During a recent conversation I had with an Uber driver, I arrived at the conclusion I had never witnessed a Nigeria filled with despondency than the one we have today. The increasing levels of insecurity, unemployment, poverty and hunger permeate every nook and cranny of the nation. If anyone had patterned one’s lifestyle after ostentation, the Nigeria of today will teach one modesty and quietness in its entirety.
After the conversation with the driver, our conclusion was to leave Nigeria at the slightest opportunity. On a second note, there is no country in the world that can accommodate the entire nation if every Nigerian decides to relocate and even if one chooses to relocate, we will still have some of our loved ones who still will not be able to leave due to age, investments or any other reason. The question then remains, ‘What is the solution to this labyrinth Nigeria has found itself in?’
A philosopher named Thomas Hobbes in his book, Leviathan, described the state of nature as a place where life is short, brutish, nasty, poor, and solitary. While reflecting on this, I realised that Hobbes was perhaps pointing to an entity named Nigeria where anarchy would become the order of the day. Nigeria has degenerated into a place where laws are made and unrepentantly disobeyed; police officers and stations are attacked on a regular basis; citizens are being kidnapped on a daily basis, and prisoners are set loose like it is the year of jubilee. The frightening jailbreak on a continuous basis in parts of the country keeps sending shivers down my spine as this is unhealthy for a country already confronted with the challenge of insecurity particularly with the last jailbreak in Owerri on Easter Monday.
Sociologically, one of the cardinal objectives of the prison system as an agent of justice dispensation is to serve the purposes of retribution, deterrence, reformation, and rehabilitation. However, the Nigerian Correctional Service has not been able to live up to these objectives over the years as most prisoners return as either being worse or hardened than they were before being imprisoned. Hence, the reason for the increasing rate of recidivism in Nigeria. The Nigerian government must realise that the emerging norm of jailbreak is a wrong signal in all facets of the nation’s life and if not curtailed, will impede the smooth dispensation of justice as several prosecution witnesses will no longer feel safe testifying hence affecting the weight of evidence needed in discharging the standard of proof. This was the case during the Edo prison break in 2020 when an inmate who fled went straight to murder a prosecution witness in his house.
The degenerating episodes of Nigeria’s social fabric call for an urgent attention and a more dynamic and efficacious approach. This is because of the rising division among ethnic nationalities on a daily basis and Nigeria in its entirety seems to be drifting apart to its original definition before the 1914 amalgamation. The quest for independence among ethnic nationalities seems to be on the increase than ever before. The success and unity of any nation are hinged on the ideology and attitude of the leader. So far so good, the six years of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.)’s regime have been filled with several cat and mouse races among ethnic nationalities with each ethnic group trying to outsmart the other.
A particular aspect of the nation feels more represented at the regime rather than having a balanced representation. The only body language has been that of the presidency rather than the President who Nigerians voted for. The President has not given Nigeria a reason to believe that he is the President of Nigeria as the perception I have of him is that he is a Nigerian president and not the president of Nigeria. The comforting words of a father in any home whenever misunderstandings arise suffices to end any rancour because of the impartial remarks that emanate from him. In Nigeria, it is a different narrative. Nigerians hardly hear from President Buhari on critical issues affecting the nation and all we feel is muteness from the President which itself is a decision and a violation of the tenets of accountability in governance.
I know the mind of God for me because God said so in Jeremiah 29:11 in the Bible but for the President, Nigerians do not know because he has failed to address the nation often.
Nigerians in their existence have never been in the act of requesting certain luxurious or advanced rights such as animal rights. For Nigerians, it has been the quest for the basic rights they submitted during the signing of the social contract document in exchange for good governance. It has been the quest for security of lives and property, qualitative education, and access to quality healthcare. While other climes like New Zealand have taken the step in granting paid leave to employees of domestic violence to enable them attend to their social and mental health, Nigeria still battles with the compliance of Section 7 of the Labour Act which frowns on casualisation of labour. In a paper I am currently working on, on decent work and economic development, I discovered that the issue of casualisation of labour is no longer an affair of the private sector but a matter gaining much traction in the public sector. Which implies that the government is equally engaged in the business of casualisation of labour hence making fun of the machinery of the government.
The aftermath of #EndSARS protests has been filled with several uncertainties coupled with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and gasping state of the Nigerian economy. The mainstay of the Nigerian economy no longer seems to be viable hence increasing unemployment with the corollary effect being insecurity. Nigerians have over the years learnt doggedness since the military after all in the words of Charles Darwin, it is not the strongest of the animals that survive but the ones most adaptive to change. With this, Nigerians have learnt to fend for themselves not considering the non-justiciability of Chapter 2 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which is centred on the Fundamental objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy. The grouse now is this when citizens take up the basic responsibilities of the government, the least the government can do is to provide adequate security for them. But this is not the case with the security architecture of Nigeria. The National Bureau of Statistics in its recent report stated that the unemployment rate in Nigeria rose from 27.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2020 to 33.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2020.The implication is simply that within three to six months, over 1.4 million more people became unemployed. In real terms, 23.2 million people became unemployed out of the 69.7 million people that constitute the labour force. The reality of this points to the fact that the scramble for the few jobs available makes it a quest for survival of the fittest where it is not the strongest of persons that survive but the ones most adaptive to change.
The Nigerian government must realise that every criticism which comes to them should not be discarded on the basis that it has some political coloration. Governance entails accountability, transparency, and credibility in its essence. The President must be ready to live up to his role by taking deliberate and concerted efforts in rebuilding the economy and repairing the dwindling state of Nigeria’s sociopolitical walls. I am more than concerned because for Nigeria it has always been the narrative of previous governments being better than the successive ones and this must not be the same narrative after Buhari’s regime. Beyond infrastructural investment, which in its totality are good steps, if human capital investments are not made through education, job creation aligned towards decent work, human security, independence of the judiciary, and access to quality health care, the embittered citizens who are denied access to quality education and are not gainfully employed will blow up the infrastructure and there will be no legacy for this regime after.
The #EndSARS protest speaks volumes in this regard. America is great not because of anything but because it is a place where human potential is maximally harnessed. In the words of Kamala Harris, ‘America is a land of possibilities’.
Ms Daramola, a student at the Nigerian Law School, Lagos Campus, wrote in via Similoluwadarams48@gmail.com
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