The military regimes took all the resources from the more munificent regions into the central Federation Account, out of which the Federal Government always takes more than 50 per cent that it practically fritters on Big Government, inordinate and wasteful spending, series of white elephant projects and outright peculation by the political ruling class and the bureaucrats.
On the other hand, the state and local council governments, realizing that that neither the citizens nor the media is paying attention to their activities, became emperors, spending the allocations they receive from the central purse on fripperies.
In addition, the state governments became so lazy that they hardly paid attention to raising Internally Generated Revenue to meet the needs of governance. And whenever they thought of raising Internally Generated Revenue, they resorted to punitive and multiple taxation of businesses (hence the poor consumers) and small-scale enterprises.
Of course, these policies have become absolute disincentives to the entrepreneurial acumen of Nigerians, many of whom have become despondent and discouraged. Many youths have become so disillusioned that they have migrated to other countries, at dire consequences to themselves, because they are not convinced that they can make headway in Nigeria.
Unfortunately, many of those youths are fresh professionals that are compelled to engage in menial and extremely dangerous jobs that pay peanuts when compared to the pay of nationals of those countries who do the same jobs. The meagre pay, however, translates to a lot of money when converted to the weather-beaten and much depreciated Nigerian currency.
Indeed, many of those emigrants have been able to accomplish a lot when compared to their compatriots that stayed back home. They have been able to build mansions, buy cars, pay the school fees of their wards back home and sent money for the upkeep of their parents and siblings who remain in Nigeria.
And this emigration or ‘japa syndrome’ did not just start today. Even in the 1980s, medical doctors and nurses, trained with Nigeria’s resources, had trooped to many Arab countries to earn fabulous and mouth-watering remunerations. The dam merely broke in the 2000s, to the extent that both skilled and unskilled Nigerians have become economic migrants in North America, Western Europe, Central Europe, Asia and the Pacifics.
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Something else that is affecting Nigeria most negatively is the triple scourge of religious, ethnic and regional divides that badly colour its politics. The 2023 presidential election saw candidates rousing religious sentiments against their opponents, voters voting largely for members of their ethnic group and political jobbers promoting regional interest as bargaining chip.
Nigeria is in such a moral cesspit that many are not willing to vouch for the integrity of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, talk less of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces or the Senate President, who is the Chairman and Leader of the National Assembly.
But we enjoin compatriots not to lose hope or allow the prevailing circumstances to weigh them down. They should regroup and rearm themselves with armour of grit, integrity and firm resolve to regain lost grounds and rebuild the old landmarks that have collapsed. They must be wary and not succumb to anti-democratic sentiments. They must insist on democratic government and make it work for their own good.
Every living Nigerian has a moral obligation to light the torch of hope, fan it, keep it burning and pass it on to the next generation. Nigeria can overcome its current economic, political and social blues again. And the elusive Golden Fleece can be found and handed over to the next generation.
Now is the time for members of Nigeria’s political class to form a consensus to run Nigeria in a way to promote the peace and prosperity of Nigeria and Nigerians, not so much because of altruism, but in their own enlightened self-interest.
Obafemi Awolowo, first Premier of the old Western Nigeria, had warned the Nigerian political class to take good care of the poor, or the children of the poor will torment the children of the political class in the future.
The wave of insecurity in most of Northern Nigeria is the result of this negligence. It is time to halt the bad governance that is trapping Nigerians in the abyss of poverty, want, disease, illiteracy and despondency.
Happy Independence anniversary celebrations!
