By Dan Amor
Every real nation state is an historical product. It is, in Marx’s celebrated phrase, “the official resume’ of the antagonism in civil society”, but under historically determinate circumstances. As such, it is the product of the historically specific constellation of class relations and social conflicts in which it is implicated. It may, therefore, indeed, it must, if it is not to rest on its monopoly of the means of coercion alone, incorporate within its own structure, the interests not only of the dominant but of the subordinate classes. In this quite specific sense, then, every real nation state has an inherently relative independence, including, as well, the independence to understand the dynamics of its made-made domestic crises. In consequence, therefore, the general characteristics of the Nigerian nation state today may be seen in terms of the enormity of its domestic crises and social contradictions.
Therefore, those who murdered Nigeria, and are still killing its residues include, but not limited to: a big and comprador bourgeoisie that has abdicated its political aspirations and allied itself to semi-feudal interests; a disoriented small and medium bourgeoisie made up of a certain class of professionals and intellectuals, potentially revolutionary, but which hesitates to renew the struggle for its national liberation. There is a sleeping working class which is supposed to be the prime revolutionary force but which cannot define clearly its trade union tasks and political aims. There is a large crowd of youths, the student body that constitute about 60 percent of the national population, which has abdicated its responsibility of serving as light to the national ideal due largely to intellectual dishonesty, ignorance or docility arising from poverty of ideas.
There
is also, a peasant mass of small landless factory hands, artisans and
motorcycle operators otherwise known as “Okada
riders”, who need a clear vision of their tasks and a framework within which to
organise their own action in unity with the working class. Above all, a group
of shameless, opportunistic and sadistic Generals (retired and serving),
domestic tyrants and usurpers who, because of their prolonged crime against the
people of this country, do not want political power to shift to its rightful
owners for fear of being probed. And, of course, a handful of totalitarian
Devils called traditional rulers who, having been aware of their gross
irrelevance in a democratic society, strive to ally themselves with dictators,
expired warlords and anti-democratic elements in power in order to entrench
feudal power in the local government councils, the state and the nation at
large.
It
is in this context that we must examine critically the way forward of the
present logjam in the country. It would be recalled that the deepening crises
that resulted in the Nigerian Civil War were the aftermath of the cumulative
anger of the forces of real change against the reactionary superstructure that
was the First Republic. After the bloody civil war, and thanks to the oil boom
which provided them with the rare opportunity to line their pockets, the
military rulers in collaboration with the agrarian mercantile big bourgeoisie,
together with a small sector connected with industry, tied their future more
and more to the semi-feudal structure inherited from the colonial system.
Because of their quantitative and qualitative weaknesses and the fear of the
workers’ movement and the surge of the masses, they were, at the beginning,
disposed to ally themselves with whatever was acceptable of foreign monopolist
capital, then in the process of conversion to a neo-colonialist
framework.
The
present situation in which the nation finds it difficult to point to one
remarkable advance politically, socially and economically, with a bleak future,
is characterised by a complete capitulation of all the progressive forces in
the country. In spite of their white lies and deception over ideological
divisions, Nigerian politicians speak ironically with one voice: “let us share
the loot and let the rest of the people go to blazes”. Their collective
position in constitutional matters is only a result of this capitulation.
Turncoat reductionists who mouthed revolutionary and progressive sloganeering
in the past are now helplessly eating their words because they are calling the
shots. They cannot talk because they are eating. They call it “table
manners”.
It
is precisely in this sphere that the class interest of our rulers is very clear
in relation to the neo-colonialist and semi-feudal forces that have held the
country hostage over time. Which is why we should not harbour any illusions as
to their pretensions to an enduring and durable democracy. True, this political
capitulation is counterbalanced by real economic advantage for them. Without doubt,
trade tariffs and fiscal policies have safeguarded and tended to foster the
fundamental interests of the bourgeoisie at the expense of the popular masses
since the introduction of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) and
privatisation by the Ibrahim Babangida military junta in 1986.
