The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ourselves

Saving us from ourselves

Following a debilitating and highly embarrassing power cut last year for a nation with over 40,000 megawatts of electricity and still counting, some South African institutions – learning their lessons – have put in place measures to ensure they’re not caught napping again. The country now has the first solar powered airport facility in Africa. Talk about learning from the past and moving positively ahead.

Located halfway between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, the solar powered George Airport will meet 41% of its energy demand from a brand new 200 square meter solar power plant built on its grounds. The facility, which was officially commissioned recently, has 3,000 photovoltaic modules, and will gradually increase capacity to deliver 750Kw power when it reaches full production.

And wait for this: it cost just over a million dollars to build, and is part of South Africa’s commitment to introduce a mix of energy sources to all its airports. The clean energy initiative follows in the footsteps of India’s Cochin International airport – the world’s first entirely solar powered airport, and Galapagos Ecological Airport, built in 2012 to run solely on Sun and wind power. The George Airport project is the latest in the string of alternative energy investments designed to help relieve the burden of irregular electricity supply.

It is most likely that wherever you see two or more Nigerians together the issue on their mind would be the state of the nation. Have you just witnessed an embarrassing power cut that lasted for almost an hour at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA)? The discussion on the plane would be how can this be happening always? You’re on a road trip in Nigeria and the discussion would most likely centre on the death trap we call roads.

You’re in the market to buy Nigeria’s most popular staple food – rice – and you’re told it now cost N24, 000 with potentials to hit N40, 000 per bag by December according to Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State for Agriculture. You’re shocked to your bone marrow when you suddenly realise you’re living on borrowed time. It’s still all about Nigeria, and will continue to be until we are angry enough collectively – irrespective of tribal or religious sentiments – to demand accountability, probity and justice for treasury looters.

Skhumbuzo Macozoma, chairman of the Airports Company South Africa Board said, “As an airports management company running nine airports nationally, part of our strategic objective is to minimize our environmental impact. Harnessing solar power is a viable cleaner energy source which contributes towards diversifying the energy mix. This plant will ensure that the airport is self-sustaining in terms of its power needs, and will eventually extend to the broader community within the George municipality.” Can you imagine if MMIA could do same and supply electricity to surrounding communities? Can we please put on our thinking cap for once?

It is instructive to note that this took under one year to implement by a management angry enough to say this won’t happen again. It does that because of the economic potentials that area brings the country. It handles over 600,000 passengers a year, many of them tourists; it’s also a national distribution hub for cargo such as flowers, fish, oysters, herbs and ferns.

Whenever I read trolls of comments on stories about Nigeria online – both for the regular newspapers, magazines and social media – I get scared for this nation I will always proudly call home no matter how terrible it has become. We are so bigoted, intolerant, short sighted and whatever. Some see clear cut cases of monumental and brazen fraud, injustice etc and all they can see is “other tribes too steal and so same!” Whatever happened to our sense of values and ability to separate good from bad?

We saw in the past where “generals” send soldiers to the war front without adequate ammunition and kits, and when the soldiers cry out they are court marshalled and sentenced to death! We were told of a general who stole over N500 million monthly and the same general told us our soldiers were “cowards” for refusing to fight only to admit during his pulling out ceremony that the military was not adequately kitted! I didn’t see Nigerians carrying placards to mourn the gallant soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the nation. Yet you will see some misguided citizens carrying placards for politicians not worth a dime. We need to repent and save us from ourselves.

Today, the nation is clearly divided. Some say we need to look back, reflect, see why we are where we are and then chart how to move forward. Other say we do not need to be reminded about the past, all they want is to “move forward.” Both sides have a point. There’s nothing wrong in looking back because history – most often than not – teaches viable lessons. There’s also nothing wrong in “moving forward,” but we need to clearly define the “forward” we’re talking about.

This is where I think this government is wobbling. The palpable anger we see and feel in the land is because citizens do not think there’s a roadmap to take us “forward.” They believe most of the policies rolled out were after thoughts compelling some to now look back with nostalgia to the immediate past administration! Because of my knowledge and what I read, I may know about some of these policies, but what about the millions out there who have remained skeptical about such policies. Vital communication mix is fundamentally missing. Communications is now central to the politics of late modern societies.

It was therefore little wonder that Nigerians came down hard on the recently introduced “change begins with me” campaign. Personally, I believe the timing was wrong, even though the campaign is necessary. Was a research conducted to gauge the mood of the nation before roll out? If it had been launched immediately the government came to power it would’ve made more sense and have more appeal and impact.

The country is reeling under a recession with citizens stretched to unbearable limits as a result of bad leadership. Someone should’ve known the timing is wrong especially when we see our politicians and top government officials living as if we are in an era of prosperity.

