Nigeria At 66: Hopes And Impediments

By REUBEN ABATI

“Hopes and Impediments” is the title of a 1988 collection of essays by the legendary writer, Chinua Achebe, and it is perhaps the most appropriate phrase to describe Nigeria’s present condition as the country celebrates its 66thindependence anniversary on October 1. At 66, Nigeria is “biologically”, a mature nation – no person that attains such an age is considered a toddler – he or she has seen many seasons and would have received some education, if not wisdom along the line. But how has it been with Nigeria? Has independence brought the country and its people useful lessons and enough hopes about the future? Is the country at a level, the place, where it should be in the comity of nations? What are the obstacles that it has had to deal with – how and why? At 66, the sad reality is that the country is at a crossroads, with fears and anxieties in the people’s hearts, grappling with what is otherwise taken for granted in many other countries. This year’s independence anniversary is being celebrated at a time when the country is busy searching for its elected President who has been away from the country in Europe on what has been termed a “working leave”, which was recently even further extended without the necessary constitutional cover.

The President’s prolonged absence has invited comparison with those earlier recorded moments when President Umaru Yar’Adua disappeared from the country without handing over to his Vice President (Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan) and everyone became an expert on Constitutional interpretation, resulting in the invocation of s so-called “doctrine of necessity”. The same concern about a missing President, perhaps an absentee President, was repeated during the period when President Muhammadu Buhari left the country for medical reasons, for a long stretch without transmitting a letter, accordingly, to the National Assembly. The three episodes speak to the same thing: the culture of “anyhow-ness” that drives the governance process in Nigeria. It is the “Kabiyesi” syndrome at work also, what the Yoruba summarise as “tani ma mu mi” , a military era hangover which means “who will dare question my authority?” And yet this is a democratic dispensation. Our leaders only remember to respect the laws of the land, when they are forced to do so. Respect for the rule of law is not a habit. It is something remembered only as is convenient. It is an option. President Tinubu’s spokespersons have assured us that he will return to the country today, about a month after he travelled on a working leave, in time to join the rest of us in celebrating the 66th Independence Anniversary. If he chooses to extend his arrival by another 24 hours, no one can do anything about that. Not the National Assembly. Not the Federal Cabinet. Not even the opposition parties.  Sixty-six years is long enough time for Nigerian leaders to learn to do the right things, at the right time, in accordance with the law and respect for the people. The crisis of power management and leadership is the bane of the Nigerian experience. The colonial rulers trampled upon the people. The military held the country hostage for decades. The civilians who took over have not fared better either. We used to say that certain things cannot happen here: that delusion has been shattered for what it is, worse things have happened here.

What has kept the country going, in the worst of seasons: military overthrow of the civilian dispensation (1966, 1975, 1983, 1985, 1993), failed coups (1976, 1990), the civil war (1967 – 1970), economic contraction (since the 1986 Structural Adjustment Programme), collapse of the oil sector, violence in the Niger Delta, multidimensional poverty, outbreak of health challenges (Ebola, COVID), electoral violence,  the theft of the people’s right to choose, ethnic and religious violence, Boko Haram, terror and insurgency –  has been the resilience of the people themselves, our capacity to thrive in the midst of chaos, the ability of the average Nigerian to look despair in the face and quickly adjust, reinvent and move forward. Too often, Nigeria has journeyed to the brink, the edge of disaster, only to pull back. We have spent more time as an independent nation – 66 years from October 1, 1960 – whereas colonial rule took all of 60 years (1900 – 1960), but it is part of our dilemma that many among us look back to the colonial era with nostalgia. Nigeria has actually gone through three distinct phases of colonialism: British colonialism first, internal military colonialism second, and third, the current embrace of self-imposed colonialism with the new rulers having handed over the state to Europeans, Asians and the World Bank/IMF in the search for solutions to the country’s economic woes. We are yet to find the right leadership mix. We do not have a properly structured leadership recruitment process. The best among us run away from politics, the field is dominated by those who have Godfathers in high places and enough money to buy the people.

This same country whose potentials were well advertised at independence and which once projected itself as the “giant of Africa” is now trapped in the woes of multidimensional poverty. Once a wealthy nation, we mismanaged our good fortune. Yet, the people have learnt to remain optimistic. The poorest of the poor in Nigeria nurses the hope that one day, he will have a breakthrough, and become prosperous. This is perhaps because this is one of the most religious countries on the surface of the earth. The spellbinders who call themselves religious leaders feed the people with hope, and even greater expectations in afterlife. The people pray when work is required. When they are overwhelmed by man-made challenges, they invoke the name of God. When things become really hard, they still call on God for a solution. Nigerians blackmail God for everything. It is the way God wants it. God’s will must prevail.  God’s time is the best. That is what Nigerians say but do our people really know God?  At a time, the world is discussing Artificial Intelligence and cutting-edge technology, most members of the Nigerian community are in churches and mosques, looking for miracles. When nothing works, or they think God is not answering them quickly enough, they kill, steal, loot and destroy whatever they can – in the name of God too. Or they hand over everything to God. For Nigeria to make progress, the people must stop blackmailing God and hold themselves and their leaders accountable. They must allow the institutions of state to work. The people must become citizens, and stop mocking God with their hypocrisy. While launching an Anti-Corruption Inter-Faith Manual, last week, the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission disclosed that the agency has many clerics in its case files who have been investigated, prosecuted or imprisoned.

