Last week, Nigeria marked her 59th anniversary of Independence from the United Kingdom. As the cliché goes, it was time for sober reflection. In 2014, Nigeria celebrated 100 years of nationhood. It was another opportunity for Nigerians to debate if Nigeria had lived up to expectations.
Many Nigerians would readily agree that Nigeria has not lived up to expectations, but their consolation is that Nigeria will be better. Whenever the question is asked how the country will be better, the answer is not usually based on anything logical or tangible. It is usually left to chance: “If we have honest leaders who are not selfish and not corrupt, Nigeria will be better.” Nobody has explained why we have not had these so-called “honest and clean leaders” in about 60 years. Nobody has explained whether these unique leaders will emerge from the sky or the ocean. Nobody has explained why the civilian and military leaders, presidential and parliamentary leaders, young and old leaders, well-educated and sparsely educated leaders, Southern and Northern leaders, Christian and Muslim leaders that have led Nigeria have not been able to turn Nigeria around. Were other developed countries developed by luck and hope? Did special human beings drop from the sky to turn these countries around?
The way to judge if Nigeria has been progressing or retrogressing is to look at basic human development indices and infrastructure. In the 1960s and 1970s, Nigerian universities attracted students from other African countries. Many Nigerians rejected admission offers from American universities in preference for Nigerian universities. Those who went to most universities in the US and other countries to study were mainly those who could not gain admission into Nigerian universities. There were a few private schools, and they were not rated highly. Children of the rich and the poor, including the children of political leaders, all attended public schools and universities.
All that has changed. Today, it is abnormal to see the children of even those in the middle class in public primary schools or secondary schools. The reason most parents still allow their children to attend primary and secondary schools in Nigeria is because the children are too young to be left alone in other countries. But when it comes to tertiary education, the children of the political leaders and financially comfortable parents usually do not attend local universities. Other parents who do not like their children to be far away from them choose the best private universities for their children. Curiously, even universities in fellow West African countries, which were seen as not worthy to attract Nigerians some decades ago, have become appealing as “foreign universities,” because the thinking has become “anywhere but Nigeria.”
Similarly, the health system in Nigeria was good. The way to know was that governors, senators and presidents were treated in Nigerian hospitals. Today, anybody who can afford it goes abroad for treatment, even for the mildest of illnesses, because of the belief that medical care in Nigeria is of low quality. Similarly, even until the 1980s and 1990s, political leaders like Mallam Aminu Kano, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe all died in Nigeria. Today, it is almost impossible for a current or former political leader to die in Nigeria, except if the person has a terminal illness and has been told to go home. In fact, it is even a thing of pride for a Nigerian political leader to die abroad. Being treated in a Nigerian hospital is seen as a sign of poverty. It is believed that only those who are poor can risk their lives to be treated in Nigerian hospitals.
Likewise, although Nigerian roads were not fantastic, they did not have gullies and mud all over them. Electricity supply was not uninterrupted but many houses did not bother to have generators because the supply was relatively stable and predictable. People did not need to fast and pray to secure jobs after graduation. Employers of labour went to universities to offer juicy packages to students to entice them to work for them immediately after graduation. Similarly, workers did not fast and pray to receive their salaries at the end of month. Today, when a governor of a state is able to pay salaries regularly or when he has cleared the arrears of salaries, it is flaunted as a feat to be used during campaign for re-election.
From the mid 1980s when Nigerians started emigrating to Europe and North America en masse, the trend had been for those who were not gainfully employed to leave in search of a better life. Medical doctors who were offered better wages also moved in large numbers to Saudi Arabia in the mid 1980s. At the turn of the century, some Nigerians who felt that the end of military rule meant a better life for Nigeria began to return to Nigeria. However, there is a new type of emigration that is happening in Nigeria today. It is no longer to leave Nigeria in search of better opportunities. It is like running away from Nigeria for fear of impending doom.
The most dangerous part of this new type of emigration is that it is not restricted to those without jobs or those with low income. Those who emigrate today include those who work in sectors that pay well like the oil and gas industry, telecoms, banking, and the multinationals, as well as those who run successful businesses. They don’t leave to secure good jobs; they flee the country for fear of the unknown. They believe that the future of Nigeria is unpredictable, especially concerning the children. So, they try to secure residential permits or citizenship of other countries, especially in Europe and North America, because they believe such will give them and their children the guaranty of security in years to come, as Nigeria continues to dance on the precipice. Some people send their wife and children abroad but remain in Nigeria while surveying the situation.
The irony in it is that those who tell other Nigerians to believe in Nigeria and stay back to build Nigeria have taken actions to secure the citizenship of other countries for themselves and their children. They have stashed away funds in foreign accounts, bought some houses in foreign countries for their family, and secured university admission for their children overseas. When they have a headache or ear infection, they run abroad to treat themselves. When they need a holiday, they run abroad. When they need to shop, they go abroad. Yet, they talk about patriotism.
For the sake of patriotism, one could say that Nigeria’s future is bright, but there are no concrete points to back that up. It is only hinged on hope and positivism. Realism shows that Nigeria’s future is not just bleak but scary. If Nigeria were going through a transformational phase of rebirth, it would be a different matter which requires patience. If Nigeria were making progress slowly, it would be a matter of time before she would rise. But Nigeria is not stagnant nor slow in progress nor experiencing metamorphosis. Nigeria has been on a steady decline over the decades. The only difference is that the speed of decline has increased in the past few years, and different forms of insecurity have been added to the ugly mix. Unlike in the past when Nigerians were only worried about an unpredictable economy and poor infrastructure, the fear of being victims of killer herdsmen right in their homes, or victims of highway kidnappers and bandits is with Nigerians wherever they are.
For decades, Nigerians have been hoping that someday some magic will occur and Nigeria will become better. The more they hope, the more Nigeria worsens. Yet they have not learnt that it is useless to continue hoping on a mirage. When a building has a faulty foundation, it is pointless to continue with repairs and whitewashing, hoping that it will get better. The solution is to pull the building down and create a strong foundation. That is the solution Nigeria has shied away from for decades. But one day Nigeria will wake up from its self-deceit and undertake that step. One only hopes that by then it will not be too late.
Credit: Azuka Onwuka, Punch