By Olakunle Agboola – Like a sought-after bride, she was healthy, wealthy, self-sustaining on her own efforts. Her three family domains – West, East and North had different kinds of economic values, thus thrived on self-economy, managed with agricultural produce. She was regarded as an elegant stallion in export trade. These, achieved without the input of the almighty black liquid, turned ‘gold’, – crude oil. Her name is Nigeria.
The name sure remains, but the glory is history. Youths, deprived of leadership roles in their own country, their level of western education and skill in all necessary fields of developmental science notwithstanding, migrate in droves to foreign lands.
If the political class, in power, is inept, fraudulent and lacking in ideas, in any country, then the country’s economy will remain in jeopardy. This is the circumstance Nigeria finds itself today. The political system on ground tragically bereft skilled manpower to run Nigeria efficiently but paves way for half-illiterates, fraudsters, hoodlums, drug pushers and addicts, some of whom should have been in jail if the law were allowed to take effect.
Families, Institutions, and Citizens keep wondering if this is the change they opted for. The economy is dwindling down the spiral, with hardship and poverty getting beyond the capacity of those in power to contain.
The grand and great-grandfathers hold sway in the political space with their outdated ideas. The young men and women who have what it takes to turn the fortune of their country around, are rarely allowed in governance. The pre-independence leaders insist on directing the affairs of the nation until they are feeble and senile. The alarm bell is thus ringing! Loud enough for all Nigerians, to heed the clarion call being currently made by the state of the nation.
A nation prospers with a vision, through her political class’ prudence and astute leadership, and also determination to produce role models as leaders. It is high time we visited the political system in Nigeria and structurally adjust it for reasonable, and intelligent minds to emerge and manage the affairs of our dear country.
Proffering solutions to the state of economy, might take us back in the years, to the starting blocks of Nigeria and re-address our mind to the structure of government that made the country manageable as three regions prior to independence. We must work with a sense of responsibility at the dynamics which created a Western Region that survived on its Cocoa, Eastern Region that thrived on its Palm produce and a Northern Region that was successful through nurturing of its groundnut pyramids. There is need for us to look closely at the political dynamics that made Nigeria a stable country before 1960, and draw the important lessons from the knowledge of independent development of regional resources for sustainable growth of the regions.
This is a wake-up call for our youths to participate in the 21st century of economic growth which can be achieved through fighting with their intellects, ideas, creativity and education for the nation to prosper and be counted among the committee of developed nations. Honestly, old timers who have been ruling and feeding fat on the national cake since independence should hang their boots now, and allow the young minds to participate in future-shaping politics of Nigeria.
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