Resilience [forging ahead] – long-standing grievances, worsening socio-economic crisis
Even athletes have longstanding grievances as exemplified by the following publication on the front page of “The Republic” newspaper thirty years ago. Headline: “Victor Edet turns his back on Nigeria”
“The treatment meted out to some U.S. based athletes who represented the country in the last Olympics in Seoul is still fresh in the memories of some of those concerned. One of the athletes, Victor Edet who ran the best time in the 4 x 100m event in Seoul has vowed that he would never wear the national colours again.
I have nothing to do with the green white green colours anymore. I would never wear them again.
I am not proud to be a Nigerian anymore because we don’t know how to treat our people. Our athletes are treated as if they are animals, not human beings”.
Victor who is a student of Ohio University U.S.A. noted that during the Olympics while other countries were paying their athletes to train instead of racing all over Europe, Nigeria did not bother to ask her athletes how they were preparing. Victor’s bitterness stemmed from the fact that their allowances were withheld by NSC; (National Sports Commission) was resulting in their borrowing money in order to return to their base. He warned that people should not be surprised if they hear that he had taken an American citizenship. “They, at least, know how to treat their athletes. I will only come to Nigeria on visits but not to stay permanently and never to run again.”
Victor Edet is not alone in his being disillusioned by Nigeria. He is in good company having regard to the following “Breaking News” on CNN:
“Nigeria’s former Minister of Petroleum Resources (from 2010 –2015) Mrs. Diezani Allison-madueke, who is in exile in London says societal values have disintegrated to the extent that online fraudsters otherwise known as “Yahoo Boys” have become role models in Nigerian society.
Diezani said this while delivering a lecture at a virtual event which was also attended by her former boss, exPresident Goodluck Jonathan.
Speaking at the event which was organised by the Ijaw National Development Group, Diezani stressed the need for mentorship of Ijaw youths.”
In order to ensure that Professor Gambari is not unduly dismayed, we should remind him that at King’s College, Lagos both Christians and Muslims jointly recited, in the Assembly Hall:
“Let us sing the praises of famous men, and our fathers who begat us, through whom the Lord established his renown and revealed his majesty in each succeeding age. Some held sway over kingdoms, and made a name by their exploits. Others were sage counsellors (Chief of Staff !!) who spoke out with prophetic power. Some led that people by their knowledge of the nation’s law; out of their fund of wisdom and gave instruction.
All these won fame in their own generation, and were the pride of their homes. Their prosperity is handed on to their descendants, and their inheritance to future generations. Thanks to them their children are within the covenants - the whole race of their descendants. Their line will endure for all time, and their fame will never be blotted out. Their bodies are buried in peace, but their names live forever. Nations will recount their wisdom and God’s people will sing their praises.”
Rather than be burdened by the premonition of danger and unpredictability in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, compounded by nostalgia for bygone certainties, we have been offered solace by George Orwell (1903 – 1950)
“The future is a boot stamping on the human face forever.”
However, we cannot ignore the warning by T. E. Lawrence ( 1888 – 1935):
“A man who dreams with his eyes open is a dangerous man. His anger is a cold and calculating one. He knows the quarter to direct his pent-up fury and he is more dangerous because he is highly educated.”
This is the juncture when the focus should shift from the esoteric or eclectic to more practical issues. The late Professor Bisi Ogunfowora hit the nail on the head:
“Nigeria is predominantly an agricultural country. Before the advent of oil, agriculture provided the bulk of the foreign exchange earnings; generated employment for over 90 per cent of the population; and supplied the national food and fibre requirements. The oil boom of the 1970’s marked the beginning of the gradual neglect of agriculture with consequent decline in agricultural production and productivity. The deteriorating performance of agriculture is reflected by:
i.) Declining share of agriculture in gross domestic product (GDP);
ii.) Declining share of agriculture in total export earnings;
iii.) Rising rate of food in total import bill;
iv.) High rate of increase in food price inflation;
v.) Excessive rural-urban migration that depleted rural labour force.”
We have to thank Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709 to 1784) for his homily:
“Poverty is a great enemy of happiness; it certainly destroys liberty, and it makes some virtues impracticable, and others extremely difficult.”
We should also beam the searchlight on our social fabric and at society itself, guided by Friedrich Engels’s (1820 to 1895) summation:
“The criminal statistics prove that a social war is being waged more vigorously, more passionately, and with greater bitterness every year.”
Perhaps that is what prompted Prince Phillip, the Duke of Edinburgh to declare in the manner of a cricket umpire:
“As for British society, we are confronted with an avalanche of lawlessness which is threatening to engulf our civilization.”
He promptly resigned from active Royal Service!!
Professor Gambari is by nature, disposition and temperament a man of peace as demonstrated by the number of peace-keeping missions he supervised during his career at the United Nations. However, here and now he is at the war front – actually, several war fronts.
On its front page, the Businessday of today has as its headline: “These eight numbers capture Nigeria’s worsening socio-economic crisis.”
“Rising inflation, a contracting economy, increasing poverty levels, plunging currency value and an ongoing pandemic amid a faulty health system can summarise the pains of people in Africa’s most populous nation.”
Victor Edet is not alone in his being disillusioned by Nigeria
J.K. Randle is a former President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and former Chairman of KPMG Nigeria and Africa Region. He is currently the Chairman, J.K. Randle Professional Services.
Email: jkrandleintuk@gmail.com