I want this government to – more than anything – succeed for one single reason; it will be to our collective good. If it fails and we slide back to the old way of doing things, we may not have a country in ten years’ time. I say this with all sense of responsibility because looters would be emboldened to loot even the entire treasury, if it were possible, and allow the country to slowly and progressively drift toward chaos.

My suggestion is this; while the politicians make all the “right” noises of what ails us, let’s not lose our focus in standing for what is right. Just like corruption does not have a tribe or region, we – as a people – should not allow anything becloud our sense of reasoning. We should train our faculty once again – for those who have lost it – to separate good from bad irrespective of whose ox is gored.

I also see it this way. Of what relevance is a politician from “your area” if he cannot influence the provision of simple pipe borne water to stamp out water borne diseases? What if another politician that is not from “your area” comes and provide same, which would you prefer? Politicians are masters of the game, they know the more divided we are along ethnic and religious lines the better for them.

Yes, it might sound right to vent our anger on this government for “bringing us into recession,” but on the flip side, we should also be angry enough against those that made it possible for us to stroll in. In doing this – as my central point suggests – we may begin to save us from ourselves as we strive to have a country we can truly be proud of.

September 15, 2016
Saving us from ourselves

Following a debilitating and highly embarrassing power cut last year for a nation with over 40,000 megawatts of electricity and still counting, some South African institutions – learning their lessons – have put in place measures to ensure they’re not caught napping again. The country now has the first solar powered airport facility in Africa. Talk about learning from the past and moving positively ahead.

Located halfway between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, the solar powered George Airport will meet 41% of its energy demand from a brand new 200 square meter solar power plant built on its grounds. The facility, which was officially commissioned recently, has 3,000 photovoltaic modules, and will gradually increase capacity to deliver 750Kw power when it reaches full production.

And wait for this: it cost just over a million dollars to build, and is part of South Africa’s commitment to introduce a mix of energy sources to all its airports. The clean energy initiative follows in the footsteps of India’s Cochin International airport – the world’s first entirely solar powered airport, and Galapagos Ecological Airport, built in 2012 to run solely on Sun and wind power. The George Airport project is the latest in the string of alternative energy investments designed to help relieve the burden of irregular electricity supply.

It is most likely that wherever you see two or more Nigerians together the issue on their mind would be the state of the nation. Have you just witnessed an embarrassing power cut that lasted for almost an hour at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA)? The discussion on the plane would be how can this be happening always? You’re on a road trip in Nigeria and the discussion would most likely centre on the death trap we call roads.

You’re in the market to buy Nigeria’s most popular staple food – rice – and you’re told it now cost N24, 000 with potentials to hit N40, 000 per bag by December according to Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State for Agriculture. You’re shocked to your bone marrow when you suddenly realise you’re living on borrowed time. It’s still all about Nigeria, and will continue to be until we are angry enough collectively – irrespective of tribal or religious sentiments – to demand accountability, probity and justice for treasury looters.

Skhumbuzo Macozoma, chairman of the Airports Company South Africa Board said, “As an airports management company running nine airports nationally, part of our strategic objective is to minimize our environmental impact. Harnessing solar power is a viable cleaner energy source which contributes towards diversifying the energy mix. This plant will ensure that the airport is self-sustaining in terms of its power needs, and will eventually extend to the broader community within the George municipality.” Can you imagine if MMIA could do same and supply electricity to surrounding communities? Can we please put on our thinking cap for once?

It is instructive to note that this took under one year to implement by a management angry enough to say this won’t happen again. It does that because of the economic potentials that area brings the country. It handles over 600,000 passengers a year, many of them tourists; it’s also a national distribution hub for cargo such as flowers, fish, oysters, herbs and ferns.

Whenever I read trolls of comments on stories about Nigeria online – both for the regular newspapers, magazines and social media – I get scared for this nation I will always proudly call home no matter how terrible it has become. We are so bigoted, intolerant, short sighted and whatever. Some see clear cut cases of monumental and brazen fraud, injustice etc and all they can see is “other tribes too steal and so same!” Whatever happened to our sense of values and ability to separate good from bad?

We saw in the past where “generals” send soldiers to the war front without adequate ammunition and kits, and when the soldiers cry out they are court marshalled and sentenced to death! We were told of a general who stole over N500 million monthly and the same general told us our soldiers were “cowards” for refusing to fight only to admit during his pulling out ceremony that the military was not adequately kitted! I didn’t see Nigerians carrying placards to mourn the gallant soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the nation. Yet you will see some misguided citizens carrying placards for politicians not worth a dime. We need to repent and save us from ourselves.

