WHAT can be said to lie fundamentally at the root of Nigeria’s multi-dimensional crises of politics, society and economy that have persisted, even systematically worsened, in the last over six decades of the country’s post-colonial experience? The crisis of politics showcases the lack of vision of the political elite, uncontrolled quest to capture and wield state power at all costs mainly for material aggrandizement and the consequent instability of the polity as well as inefficacy of public policy. At the level of the economy, most Nigerians continue to experience large scale poverty, ever deepening penury and escalating inequality between a microscopic rich political, business and bureaucratic elite and the abysmally poor majority of the masses.
And the ‘season of anomie’ evocatively captured by Professor Wole Soyinka in his novel published over five decades ago, has unquestionably become the defining feature of a society where corrosive materialism, the get rich quick by any means syndrome, moral perversity of the most bizare variety, occultism, kidnapping for ransom, banditry, religious extremism among others have become indelibly etched on the spatial and mental landscape.
Reading though the brand new cerebral offering titled ‘Media, Politics and Power in Nigeria: A Personal Perspective’ by Dr. Emeka Nwosu, journalist, scholar, political communications and public relations practitioner, politician, community leader, devoted family man and opinion molder, one comes inescapably to the conclusion that the fundamental trouble or challenge with Nigeria is essentially a crisis of values. The bankruptcy of values has eroded the sinews of society, polity and economy compounding the crises of citizenship, nationhood and underdevelopment.
In this work, the author critically dissects and exhaustively analyzes the dynamic interrelationship among these three critical elements of the Nigerian extant reality – media, politics and power – from the prism of his personal life trajectory. Incidentally, he shares the same year of birth, 1960, as the country and he masterfully captures the critical intersections, correlations and divergences between his birth, childhood, early youth, schooling, growth into adulthood with the attendant family responsibilities, media career, politics and politicking under military dictatorship, immersion in community development efforts, and his ripening into early ‘elder-hood’ as a maturing statesman in his own right.
This gripping analytical narrative runs into 274 pages subdivided into twenty five chapters and the reader finds it difficult, once he has started, to put down the book with its easy flowing language, meticulous descriptive detail and enchanting story telling. Dr. Nwosu’s memory is almost photographic, his recall of names of persons, incidents and places impressive while the numerous pictures of different phases of his life that dot the book testify to careful record keeping – an eye on history.
Born on 25th February, 1960, at St Geralds Hospital, Kakuri, in the southern reaches of Kaduna metropolis in the north, Dr. Nwosu was the fifth child from his mother who was the first of his father’s three wives. While his father, Chief Yellow, Enyiocha Nwosu, was a prosperous big time merchant who traded in food items like garri and yam, Emeka’s mother made good in the soda soap making business and this economic success enabled both parents to build their own houses in different parts of Kaduna while his father put up an impressive, modern structure in his village, Umukabia, in 1962. The Nwosu’s economic Odyssey was Illustrative of the adventurous, entrepreneurial spirit of the Igbo which saw many of them dispersing to other parts of the country from their landlocked geographical location where they prospered through sheer industry and uncommon tenacity in the face of daunting odds.
Like most other Igbo children born outside the East at the time, the young Emeka was taken back to the village at about 1965 to commence schooling. As he writes, “Apart from introducing the child into formal education, the early home coming was also to enable the child learn the Igbo language and properly understand the Igbo culture, traditions, mores and customs”. Along with his age mates in Umukabia, Emeka got immersed in such daily activities as trekking a distance of about two kilometers to and from school every day, carrying out domestic work after school including fetching water from the nearby stream and firewood from the bush farm, a distance of about 3 kilometers, helping in preparing the farms during planting seasons as well as reading and writing letters for old parents in the village.
The author gratefully acknowledges the positive impact and molding influence which his being taken back to the village from the village at an early age had in shaping the kind of human being and citizen he has ultimately become. Such ethical orientation as sense of discipline and propriety, respect for elders, love for hard work, a high sense of achievement motivation, love for and commitment to family and community, honesty among others were inculcated in the young growing up in the village. In his words, “The core of my personality, I must say, was formed in the village. I believe the decision my parents took to bring me from Kaduna to our home town, Umukabia, at that formative age was a good one. It was that decision that made it possible for me to learn the language and understand and appreciate my cultural roots. And it is obvious to me that I cannot claim to be a better Nigerian without first being a good and well cultured Igbo man. The identity crisis which some Nigerians suffer today can be explained in the absence of such cultural grounding and orientation”.
The author’s mastery of Igbo idioms, language and culture is evident throughout the book. This no doubt is responsible for his strong bonding with members of his immediate and extended families as well as bred in him an abiding commitment to the welfare and development of his community, clan, state, Igbo land and Nigeria as a macro-entity. It is surely difficult for one brought up to embrace the tenets and habits of the fear of God, respect for elders and seniors, love of hard work and honesty, thirst for knowledge and education as well as sacrificial quest for the communal good to be attracted to such vices as cultism, rape, cybercrime, kidnapping for ransom, ritual killing, mindless materialism and many others which today have had such destructive consequences across Nigeria including Igbo land.
This bedrock of positive, life-affirming values enabled the author to succeed and thrive in his trajectory through life from his excellent attainments in education, media practice, political communication and consultancy, legislative aide at the National Assembly, active engagement with politicians at diverse levels as well as his remarkable leadership roles in the diverse spheres of life in which he has distinguished himself. Emeka’s autobiography exemplifies the Aristotelian conception of the exemplary citizen as that individual whose life is intricately intertwined with the pursuit of the communal good without which his solitary existence can have only marginal meaning.
