ON NIGERIA’S SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL FUTURE - SHOULD THE FORMER STILL DICTATE THE FUTURE?
April 20, 2021 | News
I have always reminded Nigerians of the fact that there was a period in this country where the virtues and values of hard work, integrity, sincerity, honesty, punctuality, accountability, patience, brotherliness, empathy, and so on, were the guiding principles of our everyday life as a people in a common geographical entity.
ON NIGERIA’S SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL FUTURE - SHOULD THE FORMER STILL DICTATE THE FUTURE?
I have always reminded Nigerians of the fact that there was a period in this country where the virtues and values of hard work, integrity, sincerity, honesty, punctuality, accountability, patience, brotherliness, empathy, and so on, were the guiding principles of our everyday life as a people in a common geographical entity. And this helped us to focus and appreciate our ways of life and doing things. Even though it might be termed crude and uncivilized, but it was ‘our own.’ It was our pride, our raw skills, and talent, which only needed to be focused on progressively, and made better over the years as other evolving societies did.
Not that the evil of corruption in different shades, selfishness, and what have you, were not there then, but it was not that predominant and pervasive as it is in our current society. Today, we have ‘exchanged’ all of the virtues and values surrounding what is ours, with that of ‘Others’, driven with the most ‘self-centered’ corrupt tendencies and mediocrity of the highest proportions. And until we go back to these virtues and values that focus on ours, that shaped/built self-reliance, confidence, and self-development amongst our people and the society at large, our future prospects will continue to be bleak and hopeless.
This is why I like a recent article written by Smart Ofugara, a social reformer and advocate for good governance and development, in which he gave a vivid analysis of the subject issue, and proffered some solutions on the way forward. In what he titled: Should The Former Still Dictate The Future - Ofugara noted that: “Wealth is that concept, which is embedded with financial security, living with a purpose and having a healthy mind and a genuine spirit of contentment, while planning for the future. As the years roll by, we face challenges that build us as individuals and nations. In the process, we learn new ways of doing things. Sometimes we copy and adapt them to suit our values and demand. These challenges of wealth creation need the enabling environment, vision, and goal which helps to shape the desired outcome.
“In building a house, we concentrate on the foundation because as the base, it has to be strong enough to carry the load that will be mounted on it. In so doing, when the foundation is solid, the house ends up standing the test of time. However, if the foundation is faulty, we find a way to make it stronger by reinforcement or bring it down so that disastrous consequences will not emerge. This leads me to my boring tale.
“As an independent nation, what type of leadership have we bequeathed the nation since 1960? What vision have we embraced over the years? What have been our goals? How have we, the accomplices, aided and abetted those who have held the mantle of leadership? What have we learned from our inheritance, and how have we used these inheritances to benefit the entire populace? Have we, and our leaders lived in isolation of the world? Or have we embraced the world and consume only her products, and not learn the production process? Perhaps our greatest undoing was the embrace of Gordon gin over Ogogoro. Or do I say, the embrace of Vaseline pomade over our own palm oil or coconut oil, while enmeshing ourselves in the long road of brainwashing, which started with undermining our own vision, goal, and development for ‘their own’ at our detriment?
“Let me go further, why are we scared of our shadow, is it not evil and devilish to design policies and means to perpetually suppress a group of people, while sustaining mediocrity in a glaring fashion? When has government business become a money-making venture for the individuals, if not only in the homeland called Nigeria? When are we going to look inward and start a collaboration between the numerous universities, polytechnics, and business communities? When are we going to change the vision for growth, production, and true empowerment, and not a myopic approach with the coloration of creating despicable loyalty with stolen state money and borrowed money given to the helpless citizenry?
“Growing up as a child, I ate Abakaliki rice and beans. I selected stone from the measured quantity and boiled for the family. I also knew when Uncle Ben's rice gained ground. We watched gleefully how this scenario played out to our detriment. Do not ask me how we aided the foreign countries' agriculture and employment while killing our own ingenuity. Do not ask me how we killed our timber industries only to be importing furniture of all kinds. Do not ask me how we killed the palm oil and groundnut industries only to be admiring Indonesia and Malaysia. Or is it the cotton cum textile industries in Kaduna, Lagos, and Asaba; tomatoes and cornflakes industries in Jos... Or is it the cement industries. The list is endless!
“Is the nation watching and saying nothing, that the ONLY intelligent man is Aliko Dangote? Bezo, said in his address that “we should create more than we consume.” When are we going to stop patronizing these traders that have aided the killing of electricity with the sales of generators, cement, rice, salt, sugar and finally killing the refineries only to be fully engaged with the importation of refined products to the detriment of the nation, and yet adorn them as illustrious industrialists and job creator rather than job-killers? The issues that killed visions are just too numerous: Once, there was development of river basin authority to aid agriculture and it failed. Once, there were the laudable petrochemicals and allied products, it also failed. Who are the killers of these dreams and visions?
