By Kunle OYATOMI
The conversation between Kola and I had been on for about half an hour when his son, Afolabi, entered to announce that he was ready to travel to Lagos, enroute a West African country to resume his summer school.

His father was ready for him; the young man needed money for the period at school, and for transportation as usual. My friend simply handed his son a white envelope, apparently stuffed with money and said, “goodluck and safe journey.”

Kola looked in the young man’s direction as he walked out the door; my friend shook his head and said, (pointing at his boy), “that’s one beautiful evidence of the ‘wonderful’ achievements we have had in the last 50 years of our independence, and in over 12 years now of our so-called democracy.

JAMB, cut offs and the rest of the rubbish we have introduced into our educational administration has shut this young man out of the system. We cannot afford to send him overseas, but thank goodness, along the West Coast, JAMB is not an issue. The boy was admitted into a university without it.”

My friend then looked at his watch — cross-checked with the wall clock — it was 10.30 a.m. He grimaced and turned to me; “Kunle, what do you make of a country that deliberately dissuades (or isn’t it frustrates?) a sizable proportion of its youths from having university education; how does such a country develop?”

“Kola” I said with some sense of remorse, “am afraid, only well educated people have the capacity to place appropriate value on education in the first place. But more critical is the question of vision!!” I almost exclaimed. “Our ill-luck is that this country is predominantly governed by poorly educated, miseducated, even ill-educated and worse still, visionless politicians.

So the question of education as a primary agent of change, development and enlightenment of society becomes lost on that political class that has brought Nigeria’s educational decay to the level it is today.”My own mood had changed completely.

“Now you are talking, my dear friend” Kola exclaimed triumphantly as he interjected; “The mind-set of most politicians in government today (if not all of them) is to appropriate power for their self improvement and the outdated practice of building individual financial empires to sustain themselves permanently in the corridors of power.

Such people can never develop a vision bigger than their ego. That is why they do not cringe or have a qualm of conscience when they allocate public funds to themselves. These are not enlightened people who can run enlightened government, or create an enlightened society,” Kola firmed up philosophically.

“But we are thinking that much of this would change with a better organised electoral system and process which, if credible, may have the potential of effecting a positive new direction in leadership”I said.

“Again, Kunle, that’s a matter of sheer optimism” said Kola. “I do not sheer such optimism or hope because these people in power have told you that it is a do or die affair. Obasanjo has shown the way crudely; I have the feeling that the current political engineering will only fine-tune Obasanjo’s crude method. Stay in power they will, except a gale much stronger than their mischief sweeps them off their feet come 2011.

And I don’t see Nigerians produce that gale because everybody is aspiring to be like the politicians. They are only complaining because they cannot reach for the golden apple. Give most Nigerians a chance to power and influence, they will abuse it.” Kola made a point that really troubled me.

My memory machine began to race backward in time. The resume of the images that floated across my consciousness was that we have hardly had a history of significant political performance in governance by the plethora of politicians who have run government in the last 50 years.

The clock in Nigeria began to tick backward since 1962. So much of what has been learnt in this country by prospective and practicing politician is the art of fraudulent self enrichment of public expense. We have no experience whatsoever of a glorious period of excellent governance since Nigeria got independence in 1060 — NONE.

So, on what past might we predicate our future? If there would be a future at all, we would have to start de novo.

“I must admit, Kola, that we have a problem there” I said after my quick mental reminiscence, “but we have to start somewhere; which is why a lot of us are hoping (on a fragile thread though) that a credible electoral process could make a difference. God helps us that it succeeds, otherwise it will be grim,” I said.

“My problem, Kunle, is that the level of suffering and avoidable deaths in the country is on the increase. In fact the word increase is inadequate to describe the state of affairs of misery and death in the country.

Many people are dying of hunger-related illnesses, and poverty is at the heart of this situation; the problem is escalating so rapidly, you media people are not capturing the big picture,” Kola said on a very sad not.

“We are conscious of the magnitude of the problem,” I responded, “and we have a duty to let the world know about these conditions.
We are confronting the politicians with the picture, but “am afraid they are hopelessly insensitive to the plight of our peoples. What we are a bit puzzled about it is the attitude of the people themselves who are very nearly under the slavery of poverty, yet they appear apathetic to their own plight.

Their docility rankles,” I told Kola.
Then he did something that surprised me; Kola stood up, raised his arms skywards in despair and shouted, “When they are ready, the people will save themselves,” he ushered me to the breakfast table. We ate in complete silence.

Bravo Mozambique!!

Nigerians should study the recent crisis in Mozambique with some sense of shame, and realisation that in very many ways we cannot any longer pretend to leadership of Africa. We really have very little or nothing to offer in that direction.

About a week ago, the Mozambican government announced a 30% increase in the price of bread. The people revolted immediately. They poured into the streets to say No to the increase. The government would have none of the challenge and ordered its security forces to deal with the protests ruthlessly. For five days there were street battles with the security force by the aggrieved citizens.

Everyday that the people protested, over two dozens of them were killed. By Monday this week, the fury of the people’s protest had not abetted and by the last count on that day, over 500 people had been killed by the security force.

Sensing that the situation was going to get bloodier the government chimed down and removed the 30% hike in price. The people had told the government in clear terms, what they would not accept because that would create misery and further impoverish the citizens.

The people who got their government to stop irresponsible action were not the most educated in Africa but they had the presence of mind, and the commonsense to reaslise that the easiest way to get a government to ride rough shods over its citizen is for them to keep quiet when that government does the wrong thing.

Can the Nigerian public learn anything from this event in Mozambique? Are they even aware of it in the first place? Nigerians are sleepwalking, and their government is making a fool of them, and they in turn are smiling. Fela Anikulapo Kuti was right. All we are capable of is, “suffering and smiling.” And many are dying from it.