Being a paper presented by Mr. Lekan Akinosho at Lecture organised by the National Association of Seadogs, Canada in Toronto on Sunday, 12th December 2004.
Members of the National Association of Seadogs
Ladies and Gentlemen:
It is with a deep sense of satisfaction, humility and trepidation that I am delivering this paper. First and foremost, let me use this medium to express my profound gratitude to members of National Association of Seadogs (NAS) in Canada, for taking this initiative of organizing the first Nigerian public lecture in Toronto as far as some of us are aware. It is sad and unfortunate that the association that should be the fulcrum and vanguard of this kind of forum, the Nigerian Canadian Association (NCA), has completely failed and derailed or simply put, not served any purpose in its responsibilities to Nigerians if we want to go by their so called aims and objectives.
Be that as it may, let us now try to put in perspective the topic of today which is, IS NIGERIA A FAILED STATE? This topic itself is a thesis but I shall try and limit myself to the fundamentals and objects for us to appreciate or come to a consensus. I have specifically chosen this topic due to the fact that since independence, we have been searching and experimenting on the way forward for Nigeria or what Marxists-Leninist may call what is to be done, an urgent political question?
When Historians and Socio-Political Scientists talk about failed states, they are simply talking about a measure or ability by which a state is able to deliver political goods, either for positive or negative way. Here is the hierarchy of some political goods;
- Security – This is the state's primary function. It provides a framework through which all other political goods can be delivered.
- Law- A system of codes and procedures which regulate the interactions of the population and sets the standards for conduct.
- Medical and Health Care, Schools and Educational institution, critical infrastructure.
- A good Monetary and banking system.
- A conducive business environment.
- An appropriate forum for civil society.
- A method of regulating environmental commons.
Strong States are in full control of their territories and provide high quality political goods to their citizens. They perform well in GDP per capital.
On the other hand, weak states contain ethnic, religious, linguistic, or other tension that limit or decrease its ability to deliver political goods. Interestingly, the privatization of education and health care is a sign of state weakness. Corruption is common and pervasive. The rule of law is weakly applied and despots rule with impunity.
Failed States provide very little political goods and security is non-existence. The economic infrastructure has failed, the health care is in permanent state of decline and inflation is ever soaring, corruption flourishes and food shortages are chronic phenomenon.
NIGERIA WITHIN THIS CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
The politics of colonial domination and exploitation produced an antithesis. This antithesis was the politics of liberation which propelled anti-colonial struggle. As every politics is underpinned by an ideology, the ideology of liberation was counter posed to that of colonial exploitation. (Rodney, 1974; Ake, 1978; Babu, 1981; Asiegbo, 1984).
The major forces against British colonial exploitation were those of the working people, the youth, peasant, women and their genuine allies among the intelligentsia and professionals. The driving force for the sacrifices that these patriotic segments of British colonial subjects made was the promise of freedom from colonial exploitation, sovereignty of the Nigerian people and the promise of using that sovereignty to create better conditions of life, to partake in, and enjoy cultural vibrancy through democratic deployment, distributions and use of their resources.
But as it happened in many colonial territories, the process of decolonization ensured that the leaders of the post- colonial state in Nigeria will be collaborators of imperialism. Consequently, the contradictions between the interests of the indigenous class which inherited the colonial state and the interests of the oppressed who bore the brunt of colonial exploitation created according to Ake (1978:p.77)
…strong revolutionary-pressures against the
maintenance of the existing exploitative class
relationship and hence pressures against the very
survival of the African bourgeoisie.
Having committed itself to a vision of replacing colonial relationships with a relationship of exploitation to be supervised and dominated by its members, the Nigerian heirs of the colonial state proceeded to use their massive political power to facilitate their economic and material base using, necessarily, legal, illegal, orthodox and unorthodox means of accumulation.
The Nigerian political crisis therefore, has its ultimate origins in neo-colonialism as circumscribed above. This is because the need for the ruling class to create and entrench its material base under neo- colonial imperialist exploitation led to intra- class contradictions within the ruling class and inter-class conflicts with interests of the oppressed masses of Nigeria.