Nigerians have not translated their optimism into collective action, and that is why the country is yet to fulfil its potentials, the people thrive better as individuals. The average Nigerian’s resilience works better at the individual level. We stand out as individuals pursuing private dreams, but not as a people, working together for a common purpose.  We seek personal glory, while treating the country as nobody’s property. We identify as local, ethnic champions, but our sense of Nigerian-ness is subdued. Nigerians have the ability to excel at whatever they do, be it crime or the professions, but we do not trust one another. Nigerians have excelled in virtually every field of human endeavour. They have even found a way to break into the Guinness Book of World Records, turning this into a sport. We may no longer qualify as the giant of Africa but we are ahead of many of the other 53 countries on the continent. But are many of us proud of the Nigerian identity? No. The Nigerian today is in every part of the world. The other day they even found a Nigerian in the Antarctica on a world expedition. One other Nigerian lives in Yakustk, Siberia, one of the coldest places on earth. He is married to a Chinese. There is no challenge too difficult for a Nigerian to take on. We are a nation of adventurous people. We are a nation of achievers in sports, literature, science, space exploration, arts and culture, music, performing arts, military service, name it. We are a source of envy for others, especially the South Africans. 

But with all our exposure and adventure, we have not been able to translate our knowledge into advantages at home. Our leaders travel all over the world. They see all that is good abroad, but they lack the commitment to make life better for the people. Those who chose to make a difference by returning home, by identifying with home, have been forced by the reality of daily life in Nigeria to flee. One US-based, accomplished, Nigerian patriot once came home to set up a farm in his state, and create jobs for his people. He was kidnapped on his farm and killed. His spouse took his body back to the United States in a casket. Many other professionals listened to the call of the motherland and came home to contribute their own quota to national development, they were frustrated out by the Nigerian factor: a hostile work environment, hospitals that can kill, irregular power supply, bad roads, poor infrastructure, a public education system that has failed, corruption in and out of government corridors. Many have died needlessly in an attempt to identify with this homeland: kidnapping is rampant, you could sleep on the highway because erosion has swept the roads away. In the North East and the North West, bandits and terrorists have set up operations, wreaking havoc. The country’s unemployment rate is so high, many of the people are busy trying to take advantage of anyone who can still earn a decent living. There are no standards. Fake products everywhere. Fake human beings. Fake government agencies. Living in Nigeria requires a special skill in the art of survival. The biggest challenge is perhaps the ethical disorientation in the land. Strong cultural values once held the fabric of society together. The old society frowned upon instant, unexplained wealth. The civil servants, as well as public servants of old were queried if they lived above their means. The government bureaucracy was run by professionals. Governors in the states made a name for themselves by serving the people. Political leaders and their parties had known identities and programmes. We are now in the age of empty slogans, and artful dodgers who want to get into power to serve their selfish interests. Those who cannot stand the stress are fleeing abroad. They call it “japa”.

On October 1, we have been told that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will watch the premiere of a documentary on the late Chief MKO Abiola, the martyr of Nigerian democracy. The annulment of the June 12, 1993 election which he won and he was denied victory is a sad reminder of much that is wrong in contemporary Nigeria. MKO Abiola preached hope and prosperity. The people are still optimistic that one day, it will be well with Nigeria, when the people’s votes will count and their will, as expressed through the ballot, will be respected. In 2023, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office, again promising the people hope. He calls his contract with the people: Renewed Hope Agenda. He introduced a set of reforms through which he sought to build a new Nigeria. Three years later, he wants a second term of four years in office to enable him move the country from reforms to stability and consolidation. When he addresses the nation on October 1, his theme is: “From Reforms to Stability: Consolidating Nigeria’s Renewed Hope for Shared Prosperity” he will offer us again a diet of hope, and outline the achievements of his administration as justification for why he and his supporters believe that he deserves to remain in the Presidential Villa for another term of four years. Members of his ruling party, the APC, are campaigning with a sense of entitlement. They say there is no vacancy in the Presidential Villa. They do so because the opposition parties are not engaging the electorate with concrete alternatives. Out of the 17 other political parties on the ballot, many are relatively unknown. Three months to the 2027 general elections, many of them are yet to articulate any programme of action. Those that are better known merely mouth slogans, nothing concrete to hold on to, and so, the best that the people can demand is that the elections should be free, fair and credible. In all of these, the people themselves have become cynical about politics. They want money and gifts from the politicians.

When President Tinubu returns, he has one major, immediate task ahead: to ensure that his government provides a level playing field for democracy to thrive and that the coming elections are truly credible and fair. The longer-term assignment of making Nigeria a better place for all will require a whole of society approach. As Nigeria marks its 66th Independence anniversary, there should be no loud, wasteful, celebrations.