How naïve I was to believe that after 23 years of civilian administration, Nigerian citizens would have learned some valuable lessons, particularly about making the proper decisions regarding those who will pilot the nation’s ship. How naïve I was to believe that after 23 years of great poverty, starvation, and disease, the population would be wiser and bolder enough to make decisions that would ameliorate our dire situation. However, based on the recent presidential choices of the ruling All Progressives Congress and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, it appears to me that materialism has become a god, and money its evil angel. This type of sorrowful circumstance causes one to reflect on the past, hoping that the values of the past would reanimate our present. But whenever I reflect on the past, my heart bleeds. Every time I reflect on the past, tears stream down my cheeks.
But I can’t help but reflect on our history, exactly as a maiden standing on the edge of the ocean follows her departing lover with tearful eyes, knowing she’ll never see him again, and hopes to find an image of her beloved in the distant sail. And, like that adoring maiden, we Nigerians have nothing but a vague outline of the object of our desires and aspirations as a people.
It has been 62 years since Nigeria gained independence, and the country is still in backward gear because it refuses to look back. Philosophers are correct when they state that looking back also involves looking forward. The period of the early regimes might be regarded as Nigeria’s golden age. Leaders such as the late Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Ahmadu Bello, and Tafawa Balewa were able to manage and rule the country despite limited resources obtained primarily from taxes, cocoa, groundnuts, and other agricultural goods. Although oil was discovered at Oloibiri in the Niger Delta region as early as 1956, its development had yet to begin, and agriculture remained the mainstay of the economy until the conclusion of Nigeria’s conflict. During this time, the naira was also stronger than the pound and the dollar. The three largest universities in the country at the time—the University of Ibadan, the University of Ife, and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria—were regarded among the best in the world, with expatriates fighting for teaching positions across all faculties. These nationalists understood that only education could lead to human growth and liberation. Equally noteworthy is that Nigeria’s initial leaders shared numerous characteristics, including patriotism and a refusal to utilize state resources for personal gain. Wande Cole, a young Nigerian artist, nostalgically depicts the golden age in his song “Once Upon a Time,” where one naira equaled one dollar.Once Upon a time you go graduate from school and government go give you car….
When hundreds of billions of naira began to flow from the oil sector, Nigeria plunged into misery and destitution. A new ethos of cheating or risking being out-cheated had emerged since agriculture, which sustained the nation, was gone, along with institutions and the people’s sense of honor. Ethics, patriotism, self-respect, responsibility, and vision vanished as the new leaders hid billions of naira in overseas bank accounts, investments, and real estate. As a side note, a reading of Homer’s second epic poem, Odyssey, reveals that the leaf of the lotus plant is said to erase memory, and if we adopt Homer’s logic, we must admit that Nigerians are lotus-eaters or, better still, suffer from amnesia. We forget so easily!
However, Nigeria has had a difficult history and has persevered in the face of hunger, poverty, disease, political instability, and religious, social, and ethnic strife. God has demonstrated immense generosity to Nigeria as a nation. It is a country endowed with enormous oil wealth and people resources. It is also a country with a sizable, vibrant, and resourceful populace. Nigeria is also immune to natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires, and monsoons. Nonetheless, despite all of these immense gifts, Nigeria is plagued by unsolved mysteries and contradictions. Nigeria is both rich and poor because its wealthiest people did not become wealthy through invention or industry.
Rather, they became wealthy through contract fraud, embezzlement, and outright theft of public cash. Chinua Achebe’s statement in 1983 that “the trouble with Nigeria is leadership” is more relevant today than ever. Nigeria has no shortage of leaders; what is needed is leadership with vision and integrity; leadership that prioritizes the interests and welfare of the people in all of its policies and activities. Nigeria does not lack eloquent and articulate leaders; nevertheless, what is severely lacking among Nigerian political leaders are those who are not hypocrites, those who do not take their constituents for granted by stating one thing to be elected and doing the opposite while in government.
Nigeria does not lack educated politicians and leaders; however, there is a scarcity of incorruptible statesmen and stateswomen who will not sell Nigeria and its citizens to amass wealth and property in the world’s leading capital cities at the expense of much-needed domestic development. It appears that only in Nigeria do presidents, governors, and ministers have immunity from prosecution for crimes against their people and humanity while in office. It appears that only in Nigeria do politicians, who could barely afford to fuel their beat-up automobiles (if they had any at all), become owners of private planes so soon after taking office.
Leaders in Nigeria appear to utilize security votes to make themselves wealthy, despite the fact that their countries are among the poorest in the world, and their citizens are at the mercy of armed thieves and daring terrorists. In a nutshell, discussing about Nigeria is like opening the Book of Lamentations.
The just ended presidential primaries of Nigeria’s two largest political parties provide ample evidence that materialism and the chase of dirty lucre are the trademarks of Nigerian life. In other words, Nigeria lacks a soul. To be honest, the way the primaries for both parties were conducted reminded me of the battle between the devil and the keepers of the devil’s gate.
The contest clearly demonstrated that we had sold our souls to the devil, and that the devil would continue to demand our souls. However, the presidential primaries evoke memories of Ben Okri’s short novel, Stars of the New Curfew. Let me tell you the story.
Odeh and Assi, both lawyers from highly wealthy but corrupt families, are busy preparing for a contest (similar to that between Nigeria’s two main parties). The purpose of the fight is to demonstrate to the people of Warri who is the wealthiest of the two families. Odeh’s father arrived for the game in a large Rolls Royce.
A refrigerator in the car held millions of wads of foreign dollars to be delivered to the throng. In the air, Assi’s father’s helicopter swirled and dropped bundles of foreign money notes that were swept away by the propeller blades. But as the mob swarmed and jostled wildly for the wad of notes, a nearby preacher began to decry the incident, saying, “For lack of vision, my people perish; it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for the rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Assi’s father was declared the winner of the contest due to his remarkable demonstration of the power of money.
For the time being, it is true that the presidential primaries were won by the Stars of the New Curfew. But it remains to be maintained that they should be cautious not to buy up the entire country and the souls of its citizens. Finally, it is astounding, but not surprising, that in the midst of all this flagrant display of human ignorance and reckless display of gigantic stolen wealth, teachers at the country’s public institutions are on strike, seeking improved funding and revitalization of the education system. So, which is better: education or elections?
