In Nigeria, everything that can go wrong, has gone wrong
L-R: Dr. Uma Eleazu, chairman; Rotimi Amaechi, guest speaker, Mrs. Onyia, representative of Enugu State governor; Mrs. Maiden Ibru, publisher of Guardian newspaper, listening as Mr. Ikechukwu Amaechi, MD/EiC of TheNiche delivers his welcome address
L-R: Prof Anya O. Anya, Akogun Tola Adeniyi and Dr. Uma Eleazu
Elder Eleazu fielding questions from reporters
By Dr. Uma Eleazu
I stand on the shoulders of generations of respectable men and women who went before me. I do so with gratitude to God and respect for them. These men of conviction wrenched this territory called Nigeria from the hands of colonialists and laid the foundation of a new federated nation-states based on the principles of Freedom and Equality; Unity in Diversity. In recent decades, the moral values of our national ancestry have waned, and many have forsaken their sacred honour as we watch the downward trend in our moral values.
Historically, when the moral basis (OMENALA) of any ethnic nationality begins to unravel in a given culture, everything, from the effectiveness of government to the general welfare of the people is adversely impacted. This is precisely what is happening to us today.
The ethnic nationalities that make up Nigeria are being buffeted and undermined by the forces operating around them, causing the fundamental principles binding them (or supposed to bind them) to unravel leaving them to clash against each other as snooker balls on a billiard table.
Men and women of goodwill must make the necessary investment of time and energy to counter these forces or influences to build within the next generation lasting values embodied in qualities of character, self-discipline, respect for authority and for one another, commitment to speaking the truth always, no matter whose ox is gored, a belief in the work ethic, and an unshakable love for God and man.
This is why TheNiche lectures are so important. Each year the proprietors have drawn attention to one issue or another for public interrogation. It is one way we begin to create a new elite consensus around values which we want to inculcate in the next generation of politicians and leaders.
Having said that, permit me to say a few words about the extant Nigerian condition as a way of introducing the topic of the day.
Preamble
In today’s Nigeria, everything that can go wrong has gone wrong, thanks to the fumbling of our leaders. The economy is not growing, in fact the growth rate of the GDP has slowed considerably due to poor economic management, the Naira has lost its value, interest rate is so high that it does not encourage either savings or investment, and without these, the economy cannot grow.
Foreign investment cannot flow in because of unpredictable exchange rate. Without foreign capital inflow, we cannot attract new technology that could help in solving some of our problems. Indigenous scientific research has for long been stultified because those in power are not serious about technical education and scientific research.
The physical infrastructure that support growth of businesses – energy, roads, ports etc. have dilapidated. The general business climate is harsh and uninviting; those foreign businesses already here are taking their flight out of the country – Dunlop, Michelin, M-Benz Trucks, (ANAMCO), etc. I shouted myself hoarse in the 1970s and 80s. The powers-that-be did not listen.
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Security-wise, we appear now to be living in a Hobbesian state of nature, where, as he put it in his book Leviathan: “There is war of all against all, and the life of man is nasty, brutish and short.”
Daily, people are killed in cold blood, others are kidnapped, raped or put through inhumane physical torture only to exact ransom from their relatives. Life is now so precarious and cheap that one is afraid to venture out of one’s house. You can get killed on the streets and no one will be held responsible for taking your life, unless caught red handed. And if he, the culprit, is unlucky and apprehended by a mob, they will execute jungle justice. It is now toxic to live in Nigeria. Any wonder the so-called “japa” syndrome has gained ground among the youths.
There is banditry and kidnapping for ransom, murder of innocents by known and unknown gunmen, highway robbery, rape, murder and arson especially on Government facilities built with colossal amounts of public funds; there is blatant looting of public funds by the people who were elected or appointed to use it for the welfare of the people.
Our elected leaders appear to be “fiddling while Rome burns.” Debates in the National Assembly, and even state assemblies sound so flat, self-serving, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. The debates do not show that our leaders understand the people’s problems except when it touches their pockets. At the end of their term in the House, they take their loot and retire to their homes abroad only to be replaced by another batch of treasury looters under immunity from prosecution. Do they understand their role as elected representatives of the people? I doubt it. Appointees to public offices consider their MDAs as fiefdoms from which to extract wealth for themselves.
Corruption has reached high heavens as to make the angels weep. Add to this the impunity with which public officials deal with the down trodden, the wretched of the earth of Nigeria; there is much extrajudicial killing of innocent citizens perpetrated by state officials paid to maintain law and order. The youths are hounded into prisons for having an earphone; some are arrested and detained without trial for having a computer to ply their trade. A panel beater was sentenced to death for stealing N57,000 while an Accountant General was fined N750,000 for stealing N109 billion of public funds. If that is not a travesty of justice, then I don’t know what justice is.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says 45.6% of youths (aged 18 – 35) are unemployed. Many are unemployable – a result of poor educational system. Those of them who managed to go through primary and secondary level of education have no employable skills. Those who managed to finish their tertiary education eke out their living on the periphery of the formal economy, thanks to the internet and IT revolution.
Most of them are starting families and will soon have other mouths to feed! The result is intergenerational poverty of body and mind. Any wonder the World Bank says Nigeria is now the Poverty capital of the world with over 130 million suffering from multidimensional poverty. That is the former Giant of Africa.
What happened? What did we do to ourselves?
I will suggest that people should revisit Ms. Onyeka Onwenu’s NIGERIA: A Squandering of Riches – a documentary produced by BBC and NTA (1984). It showed how the giant of Africa became a Lilliputian.
How did Nigeria descend to such a level? Our children are now asking questions. How do we get out of the mess the country is in and join the rest of the world and they deserve an answer. IT HAS NOT ALWAYS BEEN THIS BAD.
In the past 30 years or so, I and a number of others had noticed this downward trend in values, decay of institutions, and erosion of moral standards. Imperceptibly, the social order was being undermined. The result in the political sphere was decay of democratic institutions. In a situation where there are no strong institution to uphold the social, moral and political order, anomie becomes inevitable.
Elsewhere and in another era, I had dealt with issues like the Rise of the Nigerian Kleptocracy; Cronyism and The death of Meritocracy, How the military downgraded the civil service; Public Administration by Contract, and the Rise of Cronyism.
The public service as the accomplishing side of government was gradually destroyed to give way to Lootocracy and State Capture.
It will be beyond the scope of this introductory remarks to delve into these issues.
Suffice it to say that in spite of all these problems, there is HOPE in the upcoming generation. I yield the floor to the main lecturer to tell us how.
Thank you for listening.
• Elder Dr. Uma O. Eleazu’s remarks at the 2023 TheNiche Annual Lecture delivered by Rt. Hon. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Victoria Island, Lagos on Thursday, October 26, 2023
