Nigerians seem to have grown callous to inflictions and afflictions. They appear to have waxed pachydermatous to trials and tribulations. In spite of many decades of torrents of hurt and pain unleashed on them by those they chose as leaders, my people have a way of dealing with any bad situation as it comes and they deduce means to overcome tough times that threaten to overcome them. The pain in Nigeria is real. The suffering is tangible. The tattooed hunger on millions of faces you see walking the streets is indubitable. In that pain and hunger, everybody still enthusiastically talks about politics and postulates on elections. They argue aggressively and bicker bitterly among themselves while they make enemies and build friendly camps. In noisy audacity, debates rage daily about why they think one candidate, who has a track record of authority stealing, is better than the other who has a curriculum vitae of thievery.
For far too long, my people have been railroaded by mealy-mouthed politicians who stretch out deceptive hands of friendship to them only during election seasons. My people genuflect before men who are obvious pilferers of our collective patrimonies. I always wonder why Nigerians aren’t tired of trusting politicians to deliver them from the belly of hell, the same people have heave-hoed them into. I wonder why they see these characters jostling for higher offices as friends and not as enemies of the people they truly are. Are Nigerians fools? Politicians think they are! And they muse it behind closed doors. But Nigerians aren’t fools. They only believe that maybe one day, their gamble on one candidate will pay off and they’ll be off the hook of torture and the expected messiah will come and set them free from infernal thralldom! Amidst hopeless imageries and the existential threat from the invisible belly of hell, for a people who have nowhere else to run, there is nothing else to do but to hope.
Why do Nigeria’s stories seem to have been backwards ever and forward never? Think about this for a second. In 2017, IMF said that Nigeria was considered to be on track to becoming one of the 20 largest economies in the world by 2020. But in 2021, its mission chief, Amine Mati, said that the prediction failed flat! The economy underperformed by growing too slowly to reduce poverty or joblessness. Miseries have deepened and more pain on the main street. In spite of our human assets and brainiacs in all fields making waves all around the world and helping governments of other countries, it seems so difficult to launch Nigeria on a prosperous path that leaves no single Nigerian behind.
A careful capture of the state of the Nigerian economy in the 1980s reveals that in that season of life, the dollar sold for a mere 0.78k. Today, $1 hovers around N600. Once upon a time, Nigeria was a net exporter of refined petroleum products. As at today, imports currently account for over 80% of Nigeria’s refined product supply, creating a huge potential for local refining. What happened to that Nigeria? Once upon a time, Peugeot cars were put together in Kaduna, Volkswagen cars in Lagos, Leyland in Ibadan and ANAMCO in Enugu. All of these giant structures together flooded the market with locally assembled cars, buses and trucks. Today, great stories about our past exploits are only read in history books. What happened to that Nigeria? Nigeria Airways was about the biggest in Africa at that time as Nigerians cruised around the world in the big bird. Greed and gluttony grounded the airline, and we are not sure if it will ever fly. What happened to that Nigeria?
Nigeria remains the largest economy but economic inequality stands its ground all across the spectrum. The country has an expanding economy with abundant human capital and the economic potential to lift millions out of poverty. The submission that the poverty-alleviating body OXFAM released a few years ago still rings in my head often. The combined wealth of Nigeria’s five richest men—$29.9 billion—could end extreme poverty at a national level but the rich keep their wealth to themselves as they get bigger. OXFAM also says that the amount of money that the richest Nigerian man can earn annually from his wealth is sufficient to lift two million people out of poverty for one year. While poverty and inequality in Nigeria are not due to a lack of resources but to the ill-use, misallocation and misappropriation of such resources, at the root is a culture of corruption combined with a political elite out of touch with the daily struggles of average Nigerians.
The only thing that seems permanent in today’s Nigeria is pain and suffering. There are no jobs as manufacturing industries have been shipped overseas and the few ones available have no job security. If you lose even a menial job that pays a peanut, it is like a sentence into the belly of hell. You may have not only lost your job but your self-esteem, your family and possibly all of your life. With the murky mindsets of men and women who are our policymakers across the spectrum, will this ugly picture ever change for the better?
For those who are enthusiastic about their candidate riding on a white horse to save them, hear me out. I don’t see any one man who has the magic wand to resolve Nigeria’s many troubles. Problems on the ground is a haystack of mayhem. The next president, whoever that is, will have his hands full in every area of Nigeria’s national life. As the election looms, Nigerians are taking sides on who they think will do a better job rescuing the Titanic from a wreck. I think it is bigger than that. The fixation on who becomes the president in 2023 is infantile thinking if we don’t look at the big picture. The big picture is about Nigeria; a country that has it all and is blessed with very many potentials to become one of the greatest nations ever. Who is that right person for Nigeria? My friend, one man will become president but one man cannot save Nigeria from its plethora of afflictions. It’s a collective duty of all of us. That collective duty challenge is the greatest challenge Nigeria has today much more than who becomes president. I conclude this treatise with a supplication to God of heaven that Nigeria will not be watered intolerably by troubles, and overwhelmed by afflictions. Nigeria will rise and not fall. Nigeria will take her place among prosperous nations. There shall be no end to the comfort and joy of her people. so shall it be.
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