By this time next week, Nigeria would have celebrated its 49th anniversary as an independent nation: there will be speeches, prayer sessions, the same old hollow rituals. Almost immediately after, you may expect talks about Nigeria at 50, the landmark, golden anniversary that is bound to come up in October 2010. When Ghana marked its golden jubilee in 2007, there was universal consensus that the country deserved to roll out the drums. But this year, ahead of Nigeria's 50th, what is there to celebrate? This is the same land that produced King Jaja of Opobo, Ovonramwen Nogbaisi, Othman Dan Fodio, Queen Amina, Queen Idia, Oduduwa, men and women of valour who stood for something and whose legacies have since become part of the historiography of a country that emerged long after they passed through here. But today, what have we the new generation done with the legacies of leaders past, and with all the opportunities for greatness that abound in our land? This is what should occupy our minds as we look forward to Nigeria's 49th independence anniversary, not the opportunity to award contracts, or to supply small chops at banquets, sew clothes for the emperors and their wives, not the holiday to sit at home and return to work later like our forgetful Federal Ministers after the recent Eid el Fitri holiday. The truth is that the world is passing us by. At 49, we are a nation of malcontents. When last did anyone tell a happy national story made on Nigerian soil?
I am not talking about the achievements of Nigerian-born children of other nationalities who are resident in other lands, or others who are recording breakthroughs because they are far away from this land, but something that is home-made. I can't immediately recall any striking example in the last two years. We mark the country's 49th birthday against the background of stories about rape, kidnapping, murder in broad daylight, election rigging, corruption, and general anarchy. The average Nigerian is despondent. The national mood is dour. Our country has been rebranded into a country of fraudulent bank CEOs and criminal debtors. The world used to talk about plain 419 scams, but we have now added political 419 and banking 419 to the national profile. Nothing describes our failure as a country better than the woeful performance of our national football teams in recent international tournaments.
The only thing that used to bring us joy: football: we have lost it! In 2010, the year of Nigeria's 50th anniversary, the World Cup will be held in Africa. Not in Nigeria. But in South Africa. And Nigeria may not even be there. How nice it would have been for Nigeria to win the World Cup in the year 2010. But we cannot. We cannot even host football tournaments anymore without causing other people heartaches. FIFA had to advise Nigeria to borrow a leaf from Egypt's current hosting of the U-20 youth tournament (Sept 24- Oct. 16) to learn what it needs to do to host the U-17 in October. Less than a month to that event, we are not ready. And to think that we wanted to host the 2010 World Cup, but as in everything else, we bungled that too and lost out to South Africa, obviously a better organised country.
Our representatives in Egypt played so badly on Friday, some persons felt like smashing up their television sets. Ball possession was 61%-39% in favour of Nigeria but still we lost the match 0-1 to Venezuela. We collected 4 yellow cards and one red card, Venezuela none. We may not go past the first round of the U-20 tournament. Our next match is against Spain which has trounced Tahiti 8-0. I am not too sure we can dent a hole in the Spanish defence. Other African countries in the tournament: Egypt, Cameroon, South Africa, and Ghana are likely to do better than Nigeria. The example of Ghana is particularly saddening. Nigerians used to laugh at Ghana as an inferior and small country. That was in the 70s and early 80s: the golden age of Nigerian nationhood. But today, Ghana is held up as an example that Nigeria should emulate. Ghana's democracy, education system, social infrastructure network are now pushed in our faces as representing the kind of standards we should have. Citizens and companies in Nigeria are relocating to Ghana. For us, the grass is greener on the other side, but while the neighbours watered theirs, we left ours to waste.
What happened on Friday in Egpyt says it all about Nigeria. Nigerians are very good as individuals. Each one of us can kick a ball and metaphorically, manoeuvre it but we lack team spirit. Everyone is a big man or big woman. When Chinyere Igwe, that rude member of the House of representatives told the security guard he assaulted: "Don't you know who I am?," he was voicing out a national pattern. In religion, business, the professions, and interpersonal relations, Nigerians are too ego-driven. One religious group thinks that it is better than the other, so there is a violent clash. One ethnic group resolves that it must have a better share of the national cake than others, and that leads to ethnic conflict. One political party thinks it has a divine right to hold on to power forever, and other political parties are furious, and in due course, the politicians go on a killing spree. This is why for 49 years the Nigerian conversation has been such a shouting match of egos that it ends up in violence, trickery, and the tyranny of a few privileged ones. Nonetheless, individuals have done much better than the country. Some of our people are among the best in the world: this is still the land of Olaudah Equiano, the land that produced Things Fall Apart and Chinua Achebe, the country of Wole Soyinka, a Nobel Laureate in Literature, Benjamin Olukayode Osuntokun, a World Gold Medallist in Medicine, Philip Emeagwali, winner of global distinction in supercomputing…But we can no longer fully celebrate or appreciate individual achievements because as a nation we have for 49 years lived a lie.