Today, the nation is clearly divided. Some say we need to look back, reflect, see why we are where we are and then chart how to move forward. Other say we do not need to be reminded about the past, all they want is to “move forward.” Both sides have a point. There’s nothing wrong in looking back because history – most often than not – teaches viable lessons. There’s also nothing wrong in “moving forward,” but we need to clearly define the “forward” we’re talking about.

This is where I think this government is wobbling. The palpable anger we see and feel in the land is because citizens do not think there’s a roadmap to take us “forward.” They believe most of the policies rolled out were after thoughts compelling some to now look back with nostalgia to the immediate past administration! Because of my knowledge and what I read, I may know about some of these policies, but what about the millions out there who have remained skeptical about such policies. Vital communication mix is fundamentally missing. Communications is now central to the politics of late modern societies.

It was therefore little wonder that Nigerians came down hard on the recently introduced “change begins with me” campaign. Personally, I believe the timing was wrong, even though the campaign is necessary. Was a research conducted to gauge the mood of the nation before roll out? If it had been launched immediately the government came to power it would’ve made more sense and have more appeal and impact.

The country is reeling under a recession with citizens stretched to unbearable limits as a result of bad leadership. Someone should’ve known the timing is wrong especially when we see our politicians and top government officials living as if we are in an era of prosperity.

I want this government to – more than anything – succeed for one single reason; it will be to our collective good. If it fails and we slide back to the old way of doing things, we may not have a country in ten years’ time. I say this with all sense of responsibility because looters would be emboldened to loot even the entire treasury, if it were possible, and allow the country to slowly and progressively drift toward chaos.

My suggestion is this; while the politicians make all the “right” noises of what ails us, let’s not lose our focus in standing for what is right. Just like corruption does not have a tribe or region, we – as a people – should not allow anything becloud our sense of reasoning. We should train our faculty once again – for those who have lost it – to separate good from bad irrespective of whose ox is gored.

I also see it this way. Of what relevance is a politician from “your area” if he cannot influence the provision of simple pipe borne water to stamp out water borne diseases? What if another politician that is not from “your area” comes and provide same, which would you prefer? Politicians are masters of the game, they know the more divided we are along ethnic and religious lines the better for them.

Yes, it might sound right to vent our anger on this government for “bringing us into recession,” but on the flip side, we should also be angry enough against those that made it possible for us to stroll in. In doing this – as my central point suggests – we may begin to save us from ourselves as we strive to have a country we can truly be proud of.

September 15, 2016
Between ourselves and our institutions and between Marx and Rousseau: election eve reflections (2)

Man’s conceiving is fathomless. His community will rise beyond the present reaches of the mind. Orisa reveals destiny as – self-destination
Wole Soyinka

What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared with what lies within us.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

At the end of last week’s beginning essay in this series, I posed the following question with the promise that it would b the starting point for this week’s concluding piece: Who among genuine, independent-minded patriots in our country today think that we first have to change the character, the morality of a Fayose, a Chris Ubah or a Musiliu Obanikoro from within before we can make our present constitutional and institutional arrangements give us free, fair and credible elections? In case the basis for my citing these particular persons is either not clear or is perceived as a reflection of a partisan promotion of the electoral interests of the APC, the main opposition party, let me quickly make some clarifications that would better reveal my purposes in this series.

As nearly every knows, Fayose, Ubah and Obanikoro are the main anti-heroes of the Ekiti-Gate electoral mega-fraud. Well then, consider the following developments after the exposure of these men as cynical and ruthless election riggers, developments which, in almost any other country in the world, would be almost unthinkable. First, after initially denouncing the Ekiti-Gate audio clips as fake, Fayose later admitted that it was indeed himself, it was indeed his voice that was so prominent in the clip. From that admission, Fayose then declared for the whole country and the world to hear that he was not taking anything back from what people heard him say in the audio clip and that if it likes the opposition party, the APC, could take the matter to the law courts. This completely leaves out of account the fact that far more than the APC, it was the people of Ekiti State that suffered the terrible criminal wrongs revealed in the Ekiti-Gate audio clip.

In the second significant post-Ekiti-Gate development, Goodluck Jonathan himself first said the audio clip of Ekiti-Gate was a fake. But after Fayose’s authentication of the audio clip, Jonathan then said he and his administration could and would not do anything about it because the man who secretly recorded the clip, Captain Sagir Koli of the Nigerian Army, had fled the country instead of staying to defend the authenticity of the audio clip. This is exactly what Jonathan said: “How can we do anything about it when the man who recorded it ran away”? As everyone knows, Captain Koli fled for his life. In his absence, his junior brother was arrested, kept in prison for seven months where he was severely tortured. This leaves us to wonder what would have been done to Koli himself if he had not fled for his life. To cap the series of impunities that followed the original mega-impunity of the Ekiti-Gate electoral fraud itself, Jonathan then sent Obanikoro’s name to the Senate for confirmation as Minister of State in the Foreign Ministry. And of course, against the hue and cry of both opposition Senators and the Nigerian public, the Senate President, David Mark, had Obanikoro confirmed.

