“Gain time, gain life” goes the received wisdom. It is significant that President Muhammadu Buhari mentioned “time” three times in his 2000+ word counts letter to Nigerians on the 1st of January 2020. Time and timeliness are critical success factors in human development. The two major religions of Islam and Christianity stressed the importance of time for humanity. There are a number of verses in the holy books which described the creation of the earth in record six days taking place in six days are: – “Your Guardian-Lord is Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth in six days, and is firmly established on the throne (of authority) (7:54).
Even the Darwin’s theory of evolution talks of billions of years in earth formation. Time nonetheless!. I share the optimism of the President that the new decade brings new time, hope and “fresh possibilities”. Nigeria would be 60 years as an independent Republic this year. Yours sincerely is surprised that the President’s first letter to compatriots says nothing about Nigeria at independence at 60! It was good that Nigerians in his letter are reminded that in recent times, (we are trying to consume what we produce for the first time in a generation our food plates have not all been filled with imports of products we know can easily be produced here at home).
It was also remarkable that the current investment in reinventing the railways, roads, industry and agriculture ought to have been done “a long time ago”. But the best assessment framework for a nation is timeline of nation hood and independence.
President Muhamadu Buhari has in recent time raised the noise level of Independence celebrations wrongly stepped down by previous administration as “low key” event. At 60 Nigeria must raise the banner of development, democracy freedom, independence with high GDP growth rate, poverty eradication, equity and justice. For almost a century Nigeria and Nigerians suffocated under the heels of British imperial rule characterized by domination, brutal oppression, Lugardian military occupations and wholesale exploitation. Long period of military rule also underdeveloped Nigeria.
I was privileged to be witness to history: China at 70 in Abuja last year. I agreed with Ambassador Zhou Pingjian that the “joy” of both Nigeria and China “is shared and happiness doubled on the occasion of October 1st celebration every year.” Nigeria must learn and copy China, which at 70, (just a decade older) as a liberated country has almost banished illiteracy, gone to space, lifted more than 700 million people out of poverty, parades “over the past 70 years, GDP averaged an annual growth rate of about 4.4% for the first three decades and 9.5% for the last four decades. By 2020, China announces that “all people living below the current poverty line will be taken out of poverty”.
At 60 this year, Nigeria should be up-beat to say like China: independence has “brought enormous changes to the country, creating an unprecedented miracle of development in the world history”. The Chinese Ambassador aptly puts it better the “path you take determines your future”. In China was the “Sick Man of East Asia”, with life expectancy at the beginning of the new republic at 35 years. It rose to 77 years in 2018. The illiteracy rate in China stood at 80% in 1949, today the newly-added labour force has received over 13.3 years of education on average. The average years of schooling for the Chinese rose to 10.6 years in 2018 from 1.6 years in 1949. In 2019, the gross enrollment ratio in higher education rose to 48.1% from 0.26% in 1949”.
At 60, Nigeria and Nigerians should stop agonizing but organize like China at 70. I agree with President Buhari that “Elections are the cornerstone of our democracy”. With as many as 86 million registered voters, I maintain that Nigeria remains a democracy destination in Africa. We must make 2020s a decade of democratic consolidation. Beyond elections, Nigeria must reaffirm commitment to democracy as the only route (not just fashionable route !) to development. Contrary to the cynicism of some partisans, I hail President Buhari for repeating the obvious that: he “will be standing down in 2023 and will not be available in any future elections.”
Nigeria lost three decades to Military dictatorships (1966- 1979) and (1983-1998). No democracy could have imposed the notorious IMF inspired Structural Adjustment Programmes ( SAPs) of the 80s which undermine investment in power, roads, railways as we were told that government had no business in business. Never again should anybody have access to political power without having our mandates through votes and vote counting. No short cut to political power again. No instant “revolution now”! People should lead through their votes not red herrings of sponsored minions. Elected leaders must also abide by the term limit which is what the President rightly reaffirms. Nigeria needs politicians by the rules, not militicians as we almost witnessed between 1999 and 2003!
But for the 1966 military Coup (“revolution then!) which ended for the first time the democratic civilian rule should this year be marking uninterrupted 60 years of democracy and independence. Nigerian independence in 1960 was fought for and won by clear headed civilian democrats not military adventurers who later years ruined the nation through coups, counter coups with an avoidable civil war. The democratic founding fathers and mothers deployed democratic methods; peaceful pressures, strikes, protests, persuasion, negotiations, referendums and elections. All Nigerian founding fathers and mothers were civilian democrats not military men. They include Herbert Macaulay (1864–1946), Professor Eyo Ita (1904-1980s), Alvan Ikoku (1900–1971), Michael Imoudu (1900-2005), Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (1904–1996), Chief Obafemi Awolowo (1909–1987), Sir Ahmadu Bello (1910–1966), Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (1912–1966), Sir Egbert Udo Udoma (1917-1998), Mallam Aminu Kano (1920–1983), Joseph Tarka (1932–1980) and Dennis Osadebay (1911–1994) among others. The troika of Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe, and Ahmadu Bello remained the true faces of Nigerian democracy.
It is refreshing and reassuring that President Buhari understands “ very well the frustrations our system has in the past triggered” and that he is “determined to help strengthen the electoral process both in Nigeria and across the region, where several ECOWAS members go to the polls this year”. Let’s have a healthy debate about fixing electricity, reviving the railways and repositioning our foreign polices instead of throwing missiles at each other. We need healthy contest of ideas not conquest of territories, with minimum level of discipline among the participants to respect the rules of the game and to implement them fairly.
Issa Aremu mni
