ODE TO A FALLEN NATION: MISCELLANY OF INIQUITIES
As we approach the new year, this nation cannot continue with this business-as-usual attitude. Change must come. We need spiritual stocktaking and rebirth. Hence, we pray:
*”Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says: “Woe to those who call evil good”, but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it Pluralism. We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism. We have endorsed perversion and called it alternative lifestyle. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.*
*“We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have embezzled public funds and called it essential expenses. We have institutionalized bribery and called it sweets of office. We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh GOD, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Amen!”* Anonymous.
The Nigerian nation today is falling. A situation of apocalypse is everywhere. People are not safe even in their homes, wave of kidnapping and terrorism has become the lot of people from remote villages to the megapolis: A state of progressive Armageddon.
Food is scarce and costs are skyrocketing. People who travel home once a year to celebrate the end of the year festive season are stranded in the cities as transport fares have become unaffordable. Air travelers are not left out; the cost of a one-way ticket for a one-hour flight is now more than what used to be the cost of an excursion flight to the UK. Economy class ticket Lagos London on Air Maroc is now N1.9M Lufthansa for the same ticket cost N2.2M. Even then, the roads are so bad that they make road travel an exercise in misadventure.
People are no longer treading the path of righteousness. Women now beat up their husbands, husbands kill their wives, men are sleeping with their daughters and the atmosphere of Sodom and Gomorrah pervades the society. It is a river of moral decadence. Parents sell their children for money or use them for money rituals.
In every phase of our nation, there is lawlessness and impunity. What more can we say of a country where terrorists are collecting tax from farmers who desire to harvest crops in their farms. Or a situation where our roads are filed with white-cap policemen collecting Christmas grafts from road users, a case of open sewer crime.
How low can a crime infested society descend? Our major cities have become bastions of open crime and moral turpitude where there is no more shame. Naked cities!
A nation where accountability and responsibility are zero. Wives no longer know the occupation of their husbands, only that he comes home with bags full of Naira notes. Children are not left out of this crime bazaar. Our youths now use very expensive phones without any visible means of livelihood. Young girls wash new cars, and their parents partake in the disgraceful episodes. No questions are asked. Life in the family has become a Nollywood epic series. The country is one big crime scene.
But we keep on trucking. The number of out of school children continues to increase. In the North, it has assumed the nature of a time bomb. 3,963 teachers in public schools fail qualifying exams nationwide; over 50% of private school teachers are unqualified, but they continue to charge astronomical fees, fleecing parents. A national scam.
And lest we forget, there is a growing illegal market for harvested organs, even in the nation’s capital where a booming illegal kidney harvest syndicate operates.
According to the Quran, difficult times are a test from Allah and He promises with every difficulty or pain, there will be ease and relief. (Quran 94:5)
In the political arena, we are witnessing the retardation of democracy. Socrates (470-399 B.C.) said: _”Democracy must fall because it will try to tailor to everyone. The poor will want the wealth of the rich, and democracy will give it to them. Young people will want to be respected as elderly and democracy will give it to them. Women will want to be like men and democracy will give it to them. Foreigners will want the rights of the natives and democracy will give it to them. Thieves and fraudsters will want important government functions, and democracy will give it to them. And at that time, when thieves and fraudsters finally democratically take authority because criminals and evil doers want power, there will be worse dictatorship than in the time of any monarchy or oligarchy”._
It is said that democracy dies in darkness. Our politicians must remember the admonition of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, that ‘the children of the poor that you deny their rights today will make society ungovernable for you and your privileged children tomorrow’. That tomorrow is around the corner if it is not here already!
For democracy to thrive it requires strong institutions such as the legislature, courts, police, armed forces, and civil service for good governance; but unfortunately, many of these institutions are weak due to poor leadership and corruption. The weak political structures in Nigeria have also had a negative impact on the economy.
According to Professor Adebayo Williams, the country today is witnessing a resurgence of ethnic hostilities, religious disaffection, and regional animosities. There is national anxiety about the state of governance and the structure of the federating units. The hope promised by the last election has turned into despondency; with the discovery that elections alone do not resolve national questions but may actually complicate and exacerbate them.
We are today witnessing the invasion of the Nigerian leadership by delinquents. “…they represent a small, noisy, and highly visible percentage of Nigerians. This small group of delinquent Nigerians, from all backgrounds and ethnic groups, have been responsible for the decline in the country’s traditional values.”- late Professor Joe Irukwu.
_The delinquents in the Nigerian public space are the private jet owners who have no visible means of livelihood; the so-called oil barons who have never seen oil rigs before; the rogue civil servants who move around with billions of Naira belonging to pensioners in their private accounts; the Judge who grants injunctions that can only be vacated in heaven and of course we should not forget the ‘GOs and Mummy GOs’ who are supposedly doing the work of God but are living in obscene luxury.”_
Nigeria society is not homogenous; but diversity of cultures is not well managed. They have manipulated the masses using religious and tribal sentiments to win elections, which has caused nepotism and a big divide in the social fabric of the nation. The political class has been insensitive and has pursued quick personal gains to the detriment of the larger society.
Tribalism, therefore, has hampered economic growth; as it destroys meritocracy, and on the contrary promotes mediocrity, which breeds the discontent that leads to ethno-religious tensions and hinders the spirit of nationalism. Under this atmosphere of ethnic struggle for control of the central authority, the quest for good governance is not only jettisoned, but lost altogether.
Political actors are another cause for concern at this crucial stage of our national life. A society lacking in good values and an equitable justice system presents an environment for anarchy and socio-economic problems.
Talking of leadership, one is inclined to agree with Chidi Amuta who said: _“Political parties change and increase in number every election season. The acronyms that distinguish them are ideologically empty. They are merely arrangements among friends or strange bedfellows for the sake of cornering state power at regional, state, local government, or federal levels for the purpose of distributing patronage and pork. Beyond the drama of electioneering and the ritual of voting, our democracy delivers almost no positive change in the lives of citizens. . . . . . Political actors behave like characters from pulp fiction gangster chronicles._
_“Politicians act mostly out of self-interest and narrow short-term calculations rather than far-sighted national goals. Hardly any of the major players in the drama of intrigues . . . . display any serious commitment to national ideals or even a pan-Nigerian vision. Nor do we encounter a single individual politician whose stake in the power struggles is fired by any ideological convictions on how best to develop Nigeria. . . ._
_“They have no political ancestry, being mostly political orphans with no solid convictions or even ethical moorings or moral qualms whatsoever. In quite a number of cases, the major political actors possess no credible educational qualifications. Most are in politics because there is nothing else to do: businesses have failed, professional practices have collapsed, and unemployment has often driven many to the limits of creative survival. They therefore act mostly in pursuit of their immediate personal or small group interests. All eyes seem to be fixated on the national treasury, the giant cheque book of oil royalties.”_ These are not the men who would take us to the promised land.
Several solutions have been proffered but the will to act on them has been absent. From restructuring to moral rearmament, to economic strategization, nothing seems to have worked. Next week we shall look at these in detail. In Sha Allah.
*Rabbana atina fid dunya hasanatan wa fil Aakhirati hasanatan waqina ‘adhaban-nar: “Our Lord, give us in this world [that which is] good and in the Hereafter [that which is] good and protect us from the punishment of the Fire.”*
*Barka Juma’at and a happy weekend.*
*Babatunde Jose*
