Anytime the legendary historical musings and opinions of Franklin Roosevelt about governance and politics come to mind, I get refreshed. The 32nd President of the United States was voted to power four times. He saw a lot. He heard plenty. He experienced much. He once said this about politics: “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.”
In politics, the good, the bad, and the ugly happen. And whatever happens in politics is never outside of the collusion and coordination stratagems of politicians and their crafty and cunning collaborating civil servants. If a nation will stumble and crumble; or will stand and be strong, it does on the shoulders of its politicians and civil servants.
I once hankered to play in the game of politics. I looked forward to a season when I could do more for the people around me. I dreamt of the time when I would seek power and position to use the government’s massive tools and weapons to pull men from poverty and give young people the future they so much deserve. That was in my younger days. The yearning has since plunged into a diminuendo. Why? Today, the Nigerian political terrain has flipped to a very bumpy and discouraging arena where men without conscience reign and feign, and men immersed in all manner of depravity, rule and misrule. Nigeria is sometimes an annoying species; sometimes a frustrating fold; sometimes an irritating genre; and sometimes an asphyxiating breed. But, I love Nigeria. It is the love of her that keeps us publicly debating her success and progress even while we do not directly benefit from the nation.
In today’s treatise, I ask a pertinent question: Will Nigeria ever achieve her destiny? Nigeria is suffering from strangulation in many areas because Nigerians elect and empower delinquents and the depraved. The political terrain is flooded with men and women who lack character and integrity. And these people are many. They are muscular. They have men. They have money. Their grips on the machineries of government are strong. They’re bent on ruling forever. And they will always be among us.
Poverty, like a virulent virus, is intentionally frequently hatched in the laboratory of these inebriated ‘chop-i-chop’ rich monomaniacs; and dispersed to take root among the people. My people have been subjugated and subsumed because they have nowhere to run, and no one in the veranda of power to fight for them. Poverty is real in Nigeria. It’s on the streets of Lagos; on the asphalted roads of Abuja; and the paved and menacing winding roads of Port Harcourt, Warri, Enugu, Owerri, Kano, Sokoto, and everywhere. Poverty is everywhere where stupendous wealth also lives. Many mansions are now empty because poverty has gained easy access even into the abodes of mighty men. That your friend lives in a multimillion naira home he built years ago; that he dresses elegantly well does not mean he is eating in plenty, and satisfied.
Inside of many mansions and little huts dwells hunger. Empty stomachs and repackaged poverty are prevalent. Poverty is a principality with a fertile womb giving birth to meaner principalities. As a result, my people cannot steadily hold delinquent and depraved leaders and office seekers accountable for leading lousily. Two thousand naira largesse is all that’s required for them to trumpet the name of a bad leader in high praise as the messiah who wants to be president, governor, senator, or a representative in the House. As long as my people are hungry and poverty is ravaging, the delinquents and the depraved with beaucoup cash to splurge will always have an upper hand. Nigeria needs prayer.
Today, Nigeria’s GDP is $440.8bn; the biggest in Africa. By 2030, our GDP will also garner an additional $500bn. By the same year, the consumer arm of Nigeria will grow to about 273 million in population, more than the population of France and Germany lumped together. Yes, the economy is the biggest; so also, are citizens’ plights and pothers. The World Bank classifies Nigeria as one of the five extremely poor nations of the world. Nigeria’s poverty rate is pegged at 33.1 per cent. Almost 100 million people live on less than $1 a day, and 92 per cent on less than $2 a day. Almost 62 per cent of households in Nigeria consider themselves to be poor. No life changes for the common man. No tectonic effects of the bigness on Nigerians.
The school district in the US city I do business in recently visited Nigeria to recruit teachers. The successful candidates are now pouring in with excitement that they are out of Nigeria. Who blames them? Not me. 4,722 Nigerian-trained nurses and midwives were recruited by the United Kingdom last year to join the British workforce. Who blames them? Not me.
Saudi Arabia is draining the pool of Nigerian doctors who are leaving our hospitals and private clinics in droves for sweeter lives overseas. You want to blame the recruiters or the recruits? I am not sure what the recruiters will do in response. But I know what the recruits will do. They will curse you for not wishing them well. The lives of the sick and the weak in Nigeria will soon be left in the hands of native doctors who carry out major and minor surgeries without anesthesia. All over the world, nations are coming to Nigeria to recruit for this or that profession abroad. Massive migration has put us under siege because the living conditions at home are rough and dismal. And Nigeria is considered the biggest economy in Africa. Things are failing and falling because delinquents and the depraved are in the cockpit of a Nigerian airplane going nowhere.
If your heart embraces fairness, equity, and justice; if you believe that all men are created equal, and that every citizen deserves a fair shake in their own country, you should consider running for office or boldly back a man of character and tangible testimonies who is. If you observe that the government is crooked, and governance is wayward; and you believe that your miniscule contribution will make a gargantuan change in the mindsets of the government chaperons; you should consider running for office or boldly back a person of integrity and productivity who is. The reason depravity is deepening in Nigeria and corruption has become a cancer in the spine of our society is because good men aren’t on the battlefield.
Be reminded that upon the shoulders of politics and politicians are placed destinies of human beings. Are you a medical doctor unhappy with your practice and general living? Be reminded that doctors don’t legislate, politicians do. Are you a lawyer operating in an environment that is not enabling? Be reminded that lawyers don’t string together government policies, politicians do. You are a pastor praying round the clock on the mountain for Nigeria’s mountain to move? Be reminded that pastors don’t make executive decisions in Aso Rock, politicians do. Politics is truly dirty, but you may be that cleansing force Nigeria is waiting for to make it clean. If good men hold back, delinquents and the depraved will always become poohbahs.
Twitter: @Folaojotweet
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