2023 will mark the end of feudal impunity in Nigeria. The penny just dropped. Nigerians hope. The citizens dream. The weight of expectation is palpable. Come 2023, light will overcome darkness. The hopes, dreams and expectations are that after the 2023 general elections, brains will take over from brutish, beastly, political brawl; yielding a new Nigeria. A New Nigeria where productive platforms overcomes sharing institutions, grounded in law and order; where knowledge is pride, integrity is valued and character cherished; where thievery is abhorred and ignorance shamed. The genesis of this new Nigeria resides in the body language of a new leadership in lieu soundbites by proxies, devoid of any iota of vision and creativity.
There is power in politics to change everything, but only “we the people” can change the metaphor. The metaphor that allows the ordinary citizen to exchange his/her vote for Naira, simultaneously signing over to rogue feudal politicians the right to deny the sons and daughters of those citizens their education, healthcare, food and shelter. This is an unfair exchange of the oxygen of freedom with the diffraction and suffocation of poverty of the mind and body.
Unknown to the powerful, this art of degradation on the less privileged, systematically debases the psychology and humanity of the powerful more than those of the down trodden. The need for a change of metaphor arose from the fact that both the oppressor and the oppressed are unaware that their destiny and destination are tied together. An infinitesimally small number of political elites having cornered the entire resources of over 200 million Nigerians, are in no hurry to change the status quo, thinking they have the upper hand. These are billionaires created by patronage and the privilege of their proximity to public purse. The closer you are the richer you become.
The year 2022, when Nigeria started borrowing money to pay her debt, the citizens are clamouring for capacity, competence and verifiable track record for leadership. We no longer want to keep ordering breakfast only to leave the bills for our children; today we are ordering lunch and the bill is being left for? Yes, our grandchildren. The nation is eager for a leadership that will unleash an ultra-high level creativity that is generated when multiple cultures fuse together to compete and compare with each other under an atmosphere of productivity, enterprise and friendship.
The juicy, groovy train of financial enterprise and transactions funded with public purse are blinding politicians at the profitable end of this devilish political dollar horse trading. No wonder the Caesar-Pharaohs failed to notice that the train has since left the groovy station and now they are stranded in that cocoon of greed surrounded only by their likes in character and integrity while “we the people” rebuild the damage they inflicted on the nation.
Dismantling the deity attributable to leadership in Nigeria is the prime solution to getting ourselves out of this insurmountable debt we are saddled with today. Even after restructuring, constituent parts of our federation must transition from human worship to institutional submission based on the rule of law. Without sound institutions, federating units will still not be able to reclaim grounds that were lost over the past 40 years. The transition from strong institutions to strong men, now turned deities started after the 1983 coup. It started with the statutory side stepping of the rule of law, where an individual decrees and dismantles laid down principles of governance to achieve short term popularity objective: hence we had the dismissal of public servants outside the dictates of law.
Our Caesar-Pharaohs bought their way into office without vision. Those of them who managed to articulate a vision surround themselves with hangers on who are incapable of giving the leader feedback that leads to reflection. Denied of the oxygen of learning into the future, our Caesar-Pharaohs wither within their comfort zone and so die a leadership death, yielding mass poverty. Mass poverty lends itself to gullibility. Reason why the first objective of Nigerian politicians is to suck out the oxygen of productivity from the system to create poverty that leads to dependency.
In the Nigerian political system, people are driven to lead because of their obsession to be worshiped (the pharaoh syndrome) rather than their desire to serve. Most are desperate to lay their hands on the purse strings of communal funds because they owe the banks so much but have no creative enterprise to generate their own funds to pay their debt.
To make matters worse, this is in a country that supplies the world with the best professionals, from Europe to the Americas. Whenever you take an average Nigerian professional, entrepreneur or sportsperson outside Nigeria, they will immediately blossom simply because you removed the knee of Nigerian political leaders off their neck; their talent, skills and knowledge immediately comes to life. Unfortunately, Nigeria for decades had been led by a herd of sheep hence Nigerians only achieve their highest potential when exported to the diaspora. The nation is today sustained by the capital inflow from its diaspora. If that 20 billion dollar remittances into Nigeria were to cease for only one year: “Goats will start kidnapping cows, the chicken will start carrying AK47 and dogs will start eating peppered soup”. Such is the macabre picture of contemporary Nigeria.
Going forward, in choosing a president or governor; anyone without capacity to sit up and discuss a policy position for an hour facing an interrogative journalist, without the input of speech writers, must never be considered for office. We are done with cash and carry politics. If you are unable to offer an alternative income solution for Nigeria, projected ten years into the future, then what’s the point? Is the point just to come in, borrow more from China and share among your ethnic group, kinsmen, religious or party affiliates?
Weeks ago the National Assembly approved within one week 4 trillion Naira subsidy allocation (24% of 2022 national budget) to hand over to a few criminal elements in Nigeria. That money will be borrowed from China for this non transparent consumption. In a New Nigeria, the projection of 6 trillion subsidy will be split up into productive centres: 1.5 trillion to totally rebuild all our tertiary education and 4.5 trillion for solar farms to power small scale industries and CCTV camera across over 700 local governments in Nigeria for security, job and wealth creation. In addition to over 10 trillion Naira in subsidy since 2006; plus 11 trillion Naira invested in turn around maintenance for our local refineries that still will never produce a litre of petroleum. What impact would a 21 trillion Naira investment in Education, health and infrastructure have had in Nigeria?
2023 is here. Citizens cocooned in darkness have seen the light. A new Nigeria is born. Nigerian youths live out their hopes and dreams within Nigeria. The elders retire in absolute peace enjoying the frozen music which is the rich and diverse landscape that Nigeria is blessed with. The dark satanic days of insurgents, kidnappers and all manners of criminality die a natural death. It is like the beauty of Nigeria of the old. Once again we go about our legitimate businesses unhindered. The dwindling members of criminal gangs hide under the disappearing shadow of death. Free at last, thank God Nigeria, we are free. It is February 2023. We can see it and we must cease it.
Chidi Okemadu M.Sc. (Arch); M.Sc. (Mangt. & Fin.); M.A. (Ed) CeFA, MCIM, MCIOB
