At 61 Nigeria is Spiraling to the Bottom!
Still reeling from the wasteful visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to Imo State to inaugurate projects which are still under construction, and the mockery that followed that trip. Then comes this debacle surrounding our President’s visit the UN and the saga of Nigeria paying people to a stage counter protest on behalf of the government all to minimize the efforts of some groups protesting the president’s visit. Not to be outdone, the Northern Governors came out of their most recent meeting with a declaration that the North will continue to rule the country - claiming that so long as they have the numbers, they are unwilling to share leadership responsibilities with any other groups. By this declaration they are basically throwing cold water to the rotation principle that other ethnic groups were hoping would allow them access to the Aso Rock.
Then there is this video speech by Sanusi Lamido on intellectual property and how Nigeria continues to export their monies and resources overseas. To the novice, this may seem reasonable since we do not produce anything and will rather spend our money buying foreign goods than invest in what is manufactured in Nigeria. I was a bit turned off when he spoke about electricity and the fact that the reason, we want electricity is to run our AC systems. This is a fallacy, and he of all people should know better. By the way, there is nothing wrong with running your AC if you have steady electricity. Nevertheless, Nigerians are very resourceful people and will do whatever they could to access what they need to succeed and/or thrive. The fact that the average Nigerian will buy a flight ticket on a foreign airline is because we do not have a national carrier or enough domestic airlines to get us to our preferred destinations. We stay in foreign hotels is because we are in a foreign country and Nigerians do not own hotels in those countries. His speech about intellectual property, while a good advice, should have been prefixed with the fact that Nigeria does not provide an enabling environment that nurtures harvesting intellectual property or its development despite the abundance of ideas from Nigerian people.
I will say that we as a people possess abundant intellectual knowledge, however, and given the stifling environment in Nigeria, these ideas and intellectual products are being utilized effectively outside Nigeria and in countries whose leaders were smart enough to create an environment that nurtures such products. We do not have such an enabling environment in Nigeria. Today, products made in Nigeria from automobiles to footwear and even food products are so much more expensive than imported goods and the question is why? The answer is simple, in Nigeria a manufacturer must deal with the additional costs of maintaining a generator to augment our lack of constant electric supply. They must either buy water daily or drill their own well due to lack of portable water and of course these entrepreneurs are on their own when it comes to accessing raw materials or distributing their goods and services to the consumers due to bad roads and costs associated with traffic delays. How could one innovate in this type of environment? My challenge with Nigeria is that whereas we like to talk, we rarely walk out talk. We are a bunch of individuals full of postulates, big grammar, bombast, and wise cracks – but will never engage to support our talk. Oh, how do we like to point fingers at others who are the reasons we are still backward and suffering.
As I write today, our national debt stands at a whooping 35.5 trillion naira and rising. It appears that every quarter, our federal government goes to the Senate and ask for approval to continue to borrow money to fund government operations. Whoever heard of borrowing money to pay for recurring activities of a government? Meanwhile, the rubberstamp senate is happy to oblige the federal government without asking questions. Is this the new way of conducting governance in Nigeria? If we continue at this rate, where and how would successive administrations access loan opportunities if they need them in the future. Instead of screaming from the roof tops, we continue to be distracted by these other matters of less import while looking at that shinning object on a hill. Meanwhile our future and those of our children are being mortgaged by this lame-duck administration and legislators. I understand that nations do borrow to fund critical and infrastructure projects, however, the way we borrow every quarter, it appears we need to borrow money to enable operational continuity. This is not a good sign at all, and we need to demand answers to how these loans are being used.
It has been my experience that during budget introduction and presentation, the federal government will have to explain to the legislative branch how they intend to fund all items contained in their budget being presented. Does the Nigerian national budgetary process call for such presentation? I am asking because, except for the photo-op of the president presenting the budget and the members of the legislative branch accepting the budget, there is very little discussion, or dialogue regarding what is contained in the budget. it is my hope that our legislators have done their due diligence in identifying how our president intended to fund his budget, hence the reason they are rubber stamping his request for loans to fund government operations. I will give them the benefit of the doubt since I have no knowledge of what nuances goes into the Nigerian budgetary process.
IPOB and the Sit-At-Home Orders and No Election in Anambra.
Some of us just applauded IPOB for rescinding their stay-at-home order. However, some of their supporters or detractors continue to enforce this wasteful directive. The new mantra of no election in Anambra state has left me wondering what will happen if in fact we do not conduct elections in November? Will the current elected Governor and his cabinet continue with their administration despite their term and mandate having expired. Will the federal government impose a transitionary administration while we negotiate when the next election will hold? Or will the federal government impose their will by declaring a state of emergency while temporarily taking over governance in Anambra. I will let government and history scholars explain what the fall back would be if no election is held in Anambra.
