Disillusionment

After waiting for many years to get an outlet for some of my views, the internet afforded me an opportunity in a forum like this.

Sadly, I've now discovered that instead of being a place where people could compare philosophies and get together with like-minded people for action to better the country, it has become an end in itself. People write and write and look for people to come and read in the hopes, as I now understand, of making money off of it or to gain fame for its sake. This is very sad and I can not bring myself to be seen as one of these people who have no true interest in Nigeria issues beyond exploitative reasons. This is why I do not post updates regularly. My latest update happens to be the proposal I made to a prominent Nigerian which was excused off. I doubt the sincerity of most Nigerians from my experiences and this is no different. This is why I am putting this in the public domain and I will try to get it published by some news organisations

@OIbhagui  

 THE LOW HANGING FRUIT: A CASE FOR VIDEO EVIDENCE ELECTION MONITORING

A number of things can be done that would have immediate effect on the affairs of the nation. For this to also work, we need a mass of people working in concert. 

The whole hallmark of democracy is the voting process. This voting process has been continually plagued by allegations of rigging and various malpractices. This has resulted in cancellations of already won and lost elections. Sitting governors have been removed by court pronouncements as a result of this, even after a number of years in office. There is no reason that one day, given a different set of actors, the same could not be done on the presidential election results. I can not imagine what impact that would bear on the nation fractured along ethnic and religious lines. We need to put an immediate stop to this at all levels by the use of available technology. 

Right now the procedure that I have experienced is that at each polling unit, the INEC officials organize the voting process in the presence of the representatives of the various parties vying for elective positions. After the voting is over, the ballots are counted right there and results are announced by the INEC official-in-charge and the results are endorsed by the various party representatives. The tally is written on an A2 scoresheet and pasted on a wall. There can not be any complaint from that one polling unit under review as to the fairness of the process right there because they were a part of it and could have voiced any concern as they went along. If every voting process in every polling unit follows this procedure and is covered by an anonymous observer wired up with the secret video surveillance camera I propose be used for this process, the videographic evidence cannot be later controverted. The scope of this writeup does not cover the events of violence and disruption at polling stations as this is a whole topic of its own and such cases are far fewer compared to the wholesale repudiation of the results of an election. 

As of 2011 there are 119,973 individual polling units in the country organized under 8809 ward collation centres. If for any reason the cameras can not be deployed across every polling unit in a particular place, it must at least be used in the affected collation centre at ward level. This minimizes to the infinitesimal, the possibility that any infraction might have taken place to affect the whole state’s election result. This would require an equal number of human beings to wear these secret devices. That is a large number of people. In order for that to be possible, it would mean volunteerism would be needed with token refreshment, transport and the acknowledgement that they are part of a good project being their reward. They would preferably be drawn from the local community or other parts of the state at most. They would generally be present for the accreditation exercise and have that process recorded after which they may go home to relax or have a rendezvous with their counterparts from other polling units at a designated place during the intervening period. Their content could be downloaded into a computer during this time and their device battery recharged for good measure.  When it is time for the voting proper, they return and repeat what they had done earlier. They do not have to be present at the polling unit 100% of the time as that would immediately mark them out as persons of interest. It is important for them to be anonymous so that they do not get compromised or assaulted. 

With this process, results of elections can be known by this team on the very night of any election while INEC takes its time to go through the official process. It is something similar that happens in the more matured United States in their election process, albeit without the video camera. Exit polls are conducted asking voters who they just voted for and with this simple basis of reliance of people’s honesty, results are projected same day of voting by private polling groups through the media. The United States does not have a federal election organizing body but rely on these state and private organizations for electoral affairs. It is interesting that everybody in the US sits back and watches the election results from the television networks while in Nigeria, the television networks sit and wait for the results from the government agency. The result of a US presidential election, even though known on election night, with losers conceding and winners celebrating, is actually officially announced in January in the Senate. Even most Americans do not know this as it is irrelevant. 

