Nigeria: 5 Reasons for Optimism

We celebrated our Sober Reflections Day (sometimes known as Independence Day) last Thursday with mixed feelings. A mixture of anger and despair, that is. It is very difficult to be optimistic about this country. The evidence against optimism is too damning. When you take a look around, you must be an irredeemable optimist to see hope. We’ve been enjoying oil boom for the past 10 years, yet we live in darkness because of inadequate power infrastructure. I have lost count of how much we’ve paid to import petroleum products in the last 10 years simply because we don’t have refineries and our rulers continue to enrich themselves and their friends with fuel import contracts. Nigeria is an incredible country, an unbelievable story.
As we were marking our Independence Day, Lagosians woke up to see dead bodies on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway. Some passengers had been robbed inside a speeding bus and thrown out by their attackers. They died. This is not the first or second time – nor will it be the last – that “one chance” robbers will be attacking innocent passengers. It’s been on for years. Our police force does not have any clue. The only thing of interest to them is probing how Nuhu Ribadu came into the country to pay his last respects to Chief Gani Fawehinmi. As for their primary responsibility of securing life and property, that is by the way. Witch-hunting and shadow-chasing are their priorities.
Bayo Ohu, The Guardian journalist, was assassinated by criminals who had all the time in the world to do what they wanted to do. Police were nowhere to be seen – perhaps they were busy collecting N20 from bus drivers and commercial motorcyclists around the corner. Ohu still had pulse when he was taken to the hospital but he was refused treatment because of lack of “police report”. This is sickening. The ultimate rule for medical doctors is to save lives first – the details can be worked out later. Even an armed robbery suspect is entitled to treatment, at least to be healthy enough to face trial. Ohu died because his country failed him – poor security at first, and then a denial of live-saving treatment. Nigeria is an unbelievable story.
How easy is it then to be optimistic about a country that demands everything of you and gives you virtually nothing back? Several times, I have hissed, shaken my head and declared: “This country is finished!” Yet at the back of my mind, I know Nigeria is NOT finished. I am very, very convinced that things are the way they are because we lack selfless and competent leadership. We have been ruled and are still being ruled by people who do not love this country. We’ve been governed by predators – a selfish, power-drunk bunch. But that is just part of a bigger story. That is not the end of the story. I have said it before and I will say it again: every ingredient to make Nigeria a great nation is present. But we’re like sheep without a shepherd. The day the right shepherd comes along, our journey to greatness will begin.
While I can list 5000 things that are wrong with Nigeria – and everyone of them is genuine, I assure you – I have also come up with a list of just five reasons to be optimistic about our country. The more I meditate on these five things, the more I am convinced the country can still be salvaged. They are veritable ingredients for the development of Nigeria. Here we go.

1. The Diaspora
In addition to the local capacity that we are building, there are thousands of Nigerian professionals all over the world who have acquired so much knowledge, expertise and reputation in their fields. They are everywhere – finance, engineering, medicine, just name them. Nigerians doctors and PhDs and professors are making considerable impact in Europe, US and even Australia. There is every chance in the world that one day a leader will emerge and make use of these enormous talents. Many of them whom I have spoken with are very eager to come home and contribute their quota to the development of Nigeria, but they are discouraged by the lack of basic infrastructure, wanton corruption and the inefficient public service. We have seen a shadow of what can happen when we tap into these Diaspora resources. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo engaged quite a few of them and they made a lot of difference in his administration.
A friend of mine who took his brother for treatment at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital recently told me his experience. “I noticed that the particular department was different. The staff were so courteous and professional. You would think you were in an advanced country. Upon inquiry, I discovered that the Head of Department used to work in the US and had passed on the best practice culture to his staff,” he said. There is no guarantee that all our professionals in Diaspora will deliver – some could be more greedy and self-serving than the home-grown – but isn’t it good to know that we have a large of pool of first-class personnel which we can tap from? They will surely be instrumental to the rebuilding of this country.

2. The Nigerian Spirit
The Nigerian is very enterprising, against all odds. We are in a country where there is no encouragement, yet the Nigerian never gives up. There are a lot of negative things to say about Nollywood, for instance, but has anybody ever stopped to wonder how a group of self-motivated Nigerians successfully put the name of the country on the global map of movie industries? It is rated the third biggest in the world by output. All over Africa, Nigerian home movies are being watched. Our actors and actresses are continental superstars. Virgin Atlantic Airlines shows Nigerian movies on board. We need to pause and think about it. All this has been achieved with little or no encouragement from the government. When I was growing up, you needed to sing American pop music to show that you “belonged”. Today, home-brewed music is in vogue all over the country – and it is exported across Africa. This is in spite of all the odds stacked against us in this country, where hard work is not recognised but where treasury looters are the kingmakers and societal icons. Without constant electricity, good public schools and reliable healthcare system, Nigerians are still forging ahead. What will happen when we have access to the basic comfort of life? Give Nigerians a space and they will move the world! This encourages me a lot.