When Fanny Amun once said that Nigeria in a particular football tournament will "fumble and wobble" to the final, we all laughed at the phrase and we have been quoting it ever since. But the man was defining our national characteristic. For 49 years we have been "fumbling and wobbling." That is why we may not be going to the World Cup in 2010. That is why the Flying Eagles will crash out of the U-20 tournament in Egypt. It is why our President is not in New York attending the most important meeting of world leaders in the year. That is why Nigerian public universities have been shut down for more than three months and government is not bothered. That is why our politicians rig elections and turn them into life and death matters, and they call that "home-grown democracy." Which African country is in the G20? It is not Nigeria, it is South Africa. What is the Nigerian ideology? What is our collective vision of the future? Vision 2010? Vision 20: 2020? Catch-phrases do not build nations. Human beings do. All our best moments are in the past, including the old National Anthem which is better than the current "hip hop hey" anthem that nobody takes seriously. We may have recorded some sucesses in the past through our strange mode of work, but the world has since moved on. There is no room for sheer luck anymore. Global competition is stiff. There is greater emphasis on hardwork and productivity. We simply slipped off as a country.
What the Manchester United- Manchester City local derby of the other week has shown with the former scoring an extended extra-time goal to run away with a controversial 4-3 victory, is that in any match it is the referee that determines when a match is over and a race does not end until it actually ends. In the world today, even in Africa, Nigeria is not one of the referees. We are at the mercy of other referees. We can't produce and distribute enough electricity to keep our industrial sector going. We are a nation of importers. We consume anything that is made abroad, and yet all our factories are shutting down. We lack basic infrastructure to make this country modern and liveable. For 49 years we have boasted that we are the world's sixth largest producer of crude oil and because of that the country stopped being productive as all our institutions chose to rely on petrol dollar. Now, that petrol dollar may be heading elsewhere. Oil multinationals have found fuel in Chad, Ghana, and somewhere off the coast of Sierra Leone and a more conducive environment in Angola. With all the crises in the Niger Delta, Nigeria's crude oil brings too much trouble. Crude oil that we can't even refine locally for the people's benefit.
Nigerians, as a collective, are also gradually slipping into the lazy mode. We worship money, no longer skills or intellect. And yet what the crisis in the banking sector has shown is that the Nigerian nouveaux riche do not necessarily work for their money. You don't have to be clever to be rich, just be smart. A nation of a few rich men and women whose area of expertise is in beating any system at all is bound to end up with the kind of contradictions that Nigeria is faced with. American security and law enforcement agencies are looking for hundreds of Nigerians who have compromised the American system criminally. In China, Nigerians are on the death row for similar reasons. Many communities in the country have been taken over by an ever-increasing population of young criminals. Inside Africa, other Africans now deride Nigeria and its people. So should we celebrate at 49, or should we engage in a serious re-think of our national processes ahead of Nigeria's 50th birthday in 2010?
In 1960 when Nigeria became independent, 17 other countries gained independence that year: Cameroon (January 1), Senegal (April 4), Togo (May 27), Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire) (June 30), Somalia (July 1), Madagascar (July 26), Benin (August 1) , Niger (August 3), Burkina Faso (August 5), Cote d'Ivoire (August 7), Chad (August 11), Central African Republic (August 13), Congo (August 15), Cyprus (August 16), Gabon (August 17), Mali (September 22), Mauritania (November 28). October 1 is the day of Nigeria's independence, it is also a special day for the following countries: Cyprus and Tuvalu and more importantly, October 1 is China's National Day. The word independence simply means freedom. Are Nigerians free, 49 years after the British colonial masters lowered the Union Jack and the green-white-green flag was hoisted and the people danced all night long: Free at last, "thank God we are free at last?" This is the same country where journalists were once convicted and fined for daring to write during the colonial era that Nigeria will one day be a free country. Are we free? How free?
Look at all the countries with which we share the symbolism of 1960 and October 1. It can be said that most of them are better than Nigeria in terms of development indicators. On October 1 in China, the Chinese will be singing their country's national anthem and reviewing national progress and achievements, and the place of China in the world, many Nigerians will be busy frowning and hissing and wondering what independence means after all. Nigeria is rated among the poorest countries of the world. It is also regarded as one of the most corrupt. Its human devlopment index is low, given the frightening statistics on maternal mortality/morbidity, as well as infant mortality/morbidity and life expectancy ratios. We are, to borrow a phrase from Adebayo Williams, "a land of living ghosts." Cynics would say well it is not so bad, after all we are better than Somalia, Congo, and Gabon, and we are still the most populous and happiest country in Africa. Yeah, how about Cote d'Ivoire, Benin, Cameroon, Senegal, Tuvalu, Togo where the quality of life is much better in comparison? And should we be comparing Nigeria with Mali and Mauritania? What has happened to the country of Ahmadu Bello, Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Funlayo Ransome-Kuti, Fela, Ayodele Awojobi, Ben Okri, that at 49, we have to search for happy stories to tell in form of present realities and not as past achievements or untapped potentials?
In a situation such as this, a few Nigerians will ask: what should we do? We all know what is wrong with Nigeria but how do we move it forward? Quo vadis? These are stale questions. The problem with Nigeria is not about knowing what to do: the solutions are embedded in the identifiable problems, it is gettting the right people in the right positions who are willing to make a difference. Ours is, 49 years after independence, a country in search of patriots and citizens. The leaders are incompetent, the people are complex, the country itself is a question mark. The challenge is in all of us rediscovering the purpose of nationhood: Why Nigeria?
