Building Castles in the Air
OThe Television Interview ur country, Nigeria, is more dramatic than a Hollywood movie - never a dull moment; and many of our interview programmes, are a lot more entertaining than just watching television shows. I went from sniggering to convulsing with laughter, when I listened to a telephone interview with Presidential Spokesman, Femi Adesina, last Wednesday evening. Aside from not-so-subtly distancing himself from the First Lady, Aisha Buhari/Garba Shehu controversy, Mr Adesina then went on to say on Channels TV’s ‘Politics Today’, that the President was in Egypt attending a Summit themed ‘Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want’. I scoffed at that. He said President Muhammadu Buhari (Baba) was part of a panel that day, in which he had stated that, by 2063, he desired “an Africa with no conflicts..... where youths don’t aspire to escape, but can stay and prosper” (quoting Mr Adesina). When you think you’ve heard it all! No conflicts? That’s rich, coming from a man whose administration, more than any other, has fuelled ethnic bitterness and seemingly given impetus to intra-country conflicts, like those between the Herdsmen and the Farmers, to such a dangerous extent - sowing seeds of conflict. How did the genocide in Rwanda start in 1994?
Since Mr Adesina and Tony Ojukwu, the Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission Nigeria (NHRC), both stated on that same programme, that freedom of speech exists in Nigeria (Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) (the Constitution), in fact to quote Mr Ojukwu: “People still feel that Nigeria is one of the freest countries in the world”, I am therefore, permitted to ‘tell the truth and let the devil be ashamed’, without any fear of arrest or intimidation!
One of the strange and hilarious reasons Mr Ojukwu gave, for coming to the conclusion that Nigeria is one the freest countries in the world in respect of freedom of speech, believe it or not, is that we are able to make internet telephone calls (Whats app calls), which he said he was unable to do, during his recent trip to Egypt! How simplistic can one, especially a person in such a high position of authority with regard to Human Rights in Nigeria, get? Trivialising the issue of freedom of speech, to that extent. When did internet calls, become the primary yardstick for measuring freedom of speech? For someone who is purportedly a Human Rights defender, I was embarrassed about his tragicomic views about freedom of speech, but was not too taken aback, seeing as being the Executive Secretary of the NHRC is a Government appointment, and not one that is achieved on account of being a real Activist like late Gani Fawehinmi, SAN, SAM and his ilk. Sadly, we are all aware that, filling Government positions in Nigeria, has nothing to do with the much required combination of merit, expertise and passion.
Africa 2063 Back to Africa 2063! I found it so ludicrous, farcical and preposterous that, our leaders, having not done much to improve the Africa of 2019 which we are all presently living in, are concerned about the Africa of 2063, when they will all be dead and gone! What foundations are they laying now, towards that Utopia which they desire in 2063?
For goodness sake, if the Nigerian contingent wanted a vacation in Egypt, to see the historical sights/sites like the Pyramids and so on, they should have just done so, instead of saying they were attending a Summit - to make the trip seem official, possibly in order to avoid transmitting power to Vice President Osinbajo, as provided by Section 145(1) of the Constitution.
Egypt, a country that is well known as a violator of human rights, especially for lack of freedom of speech (not being able to make internet calls ‘a la’ Mr Ojukwu!), corruption and massive election malpractices (like Nigeria), is the venue of this progressive G7 type Summit, in which the topics of discussion can only be actualised in Africa by 2063, by practicing some of the basics from now, like free and fair elections, eradication of corruption and poverty, religious tolerance, Government appointments based on merit and not tribalism, nepotism and their other family members; investment in education, healthcare and other infrastructure. Ironically, Africa has the highest number of member States (54) in its regional group in the United Nations (UN), but, mostly, we ignore the main commitment and mission statement of the UN, which is to uphold human rights of citizens. The historic Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the UN General Assembly as Resolution 217 in 1948 - more or less regurgitated as Chapter 4 Fundamental Rights of our Constitution, yet today, in Nigeria, we are still debating the pros and cons of a useless outing, like the ‘gagging’ Hate Speech Bill.
The truth of the matter is that, if Nigeria (and most of Africa) remains as backward and under- developed as we are now, we will certainly not have an Africa where the youths want to stay, and not escape to greener pastures. By 2063, everybody will be in Canada! It’s no longer justification to say that it took America 200 years to get to where they are today, so it must take us the same length of time. One way to move forward, is to study the models of developed countries, pick the useful parts of their civilisation and adopt them to fit your own circumstances, as soon as possible. Recently, I gave you the example of South Korea, which was in worse condition than us, 60 years ago. Today, they are at par with America and Europe, probably even better. Based on her achievements, South Korea is in a position to have a positive, progressive agenda for 2063, because the proper foundation and structure have been laid and built. But, are we in that position? I think not. It seems that, this administration is adept at paying lip service and making statements that they believe that the leaders of the first world want to hear, but, they could not care less about practicalising most of it.