This matter of no election should be concerning to all Anambra citizens given some of the happenings in the state. I am referring to some elements whether sponsored by politicians or rogue agents of IPOB hijacking the sit-at-home and no election pronouncements to deliver punishments to perceived violators. Until IPOB came out publicly to denounce these orders, we witnessed killings, burning of property, destruction of businesses and torturing of innocent citizen all in the name of enforcing the sit-at-home order. There were these morbid images all over social media of mutilated bodies with the inscription of “no election in Anambra.” We all should take these seriously. And if for one minute we believe that the region, for whatever your reason, is deserving these kinds of treatments and atrocities, well we should have our collective minds examined. People are afraid for their lives. What we sometimes term successful compliance to some of these ridiculous orders are just a manifestation of peoples’ fears for what would befall them if they went about the lawful conduct of their lives. How could a free society have its citizens living in such fear? Is this not precisely what we have been complaining about?
Whether IPOB leadership is aware of what their foot soldiers are doing in the field is another matter all-together. What we have seen are a bunch of yahoos, taking advantage of an already charged and chaotic environment to enforce these baseless orders by incessant killings. The fact that they can carry out these atrocities in broad daylight is indicative of the mindset of the individuals, the state of Igbo land and the nation. So, the next time you travel overseas and the security agents in other countries treat you as if you are worthless, do not complain because by blasting all these images of brutalized bodies and severed heads of our fellow citizens to the world, we are indirectly sending the message that the life of the average Nigerian is worth absolutely nothing.
Waking up to the news of the murder of Dr. Chike Akunyili should be a rude awakening for all of us! To think that this gentle giant, a renowned medical practitioner who is not rattling any cages, at least as far as we know, and minding his own business could be so brutally killed in broad daylight should evoke fear and anger in all of us. For those who believe that their wealth and paid security would protect them should remember that Dr. Akunyili was killed along with his police attaché and driver. Regardless of who or what group killed this man, what matters is how far we have degenerated as a society, how worthless our lives have become where killing, maiming, kidnapping and torture has become the order of the day. What we all perceived as empowering our youth to defend their territory from the Fulani Herdsmen, has now morphed into lawlessness, chaos, and mayhem with no plausible solution on sight. Please do not come blaming anyone for these atrocities, these are purely Igbos brutalizing each other for a reason that I am yet to decipher. All I know is that we are approaching a critical juncture where if we as Umu Igbo do not arrest this situation now, we should not cry when it degenerates to total and uncontrollable chaos. Before you blame the federal government, who may have some culpability due to sewing some seeds of distrust, do not forget that our state Governors allocate billions and billions of Naira as security votes annually. It is high time we asked how these security votes are spent, and why we continue to experience these high levels of lawlessness in our land despite investing billions in security. This is totally unacceptable and should be condemned by all regardless.
Just yesterday, someone sent me a video of our Minister of Defense toting an AK-47 rifle while entering his Mercedes G-Wagon with his military attaché holding the door in salute. I joked back that it is funny to believe that our own minister of defense does not trust his military security details to protect him that he must arm himself against any outside attackers. Sad to say that in the entire northern Nigeria, the Boko Haram menace continues to rage uninterrupted, unimpeded, and unabated. Every day we hear about school children getting kidnapped, men and women killed, raped, or maimed by Boko Haram terrorists despite news of Boko Haram members putting down their arms in repentance. It appears to me that as many terrorists that repent, an equal number joins the movement to continue causing mayhem. The Southern part of the country is not faring any better either. Yes, we have our own wahala! In one corner is the Herdsmen/Farmer conflict, in the other corner is this new phenomenon of the “unknown gunmen” whatever that means. The wanton kidnapping, killing, raping, and extorting our civil citizens every day is a plague that no one seem to have a solution. You look through the news, all you see is death and despair, hopelessness, helplessness, and exhaustion written all over the faces of the average citizen. Criminal elements now rule the roost and the average law-abiding citizens, for which there are still millions, just do not have a clue how best to deal with their new reality. Meanwhile, IPOB is waxing strong with their sit-at-home pronouncements that has served no other purpose than to dispossess an already struggling population of potential wealth. Today is October 1, 2021, and the Igbo nation is observing yet another sit-at-home. The added flavor this time is that no one should fly the Nigerian flag in any part of Igbo land. What is not clear is whether this sit-at-home order is for October 1, 2021, or will be extended for the entire month as is being speculated by some elements. Regardless, these actions have never yielded any positive results in the past, and I will venture to say that once again, it will be an effort in futility.
It is October 1, 2021, and with all the craziness current occurring in our country Nigeria, it appears to me that our country, our Nigeria, the giant of Africa, is out of control and spiraling to the bottom. At 61, we are still suckling our mothers’ breasts and throwing tantrums. I hope that we are all ready for when finally, the chickens will come home to roost. It is getting close to Christmas and if by any chance we are granted our wishes, it is my hope that we do have a plan on what to do. For whatever it is worth, everyone should do your best to remain safe on this special day – after all October 1, 2021, is still Nigerian Independence Day!
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