The video cameras in question are not definite in form at this present time because they would need to be made to suit the purpose. The technology however exists to place a very small device on a person and have video recorded to a decent or even high resolution for a long period of time(hours at a time). When discussion is narrowed down  to what is desired, it can then be made to suit the purpose. Generally the cost of each of these devices would lie in the range of 3 – 8 thousand naira when fully primed to do the work it is required to do. A microSD card is bought separately and is required for the recording to happen at all. They could each cost around 5,000 naira on average depending on the capacity and quality. It is important to have a reliable microSD card so that the recording integrity might not be compromised. A realistic estimate would be no more than 10,000 naira for a ready-to-go unit. For 119,973 units that would amount to 1.2b naira, just for the procurement of gear and some more when logistics of importation is included.

Now this amount does not have to be sourced in its totality. The microSD card for example is a very common storage device which a vast number of people already have in Nigeria; this includes the prospective volunteers. They could simply use theirs and the cost of the project as far as the gear is concerned drops by as much as 50%. But then again an intervention that would have such direct impact on the credibility of elections in Nigeria can not be regarded as expensive for 1.2b naira when it can be used over and again. 

It is well known that for every election in Nigeria and in addition to party loyalists, there are NGOs and international bodies monitoring the elections. These people usually work in concert with INEC. Their method is to go to a few places and watch the process in real-time after which each of them pass their judgment on the conduct over the whole area, most of which were not seen and even when seen, the people might behave themselves for the period of their presence. These bodies get generous subventions by donor bodies interested in their work. In my opinion it would be good for such generous subventions to be extended to a method such as I have outlined. It would not require anybody’s word of honour as is used at this present time. The various governments all say they wish to have free, fair and credible elections. Well, this is the time for them to prove it by also supporting this kind of project. This will test their genuine sincerity to make election malpractices a thing of the past in this country. There is room also for the private concerned individual, wealthy enough to chip in his own bit in the project to defray costs. 

Election rigging is so 20th century and there are very serious issues pertaining to nation building to bother about after elections are held. We can not continue to struggle with this part of democracy. The fact that people are willing to get into office regardless of the wishes of the electorate is bad enough. We should not make it a possibility at all. If the electorate continually vote in the wrong people, it is then the fault of the electorate and it then means more work need to be done on them to make enlightened choices and better value judgments. When in time word goes round that it is impossible to tamper with election results, it will certainly be an incentive for those in office, especially at the presidential level to sit up and make sure the electorate get value for the trust reposed in them by voting them in. Elections would then be real contests where no one could be definite that they would come through victorious. The issue of whether this activity should be made known to INEC officially is one that is open for debate. If they are aware, there are positive sides to it logistically but no one knows whether there are also downsides to it.

The process of building a democratic culture is multifaceted. The culture does not exist in Nigeria at this time. The people do not follow political issues. They mostly rely on hearsay and group wisdom. The politicians are more interested in winning elections than participating in an honourable process. Although it took the United States almost 200 years to achieve universal suffrage for good reason, we erroneously think universal suffrage must apply to all societies regardless of societal development stage. Since we have this already in place, let us make the best of the bad situation by improving the quality of the electorate. This is a very long and painstaking process. We can start though by removing these electoral disputes out of the mix of our problems by force since most of the contestants and their supporters do not have the quality of mind to volunteer to be honourable. In time, hopefully we can have a situation where the loser on election night can concede and congratulate the winner, having the confidence that he lost fair and square in a foolproof process.

These are all subject to review

Oseiwe Ibhagui

@OIbhagui 

29th April, 2014

THE CHRISTMAS THAT COULD HAVE BEEN

      
My Christmas day started as my other days start: I went out for a morning walk. Problem is, this day was going to be slightly different. Just as I got to the vicinity of the soon-to-be-completed Tejuoso market site, I saw a small crowd gathered by two cars, apparently one trying to tow the other. As I looked further, I discovered that the one to be towed was badly damaged on one side to the extent that the tyre on that side was mangled along with the headlights, fender, and all those front, right-hand parts. I stopped to witness the scene.