In all this we must remember that without Captain Sagir Koli, we would never have known anything about the revelations of Ekiti-Gate. The impunity with which the use of the army, the police and electoral officers to rig the June 2014 Ekiti State governorship elections for Fayose and the PDP was perpetrated in secret. Like all institutions and organs of the Nigerian state, the army, the police and the election commission, together with the women and men who serve in them, are expected to be above undue and illegal control and manipulation by anybody, no matter how highly placed. This, indeed, is the moral and functional foundation of state and public institutions in all modern societies: rational, objective, impersonal and tested bodies before which all persons whether rich or poor, educated or uneducated get equal, lawful treatment. This is why, initially, the impunity revealed by Ekiti-Gate had to be done in secret. Thus, it is a mark of the utterly corrupt and dysfunctional state of our institutions that when the secret impunity was exposed, the impunity became even more brazen and cynical. Fayose said “I am the one who said everything you heard in the tape; go to court if you wish”. Jonathan rewarded Obanikoro with a ministerial appointment which he had David Mark confirm in the Senate, in spite of the universal condemnation of the move. Nigerian Pidgin English has a wonderfully resonant term for this level of impunity and it is – wetin una fit do?

No Nigerian Head of State has taken “wetin una fit do” to a baser, more odious and more rapacious level than Goodluck Jonathan. This says a lot because without exception, all our military dictators were, in various ways, embodiments of “wetin una fit do”. By the way, this includes Muhammadu Buhari when he was a military dictator. But Jonathan beats them all in the culture, practice and consolidation of “wetin una fit do”, whether the subject is looting and mismanagement on a grandiose scale by his appointees and cronies (remember the 2.3 trillion naira oil subsidy mega-scam?); lies and deceit to cover up mediocre achievements and lack of vision (remember the claim of having created millions of new jobs in an economy in which joblessness is at a historic high?); and gross spinelessness in meeting security challenges and the resultant crippling sense of despair in the country (remember his use of the slogan of the Chibok activists’ “Bring Back Our Girls” at the beginning of his campaign for reelection?).

Like President, like party. Thus, no political party in our country has come close to the PDP in taking “wetin una fit do” to forms and levels that even the regime of Sani Abacha, the most deranged in our political history, did not or could not go. These include but are not limited to scrambling for political office that is as internally fierce and anti-democratic in party primaries as in local, state and federal elections; a semi-literate former hair dresser as Speaker of the House of Representatives; an illiterate political kingpin whom Chinua Achebe called “a politician with low IQ” as the political godfather of Anambra state which has one of the highest concentrations of educated elites in the country; a thug who was rigged into office as the governor of a state and immediately proceeded to perpetrate atrocities like publicly slapping and humiliating a high court judge and making 7 members of the state assembly hegemonic over 19 members of the same assembly who belong to the opposition party.

To this dispiriting profile of the rule of “wetin una fit do” under Jonathan in particular and the PDP in general, we must make two very crucial qualifications. One: PDP and Jonathan may be the worst incarnations, but they do not have a monopoly of the culture, practice and consolidation of “wetin una fit do”. With a few notable exceptions, all our politicians and all our ruling class political parties are implicated in the impunity of misrule, mismanagement of resources and plain and arrant looting of public coffers that PDP and Jonathan have to taken to the depths of moral cynicism. Secondly, there are areas of public institutions, utilities and services in this country that, no matter how miniscule, are resistant to the culture and practice of “wetin una fit do”. I would like to conclude this series of what I am calling “election eve reflections” with a brief discussion of these two points.

The first point can be very easily and summarily engaged. For me, by far the most telling index of the reign of “wetin una fit do” among the generality of our politicians and political parties is the fact that it is not only the case that there are no important ideological and issue-based differences between them, they are in fact remarkably adept in moving in and out of one party to another. As I once observed in this column, in my estimation, APC is nearly three-fourths composed of former PDP members. As the particularly notable case of Nuhu Ribadu proves, part of PDP is also former APC or other opposition political parties. In concrete terms, perhaps the most eloquent illustration is the fact that, without exception, all the ruling class political parties actively and voluntarily participate in the cult of silence and secrecy around the unjust and wasteful salaries, allowances and emoluments that our legislators receive that, compositely rates as the highest that any group of legislators are paid in the world. All the governments in the country, at all levels spend far more on recurrent expenditure than on capital expenditure for development projects that could extend the national wealth to the masses of our people. Anyone who thinks that without unceasing struggle an APC victory will change this fundamental aspect of political rule in our country at the present time is in for a rude shock if the party is victorious in the coming elections.

