November 01, 2005

Nigerians are the only way out for Nigeria: Not Leaders without any Passion for the Nation

by Ojewale Caleb (Mushin, Lagos) --- Many of us Nigerians have given up on our leaders, our nation, and worse of all, on ourselves. We no longer believe in the entity called Nigeria, a nation which our few past heroes fought to unite, that entity which some unknown Nigerian(s) have died for the cause of upholding her unity and true independence.

Many of us Nigerians see our country as a nightmare. Many of us see our nation as a wild dream, an illogical experiment of a colonial master or probably of the then British empire come true. Nigeria is not the only country where there is more than a single tribe, why then is it so hard for her citizens to work and fight together against her oppressors instead of demanding for disintegration while her people suffer here in the country and beyond the shores of the country as well.

When would Nigeria be free from dictatorship? When would Nigeria become free of policies fashioned out to ‘discipline’ political rivals of incumbent administrations? Policies which may seem to be people oriented, but the end of which is bad news. Legislative amendments which should have been made to uphold the prevalence of the rule of law but at the end of which manipulation and ignorance is what the people see when there are law breaches in the human high places of this nation, the placement of ban on diverse goods and materials without liberalizing the market for prospective indigenous manufacturers and investors to fully utilize the ban to the advantage of the nation, enriching our leaders at the expense of some innocent people who have been misfortune enough to come from oil enriched parts of the country. Our problems are indeed uncountable, but for how long are we going to wait on some group people on whose agendas we have not yet featured.

Malaysia is currently one of the largest producing and exporting countries of palm oil and other palm produce, but I doubt if Nigerians know that this same Malaysia came to Nigeria in the 1970’s to purchase palm seedlings to be replanted while Nigeria has nothing to show for its previous years of agricultural glory and splendor. Nigeria has the finest grade of crude oil that can ever be found on this planet, yet, Nigerians are being deprived of enjoying this special gift of the almighty, let alone the inhabitants of the oil producing states. How I wish there were a better way to determine how well our leaders have done for us, but indeed, our leaders have failed. A country where her president has become the lapdog of the IMF, the World Bank, and other monetary organizations around the world, as well as some few leading countries in the world, such as the USA and Britain.

A country where her leaders can never, and would never take steps or decisions that would further enhance the living status of her citizens, unless there is going to be a reward for the kind gesture. Where they elected, voted for and sworn in to office so that they could appreciate only those "Nigerians" who got them into office? And not those other Nigerians who queued up under the sun to ensure their victory? If not, why then would Mr. president or any other state governor refuse to commission or give out a contract or project unless generous appreciation would be shown, most especially, to his foreign accounts. It is rather unfortunate that we have continued to cry for help. Help from whom? The same people who are busy investing workers’ salaries into their own private businesses? Or the same people who have turned taxpayers’ money into their own royalties for serving the people? Of course we should not, because they are leaders without a single passion for their nation.

Our leaders have failed us, and we have done worse by failing ourselves as a nation. We have not been confronting our problems, we have refused to identify our enemies and beat them to the challenge. The solutions to our problems lie in our ability to recognize not only our problems alone, but every single factor behind its existence – human or non-human. Our second step, which is the most important of it all, is to forget the cankerworm we call a government, work together as corporate bodies and organizations, individuals and diverse establishments, and see where our collective contributions towards the growth of our country would take us. Hopefully far beyond everything our governments can ever achieve, at least until the almighty sends down a mighty revolution. Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa said,

Many Nigerians deceive themselves by thinking that Nigeria is one. This pretence of unity is artificial. The southern tribes now pouring into the north do not mix with the northern people, we in the north look upon them as invaders.

If indeed our pretence of unity is artificial, it is no sufficient reason for us to disintegrate. The cause of this feeling of disunity is a Nigeria suffering from co-operative wickedness in the human high places which over the years have become bewitched by elements of backwardness. A decision which we all should make is total objectivity of our leaders, without geopolitical favoritism.

When a politician around you is doing things that dent the image of the country and worse still, affects people negatively, I admonish you not to be hypocrites. Never pretend to be in agreement with what he/she is doing when you really don’t. Why suffer in silence. Save yourself Nigeria!

Ojewale Caleb, P.O box 2751, Mushin post office, Mushin – Lagos

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