Again,
the Generals, because of their limited knowhow, are comfortable with the same
parasitic role as the semi-feudal elements (sons of emirs, obas and obis) and
have, out of sheer laziness, handed all economic privileges to foreigners
operating in the country made up of Britons, Americans, dubious Lebanese,
Chinese, Indians and others, who control the oil and gas sector of our economy.
One of the Generals, who apparently has money more than his love for the
country even reportedly boasted openly that he made about $1billion from an oil
well, and having spent $500million on overheads, he did not know what to do
with the other half. While this continues unabated, our intellectuals who are
supposed to be the trainers and producers of the manpower needs of the country
continue to see themselves steadily and inexplicably impoverished.
These
highly educated Nigerian academics and professionals constitute one of the
factors that make the world refer to Nigeria as giant of Africa. They are
visible in such fields as science, literature, journalism, sports, law,
medicine, etcetera. Unfortunately, these exceptionally gifted Nigerians have
been forced into self-exile having been denied all they wanted most at home: an
atmosphere devoid of injustice, tribalism, oppression, discrimination and
nepotism. They are denied at home, an atmosphere that would not reward
mediocrity at the expense of excellence; an atmosphere that does not celebrate
retrogression in the name of a subterranean quota system in which an accountant
becomes minister of education while a professor of education becomes his
assistant; an atmosphere in which dreams and dreamers flourish
unfettered.
Ironically,
in Nigeria, the gap is widening between the numerous contending social forces
and the minority who control capital in the field of industry, banking,
technology and oil and gas. This is the reason why, strange as it seems at
first glance, the lackeys who got the political power on a platter of gold at
independence were not even capable of assuming the positions that
neo-colonialism was going to offer them. They think it is the looting of public
funds that matters. One cannot imagine a situation where Arab nations that
could not stand shoulder to shoulder with Nigeria at independence will
recolonize Nigeria in spite of our huge human and natural resources. In
Nigeria, the Fulani who came into our land just about 200 years ago have taken
over lands and forest reserves that do not belong to them planning to upset
natives who have been staying here for more than 2,000 years.
Perhaps,
it would sound like an exaggeration to vigorously criticise Nigeria as an empty
society in which, among other things, members of the middle-class wander
aimlessly across the barren terrain of a consumer culture. But it is glaring
that with the kind of leadership materials being foisted on the people, the
country would rather continue to waste its dreamers. Some of our professionals
are so proficient in their respective fields that many countries would pay a
fortune to have them. Yet they remain without respect here in Nigeria as they
labour daily under conditions that astound them. Whenever they cry out for
attention the powers that be reply them in ways that make even notorious
sadists cringe in embarrassment. Small wonder then that many of them have fled
to nations where talent is not regarded as a curse, just to survive.
In
the present circumstance, it would be a fundamental error to believe that our
politicians who see power as a tool for personal aggrandizement and self-enrichment
could be loyal to a democratic calling just as it would be illusory to expect
them to undertake the task of economic liberation. It is therefore imperative
for all progressive minds to come together, irrespective of party affiliation,
and do everything humanly possible to resolve the socio-economic contradictions
that are threatening to destroy the very string that binds us together as a
nation. It is now glaring that due to the actions and inactions of the Buhari administration,
there is massive famine in Nigeria. A terrible degree of hunger has permeated
about twenty states of the federation as reported by UNICEF in June this year.
The cumulative effect of the burning of farmlands, rape and abduction of
farmers by armed Fulani militias is what we are seeing today.
Never
again will the progressives allow themselves to be led by semi-feudal
elements-members of the reactionary faction of the Nigerian ruling class- whose
major preoccupation is to take the country back to medieval servitude. We must
note the fact that these apostles of feudal revival will always use tribal and
religious shibboleths to cause confusion as they would rather want the country
to continue to wallow in a morbid attitude that incinerates flowers that
attempt to bloom. We must meditate on these contending forces that have brought
our country to its knees and close ranks to halt the downward slide of Nigeria.
This country is still redeemable for the sake of the future of our children.
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