Nigeria hangs precariously on a cliff about to fall off, but the amazing thing about her condition is that she has been in this dangerous position for more than four decades only to keep hanging…..but the question is, for how long?


Let me start by asking, what can we really say is practically wrong with our leaders? Where did they get it all wrong? Are we destined to fail right from the onset? Is there another place we can call home besides this highly blessed country? Is it not a stark irony that Nigeria is rich, yet most Nigerians are poor? If this entity called Nigeria should break-up, are we really going to benefit or regret the aftermaths? It must be noted and I stand to be corrected, that of all the nations of this Blue-Green-Brown Planet, only the United States and the Russian Federation ranks higher than Nigeria in the concentration of non renewable natural resources. Non renewable resources are those in limited supply that cannot be replaced or can be replaced only over extremely long periods of time, e.g. Fossil fuels (oil and gas) and other mineral deposits. Virtually, everything that qualifies a country to be a RICH country is present in this country. We are Nigerians by virtue of cosmic destiny as designed by Divine Providence; hence, I am proud to be a Nigerian!

Straight to the point, I have been watching the chain of events in this country for more than 20 years now, and I cannot but lament that it is a country ravished by the spirit of confusion in all spheres; family cycles, places of worships, places of works, government cycles and so on. We have experimented with parliamentary democracy (Tafawa Balewa), military government (Aguiyi-Ironsi, Yakubu Gowon, Murtala Mohammed, Olusegun Obasanjo, Buhari, Babangida, Abacha, Abdulsalam), Confederacy (Odumegwu Ojukwu), democracy (that supports more of unitary system other than federal system) – (Shagari, Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan), pseudo-republic, oligarchy, totalitarianism, capitalism, mixed economy and free-market economy. Obviously, I don’t need any soothsayer to tell me that these are off shoots of a confused State. The present one we are even practicing now is so multi-coloured that a “Professor of Politics and Government” and Political Analyst will be so confused to really classify our current system of government. It is that serious!

Obviously, democracy is too expensive for Nigeria to run! We need to chart a new system of government that will take us to the Promised Land before it is too late (our break up). Parliamentary democracy was handed over to us by our Colonial Masters, we only experimented with it for just 6 years and we lost it all. Right from1960 till now, if we are to take into considerations the level of ‘additions’ and ‘subtractions’ in infrastructural developments, people-oriented policies and political savvy on the part of our leaders it is very glaring that the ‘subtractions’ are on the high side. We should stop deceiving ourselves, we are no where near these developed nations let alone practicing their systems of government, it is not too late to sit down now and draw out a blueprint that will fashion out a “system of government” that will take us out of the woods. This multi-coloured thing we called democracy is not real either in theory or practice. A democracy that annually waste trillions of naira on unnecessary allowances of over 11,700 inept government officials (Presidency to Councillors) will take us nowhere. A democracy that switch between unitary systems, oligarchy, totalitarianism anytime bounties are to be shared at the top level (central government) and federal systems anytime thorny and sensitive issues (like fuel subsidy removal, rise in taxations etc) arise is too multi-coloured to be taken seriously. A democracy that will embrace capitalism now and in the next moment is romancing free market economy and mixed economy in the area of commerce is a sign of multi-coloured democracy.
Unarguably, if we are to look at the theoretical definitions of any political systems of governments (democracy, communism, socialism etc) anywhere in the world, no country is innocent of practically executing the tenets of these systems. The truth is, most of them at a point in their history sat down, designed a framework in which these systems berthed, and hence, it’s working for them. China for instance has been with Communism since the time of Chairman Mao Zedong in the late 1940s now they are globally recognized as emerging world power, that is a country with serious-minded leaders that have focus, India has been experimenting with Parliamentary democracy and it’s working for them despite being desperately poor at Independence (unlike Nigeria that was rich at Independence), Ghana (a black nation like us) just got their acts together recently now they are ahead of Nigeria economically! South Africa is an epitome of virtually everything good in the area of commerce and politics as far as Africa is concerned. But where do we stand? Refineries are left for dead or performing at abysmal level and we have paraded leaders who have experimented with anything in system of governments except for Communism and Socialism yet we have not fair well – this is sad! I don’t want to suggest any system of government but I can declare boldly that we cannot really apply this democracy to bail out ourselves from this quagmire – This democracy of ours gives room for more V.I.P (Vagabonds in Power), and more thieves the more reason we can’t lift up ourselves! This democracy does not suit us at all; it is more of an Oligarchy (selected leaders who really don’t care about the masses). The danger lurking around the corner is break-up except we rise to the occasion. If Nigeria falls, it will be too disastrous. We have been hanging on this weak cliff for too long – danger looms!

Don’t tell me nothing is wrong with the “removal of fuel subsidy”, I tell you what, more than one thousand and one things are wrong with it. Yar’Adua returned Obasanjo’s =N=75 ‘fuel subsidy’ to =N=65 remember? The question I want to ask Jonathan is this, who are the people he intends to use to manage the supposed =N=1.2 trillions he hopes to realize from the ‘removal of fuel subsidy’? Is it not these same criminal-minded government clowns – we called leaders, whose hobbies range from; rigorous Fuji-dancing, car-racing (with more than 10 exotic cars in a convoy), womanizing, drunkenness, wild-partying, unnecessary and fruitless globe-trotting, over-eating, over-dressing, embezzling of public funds, oppressing the masses, materialistic tendencies, lying and coveting. I am more than convinced that democracy can never (trust me it can’t) work in this country (the basis of this piece) under this current trend of no contingency plans! I have realized that a democracy lined with capitalism (a system that gives room for wide gap between the rich and the poor), a mixture of free-market (a system that encourages high-handedness from the elite class) and mixed economies (a system that makes government officials over-bearing on the masses) coupled with a blend of oligarchy (selected leaders who neglect their constituencies), totalitarianism (submission to the will of PDP led government and their President) and still trying to fix power, build good roads, with negative balance of payment, parading extremely corrupt leaders, defective constitution, soaring unemployment rates, lack of basic amenities, systemic collapse in all spheres of governments, insecurities at his highest, adumbrated blueprints with no connection to welfare packages, moribund refineries and the likes is nothing but a big joke. This Ship of State is definitely heading for the rocks; the indices are there for all to see except for the blind (our so-called leaders)!

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a country is the yardstick for measuring how rich and poor a country is. It is the broadest measure of aggregate economic activity and encompasses every sector of the economy or simply put, the total value of goods and services produced in a country. If GDP grows at a higher rate than the population, standards of living are said to be rising. If the population is growing at a higher rate than GDP, living standards are said to be falling. Think about this, there has not been any reasonable change in our GDP right from 1960 at least when one put into consideration the exchange rate. For instance, our balance-of-payments problem was revealed in the foreign trade figures for 1960. In that year exports were valued at £161,000,000 and imports at £215,000,000. Thus, there was a trade deficit of over £50,000,000, compared to about £20,000,000 in 1959 and £31,000,000 in 1958. Is it different from what we have today? Are we not spending more on imports than what we realize from exports? In the year 1958 it was on record that, Nigeria was the world's largest exporter of groundnuts, palm oil, and palm kernels, but what is our story today? In today’s world the GDP is based on 3 sub-units namely; (i) Agriculture, forestry and fishing; (ii) Industry (manufacturing, mining, construction and transportation) and (iii) Services (sector catering for small and medium scale industries - entrepreneurs).

[b]Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by Economic Sector

Countries GDP (as at 2006) Agriculture, forestry and fishing Industry Services
Nigeria $115.3 billion 23.3 percent (2005) 56.8 percent (2005) 19.9 percent (2005)
Ghana $12.9 billion 37.4 percent (2006) 25.4 percent (2006) 37.2 percent (2006)
India $911.8 billion 17.5 percent (2006) 27.9 percent (2006) 54.6 percent (2006)
China $2.6 trillion 12 percent (2006) 48 percent (2006) 40 percent (2006)
South Africa $255.2 billion 2.7 percent (2006) 30.9 percent (2006) 66.4 percent (2006)
Japan $4.4 trillion 1.7 percent (2004) 30.2 percent (2004) 68.1 percent (2004)
Russia $986.9 billion 4.9 percent (2006) 39.4 percent (2006) 55.8 percent (2006)
Germany $2.9 trillion 1 percent (2006) 30 percent (2006) 69.1 percent (2006)
U.K $2.4 trillion 0.9 percent (2006) 24.1 percent (2006) 75 percent (2006)
United States $13.2 trillion 1.3 percent (2004) 22 percent (2004) 76.7 percent (2004)[/b]

Note: A higher percentage in service over industry is a sign of a growing and matured economy while a higher percentage in industry over service is a sign of an ailing economy.

To move forward in the right direction, we definitely need leaders who will take government as a call to serve and not to be served. The above table is a sign that governance is serious business and not bed of roses as exhibited by our leaders right from Independence. We need a system of government where the wealth of this country will not be in the hands of just 3% of us. We need a system where we don’t have to be pampering myriads of figure-heads officials wasting public funds doing nothing. We need a working constitution that will streamline government spending on government officials to a reasonable level and also encourage punitive measures for corrupt government officials. We need a system where more refineries will be added to the existing ones and the existing ones are revamped. We need good roads, constant power supply, more jobs, good rail systems, working airways and ports systems, development of agriculture and regulations of prices of agricultural products, appropriate taxation, good salary and remuneration packages, adequate disbursement of pensions, strict monitoring of petroleum and other mineral resources developments, equipping the financial institutions against inefficiencies, encouraging more small and medium scale enterprises, prioritizing security at all levels including borders, proper maintenance of infrastructures and spirit of continuity, good food and fruits storage systems nationwide, vibrant fishing industries must be encouraged in all the coastal states, genuine support to farmers through mechanized farming, textile industries to be revived nationwide, proper and adequate funding of the educational sectors, and a rich balance of trade with a positive balance of payment. Good governance bereft of corrupt government officials and financial recklessness in all spheres of government will surely take us there but not this “multi-coloured system of government” we called DEMOCRACY!

This is the tale of a Country with a “Multi-Coloured System of Government” still hanging precariously on a cliff but this time around I know for sure one thing will happen, it’s either she falls over or adjust herself. I pray for the latter!

Nice write up

trillville: Nice write up

appreciate