NIGERIA: WARNINGS AND BAD NEWS

          On Monday 28^th of November, 2011, the 12^th Annual Colloquium of the Michael Ajasin foundation was held in Akure under the theme, “Is Nigeria a Failing State?” The tone of the Colloquium was set by the chairman of the Foundation, the Right Reverend Emmanuel Gbonigi when he said the indices of a failed state, such as socio-economic decline as well as political, moral, religious and environmental corruption are all present in Nigeria. Therefore, the argument whether Nigeria has failed or is failing as a state, is irrelevant, because all the signs are that the nation is heading towards failure. He said the Nigeria state has shown no capacity to assume responsibility for the poverty and powerlessness of its citizens, and the blame is entirely that of its leaders. Using the example of Libya, he said if the Libyan people can still put a bullet through the head of Muammar Ghaddafi and kill him in spite of all he accomplished in terms of their welfare, one has to wonder how many bullets Nigerian leaders deserve for their responsibility in the rot and decay all around Nigerians. Many speakers after him warned of dire consequences unless some major overhaul of our attitudes as leaders and followers are undertaken, and our federal system is radically restructured.

One day after the colloquium in Akure, an international conference on Islam, Peace Building and Political Engagement was organized by the Bayero University, Kano. The Sultan used the occasion to lament the death of over 800 muslims during the post-election violence of April and May this year, and also drew attention to the fact that the leadership in Nigeria is fast losing the confidence of the population it leads. He said that corruption, greed and injustice are threatening the corporate existence of the nation, and advised religious leaders to work together to build bridges across people of different faiths. The representative of the Christian Association of Nigeria also regretted the killing of over 200 christians during the same post-election crises and the burning down or vandalization of over 700 churches. He also said christians are not being allowed to build churches in the north. Sheikh Ahmed Lemu, who chaired the presidential committee which probed the causes and consequences of the post election violence also regretted that the Nigerian society has lost its moral values due to greed, injustice and absence of good governance. General Yakubu Gowon on his part blamed the battle for political supremacy and contest for power as the reasons behind the failure to build a united and peaceful Nigeria.

These two events will add upon the worrying spread of lamentations around some fundamental weaknesses of the Nigerian state today. Even more worrying, however, is the fact that these concerns and alarming projections are coming from the very sources of the problems: the clergy, traditional rulers and politicians. And they offer little new in the way they present Nigeria problems. The religious leaders lament the decay around values such as piety, tolerance, justice and humility, but they also tolerate many among them who build their following purely around the exploitation of ignorance and fear of people, as well as greed for worldly possessions for which they co-habit with politicians. Traditional rulers have became instruments in the hands of politicians to use in pursuit of partisan interests, and they have been more of the problem than the solution. Politicians have little respect for the people once they get into offices, by fair or foul means. They treat the public as a nuisance to be tolerated or avoided; and they treat public resources as spoils of the office.

The Nigerian political system breeds politicians who are increasingly distant from the people. The people themselves are becoming increasingly disillusioned and bitter, and at the slightest excuse, people resort to violence to settle scores or express a grievance because they do not trust the law or institutions of the state to give them justice or relief. Mediating mechanisms or values in the event of conflicts have disappeared; so communal and social conflicts tend to assume proportions and frequency far in excess of their real significance. The nation earns more from natural resources; yet the people are poorer. Democracy producers leaders who earn huge salaries and allowances, and have massive state resources to plunder; and the people wait for elections to be mobilized in their support. The bonds of unity have weakened, and even young and adventurous Nigerians now will not venture into other parts of their country to serve it. Groups are taking up arms in Borno, Yobe, Bauchi, Kaduna, Plateau and in the Niger Delta to fight the Nigerian state, or each other. The Nigerian leadership is retreating behind barricades, checkpoints and sirens; and the entire nation appears to be under siege.

The Nigeria state has certainly failed to provide the most basic requirements of any state, which are to protect citizens and pursue their welfare. Its most profound failure is in the quality of its present leadership which appears to have no clues or solutions to the problems of security, corruption or even basic governance. The nation is bleeding from its weaknesses and failings, and it is time for a new generation of leaders to step forward with courage and vision to turn the tide. The Nigerian state must not fail, and it will not fail if enough Nigerians resolve to work for real change, starting from everyone’s decision not to allow it to fail.