By Louis Odion, FNGE
Forget the rose-scented official
statistics, the sweet words of the establishment. There can be no procedure to
tracking Nigeria's progress graph more efficiently, more intimately than a
gesture as ordinary as dusting up old copies of newspapers or journals to find
just how much of yesterday's promises were eventually delivered and the
gradient to which current lamentations in the land bear resonance with the cry
of yester-years.
The first likely surprise on that
excursion into the past: not a few of yesterday's heroes would have
dramatically morphed into today's villains, with old crooks now
miraculously canonized as saints.
The annual national ritual resumed last
Sunday as we marked another October 1. Listening to President Buhari on Monday
making his fifth outing as either civilian or military head of state,
perceptive older Nigerians were unlikely to miss the recurring decimals in all.
Always permeating his National Day speeches from 1984 to date are the themes of
anti-corruption, containing centrifugal forces and titanic exertion to fix
leaking economy.
One, the noble duel against Boko Haram
which has dominated PMB's October 1 in the past three years slightly echoes
back to what was said against no less aberrant Maitasene sect in 1984 as
military head of state.
Talk of salvaging the national economy
out of recession days ago bears same cadence with what we heard in 1984 after
failed politicians had reduced "our hospitals to mere consulting
centres". The same way the anti-corruption rhetoric persistent today had
also featured back in 1984 amid a national crackdown on those who looted the
exchequer during the preceding dispensation.
In a way, it all tells of a nation
hopelessly locked in the frenzy of motion with little or no movement.
Turning the pages of Sunday
Concord of October 5, 1997 last Sunday, this writer, for instance,
could not but shudder at the striking pungency the points made some donkey
years ago by respected columnist, Mr. Lewis Obi, still bears with current human
condition in contemporary Nigeria.
With democracy then in retreat under
dictator Sani Abacha, the national mood was perhaps best captured by Obi in a
piece entitled, "37 Years in The Wilderness", contained in
that edition. His grim observations after listening to the Independence Day
broadcast by the then head of state:
"(A)fter the speech, most
households in Lagos went out in search of water. A cholera epidemic is imminent
in Lagos unless the water supply is restored and increased. Most homes in Lagos
get two days electricity a week. Since only the rich - indeed, even the rich
can no longer run their electricity generating sets - only the obscenely rich
still has a set working. The reason is that the Tokunbo generators
have had to be overburdened and the cost of running them is driving their
owners mad."
With trillions of naira since expended
on power by Abuja in the succession of five administrations and surfeit of
reforms in the past twenty years, generating set market has, in fact, boomed
further with fuel cost completely out of reach of the common man as the nation
still largely wallows in pitch darkness. Back in the 70s, a federal
rolling plan panel led by Chief Olu Falae had projected the nation's energy
need would be over 10,000 megawatts by 2000. More than 40 years later and with
the population almost tripled, electricity generation is still officially
estimated at a controversial 7,000. Yet, by 1988, official records
indicated the 4,000 mark had already been attained. Even after pouring more
than $16b into the energy sector by 2007 (according to the House of Reps in
2009), Chief Olusegun Obasanjo only delivered a miserable 3,000
megawatts.
ODION |
Today, statistics from
an international agency, WaterAid Nigeria, indicate that 40 percent of the
population still lack access to potable water despite hundreds of billions
voted yearly by various levels of government. In short, ten percent of the
world's thirsty are in Nigeria today.
So pervasive has the sinking of private
boreholes become that authorities in many states have since enacted assorted
regulations not to lose out in making profit (by way of levies) from the misery
of the thirsty populace desperately seeking quick-fix. Of course, no one seems
to bother about the adverse consequence for the environment ultimately.
Sadly, the generation that drank from
efficient, hygienic public taps in the 70s/80s sat by idly and over the years
watched in surrender as the cartel of "pure water" merchants
gradually displaced state water boards across the country and today
have proved to be far more efficient, even though carcinogenic, in water
supply.
Now, let us fast forward to October
2007. This is what Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, one-time Anambra governor, had to
say about the activities of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
then under Mallam Nuhu Ribadu:
"As you know, all of us are in
support of anybody or institution that is anti-corruption. The only problem is
the right process to take in fighting corruption. We need to know that
selective justice is injustice. That is the point I want to emphasize. And so
far, the EFCC has been doing selective justice, pursuing people it is asked to
pursue. It cannot claim to be following due process."
Today, with yesterday's opposition now
in power at PDP's expense, what could only be said to have changed is the
voice; the complaints of "selectivity" have not stopped trailing the
anti-graft war.
Then, fast forward to 2017. Ezeife's
reaction to the October 1 broadcast by President Buhari as published by Vanguard two
days later (October 2), no doubt turns a darker page on a different issue
altogether - national unity/integration: "Buhari ... is trying to push the
South-East out of Nigeria by marginalizing, dehumanizing and humiliating
them... The young ones (IPOB) couldn't understand what he was up to and so they
reacted as young people.
"We didn't have these problems
under President Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yar'Adua or Goodluck Jonathan but
immediately Buhari took the oath of office and swore to protect the
constitution, he reneged on such things as federal character. He told us he
belongs to everybody and to nobody but we have seen that he belongs to
Katsina."
At Nigeria's 47 anniversary, these were
the reflections of Chief Falae as published by Sunday Sun of
Sep 30, 2007: "At 47, Nigeria has a lot to grapple with, the
insecurity of lives and property, unemployment among the youths which has
turned young ones to prostitutes and armed robbers, unstable economy which is
telling seriously on the downtrodden, the masses and massive rigging that is
pervading our electoral system and other vices of our leaders. All these are
enough to ruin the nation.
"There will not be meaningful
development unless our leaders are ready to change their attitudes and their
approach to governance... Tell me, how you do think the nation will develop
when a whole deputy governor was snatching ballot boxes in the presence of
voters? I mean this nation needs a lot of reforms and sanity, otherwise the
nation may not witness any meaningful development."
Poor Chief Falae. While uttering those
sanctimonious words in 2007, little did the Akure high chief know that he would
find himself being implicated nine years later in the alleged unsightly receipt
of N100m from Dasukigate.
Ten years ago, Bishop Bolanle Gbonigi,
one of the nation's surviving moral authorities, had wept at the nation's
wasted opportunities, urging prayers for the country's salvation. His views as
published by Sunday Sun of September 30, 2007:
"Our nation needs serious prayers and God's intervention. Our leaders,
instead of listening to the cry of the masses and engage in developmental
projects that will alleviate the sufferings of already downtrodden masses, they
were busy looting the nation's treasury. Therefore, we need to intensify our
prayers so that God can touch the hearts of our leaders. You can see that at
47, the nation has little to show for it. Our leaders should have the fear of
God in their minds."
Today, the octogenarian, after a decade
of fervent prayers, seems to be giving up. His comment in the Punch of
October 1, 2017: "(M)ajority of the politicians join politics not to serve
the people but to serve their pockets. That is why I always say these so-called
politicians lobby for positions in order to get possessions to enrich
themselves. Look at the way they are stealing billions from the treasury and
keeping them in their private accounts in Nigeria and abroad while many
Nigerians are suffering."
Pity, the more things change in Nigeria,
the more they appear the same.
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