Nigerians in the main don’t pay much attention to this fact, but there are three crucial institutional, regulated aspects of our national economy that are, relatively speaking, free of the impunities of “wetin una fit do”. For this reason, they are worthy of our attention, of our prognoses for the future in terms of building and sustaining modern institutions that work efficiently and work for the benefit of most if not all Nigerians, regardless of ethnicity, religion, age, gender or party affiliation. These are, in a random order of iteration, the financial services industry; the communication and information IT industry; and the air travel industry, especially in conjunction with the infrastructures of airports around the state capitals and major cities and towns in the country. I do not wish to give the reader the impression that I overlook the imperfections and frustrations that Nigerians, as costumers and consumers, experience from these particular sectors of the national economy. What I am saying, what I am emphasizing is the fact that compared with almost any other institutions of the Nigerian state and society at the present time, these three sectors are relatively free of “wetin una fit do”.

One last word in these deliberately open-ended and inconclusive “eve of elections reflections” and I am done. Please pay attention, dear reader, to the fact that these three sectors of our national economy are for the most part and in all parts of the world, vital areas of the institutional life of bourgeois democracy. Some theorists and commentators have begun to argue that Nigeria is already a developing country with a middle income economy. I don’t think we are there yet. But we are on our way there. The point is that with Jonathan and the PDP and the excesses of their “wetin una fit do” profligacy, we would never have gotten there. I mean, the likes of Fayose, Obanikoro, Ubah and oga patapata himself are nothing but incarnations of a barawo, area boy lumpen-bourgeoisie. The point now is, first, whether an APC victory would take us there and, secondly whether an APC-led bourgeois democracy can incorporate social democratic policies and initiatives that would bring unity, true federalism and social justice to our country in the years ahead. From military dictator to a bourgeois democrat with a dash of populist inclination toward social democratic leanings – this is a tall order for General Buhari (rtd.) to fulfill.

Biodun Jeyifo

bjeyifo@fas.harvard.edu

March 29, 2015
Between ourselves and our institutions and between Marx and Rousseau: election eve reflections (1)

Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances but under existing circumstances
Karl Marx

Man is born free but he is everywhere in chains. One man thinks himself the master of others, but he remains more of a slave than they are.
Jean Jacques Rousseau

The thing caught in Nte’s trap is much bigger than Nte.
Chinua Achebe

It is of course pure guesswork whether or not we are actually on the eve of the 2015 election cycle in our country. On December 24 every year – and after year – we know we are at the eve of Christmas. But there is no such natural certainty with the current election cycle in Nigeria. We were on the eve of the institutionally fixed presidential election on February 13, 2015. But ten days before that date, the elections were postponed for six weeks. Now as we move closer to the postponed dates of March 28 and April 11 for the presidential and governorship elections, the only certainty we know is that institutionally, the elections can be further postponed only at the risk of moving too dangerously close to open and blatant flouting of the Nigerian Constitution. This is because constitutionally, elections in our country MUST be held no less than 30 days before May 29 that is the date for the reinstatement of the incumbent government if it is returned to power or the inauguration of a new administration if the opposition candidate wins.

In a country in which the institutional foundations of governance and accountability are so weak as to be virtually non-existent and so dysfunctional as to be close to what we see in the failed states of the world, we cannot be certain that we are now finally on the eve of the 2015 elections. The question that arises from this tragic dilemma on which the future, indeed the very survival of our country depends is the classic one of whether the problem is with our institutions or with us as Nigerians and, more fundamentally, as human beings. Put differently, the question we might ask is this: Is it in ourselves as Nigerians in particular and human beings in general, or is it in our institutions that must look for the reason why, with all our wealth in human and natural resources, there is so much violence, insecurity and suffering in our country, especially for the majority of our peoples? If we improve our institutions, will Nigerians behave differently and be on the whole a happier people, or do we first have to change who and what we are before we can expect to see meaningful and beneficial changes in the functioning of our institutions?

It is very important to raise the discussion of this question to the level of the phenomenon of humanity itself because Nigerians are, for perfectly understandable reasons, quite often too predisposed to see all the things that are wrong with us as a people and with the functioning of our institutions in isolation from what has happened and is happening in the rest of the world. We may not be used to hearing this said or written about us, but we are part and parcel of some of the worst things in human beings all over the world and in the functioning of the institutions of society in modern history. Let me explain what I mean by this observation.

