At this time and juncture my nation, a land that should be showered in hope and adorned in glory, Nigeria, is shrouded in impenetrable
uncertainties more than at any time in our history. Now as I write today, I
grapple around in the dark seeking a clear path forward. The ‘re-election’ of
Muhammadu Buhari fetches not bright sparks in the firmament nor a clear
indication of any path to progress. This despair is heightened by the time it
has taken to assemble a team and his lack of deftness in response to the
challenges presented.
My return from our weekly Sunday Church service, which focused
on ‘resolve’, in the midst of the gloom, greying and murkiness of the skies,
with splashes and dashes of water engulfing the roads as the tyres of our
vehicle threaded our race towards home, I lapsed into deep thought. The depth of the thoughts rummaging through my
mind traveled to far away Ibadan, Nigeria as I questioned my usefulness and
relevance of my life towards the betterment of my country.
I sank into the comfort of our brown leathered sofa with cob
of bleached white bread, sandwiched in freshly fried potato chips, sprinkled
with salt, laced in vinegar and a cup of freshly brewed tea to cleanse my
palate and refresh my restless body. I
switched on our sizeable flat screen television, tuned in to a You Tube documentary,
‘King in the Wilderness’. A powerful portrayal of how much one man surrounded
by so much pessimism, violence and struggle impacted American society.
A compelling watch, which ended in tears streaming down my
face, bathed in tears, questioning emotions so raw why my generation and I
blessed with so much have been unable to impact Nigeria dominated. I was also struck by
the fact that Martin Luther King Junior had made his peace with death. Fear could not hinder him as he hurtled
towards certain death. All that mattered
was how much and how soon he could effect social change to his society.
I believe that once in a lifetime every generation and every
society is blessed with leadership that can effect and leverage transformation
but not all take advantage of it. Indeed many treat it as a luxury they can so
easily dispense with and utilise the illusion of time to defer enthronement of
transformatory leadership. The Black Americans took advantage of the leadership
of Dr. King, but my nation; Nigeria has never really taken hold of the once in
a lifetime leadership opportunity we have been afforded. So where does that
leave Nigeria today? Some suggest an oscillation between progress and
retrogression?
In the 50s Chief Obafemi Awolowo bestrode governance in the
West making great strides. I draw from a letter written by the late Major
General Adeyinka Adebayo to Asiwaju Tinubu sometime ago, a reminder of the
achievements of the colossus and the failure of the current occupants of the
offices of state in various States.
“Let me
talk about roads, housing and infrastructure . The first dualized road in
Nigeria, the Queen Elizabeth road from Mokola to Agodi in Ibadan was formally
commissioned by Queen Elizabeth in 1956.
The first Housing Estate in Nigeria is Bodija Housing Estate (also in Ibadan)
which was built in 1958. The state of roads in the Yoruba nation has become
pathetic. Our hinterland are still largely rural. Even some state capitals like
Osogbo and Ado-Ekiti are big villages when you compare them to towns in the
South East. How many new estates have been built over the last decade? Even
Ajoda New Town lies in ruins.
We have
abandoned the farm settlement strategy of the Western Region and only pay lip
service to agriculture. Instead of feeding others like we once did, others now
feed us. We plant no tomatoes, no pepper and the basic food that we require.
The Indians have bought the large expanse of water body that we have in
Onigambari village. The water body in Oke Ogun of Oyo State can provide enough
fish to feed the whole of the South West. From being a major cocoa exporter
many years ago, one can point to just a few vestiges of factories that still
deal with Cocoa in the Yoruba nation. 80% of Cocoa processing industries in the
South West have been shut down. The Chinese have taken over the cashew belt at
Ogbomoso in Oyo State. They have even edged out the indigenes as brokers. They
now come to the cashew belt to buy from the local farmers, sell on the spot to
other Chinese exporters who now process the cashew nuts and import them back
into Nigeria at a premium. Sir, there are only 7 major cashew processing plants
in Nigeria and you can check out the ownership. The glory has departed from the
Yoruba nation.
Apart
from Asejire, Ede, Ikere Gorge and Oyan dams built ages ago, where are the new
dams to cater for increased population and water capacity for the Yoruba
nation? How have we improved on what our heroes past left us? Maybe apart from
certain areas in Lagos State, others can't even supply their citizens with
pipe-borne water.”
Today, we have a government at the Federal level, which is
backed and enabled by Asiwaju, with limited success achieved and no discernable
road map forward. No clear economic plan to cope with our racing population
growth, nothing but plotting and scheming for power, power for its own sake and
not power to secure lives, transform lives or create wealth, acquiring power to propagate
and not to elevate. We seem to have lost
the one in a lifetime opportunity and our current leadership shows no inclination
to lift Nigeria out of the wilderness to a new progressive era, they have made
no pact with sacrifice but simply a reduction to short term tactics to remain
relevant in power.
In the despair, I look up towards to heavens for inspiration,
draw from the past and I am re-inspired to resume speaking truth to power that
it might ignite a revolution in our governance and say so help me God.
Olu Ojedokun, PhD, is an academic from Lead City University
Ibadan
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