Death, slavery and the president

Nothing points to the seeming failure of our country more than the calamity that befalls young Nigerians trying to avoid the grim situation in the country by travelling to other countries without the appropriate papers. There are so many illegal Nigerian immigrants in Europe and the Americas. Those who make it to these countries are the lucky ones, the unfortunate ones die in the process. Many die in the desert; many are also killed by terrorists. Just recently the news hit town of about 26 Nigerian girls who died on the Mediterranean Sea. Then, the CNN removed the lid on the open secret of Nigerians who have been turned into slaves in Libya and other countries.

The question is why would young Nigerians leave their country in search of a greener pasture in Europe only to die in the Mediterranean Sea if they could be assured of minimal comfort in their own country? Why would Nigerians run away from grinding poverty only to end up as slaves in Libya?

A Cote d’Ivoire returnee gave a dispiriting account of how Nigerians are treated as dirt in the country. He explained that no matter how educated a Nigerian is in the country, the best he can get is a menial job; yet Nigerians daily troop into that country. When asked why they decided to stay in the country despite such treatment, his answer was; “Are we treated better in Nigeria?”

As it is in Cote d’Ivoire, so it is in many African countries. Yet, Nigeria claims to be the giant of Africa. Yet, we claim to have the biggest economy in Africa. Yet, we are the leading petroleum exporting country in Africa.

President Muhammadu Buhari must transform Nigeria into a country that cares for the generality of her people, not just a select few. He should make Nigeria a country that retains her talents. He should transform Nigeria into a country where the nationals would feel at home and feel wanted.

For him to achieve this, he has to ensure the provision of jobs for as many Nigerians as are willing to work. He also has to ensure that they are well remunerated and are provided an environment that will enable them give their best to the country. To many Nigerians who live abroad, east or west home is the best. They would rather stay in their country were there opportunities for them to thrive. But since the opportunities in the country are daily petering out, many Nigerians have decided to look for opportunities beyond the shores of their fatherland.

The president promised to provide job opportunities for Nigerians and efforts are on in that area but the number being bandied around is a far cry from the nation’s requirement. Government alone cannot provide adequate job opportunities; it has to work with the private sector to accomplish this. At the moment, private companies are groaning under the burden of having to pay so much for diesel with which they power their generators. The cost of generating power has bloated the cost of doing business in the country. This has made imported materials cheaper than the ones produced locally. So, while importers, who add little value to imported items and employ insignificant number of people, are smiling to the banks, manufacturers are daily counting their losses and are forced to lay off workers. Therefore, for the Buhari government to create more employment opportunities in the country, it has to take seriously the issue of electricity.

I am aware that Buhari is working hard to solve the electricity conundrum. I am also aware that the president believes that if he is able to tackle this particular problem, he will be regarded by many Nigerians as very successful. But I am also aware that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo had good intentions about ensuring the provision of stable electricity. His administration voted about $10billion to revive the sector through the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP).  Similarly, late President Umaru Yar’Adua had good intentions about improving electricity generation in the country. For this reason, his administration approved a special intervention fund of about $5.09bn to the sector to facilitate the generation of 6,000 megawatts by the end of 2009. Immediate Past President Goodluck Jonathan also voted huge sums of money to electricity generation, transmission and distribution. But despite these huge investments, adequate electricity supply seems to be light years ahead of Nigerians. Why?

Corruption is at the root of the problem. The investment between 1999 and 2015 of over $20 billion into the energy sector should have yielded better results but because corruption is institutionalised in Nigeria, the bulk of the money went down the drain. While it is true that Buhari is striving to succeed where his predecessors failed, unless he is willing to root out corruption completely from the system, he should not expect any result different from theirs.

But the war against corruption should be total, not selective. Everyone who had wrongly dipped his finger into the nation’s till should have his rendezvous with justice. If the President fights this war and wins, then Nigeria will have stable electricity supply, abundant job opportunities and even Nigerians in the Diaspora will want to return home. However, if he makes it selective, it will not matter what else he does because the demon of corruption will swallow the fruits of his efforts.

It is almost impossible to fight a war without casualties. The casualties of the Buhari-corruption war will be some well-heeled members of the political class who the president may not want to hurt. He has to decide between them and the rest of us. If he fails to fight this battle rightly, he will be an ‘also ran’ president and that will be a terrible bungling of this second and final chance because he won’t be anybody’s hero, not even his well-heeled friends.