Although for a completely different set of reasons and with also very different ends in mind, I am for instance struck by just how similar Republican politicians in the United States are to Nigerian politicians in general in how far they were willing to go beyond and against their country’s political institutions when they recently brought the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to address the U.S. Congress in order to both embarrass Obama and weaken or even cripple the Presidency. As I write these words, I have in mind the last ditch battles that the Presidents of both Brazil and Argentina are waging to save their careers from the gargantuan political and moral corruption that has totally engulfed their administrations. It is true that that neither of these two ladies – yes, the incumbent Presidents of Brazil and Argentina are both female – has gone as far as Goodluck Jonathan in corruption, waste and squandermania, but the similarities in the weaknesses of both human and institutional foundations of governance and accountability are quite striking. And if it is the Nigerian military on which you wish to focus for the brazenness with which it has allowed itself to be used by thugs, charlatans and moral cretins in power, there are many countries around the world in which you will find fellow travelers with our corrupt generals, Pakistan, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan being examples that come readily to mind. And on perhaps the most important issue of all, this being the terrible and often unspeakable suffering that the great majority of the citizens of a country experience from the combination of human and institutional failings of a cynical and criminal nature, Nigeria is in an unholy league with other countries of Africa and the world as the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Libya, South Africa, Haiti, Syria, Pakistan and Iraq to name just a few countries which might be deemed to logically belong in this particular morally and institutionally maladjusted league of nations.

I make these comparisons for both pragmatic and philosophical reasons that actually happen to be closely linked. On the level of pragmatics, it is very important, I believe, to trim the likes of Ayo Fayose, Musiliu Obanikoro, Doyin Okupe and Chris Ubah to size. These are among the most arrant of the self-identified, maniacal kingpins of the nefarious PDP struggle to make our country’s 2015 election cycle either a non-event or a total failure. It is important, I believe, to let Nigerians know that such power-crazed people have surfaced in other countries of the past and the present throughout the world and have often been soundly defeated. When you tear off their masks of invincibility and reveal the mere human faces and failings of such unconscionable brokers of unjust, corrupt and brutish power, you raise the bar of their success far above their capabilities. Philosophically, it is important, I think, to realize that much has been said throughout modern history about the question that drives these reflections, the question of which do we change first, ourselves or our institutions. For this reason, we do not have to start from scratch; we do not have to reinvent the wheel. All we have to do is add to the inherited discourses. Permit me, then, to approach this topic through the three epigraphs of this essay from Marx, Rousseau and Achebe respectively. Since charity, as the saying goes, begins at home, let us begin with our own writer and thinker, Chinua Achebe, and his fascinating parable of Nte and the thing caught in his trap.

The symbolic brilliance of Achebe’s parable of Nte and the thing caught by his trap that is far bigger than himself is revealed by the fact that in the novelistic setting of this parable, the character in the tale sees things only or primarily through his or her own perspectives and interests – as we all do in life. This is why what starts as a potential good fortune – catching a very big quarry in his trap – turns into a nightmare for Nte because the trap is his and his alone. However, if Nte is willing to share the meat of the ensnared quarry with his neighbors, he can call them to his aid and the quarry is no longer frightening. Before the collective will, guile and wisdom of the entire community, the thing that is caught in Nte’s trap loses its terror. Projecting to a wider frame of reference from this particular reading of the parable, we can say that like Nte, nations and the human community as a whole will always catch something in our trap that is bigger than anyone among us. In the crises of the 2015 election cycle in Nigeria we seem to be deeply afflicted by this Nte conundrum in which the collective unity that could avert a potential catastrophe eludes us. This where Marx and Rousseau come into the discussion.

It used to be thought that Marx and Rousseau stand at two extreme polar opposites in the debates over which is more primary, human nature or the institutions of society, in how happy or unhappy we are. Marx, as may be seen from the quote from his famous monograph, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, placed the emphasis on objective circumstances: we do not make history, we do not achieve our happiness as political and historical subjects on the basis of our individual wills or desires. On the other hand, Rousseau in the famous opening sentences of The Social Contract emphasized an original freedom in our natural condition which, having been ensnared by social institutions, must be won back by a new social contract that places maximum value on this original freedom. We know now that things are far more complicated than the dichotomy between these two views indicates. We know now that we are both objects and subjects of history and politics. Furthermore, we know that being object and subject each entails both positive and negative things. For this reason, our opening or driving question turns out not to be a matter of “either or”. In other words, it is not a matter of you have to change from within before you can change social institutions or vice versa.