As I looked further, I saw that the damaged car, a Toyota Camry, shiny, recent model, was being attempted to be towed by a nylon rope suitable for hanging clothes on to dry. Of course as the towing vehicle moved, the rope snapped. After another attempt, I just laughed at the attempt and mumbled to the closest person to me how a car driver didn't know what would be suitable to tow a car, and that a seat belt would be needed if a chain could not be found. It then seemed to me they were just a confused bunch and so, to do my public duty, I decided to move further to have a chat with the driver, coming out of the car, who happened to be a young man. As I moved to gain access to him, I noticed he was unstable and seemed to be in a world of his own. I called on him and he just looked dazed and walked away. As an experienced "guy man" myself, I immediately knew what was up. I didn't know when my thoughts immediately came out "dis one don drunk".

Immediately I said that, come and see backlash! EVERYBODY turned on me; why would you say such a thing? Of course they also had an attack dog who was supposed to be a beast of burden to see "something" from the rich "oga". Now he had a new and more appealing job. He towered over them, pushed me with his dirtied hands and was spoiling for a fight. Now, note that my contributions in life comes from my brain and none by muscles. I then knew this could really be a special Christmas like no other; I had to think fast so as to survive the fiasco. I reminded them I wanted to come and tell them to use a seatbelt and that I had experience with cars. As all this was going on, one of the people who must gain a special advantage with "oga" had already told him and so buoyed by the hostility seen around me, he then reappeared determined to come and "fight" still babbling rather incoherently. He even picked a stone and hurled at me while being restrained by his "good Samaritans" not to come and "deal with" me. As Tupac would say, I saw it was me against the world so as I saw the little window I had, I took it and made a run for it!  I can not go into my personal circumstances now and why I should be the last person to get into trouble at this point in time. Once again the Nigerian system prevailed over a potential new order. Progress took to its heels and left Nigeria to continue in its way.

Now, a couple of things. I fully understand that many a reader will find no issue with what transpired. Indeed some would say it served me right but now, let's reason together. We have laws in this country against drunk driving just as they do in just about any country in the world. Drunk driving is dangerous because  it turns the vehicle into a potential missile and the safest person is the one inside the car. It could lead to life-changing injuries and even death of innocent passersby. Indeed I myself have been in a drunk driving situation back in the day in Ibadan which resulted in the death of a fowl on the dirt roads of Apete. I was perfectly compliant with the 500naira fine imposed on me(hey, it was 2004 ok).

In reasonable countries where they have a culture of obedience to laws, what happens is that when a group goes out for a night out, there's always one person designated to be the driver and that person isn't allowed to take alcohol on that occasion so that they might obey the law while still having a good time. If someone is ever caught drunk on the wheels, they feel a sense of guilt at their offence just as I did and certainly do not attack who discovers them. They certainly wouldn't have the army of volunteers who instantly attacked me on hearing that word "drunk".

If people are encouraged to run the laws into the ground in the small way they've been given, how dare they complain about some other person in a position to do even more? What happens to the good Nigerian trying to call anyone to order when he has no backing from society? Do you know how it feels when I am mocked at petrol stations because I question why they would not sell petrol at the official pump price when I buy in a jerry can or when I refuse to allow someone jump the queue at that filling station or when waiting for a BRT bus? Once when I prevented a woman from jumping the queue to stay in front of me while waiting for a bus, a man behind me gladly let her in just behind me and she declared to the guy that I was going mad because I was a "good Nigerian." How can I function if I am the only one in a sea of Nigerians? This is why to effect change in the country, activists can not be left each to his own. We need to have a network and support of relevant authorities so that we are not at the mercy of these champions of Nigerian backwardness. There are a few Nigerians willing to do what is right but they hide in the shadows so as not to be called out. But there is also me who is ready to also speak out. 

