I have long disqualified myself from the membership of OFN (Operation Fool the Nation). Problems are not solved when we shy away from them. The perennial recurrence of our woes is sufficient proof that problems do not disappear just by being neglected. The Nigerian bus is badly damaged. Together, we can repair it. Every bus needs headlights. Nigeria will not prosper until we embrace a collective vision of justice for all. If unity is our goal, justice must be our guiding light. When a nation sows the seed of injustice, it inevitably reaps disunity. Together, we must fight injustice in every part of our land. Every bus needs a roof, windscreens and a protective frame. For the Nigerian bus, the Rule of Law together with an unflagging adherence to universal human rights must be our roof and windscreen. Nigeria will not prosper until the winds of tyranny and the disregard for due process are structurally disabled from ever assaulting our human rights and civic liberties.
These liberties are our God-given unalienable rights. Any government attempting to infringe upon these liberties must be resisted by any means necessary. Every bus needs a steering wheel. For the Nigerian bus, the steering wheel must be discipline. And by discipline, I speak not of the regimentation of our lives by military or civilian autocrats. Rather, national discipline is the singular focus on noble goals and the rational process for achieving them. It is not about morbid centralism; it is about the resolute choices of a free people in moral pursuit of progress. Every bus needs breaks, and seat belts. For the Nigerian bus, our brakes and seat belts must be constitutional checks and balances that safeguard our nation against governmental excesses. Of course, every bus needs an engine, a battery, tires, wheels accelerators etc. I have no doubt that together, we can provide the Nigerian bus needs.
However, Ladies and Gentlemen, the issue is not what we can do together; it is what we shall do together. The options before us are limited- only three. First, we may leave the bus unattended and continue our journey of harrowing woes. Needless to say, it is suicidal for anyone to knowingly travel in a bus that is in a state of disrepair. Sooner or later, such a bus will crash. Ask the Soviet Union, India, Pakistan, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia all of whom imploded under the weight of internal stress. We must reject this option. Second, we may repair the bus and take a ride to peace and prosperity. Examples abound in history about nations that rebuilt from disrepair. Third, we may disembark the bus and let the passengers get unto new ones according to their sovereign and free wishes. That was what happened when Denmark peacefully broke into Sweden and Denmark; Sweden later peacefully broke into Norway and Sweden. That was what happened when Czechoslovakia peacefully broke into Czech and Slovakia. Quite frankly, I am completely comfortable either with joining to repair the Nigerian bus or helping to peacefully dismantle it so that we all can be spared the agonizing but inescapable destiny of riding a damaged bus to our collective perdition. And so, to that infinite Source of vision, wisdom, courage and grace, the Supreme One we call Allah, Chineke, Obong, Oghene, Olodumare, Ooundu, Osalobua etc., I say: So Help us God to either repair soon or peacefully and quickly dismantle our hapless bus!
The writer – Prof. Sola Adeyeye, was a professor of the University of Pennsylvannia. He was then theSecretary-General, United Democratic Front of Nigeria (UDFN). Thank God, he is now a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the platform of ACN representing Osun State. He wrote this article in 2000 during our 40th Independence Anniversary..