I hope I am wrong, but in my opinion, far many more Nigerians think that the change has to come first from within before we can get our rulers and our compatriots in their tens of millions to obey laws and act justly, decently and in the public good. I see the present moment as a uniquely auspicious moment in which to begin to change this unspoken but iron-clad predisposition of Nigerians. Thus, concretely, I pose the question of who among genuine, independent-minded patriots in our country today think that we first have to change a Fayose, a Chris Ubah or a Musiliu Obanikoro from within before we can make the constitutional and institutional arrangements that we have give us fair, clean and credible elections? This will be our starting point in next week’s concluding essay in the series.

Biodun Jeyifo

bjeyifo@fas.harvard.edu

March 22, 2015
Why did we have to shoot at ourselves just to stay together?

How was growing up like for you? Like most people in the country, I grew up in the village. I was born in Nasarawa State, Lapai Local Government Area. Like all normal kids, we learnt our culture and from the environment. One learnt from the singing of birds, the footsteps and prints of everybody – since, then, we were not wearing shoes – even dog has a lot to teach, and know when things are wrong somewhere. That was the interesting part before one went to school. Before we went to Western schools as a Muslim we were introduced to the Islamic schools and began to learn the Quran. We started writing ourselves before going to Western schools. This is the kind of education I had as a child: following my fathers and uncles to the farm. It was interesting. There used to be that communal spirit and learning process even with people of one’s age group and why one belonged there. If a person is older than one by a day, one respects him. There was a kind of hierarchy order…No be by force… It is not dictatorial but based on norms and respect for each other. That was how growing up was for me and I really loved it.

As an economist, at what point did you become a writer?

You really can’t say this is the exact threshold but my upbringing has a role to play. Growing up in a typical traditional society where you have storytellers in the evenings under the moonlight telling stories…such things get infused into you. And as you grow up, you’d find that other cultures do this by putting these stories down – they write. And as I progressed in school, particularly in secondary school, I realised that some of the stories I hear in Arabic are what we were also taught in the village where animals speak and tell stories. I thought that I could even write my stories like that and make them interesting. But at that point, I never thought of becoming a writer – not even after secondary school and university. Even though I studied Economics, I had this love for writing and reading story books, particularly that of African writers. I started writing was during National Youth Service days or perhaps the idea occurred when I was there around 74/75. It began on my journey from Ibadan through Benin by road: I saw the relics of the Civil War, such as bullets trees…trees carted by fire from bombs. So, even as a young mind at that time I asked myself “Why do we have to do this just to stay together…why did we have to shoot at ourselves”. From then, I began to take note of some of these things. I can say I finished NYSC in August 1975 and started writing that same August because it was not hard then for one to get a job. I thought I could keep my diary to just “diary-keeping” but after NYSC, when I started working at the close of the day by 8pm I’d often go out with a late friend to a hotel just to go and relax – I was never a drunk or smoked anyway. And we would not leave that place until 11.30pm and I’d get home after 12. When I went there thrice and saw that I was wasting my time. I wondered what I was doing there: others were smoking or drinking and would even go with some women. I decided I would use my time to start scribbling things. And that was how I started. I started writing the manuscript of my first work in 1975. I would write a few paragraphs and just leave it, and later continue.

37 years after you started writing, do you think you have achieved you purpose of being a writer?

I think I have. I went into writing because I just enjoyed it. I never thought I would be a writer: I just wanted to put down the way I felt about certain things and at the end of the day, share it with a few friends. The late Maman Vasta saw and collected it, and said he would give it to Ford Fourth Dimension. But I also sent to Heinemann and the editorial adviser read and sent me feedback that I should reduce it by one-third. I said Ah…Ah! The thing wey I don spend time write… I won’t reduce it oh! He edited it, cut out a few things, and of course, I didn’t send it back to them. Then, The Drumbeats was also ready to take it at that time, but, then during Shagari Regime, Austerity period came and they were afraid they might not be able to repatriate their funds, so, they were not taking new titles, saying I should give them time. I was in London at the time, so, when I came back I got another publisher who understands the situation to publish it.

You have seen various phases of the Nigerian Literature and development of its literati. What would you say about the state of the Nigerian Literature today?

I am proud that Nigerian writing has a lot of potentials. Already the richness is out, still, I believe it holds greater potentials given the interest a lot of young people have shown in it. And really most of the contemporary issues going on, they are the ones to write on them and they have really proven themselves that they are up to the task.

The only problem is that we don’t have access to the facilities writers in other parts of the world have, such as publishing, electric power, and Internet. Now, people publish on their own; even at that these facilities are not readily available to many. Most times, access on the Internet some of these Internet service providers is not readily available – and where it is, it is at snail speed. There is constant power outage. All these are very discouraging. You can never make much progress. This is perhaps the reason why most people who write have other things they are doing; they just take writing as their pastime. I think we can do more in this part of the country. I see no reason those who lived here in the North and moved South why don’t write their experiences just like Cyprian Ekwensi in The Passport of Mallam Idah. You would think he is a northerner.

