NOW A CENTURY IN A ROCKING CRADLE: WHAT DOES THE CENTER HOLD? A SYNOPSIS OF THE PAST AND PRESENT BY PROF. FEMI AJAYI I wondered who brainwashed Nigerians to believe that the country was 100 years old in 2014. Unfortunately, an average Nigerian has at least two different birth certificates and uses each of them as conveniently possible. Is Nigeria 100 years of age? The pretence Nigeria mentality of the age of the country to be 100 years, counting the years when the British left the North to continue with its system, made the North to believe that they are the most qualified set of people, born to rule, not govern, Nigeria, for ever. Years of opportunities for the Northern leaders to make Nigeria great, or even the North, were wasted. Possibly this could be one of the reasons that has been encouraging Buhari to believe that it is only death that could stop him from contesting in 2015. We are witnessing today the careless retrogressive policies of most of Nigerian past leaders. The country adjustment mechanisms of addressing the issues affecting the country led to the 30-month civil war. Some leaders in collusion with their mentally retarded followerships blocked the successful implementation of the three Rs of Reconciliation, Reconstruction, and Rehabilitation under the then Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, who ascended Nigeria leadership at the age of 32years, who turned 80 this year, 2014. Do we say that God does not LOVE Nigeria; with no known natural disaster, as experienced in some parts of the world, flooding, fire, mud-sliding, excessive rainfall, snow, and extreme cold weather, heat. What Nigeria witness today is an artificial self-appraising policy. In the good old days, we could go to disco night, returned late at night, heavily drunk, dragged homes, with bags, shoes at hand and got home safe. The level of insecurity today is alarming as the government is gravely challenged on how to stop Kidnappings, Armed Robberies, and the Insurgents. Nigerian politicians of today (2014) are not respecting Nigeria Traditional Rulers tagging them as useless and sell-out except Oba of Lagos, Awujale of Ijebu land and the yet to be named the third Oba. Some political leaders would want to roast anyone that manipulates elections without going to court. What a clever way of importing same activities of Boko Haram to the South. As one of them refused to stop the violence that came up after the loss of the election in 2011. In addition, nothing has been said about the outbreak and outgrown excesses and atrocities of Boko Haram that Jonathan claims are in his administration. Some politicians made Nigerians to believe that whatever they do for their communities are Dividends of Democracy. There are some basic responsibilities of the elected officials to the electorates, like provision of basic services, adequate water supply, even in the case of Ebola outbreak; avoidable health care services; or good road network to open up the communities. Of what need is the installation of air-conditioner on a pedestrian bridge in the Tropical Country like Nigeria; duplicating what he saw in Dubai; possibly at the Dubai Airport, while some essential service organizations, like health facility have no regular power supply? On the other hand, putting flyovers, at not too busy intersections, that would not happen in the next ten years, under the cover of Dividend of Democracy. We have quite a number of political defections with no respect for the law. Abubakar Atiku, who contested under ACN, while he kept his position as the Nigeria VP, established it. Disappointedly, the Nigerian court, that was supposed to give a landmark judgement, turned the other way. Today Atiku has bred deceitful shameless politicians keeping their mandates after defection. Rotimi Amaechi refused to drop PDP mandate in Rivers State, when he decamped to APC, because he wanted to be the VP; very myopic that PDP, the master of Zoning, would zone President and VP to the same zone. We have a lot of Senators that moved from PDP, because Jonathan refused to stop EFCC from investigating them; and for him not to contest in 2015, because he is from the Minority group. Considering the deceitful political rough road in Nigeria, Dr. Rahaman Olusegun Mimiko joined the league of political defectors from LP to the PDP to follow the fickle Nigeria political landscape, still keeping LP governorship. The Speaker of Nigerias House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, defected to APC from PDP, Tuesday, October 29, 2014, jumping from APC presidential ticket, to Sokoto State Governorship and refused to vacate his position; ignoring that majority produces the Speaker in a civilized society. The hypocritical APC would not allow its Minority leader, Femi Gabajabiamila, to keep his position, if, and when, he defects to another political party. Absolutely, an average Nigerian is free to join any political party of their choice. However, each defector, with their good sense of decency, which is not under the purview of an average Nigerian politician, should drop their mandates; go back to their constituencies for another mandate under the new political party. Unfortunately, Nigeria political party does not have an ideology that could bind like minds together. Ironically, an average Nigerian politician ideology is for personal gains and satisfaction while pilfering the people resources, giving them fish, without showing them how to fish. Peoples mindset has to change completely. Is there anything like continuity in the Nigeria political process whereby the succeeding administration would continue the incomplete projects of the preceding administration? There is no way by which an administration would complete its designed projects in its administrations