By Olanrewaju Fagbohun

Rather than just banning the country’s football teams aftermath of the dismal performance of the Super Eagles at the last World Cup in South Africa, the President should have banned the National Assembly, PHCN, the Police and all other institutions.

In a most powerful way, Femi Anikulapo-Kuti, a two time grammy award nominee, captured the above concerns in one of his lyrics, thus, “if my eyes no deceive me, and na true be dis man ear dey ear, Politicians and Soldiers make meeting; our country dey want repair, dem dey take life say, dem no  no, na dem spoil our country so, as dem dabaru am dey go, so my people dey follow o, I sorry sorry o, I sorry for Nigeria, I sorry sorry o, I sorry for Africa…” (From the Album, Black man know Yourself).

Looking at the development indicators and reading through the kind of comments above which daily inundate local and international tabloids, one comes to the sad but incontrovertible conclusion that Nigeria is far from healthy.  As noted by Karl Maier in his book, This House Has Fallen, “Nigeria, like so many countries in Africa, is patently not a developing nation. It is under_developing.  Its people are worse off now than they were at independence … In Nigeria, the blame for its lost generation falls squarely on the shoulders of its people’s leaders _ corrupt military dictators and their civilian accomplices _ who over the past quarter of a century have humbled a once proud nation through outright incompetence and greed”.

I have had cause to ask myself; was it not this same Nigeria that its Finance Minister in the person of late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, chided the British Prime Minister, Mr. Harold Wilson, in 1971 for devaluing the British pound sterling without forewarning Nigeria?  Nigeria refused to devalue her currency at that time notwithstanding that it was tied to the sterling standard with the result that the Nigeria pound became stronger than the British pound. I ask myself again, what went wrong? In fact, do we care? Are we facing the realities of the moment? Is it of any interest to us where we are, and how we got to where we are?

Brushing aside the answers to these questions for the time being, permit me to take us back to my earlier statement where I used the phrase “dear nation” as opposed to “great nation”. Nigeria’s Anniversary Theme for this year is “50 years of Celebrating Greatness”.  In the context of the above realities, can we truly, honestly and in good conscience assert that we are celebrating “greatness”? The word “great” connotes high degree, beyond the ordinary, memorable, remarkable, distinguished, high rank or fully deserving.  Can Nigeria at 50 years answer to any of the above synonyms of “greatness”?  May be yes, in the negative context. But, certainly no, in the positive context.

Motivational speakers and positive thinkers will urge us to think positively and give recognition to only what we desire.  In this regard, they will urge that notwithstanding our numerous problems, we should focus on the good and not the bad and the ugly. Perhaps, it was this kind of thinking that informed the theme for the 50th independence anniversary. But then, in the words of Socrates, the unexamined life is not worth living.  It is when we focus on our crisis that our attention will be forced on the disorder in our thinking, and we are thus able to save ourselves as we teeter on the brink of even greater disaster.  What the Nigerian situation calls for at this point in time is not celebration of greatness, rather, it demands a sober reflection and self_examination of the Nigerian nation.  As is often said, there is a time to see a cup as half empty and there is a time to see it as half full.

Nigeria’s Crisis of Development- Passing the Buck

For Nigeria, one excuse is as good as another for her multitude of woes and crisis of development.  Unfortunately, not every excuse is foolproof.  I must admit from the onset that the exercise of making excuses is not new to Nigeria or even to our generation. This popular diversionary technique can be traced back to the Old Testament, particularly the Book of Leviticus, where we find a sacred custom called the “escaped goat”. When the problems and trials of the people became overwhelming, a healthy male goat was brought to the temple.  In a formal ceremony, the high priest of the tribe placed his hands on the head of the goat and read the list of problems.  This process transferred the agonies and anxieties onto the goat and the goat was set free, taking the troubles with him out to pasture.

More than 4,000 years after, the scapegoat syndrome is very much alive in Nigeria. Often times when the woes of Nigeria are being discussed, some of our leaders quickly cite the slave trade, colonialism and neo_colonialism as the bane of Nigeria’s problem. Others cite the nebulous concept of the “Nigerian Factor”.  Not too long ago, news made the round about the alleged confession of one Harold Smith, an Oxford University Graduate who is now in his eighties and who was one of those that midwife Nigeria’s independence in 1960.  He was alleged to have confessed to how the colonialists hidden agenda contributed to the lingering problem in Africa, especially Nigeria. According to the report, the legendary Harold Smith noted that Nigeria, a great nation was crippled not because of military juntas or corrupt leaders alone, but by the British and American fear of Nigeria’s great future.

I guess we must respect the ingenuity of excusiologists.  I am not concerned with the truth or otherwise of Mr. Smith’s confession. I also concede that slave trade and colonialism impacted negatively on Africa. The truth of the matter, however, is for as long as Nigeria and Nigerians continue to make excuses for our failures; for as long as we fail to take responsibility for developing a winning lifestyle; for as long as we fail to take proactive steps to caution and correct our own mistakes, life will continue to seem unfair while the things we continue to excuse will return to haunt us over and over again.