A lot of Islamic clerics speak against the Soyaya novelists, and they have been censored many, what do you think of it?

I think there is a certain level of morality that we should observe. There are certain cultural values we stand for in various communities in the country, be it in language, dressing etc., we must try to abide by them. I think that was what the Censors Board was trying to do. Even in the Quran you have illustrations of certain things, hypothetically for understanding. International community is going through certain economic crisis because they allowed and encouraged free market; and they are having a rethink about uncontrolled capitalism: when not controlled, capitalism has led to crisis. The state must protect certain things. Free trade doesn’t exist. Globalisation is for them and not for us. They are saying you can globalise, and that they can sell in your market, but you know, the fingers are not equal. There is no way we can compete with them. We would be on the losing side. We have to protect certain industry which is called infant industries. The Chinese and Russians did that. Initially, we said it is “Taiwan” and “China”, meaning inferior goods, but they are all rushing to China for rescue now. Europe are going there to borrow and Americans are telling the Chinese to devalue their currency…Why should they, if it is free market! We are the only people who want to grab everything from them. Coming back to Soyaya literature, I think it should not be allowed to show things that are not in conformity with our religion. The recent issue of homosexuality, in which the British wants to happen here, should we allow that? I don’t believe so. Some people may say it is freedom, but freedom cannot go on like that.

Why weren’t you interested in telling about the colonial encounters, like Chinua Achebe and others were doing when they started out?

Every writer and writing gets informed by his/her experiences or at least the environment within which his/her operated. Chinua Achebe had some taste of Colonial Rule directly. We had just the aftereffect and, therefore, virtually came into modern Nigeria: the nation-building started at that time. Even the war and the conflicts were part was part of nation-building. And as a young man, some of us felt “Why should it happen?” Even though initially we opposed the NYSC, as we went in for it, we just loved it because it afforded us the opportunity to see other people and to realise that essentially we are all the same. I served in the then Southeastern state: it was the farthest point from where I was going to work; but I enjoyed it so much that at the end of the day when I was finishing I didn’t want to go back. I found you can make friend anywhere, depending on one’s open-mindedness and people tend to receive one based on that. It is always good to open up. Honestly, I enjoy my NYSC.

As a writer and elder statesman, what would be your reaction about Boko Haram and the state of security in Nigeria?

The state of security is a common knowledge that it is very bad; and the Boko Haram factor has complicated it. For an enemy that has declared to you that he doesn’t care about dying – what else is left? It is not an easy thing that people are passing through, because of the situation. Sometimes, during road traffics and queues can create a greater insecurity because they can detonate anything, anywhere and more people will die.

There is need for those charged with security spread security network, finding out what is happening behind the scene. It is a big problem but it needs courage of talking – dialogue. Confronting the problem by trying force would not work. At the end of the day, you still have to talk to people. My position is, we should not just address the symptoms; we should try to get to the root of the problem. Even in warfare, you don’t just attack; you have to have a strategy of dealing with a problem. You don’t win a battle just by direct confrontation. Even where you think that you are stronger than your enemy, you have to have a strategy. If you don’t have, even when you think you have beaten him…and that was the problem, George Bush made in Iraq. He said they have finished the war. That was a long time ago and 10 years on that the war is not yet over. There is need for a strategy that would get to the root of the problem. And it should not only be by force because you are virtually playing the same game they are playing. You have to get to the people, talk to them indirectly – not the culprits – because people seem to sympathise with those they perceive as underdogs. And with force at a time, you’d create underdogs just like America did in Iraq. If people didn’t like Sadam Hussein they wouldn’t have been bombarding the civilians. People felt American were messing up. They weren’t sympathetic with Sadam but the action against the people. Sadam is long gone but the people are now targeting the forces that are occupying their country. You have to dialogue first, not force… dialogue and whosoever doesn’t want to respond to a more civilise method of conflict resolution, you can tackle that. Gana Adams once said that he believes that they should talk to Boko Haram.

Has there ever been a story idea that has not materialised for one reason or the other; what are you writing currently?

I am basically writing commentary on certain issues. Every writer has a lot of dreams and titles they’d want to write on. For instance, I was there during the short period of General Abdulsalami Abubakar’s stay in power is a story one would want to tell. Or during the Liberia crisis: the peace talks in which ECOWAS appointed Gen Abdusallam, I was one of his advisers. We saw a lot of things. And we saw again the effect of war. People who talk about war have perhaps not gone through it. One has a story and, perhaps, want to tell a story about a war situation: the terrible thing about fighting and tell from the point of view that canvasses that we should try as much as possible to avoid it.

March 14, 2015