With many natural and human resources Nigerians are weighed down not only by uncertainties but also by moral, economic and political crisis. Resonating with Ortega's doctrine of mass-man and select man and in line with Chinua Achebe the author articulates Nigerians problems as emanating from their inauthentic and irresponsible leaders. Further reading will illumine my thesis.
THE PARADOX OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT IN ‘THE LAND FLOWING WITH HONEY AND MILK’ (A REFLECTION ON NIGERIA PREDICAMENT)
With the intimidating human and natural resources, Nigeria (the so called Giant of Africa) after independence was expected to power the engine of Africa’s locomotive train of development. No wonder as Nigeria’s Green-White-Green was being hoisted on October 1st 1960, the slight down pour of that day was seen as a shower of blessing signifying a brighter future. The period after the Nigerian civil war was described as the golden days of the nation. This was the time when oil became the mainstay of the nation’s economy. The oil boom at this time assumed greater importance in the world’s trade and Nigeria became the sixth oil producer in the world. Things were so good that the then military head of state, Gen. Yakubu Gowon was quoted to have said that “the problems of the nation were not money but what to do with the money, the proceeds from oil.” Unfortunately, today we are weighed down not only by uncertainties but also moral, economic and political crisis. In the midst of the so much progress, development, peace and harmony witnessed around the world, Nigeria still totters in crisis. This crisis manifests itself in the form of diseases, economic problems, political instability, dependence, inequality, etc. Why was Nigeria unable to keep pace with the momentary development in her preliminary days of nationhood?
Chinua Achebe in his Trouble With Nigeria articulates the above problems as emanating from our corrupt leadership. The noble laureate asserts that we are what we are because our leaders are not what they should be. Sequel to this bad leadership the Daily Sun asserts that in the year 2010 “Nigeria dropped from 35th to 40th position in the Mo Ibrahim good governance ranking of fifty three countries in Africa.” Again, “the country ranked 10th out of 13th countries in West Africa, indicating that Nigeria is among the most badly governed countries in the sub-region.” For instance, “many Nigerians sincerely believe that President Obasanjo has neither put a smile on their faces nor money in their pockets.” The societal upheaval in the country has soared to the level where the Manicheans can readily declare our nation the axis of evil and our leaders the principle of evil.
Resonating with C. B. Okolo, what real power can an average Nigeria exercise of and by himself? What real needs can he solve of himself? Machines for instance cannot operate in our nation without yelling for foreign experts. We Nigerians cannot even fight our foreign enemies whom we blame for our predicament without recourse to their weapons. In concrete terms this dependence boils down to our inability to maintain basic laws and order, stable government, economy, functional health-programmes, even feeding the population without help from outside. Self reliance in basic needs is still a distant dream after many years of nationhood.
One of the characteristics of economic underdevelopment wherever it exists is the prevalence of diseases. This is the case all over Nigeria as every imaginable disease still ravages the nation. HIV/AIDs, tuberculosis, cholera, even malaria and other similar diseases continue to make inroads into the nation decimating the population and debilitating our work force in the process. The World Health Organization in her 2006 report submits that despite the fact that Africa contributes 24% to global burden of diseases, its contribution to global health workers is merely 3%. Consequently Uroh submits that“on the average, 1000 children are killed daily in the continent by some curable diseases such as dysentery, diarrhea and cholera which Africa countries are always ill equipped to contain.”
Underdevelopment hampers democracy and indeed, as long as this problem lingers, genuine democracy and leadership in Nigeria will be but a mirage in the desert. No wonder Prof. Pinda decries in Daily Sun of Nov. 28 2010 “that at the core of our inability to operate a people-oriented democracy are two things: one is illiteracy the other poverty. Poverty induces people to receive pittance for their votes and illiteracy permits people to sell their votes.”
Nigerian youths have been buffeted by the unsavory tides of miss-education and unemployment. Our political leaders have no interest in the intellectual base of our nation. So absurd is the prolonged ASUU strike, yet those who claimed to be in leadership showed their lack of interested. In which authentic education system is the mode of admission so disorganized as the one in Nigeria? In which system of education is the ‘practical constitution’ only bribery and corruption. Ortega G. maintains that an unemployed existence is the worse negation of life than death itself. Yet after graduation in school our youths are face with grim prospect of unemployment. As against Locke our labour is no longer our justification for right of ownership. The most enduring problems with Nigeria are unemployment which leads to poverty and illiteracy. As a result of this wide spread hunger and illiteracy many opt to leave Nigeria in search for a better abode. Many who cannot make it resort to a life of crime offering their services as thugs, assasins, robbers, prostitute, drug peddlers, fraud and kidnapping. Having seen the aberration of leadership in Nigeria, we must submit that until the rotten tooth is pulled out, the mouth must continue to chew with caution.
We now need leaders who will lead by example in all facets of life and encapsulate everything good in the followers. We need a leader that will restore dignity to the high office of the presidency and not one that simply wants it for personal aggrandizement. We need leaders who will be firm on corruption and who will not compromise on the security of the nation. What we face is a case of credibility burden of leadership. Resonating with Benedict xvi this boils down to “building a just social and civil order where in each person receives what is his or her due. This is an essential task which every generation must take up a new.”May God save and deliver us from leaders who are always in potency with nothing, living the life of no commitment and childlike immediacy.
Explains the realizations that have given the author the views of living life fully. The life each person dreams about.
You must take a look at yourself before dreams can be reached.
Deciding what is the core of belief.
This combined narrative dialogue and play is about the uncreated, unborn and undying transcendent Self of God-consciousness and Buddha-nature. It describes an odyssey of transcendent Consciousness Awakening and Remembrance.
Histories of the world are generally written to either celebrate technology and science, or to herald doom. My book examines the path of the spirit in the onward rush.
