“Nigeria is a child. Gifted, enormously talented, prodigiously endowed and incredibly wayward,” – these are the words of Chinua Achebe, in his newly published The Education of A British-Protected Child: a collection of essays which was excerpted in the Guardian on 23 January 2010. In the same piece, he goes on to say, “Being a Nigerian is abysmally frustrating and unbelievably exciting.”
Is Nigeria gifted? Yes. Is Nigeria enormously talented? Yes Is Nigeria prodigiously endowed? Yes. Is being Nigerian abysmally frustrating? Yes. Is being Nigerian, unbelievably exciting? Without a doubt, YES!
The frenzied atmosphere of the country is never ending. Characterised by a convulsed existence, a turbulent history and a chaotic present, what could be more exciting about a nation on the eve of its 50th birthday, that has nothing to show for it?
We have the record for being the only nation in history with an absent president for over two months, creating a power vacuum and leaving us in limbo. Nigerians became prisoners in their own country with an ‘incommunicado status,’ and no one was speaking to them because the political elite withdrew that privilege by veto and fed lies to foreign media about the state the ailing president. The preceding years were marred by coup d’états, which left the country incapacitated and isolated.
Nigeria is one of the world’s major oil producers and seventh largest exporter, yet many of its citizens live in abject poverty. The Niger Delta region of the country, home to the nation’s oil, is synonymous with violence and the kidnapping trade. Tribal and religious divides continue to claim lives, the most recent being the January Jos riots, where over 300 people died.
Thanks to the Christmas Day “Crotch Bomber,” as Umaru Farouk Abdulmutallah is now popularly known, Nigeria on a terrorism watch list, making life extremely hard for Nigerians as they travel. Lest we forget, Nigeria is internationally perceived as one of the most corrupt nations in the world. We are also known as 419ers, i.e. email scammers.
Following the Abdulmutallah incident, the US was quick to add us to the terrorist watch list, yet there was no president or representative to speak for us. A few members of the senate threatened to sever ties with the US, and that was laughed upon.
Keep in mind that we have a rich cultural heritage, and have made some great contributions to the world of art and culture. From the ‘Benin Bronzes’ to Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Ben Okri and, from my generation, Chimananda Ngozi Adichie, we have made our mark. However, when it really counts, what we are really known for is instability.
I have watched the recent political dance in my country of birth with excitement, shame, and a sense of anger. Again and again, 150 million people have been continuously let down. It seems some part of the population have become so used to it, they excuse the bad governance or else get blindly religious about it, saying, ‘God will make things better.’ I am tired of this unending hope and hunger for real change.
In March 2009, a campaign was launched with the aim of re-branding Nigeria’s battered reputation. This was the second attempt at this task. The first came in the era of former president, Olusegun Obasanjo; needless to mention, millions of dollars were wasted.
The new effort, headed by the Minister of Information, Dora Akunyili, was lambasted by the international media. The International Herald Tribune mocked it, saying ‘Nigeria tries to change image with marketing.’ In the same article, they would go on to describe Nigeria as a ‘chaotic country.’
The question is, what do the people behind the campaign want to re-brand; Nigeria as a nation, or just an image?
Nigerians have become well acquainted with notorious power outages, which can last from a day to three weeks or more. Primary healthcare and education have become a luxury only few can afford. State-provided healthcare and education are in shambles. There is a great lack of infrastructure. People have learnt to provide their own security due to the rampant rate at which armed criminals rob, kill and rape their victims. There is no rule of law when the Police Force is a law to itself. Those charged with protecting Nigerian citizens are mini-gods who feel privileged to do as they please, going as far as killing those they are supposed to protect.
Keeping these facts in mind, I am of the opinion that Nigeria needs to first re-brand itself to its own citizens, before it makes efforts to rebrand its image to the international community.
For three months, we have had no president to perform the duties for which he was elected. Within that time frame, a bitter and ferocious power struggle ensued.
Key ministers like the Information and Foreign Ministers were locked out of key decision meetings. There have been accusations that the signature, which supposedly gave the go-ahead for the Nigerian budget to be put into action, was forged. It is a struggle that has been characterised by rife rumours of the president’s death.