3. The New Generation
When I was growing up, I did not enjoy what many teenagers are enjoying today – entrepreneurship and leadership training. Virtually all over the country, NGOs, religious organisations, various bodies and institutions are training our youths on the basics of leadership and entrepreneurship. I have been invited to share experiences at many of such fora. I am highly delighted. The amount of information being passed across to our youths today gives me hope that we are not breeding a hopeless and ignorant generation. Of course, we cannot be very sure they will use the information positively. I am not unaware of those who have devoted their energies to internet scams and 419, but for once, what of those who have internalised all the training they have received? The intensity of motivational speaking and the number of books on leadership being consumed by our youths make me happy. There is something out there waiting to be tapped.

4. The Wazobia Effect
I have met and discussed with many people who are so convinced that Nigeria has no future because of its ethnic diversity. “We do not belong together,” they will say. “Let everybody go their own way. Nigeria will never know peace with all the ethnic groups being forced to belong to the same country.” There is merit in that argument, but each time I think of the evolution of Wazobia, particularly our Pidgin English, I am filled with a sense of pride. It was not decreed into existence. It was not a government policy. It evolved out of our own experience, out of our interaction, out of our cohabitation. It gives me hope that rather than our diversity being a source of Armageddon, it can actually be a rallying point. “Suya”, “Isi-ewu” and “edika ikong”, among others, are national delicacies that cut across ethnic boundaries. What I can conclude from this is that we do not hate each other. What the Nigerian wants is fair play and equal access – which can be guaranteed with good leadership. We can live together. We can live in peace and unity. We can become a great nation in spite of our glaring differences.

5. Widespread Disgust
Anywhere two or three Nigerians are gathered, the situation of the country is sure to come up as a topic of discussion. Everybody is worried about how backward we are, compared to other nations. I hear people talk about how we were ahead of Korea and Singapore at our Independence in 1960 and how these countries have overtaken us. I hear people complain bitterly about how a Malaysian delegation to Nigeria picked palm seedlings. Today, the argument goes, Malaysia is the world’s number one producer of palm products. What they make from palm oil, it is said, is more than what we make from crude oil. Ghanaians used to flock to Nigeria in the early 1980s for economic survival but now Nigerians are rushing to Ghana to enjoy sanity and stable electricity. I am always very happy when I hear these arguments. Nigerians are angry. I draw encouragement from that. One, it means almost every Nigerian is unhappy with our situation. We need the dissatisfaction. Two, this is fuelling disgust within us. We need to hate our situation collectively so that we can collectively accept that we need change. Above everything else, this widespread disgust fuels my optimism. We need to be very angry, very bitter, very dissatisfied with the situation in Nigeria. It will reach a breaking point one day. Our situation will never change for as long as we are indifferent to the perfidy in our land.

Therefore…
How many people want to buy into the argument that the missing link in Nigeria is leadership? I accept the argument hook, line and sinker. Nigerians have demonstrated over the years that they are ready to follow the leader. Buhari and Idiagbon told us to be disciplined, to queue up at bus stops and banks. They told us to keep our environment tidy. They told us not to defecate by the road side or throw trash just anywhere. We obeyed, of course not without the fear of the horsewhips hanging over us. But we obeyed all the same. The lesson from this is that Nigerians can do the right thing, even if it has to be with some threat. The fear of sanction is, in any case, a factor in compliance with the law. I am fully convinced that the day the right person assumes authority over us, our march to greatness will start. Obasanjo had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in 1999, but ambition and self-aggrandisement took hold of him. He failed to seize the moment. He would have been Nigeria’s greatest leader ever. But he lacked sincerity of purpose.
The consolation from this is that situations and circumstances will still present themselves for us to have a new, definitive start, to have the leader we need. I know my argument is not scientific. How will such a leader emerge when our electoral system is so warped? Not to worry. There is no guarantee that a perfect electoral system will throw up a change agent. The most important thing is for whoever emerges to be in favour of the progress of Nigeria, irrespective of the processes and circumstances that threw him or her up. We don’t need to sit down and be crying over 49 years of wasted opportunities and missed chances. Let’s look at the opportunities that are ever with us: a massive pool of talents home and abroad; the never-say-die Nigerian spirit; the well-informed and motivated upcoming generation; the cohesive potentials in our diversity; and the spreading disgust among Nigerians who are angry and tired at the way things are going. Every ingredient to make Nigeria is here with us. It’s the shepherd that we are waiting for. Let’s keep hope alive...


Simon Kolawole Live:www.thisdayonline.com/nview