Nigeria @59: How we missed it all ­—Wabba

President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba, speaks with SOJI-EZE FAGBEMI on the aspirations of Nigeria’s founding fathers and threats to the unity of the country, 59 years after the attainment of independence.

 

Nigeria is celebrating its 59th Independent Day, what in your view is the reality about the Nigerian federation yesterday, today and in the future?

First, let me reiterate the significance of the Independence Day celebration. The date used to be celebrated with a lot of fun and pageantry. I remember when I was a kid that we all looked up to October 1. Everyone knows the significance of the day because it is time issues of nationalism, patriotism, sacrifice and nation building take the front burner. We all talk about the sacrifice that was made by our founding fathers, their dreams and aspirations, as well as the type of society that they wanted. All these provided us an opportunity to continue to inform the coming generation of Nigerians about the significance of the day.

But I think overtime, this significance has been lost. The pageantry and the fun that were associated with it are almost gone because I remember when I was in primary school, we were given the Nigerian flag of green white green and we will converge on the Murtala Square in Kaduna. Sometimes, we trekked from Kawo to the Murtala Square to observe the important day. The history and importance of the date was thought at all the levels of education, from primary to secondary. We were thought the significance of the day, the liberation struggle, those that fought for Nigeria’s independence and what the essence of October 1, 1960.

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Honestly speaking, the celebration has lost a lot of steams, possibly because we have not been able to achieve the aspiration of our founding fathers. If you look at Nigeria yesterday, today and the way we are going in terms of empirical data, we ought not to be where we are. If we compare us with other countries in terms of how we started and how we gained our independence, particularly countries outside Africa, China is one example, the difference between our age and China is not much and many other countries; you can find out that they have developed in all facets. In terms of infrastructural development, they are ahead of us; in terms of human capacity development, they are ahead of us. In terms of equality-the widening gap between the poor and the rich, they are actually ahead of us. In terms of their democratic culture and many others, they are ahead of us. Clearly speaking, this is the situation in which we found ourselves at this point in time.

 

What is your view on the state of the economy?

Our currency has continued to be devaluated; the challenges in our manufacturing sector have continued to increase; jobs are continually being lost. Let me reconnect this to the past: Even from the primary school, you attempt to take up jobs. You were sure of employment opportunities once you graduate during those very golden ages, even up to mid-80s. In fact, you could choose either public service or private sector because that time, we had more that 2,000 industries working at full capacity. In fact, we were producing what we consumed; the raw materials we had were used to generate employment and create wealth. But today, our economy is just rent-seeking, where we buy from outside the country and sell.

I think there is actually disconnect between the aspiration of our founding fathers, the process of development that followed and where we are today. The four regions were outstanding on their own. We can still point at some of the legacy infrastructures that were built during that time. When they were constructing at that time, you could know that those road will last more than 30 years. I have seen many roads that were built during that period still standing. Our railway infrastructure were built within that period; the two power generating plants we have were built during that time and many other progressive development took place. There was a National Development Plan Agenda to see to it that we were able to maximise the benefits of our resources. But after oil was discovered and corruption became pervasive; the issue of development became very stunted. This has been our narrative.

The way forward is that while we should continue to celebrate the Independence Day, let us make a difference where we can teach the present generation that did not benefit from the fun and pageantry the essence of the event. I said this because if you ask them, they don’t even know the significant. What was the struggle? Who were those that led the struggle for our independence?

Most of them actually died in penury. It is high time also for some of them to be recognised. I remember that a very young man then from Benin, Chief Anthony Ehahoro; I am not sure Enahoro has been so recognised in the scheme of affairs or given his rightful place, based on the role he played. I cannot remember any monument or edifice that has been named after him and other people that did their best to actually put our country on the path of progress and development and also fought for independence. Many of them, including our number one labour leader, Pa Michael Imoudu. All these people played significant roles that led to independence. The essence of our independence and our aspirations or the expectations of our forefathers have not been achieved.

 

What steps do you think should be taken, going forward?

It is for us to look for a new paradigm and uphold the principles of our founding fathers: What were their aspirations? What were their thoughts? What were their plans for Nigeria as a country? This is because getting independence was one thing; for you to be able to hold the country together, develop and make it prosper is another ball game. We have seen the situation with Southern Sudan. Its people have been aspiring for independence. They got independence but, at the end of the day, the independence became a source of worry. Now the country is at war, with people killing each other and there is no progress.

We have got independence, but have we actually reached the zenith of our expectations and the expectations of our leaders? The truth is that we have not been able to do that. It is high time that at each Independence Day celebration, we should be able to have a time for sober reflection. We should be able to have a platform to discuss our challenges and how to make progress. I think this is what is desirable at this point in time, not to continue to do the same thing the same way and think that we will get out of this quagmire.

 

Looking at the attitude of our political elites, are there any lesson we have refused to learn over the years?

Certainly there is, looking at the inequality between the current politicians and the older generation of politicians. The latter were for sacrifice; they occupied political offices to serve the people. But this time, it is the other way round. You go into politics because it has become a business. You spend N1 million and you expect to get N1 billion. The issue of sacrifice, patriotism and national building has been lost. We can count many of our founding fathers and leaders in the First Republic that emerged through a democratic process and died without a house over their head. They did not have a fleet of cars. Some of them that served in the parliament did not receive jumbo pay; they were not entitled to outrageous allowances, benefits and severance; it was a selfless sacrifice.

Our contemporary leaders must learn that having the opportunity to lead the people is about service. If we look at it from that point of view, we will cover a lot of mileage. Where people now take the country to be more important than themselves and there is unity and cohesion, you will see progress. But today, people actually value and rate themselves more than the country; they look at what the country can do for them, instead of what they can do for the country. That is the paradigm of where we are.

We have seen that in the society today, people who make genuine sacrifice, if they do not have the resources, they will not be given even chieftaincy title in their village; in fact, they would be relegated. On the contrary, we have seen people that have amass wealth, through questionable circumstances, but they are the ones that receive chieftain titles. They are those that will be recognised and given national honours. This shouldn’t be the situation.

If we want to really build a nation, we should actually celebrate people who have made sacrifices and inventors that have added values and those who have offered leadership as well without compromising and without expecting anything in return. Those are the people that Nigeria should celebrate, particularly at a period like this when we are celebrating our Independence Day anniversary. Those are the things we need to do to bring essence into governance and it will give people a sense of belonging. Materialism has actually compounded our problems because people tend to celebrate material success. If you don’t have money, your story will not be heard, even in the media. It is the people with enormous resources or those in positions of authority that can part with money that you see on the headlines and their stories are continuously been heard.

 

What have been the gains and losses for Nigeria as a federation since the attainment of independence 59 years ago?

For me, what we should celebrate is the fact that we have a country; it is still united and we are still one people with a common destiny and we are still working together to try to address some of our pronounced challenges. I think that takes precedence over any other issue of development or even any other issue. That is important because you can only talk of independence if there is one united Nigeria. If we had disintegrated, we would not be talking the way we are talking and we would not be celebrating. That is the most important thing and we must continue to guide it jealously as we celebrate the 59th anniversary.