life time. It is then incumbent on the succeeding administration to complete the projects with some moderations, not total demolition, or destruction, indirectly punishing the beneficiaries and wasting public resources. Regardless, the elected officials should set aside all personal issues. The State cannot, and should never, be used as the fighting arena between Governors. Politics of total vengeance should never be the way to manage the State meagre resources. It has to be done on a continuous basis, either you like the preceding administration or not; programs that would sustain the State especially projects that would provide job opportunities to the populace should be completed. Most of Nigerian politicians play ignorance or refused to play the game the way it should be, by deceiving the people they are supposed to lead. No party should consider itself an Opposition Party under American Presidential system of Government. It is alien to the practice of governance. Nigeria is practicing American style of democracy, the most expensive of the modern democracy, and all one party is doing is playing the role of opposition. The baton of leadership changes hands from time to time from one Party to the other to provide alternative policies for their people; nonetheless, any party that is not in the central should not see itself as being an opposition party. Nigeria Education system is in shambles. Nigeria has allowed the imported faith to divide the country, unfortunately. What happens to Nigeria Traditional Religions which has been modernised in most cases? Nigeria can do it right if the country could stop the spread of the deadly disease, Ebola within a short period of time, as WHO has declared Nigeria, an Ebola free country. That should not stop the country from abandoning the policy in place to prevent Ebola from the soil; more so Nigerians should stop their dirty habits. The positive thing from Ebola episode is that Nigerians can make the country better if and when they decide to do so. Recycling of Nigerian deadwood politicians is a way of preventing the Nigerian Youth to play its role in the future of the country. In 1983, Bamanga Tukur was the Governor of the defunct Gongola State (now Adamawa & Taraba) and 30 years later, he was the Chairman of PDP; Dr. Bello Halliru was commissioner in the Old Sokoto State (now Sokoto, Kebbi & Zamfara) and 33 years after he was Minister of Defence; Major General David Mark(rtd) was the military governor of Niger State in 1984 and 28years later he was and still is the Senate President; Gov. Murtala Nyako was the governor of Niger State in 1976 and 36years later he was the Governor of Adamawa State; Ogbonnaya Onu was governor of Abia State in 1992 and 20 years after he was the National Chairman of ANPP, now fused with APC; Gov. David Jonah Jang was the governor of Benue State in 1985 and 27years after he was and still is the governor of plateau state; and Martins Elechi the Ebonyi State Governor is over 80 years old! We shouldnt forget our one and only Balogun of Owu, Olusegun Obasanjo, Baba Iyabo, a Military Head of State, two-term Nigeria President who had wanted to go for the third Term, and continue his political Macabre Dance until he thought it fit to go back to School Where is the youth of this country? Nigerians should begin to ask where is the hope for an average Nigerian Youth as where to go from this point is at the dead end. Who are the leaders of tomorrow if and when the older ones that had opportunities before are recycling themselves in the public sector instead of facing their private businesses, providing jobs for the teeming youth in the country, and continue to challenge the largest labor hiring agent, the Public Sector, and empower more Nigerians to face private businesses. Some Nigerian Youth belted away from the country for better opportunities where they could use their skills positively. Unfortunately returning to Nigeria is a blockage that some learned Nigerians tag them as strangers in Nigeria; hence the elation in referring to them as Diaspora Nigerians. Definitely, an average Nigerian politician is wickedly reckless, transparently malicious, rapacious, egocentric, heartless, deceitful, and full of immoral behaviors. Unfortunately, Nigeria politics of expediency handled in an unpatriotic manner, is posing more challenges to an average patriotic Nigerian Youth, how to rescue the country from the quack sham Nigerian politicians. The succeeding Military administrations went from ripe to rot by legalizing corruption. The Nigerian Youth began taken mental notes, which they displayed when the opportunities knocked at their door steps. Little wonder that everyone is running to the Government to plug some of the juicy forbidden fruits as witnessed in the Bible when Eve wrongly convinced Adam to eat that forbidden fruit against Gods command. Corruption could be the cancer killing the country till eternity. There have been series of reports across the globe the profundity of corruption in Nigeria. Even an average Nigerian is aware that the country is rot from top to bottom. The level of corruption is well noticed. Nigeria runs a corrupt system. Until Nigeria changes the corrupt system it runs, it would be very hard to stop or even minimise corruption in Nigeria. Possibly, we could spot most of Nigeria corrupt public servants, to swear to god of iron, when they are taking oath of office. The god of iron is what everyone deals with on a daily basis, the food we consume; the medication we take to regulate our health; the bed we sleep on and the beddings; including the houses, we reside are the product of iron. Nigerians should swear-in their politicians by including iron with the Holy Books of Quran and Bible. Currently, the Nigerian Youths are