The only person (nation) you are destined to become,” averred American philosopher and poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “is the person (nation) you decide to be.” It is not the person you wish to be, because if wishes were horses then beggars would ride! Even at that, efforts and courage, as 35th United States President, John F. Kennedy, so poignantly noted, are not enough without purpose and direction. When the now defunct USSR drew first blood in the Cold War era by unexpectedly launching the Sputnik and sending the first man to space, President Kennedy countered that the U.S. would successfully land an American on Planet Moon within a decade.
But JFK didn’t just stop there; his administration formulated and implemented the right policies as well as galvanised American institutions and public opinion towards realising the expected outcome. Not surprisingly, the U.S. landed the first astronaut on the moon in 1969 (less than a decade!). On the other hand, successive administrations in Nigeria typically make a lot of sound and fury which. at the end of the day. signify nothing. Take President Goodluck Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda for instance.
Isn’t it out of sync for an administration that wants to transform the nation from a mono-economy to a diversified one, as it claims, sees nothing wrong with consistently churning out annual national budgets where recurrent expenditure swallows up as much as 75 per cent of federal revenue? And why does the administration continue to selectively treat corruption with kid gloves, all in the name of procuring an electoral advantage? Check the latest United Nations Human Development Report on poverty, out-of-school children, infant and maternal mortality, among other developmental indices, and see how Nigeria is leading from the bottom!
This nation urgently needs leaders who have the ability and capacity to think. When Alexander the Great was asked the secret behind his seeming invincibility he replied thus: “I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am (only) afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.” Does Jonathan consider himself a sheep leading a pack of lions or a lion leading a pack of sheep? The best way he can honestly answer that question is to stand before a mirror and dialogue with his image. If he chooses to listen to his numerous aides with their vested interests at stake, then he has lost it.
The president’s handling of the case of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls was most appalling. He was first led into believing that the ‘phantom’ abduction was simply concocted by the opposition to discredit his administration. This explains why, long after international pressure forced him into action, he still accuses the leaders of the #BringBackOurGirls movement of being sponsored by the opposition party.
And why fool around like the man with an elephant on his head who needlessly searches for a grasshopper with his big toe by opening highly divisive battle-fronts (orchestrated impeachment of opposition party governors) as part of an awe-and-shock strategy aimed at eliminating all obstacles to the president’s re-election bid come 2015 when the major war against insecurity of life and property is far from being won? During the Western Region political crisis of the mid-60s, top officials of the government and party in power at the centre rigorously denied any involvement in Awo’s travails.
But the master-puppeteers had no way of knowing that the seemingly innocuous power-play would ultimately culminate in two military coups, a progrom, a civil war, stagnation of destinies and death of over two million Nigerians. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Just like in the mid-60s, government and ruling party spokespersons have equally chosen to play the ostrich by vehemently denying the involvement of the executive arm of government in the ongoing impeachment saga. But time will tell.
While speaking last Monday at the commencement of the 7th course for youth leaders of political parties, the representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Nigeria, Daouda Toure, called on Nigerian leaders to quickly quell the volatile situation in the country to prevent the nation from disintegrating because of her economic and political importance to Africa in particular and the world in general.
“Which of the countries of the West African sub-region (including Cameroun and Chad),” asked Mr. Toure, “can absorb 20 or 30 million refugees from Nigeria? Imagine Nigerians going to the neighbouring markets to buy grains and food. It will be like either there would be no food left for those countries or the impact it will have on the prices of food in those countries would be huge.”
If our leaders think of the much broader picture before them, they would doubtlessly rethink their over-arching ambitions. But the opposition must be reminded that power is never given to anyone on a platter of gold and voters are not to be taken for granted. Second, we the Nigerian people must desist from allowing primordial sentiments to determine our voting pattern, only to retreat to lick our self-inflicted wounds as we complain ad nauseam about “the system” and “failure of leadership”.
It is entirely within our powers to make the required difference, both for ourselves and generations yet unborn. “Change,” said U.S. President Barack Obama, “will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
The renowned Italian astrologer and inventor, Galileo Galilei, once opined: “I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God that has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect has intended for us to forgo their use.” I fully concur. Nigerians must change their mindset. It is only here that people keep doing the same thing again and again, and myopically expect to experience a different outcome!
As for politicians consumed by selfish ambitions, who seek to play God without the slightest regard for the fragile political state of the nation and the fate of our democratic experiment, I can only remind them that while men may choose to propose, it is the almighty God who disposes. May wise counsel prevail!
