By Abdulrasheed Ibrahim
If you are well familiar with the seriousness the Nigeria’s Nationalist leaders and politicians that struggled and gained independence for this country attached to the welfare of Nigerians and compare them with the contemporary politicians you will see that the difference is clear. While the Nationalist leaders and politicians of old were more concerned about the interest of the people, the contemporary politicians are more concerned about their own personal interest. For the purpose of clarification, when the news came that “Atiku’s Varsity Gets 60 More Law School Slots”, my immediate reaction on a Lawyers’Whatsapp Group was : “I think this is one of the things that distinguishes the contemporary politicians from those politicians/leaders that fought for the independence of this country as well as in other African countries. As a student of history, I have not read it anywhere that the likes of Zik, Awo, Sardauna even by extension to other politicians of old in Africa, like Nkrumah of Ghana, Mandela of South Africa, Nyerere of Tanzania and Kenyatta of Kenya ever entertained the thought of building private universities for themselves rather the universities that bear their names today were named after them to honour their memories. I think you can spot the difference. It would have been a different question altogether if the contemporary politicians’ private universities are free for both the children of the rich and the poor”. A lawyer on the same platform who did not see sense in my contention and claimed to be confused had this to:
“Evening Sir. Please I am confused and will appreciate it if you can resolve my confusion. What is wrong with a private citizen who had previously held political office establishing a university? Additionally, can you please confirm if you spoke to any Zik, Awo, Sardauna, Nkrumah etc. and they told you their thought of setting up a private university never crossed their mind. I think we must realize that times have changed and societies evolve. How many of us attended private primary or secondary schools and universities, yet today how many of us have children in the public schools? The difference and reason is clear…”
I believe this kind of reaction has really shown the true colour and the mind-set of some elites in this country and since the lawyer had claimed to be confused, there is no better way to resolve his confusion than educating him better which I immediately did as follows: “ Thank you sir. I once mentioned it that whenever we talk about politics, politicians and political leaders in Nigeria today and we make reference to the way the likes of Zik, Awo and Sardauna made positive impact in the lives of their respective people and advise the contemporary politicians to follow their path, some people usually think that we are talking about the politicians and political leaders that lived and ruled during the stone age. Sir, I think by this your question, I have been vindicated. While I do not have anything against politicians whether past or serving establishing private universities, my position has always been that the public school should not be killed at the expense of the private school. People like me are not comfortable seeing our public schools being closed down for over 8 months as was done under the previous administration of Buhari, while the private ones established by some politicians were or are in session. This is not good for the development of a country like Nigeria. Awo was once said to have said that the children of the poor that you refused to send to school would become a nuisance to you. Are we not all now paying the price for the failure of successive governments to do the right things? I believe it was the vision of Awo that made him to introduce the free education policy in his region but ironically many beneficiaries of that programs that found their ways to the positions of leadership are now plying different path. I believe with this I have answered your question. Do have a wonderful night!”
The economic hardship being experienced in this country is the result of long years of misrule by the successive governments. Politics is played to by the contemporary politicians without precedent by way following the blueprints of past successful leaders in this country. The simple dictionary definition of “Precedent” is “earlier happening, decision, etc taken as an example or rule for what comes later”. In the legal profession or practice of law, any attempt by lawyers or judges to do away with precedent or what is called judicial precedent is like embarking on a suicide mission or a journey of no return. Nigeria is blessed with vast arable land capable of conveniently feeding her populace and even the entire African continent if we have been having the right leaders after the abolition of the regional system by the military incursion .It was under that regional system that the likes of Chief Awolowo laid the foundation of the progressive Western Region and respectively followed by Sarduana and Azikiwe in the Northern Region and the Eastern Region. With the incursion of the Military into politics, Nigeria has gradually not been the same again as the legacies of those Nationalist leaders were completely destroyed and unfortunately the successive regimes began to be worse than the one before it by their inability and failure to follow the path of our great Nationalist leaders.
The collapse of the socialist and welfarist system propounded by our Nationalist leaders that allowed the children of the rich and that of the poor to have access and benefit from the same education policy and privilege have paved way to the capitalist system which sole aim is to maximize profit and unfair exploitation of the less privilege and the poor. With the emergence of this new system, the serving leaders of the country were or are at liberty to embrace the capitalist ideology as seen in the case of Obasanjo and Atiku building private universities where exorbitant school fees are being charged while the needed government attention for the Public schools were deliberately dismissed with waves of hands. Through such attitude, the country leaders completely crippled the Federal universities and other public institutions. As a result of this the number of students out of schools and drop out students continue to increase significantly due to lack of fund on the part of the parents. The negative effect of this development is that some students who are victims of the hostile system have no choice but to resort to all sorts of criminal activities which is more the reason why you have cases of kidnapping and banditry here and there. This is the negative effect of not having leaders that are visionary and patriotic with the ability to foreseen such situation and come up with great ideology and policy to checkmate and avoid such happening.
One continues to wonder why the Governors in the Northern part of the country have refused to follow the path and the blueprint laid down by the great Sardauna of Sokoto when he was in charge of the entire Northern Region? Why are the Governors in the Eastern and Western Regions refused to embrace the blueprints of Azikiwe and Awolowo respectively? The vast arable land which those politicians of old took advantage of to develop their respective regions are now at the mercy of the bandits and kidnappers that have turned them to their hideout having chased away the farmers from their farmland to cause shortage of food production . Since the contemporary politicians and governors in custody of those land are not interested in rural development through mechanized farming, crop plantations, farm settlement that can boost industrialisation, the criminals are now majorly in control of the forest reserves where they have become nuisance to the entire nation. Turning the natural resources this country is blessed with to the benefit of Nigerians requires patriotic leaders with great vision, intellectual capacity, and avid flair for reading and research which is seriously lacking among the contemporary politicians. This country requires brilliant leaders with great ability to think and come up with solution to issues within a very short time. It was Chief Awolowo that once said: “Any people that is starved with books, especially the right type of books, will suffer, intellectual mal-nutrition, stagnation and atrophy” Are contemporary Nigerian leaders suffering from intellectual mal-nutrition hence the economic hardship we have been going through?
Economic hardship has been the lot of Nigerians for very long because the politicians in this part of the world are playing politics without precedent. They are not ready to learn any lesson from the past. There is incessant complaint of Naira crashing against Dollar in the international market but can a country that is not productive complain of devaluation of her currency in the international market? Are leaders in this country looking inward to exploit our comparative advantages as done by our past Nationalist leaders? The contemporary politicians only believe in making fake promises which will end up not being fulfilled at the end of the day. Remember what Buhari said when campaigning to become the President: “I will build 1 refinery each year 4 the next 4 years. I will make dollar to 1 naira, give unemployed youths 5k a month, I will defeat Boko Haram in 1 year. I will create 3 million jobs each year.” But what did we have after his 8 years at the helm of affairs? Let Mr. Femi Adesina, his spokesperson, who wrote the book “Working with Buhari” be asked what eventually happened to his boss’ promises. Like his predecessor, Tinubu also had said: “From tomorrow, don’t pity me. I applied for the job, I got the job, no excuses, I must deliver”. Now, with the present economic hardship, should anyone pity Mr. President?
With what this nation is blessed with and with the right vision there must be no excuse for failure. The first thing is that the leadership must get the issue of security in the country right and other things will follow. Without adequate security being guaranteed, there cannot be massive production of foods by the farmers who have been chased away from their farmland. If the security is gotten right there must be full commitment on the part of the leaders towards the rural development. President Tinubu once talked about “Agbado Revolution” and that “Rural incomes shall be secured by commodity exchange boards guaranteeing minimal prices for certain crops and animal products. A nationwide programme for storage and other facilities to reduce spoilage and waste will be undertaken. Agricultural hubs will be created throughout the nation to increase production and engage in value-added processing. The livestock sector will be introduced to the best modern practices and steps taken to minimize the perennial conflict over land and water resources in this sector. Through these actions food shall be made more abundant yet less costly. Farmers shall earn more while the average Nigerian pays less.” As I have said earlier this can only be achieved if the issue of security is seriously addressed while at the same time the contemporary leaders must be ready to pick up from the bookshelf the blueprints of our great Nationalist leaders who did very well in past on the welfare of the Nigerian people.
Solution to the current economic hardship does not lie in any peaceful demonstration being advocated for or being carried out or organized by some people. The peaceful demonstrations may be well intentioned but if such demonstrations are hijacked by the hoodlums, the consequence may not blow us any good . Lessons need to be learnt from the ENDSARS protest of the 2020 which till date many are yet to recover from its consequence. Let our refusal not to join or take part in any peaceful demonstration be seen as an act of cowardice but should rather being seen as a sacrifice not to cause any confusion on the land as if that happens it is mostly the common people on the streets that will suffer most the consequence. Any call for military coup will equally be irrational as the military guys are the one responsible for some of the problems we are facing today as if the like of IBB had respected the Will of the Nigerian people as demonstrated on 12, June 1993 possibly we may not be where we are today. Those that are seriously aggrieved by the current economic hardship should be patient and await the next round of election to ventilate their grievance by voting out any government that is not performing. Calling to military intervene and take over will even worsen the situation as if they come, the first thing they will do is to suspend the constitution that recognises the fundamental human rights of all Nigerians. While the democratically elected government is terminal or periodic in nature that cannot be said of the military regime which can decide to remain in power as long as they want as they only believe in the barrel of gun to suppress the people they want to rule on.
It is worrisome that the hardship in this country has made many Nigerians to leave for other countries particularly the professionals who ought to stay behind to assist in the development of this country. Some are now finding comfort that was not given to them here but there. A friend of mine who now resides in Canada with his family told me recently in a chat that: “All residents are given financial benefit every quarter of the year, and the amount you receive is according to your family size. The minimum is $200, the highest is $350 (N400, 000) by the exchange rate, it is real. And they will make announcement of the date the disbursement will be done. This is direct payment into your account by the Ministry of Social Department .The population of Canada is around 40 Million, compared to that of Nigeria , with population of 300Million. But a single person will steal 300Million of public fund. Which means each Nigerian could have received N3Million yearly as benefit from the Federal Government. Can’t you see that we are sick? My belief is corruption is a network, involving the police, lawyers and judges and law enforcement officer and the rest.”
Can you spot the difference between what is happening in the Canada’s Ministry of Social Department and the Nigeria’s Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs or whatever they call it where billion of Naira have been diverted into private pockets without those involved being made to pay dearly for the act of corruption and betraying the trust of the Nigerian people? Until Nigeria goes the way of China to deal with the corruption, those perpetrating it will continue to think that they are doing the right thing.
NOTE: Anyone is at liberty to disagree with my above submissions as I will surely appreciate a balanced, fair and objective rebuttal.
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abdulrasheedibrahim362@gmail.com
26th February 2024
