It is tough being a Nigerian. It is even tougher believing in Nigeria. I have a colleague who said he cannot “forgive Nigeria” for letting his late father die on his wheelchair in one of our teaching hospitals because of “lack of bed space.”
How, for instance, would widows of Nigerian soldiers killed by terrorists be feeling now following allegation of diversion of funds meant for the purchase of arms for their late husbands to effectively defend themselves in the fight against Boko Haram? How would family members of hundreds that die on our terrible roads feel each time they hear of diversion of contracts funds for fixing these roads? One way or another, “Nigeria” has hurt, and still hurting many of her citizens.
In the midst of all these however, I remain optimistic that things can still change. It is also gratifying that I’m not alone in my optimism as majority now feel we all need to do the right things to ensure our dear Nigeria finally joins the comity of real nations where justice and equity reign supreme.
When I wrote a two part series on books (November 5th and 12th 2015), I received series of emails and text messages. Of all the messages I received, one stood out. Dr. Dan Mou, an accomplished political scientist and public servant with a firm grasp of national security and public policy sent me a short message which I ran in the second part.
While commending me for the five books I featured, he inquired if I have come across his new book: “Making of an African Giant: State, Politics and Public Policy in Nigeria” which was published just a month before I wrote the article. I said no. He challenged me to order copies of the two volume book and let him know my thoughts. Though he didn’t say it, I guess he would’ve wondered – just like other readers – why I did not feature any book written by a Nigerian author in the articles.
I took up the challenge of ordering the books but had to travel to Makurdi and Abuja for personal reasons. I wouldn’t know what propelled Dr. Mou to call me the very night I arrived Abuja – was it providence? I told him the next morning I was in Abuja but will be leaving that morning. “Why didn’t you let me know you’re in Abuja; can we meet?” he asked subtly. I obliged and we met that morning at his residence; and what a meeting it turned out to be!
I did not only get autographed copies of the book, but a forty five minute ‘lecture’ on public policy and the state of affairs in Nigeria which incidentally is the focus of this excellent and well researched book filled with the authors contribution toward a better and prosperous Nigeria. Nigeria too may have “hurt” this gentleman too, yet I saw the optimism in him that things can change. I was glad I was in familiar territory.
If not for that chance meeting how would I have known that this was the man that wrote a personal memo to former President Olusegun Obasanjo that led to the establishment of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)? How would I have also known that he was equally the brain behind a personal memo that led to the establishment of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and the Amnesty Programme that brought relative peace to that hitherto restive region?
Guess what; he and Dr. Rose Abang-Wushishi, a retired AIG of the police who jointly wrote the memo were not even acknowledged when the EFCC was formally established; neither was he in the picture when the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs came into existence.
There and other private memos he wrote to former Heads of State from Abacha to Jonathan are included in this excellent book that all Nigerians should read. It can be quite painful doing the ‘donkey job’ without being appreciated. In all this, did I detect any hint of bitterness in Dr. Mou? Not at all, he is still contributing his quota to ensure Nigeria gets back on the right track. This is surely one optimistic Nigerian.
In the book, he wrote that the performance of Nigeria has recently been vehemently criticised as not commensurate with her human and material potentialities. “The hope that Nigeria is, by destiny, the African Giant appears to be fading. Some analysts, seeing this, have blamed it on the character defects of the leadership in Nigeria. They argue that because the leaders are “predatory and corrupt,” they have preoccupied themselves with their interests, which are “primitive accumulation and luxurious lifestyles.” Meanwhile, the rest of the citizens are suffering.”
Such character defects, he argues, may indeed exist in some of Nigerian leaders. However, these are not the main reasons for their dismal performance regarding the welfare of the citizens. The main problem is that “Nigerian leaders seem to have largely lost control over the state and its policies, which appear to have been captured by the dominant classes and groups—local and international. Nigeria’s main problem is, therefore, a structural one.”
Nonetheless, the book notes that as the security, economic, political, and social crises intensify, Nigerian leaders, even if it is simply for self-preservation, will be forced by the objective conditions to move against the interests of these dominant classes and groups. It is only then that she can realistically be restored to the possibility of becoming an “African Giant.”
So what is presently happening in the country? Is this present administration not moving against these dominant classes and groups? It is instructive to note that in the current and frontal attack against corruption I have not read about anyone denying allegation of receiving slush funds as is being revealed almost daily. What I read is that such funds were released for “services” rendered by the said individual or individuals – I stand corrected if there are denials.
Dr. Mou rightly predicted what we are currently witnessing. He argues that this “was not what had been expected at independence. Post-independence national development plans preambles were based on broad egalitarian precepts, which were often an extension of the nationalistic rhetoric of independence struggle.”
He went on to elaborate that they included commitment to equal opportunities, poverty eradication, and full employment. Others were protection of human rights and good governance. Agriculture was to receive the highest priority attention since majority of people were involved in it for their livelihood and prosperity.
These promises fired the imagination of different sections of the population, especially the urban dwellers which it was assumed, stood directly to gain from independence. But what is the critical challenge here? “When it came to fulfilling these promises, it became clear that a gulf separated reality from expectations.”
Everywhere on the African continent, he argues, there is high level of poverty, unemployment, blatant abuse of human rights, insecurity, poor infrastructure and several other problems. “Nigeria, for one, blessed abundantly with human and natural resources, was expected, and is being widely expected, to be the shining light in Africa. Many have long expected Nigeria to assume her manifest destiny of the ‘Giant of Africa.”
t is tough being a Nigerian. It is even tougher believing in Nigeria. I have a colleague who said he cannot “forgive Nigeria” for letting his late father die on his wheelchair in one of our teaching hospitals because of “lack of bed space.”