I have always and will always say: the problem with Nigeria is the Nigerian people themselves, a few of whom are in government. Their attitudes, values, traditional practices, all have a negative effect on the prospects of development of the nation. You dare to be different? You will be destroyed: you will be hated, pressured, rendered destitute and your life will be made untenable unless you comply with prevailing wisdom. On my part, I was so glad I escaped a Christmas morning of beatings and serious trouble to be inspired enough to write this. Merry Christmas.

Oseiwe Ibhagui
@OIbhagui

A Rejoinder to the Rejoinder: A Note of Warning to the Blogtivists

Let me tell you what you don't know: many of us are filled with the huge egos that is a major factor affecting those ruining the country at this time. That is a major plank in the original writer's argument.

The first major use of social media to force a "revolution" has met with deaths of close to 100,000 people and there's no proof that those people are better off than before they started(they are indeed much worse off in my opinion). There have been organising and movements and revolutions in the long history of the world and what we have now is a recent bonus but what do we do with it? We become armchair analysts or instant "revolutionaries" when the answer to the country's problems is neither and somewhere in-between. 

With the ever increasing portfolio of work on your blogs, what is the physical effect on the ground that you are passionate about, you "activist"? Do you think this is an abstract debate on some issue that does not affect your immediate environment? Think again.

Many bloggers and twitter activists can not come together to form a real physical organisation to do real work for the reason that the original writer points out: they're living in their own world and are more interested in writing than in studying the world, its history, and confronting their own self as a result to change the wrong ways their society has taught them all along which they're supposed to now know is not so appropriate.

Let this writer tell me what organisation he has tried to form, or join to advance whatever project he believes in and for us to know its progress report. With documented evidence, I have tried to form exactly such organisations starting in 2000 with efforts to recruit the likes of Festus Keyamo and Funmi Iyanda but couldn't get support. I am on a latest drive now to form a platform where people come to learn and give speeches physically and not just on twitter but I've still not yet found support: people just like to stay back and complain anonymously. If you knew my personal life story, you would know no one should be more bitter and cynical, yet I'm not. I did manage to get some support by way of a venue promised prospective members by a well-known Nigerian in Victoria Island but the twitter account I opened subsequent to that concession(@IntelNG) has only found five followers. So I am, by this, taking you all up on your claim to want to have a better society to live in. 

If we continue to live in our own little worlds and refuse to grow, learn, and change, we will not rise from the swamp in which we are because all the progress registered in this world was achieved that way. Leave your virtual world, come out and meet people to advance the issues you care about and society will be better for it. Social media and the internet is a means to the end; it is not the end in itself 

Oseiwe Ibhagui

@OIbhagui

Addendum to Soludo's Story

        

I really liked the presentation of Prof. Charles Soludo, a very successful man in every sense. I even loved more the quote he brought up by Plato. I would like that quote to be revisited and ruminated over. 

Plato meant that it is the people who loved to know how everything worked, how all the branches of human knowledge interact with one-another; those with that curiosity and intellectual depth, that should be the principals guiding society aright and by no means should they be addressed as President or Governor only.

The best people to know what to do in a society to advance it are the people who have a natural interest in that and have spent a good deal of time finding out about those issues through biographies, history etc and following the news as a habit, not necessarily someone who has specialised in one field of knowledge and obtained all the degrees and certifications in that field and made a lot of money ("successful technocrats" if you may).

What this society needs are people who will educate the general masses, to change their horrible values and so many items of their culture and to bring them into at least the 20th century so that they understand their civic responsibilities and relationship with government. If that is not achieved, no one will just come and change society in this "democratic setting." Only a dictatorship can achieve that but as our previous dictatorships, save one, have proved, even they are victims and products of society's backwardness in understanding.

