Nigeria at a crossroads

By Chiedu Uche Okoye

IS Nigeria not in a pit of national underdevelopment? Based on indices and benchmark for assessing countries’ level of development, Nigeria is a backward country, technologically, industrially, and economically. But why Nigeria is called the giant of Africa confounds not only me but also millions of other patriotic and well-meaning Nigerians. That Nigeria is the giant of Africa is a hyperbolic expression. The truth is, Nigeria is a potentially great country.
Are crude-oil deposits, gold, bauxite, tin-ore, coal, and limestone not found beneath our soil? And Nigeria has a very large land mass and humongous population. More so, millions of Nigerians with specialized skills, expertise ,and knowledge are living in the Diaspora. And, they contribute meaningfully to the development of their host countries.
More so, the waters of Nigeria scattered across our geographical landscape like seas, lakes, ponds, and rivers are great incentives for the practice of agriculture in the country, both subsistence agriculture and mechanized one. And our climatic condition is mild and equable, too. Seldom do such acts of God as cyclone, earthquake, tsunami, and others, which devastate some other countries, occur here.
But why has Nigeria not joined the league of developed nation-states? The answer is not far-fetched. It is located in the issue of inept and corrupt political leadership. Since Nigeria attained self-rule in 1960, bad political leadership interspersed with dictatorial and ruthless military regimes had been our lot and fate until the fourth republic dawned in our political polity in 1999. Those governments pillaged our economy and stalled our democratic and technological growth.
Now, we have enjoyed 18 years of unbroken civilian administration. And one political party has handed political power to another without the country descending into a fratricidal civil war. But the smooth transfer of political power from one political regime to another seems to be the only tangible gain that has accrued to us since the fourth republic berthed here.
Are most of our roads not rutted and dilapidated? And millions of Nigerians are unemployed. Our economy, which is solely dependent on crude oil revenue, has slipped into recession, with the concomitant effect of some states’ in the federation suffering severe financial handicap.
But there is a nexus between a country’s level of development and its national leaders. Since Nigeria became an independent country, it has not been led by its best politicians, who possess probity and leadership qualities. This is attributable to the factors of political god-fatherism, our money-based variant of politics, ethnicity, and religion, which are the determinants that influence our choice of leaders. The recruitment process for our leaders is skewed and structured in such a way that politicians with leadership qualities and probity seldom get elected into exalted political posts in our democratic architecture.
It is an incontrovertible fact that our past national leaders got into the Presidential loft either fortuitously or they are helped to power. Dr. Goodluck Jonathan became our leader through divine providence or intervention. But his political administration was characterized by tardiness, indecisiveness, the regime’s incapacity to tame the monster of Boko Haram insurgency, and his condoning of the perpetration of acts of graft by his acolytes. His lackluster performance contributed to his abysmal loss of the last presidential election. It’s a proof that Nigerians were disaffected with him and his colourless and ineffective leadership style.
His successor in office is President Muhammadu Buhari. Owing to his ascetic nature, Spartan lifestyle, and great dislike for corruption, President Muhammadu Buhari, is believed to be the messiah that would right the wrongs in the polity, grow and revive our prostrate economy, and fix our infrastructural rot and deficit.
Today, however, President Buhari’s temporary abode is a hospital in Great Britain. And his occupation of the highest political office in Nigeria has led to his demystification. It took him a considerable length of time to form an executive cabinet. Little wonder, he hasn’t achieved much as our president.  He ought to re-jig his cabinet and inject new blood into it. Nigeria urgently needs skilled and knowledgeable ministers, who can turn around our country’s misfortunes and economic woes, and rescue it from the morass of backwardness.
If president Buhari is incapable of piloting the affairs of Nigeria owing to his persistent ill-health, he should throw in the towel and hand in his resignation forthwith. Is the survival and progress of Nigeria not more important than his ambition? Now, Nigeria is pirouetting dangerously, with millions of Nigerians becoming suicidal. In the recent past, some Nigerians took their lives owing to the biting economic hardship, which buffeted them. Our mono-economy, which went into recession when the global oil prices slumped, hasn’t recovered fully. Many states in the federation, which are financially distressed, cannot meet their obligations to their workers. And, in this season of economic recession, the value of our Naira has depreciated considerably and lost its purchasing power. Consequently, civil servants, who are always hard-up for cash, scrounge for food. Their act of mendacity has robbed them of their dignity. So it’s time this political administration implemented palliative measures to cushion the effects of the distressed economy on the hapless masses.
It is not only the comatose economy that is ailing Nigeria. Alongside the unremitting and murderous deeds of the nomadic and AK-47 wielding Fulani herdsmen, the Boko Haram insurgency pales into insignificance. The bloody campaigns of these groups, whose intent, perhaps, is to create a theocratic state in the northern part of Nigeria and beyond, can cause political instability in Nigeria. The greatness of Nigeria, we should remember, lies in our diversities. Aren’t we better off as one united and indivisible country?
Again, the relentless agitation for the creation of the state of Biafra is not unconnected to the marginalization of the Igbo people and the Igbo-speaking states in Nigeria’s scheme of things. The Igbo people, who are treated as second class citizens in Nigeria, are sedulous, adventurous, and enterprising people, who contribute their quotas to our country’s growth.
Nigeria, unarguably, is at the cross-roads of economic recession, divisive ethnic nationalism, and bumbling and inept political leadership. So, it needs to be urgently restructured now. Again our method as well as system of recruiting   national leaders should be tinkered with in order that only patriotic, morally upright, visionary, knowledgeable, and able politicians can occupy sensitive and exalted posts in Nigeria’s leadership architecture.
Okoye writes from Uruowulu-Obosi

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