What has been more appalling is the fact that those in a position of authority to take action in his absence are themselves lame ducks, who did nothing until Nigerians started demanding answers. For the first time in years, I saw the power of the people reasonably at work in Nigeria, but my excitement is laced with caution.
I cringed as I listened to Christiane Amanpour on CNN on February 10th, as she interviewed Michael Aondonkaa, the former Chief Justice. He said, it was not strange that people had not seen the sick President, Umaru Yar’Adua, and Nigeria was not having a political crisis. I was greatly relieved at news of Aondonkaa’s demotion. A man who cannot identify a problem of great magnitude is not fit for office.
I wonder if there is any chance that the Vice President, Goodluck Jonathan, a man described by The Africa Report in its February – March edition as ‘amiable and intensely religious’ as the Acting President, will end months of political uncertainty and restore confidence. Since he took on his new role, the issue of the North and South divide remains prevalent. According to the constitution of the PDP, Jonathan’s political party, the leadership of Nigeria is based on regional rotation when the party is in power. To this I say, a country or political party that dictates who leads a nation based along the lines of religious and ethnic divides is a country lost to itself.
The New York Times referred to Goodluck Jonathan as an accidental leader in a February 19th piece. He is a man who has had to become leader when his predecessors can no longer function. The NYT also claimed that he has stirred up great hope. We wondered what would happen if President Yar’dua comes back to the country alive.
Well, Nigeria lived up to its reputation of being unpredictable. Two weeks after Goodluck Jonathan was given the role of Acting President, President Umaru Yar’Adua returned, though no one has seen or heard from him. He was met at the airport by an ambulance which is believed to be fitted with intensive care facilities. It does not seem like he is a man ready to lead a country.
Why did he return? Is it because he and his allies can sense their grip on power is slipping away or, as it is claimed, is it because the Saudi Arabian government wants to avoid a mounting diplomatic crisis? Whatever the reason for his return, it could not have been at a worse time, when some sense of hope and order was beginning to take form.
The power struggle continues, with claims that the office of the Vice President was ransacked by officials of the State Security Service (SSS) and that, the president’s wife, Turia Yar’Adua is now in control. So what’s next for Nigeria? If anyone has captured my thoughts and feelings, it would be the US Assistant Secretary of State, Johnnie Carson who said, “We hope that President Yar’Adua’s return to Nigeria is not an effort by his senior advisers to upset Nigeria’s stability and create renewed uncertainty in the democratic process.”
If Nigeria is to truly rebrand, we need a leader with surgical abilities and untainted scalpels to rid us of the disease of instability. It is going to be a painstaking process that we, Nigerians, may well not like and fight against. However, if we want change like we claim and are desperate to shed the ugly image being beamed across the globe, then this is the only way to do it.
Every muscle pulling us in the wrong direction must be extracted without second thought and for that we must be ready and willing to pay the price. Whether or not Goodluck Jonathan or President Umaru Yar’ Adua is the man for the job, is left to Nigerians to decide. In order to do that, though, they must rise up and speak up. Enough really is enough.
I want to thank you Nigeria Tribune and those who have contributed to this writeup been published. For those that mean this country well, and those who feel enough is enough. Untill something drastic take place, this country as a nation will continue to suffer and we as a citizen will continue to cry foul especially those of us from the south, while those who seek riches through the process of branding the resources of the country as national cake continue to enrich themselves on the detriment of the nation.
I think we are decieving ourselves by seen the nation as one and the people as one people, the only way out is dividing this country into many parts. As a currupt nation, we are just too large for one person to rule, any part of the country that want to dissociate itself from the present form should do so with understanding that it will bring better life for it people.
Seen what is happening in the northern part of the country is evident that a change is necessary. I think the earlier the better, One more life lost is one too many.
I appreciate the above article but would like to add this,that fellow Nigerian should help by being beta persons ourselves.let us try to be doers of what we preach and learn from other country than preachers and criticisers alone