One of the many wondrous phenomena in nature is what scientists have termed the butterfly effect. It is held that the slightest flutter of a butterfly’s wings is capable of producing tsunami miles away, even in another continent. As witnessed in many countries in recent past, a small imperceptible change in public policy could result in many other changes in different dimensions. That was the case with the removal of fuel subsidy in January 01, 2012.
An average Nigerian is known to be docile and uninterested in what the government of the day is up to. This is particularly because the typical Nigerian is helpless and believes his opinions are insignificant. However, everything changed with the removal of the fuel subsidy – which by the way, some persons have vowed do not exist legitimately. The curious aspect is that government has not refuted this claim except by saying that the people are thinking like accountants and not economists. Whatever dust yarn that means! (Eyes rolling).
Anyway, I didn’t put pen to paper as the national strike/protest loomed, partly because I was struggling to understand how blatantly, successive administrations have raped this country and partly because I was awed at the sheer ingenuity and adroitness of these political masterminds, as fact after fact, was uncovered regarding the level of systemic decay in Nigeria. It was amazing.
As an aftermath, the Pat Utomi-led national summit is belabouring themselves with talks about the need to convene a national conference to address issues they have noted with the 1999 constitution. As I watched each speaker bare their minds, I was amazed at their dexterity, eloquence and brilliance. With all these abundant human and intellectual resources, why is Nigeria still so disgraceful? I wondered. Is it not some of this same group of people who are displaying such admirable qualities on TV that have led us to our ruin? What’s in our national DNA that super-imposes itself on our genetics as soon as we join national politics to produce a government of institutionalized corruption that we witness today?
Yet, we pray that good shall overcome evil – normal Naija prayer! Anyway, let’s take a look at some of these evils crippling the nation:
· Insecurity
· Lack of accountability and transparency in governance.
· Corruption
· Political ineptitude
· Wasteful spending
· Lack of independence in the judiciary
· Lack of sanctity for the ballot box
Perhaps, one of the problems is that Nigerians are ardent optimists and incorrigible opportunists and that is why, more than 50 years after oil was discovered in Oloibiri, Bayelsa State, little or no significant add-on has been invested transparently in the oil and gas industry. As I scribble this, a fire is raging at an oil field in Bayelsa State and the poor inhabitants are losing their means of livelihood by the second, while a country this big is waiting for companies in the US with the requisite technical expertise to come extinguish the fire. How ludicrous!
Could government please, just for a moment, refocus its predatory binoculars fixated on the oil and gas industry to production and manufacturing in this country? Could we give a boot to indolent governors who sit cross-legged and waiting to swoop down like hawks on federal government allocations every month? Could we please stop using close to 80 per cent of our national budget to service an unproductive bureaucracy in government quarters?
We are spending our children’s future on astronomically irrelevant and wasteful items. What is more, when pilgrimage visits have become avenues for corrupt practices. Can you beat introducing Nigerian Content to pilgrimage visits? Now, not to sound profane, I mean, can we really afford to spend millions of dollars on pilgrimage annually when our youths are not gainfully employed? I think not!
I think a country begets the type of institution it models. How dare we assert that the policeman at one of the several – toll blocks – I beg your pardon, road blocks on our streets, is the worst person in Nigeria? If we truly desire a prosperous nation, we must change the face of our nation beginning at the individual levels. We must celebrate governors of non-oil producing states who have made progress for their states. Our government must demonstrate that it is willing to allow good people to stand up and make a difference. Tell magazine editorial of May 10, 2010 opined that Nigerians will be most willing to partner with the current president in the awesome task to remake Nigeria, provided he sustains the confidence reposed in him. To do otherwise is to fritter away the goodwill he got when Nigerians fought for him to assume leadership of the nation. I may not give a very informed view of where he stands currently in the minds of Nigerians but I don’t think his rating is too good.
Let’s collectively place our country on the map of people who can rise from adversities and afflictions to prominence. Let us restore dignity of Nigeria. I agree with Ireti Doyle who commented at the Summit that the idea of a country of 150 million people and counting is ‘romantic and nice,’ but what’s more important is the befitting structure for its collective good. I cannot rationalize it in any way that we import food from Burkina Faso – a completely landlocked country, when our country is surrounded by seas and ports. Nigeria should export more than it imports. How wasteful can we get when a country of over 150 million people import food from another country of just 15 million? That’s absurd!
Please, please, please, stop the rape! Stop the plunder!
xoxo
abydarl
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