By Douglas Anele
Inadequate supply of power is the most critical factor crippling our drive towards economic development. It is asphyxiating the real or manufacturing sector of the economy, as many companies – small, medium, and large – have either closed down completely or moved their factories to countries with more reliable electricity, such as South Africa and Ghana.

The impact on the private and social lives of Nigerians, aside from the cost of buying and maintaining generators, noise and air pollution, is incalculable. So, on the basis of the knee-jerk approach of government to the power problem, Nigerians should brace up for more expensive darkness this year.

On the educational sector, there is nothing in the horizon to persuade one that 2012 will be better than last year for Nigerians. Presently, virtually all public universities are comatose because the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is on strike.

I have written a lot about ASUU’s strikes in this column and elsewhere; only a reiteration of one or two major points is necessary at this juncture. Generally speaking, the education sector as a whole has been in deep crisis for about two decades now mainly as a result of neglect and consistent underfunding by both the federal and state governments.

I believe that, given the indispensability of well-educated humancapital in our desire for industrialisation and self-reliance, Nigerian governments ought to have devoted more than the twenty-six percent of the country’s annual budget, as recommended for all countries by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), to education – none has ever earmarked half of that anyway.

That said, the problem has been exacerbated by lack of imagination, creativity and prudence in the management of available scarce resources by those entrusted with running the schools, colleges and universities.

In addition, the teaching profession at all levels is increasingly being dominated by people lacking the most important intellectual and psychological qualities of good teachers, that is, love of knowledge and devotion to teaching.

At the university level, it is disappointing that the incumbent government headed by a former lecturer is reluctant to implement an agreement reached with ASUU, which of course reflects the entrenched anti-intellectual stance of the military era.

At the same time, frequent recourse to indefinite strikes by ASUU and other unions in the education sector only brings about temporary palliatives while inflicting long term damage on the system as a whole. In the light of this, any expectation of real improvement in education this year is unrealistic.

The same can be said about security, agriculture, health, sports etc. – Nigerians should not expect positive transformation which the President promised in his inauguration speech. President Jonathan’s government seems to lack ideas, will and patriotic spirit needed to transform the country.

The question then is: how should Nigerians respond to the situation on ground right now? Well, some people have suggested that they should take a cue from the Arab Spring and resist any anti-people policy government might implement this year.

That recommendation has a ring of plausibility about it which could make one forget a very important fact about the Nigerian situation. The ethnic, geopolitical and religious configuration of Nigeria is such that the political class responsible for most of our troubles has perfected means of exploiting cleavages in that configuration to thwart the revolutionary aspirations of radicals in the country.

Consequently, although a small group of committed Nigerians can ignite a revolution, the point remains that the probability of success is severely limited by the fissures alluded to above. My recommendation is that Nigerians, particularly the political and business elite, need a psychological and moral revolution to purge themselves of those destructive habits of thought that crippled the country.

First and foremost, government should intensify the fight against graft in high places: as everyone can see, the kid-glove approach to corruption when highly-placed individuals, especially politicians, are involved is counterproductive.

It weakens the moral fabric of society and creates the unsavoury impression that some people are above the law. Secondly, Nigerians should exploit the practice of making New Year resolutionto reorganise their mindsets and philosophy of life.

The super-rich can copy the example of philanthropists like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. The exhilarating spirit of giving back to society practised by these great American entrepreneurs has helped a lot of people around the world, especially in Africa.

Thus, instead of wasting resources on the mundane culture of excess, multi-millionaires and billionaires should give away much of their wealth in an organised structured manner for the benefit of others. This year, everyone should endeavour to treat one another with care and respect, in the knowledge that all of us belong to one human family and that the differences between us are skin-deep. As the German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, reminded us more than two centuries ago, all human beings without exception belong to the kingdom of ends and have an inalienable dignity which must be acknowledged and respected. Nigeria’s main problem, as the world-famous novelist, Chinua Achebe, and others have pointed out, is poor political leadership. Jonathan’s supporters mu
st be courageous to tell him that thus far he has not done well as President. Certainly, the challenges confronting him are enormous, not the least of which isrelentless pressure from all kinds of people and organisations seeking for one favour or another.

But then, was he not the one who went round the country begging us to put the load of leadership on his head, that his head is sturdy enough to carry the weight? From my own point of view, Mr. President seems overwhelmed by the burden of office. Well, as the saying goes, anyone who cannot withstand the heat should leave the kitchen.

This year, he has a choice to make: he must either be on the side of suffering Nigerians, even if that means hurting his rich and influential friends, or continue to minister to the egoistic interests of the “high and mighty.”

His place in history will be determined by the option he chooses. In the meantime my dear readers, notwithstanding the prediction of self-styled prophets that the world will end in 2012, may all of us have the wisdom and strength of character to triumph over the challenges we are facing now, and in the years to come. CONCLUDED.