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Much ado about 44 years
THE Federal Government is staging a week-long song and dance affair, including a party for children, trips to the church and the mosque and an exhibition in celebration of Nigeria's 44th birthday anniversary. The chosen theme is quite apt: "Our Past, Our Present, Our Hope". But let the point be made that a celebration of Nigeria at 44, at any level whatsoever " Federal, state or local, or in whatever form: media congratulatory adverts, independence balls etc. " would be no more than a misplacement of priorities, a tragi-comedy really, of the equivalent of a farcical, rambunctious show at the graveside of an unfortunate victim of the vicissitudes of life.
Nigeria is a victim at 44. What is imminent on this occasion is not a celebration of life, but the wake-keeping of an otherwise avoidable funeral. I argue that an interrogation of the theme that has been advertised by the Federal Government would be a useful exercise. It would help unravel the trajectory and nature of the Nigerian crisis and whether indeed, there is hope in the horizon given the present circumstances, or despair.
First, Our past: when the Union Jack was lowered at midnight on October 1, 1960, at that significant moment of transition, and the Nigerian Green-White-Green flag was hoisted, to the accompaniment of song, fire-works, dance and efflorescence, the mood of the Nigerian nation that had just gained sovereignty was one of celebration, and boundless hope. The people looked forward to the future with great expectations; they spoke of tomorrow as a land of promise and opportunities. October 1, 1960 marked the first moment of liberation for the Nigerian people: it was the turning point of a long struggle that had taken more than 100 years; that is, the struggle of the people in the geographical space that came to be known as Nigeria " to run their own affairs, and manage their own resources.
So strong was the feeling of nationalism that three years later, the proposal that Nigeria should enter into a Defence pact with Britain was stoutly opposed by Nigerian students and other civil society groups. Nigerians were not willing to compromise their sovereignty. When the generation that lived in the Nigeria of that season reminisces, what is described is an otherwise idyllic country in which values were still respected, if not in government circles, at least in the general society. It was a Nigeria of gardens and parties and great enthusiasm among the people. The country was divided into regions, but ethnic and tribal divisions were problematic only to the extent that they sowed the seeds of bitter fruits of the future.
The story of our past is painfully well-known. It is a past that Nigerians remember not necessarily with mere nostalgia but mixed feelings. By 1964, the Nigerian edifice had begun to collapse. Nigeria had become a curious illustration of the racist assumption that the black man is incapable of managing complex situations. The failings at this early stage made future omissions and violations possible. For the avoidance of doubt, Nigeria was doomed from the very beginning. The nation was constructed to fail; given its structure and politics, the future of the young nation was bound to lead in one direction - conflict and anomie.
The various episodes of our history - military intervention, the rise of a veto class, the civil war, the squandering of riches, the greed of the emergent elite and nouveaux riche - these are symptoms of in-built distortions. The British did not want a Nigeria that would stand on its feet. The civilian and military elite that succeeded the British had equally learnt one lesson of power only: that the only route to personal prosperity is to keep the oil-rich Nigerian nation in a sustainable state of anomie.
The British looted the resources on behalf of the Queen, for the development of England; the Nigerians emptied state resources into their private warehouses. If it was in the interest of the British to keep the people down with the aid of racial myths of superiority, the indigenous elite kept themselves in power by destroying the very institutions and values that could have produced a Nigerian nation. This emergent power elite has proved to be vicious in its hold on power. From 1960 onwards, it has recruited new persons into its fold, and established a culture of performance that is anti-state and anti-people. This criminal annexation of the state and its resources, resulted in the alienation of the very essence of governance, and the removal of the people's interest from the official agenda. Every new recruit into this veto class soon undergoes an orientation process, such that in the eyes of the ordinary Nigerian, the state is a fortress where strange things happen, a secret society that is shut off from the prying eyes of non-initiates. Students of Nigerian politics and society are wont to observe that the quality of life in Nigeria was still relatively high in the eighties but indeed, that was the beginning of the procession to the graveyard.
Our Present: It is amusing that the Federal Government is talking about "our present" in the context of a celebration. The present in this regard should be dated back to May 1999 when after a harrowing season of military rule, and the combined tyranny of Abacha, Babangida and Buhari, Nigerians successfully rose in defiance of bad governance. When President Olusegun Obasanjo was sworn in on May 29, 1999, the pervasive feeling across the land was comparable to that special moment on October 1, 1960. The people felt good about themselves. They had gone through the furnace and won a battle of destiny.
