A Man of the People 2.

Once again, it is scandal season in Nigeria- the revelation of one government scandal after the other has become a yearly event-. I can safely say that Nigeria has witnessed all manners of government corruption that possibly exists. In case you missed it, the latest scandals are the capital market probe, pension fraud and fuel subsidy scam. We can also add Boko Haram to the list as it is now clear it is a political issue and not a Muslim North vs Christian North issue.

This segues to the second lesson of a Man of the People- the problem of leadership. The story of Chief Nanga is a story of Nigerian leaders and politicians. It is a story of the greed and corruption that follows their assumption of power. By leaders I mean elected/selected officials, technocrats in government and political appointees- anyone responsible for public decision-making. It seems that because there are no structured institutions and systems, Nigerian leaders have an “everyman for himself” mentality. Odili in 1966 blames this on the fact that Nigeria is a newly minted country where levels of wealth had not yet risen.

 As Odili states: "We ignore man's basic nature if we say, as some critics do, that because a man like Nanga has risen overnight from poverty and insignificance to his present opulence he could be persuaded without much trouble to give it up again and return to his original state.  A man who has just come in from the rain and dried his body and put on dry clothes is more reluctant to go out again than another who has been indoors the whole time.  The trouble with our new nation as I saw it then lying on that bed was that none of us had been indoors long enough to be able to say, to hell with it.  We had all been in the rain together until yesterday." 

However, Nigeria’s recycled leaders and their cronies have been out of the rain for so long that it is really time for them to say “to hell with it” and do something concrete like getting other citizens out of the rain. One cliché the OWS protest is “one day the poor would have nothing to eat but the rich”. Well, because Nigerians are not falling into levels of poverty and discontent at the same rate (i.e some people are well off than others and really have no reason to complain), a revolution may not literally occur but as we are already witnesses to, we are gradually declining into a state of anarchy and those out of the rain are no longer safe.

One would think that the avoidable deaths of government officials like Abdulkarim Adisa, Ishaya Aku, and President Yar’Adua due to  road accidents and lack of healthcare facilities would be a wake up call to others in their shoes. Surprisingly this is not the case. May be our leaders think they are invincible. If you know someone that knows someone that is in government tell them to make their time count and do what is right because no condition is permanent. Let them ask people others who “were in charge” yesterday. They can start with the those ousted in the 2011 elections.

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A Man of the People 1.

I remember reading “A man of the people” by Chinua Achebe when I was in SS3. For some reason that book has stuck with me. I think about Nigeria and I remember a “Man of the People”. To my mind, the book is a must read (i.e: go get a copy or borrow from a library). Though Achebe wrote the book in 1966, the story still rings true in 2012. For all its chauvinistic flaws, there are many lessons to be learnt from the book and this post is my first sermon.

In the book Odili (the co- protagonist) recognizes the ironic nature of our system-where we know the misdeeds of politicians especially with public funds yet we rationalize their actions. He said “As I stood in the corner of that vast tumult waiting for the arrival of the minister, I felt intense bitterness welling up in my mouth. Here were silly ignorant villagers dancing themselves lame and waiting to blow off their gun powder in honor of one of those who had started the country off down the slopes of inflation. I wished for a miracle, for a voice of thunder to hush this ridiculous crowd and tell the poor contemptuous people one or two truths. But of course it would be quite useless. They were not only ignorant but cynical. Tell them that this man had used his position to enrich himself and they would ask you- as my father did- if you thought that a sensible man would spit out the juicy morsel that good fortune placed in his mouth”. 

The only difference between Nigerians and the villagers is that we know those who enrich themselves corruptly but say things like “at least he/she is working”,  “if you get there you would do the same”, “that is the way our system is… it is not the people”. Some people even argue that the Bible says that you eat from where you work! (In all the Bible translations I have read, I am still looking for that verse). Last week, Delta State government’s comment on the Ibori sentencing was that “it is a private matter”. Really! The man stole money that belongs to the people of Delta State. 

 As a people, we cannot move forward if we encourage greed and dishonesty. Considering the outrage against PDP in January, it was surprising that PDP won re-elections in Kebbi, Bayelsa, Cross River, Adamawa and Sokoto States. What does this say about us? This tells me that we "love" the people that lead us. We encourage our politicians to be corrupt and not do as they should when we do not hold them accountable by voting out those who do not perform. We encourage our politicians to be corrupt when we expect and demand that they pay our children school fees, cater for our parties and attend to our sundry needs. We encourage them to be corrupt when we roll out congratulatory adverts for them in return for future favors. We encourage them to be corrupt when we arrange thanksgiving services and chieftaincy titles for the newly appointed. We forget that the system of waiting for your turn i.e. waiting for your person to get there so you can have your share of the “national cake” is not sustainable. For instance, "my person" is in government for 8 years. After his/her turn is over, what then? We insult and ridicule politicians who are not corrupt and want to go by the book. I can never forget the accusations against Chief Bisi Akande when he was governor of Osun State. His crime was he was too honest and he got voted out of power. We praise people who are corrupt and cry witch hunting and tribalism if a “our person” is accused of corruption. It is amazing the way corruption is defended and saddening that clerics have joined the bandwagon. 

 Why do we encourage our politicians to be corrupt? We do it because we are selfish and we support selfishness. Case in point: in the book was when Odili was campaigning against Chief Nanga and the police men in the village said they would support Chief Nanga because they “get some crumbs” from him. 

 We need to do away with this selfishness-what-is-in-it-for-me, leave-as-is-I-am – enjoying attitude. There are ways we can address this problem of selfishness. First as individuals we need to rethink our idea of self interest and may be develop “enlightened self interest” if not for anything but to save the decadence already caused by the need to know somebody before a service, a job, a contract, or a scholarship can be secured. There is a peace of mind that comes from knowing that a system is fair and just. Secondly, as a very religious people who are quick to call God into everything. Our clerics need to take a stance on corruption and walk their talk. It is not just preaching against corruption, it is refusing to honour and acknowledge people those who are corrupt. Maybe then who lead us would realize that they do not have to steal public funds for their fourth generation. 

 On another note: It is commendable that people are using new media to demand accountability by the government especially on the fuel subsidy report. This report I believe proves the success of the occupy riots. However, twitter and facebook would not make GEJ sack any minister. Why? Because those who are truly affected ( I am not saying that people like me are not affected by the level of graft on this issue but there more people worse off than we are) are really not bothered to demand accountability by the government. I think it is time for civil society to make market women, artisans and “villagers” understand the need to look beyond their daily survival and demand for a change.

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