In negotiating its relationship with imperialism as weaker partner masquerading as a pseudo capitalist albeit a lumpen element, the ruling class makes and wins concessions depending on various factors. For example, during the oil boom of the mid- 1970s, the unprecedented level of primitive private accumulation of capital emboldened the Nigerian ruling class not only to promote government participation in strategic industries like oil but to generally use various 'indigenization' instruments like the Nigerian Enterprises Promotion Decree of 1972, or insistence on replacement of expatriate personnel in senior positions to further their insatiable accumulation instinct. At other times, however, when the senior partners in the neo colonial enterprises (IMF, World Bank and the multinationals) seize the initiative, the Nigerian bourgeoisie are hood- winked, persuaded or forced to succinctly enact their agency roles. This is what has existed since the late 1970s and especially during the eighties and nineties when the so called 'indigenized enterprises' was used a conduit to open up the Nigerian economy for looting in the name of investment by non- Nigerians and their organizations with the Nigerian ruling class fronting as agents. It is particularly important to note that most of the ideologues of economic nationalism and massive public spending of the 70s made their primitive accumulation at that time as the various probes indicting military governors, top civil servants and civilian politicians of the Second Republic. A substantial part of this generation of economic nationalists also turned around to become the protagonists of SAP or what the late musical legend Fela Anikulapo called 'Suck African People' and imperialist led economic liberalism from 1980 till date.
The structural Adjustment Program (SAP) as an instrument of imperialist manipulation and control of the economies of developing nations caught the attention of Nigerians immediately after the military coup of December 31, 1983. Its origins coincided with the seizure of the initiative from Nigerian ruling class following the oil boom of the 1970s and pursuit of an IMF loan which began just about the beginning of the Second Republic in 1979 under General Obasanjo's military regime and Shagari's civilian regime. Since then, various attempts were made to curtail the welfare programs leading to the commercialization of education for example, and imposition of austerity measures (1981-1982), pursuant to persuading the international finance capital that the Nigeria ruling class was serious about conditions for the IMF loan.
We all remembered the Alli Must Go crisis of 1978 and the mass sacking of radical lecturers by Obasanjo. When Obasanjo fraudulently handed power to the National Party of Nigeria, we all saw the charade of programs under President Shagari and his ruling elites with their so called 'ONE NATION, ONE DESTINY' However, we still had a booming economy and our foreign exchange rate was very strong but we never planned for the future. A trip to Europe then was just 200 naira, and Nigerians never emigrated to abroad to stay but for further studies or summer holidays.
If the root cause of the origin of the National Question cannot be exactly located, one can at least say that it started rearing its ugly head under General Ibrahim Babaginda (THE EVIL GENIUS) regime. When he took over power through a palace coup, he sought to buy legitimacy for itself through the following;
1. Commitment to revive the economy
2. Commitment to hand over to civilian administration; and
3. Commitment to fundamental rights.
To achieve the first, the Structural Adjustment Program was imposed on the populace. Of course we all know the purported aims of SAP namely; to diversify the economy, reduce Nigeria's dependence on foreign goods, strengthen the Naira and reduce inflation. During his years of misrule, none of these were achieved as the naira was much devalued and we seriously depended on oil for over 90% of our revenue. The market was flooded with all sorts of foreign goods and 40 % of all foreign income went to the servicing of the 33 billion dollar fraudulently acquired foreign debt. The regime's human rights record was so alarming. So many human rights activists, student activists, journalists, labour leaders and marxists were detained or jailed under the obnoxious Decree 2.
It is true that no government in Nigeria, civilian or military, had negatively affected the lives of Nigerians like the Babangida regime. At the same time, no section of the Nigerian society had the lives of its members so devastated by the Babangida regime. A few reminders:
- The dissolution of the Ali Ciroma executive and the illegal occupation of the headquarters of the Nigerian Labor Congress (NLC). For almost a year, this period was used to render the NLC useless before handing it over to its stooges.
- The life imprisonment of the striking NEPA workers by the miscellaneous offences tribunal, to teach workers a lesson.
- The ban on worker May Day Rallies.
- The proscription of several trade unions and student bodies.
- The massive retrenchment of workers which reached the highest level in the history of Nigeria.
- The cold- blooded murder of many striking workers and the detention of others demonstrating against SAP in 1988, 89 and 92.
