Every year in the life of our beloved country, we look forward to seeing the day Independence was handed us; assessing the level and depth of our progress and failures as a country. To our grandest dismay, we glare copiously at the declining rate and pace of progress of our nationhood. What we wished for in the recent pasts are gradually becoming a mirage before our eyes. There apparently is no gleam of hope for those of us who still believe in the sovereignty of our country. We had struggled in the era of regional supremacy which of course led to the Civil War where millions of Nigerians were massacred. After the war, the military junta continued amid the blessings of oil boom. Yet, Nigeria bleeds.
In 1999, democracy greeted us on the eve of a new millennium, after the very disturbing era of dictatorship. The people who had fought the course of a new system of government swung into action to bring about change which would be of immense benefits to all and sundry—the Nigerian citizenry. It was Hallelujah Day for the generality of the public as participatory governance was to be enthroned. The government at the time was faced with challenges of infrastructural deficit, unrestrained and pervasive corruption, economic decadence, institutional breakdown, communal crisis especially in the Niger Delta region. In short, our country was at the brink of balkanization, if you will. The world, having moved from “statist” style of government where all the commanding heights of the economy were largely owned by individual state as practiced by the Soviet Union to true capitalism evidently practiced in America which we modeled our system of government after, had therefore forced the hands of government to shift attention from socialism to capitalism. What was expedient was unarguably surrendering to deregulation, although government doubled as player and regulator in the industries.
Consequent upon the arrival of democracy, there was an urgent need to be innovative and strategic. Faced with infrastructural deficit—about 27 aircrafts in the fleet of the defunct Nigerian Airways had been lost, our shipping line had lost most of its vessels, our railway system was not left out as it had jumped into comatose, educational institutions had declined sharply in the international rating, health sector was nothing to write home about—the government took drastic measures by employing the practice of Public Private Partnership. Private, both local and international, investors were encouraged by government's body language and policies.Template of governance was structured. In the case of corruption, although reports from other quarters had it that the government was selective in its fight against corruption, we can still say that government tried by introducing the “police extension” of anti-graft agency (EFCC) and the “legal extension” (ICPC) of the aforementioned.
In essence, it is instructive to note that government at the time did not complain about the magnitude of decadence caused by preceding governments. There was no such thing as “blame game”. Government accepted the situations before it in good faith and forged a way of getting out of the woods. There was a clearcut blueprint. Government did not accuse past leadership(rulership,if you will).Government took charge, and even though there was at one point or the other a disagreement between the legislative and executive arms of government, there was never a time the executive arm screamed “corruption is fighting back” in the ears of the armless and helpless citizens. They owned up to responsibilities. Today, I want to ask, is there any hope for the hopeless? Doctors are exiting the country in droves; dollar is on the journey of unrestrained rise, forcing small and medium scale enterprises out of business; food security is a huge problem, security challenges have metamorphosed from guerrilla war to herder-farmer crisis. Families are killed, villages and remote hamlets are ransacked, elections are rigged under the watch of heavy security agencies. “But we voted for change”, one may say; unfortunately the change we voted for is “a change back into the woods”. Fiscal deficits resulting from continuous borrowing is on the increase, and MIGHT IS RIGHT in our elections. INEC which is supposed to be independent is now a tool in the hands of the power that be. Do we have anything to be thankful for? Personally, I will say yes, at least for the rest of us who are still alive, who are not as that poor little girl—Leah Sharibu—we should be thankful for our “sham freedom”. We should be thankful for not experiencing natural disasters(even though it has been confirmed that some states in Nigeria are likely to experience earthquake). Independence Day in Nigeria is yet another day to be thankful for staying alive in a country sitting on the keg of gunpowder but for the prayers of God's people.
Moses Einstein Felix
©2018.
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