We have always been stating an obvious fact about the coupled geographical entity named – without the original inhabitants’ consent – as Nigeria. This is that the entity is endowed with resources vital for it to achieve greatness! This is not minding that the people, now therein, have not yet been able, collectively, to convincingly answer questions such as: does Nigeria exist in their sub-consciousness? Who ‘really’ are Nigerians? What does Nigeria mean to them? Painfully, these ‘Nigerians’ have been unlucky (and wittingly and/or unwittingly complicit) in having past and present crop of ruinous leadership foisted on them, to the extent that they were, and still are, being forced to accept a lot of insult from misleaders! Nigeria’s growth and development have been stunted by those referring to themselves as political elite. This country is currently upside down like an inverted pyramid! It is still baffling, to us, how the country has been able to remain on its knees for this long! Nigeria is a survivalist! Thus, it should be commended!
The narration, here, will be skewed if mention is not made of the followers as contributors to Nigeria’s challenges. They have been mostly unable or unwilling to distinguish themselves – in the real sense – from their awful misleaders! They have made themselves available, as (willing) tools, for divisive games played by, and solely meant to benefit, their misleaders! They are also neck-deep in unbridled exercise of various primordial sentiments bothering on clannishness, tribalism, religious bigotry, among others! Sadly, these sentiments (hyped among gullible followers by the misleaders) have long been sustaining swindlers, in misleading garb, in power! This is power they have used, only, for nourishing retrogression! Misleaders hate Nigeria and Nigerians! Hence, they are the people’s enemies! Or who do we say they are for being supportive of ignorance among the people? What about the oxygen they provide for insecurity?
Should we simply say that the people deserve these misleaders? A painful part of this deliberate socio-politico-economic underdevelopment is that there are the ‘well-educated’, ‘enlightened’ and well-travelled in this country! These are people expected to rise above certain rudimentary level but whose pedestrian reasoning and associated behaviour are worse than those from simpletons! These ‘well-educated’, ‘enlightened’ and well-travelled people – expected to assist in giving proper orientation and reorientation to the genuinely uninformed and certain ignoramuses – end up terribly in need of that same helpful intervention! Is this a case of ‘experts’ practicing ‘quackery’? It, sadly, appears so! These are people (even within the ‘intellectual ivory towers’) who may have obtained the highest degrees but still reason at a scandalously low level! The kernel of their argument has always been that ‘politics is local’.
Of course, politics is local but not to the extent that it should be allowed to be deliberately made incapable of moving with sane modernity. Rather, it should be aided in acquiring good features that assure rights and empowerment of the people! It should not be the type that limits, and aims at enslaving, the people! Keeping the populace unenlightened and under enslavement are misleaders’ aims! Pure self-centeredness is the game played by ‘politics is local’ crooners! This pervades all strata of the society! These misleaders are eternally engrossed in their ‘succeeding’ aim at sustaining continuous plundering of public resources and ensuring permanent ignorance/docility of the followers. Consequently, there has been the systematic entrenchment and weaponisation of all types of poverty, illiteracy and ignorance with insecurity introduced in the recent past! It takes two to tango! For instance, poverty, in this context, is two-pronged.
It is almost impossible to not moralise in this kind of discussion! Indeed, we are aware that when it comes to politics, morality is thrown overboard! Nevertheless, things will be said as they are! First of all, what else, if not poverty, will make political ‘leaders’ see public office as a place to amass illicit wealth? They and their collaborating civil servants weaken the economy’s capacity to generate sustainable means of empowering the weak. The way(s) top civil servants and other bureaucrats have inaudibly contributed to Nigeria’s plight is/are awing! They are far from being statesmen/women! They pretend to not be, but are actually serial ‘looters’ that deplete government’s treasury and incapacitate the economy! All politicians do is to dole out peanuts and engage in political campaigns that are long on sleaze and short on substance!
The followers are the other leg of the conversation. Owing to poverty and cravings for their share of the ‘national cake’, they go for these peanuts. These are very demeaning tokens that are not meant to, nor can they ever, solve their problem, as payments for their votes! Irrespective of this truth, most of the condemnation should go to these misleaders. It is clear that they cannot give the effective leadership keenly needed for Nigeria’s sustainable growth and development! You cannot give what you do not have; so it is said! This is a good reason for the electorates to work together towards collective development of concrete social contractual agreements – having contents with verifiable timelines – between them and politicians. Yes, Nigeria is bereft of leadership vital for sustainable development! So, for violating agreements, electorates should invoke, and insist on, punishment(s) meant for politicians – at the polls.
Well now, what kind of leadership is expected from “cash and carry” soulless political ‘parties’? These ‘parties’ only differ in names but are without any distinguishing ideal(s)! The difference between these political ‘parties’ is the same! Do Nigerians realise that they are allowing an increasingly entrenched plutocracy? We are referring to a ‘democracy’ where candidates for elective political office pay as outrageously high as N40million to N100million for party nomination/expression of interest forms? This is a country where minimum wage is N30thousand! What of those shamelessly ‘buying’ delegates, during the recently held ‘party primaries’, with an almost unprintable amount in US dollars? Yes, US dollars! They were brazenly inconsiderate of public opinion! Alas, this hitherto incongruity is being normalised by the same public! Nigeria’s soul is close to being totally lost! The remainder is being sold – to ‘money’!
What about the delegates that were bought like mere commodities? Some of the delegates even flaunted part of this ‘pay-off’! Particularly horrific, to us, were the ‘youths’ among those political jobbers! How else does this kind of shenanigans get entrenched? It is really “not too young to run (rule)”! What kind of Nigeria is being built today? What kind of future is expected? Is the future not already injured with this kind of nauseating transactions? How will the future judge Nigerians? Perhaps, this occurrence is not nauseating! This may be why many Nigerians are idling, generating hilarious jokes about, and laughing over, the madness! Nigeria is in a serious trouble whose seriousness is seriously being downplayed! The ‘real’ Nigerians must now rise and prevent this country from being led into an ominous but avoidable cul-de-sac. This is not from prophets of doom! Clear signs of this imminent doomsday are there for all to see!
*Andrew A. Erakhrumen currently teaches at the Department of Forest Resources and Wildlife Management, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria.