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Revisiting Achebe’s ‘trouble With Nigeria’ - Politics - Nairaland

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Revisiting Achebe’s ‘trouble With Nigeria’ by giftedben: 9:39pm On Feb 18, 2017
By Bala Mohammed Liman | Publish Date: Feb 17 2017 2:00AM.

I just reread Chinua Achebe’s ‘The trouble with Nigeria’ for the umpteenth time and I never tire of the lessons that this very small book can teach those that want to understand Nigeria. It really should form part of the civic education literature as we try to make the next generation understand their country. Written in 1983, he goes through the motions of trying to identify the problems with Nigeria and starts by quite eloquently stating that: “The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian character. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership”.

He then notes that these Nigerian leaders always seem to begin their speeches with the phrase ‘this great country of ours’ without fully understanding what it means to be a great country. It is not by merely stating that a country is great that makes it great and this is so true when it relates to Nigeria. He observes that Nigerian leaders delude themselves that Nigeria is a great country and argues that: “Nigeria is not a great country. It is one of the most disorderly nations in the world. It is one of the most corrupt, insensitive, inefficient places under the sun. It is one of the most expensive countries and one of those that gives least value for money. It is, dirty, callous, noisy, ostentatious, dishonest and vulgar. In short it is one of the most unpleasant places on earth!”

These two quotes highlight what the problem with Nigeria was almost three decades ago and if we move to the present the problems he identified, they are still very much in existence. We only need to look at the current condition of the Nigerian state and we see little difference in the country from 30 years ago. I believe it has a lot to do with poor leadership. We are faced with a ruling political elite that has set a very low bar about what it entails to be a leader. Examples of how bad the leadership is abound, from the grass cutting issue, the judicial and legislative mess, the blatant corruption and the increasing ethnic and religious divisions that continue to engulf the country.

Some might argue that these are not personal failings on the part of our leaders but a collective failure, but I will beg to disagree because individual failings are what are reflected in the actions of the collective. What they have done is set aside any programme, policy or act that will unite the country for the personal benefits that they gain from being in office. In any developed country (of which Nigeria is aspiring to be a part of) personal integrity remains one of the finest examples of what is expected of a leader. Unfortunately, Nigerian leaders have no integrity; rather they strive to be part of the ‘come and chop party’ at the expense of serving the greater good of the country. Also, we cannot dispute the fact that Nigeria is one of the worst places to live. It is everything Achebe noted and more. It is also slowly becoming one of the most dangerous places to live with the lives and property of citizens not safe from the twin evils of armed insurgents and state violence.

Achebe also noted that tribalism was a recurring feature of the Nigerian state and was one of its most challenging problems. With over 250 tribes (some say as much as 400), Nigeria is one of the most plural of the world’s nations and we keep hearing the usual rhetoric of how our diversity should be our strength but they are just that, rhetoric. Achebe observed that: “Tribe has been accepted one time as a friend, rejected as an enemy at another and smuggled in as an accomplice”.

Tribe was thus treated like a chameleon to suit the situation of the moment. It seems that currently in Nigeria tribe, is everyone’s accomplice, smuggled in at every opportunity. While Nigerians have at different times claimed to be detribalised, they now make no qualms about claiming tribe as the foundation for every action they take. Tribe now determines how every Nigerian determines his or her interaction in the Nigerian political, economic and social sphere. The idea of a united Nigeria is lost on many people, we have shed the pretense that there is a chance that Nigerians might one day be united under one Nigeria and we now seem to relish the prospect of a country restructured along the very tribal lines that have become more evident since independence.

We are living through a period in Nigeria’s history where the history being created is the wrong kind, not one of advancement but one of regression. But we must shoulder some of the blame for what we see happening in the country. This is because we have done nothing to change what we can rather being too invested in the things that are wrong with the country like ethnicity, corruption and religious intolerance. Nigerians are like the mute man who sees a man crossing the road unto an incoming vehicle and can do nothing to warn him, but unlike the mute who would like to speak but cannot; Nigerians can speak but chose not to as they watch this ‘great country of ours’ drift towards the precipice.

Re: Revisiting Achebe’s ‘trouble With Nigeria’ by DaniDani(m): 11:25pm On Feb 18, 2017
Great one brother.. The small book is like a micro chip with a large amount of information. The book put it clear that our problem has nothing to do with geographical location or anything else but leadership.. Funny enough, leaders are humans, our people, my relatives, your relatives.. You and I have at one point in time occupied leadership positions and left with either a commendable or condemnable mark. Our leaders are the reflection of our society, societal values and norms. Yesterday, I stumbled upon a thread, I can't really recall whether it's in the family section or not, but the op wants nairalanders to state the habits they wouldn't want their children to emulate or inherit. My dear, I was shocked to the marrow on the kinds of satanic habits people stated. In our clime, dishonesty reigns, flamboyant lifestyle is the order of the day, greediness runs in our blood. Too many evil, in fact, the devil lives here, and visits other places from here

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Re: Revisiting Achebe’s ‘trouble With Nigeria’ by Igboid: 11:39pm On Feb 18, 2017
And yet, Achebe died a Biafran at heart, for even him realized as all rational non parasitic being would, that Nigeria has no future. cool

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Re: Revisiting Achebe’s ‘trouble With Nigeria’ by cstr100: 1:12am On Feb 19, 2017
Igboid:
And yet, Achebe died a Biafran at heart, for even him realized as all rational non parasitic being would, that Nigeria has no future. cool
The old scholar and icon probably got fed up with Nigeria and saw there was no hope in sight.

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Re: Revisiting Achebe’s ‘trouble With Nigeria’ by warripekin(m): 2:56am On Feb 19, 2017
The annoying part like the analysts said,is we know the trouble with Nigeria rest squarely on poor leadership or lack of it entirely. ours is a country of pretenders. We never take anything serious a case in hand is the leadership impasse we are experiencing presently, in saner climes, an M Buhari who obviously is incapacitated to lead on health ground will have long been asked to relinquish power to his deputy so that the ship of state will carry on smoothly. But what do we have here? pretenders who will go to any length to protect their interest at the detriment of the Nigerian state. We are not just plagued and bugged down by ethnocentrism but also unfortunate to have had charlatans who are parochial and at the same time myopic in positions of leadership over the last 45 years. To remedy the situation we must holistically look at the cords that bind us and tinker with a constitution that will make leadership unattractive to men and women who are not supposed to be in leadership in the first place. Nigeria as we know it is ebbing away slowly and if nothing tangible is done to change our course then I'm afraid like yugoslavia, we will sound her death nail as a nation.

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Re: Revisiting Achebe’s ‘trouble With Nigeria’ by obaaderemi: 6:12am On Feb 19, 2017
cstr100:

The old scholar and icon probably got fed up with Nigeria and saw there was no hope in sight.
That means deep down we are all tribalistic.

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