“A nation hitching for progress will support her own. The emergence of Innoson Motors on the industrial map of Nigeria needs collaboration, support, and patronage. You will never find the American government using a Japanese vehicle or a European vehicle. Agreed the American vehicle learned how to improve her efficiency and improved on their vehicles to the admiration of the world, as her demands across the Atlantic can attest to that. And that is my wish for Innoson Motors, our economy, and our people. But as a nation, are we providing the needed partnership and support?
“The return to civilian rule which started in 1999, had given us goons which seem difficult to penetrate for the good of the nation. There is the jostling for 2023 control of power, amongst other serious plagues of Boko haram, kidnapping, call for secession, devolution of power, creation of the state, dwindling revenue, resource control, census and authenticity of voters’ registration, and the finding of new sources of revenue generation. These issues are very serious and need the attention of all involved. SITTING ON THE FENCE IS NOT ALLOWED AND PRETENDING THAT THE STATUS QUO IS OKAY IS UNACCEPTABLE.
“Will my people continue in this quagmire of destiny or embrace a new vision? Will the new aspirants be scrutinized wholly while looking at their past to project what their present is for the future? Are the people tired of remaining docile and willing to move to a gainful and beneficial level? I hear and see some as being above the law, and some as the anointed. I see frustration turning people from truth to deception. The result of these frustrations is that those who should be doing researches and collaboration for progress, are now using their intellect at the pulpit and amassing economic power while preying on the psychics of their followers.
“Must we continue like this? When are we going to demand for authentic voter registration akin to what the banking industry did with the BVN registration? It is doable, and there should be no dancing around it by the government. The same technology that has aided the ease of money transfer can be used to develop and secure our votes. As you choose parties and candidates, ponder on the nation, her people, and the progress of the nation and not what is in it for ME.”
Strong words you would agree right? But that is the bitter truth. No matter how we look at it or try to justify it, we really do not have any iota of an excuse to be where we are present as a nation that is replete with all kinds of ills making life daily miserable for its common citizenry. Like I have often reiterated, and I will continue to repeat: no foreigner can effectively and efficiently develop our country for us. That onerous task, no matter how challenging it might seem, only belongs to Nigerians and can best be done by Nigerians. So, it is high time our political leaders and all citizenry as followers stop making excuses and start using their ‘thinking faculties aright’ in developing this nation and get it out of the league of Third World countries in no distant future.
Zik Gbemre.
April 20, 2021
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes
I have always reminded Nigerians of the fact that there was a period in this country where the virtues and values of hard work, integrity, sincerity, honesty, punctuality, accountability, patience, brotherliness, empathy, and so on, were the guiding principles of our everyday life as a people in a common geographical entity. And this helped us to focus and appreciate our ways of life and doing things. Even though it might be termed crude and uncivilized, but it was ‘our own.’ It was our pride, our raw skills, and talent, which only needed to be focused on progressively, and made better over the years as other evolving societies did.
Not that the evil of corruption in different shades, selfishness, and what have you, were not there then, but it was not that predominant and pervasive as it is in our current society. Today, we have ‘exchanged’ all of the virtues and values surrounding what is ours, with that of ‘Others’, driven with the most ‘self-centered’ corrupt tendencies and mediocrity of the highest proportions. And until we go back to these virtues and values that focus on ours, that shaped/built self-reliance, confidence, and self-development amongst our people and the society at large, our future prospects will continue to be bleak and hopeless.
This is why I like a recent article written by Smart Ofugara, a social reformer and advocate for good governance and development, in which he gave a vivid analysis of the subject issue, and proffered some solutions on the way forward. In what he titled: Should The Former Still Dictate The Future - Ofugara noted that: “Wealth is that concept, which is embedded with financial security, living with a purpose and having a healthy mind and a genuine spirit of contentment, while planning for the future. As the years roll by, we face challenges that build us as individuals and nations. In the process, we learn new ways of doing things. Sometimes we copy and adapt them to suit our values and demand. These challenges of wealth creation need the enabling environment, vision, and goal which helps to shape the desired outcome.
“In building a house, we concentrate on the foundation because as the base, it has to be strong enough to carry the load that will be mounted on it. In so doing, when the foundation is solid, the house ends up standing the test of time. However, if the foundation is faulty, we find a way to make it stronger by reinforcement or bring it down so that disastrous consequences will not emerge. This leads me to my boring tale.
