Drifting Generations

A person is a person because of other persons. African proverb.
 

If majority of Nigerians born in the 1970s sat through our 56th Independence celebrations with registered bitterness or pronounced indifference, others who experienced a different set of emotions should be careful how they judge them. Those who felt a sense of pride in being citizens of Nigeria and in its accomplishment since political independence would have been severely challenged to justify their sentiments to a lot of their fellow citizens, notably younger Nigerians, the poor and others burdened by uncertainty regarding the future. They would have met an increasingly popular sentiment that surviving intact after coming through major challenges to its survival as one nation is not one that many Nigerians will applaud as a major achievement. Reminding the younger Nigerian that this nation once met the challenges of development by providing better opportunities to all classes and encouraging service, particularly to the poor, just makes them more bitter that the party ended before they arrived. Independence anniversaries sadly remind the nation of the distances between its rich and poor; between a generation weaned on a solid history of a proud African people and one which has read no history at all; and between a fading generation that feels it owes the nation a lot and those who feel they owe it nothing. Nigeria's generations are drifting apart, and some are drifting around because they have not been anchored to its history, its strengths and its values.

These are not days that can spare most citizens a moment from the drudgery of scraping an existence or making ends meet to celebrate a historic milestone. Leaders read speeches intended to shore up sagging morale and assure citizens that they can see lights at ends of tunnels, even if they are invisible to the people and political oppositions. Parades that used to excite school children and others who can afford to watch on television have long been lost to insecurity in most parts of the nation. Debates and discussions in the media on significance of our political independence have become veritable quicksands for the nation's achievements, unless they are carefully choreographed to keep out the champions of the negative. There are circles where it is foolhardy to say anything good about the nation these days. Other Nigerians outside these circles are daily bombarded by demands from some quarters to exit the union, re-visit its basic foundations or alter its character because it is unjust, inefficient or downright fraudulent.

If you are under forty, you have grown up to the refrain that our nation is the most corrupt in the world. You would have learnt from direct personal experience that there are more than ten ways to get what you want. Nine of them are illegal, immoral or sinful, but they get you there faster than following the one approved by the God you worship, the law of the land or the rules designed to give you and everyone else a fair chance in a nation of aggressive achievers. If you are over forty, you would have despaired many times over younger generations living under the rubble of collapsed, inspiring and positive value systems, far from the redeeming influence of caring communities and times when things worked, lives were more secure, and hard work paid. There are few meeting points between the great gulf that separates our generations. We created an economy that produced a few billionaires through legitimate means, as well as a legion of corrupt politicians, public servants and business people who stole billions from the public. We have never had so much wealth concentrated in a few hands, while the poor grows in numbers and desperation. We created a political system which creates a super class of powerful people who use the electoral process to create the impression that citizens control the democratic process and the leadership.

If you are among the few that will successfully challenge what you have just read, you represent that element in our system that believes that we always think we are worse than we really are. If you can find a younger Nigerian to engage over recent developments, even if you have to discuss in the language of the social media, you will find energy, intelligence and irreverence in the manner they take you up on all fronts. If you put forward the case that the elections of 2015 represent a massive leap forward for our democratic system, they will point you to the sickening revelations regarding the systemic plunder in the legislature as evidence that a peaceful election does not necessarily create a higher quality of democratic process or quality of governance. If you make the argument that the nation's unity has deep roots, they will lol at you and refer you to any version of the Biafra agitations, the barriers being erected over herdsmen or the damaging activities of Delta militants and Boko Haram. If you argue that corruption is being fought with some seriousness for a change, they will mscheweeeee you and remind you that former governor of Delta State Silva received back his 40 houses the same week Godsday Orubebe was jailed for failing to declare a property in 2007.

You could both be right or wrong in your assessments of the state of the polity and the economy. The failure of agree over what the nation could achieve some consensus around is as much a function of the disarray at elite level over the fundamentals of our existence, as it is a failure to accord history the place it deserves in building a nation that had seen all the highs and the lows in its life. The quiet but determined character of Balewa which saw him lead the first republic through many difficult political moments, the  visionary ambition of Awolowo, the strong and intimidating political will of the Sardauna and the searing intelligence of Azikiwe all of which propelled the nation towards rapid development  in a political context that was used by military elements  to bring the democratic process to a halt in 1966 remains among the most contested issue in our history. Our history casts our military as both villain and hero. It completed the construction of a renter state, enthroning corruption as the key driver of the political economy, while drawing lines in the nation here, there and everywhere to create federating units that simply reinforced the imperatives of political control by the center. It caused a war and fought in it, then claimed credit for keeping the country united.

Economic adversity  has a tendency to generate quarrels over causes and responsibilities. Many of the new challenges we face these days are products of tensions and stresses arising from the challenges to the economy. This is why attention and energy need to be focused around mitigating the effects of the recession. Political problems will not, however, wait until leaders fix the economy. Those who make the case that the nation has little utility value for them or their communities will draw inspiration from the difficulties of the day, ignoring historical contexts or the possibilities that opportunities are embedded in challenges. The older generations of Nigerians have the experience of living in a nation that grew out of many difficulties because they made sacrifices to see it through. They are having to share space with generations that are neither anchored by the nation's history nor structured in its future. It does not help the cause of building a nation with great potential when even those who milked its glory days  or bear scars for its limitations tear down its history because they want a new order. By all means, let the nation sustain the search for an arrangement without dangerous and unjust economic disparities between classes and regions. The fight against the stranglehold of corruption on the nation must not be compromised. Younger Nigerians should be taught the history of their nation without any embellishment. They are bound to find in it a nation they can love and work for, not because it is perfect(no nation is), but because it can be improved.