In recent times I have constantly been thinking on the extant Nigerian condition with respect to the challenges of citizen security, terrorism and insurgency, political tension and generally uncertain social conditions. But to think is the easiest of things and seeking to go beyond thinking, I sought to move and to act, albeit in limited form, with the knowledge that from limited actions possibilities for higher order actions eventually spring.
To be clear, there is a suffusion of commentaries, opinions and postulations in traditional and digital media on the ways out of the Nigerian dilemma (or is it debacle?). I pen this contribution to add voice to the larger national discourse cognisant of the fact that thinking, while a good and indeed indispensable faculty, alone is incapable of inspiring or instigating change while ensconced in the mental plane. The value of thought is in the change it provokes or precipitates through the instrumentality of action, whether the change is for ill or for good is another matter for philosophical analogy.
Our state of affairs
We are living witnesses to shocking activities and events in Nigeria and let’s not pretend, Nigeria is at a crossroads. Its future is on tenterhooks and never since the civil war has the foundation of the nation been so shaken. I run the risk of being labelled as wildly extravagant with my views, I take solace in the fact that every time in history that the voices of reason sounded warnings about impending crises, more often than not they were so labelled. But I so write because I am mortally fearful of the ominous signs. If we fail to act correctly and carry on as if all is well, the scary end scenarios cited hereafter will crystallise before our eyes, unfortunately, and humanity will be saddled with the arduous task of coping with the consequences.
The elites are relocating families abroad, there is a new frenzy to renew expired visas, and there is an increasing flow of new visa applications.
These are troubling times
In Nigeria today, ethnic jingoists are on the prowl; political hawks have taken to flight; terrorist elements bestride the landscape and rampage on without let or hindrance; economic marauders are unrestrained, sabotaging national wealth at will; ritualists are on the loose and assassins brazenly operate; kidnappers are on rampage, roaming freely and affecting the high and the low; economic and political criminals operate unchecked; pervasive mass poverty assaults the masses; the social fabric is imperilled; ordinary folks are discomfited by lack and deprivation; education and health are under siege; religious followers are disillusioned and religious leaders (supposed God’s vicegerent on earth) are preaching hate; national security is in a shambolic state and intimidated by a handful of terrorist bandits, and the military, our supposed sovereign defender, is enfeebled and lies prostrate, poorly equipped. Expensively rehabilitated militants and bandits freely harangue us with threat of return to the creeks and no cautions sounded by the custodians of security apparatuses. More worrisome, the constitutional protectors of the people are now the oppressive tools.
Things are grimmer still: infants are stolen from the cradle and sold for pittance; promising youths and children are mindlessly slaughtered in their sleep and roasted alive. Defenceless elderly men and women are denied peaceful repose, displaced by a combination of unwarranted violence, terrorist and ethnic wars. The land is daily awash with blood – blood of the innocent.
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In all this, positive countervailing forces are painfully absent or limited at best, wisdom is in retreat and ever receding at a time when its voice should be loudest, the voice of reason is in short demand and tensions continue to simmer beneath the deceptive calm. Positive actors temporise and vacillate akin to Nero fiddling while Rome burned and the voices of unifiers are inchoate and riddled ambiguities.
While these go on, our leaders appear disoriented, yet their dominant choruses are those of blame, accusation and finger pointing. No purposeful manifestoes or agendas for development are presented for appreciation in all these brouhaha by contending political parties and actors.
Fellow compatriots and citizens of the world, this is the picture of Nigeria today and it bodes ill not only for Nigeria but Africa and humanity. Compositely, the above scenario is fuel for a calamitous disaster of diverse proportions. It is in the interest of humanity that Nigeria is stable. If Nigeria fails or goes into devastating crisis or state of war, the world will be destabilised beyond measure. No nation or collection of nations can accommodate the ensuing catastrophic humanitarian, economic and refuge crises.
As the majority of Nigerians and the world watches in wonder, premonitions of the ominous hangs like a thick cloud. Yet we carry on pretending all is well. We must pause and think. Youths, mothers, fathers, statesmen, elders of Nigeria, friends of Nigeria, the time to act and salvage is now. There is a fierce urgency of now that is phenomenally at its highest levels since the dawn of our nascent democracy and it behoves well-meaning people not to be silent.
The current brand of blind-antagonist politics that characterises political activities ahead of 2015 is foul. We need to turn a new corner of progressive developmental politicking and opposition engagement. President Jonathan is urged to take prime advantage of the opportunity of his God-inspired providential ascendancy to the highest office and steer the nation away from the doldrums. He is exhorted to put on the garment of a nationalist and helmet of statesmanship; wear the breastplate of patriotism and carry the shield selflessness; and be armed with amity, dialogue and conciliation. Providence has thrust upon him this great assignment; he should seize the opportunity and run with it. This, in my view, is the raison d’etre of the Jonathan presidency. In the long run, what he does or does not do will define his destiny and legacy in the annals of history.
Perhaps it is apt to remind our main national actors, across spectrums and persuasions, of the famous word of Franz Franon: “Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfil it, or betray it.”
The price of inaction
If in the end the challenges as have been articulated are left to fester, then of a certainty we would have failed and there will be telling consequences. Nigeria is a country of over 160 million people.
The sheer monstrosity of the scale of humanitarian and refugee crises will be untameable, it will overwhelm on a scale never known before. It will dwarf the most elaborate global state of preparedness ever put in place as crisis management and intervention. The hydra-headed monster it will spur will reach and impact almost every nation on earth directly or indirectly.
The world will feel the pain. We should not forget too that there will be direct collateral linkages to food shortages, resource shrinkages, health and sanitation impacts in the form of epidemics and pandemics, environmental degradation, family unit destructions, business disruptions, economic system dislocations, etc.
UNHCR data shows that “the number of refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced people has surged to more than 50 million people, the first time since the post-World War II period”. In the event of a failed Nigerian state, that number will more than double given the known velocity of movement of Nigerians in ordinary circumstances. It may be well a good time to pause here and picture the scenario.
“We are seeing here the immense costs of not ending wars, of failing to resolve or prevent conflict,” says António Gutierres, UN high commissioner for refugees. “Peace is today dangerously in deficit. Humanitarians can help as a palliative, but political solutions are vitally needed. Without this, the alarming levels of conflict and the mass suffering that is reflected in these figures will continue.”
To Nigerians and the rest of humanity, the collective duty is not to fail posterity. In this regard, I call the relevant organs of the African Union, UN, the Council on Foreign Relations, the House of Commons and House of Lords, the US Congress, the Congressional Black Caucus, The Commonwealth and similar inter-governmental institutions of import to initiate active steps to assist Nigeria to manoeuvre out of the present road to catastrophe and infamy.
The forces of good must coalesce into a positive pressure group and prevail on our leaders to rethink. If they fail to act, then they would be complicit in whatever calamities of catastrophic proportions that will befall the world under their watch.
We cannot afford to add Nigeria to the global club of unstable territories – Central African Republic, South Sudan, Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, Mali, DRC, Libya, Iraq, etc. The world agrees that Nigeria holds great promise for humanity; it will therefore be injustice to not do all things, to the extent possible, to guide her to sovereign self-actualisation for global benefits.
Austin Edoja-Peters