With Obasanjo as leader, there was great conviction that a Nigerian Mandela had emerged, whose personal force and dignity would wield the nation together, correct the ills of the past and raise fresh hopes about the future. Even prisoners were jubilant. President Obasanjo had been jailed by the Abacha regime and hence, the feeling of triumphalism from inside prison walls to the outside world was understandable. Obasanjo's symbolism and its celebration in 1999, meant that Nigerians set much store by leadership; they were looking for a messianic figure whose example would result in positive transformations. The pity of it all is that the failure of the Obasanjo symbol, its pathos, and suicidal streak, began to manifest quite early in the life of this administration and that, I dare say, is at the heart of the worsening of the present crisis.
With the giant symbol exposing its feet of clay, it was only a matter of time before the short distance runners who had learnt their trade under the military overran the land making a mockery of our democracy. The result is that nothing has changed. What has happened instead, is the deepening of the Nigerian crisis, the people's apathy and poverty. Old patterns have been codified into official habits. At all levels of government - federal, state and local - the new leaders are at war with the people. The state and its institutions have been turned into instruments of terror which can be used to achieve any clandestine objectives; including the brazen theft of public funds; violation of the rule of law; religious and ethnic animosity; assassination of political opponents; promotion of nepotism and corruption - anti-values that are antithetical to the objectives of good governance.
Thus, so much happened in the last five years that has displaced the innocence of the average Nigerian. May 1999 was supposed to mean the season of a second liberation, but it has turned out to be the beginning of a third phase of colonialism. What is unique is that government officials in exasperation also readily admit the continuing failure of the Nigerian state. The other month, the Minister of Labour, Productivity and Employment Generation told an international audience that more than 70 per cent of the Nigerian population lives in abject poverty. There is so much anger and despair in the land. Society's value-systems collapsed long ago, and the main beneficiaries are the old members of the rich, veto class, and their new recruits who appear to be learning rather fast.
What is more confounding is the desperation of the present set of leaders. They are prepared to make whatever compromises that suit their limited vision. Is it not strange that the same government that refused a month ago, to use the excess crude oil revenue to cushion the effect of rising oil prices on the people, is now devoting 50 per cent of the same excess revenue to the same purpose in the event of future fuel price increases? Are we being told matter-of-factly, despite the offensive of N53 per litre that prices of petroleum products would still rise? Is it also, not an indication of the nature of these present times that the same Federal Government that would not negotiate with the Nigeria Labour Congress is holding a conversation with Asari Dokubo, leader of an ethnic militia - the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force?
I add that the visit of Asari Dokubo to Abuja this week, is perhaps the most fitting confirmation of the desperation of this government. And realising this, the Federal authorities have been insisting that Dokubo did not meet with the President but with security agencies. Dokubo himself told the BBC and the AP that he was in Abuja for a meeting with the President. So, who is telling the truth? Please note that Asari Dokubo is at best, a terrorist. He and his men have threatened to attack oil installations in the Niger Delta by October 1 and this alone has forced international oil prices above $50 per barrel. Dokubo has a standing army that has upstaged the Nigerian Armed Forces on many occasions. No one is in doubt that he is in a position to carry out his threat. So, what has the Nigerian government done?
The Federal authorities (or is it the President?), decided to negotiate with a terrorist (!) who has also been officially described as a "joker" and "oil thief". He was not given a one-way ticket to Abuja. He in fact, travelled in a Presidential jet (!) according to one report. What message is this Federal Government sending across? That the best way to get the ears of government is to threaten to hold the country to ransom? The invitation of Asari Dokubo to Abuja has turned him into a superstar. Other persons with access to illegal arms and ammunition and the courage to kill and destroy would be emboldened by the official state reception that he got in Abuja. He even went with his own commanders and bodyguards. And he has been boasting about his achievement. This, then, is the state of Nigeria at the moment. The state is organised on the basis of deals and compromises, which do not obey any defined logic.
Our hope: So what hope? What is the guarantee that tomorrow would be different if the present is as bad as the past? At 44, we are in the true sense, a colonised state, and the people are the victims. Besides, where is the Nigerian nation? The day power returns to the Nigerian people, when the security and welfare of the people become the main purpose of governance, when government begins to wear a human face, then we can begin to speak truly of independence. For now, it is "their" independence, not ours.
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