On Monday 28th March, 2022 news filtered into the media space of how a train heading to Abuja from Kaduna was bombed and attacked by bandits. This is not the first time such incident is happening. In times past, commuters on the Abuja – Kaduna train have experienced similar attacks although none has been of this magnitude.
Now, among casualties in the recent attack is a young promising Medical Doctor, Chinelo Megafu who is said was to emigrate from the country on Friday. She was caught alongside many others in her prime. The following day Tuesday 29th, bandits attacked another train station still along the Kaduna- Abuja rail line. With this incident and the concomitant impact on people’s life and the nation’s political economy I am tempted to say that even though Nigeria is not Ukraine, but we have a “Russia” shelling us.
The objective condition of the Nigerian state just now is beyond the ascription of blame to one political party or President. Afterall, cases of insecurity, biting economic conditions, corruption, indiscipline and other vices have been our lot since independence particularly from the time we managed to democratise in 1999. The nation, truth be told is on its knees, rudderless and almost shipwrecked.
Anyone, pandering to partisanship while addressing the current Nigerian situation must either be naive or part of the problems. We must remember that we were individually born as Nigerians before those who chose partisan politics took the decision. So the question is as a Nigerian, do I cherish the gruesome killings of our country men, women, boys girls and children? The answer is NO. Do I enjoy good living conditions in the midst of millions of jobless family members, friends and youths? NO.
Can we ignore the fact of the rising inflation and abject poverty in the land. NO.
Like I said, the solutions doesn’t lie in party affiliation or individuals in the party. According to Duro Fasakin the Nigerian problems cannot be solved by personel change in government houses or Legislative Assemblies,but in the systemic overhaul of our political structure, criminalising even the minutest malfeasance in government and mobilizing the people for a new radical and comprehensive reforms that will promote State interests above those of the privilege few.
Lew Kwan Yu, while describing how Singapore emerged from underdeveloped Island with Malaysia noted that a few men came together to commit themselves to building a developed nation – which mission was to be the cause for which they were ready to die for. Today Singapore is one of the go to places for gluttonous African leaders for holidays rather than tutelage. Where are the Lew Kuan Yews of Nigeria?
Sad enough, I have been part of the Legislative processes for both National and subnational governments up until 2015 both as a member of the opposition and of the ruling party. And now, watching from outside government there appears to be no changes or hope in the horizon.
Nigerian, if it were a patient at the moment ought to be on Intensive Care Unit. Can anyone tell me what is working? The attempts of government in infrastructure development pales into insignificance in view of the enormity of the challenges.
Now,the railway sector received a boost in terms of attention and investment by this government although previous governments started it. And this has been at Great cost to the Nigerian State. If bad roads were the reason for railway development recent and almost the daily attack on trains has now made travelling by rail the most dangerous in Nigeria. Could there have been forward looking mechanisms to prevent this State of affairs? Yes of course because the warning signals have been loud and audible.
In the midst of grave insecurity food prices have skyrocketed, power has remained elusive thus hurting most excruciatingly small and medium scale businesses. Yet, we the politicians appear defiant to these obvious reality as our feeble attempts are not yielding desired results. With each passing day news of deaths,kidnapping and banditry keep renting the air like the new normal. As if that is insufficient trauma for the populace, we have continued to witness irresponsible conduct among the top echelon of government officials that leaves one wondering what our sense of propriety means. A learned Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Dr Ehiogie West-Idahosa had queried the response of the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi when he offered excuse about the non procurement of digital security technology for the railways as the reason trains have been subject of incessant attacks. He said: “But procurement process has not stopped them from plundering the nation’s resources in a manner never before seen. Where in the world would a serving Governor of Central Bank have his face printed on posters and bill boards with the insignia of a political party campaigning for the office of president without vigorously denouncing such rubbish if he is not part of the plot? How can he be doling out funds for such unpatriotic & opportunistic fancy while pretending to be managing a dying economy. It’s time to stop these irresponsible behavior…..” All over the entire spectrum of our governance architecture what we see daily ranges from the bizarre to the absurd and this has been so for decades. Yet, no one, is held accountable. We cannot and should not continue like this!
What do we do? Can’t we all pause for a moment and ask ourselves the question, what has politics brought for our Nation and seek to change the course of borrowing systems of governance from Europe, America and Asia by looking inwards like China did and devised systems and processes that can best yield quicker outcomes that will take into accounts our local circumstances,abilities and potentials. In Nigeria, we have abundance of natural resources particularly gas that is the fundamental ingredient for industrial development. We have huge arable lands that, if well cultivated can feed the continent of Africa. Indeed, we have everything including the human resources to drive development, but we lack patriotism, organization, integrity, justice fairness, commitment to the rule of law and indeed love for the common good. That explains while,there are agitations for Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, Benin, ibibio, Tiv, etc, President as if the challenges of our nation understands any Nigerian dialect or language.
We canot continue to lose lives and struggle in the most gruesome economic conditions and pretend that all is well on the altar of political correctness.
In Nigeria all is not well.
The Lew Kuan Yews in Nigeria, if any, I think there are, many of whom are entrepreneurs, professionals and strong and patriotic political personalities must rise up to redirect to ship of the Nigerian State from avoidable catastrophe.
▪︎ Dr Samson Osagie (ACIArb(UK) is a Legal Practitioner, & Lecturer, National Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies, Abuja.
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