If Only Our Leaders Will Listen

Many theories have been propounded  on Nigeria and how to liberate her from the shackles of poverty, underdevelopment, a la insecurity, some theories  ring true, others fall flat.

What is not in contention is the fact that the Nigerian citizens,  except  the privileged few who constantly feast on our commonwealth, are burdened with the fear of poverty and insecurity. Successive  governments’ responses to this fear have particularly spread the fog of hopelessness beyond measure.  Most of the responses offer no more than effete palliatives.

Last week, former American President, Bill Clinton offered us some ideas on  how to up the ante of Nigeria’s prosperity and as well move the country away from insecurity and other forms of  underdevelopment.

Speaking at ThisDay Newspapers Awards in  Abeokuta, Ogun State, last Tuesday, Clinton said Nigeria’s myriad of problems could be tackled through poverty eradication, education, equitable distribution of wealth and job creation for the nation’s teeming unemployed graduates.

Unequivocal  as ever, the former American President did not fail to chastise Nigerian leaders for what he described as their failure  to efficiently manage  and maximize  the country’s oil and human resources for the benefit of all citizens. Nigeria,  he argued, would do better if her resources  were efficiently managed by her leaders. He, therefore, advised the Nigerian power elite to give economic opportunity  to Nigerians  lagging behind, pointing out that too much inequality was capable of  limiting growth and opportunities among the citizens  of a country.

“You have to somehow bring economic  opportunities to the people who don’t have it”, he said.

Clinton’s remarks about Nigeria was an  eloquent testimony to public outcry about the insensitivity  of Nigerian leaders to the plight of the common man.

I wouldn’t  know where and where not Clinton visited in Nigeria that gave him a good  picture of what ordinary Nigerians are passing through. But I am sure he  must  have had an overdose of concern to enable him fathom the level of iniquities in Nigeria. I wonder what would  have been his reactions if he had visited some of our homes,  hospitals, schools and market places.

The response of Minister of Finance and Nigeria’s Coordinating Minister of the economy, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to Clinton’s remarks was just a mere face-saving. If not, why is Nigeria that prides  itself a member of the Organisation  of Petroleum-Exporting Countries (OPEC) being hounded down by poverty  and decayed infrastructure?

How many Nigerian graduates have been employed in the last four years, and how many are left wandering about the streets in search of jobs that are not available? Why are companies including Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) rejecting many graduates with first class and second class upper degrees? Why do most Nigerians prefer private schools and hospitals to government owned ones? Why has there been epileptic power supply in many parts of the country? Why are there sharp increases in prices of fuel products and food items? Questions, endless questions.

Until Okonjo-Iweala provides answers to these questions, her defence of Clinton’s criticisms are just mere balderdash.

There is no contention that Nigeria’s present  history is being written around  its  few oil  fields. Oil revenues account for 80 per cent of Nigeria’s budget. The  question is, what have we done with our oil wealth all these years? And what plan do we have when the oil is gone as is being speculated?

These are questions that should trouble the conscience of every Nigerian including our political elite.

Researches have shown that oil wells dry up after 50 years. This is already happening around the world, from Russia to Saudi Arabia and from Iraq to Kuwait and Venezuela. Nigeria is not an exception. If you are in doubt, where is Nigeria’s first oil well in Oloibiri? It  only  exists on postcard.

In other words, Nigeria has approximately a  50 year supply of oil if no new one is found. Already, we have discovered virtually all the oil wells that can be discovered on Nigerian soil, what happens if in the next 50 years Nigeria does not  discover new oil wells?

These are tough questions though, Nigeria without oil must make a transition to a knowledge based economy. This brings us to one of  the therapies suggested by Clinton, which is education.

Education is the key to economic prosperity. A society without the right education is as good as  dead. If citizens are well educated, they would be economically  empowered and hence have  less inclination towards violence. It is therefore imperative for us  to plough back a good percentage of our oil wealth to education. Whoever neglects the education of his youth loses the future and is dead for life.  We can only ignore this elementary truth at our own peril.

In addition to prioritise education is the need to go back to the  wealth of trees, palm  produce, cocoa, cassava and other sundry cash products that will replace oil and give us both local and foreign  reserves. Agriculture can be used to mop up the nation’s teeming unemployed youths, and by effect  stamp out the evil signature  of Boko Haram and other  security threats.

Meanwhile, the political elite should do away with ‘a divide the pie’ approach towards tackling poverty. As Clinton rightly noted, it is a losing strategy.

In Nigeria, as in many other countries, prosperity and development are heavily concentrated in and around urban centres to the detriment of the local populace. This has counter-productive effects. Until we bridge  the gulf  of economic  powers between  the rich and the luckless  Nigerians, poverty  will continue to trump developments. The effects of this on our social  fabrics are as fatal as the Boko Haram insurgency.

But will our leaders listen?

Boye Salau