unable to take advantage of the increased opportunities that globalization provides and are increasingly powerless and marginalized, as most of them, go through the backdoor to obtain their degrees as compromised by their teachers. Evidently, most Nigerians Youths are unable to integrate into the global economy, for lack of functional and qualitative education. They lack basic skills needed to support their post-school life. Unemployment or underemployment kicks into their life and they resorted into illegal practices of wanting to get rich over night. Nigeria is doomed without the Youth as the current set of Youth in the country today are, social misfits; all they know is fraud. The challenges in Nigeria are enormous, while the most experienced, who have been recycled on a regular basis, are aging fast. Ironically, majority of the countrys Youth have been ethically dislocated to handle the challenges facing the country today (2014). Nigerian Youth constitute leaders of tomorrow; albeit in the face of several violations by the elders that have not laid down a good legacy for those leaders of tomorrow. Unfortunately, those that have the opportunity to be at the helms of affairs in the country, easily, succumbed to one form of unethical behavior in all ramifications. Nigerian Youth have been exposed to the culture of greed, misrule, recklessness in the management of national resources, deprivation, marginalization in the name of QUOTA SYSTEM, and unbridled poverty in the midst of plenty. They were indeed born into a culture of institutionalized corruption in every facet of the national life and were psychologically sedated to imbibe the lifestyle of voracity, egocentricity, cheat, examination malpractices, a get-rich-quick-at-all-cost mentality, disrespect for law and order. It is being perceived that an average Nigerian Youth today is accustomed to violence and fraud. Unfortunately, todays Nigerian Youth are no match to the Youth of the 60s, in the quest of getting rich overnight, searching for jobs, not even thinking of getting married, and are no longer qualified to be leaders of youth wings of political parties; and incapable of feeding itself. What occupy their thoughts mostly today is how to get rich overnight, or obtain the highest position in an establishment, regardless their experiences. In the past, we have our leaders that took charge of the country at their tender ages in their respective communities. The current status of Nigerian Youth could not match the Nigerian Youths of the 1960s when most of them won Independence for the country, in their mid-thirties: Awolowo was (37), Akintola (36), Ahmadu Bello (36) Balewa (34), Okotie-Eboh (27), Enahoro (27); only Zik was 42 at the time. In 1966, when the military interrupted the Nigeria democracy, the coup plotters were in their mid-twenties. The first coup was led by Kaduna Nzeogwu (29) and countered by Murtala Mohammed (28), Theophilus Danjuma (28), Babangida (25), Nanven Garba (23), Sani Abacha (23), Shehu Musa YarAdua (23), and brought into power Gowon (32), Ojukwu (33), Obasanjo (29), and Buhari (24). While most of the military administrators who governed the states under the successive military regimes, were under 30 years. The consequences of the overexposure to the western culture, through the use of modern technology have negatively impacted on most Nigerian Youth behaviors. Most of them engaged in drug abuse, violence, promiscuity, access to ammunitions, cultism; which distanced them from the cherished Nigeria cultural values. It has seriously have adverse effects on their level of culture of duty, hard work, social and civic responsibilities, sense of dignity in labor, productivity, honesty, transparency, and respect for elders. We wont complete this discussion without touching on the specific areas very important to your profession, the Health care services. It is no more news that, the Nigerian Health Sector, where medical humanism should reign supreme, has been saddled with acrimony, strife, and tension with industrial unrest. The endemic frequency of strikes in one form or the other destroys the desired growth and development in the health sector, over wages and conditions of service from the uncooperative Government; setting aside the Oath, not to allow anything, including money, to come in-between them and their patients. To resolve this would be for the government to do a couple of things, while fulfilling its obligations with the Health workers in Nigeria is to apply a no-strike and no work no pay provisions. Employers should not deduct Union dues from employees wages. The challenges in this country are numerous. However, we can limit them if the youth work together with the government. The youths of the nation has the ability to make positive changes to the country. There were many possible solutions to control and conquer those challenges. We should turn the hopelessness, depressing Country where flies feast on the cadaver of Lord Lugards corn-beef, into a better country, considering what Nigeria did to be Ebola Free within a short time! Congratulations to DOKITA Editorial Board, a medical students organization of the University of Ibadan that has produced the journal of the University of Ibadan Medical Students Association for over fifty years; born from the merger between Association of Medical Students (AMS) Magazine and Hamattan Magazine in 1960; the first medical journal to be produced in independent Nigeria and the first medical students journal in West Africa. Femi Ajayi is a Professor of Policy, Management & Conflict Resolution, at Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State
Posted on: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 04:33:02 +0000
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