The fact that Gov. Fashola of Lagos was used as an example of a "very successful" governor is exactly to the point I am making. The fact that he was very successful in his profession and then came and presented himself for office was used as an example of what other professionals should do. The fact which goes against conventional thinking is that he has been a rather successful manager, but I wonder how he has been a great example of what a leader should be. He brought personal decency to the office and (hopefully) judiciously managed the resources of the state. But is that the only role of a leader, a governor in this case?  What are those resources? Tax from residents and businesses in the state not previously meticulously collected, allocation from the Federal Government, and external loans worth massive billions. Can anyone truly say the people of the state have become more productive and developed a new capacity to generate wealth? The people see him as a special breed who is out of step with the "normal people" and they are just biding their time for him to finish his term so that they return to their "normalcy." This is by no means a criticism of the good governor who has done as good as he knows how. But that is the issue: the fact that you wish to do well can be limited by how much you know of what is right. That is the definition of value system we talk about. If he were making any headway in reorienting the people of the state and creating thousands of Fasholas all over the state then he would be leading people in a direction that they would continue on and ultimately arrive at progress whether he is there or not. But everything in Nigeria is made to depend on the "man", the "leader." 

Please let me part by reiterating that you are not going to be magically successful in governing Nigeria aright just because you were the best graduating student in some PhD programme at Harvard and had some very important job in some big international organisation. That creates the elitist insular arrogant bubble some live in today that is a part of the problems with Nigeria today.

The people of Nigeria, together with their knowledge, customs and values do not yet belong to even the 20th century of human progress even though we are well into the 21st. It is the state of development of the people that will determine the face of the nation and its government.

@OIbhagui

The Council of the Indispensable

I have watched with disbelief the manner in which a class of people that they now constitute, assume that everything in our national life will be incomplete or invalid, except it has their imprint. Ever since the misadventures of the 1966 -1970 period, there has been a class of people who have pinned Nigeria down under their control in one way or the other. With changes upon changes in administrations, they have remained, co-opting one person or the other from time to time.

There seems to be a recent talk of whether, as part of the constitutional review process whether the senate could not be sacrificed. This drew vary harsh and angry reaction from the senators themselves, amongst some others. There has been no effort to look at the merits or demerits of any suggestion since all that is needed is to ascertain its impact on each individual. If it negatively affects the individual's personal fortune, it is immediately bad policy or suggestion.

There is no doubt that the senate is the place of refuge of choice for governors who have served out their mandatory maximum terms in office and of course would not leave the political environment. Not to talk about so many unnamed former government officials known and unknown to the Nigerian people. They are all recycled and would not allow a change in their worldview and how they would let Nigeria make progress from here on out. Look at the very head of the senate himself. As I had previously pointed out David Mark has been in the business of power play since his participation in the coup of 1975 at only twenty-seven. Today a twenty-seven year old is likely a young unemployed and hopeless Nigerian young man wasting away in his parent's home or in some dead-end job to eke out a living. With his next major participation in 1985, he was given the position of a governor of a whole state and later of a minister, all in his '30s. There is nothing in and of itself wrong with a young person holding a position of high responsibility in the country. But the problem is that now that they have spent a generation in various roles in government, they now say a 30something is now a "youth" that is too inexperienced to hold the same positions they used to hold; and the fact is that there are a lot more of those young people today who are out and out more knowledgeable than them today about what it takes to build a successful nation, not to talk of back then. What they did then is the reason why we are suffering today. He has even tucked himself so deeply in his number 3 position, complete with the GCON that he is now actually a threat to Nigeria's democracy because he is not going to leave that position without all the fight he can muster, regardless of consequences to the nation. That is what his type is used to anyway: the whole country can burn in order for them to have the smallest of advantage in one trivial matter or another.

There are several others also; the perennial presidential aspirant of any guaranteed ruling party Sarah Jubril always ends up as part of the privileged number with access to government funds and position without any Nigerian having the slightest idea who she is and what she does. There is Uche Chukwumerijie who became a known commodity working for a group that took up arms against the Federal Government, costing one million lives, and then went on to work for Sani Abacha again as a hatchet man. What about the great "Jerry Boy," never far from the corridors of power. It is Jerry Gana that established a new standard for the role of Minister of Information in this country which Maku and his predecessors have been following, one of being a cheap-sounding, undignified, mouthy drum major for the government. One forgets that in that capacity, he should be the head of all the agencies of government with respect to the media. We can not possibly call out such people one by one as there are so many of them.

How can a body of 360 people and another of 109 be so voracious in their greed that their expense becomes significant in the finances of a nation of almost 170 million people. It is this "squandermania"--a direct quote from Buhari in 1984-- that was the main excuse for the sacking of the Second Republic. So how can a legitimate question asked about their cost/benefit be so dismissed with disdain. Why on earth do we think we must copy what another country arrived at while trying to formulate a way to govern their own nation, taking all their own peculiarities into consideration. Of course when you're looking for personal gain, simple problems do not lend themselves anymore to simple solutions. It becomes more complex because some of the variables at play are subterranean. In the context of the Nigerian corruption factor I will even go further and say that their job should be done pro bono and only actuals be covered by the Nigerian people. If you think no one will do the job, you just made the biggest mistake. There will be no faster way to rid the governance of the country of corrupt and inept people than to remove the financial incentive for going for it. There are many people who will be so glad to step forward to do this nation proud who can not at the moment because of the lucre attached to those positions at the moment.

Real democracy, and not the present oligarchy, will dawn in this country when ordinary people with no ties to the lords in the corridors of power are able to make their case to the Nigerian people and be voted into office. This can only occur with the necessary reforms both in our institutions of governance and democracy and in the mindset of the ordinary Nigerian...and that is what those who are responsible for the ruin that is Nigeria will fight against until their dying breath.



Oseiwe Ibhagui
@OIbhagui

My Vision of Nigeria Essay, 1999

MY VISION OF NIGERIA BY THE YEAR 2040

It is only in Nigeria that I have seen, in this modern age that some consider diversity as a weakness. This is the very reason why we are still where we are today. Nigeria is a diverse country, both in topography and human resources. Whatever the history of the evolution of other countries vis-à-vis Nigeria, we have come to stay as a nation. Within the country, there are very many distinct language groupings; some say two hundred and fifty, while others claim even more. Colonized as most other countries of the world by Britain, we acquired education by means of their language – the English Language. With this language, especially with a version of it called pidgin, we have been able to bridge communication barriers between ourselves so that we might continue together.

Nigeria is abundantly blessed with varied natural resources, a good climate, absence of almost all natural disasters, and a particularly energetic people. In the Plateau area, there are many solid minerals, some yet untapped.In the Niger Delta there is little need for introduction: the name itself is synonymous with crude oil which is the lifeblood of this nation. The North is blessed with land on which almost any type of crop can grow. In the East, there is a large deposit of coal which is an alternative source of energy to petroleum. Indeed, no one has ever questioned the natural endowments of Nigeria. The energetic populace should also be a source of joy to a country, all things being equal; but all things have not been equal in this country.

It is so unfortunate that the human resources we have have not been channeled in the right direction. Ignorance has seen to it that we regress. It is this ignorance that breeds the ethnicism which is the cause of our national stagnation. Human beings are higher animals but they are different from animals in capacity, or rather in potentials than in fact. The human mind can be developed; it can learn. The mind of animals, by and large, is very limited in the capacity for learning. Therein lies the difference. If the human mind is not developed, it is amenable to instinctiveness and emotion and reasoning is deficient and this would not augur well for him. It is easier for them to believe that someone who speaks their language should enjoy more loyalty from them and should be more entrusted with secret because he would mean well to them. In short, they just look for a similarity with others on the basis of the geographical area they come from. The most painful thing about ethnicity in this country is that every other thing including progress is subordinated to it. The ignoramuses do not care whether it is their so-called brother that would lead them astray. They prefer – should they have a choice – to choose their tribesmen in any calling over others. It is a case of ethnic survival and inter-ethnic competition. Indeed, this unhealthy inter-ethnic competition is so bad that people prefer that the common boat which all ethnic nationalities find themselves in rock or even sink than for a person of another tribe to successfully steer the boat. They seem to reason that it would be a slap on their tribe if someone outside succeeded in moving everyone forward. It is, in essence, a case of destroying the whole in a futile bid to save a part. Their limited minds prevent them from realizing that ethnicity, indeed everything on earth, was devised by man and influenced by his environment; nothing is absolute. Religions say that we all come from Adam and Eve. In that case, we should all claim Israeli citizenship if that does not sound preposterous. Even some two thousand years ago, some of these tribes which seem to have been created from Heaven were not in existence; this very English we speak is a synthesis of various languages. Our present condition is predicated on human and environmental factors, many so gradual as to be unnoticed. If Nigeria was born abruptly, that does not mean it has not been born. It is now incumbent on us to integrate and form a Nigerian culture, Nigerian outlook, indeed, a Nigerian Citizenship.

One of the ways these tribes have foisted themselves on our society is by inculcating in children that they were not worth their existence if they did not learn, accept in totality without question, and promote the tenets of their culture. They are introduced into it and impressed on that good children upheld them. The individual items constituting their ethos are never questioned and are accepted on faith from generation to generation. Some of these items are so barbaric that they have come to be totally indefensible in today’s society and are consequently dying. One can imagine a belief that a dead king needed servants in the after world and so a servant is buried alive with a dead king. Or consider a custom where a queen must be burned on the funeral pyre of her dead husband. The latter occurred in India in times gone by. Enlightenment was born when courageous people began questioning established practices often to the prejudice of their safety. These philosophers applied reason to human affairs; they questioned anything which could not stand to reason; they painstakingly took time to find true answers to their questions. It is on this basis that their societies developed. No society can develop which does not conduct its affairs on the basis of reasonableness and justness. In Nigeria here we ought to be grateful that other peoples have treaded uncharted territories and have now laid the map for us to just follow. Yet, it is just this task of following that is proving difficult for us. Our society is still largely unenlightened and so far as the light of education is not allowed to spread more widely, the majority in darkness would always reflect the ethos of that society and retard those who have found the light. President John F. Kennedy’s statement is instructive here; he had said that no country can rise above its level of education. One wonders why education is regarded as just one of the areas of expenditure of an underdeveloped country like Nigeria. If some other people did not educate themselves, the roads, electricity, health and other areas of expenditure would not exist. It is out of an educated, trained mind that the capacity for development of technology for roads, machinery and health came about. We should be expending all requisite resources on a grand plan of mass and total education and if anything is left out of it, it could then be channeled to other areas. With an adequately educated citizenry, the ethnicity and animalistic tendencies which move us backward would be reasoned away by rational minds.

Nigeria has to move now. We have that energy to move; it is only that is has been wrongly applied all this while. In one generation, by 2040, I look forward to a great country in Africa, very relevant in the scheme of things in world affairs. The United Nations Security Council is being pressured to increase its permanent membership. This will be achieved and Nigeria would be a permanent member representing African interests. We have served on that Council during the first tenure of the present president Olusegun Obasanjo. There is no doubt that even South Africa, the most developed country in Africa at the moment would concede the fact that Nigeria evinces greater interest in international issues and leadership of Africa in particular and the Third World in general than any other African country. It is characteristic of our national energy but the world had to put us in check because to be thrust with responsibility in world affairs, a responsible and mature leadership at home is a sine qua non. Let us consolidate that status which we have been accorded.

By 2040, I see a Nigeria that the President of the United States of America would travel directly to for talks with its president on bilateral and world issues; where the American President would come to solicit for some help on certain international issues. It does not take much effort to observe that US presidents whenever they come to Africa, come on tours which take them to many countries. US presidents go to Gerrmany, Belgium, France; they do not say they go to Europe. When they go to Japan or South Korea, they go there without blanketing the tour as an Asian tour. But whenever they can get around to coming to Africa, it is always Africa they go to with stops in different countries as if Africa were a country. When they do come, it is always goodwill tour across countries where they announce aid packages on each stop. Nigeria will change that by 2040. The US President will fly directly to Abuja for talks with the Nigerian President on political and economic issues on equal footing as strategic partners as is already the case with China and India.

Economically, Nigeria will rise by 2040. In terms of land mass, Nigeria ranks only fourteen in Africa. This could come as a surprise to many people. But despite this, the percentage of arable land in Nigeria is among the highest anywhere in the world: there are no wastelands in Nigeria. Even in the Niger Delta where crude oil abounds, the land is still arable. In terms of population, well, the nearest country to Nigeria in that is half as populous. Let us consider that Lagos State, even though ranking as thirty-sixth in geographical size in Nigeria, accounts for the highest population and more than two-thirds of all infrastructures and economic activities outside crude oil going on in Nigeria. The ongoing resuscitation of infrastructures in this country coupled with the manpower training derivable from qualitative education would open up a floodgate of Nigerian energy channeled in the right direction. The rate of growth of our economy would then be unsurpassable by any country and this rate, given time up till 2040 would see to it that we bypass other countries both in Africa and elsewhere which we were at par with in 1960. Some of those countries are so far ahead of us today in economic development that it seems impossible to catch up. Economic prowess is a major factor in international diplomacy.

This picture of a great Nigeria being painted here is completely realizable. We are already on the right path but some fundamental changes to our mindset which must be made are being vehemently resisted. The incipient reawakening of ethnic agenda and the so-called ethnic ‘platform’ leaves much to be desired. One can safely predict that it would further regress this country if not checked. This informs the National Rebirth philosophy as enunciated by President Olusegun Obasanjo. We need to change our thinking; we need to see ourselves as Nigerians first; I see myself as Nigerian only. We need what I call Nigerian Citizenship. This Nigerian Citizenship can be achieved by starting from now the implementation of the Nigeria Project. We should hurry up to defeat the formidable forces of obscurantism and ethnicism which only serves selfish interests and jeopardizes Nigeria. We should attack them with all-out qualitative education for our children. We should spiritedly encourage inter-tribal marriages. Government should only just stop short of making it a law. The notion of state of origin is tantamount to enthronement of ethnicism in our national life. Some people are born and bred in areas different from those of their parents. They can speak fluently only the local language; but when it comes to identifying their state of origin, they have no choice but to mouth their parents’ state. There should be State of Citizenship, not of Origin. State of Origin can be considered as a stopgap measure when reviewed in history, but we cannot continue with it. National Character, Quota System and all the likes are measures used to regress the country. If someone is slow, everything possible should be done to make him catch up with others, not for others to wait for him. If others are forced to wait for him, he gets the needed incentive to remain slow but if he is encouraged to see himself as equal to, if not better than the others, he would make effort and catch up and it would be better for us. There is inequality in the land. America is great because it was founded on the premise that everyone should rise to where their abilities can take them, not on the basis of what geographical area his father was born into. Suffice to say here that right now in the US, the President, the Vice-President and the Senate Majority Leader all come from states in the same region and very close to one another. It took nearly one hundred years after the American Civil War for a president to come out of that region.

Let us make Nigeria great. 2040 is a long time away; it is a whole generation away. Doing the right thing starting from now, we will achieve the greatness articulated here. Afterall, no African country can boast of as many professionals making waves in highly developed countries as Nigeria. The one African Nobel Laureate outside of politics is a Nigerian. Nigeria has got the potentials. Channeled in the right direction, the potentials would bring for us distinct greatness in Africa and the world by 2040.

OSEIWE IBHAGUI
1999