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4 September 2009 By Saka Raji Audu
Nigeria, the giant of Africa and the thirteen poorest
nations in the world, got her independence from the
western imperialist nation. It was on 1st 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 31st
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 3rd
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 5th 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 6th 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 12th 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 3rd 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
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