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