“As an independent nation, what type of leadership have we bequeathed the nation since 1960? What vision have we embraced over the years? What have been our goals? How have we, the accomplices, aided and abetted those who have held the mantle of leadership? What have we learned from our inheritance, and how have we used these inheritances to benefit the entire populace? Have we, and our leaders lived in isolation of the world? Or have we embraced the world and consume only her products, and not learn the production process? Perhaps our greatest undoing was the embrace of Gordon gin over Ogogoro. Or do I say, the embrace of Vaseline pomade over our own palm oil or coconut oil, while enmeshing ourselves in the long road of brainwashing, which started with undermining our own vision, goal, and development for ‘their own’ at our detriment?
“Let me go further, why are we scared of our shadow, is it not evil and devilish to design policies and means to perpetually suppress a group of people, while sustaining mediocrity in a glaring fashion? When has government business become a money-making venture for the individuals, if not only in the homeland called Nigeria? When are we going to look inward and start a collaboration between the numerous universities, polytechnics, and business communities? When are we going to change the vision for growth, production, and true empowerment, and not a myopic approach with the coloration of creating despicable loyalty with stolen state money and borrowed money given to the helpless citizenry?
“Growing up as a child, I ate Abakaliki rice and beans. I selected stone from the measured quantity and boiled for the family. I also knew when Uncle Ben's rice gained ground. We watched gleefully how this scenario played out to our detriment. Do not ask me how we aided the foreign countries' agriculture and employment while killing our own ingenuity. Do not ask me how we killed our timber industries only to be importing furniture of all kinds. Do not ask me how we killed the palm oil and groundnut industries only to be admiring Indonesia and Malaysia. Or is it the cotton cum textile industries in Kaduna, Lagos, and Asaba; tomatoes and cornflakes industries in Jos... Or is it the cement industries. The list is endless!
“Is the nation watching and saying nothing, that the ONLY intelligent man is Aliko Dangote? Bezo, said in his address that “we should create more than we consume.” When are we going to stop patronizing these traders that have aided the killing of electricity with the sales of generators, cement, rice, salt, sugar and finally killing the refineries only to be fully engaged with the importation of refined products to the detriment of the nation, and yet adorn them as illustrious industrialists and job creator rather than job-killers? The issues that killed visions are just too numerous: Once, there was development of river basin authority to aid agriculture and it failed. Once, there were the laudable petrochemicals and allied products, it also failed. Who are the killers of these dreams and visions?
“A nation hitching for progress will support her own. The emergence of Innoson Motors on the industrial map of Nigeria needs collaboration, support, and patronage. You will never find the American government using a Japanese vehicle or a European vehicle. Agreed the American vehicle learned how to improve her efficiency and improved on their vehicles to the admiration of the world, as her demands across the Atlantic can attest to that. And that is my wish for Innoson Motors, our economy, and our people. But as a nation, are we providing the needed partnership and support?
“The return to civilian rule which started in 1999, had given us goons which seem difficult to penetrate for the good of the nation. There is the jostling for 2023 control of power, amongst other serious plagues of Boko haram, kidnapping, call for secession, devolution of power, creation of the state, dwindling revenue, resource control, census and authenticity of voters’ registration, and the finding of new sources of revenue generation. These issues are very serious and need the attention of all involved. SITTING ON THE FENCE IS NOT ALLOWED AND PRETENDING THAT THE STATUS QUO IS OKAY IS UNACCEPTABLE.
“Will my people continue in this quagmire of destiny or embrace a new vision? Will the new aspirants be scrutinized wholly while looking at their past to project what their present is for the future? Are the people tired of remaining docile and willing to move to a gainful and beneficial level? I hear and see some as being above the law, and some as the anointed. I see frustration turning people from truth to deception. The result of these frustrations is that those who should be doing researches and collaboration for progress, are now using their intellect at the pulpit and amassing economic power while preying on the psychics of their followers.
“Must we continue like this? When are we going to demand for authentic voter registration akin to what the banking industry did with the BVN registration? It is doable, and there should be no dancing around it by the government. The same technology that has aided the ease of money transfer can be used to develop and secure our votes. As you choose parties and candidates, ponder on the nation, her people, and the progress of the nation and not what is in it for ME.”
Strong words you would agree right? But that is the bitter truth. No matter how we look at it or try to justify it, we really do not have any iota of an excuse to be where we are present as a nation that is replete with all kinds of ills making life daily miserable for its common citizenry. Like I have often reiterated, and I will continue to repeat: no foreigner can effectively and efficiently develop our country for us. That onerous task, no matter how challenging it might seem, only belongs to Nigerians and can best be done by Nigerians. So, it is high time our political leaders and all citizenry as followers stop making excuses and start using their ‘thinking faculties aright’ in developing this nation and get it out of the league of Third World countries in no distant future.
Zik Gbemre.
April 20, 2021
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes