NIGERIA AT 51

At a Lecture to celebrate Nigeria’s 51st Independence Anniversary on Tuesday 28th September, 2011, President Goodluck Jonathan lamented that the absence of appropriate institutions in Nigeria is largely responsible for its weaknesses. Speaking after a lecture which basically concluded that Nigeria had wasted its major opportunities and assets, and is now hostage to corruption, crime and bad image, the President agreed with the conclusions of the lecture, and even stated that the system has collapsed. He noted that the Nigerian State has to be rebuilt by addressing fundamental structural weaknesses, and concluded that it can be done through his transformation agenda. But, for the second time in three days, the President said he would lead Nigeria’s transformation without behaving like some Biblical figures who wielded enormous powers. He said he will rebuild institutions without having to force people, such as Ministers and Civil Servants to work out of fear; but will do so by restoring institutional efficiency and capacities that will grow. He did not say who is responsible for the collapse of the system, other than castigate his critics. He was also vague about his role in fixing the nation other than leading with promises of transformation.

Nigeria’s 51st Independence Anniversary is providing another opportunity to assess the strength and weaknesses of our nation. Last year’s anniversary, which also attempted to celebrate 50 years of freedom from colonial rule, and which took a long time to plan, and consumed huge resources, was bombed into history by a group from the Niger Delta; a group which should have joined other Nigerians to celebrate a historic emergence of a President from that part of Nigeria. That singular act permanently stained our right to celebrate and unfortunately, it will stand out as the most memorable event of the 50th Independence anniversary. Many bombs have since gone up in Abuja, in Maiduguri, in Bauchi, in Suleja, in Kaduna and Jos since that infamous assault on our security and dignity, and many more lives have been lost. We have become much less secure as a people since that 1st of October, 2010. We held an election that is still being bitterly disputed in the courts, after generating widespread violence that had many victims, some of whom are still living as refugees in their own countries. The incipient insurrection by a group with religious goals popularly called Boko Haram has developed into a major national security threat, and the group has held the nation hostage to fear, tied down our entire security resources, and has invited global attention to itself through the spectacular bombing of UN Office and Police Headquarters. It has also raised the alarming possibility that our nation could quite possibly become the next theatre of battle with forces which use terror as a political weapon.

We are celebrating our 51st Anniversary at a time when foreigners are being advised not to visit Nigeria, the most public of such advice coming from the United Nations which lost more than 20 of its staff in the bomb attack at its Nigerian office. We are witnessing the rejection of the Report of the Ambassador Galtimari Committee by a spokesman of Boko Haram, even though the report itself had severely indicted agencies of government and political office holders; and had made recommendations towards resolving the conflict. We are celebrating our 51st independence anniversary with university lecturers on strike; with many civil servants in States on strike; and at a time when the President himself says Nigeria’s institutions have collapsed.

This independence anniversary will be a very sobering reminder that Nigeria is getting worse, not better, at meeting its basic challenges. In two years’ time, the nation will celebrate 100 years of existence as a one country, a colonial creation which brought together two hitherto separate units into an amalgamation arrangement that created one country. Yet, today the debate over the wisdom or utility of that imperial decision is being debated more hotly than ever. Tribes have not melted into citizens. Instead, our political system reinforces them, and prevents the emergence of cross-cutting values and identities. Tribes and regions either want to pull out of Nigeria entirely, where they feel they will be economically and politically better off; or they want a very loose confederal system which will reinforce separate identities and primitive sentiments in a world moving ever closer, by choice or default. There are raging debates over the nature of the federal system, the electoral process, religion and ethnicity and whether we will survive the next two decades as one country. Pervasive and destructive corruption and ineptitude at all levels of leadership have compounded the problem of finding answers to legitimate questions.

The substances of today’s debates are issues Nigerians should have settled a long time ago. There is no reason why a nation endowed with Nigeria’s human and natural resources should be constantly on the margins of survival, or serve as a textbook example of how countries should not be run. Yet here we are, asking basic questions about our country’s capacity to function; and inviting foreigners to tell us how badly we are seen by the world. It would be helpful if we can find some constructive and intelligent insights into the nature of the national crises which we face; and it will be even more helpful if our leadership recognises the historic opportunities to take bold steps and reverse the rot that threatens the very existence of the Nigerian State.

President Jonathan says his personal style of governance will lead to the transformation of Nigeria. Nigerians do not have a clue over what that personal style is. They only know that he says he will not be a lion, a pharaoh or a general. But they do not know yet what he intends to be. He is remote and distant from major issues. He laments, threatens and curses his detractors when they bomb citizens or accuse him of inaction. He says he will rebuild institutions which are decaying right under his nose; but there are no strategic outlines or blueprints for transforming institutions.

The rarest commodity in Nigeria today is time. With every passing day, our problems mount. Everyday we look at a problem in the eye, or pretend that it will find its own solution, it grows bigger. Nations do not stand still, and wait for leaders to fix their problems. When you do not fix them, they grow worse. Between October 1st, 2010 and October 1st, 2011, Nigerians have gone through a terrible nightmare. In between, we have elected new leaders at great financial and political costs. Those leaders have yet to prove that they are capable of tackling Nigeria’s problems with the required levels of commitment, courage and wisdom they deserve. Nigeria needs strong and efficient institutions; it needs a functional infrastructure and an economy which is not being destroyed by rampant corruption; it needs an image that befits a nation of civilised, honest and hardworking people. But to get all these, they need good leaders who should take firm control of all instruments of governance and pull Nigeria out of its dangerous gridlock. President Jonathan does not have too much time to show whether he is such a leader.