By Casmir Igbokwe
From today, we will most
likely begin to behold Nigeria’s national flag and colours, green-white-green,
in many public places. This is in commemoration of Nigeria’s independence anniversary.
On Tuesday, many of us will clink glasses and chant, ‘Happy Independence,
Nigeria’. Our President will probably make a national broadcast to mark the
day. Every October 1, we celebrate our independence from British colonial rule.
But the question is, are we truly independent?
Civil society organisations (CSOs), especially Yiaga Africa, made it clear that the election failed integrity test. A society which cannot conduct a simple election is not independent because election is the only lawful means through which the electorate can change an ineffective government. But in our own case, might is right. In the words of President Bola Tinubu, power is not given a la carte. You snatch it, grab it and run with it.
The National Chairman of the
All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje, had the effrontery to tell
us that the party would use the Edo template to win upcoming Ondo and Anambra
states governorship elections. Template of rigging! They can rig anywhere they
like, but they should not try that with my state, Anambra. APC is not welcome
in that state and no amount of rigging template will make it genuinely win
election there in 2025.
Perhaps, they are banking on
INEC and the judiciary. I wish them luck. It is shameful that at this age of
our national life, some Nigerian judges can see white and call it black because
of money. Most of those who are experts in rigging will tell you to go to court
after rigging you out. Before you even make any move to get to the court, they
would have told the judges what to do. You spend millions of naira in
litigation only for your case to be dismissed with one technicality or the
other. A country whose judiciary is not independent is not truly independent. A
country whose electoral umpire can easily be manipulated is not independent.
A country where bandits,
kidnappers, terrorists and sundry criminals share power and instruments of
violence with state actors is not truly independent. In the North, Boko Haram
terrorists share territories with the government. They have killed thousands of
people and rendered millions of others homeless. Innocent students are not left
out. Thousands of them have been kidnapped. Some returned to their parents
after payment of huge ransom, while some did not return alive. Travellers
always have their hearts in their mouths because one could be kidnapped from
anywhere and anytime.
Going by air is not an option
for many people because they cannot afford it. Even many of those who could
afford flight ticket a few years ago cannot afford it now. The economy is in a
shambles. Naira is in the league of the worst performing currencies in the
world. From about N21.89 to a dollar in 1999, the exchange rate today is over
N1,600 to a dollar. Aviation fuel is very expensive. Premium Motor Spirit or
petrol is also not cheap. From about N185 a litre, the price jumped to over
N600 a litre after Tinubu pronounced on his inauguration day on May 29, 2023,
that “fuel subsidy is gone.” Today, the price of that commodity has reached
N1,000 and above per litre. This has had a spiral effect on the prices of other
commodities in the market, especially food items.
As of August 2024, headline
inflation has reached 32.15 per cent while food inflation jumped to 37.52 per
cent. A few years back, the rate of inflation was in single digit. We used to
consider garri and groundnut as a poor man’s food. Not anymore. No food is
cheap as food insecurity has had a firm grip on Nigeria. Poverty and hunger
have had a debilitating effect on many Nigerians. There is nothing like three
square meals again. Now, whoever could afford one meal a day is living in
paradise. A country that cannot feed her citizens is not free. It is dependent
on others for survival and cannot be called an independent country.
Besides, a country where there
is great mistrust among its ethnic groups and other constituent units is not
independent. Rwanda under Paul Kagame has succeeded in obliterating ethnicity
from its lexicon. This came about after the civil
war that ravaged that country in 1994. Nigeria today is sharply divided along
religious and ethnic lines. Muslims are suspicious of Christians or vice versa.
Different ethnic groups struggle to take control of the centre and grab as much
resources as possible. Secessionist groups like the Indigenous People of Biafra
(IPOB) have intensified their clamour for self-determination.
We fought a civil war between
1967 and 1970. It was precipitated by the declaration of Biafra by the Eastern
region. From the look of things, we have not learnt any lessons from that war.
Rather, things have worsened. Any region that gets to power at the centre lords
it over others. We have the federal character principle in the constitution. It
presupposes that there should be fairness and equity in the allocation of
resources and appointments in the country. But we observe that in the breach.
Former President Muhammadu
Buhari made nepotism a cardinal principle of state policies. President Tinubu
has followed suit without any qualms about it.
Ironically, when it comes to
admission into unity schools, we adhere strictly to federal character
principle. The nation is classified into educationally advantaged and
disadvantaged states. A lot of hurdles are put in place for many of the states
perceived to be educationally advantaged in getting admission for their
citizens. And we say we are one nation, one destiny.
Nigeria is a crippled giant
that has been overtaken even by many African countries. I laughed when Tinubu
asked for debt forgiveness for Nigeria and other developing countries at the
United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). How can we ask for debt forgiveness
when we have not shown any atom of fiscal responsibility?
A nation that spent over $100m
on a new presidential jet has no business asking for debt relief. A country
that spent N21 billion on official residence of the vice-president is not a
serious one. A country that frittered away billions of naira on luxury vehicles
for lawmakers has a serious romance with profligacy.
We should stop celebrating this
so-called independence until we are able to put our house in order. A good
number of Nigerians have called for restructuring. Some have advocated for
parliamentary system of government, as the presidential system is too expensive
and has not given us what we want. Some have called for the convocation of a
national conference where we discuss how to live together as one nation. Some
say we should adopt the recommendations of the 2014 national conference which
made far-reaching resolutions on how we can achieve greatness as a country.
All these are great interventions on how to make Nigeria great. It shows that the system we practise currently is not working optimally. And we cannot continue to operate what has clearly failed us. The government of the day must rise up to the occasion. It must take measures to implement any of the suggestions that has been made or make moves to institute its own solutions. We cannot remain this way.
And until we take the bitter pill as already prescribed, we cannot receive
any cure for our sickness. Until then, Nigeria is not independent. We should
stop deceiving ourselves and the civilized world.
*Igbokwe is a commentator on public issues
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