How, for instance, would widows of Nigerian soldiers killed by terrorists be feeling now following allegation of diversion of funds meant for the purchase of arms for their late husbands to effectively defend themselves in the fight against Boko Haram? How would family members of hundreds that die on our terrible roads feel each time they hear of diversion of contracts funds for fixing these roads? One way or another, “Nigeria” has hurt, and still hurting many of her citizens.
In the midst of all these however, I remain optimistic that things can still change. It is also gratifying that I’m not alone in my optimism as majority now feel we all need to do the right things to ensure our dear Nigeria finally joins the comity of real nations where justice and equity reign supreme.
When I wrote a two part series on books (November 5th and 12th 2015), I received series of emails and text messages. Of all the messages I received, one stood out. Dr. Dan Mou, an accomplished political scientist and public servant with a firm grasp of national security and public policy sent me a short message which I ran in the second part.
While commending me for the five books I featured, he inquired if I have come across his new book: “Making of an African Giant: State, Politics and Public Policy in Nigeria” which was published just a month before I wrote the article. I said no. He challenged me to order copies of the two volume book and let him know my thoughts. Though he didn’t say it, I guess he would’ve wondered – just like other readers – why I did not feature any book written by a Nigerian author in the articles.
I took up the challenge of ordering the books but had to travel to Makurdi and Abuja for personal reasons. I wouldn’t know what propelled Dr. Mou to call me the very night I arrived Abuja – was it providence? I told him the next morning I was in Abuja but will be leaving that morning. “Why didn’t you let me know you’re in Abuja; can we meet?” he asked subtly. I obliged and we met that morning at his residence; and what a meeting it turned out to be!
I did not only get autographed copies of the book, but a forty five minute ‘lecture’ on public policy and the state of affairs in Nigeria which incidentally is the focus of this excellent and well researched book filled with the authors contribution toward a better and prosperous Nigeria. Nigeria too may have “hurt” this gentleman too, yet I saw the optimism in him that things can change. I was glad I was in familiar territory.
If not for that chance meeting how would I have known that this was the man that wrote a personal memo to former President Olusegun Obasanjo that led to the establishment of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)? How would I have also known that he was equally the brain behind a personal memo that led to the establishment of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and the Amnesty Programme that brought relative peace to that hitherto restive region?
Guess what; he and Dr. Rose Abang-Wushishi, a retired AIG of the police who jointly wrote the memo were not even acknowledged when the EFCC was formally established; neither was he in the picture when the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs came into existence.
There and other private memos he wrote to former Heads of State from Abacha to Jonathan are included in this excellent book that all Nigerians should read. It can be quite painful doing the ‘donkey job’ without being appreciated. In all this, did I detect any hint of bitterness in Dr. Mou? Not at all, he is still contributing his quota to ensure Nigeria gets back on the right track. This is surely one optimistic Nigerian.
In the book, he wrote that the performance of Nigeria has recently been vehemently criticised as not commensurate with her human and material potentialities. “The hope that Nigeria is, by destiny, the African Giant appears to be fading. Some analysts, seeing this, have blamed it on the character defects of the leadership in Nigeria. They argue that because the leaders are “predatory and corrupt,” they have preoccupied themselves with their interests, which are “primitive accumulation and luxurious lifestyles.” Meanwhile, the rest of the citizens are suffering.”
Such character defects, he argues, may indeed exist in some of Nigerian leaders. However, these are not the main reasons for their dismal performance regarding the welfare of the citizens. The main problem is that “Nigerian leaders seem to have largely lost control over the state and its policies, which appear to have been captured by the dominant classes and groups—local and international. Nigeria’s main problem is, therefore, a structural one.”
Nonetheless, the book notes that as the security, economic, political, and social crises intensify, Nigerian leaders, even if it is simply for self-preservation, will be forced by the objective conditions to move against the interests of these dominant classes and groups. It is only then that she can realistically be restored to the possibility of becoming an “African Giant.”
So what is presently happening in the country? Is this present administration not moving against these dominant classes and groups? It is instructive to note that in the current and frontal attack against corruption I have not read about anyone denying allegation of receiving slush funds as is being revealed almost daily. What I read is that such funds were released for “services” rendered by the said individual or individuals – I stand corrected if there are denials.
Dr. Mou rightly predicted what we are currently witnessing. He argues that this “was not what had been expected at independence. Post-independence national development plans preambles were based on broad egalitarian precepts, which were often an extension of the nationalistic rhetoric of independence struggle.”
He went on to elaborate that they included commitment to equal opportunities, poverty eradication, and full employment. Others were protection of human rights and good governance. Agriculture was to receive the highest priority attention since majority of people were involved in it for their livelihood and prosperity.
These promises fired the imagination of different sections of the population, especially the urban dwellers which it was assumed, stood directly to gain from independence. But what is the critical challenge here? “When it came to fulfilling these promises, it became clear that a gulf separated reality from expectations.”
Everywhere on the African continent, he argues, there is high level of poverty, unemployment, blatant abuse of human rights, insecurity, poor infrastructure and several other problems. “Nigeria, for one, blessed abundantly with human and natural resources, was expected, and is being widely expected, to be the shining light in Africa. Many have long expected Nigeria to assume her manifest destiny of the ‘Giant of Africa.”
