Nigeria @ 50: Should we celebrate or not?
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- Category: Politics
- Published on Friday, 25 June 2010 10:22
- Written by Admin
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Prince Bola Ajibola
Former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Prince Bola Ajibola, has said that it is a disgrace that Nigeria has nothing to celebrate for its 50 years of existence and rather than rejoicing, it is disappointment that has taken over as the country continuously drifts backward.
Speaking at the launch of a book, “Leadership Failure and Nigeria’s Fading Hopes,” written by Senator Femi Okurounmu, he said it was a disgrace to watch members of the House Representatives fight over personal gain, rather than being concerned about issues that would be for the collective good of Nigerians.
Prince Ajibola, who was the chairman on the occasion, said that after five decades of attaining independence, it was shameful that all the country could show the world, despite its huge resources, was symbolic paraphernalia of a tottering nation.
He explained that the hope of bringing the dividends of true governance to the traumatised people of the country had gradually evaporated.
According to him, rather than public office holders fighting for how to make life better for the electorate, they have been concerned about selfish interest. - Tribune
Dr. Christopher Kolade Barely 48 hours after Kolade‘s pronouncement, the Fund for Peace, a non-profit research and educational institution in the United States, carpeted the Nigerian government‘s usual chest-thumping about some unfounded ability to flex muscles with the world‘s top 20 economies by 2020, saying the country was rather inching closer to the status of a failed state!
Implying that the current administration might have been sleep-walking since it took over the affairs of the country in May 2007, the report, which ranks 177 states, according to 12 social, economic, political and military indicators, based on data from more than 90,000 publicly available sources, said Nigeria had continued a northward movement on the index since 2008.
The country moved from the 19th position on the 2008 index to the 15th position in 2009. And now, in 2010, it occupies a ”dignifying” 14th position, rubbing shoulders with world ”giants” like Somalia, Haiti, Sudan, Chad and Afghanistan, among others, perhaps, on its way to becoming one of the 20 ”bottom” economies by 2020.
Though the failed state concept has been a controversial one, having been attacked over the years by wounded interests, it is accepted that a failed nation is often characterised by social, political and economic failure, mainly as a result of corruption and ineffective leadership. Accordingly, in its analysis of the Nigerian situation, the report noted, ”Nearly 70 per cent of Nigerians live below the poverty line, while many government officials have become wealthy by taking bribes and embezzling funds.” That was apt.
But while these are gut-wrenching reports of governance in Africa‘s most populous country, the lingering show of shame in the House of Representatives has demonstrated that they make no meaning to the targeted audience, who, under sane circumstances, should, while covering their faces in shame, ponder over past mistakes in preparation for commendable performance.
One would have thought that with the barrage of criticisms that have trailed the unbecoming attitude of the lawmakers in recent times, especially the endless revelation of fraud and corruption in their worst forms, opposing camps in the House of Reps would retrace unruly steps and, at least, show some decorum while pursuing their different egocentric agenda. This could have saved Nigeria the embarrassment of the whole world watching, live, supposed shapers of the country‘s social, economic and political affairs, in karate rags displaying their boxing talents in a chamber that should otherwise be occupied by the people‘s role models.
If the majority of those that wriggle their ways into the National Assembly are potential heavyweight boxing and wrestling champions, as evidenced by the ”box-your-way-to-resolution” approach that has become typical of the House‘s affairs since the advent of democracy, analysts may have to begin to recommend that we tap talents for major world competitions from the chamber and leave policy formulation and law making in the hands of those with requisite talents, morals and intellect for leadership positions.
Though there are allegations, founded or not, of misappropriation, embezzlement and fraud, involving taxpayers‘ billions of naira, no faction in the ongoing fracas in the House of Reps deserves sympathy from Nigerians, having only succeeded in pursuing selfish goals and sailing the nation to a state of confusion in three years. Yet, members, who have spent donkey‘s years in the House, insult intelligent masses by linking the allegations to widespread poverty in the country. What have they done to change the status quo?
Do they need overseas training to know that worsening conditions of living among citizens after years of democracy indirectly reveal irresponsibility and/or incapability on the part of a country‘s leadership, especially those saddled with oversight functions?
If lessons from the renowned American statesman, Colin Powell, are anything to go by, the ongoing crisis that degenerated into a free for all on Tuesday should automatically bar those involved from contesting in subsequent elections – only decent leaders breed respected nations.
According to Powell, leadership requires moral, physical, mental and spiritual courage, which the majority of those that have been given the mandate to direct Nigeria‘s affairs, lack in the main. Spelling out Powell‘s principles, Oren Harari, in his book, ”The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell”, said a leader must ”emphasise dignity, respect and honour while disagreeing.”
One point that floors the opposition‘s ”cleansing” moves, if they are at all, is the fact that in challenging the leadership of the House and asking for justice, they are bound by ethics to display maturity and discipline. Instead, they have displayed hooliganism traits with tear gas and all. Anyone still in the dark about how many of them got there?
Harari‘s statement that ”Powell challenges his bosses when necessary, but he does so in a way that respects the dignity of his superiors and preserves the dignity of his own position,” exposes the unruly lawmakers as unfit for a task as tall as representing the interests of respectable citizens of this country. It could also imply that with the over 80 bills left unattended to, the country might have only allocated a whopping N154bn in the 2010 Budget to finance hooliganism in the National Assembly.
It is understandable that the House members may be desperate to garner substantial shares of the remaining ”loot”, particularly as they approach the wee hours of their tenure. Should they, however, tear each others‘ clothes or break each other‘s bones in the public glare over a ”chop-make-I-chop” crisis? Gone are the days of deception, Nigerians are now at home with the fact that governance for now, is not for the masses, but against them. So why add to people‘s pains by exhibiting greed in the most irresponsible manner?
With the twist of events, I‘m afraid the nation may have reached the end of the road as regards its tolerance for insensitive leaders. It is time citizens took their destinies and those of their children in their own hands by voting out unfit elements. Yes, votes can count if the masses want it. What is the use of wasting so much resources on a criminally expensive presidential system of government that only lavishes hard-earned funds of impoverished taxpayers on unsupportive, recalcitrant lawmakers and their hangers-on? If we must sweep economic pests away from this fertile land, the time is now! - Punch
Last Saturday, Nigeria‘s former High Commissioner to the united Kingdom, Dr. Christopher Kolade, gave an unpalatable but sincere five-decade assessment of this oil rich nation. To him, come October 1, 2010, Nigeria will be celebrating its 50 years of decline; therefore, wasting N10bn, as reported, on such shameful celebration, may be both meaningless and criminal.
