:::::::::Nigeria Horizon:::::::: Alternative news for national development

I looked around at what is going on all over Africa; I have come to a conclusion that, we are the worst enemies of ourselves. After so many years of “Flag Independence, we still remain in the woods, we have economies that are faltering, systems that are unworkable and leaders that are archaic in their approaches to issues with bravado of stone age dictators, with so many opportunities squandered and chances missed, we need an urgent and drastic change beyond a cosmetic one that is prescribed by the powers that be, or else we shall remain perpetually underdeveloped, uncivilized and doomed as a people. We started in a hole, but our leaders are digging it even further by their actions and inactions.

According to Thomas Hobbes, we still live in the natural state, where life is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short". People grow up and reach adulthood by accident; there are 8 out of 10 chances that an African would die young either by road accident, treatable and preventable illnesses or through man-made fratricidal senseless wars that are widespread all over Africa! Professor Leo Dare, the Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria in his Inaugural Lecture Series 94, said that, the hopes of the departing colonial masters were dashed because, “…………most of these countries are not developing or emerging into anything recognizable but have become fertile grounds for the activities of the dreaded men on the horseback” may be I can add “dreaded men wielding machineguns”.

In African democracies, incumbent rarely loose elections, also where incumbent wins elections fair and square, results are usually disputed then, bitterly and fiercely contested, violence, vendetta, and vandalism are always easy choices for both victor and the vanquished. Seat-tight syndrome and hegemonial tendencies are our leaders’ trademarks, these people careless about the welfare of their people. The state is treated as an extension of their personal estates, little wonder then that, one old infamous governor in the northern part of Nigeria, when a large amount of money was found in his official residence once said, “it is government money in government house”, so why the hue and cry about keeping government money in government house! Even when his people are jobless, no education and no hope, who cares? As long as is not any of their family members, it is fun and business as usual. We still have a long way to go, we have not even starte. I am even more desperately furious with these leaders, because, they travel out to western world at every flimsy chance, they bought properties in posh areas of North America and Europe, yet, they are unabashed about the condition of their people and in the way they portray their countries and the people therein. What image of Africa do we see on international media? What we see are people that are malnourished, ravaged by diseases, kwashiorkor and HIV, orphans, deprived people looking emaciated, un-kept and basically the leaving dead!

On January 1st, I called my Professor, and we were talking about political, social and economic malaises that have engulfed Nigeria and other parts of Africa, we concluded that, the remedy would have to be deep-rooted, messy and drastic. The Prof. said the panacea is not what one can talk about in the first day of a new year and I agreed with him because unusual situations in which we find ourselves required unusual and unconventional remedies. There is really no reason why Africans should be living the way we live in the 21st century, with successful models left right and centre to copy from. After deep and emotional reflection, I believe that something must be pathologically wrong with us or may be our problems bother on malediction, otherwise, there is no reason why we should tolerate the crop of leaders that we have in Africa. They appear to be a different species of people from another planet. I know Africans to be very resourceful, resilient, tolerant and benevolent, but our leaders are everything but all of the above virtues. I think we are tolerant to a fault, but I don’t think that we deserve the type of leadership we have in African states at the moment. They are fortunate to have faithful followers like us, but we are so much unfortunate to have them at the elms of our affairs. Without any fear of contradiction, these leaders are hypocritical, malevolent and malignant, even they are deadlier than cancer, and only a few of them could be exonerated. They show no compassion at the plight of their suffering people, people are treated like a mere makeweight with absolutely no value, all they think about is to stuff their pocket and their foreign accounts with as much money as they could lay their hands on, some of them are 4 times richer than their countries, once in power, they would not relinquish unless by force. They hold on to power even if it costs thousand of lives; they are willing to step on people’s blood into their presidential palaces, no qualms, as long as they remain in power.

We have to get rid of these prodigal leaders either by exorcism or by physical act of reprisals. Africans have suffered untold hardships in the hands of the very people who should protect and provide enabling environment for them. For a lot of people that have passion for their roots, especially Africans abroad, it is a huge burden on our soul, spirit and psyche to see all the acts of violence and brigandage that are commonplace in a vast part of Africa. We encourage these leaders by our patronage and nonchalance.
The time has come for all Africans to get involved and develop a participant political culture, ask questions and hold their leaders accountable. This should be a dream that we must nurture to reality during this decade.