Mr Adesina even went as far as more or less saying that, it wasn’t that important what America thought about the unfortunate outing with Sowore in the courtroom recently (because we are a sovereign nation). I guess he’s forgotten the drop in revenue which Nigeria experienced, when the Americans were doing their shale oil a couple of years ago, or what a huge blow it will be, if they impose economic sanctions on us, and place a travel ban on Nigerians going to USA (including government officials). How does a supposed Presidential spokesperson, publicly spout such nonsense? Does he want Nigeria to become a Pariah State?
Negative Attitude to Progress: Religion etc
Take for example, religion. I certainly don’t know what religion they practice in South Korea, because the State and the citizens don’t wear religion on their foreheads, like we do. In Nigeria, Section 10 of the Constitution says that, there is no State or national religion. Yet, many Christians accuse the Muslims and this administration particularly, of having an Islamisation agenda, to the extent that, for example, Muslims somewhere in Delta State had absolutely no problem obstructing motorists and stopping the flow of traffic completely, by using the road as a praying ground for Jumat Service (the video of the incident trended recently), while, on the other hand, the Pentecostal Christians also constitute themselves as public nuisances, by citing their churches everywhere, whether fit for purpose or not, including residential areas, clapping all night in the name of night vigil, disturbing the beauty sleep of neighbours, or having office fellowships, and disturbing other office workers in their buildings, during working hours. Yet, with all their religious things, corruption is rife. We all know that, from time immemorial, religious differences and emphasis on religion generally, are the first cause of conflicts and war, all over the world. Instead of trying to de-emphasise religion and keep it personal, we keep introducing religion into things that it should not be a part of. Undoubtedly, if we keep doing this, there will surely continue to be conflicts way beyond 2063.
As long as our governments continue to be selective about their fights against corruption (obviously corruption is a major obstacle to development), remiss about building infrastructure, tribalistic, nepotistic etc, and intolerant to constructive criticism, that Africa of 2063 which our leaders claim that they desire, will continue to be only a concept and theory - it will never happen, unless they begin to change their ways of doing things, from today.
P.S. A young friend of ours (who I will refer to as ‘X’), told us a shocking story about how she was almost killed at a Spa in Ikeja where she was having a facial, recently. It seems that NAFDAC has also imbibed DSS’s culture of impunity. X said about five NAFDAC officials and four armed mobile policemen forcefully entered the Spa, without any warrant or documentation, to search for illegal products. They found nothing, but still took offence, because the Manager said they couldn’t barge into the room where the owner was attending to a client (who happened to be X), seeing as, being a Spa, X could be in a state of undress, and therefore, needed to be informed before anybody could enter the room. When they gained entry into the room where X was, and X said there was nothing offensive about the Manager’s response, they became highly incensed. X had to escape, and take refuge in an inner room. They had corked their guns ready to shoot X; what for? It was only the false cries of the owner, who had a brainwave to lie she was pregnant and had been injured by their gun butt in her stomach, and was bleeding and running the risk of a miscarriage, that was able to make them retreat.
Is it this atmosphere of impunity and insecurity in Nigeria, which happens to be one of the largest countries in the continent - government agencies harassing innocent citizens all over the place, that will lead to an ideal Africa where people will not escape to saner and more orderly countries? Or a country where the cut off marks for examination result for a particular area, is considerably less than in other areas, all sitting the same exams, giving the former areas an advantage over the latter? Why would those in the disadvantaged areas, not want to escape to places where there is a level playing field? Will there even be a Nigeria left in 2063, with all the borrowing that Government is doing? The Creditors will probably have repossessed the country by then! As it is, Nigeria and many of parts of Africa, are regressing into the dark ages, and there are no moves to change things for the better. Dream on, Baba, Uncle el-Sisi and co!
“.....IF NIGERIA (AND MOST OF AFRICA) REMAINS AS BACKWARD AND UNDERDEVELOPED AS WE ARE NOW, WE WILL CERTAINLY NOT HAVE AN AFRICA WHERE THE YOUTHS WANT TO STAY, AND NOT ESCAPE TO GREENER PASTURES. BY 2063, EVERYBODY WILL BE IN CANADA!”