In 1985, one British pound exchanged for two naira; the monthly minimum wage then of 125 naira was worth 65 British pounds. When he left power, the minimum wage of 250 naira was worth only about 3.3 British pounds which was the minimum daily wage of the average British worker.
Throughout his tenures, Nigerians were so oppressed; their collective interests and aspirations were trampled upon. He dared the Nigerian people by imposing himself on us against our collective wish. He completely breached faith with the Nigerian nation by reneging on his promises. He confirmed that he is never to be trusted. When he stepped aside after annulling the best election in Nigeria, which the late chief M.K.O Abiola won, his axe- man and comrade in arms, late General Sani Abacha, waited just for six months and forced the lame duck Ernest Shonekan interim government to resign. It was a time Nigeria became a pariah state, and he tried to undo his predecessors by looting and stealing our national resources worth billions of naira and foreign currencies. There is still a litigation going on in Britain and Switzerland on how to recover the stolen loots. He outdid his colleagues in the manner of killings and murder of innocent Nigerians and massive suppression of the media.
NIGERIA ON THE MARCH AGAIN THROUGH OUR OWN POLITICAL STRUGGLE
The forces that brought President Obasanjo aka Balogun of Owu into power was a culmination of political struggles fought against the military, that felt ENOUGH was ENOUGH now, and pronounced NEVER AGAIN. But the military elites through their political collaborators manipulated him into power on May 29, 1999.The process which ushered in the current civilian government was a militarized one, marked by the restriction of political participation, absence of working process- led constitution and the unabating violation of the rights of citizens.
Since the civilian government came to power under OBJ, we have been plagued by unceasing, unending, excruciating and heart- rending fuel scarcity, food shortage, geometric increase in rate of inflation and other ills. The conditions of citizens appear bleak based on the fact that the crop of leadership that the nation has, are mindless and more vicious in their thieving and looting habits. No doubt, the fragile structure upon which the fourth republic was laid is now fast decaying- in the absence of a re-invention of the state which the Sovereign National Conference would have achieved. The President is caught by his abysmal ignorance of modern people- oriented state engineering. He has become a mere pawn in the hands of lay- tongued officials of international finance capital as represented by the World Bank, Paris Club and the International Monetary Fund.
HAVE NIGERIANS FARED BETTER UNDER OBASANJO?
Today Nigerians are saddled with a President who is ignorant of their plights. He does not know that the poor man in Nigeria has been suffering since 1999. When he assumed office in 1999, a bag of rice was about 2000 naira; it is as costly as 7000; in 1999, a 'congo'of garri was 59 naira; today it is 130 naira; in 1999; a bottle of palm oil was 40 naira; today it is 110 naira; a bag of cement in 1999 was 300 naira; today it is 1,000 naira. Just two months ago, his own Minister of Employment, Labour and Productivity, Hassan Lawal, told a meeting of African Ministers in Burkina Faso that, up to 70.2 per cent of Nigerian population, which is 89 million Nigerians, is living in abject poverty on less than one dollar per day.
During the presentation of the draft Masterplan for the Niger Delta, Obasanjo was asked about the African Development Bank (ADB) report which stated that the poverty rate in Nigeria was 70 per cent, his remark was that 'although there is poverty in the urban areas, there could not be abject poverty in the rural communities' He went further to say that 'there is virtually nobody in our rural areas, as far as I know that does not know what he will eat tomorrow morning' He then waxed statically: 'Now, there is poverty, yes. We had 42 per cent poverty rate in 1992, and, by 1996, we went up to 70 per cent. We haven't had an epidemic; we haven't had four years of drought' This manner of speaking is reminiscent of Alhaji Umaru Dikko, a Minister of Transportation in the Second Republic, who, while expressing shock at the suggestion that there was poverty in the land, asked to know if Nigerians had begun to eat from the dustbin.
Few days to the nation's 44th Independence anniversary, the administration in its usual manner decided to raise the prices of petroleum products for the ninth time from 42.50/ 43.90 naira to 52.00/ 55.00 naira. It shows that the government is totally insensitive to the plight of its people.
Recently also, the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Mallam Nasir el Rufai was involved in wrong doing in the remuneration of his special assistants and for passing off a female youth corper as World Bank expert. The youth corper involved was Miss Aishat Kolo and was paid the sum of 10 million naira.
Again the lid was blown over how the Minister of Agriculture, Mallam Adamu Bello, fraudulently connived with Indians to over inflate fertilizer contract in excess of 32 billion naira this year. The contract which had an initial value of 1.938 billion naira ended up being inflated and awarded at 3.2 billion naira. The response of Bello to this fraud was that the 'extra cost incurred on arrival at the port through bagging, transportation, surcharging for duty and clearing'.
This nonsense is not over. At the last convocation ceremony of University of Benin, The President's wife, Mrs. Stella Obasanjo, who is the so called first lady or better put the 'Iya Oge' of Owu, had the temerity to donate the sum of 200,000 naira on behalf of the federal government to the best graduating student. Can somebody tell us where or what constitution she derives her power from to spend our money. The same goes to other local first ladies. Just few months ago, Obasanjo donated millions of dollars to Ghana and Cape Verde to assist in their economy. When he was challenged by the National Assembly, he told them to shut up. When he assumed office, he promised Nigerians that in less than four years, he will turn around NEPA for the best. But till date, billions of naira have been spent and Nigerians are yet to witness regular power supply and what they get is total darkness. There is this lady friend of mine, who just came back from Lagos, and she told me about the light out that occurred in Aso rock and the reaction of Nigerians was that if such can happen there, then who are they to complain. This is the second term of OBJ and he has not been able to revamp NEPA but NEPA has been able to revamp him.
No doubt, we are blessed by God with abundant resources that we do not need to disturb Him for more. But due to high corruption, stealing and mismanagement, we are ranked as one of the poorest countries in the world despite being ranked seven exporter of petroleum. Let it be noted that my country Nigeria is not poor, is not underdeveloped but under managed by what committee of defence of human rights, in its latest newsletter called VANDALS IN POWER. Some of us have stopped singing the national anthem and pledge a long time ago which starts with 'Arise o compatriot, Nigerians call to obey'. Obey what? When those who made the laws do not obey the laws. Or they tell us 'I pledge to Nigeria to be faithful loyal and honest' What faithfulness and honesty are we talking about when the leaders are not honest? Good luck to those who recite the anthem and the pledge.
According to the recent report of World Trade Press on Nigeria, it said 'The oil- rich Nigerian economy, long hobbled by political instability, corruption, and poor mismanagement, is yet to undergo any economic reform under the new civilian administration. It has failed to diversify the economy away from over dependence on capital intensive oil sector, which provides 20 per cent of our GDP, 95 per cent of our foreign exchange earnings, and about 65 per cent of budgetary revenues. The largely subsistence agricultural sector has failed to keep up with rapid population growth, and Nigeria once a large net exporter of food, now must import food'.
What is happening to that country is arrogance of ignorance as exhibited by OBJ. He arrogates to himself the overriding knowledge of governance and the populace in what the Yoruba call 'Odes' or fools. The various players of the regime from local up to the national level only deepened their material and personal corruption, There is virtually nobody in Nigeria's public service that does not see his or her position as a divine opportunity to solve personal problems at the expense of the larger society. The phrase to describe Nigeria is 'oro buruku pelu erin' which means laughing over a tragic story. Or what my friend Dr. Dipo Busari calls comedy or 'awada'.
On a final note, what is the human rights record of this administration? This is what the Washington based Human Rights Watch has to say in its 48 page special report on human rights situation in Nigeria. It said 'Since the coming to power of President Olusegun Obasanjo, real or perceived critics and opponents of the government had been arrested, detained, ill- treated and subjected to all forms of harassment and intimidation. Brutal measures have been used to repress peaceful expression. In extreme cases, the government's reaction to dissent or protest has resulted in extra- judicial killing' It went on to state that, most of these violations have been carried out by members of the Nigerian Police Force, in some cases on the direct instructions of senior officials, in other cases the representatives have been members of the intelligence services known as the SSS. 'The victims have included journalists, human rights activists, supporters of opposition political parties, and other political activists'
Going by all these, I will pose the question to this honorable and conscious audience, IS NIGERIA A FAILED STATE?
Lekan Akinosho
