Opinion: Our attitude towards Nigeria

by Sabella Abidde

Why bother to faithfully serve this country when at the sunset of your life, she is likely to abandon you? Why? We are also a nation without heroes. New heroes, that is. Aminu Kano, Bala Usman, and Ayodele Awojobi are all gone. M.C.K. Ajuluchukwu, Obafemi Awolowo, and Tai Solarin all left us a while back

In democratic and non-democratic settings, citizens relate to their countries in different ways. In democracies, for instance, people tend to invest more goodwill and other tangible and intangible resources in the affairs of their country.  In general, they love their country more than any other country in the world. And it shows! They join formal and informal organisations whose main duty is to safeguard the nation’s integrity.  They also take it upon themselves to positively project their nation’s image; and help extend its sovereignty and lifespan. Simply put, they have a stake in the survival and the continued existence of their country – even if their country is not a perfect union.

This attitude is not common in Nigeria. Or at least, this has not been the case in Nigeria in recent memory. The observable facts are that with the passage of time — with the passage of every year – an increasing number of decent and noble Nigerians are divorcing themselves from the affairs of the country.  And at both the state and federal levels, very many people are estranged from the government. Frankly, natural patriotism and expected nationalism aside, it is difficult to love and fight for a country or a government that is very stingy with love and affection for the citizens. It is sad, so very sad that no matter how much one loves and cares for this country of ours, it has a way of treating one poorly.

In many cases, there are no rewards or gratitude for those who give or gave their best and their lives to the service of our country. For instance, thousands of our veterans – former members of our nation’s armed forces – had to beg and bribe before their deserved benefits were paid. Many in the lower ranks died before their entitlements could be paid. Veterans of the Nigerian Police Force and of our security and intelligence services, all suffer similar fate. And at the state and federal levels, there are several thousands of retired civil servants who continue to beg for their retirement benefits to be paid. When you see and think of all these, why would you or anyone want to devote the most productive years of his/her life to a country that does not care for its aging and retired?

Why bother to faithfully serve this country when at the sunset of your life, she is likely to abandon you? Why? We are also a nation without heroes. New heroes, that is. Aminu Kano, Bala Usman, and Ayodele Awojobi are all gone. M.C.K. Ajuluchukwu, Obafemi Awolowo, and Tai Solarin all left us a while back. Gani Fawehinmi, Dele Giwa, Abubakar Rimi, and Muhammadu Shuwa are no longer with us. They continue to leave. But we still have Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka and Balabare Musa and Bolaji Akinyemi and perhaps two-dozen others (in a nation of 150 million people).

Now, look around you and tell me who and what else you see. I am not going to name names; and I am not going to point fingers. But really, tell me who and what do you see? Perhaps political scatology at the three tiers of government with a penchant for malfeasances, maladministration, and iniquities. That’s today’s Nigeria! But it needs not be.

There has not been a time in the last 18 months or so, for instance, when I think of President Goodluck Jonathan that I didn’t shake my head in disbelief, in disappointment, and in pity. Maybe, my hopes and my expectations (of him) were just too high and unrealistic. He could have been much more because he has the capacity to be much more. He had the range to be better than what he became.  He had the opportunity to be better and to do better for the country. He had the chance to be better than Olusegun Obasanjo, but decided to, in many ways, rival Obasanjo when it comes to incompetence and indifference.

After the Yar’Adua fiasco, the masses gave Jonathan the baton (mandate); but for whatever reason, he dropped it and then walked back to take orders from the economic and political cabal.Why he decided to shortchange himself and to sabotage the country may not be known for a while. Maybe some day he will explain himself to history and to posterity. For now, however, you cannot but wonder why and how he turned out this way. This is a man who could have been a Harry Truman of America, an Awolowo, or a Winston Churchill of Britain. History was on his side, but he instead chose another alternative. After independence, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (prime minister) and Dr. Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe (president) had the mandate to steer Nigeria away from the shackles and residual effects of colonialism, while General Yakubu Gowon had the mandate to rebuild the country after the Nigeria-Biafra war.

In eight long and unbearable years, Obasanjo failed to undo the evil and terrible deeds of Abacha and Babangida. Not only did he fail, he worsened the situation. Jonathan, on the other hand, was mandated to (a) free himself from the Obasanjo chain that was around his neck and feet; (b) send the Yar’Adua cabal packing and into internal exile; and (c) rearrange and sanitise the Nigerian political and economic space. If he had done these, the people would have loved and respected him. If he had done these, the gods would have bowed before him.Come 2015, Nigerians would be on their knees begging him to please stay. But he failed! Because he failed, he is neither loved nor respected by the people or by their gods. Instead, the world is angry at him. And even his critics and his enemies are not afraid of him.

Have you ever seen or heard of a President of a country – or the leader of business, politics, the academy, or any other private or public enterprise — that is not loved, respected, or feared? That’s Jonathan for you. Well, if he cannot or does not want to be a Truman, an Awolowo, a Churchill, or a Clinton, that’s fine. Let him be an original. He should be himself. He should be the man elected and mandated by the people to do their work. But so far, this President has been doing the work of men and women from Nigeria’s dark ages. What recourse do we have to reclaim our country?

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

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