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By Leonard Karshima Shilgba, PhD
Monday, September 26, 2011
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Destroying This Nigeria
I am not satisfied with the Nigeria in which I live today, neither am I proud of it. I
want this Nigeria destroyed and another born. There is despair where there
should be hope. Groups that should inspire have rather become hindrances of
social and economic growth. But why do I still write about Nigeria in spite? I do
because people only run with what they read and understand; and if what they
read has read them and exposed them enough, there is hope that one day the
right spirit that makes great and enviable places shall take hold of their souls
and give them no rest until their habitation becomes a place of praise.

STUDENT UNIONS: I have pondered the capacity of Nigerian students to
provoke the right change, which shall make justice and the rule of law to hold
sway. We have watched as Nigerian rulers have deceived us and taken us for
fools that we give ourselves away to be. We have watched as our roads, both
federal- and state-owned, have become death traps and claimed many lives,
including those of Nigerian students. We have watched as huge sums of money
have been sunk into public infrastructure such as electricity infrastructure, with
worsening outcome. We have watched as our rulers have announced particular
electricity generation targets over and over without accomplishing them, or even
worse still, with overlapping targets, later targets being less than previously
announced ones. We have allowed contractors with their conniving government
officials get away with either abandoned public projects or poorly done ones,
which get damaged no sooner than they were supposedly executed. We watch
idly as our public primary schools, secondary schools, and tertiary institutions
have suffered immoral neglect from our rulers while they send their wards to
posh private universities both in Nigeria and abroad with stolen money. And I
look around and see Nigerian students under the stupor of either cowardice or
hypnotizing distractions, doing nothing even though public schools have
remained shut down more often in one academic session than they are open to
students.

But are we not crying more than the bereaved? If the Nigerian students,
attending those rundown public schools, truly felt the pain would they not react?
Maybe they love what they are “enjoying” and yet we, provokingly intruding
fellows, are stressing ourselves for nothing. Maybe the leaders of the National
Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) know better than some of us writers,
who are too blind to see that Nigerian students have been well taken care of by
their governments (at federal, state, and local levels), who give some of them
scholarships that are sufficient to pay their tuition fees in public universities and
provide for their basic academic needs.  I am sorry if I am too blind to see your
comfort, Nigerian students. Maybe I am too blinded by my anger at not being
selected by President Jonathan for a federal ministerial position so that I too
would exact my national share. Maybe I don’t know that you students in public
Nigerian universities also have access to the kind of quality library and
laboratories that my students have. Maybe I am ignorant that you too enjoy
regular electricity and water supply on your campuses that my students do.
Maybe I don’t know that you have wireless internet campuses such as ours,
where I teach at a private university in the same Nigeria you love too much to
change. Probably each of you has a wireless-enabled laptop that my students
have, and the type of projector-equipped and magic board-installed classrooms
in which I teach in the same Nigeria you would not change. Maybe you too
enjoy uninterrupted academic calendars that my students do, and could
graduate within three years. Maybe your professors and lecturers are as
comfortable as we are, but they are too fastidious, thus the regular strikes they
embark upon. You must be angry at your lecturers for being ungrateful to your
Nigerian rulers. Forgive me if both you and your lecturers have access to the
latest research materials anytime they are needed just as we do. Probably your
lecturers and professors, like us at a private university in the same Nigeria of
your satisfaction, are provided with free laptops, Ipads, and regular and adequate
funds to attend local and international conferences anywhere on earth. Forgive
me if your schools have exchange programs with foreign counterparts and you
interact thereby with your foreign colleagues for broader education and image
boost of your universities.

Nigerian students, do you know that you can force your governments to act for
the public good? Maybe you are contented with your lot in life. Maybe your
certificates are yet being valued highly within Nigeria. Maybe the rate of
unemployment is not high enough and so your attention is not turned to the
“problem.”

Action Points:

If you are not satisfied with this Nigeria, then destroy it. The leadership of NANS
should call for an indefinite shut down of all schools in Nigeria until they obtain
practical commitment for the  following:

i.        Convocation of a national constitution conference that will result in true
fiscal federalism and decentralization of executive and legislative authority
(Items on exclusive legislative list, which compromise real federalism must be
expunged). All schools, universities and tertiary institutions that have been
taken over by the federal government must be handed back to their original
owners.

ii.        Appointment of Vice-chancellors must be made to have international
outlook, with rigorous competition that should require candidates to present their
vision, including how they could raise funds. In other words, students should
insist on efficient management of universities and tertiary institutions.

iii.        All federal roads in Nigeria must be repaired, re-constructed, or
constructed within two years, and all contractors and public officials that have
failed to execute road projects in the past must be publicly announced and
prosecuted, and the funds received must be retrieved.

iv.        The salaries and allowances of all public officials in Nigeria (who are
presently less than 18,000 in number), currently standing at more than N 1.2
trillion annually, must be slashed to reflect the national minimum wage of N 18,
000 a month, so that the total emoluments of the highest paid public official is
not more than 20 times N 18,000 monthly. To do this, they must picket the
offices of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC)
and the national and state houses of assembly.

v.        New refineries must be built and modern railway lines should be built
within a specified period of time. And there should be no increase in pump
prices of liquid fuel until those refineries are built and railways are built to link up
each and every state in Nigeria.

vi.        Such demands that will create jobs and reduce cost of production in
Nigeria should be made by Nigerian students.

We know that governments have taken control of leadership of student unions in
Nigeria, and have compromised student leaders financially. But is there not a
cause? Those so-called student leaders have lost the moral right to lead; can’t
we have new leaders arising from the ash of the past? I can see a time in the
future, if immediate actions are not taken to stop the downward slide, when
there shall be coups in states in Nigeria. Governors of some states shall be
overthrown even if the central “democratic” government stays. And the federal
police and army who cannot contain the latest wave of violence in the land can
do nothing to stop such overthrows. Then we shall have warlords in different
parts of Nigeria. The provocation in some states is becoming unbearable; it is
like the governors have concluded that they could do with their people as they
will, and there would be no consequences.

Who was the richest man in the world 100 years ago? Who was the richest man
in Nigeria 50 years ago? Do you know? Can you remember? Don’t you have to
do some research to find out? But do you remember Martin Luther King Jr.? The
civil rights movement in his day achieved much result because students were
involved. He was inspired by American students. Oh yes, some of the school
children were killed. But they still speak today. Money doesn’t make men,
Nigerian students; rather, men make money. It is not all about money. I
remember Segun Okeowo, a one-time Nigerian student leader. But I don’t know
who NANS president is today. Since 1988, which national issue have Nigerian
students stood for? Is their voice being heard today about serious national
issues? Oh, I could carry a placard that reads, “OBITUARY OF THE NIGERIAN
STUDENTS”. But shall we not experience a resurrection? We are tired of the
inactive “solidarity” songs, that won’t lead to solidarity with national change. I
am disturbed.

Let us destroy this Nigeria where justice is for the highest bidder. Let us destroy
this Nigeria where politicians sponsor violence to achieve “profitable” political
negotiations. Let us destroy this Nigeria where the judiciary has fallen prey to
monetary persuasion, and the temples of justice have been turned into
recreation attractions to the powerful and rich, to use to sell a dummy to the
unwatchful patriots. Senator Wagbara, Professor Fabian Osuji; do you
remember them? The first was a senate president, the second was minister of
education. Few years ago, they were charged to court; the minister for seeking
to corruptly pad the education budget and the senator for making corrupt
monetary demands. That happened before I returned to Nigeria. The matter has
not come up again after the deceptive “arrest and bail-setting.” Many such
cases have taken place in Nigeria. Don’t think Mr. Bankole’s matter will be
taken to a logical conclusion either. They usually die out with judicial
connivance. The rulers are “arrested” when they have personal quarrels with their
more powerful colleagues. They go and dig up a matter about which the more
powerful rulers have had knowledge all along. Journalists are rushed to give a
fake publicity. The travelling passports of the fallen rulers are seized. Bail
application is filed. They are freed, and the matter dies. May we destroy this
Nigeria!

Contractors are awarded public project contracts. They cut public officials such
as ministers, governors, commissioners, speakers, and senate president some
slack (in some cases, 30 percent of the amount paid). Worst of all, the project
is abandoned, and no one is prosecuted because the hunter and the hunted
have become bedfellows. I travelled on the Otukpo-Otukpa road in Benue state
two weeks ago. I understand that contract for this road was awarded, but the
money has been shared between the contractor and a powerful man in the
Nigerian senate. It is an eye sore, with wreckages of vehicles testifying to the
blood guilt of Nigerian rulers. Also, exactly two weeks ago as I write, I was
stuck on the Ibadan-Lagos express way about three kilometres to an overpass
leading to Abeokuta. Hundreds of cars and trucks were before and behind our
jeep. I was driving to Abeokuta. I did not know the reason at first. Later, I learned
that a bad spot on the expressway on our lane was the cause of the hold up. It
was not possible to drive through the muddy divide to the other lane and head
back to Ibadan. After being “detained” on the road for about two hours, I was
able to find a safer channel through the divide; I drove over to the other lane and
headed back to Ibadan. It was past 11.00 pm local time. I slept at a hotel in
Ibadan that night. The next day, I drove to Abeokuta through the Akpata area of
Ibadan. Have we not heard about “concessioning” and all that nonsense of this
expressway for well over seven years? Yet this is the busiest road in West
Africa.  What a country!

When I drive on Nigerian roads and see how bridges on those roads are only
being sustained by the mercy of God, I wonder whether Nigerian rulers are
demons or humans. Less than two weeks ago, I drove on the Wukari-Jalingo
federal road. There is a bridge over the river in a town called Tella. I took a look
at this bridge, looked at the water below it and wondered how one could survive
if his car is thrown inside the belly of the river by a collapsing bridge. About
three days ago that bridge collapsed. My niece who was returning to Benue
state called and told me that they had to sleep on the way. I asked her if
workers were brought to the site to fix the problem. She said there was no one
in sight. Even as I write, unless I fly to Abuja and then take a cab to Benue
state, I must risk a drive through Plateau state from Yola to Abuja, and then to
Benue state, all because a federal road of an oil-rich state like Nigeria has been
shut down by the collapse of a bridge that was probably built when I was only a
child. Let us destroy this Nigeria.

In my next article, I shall focus on the role of organized labour in Nigeria to force
a new Nigeria.

Leonard Karshima Shilgba is an Associate Professor of Mathematics with the
American University of Nigeria and President of the Nigeria Rally Movement
(www.nigeriarally.org ). Leonard Shilgba is also the Coordinator of the Middle
Belt Federation under the Middle Belt Coalition agenda.

TEL: +234 (0) 8055024356; EMAIL: shilgba@yahoo.com