Nigeria: Overcoming challenges of nationhood

Nigeria, as we are all living witnesses, is today at crossroads. The country is in turmoil and in dire need of help urgently. The herculean challenges staring the country in the face are too numerous and obvious to ignore. They include the debate on restructuring which will entrench federalism, fiscal federalism, resource control, devolution of power and mental restructuring; herdsmen’s menace, Boko Haram, militancy, kidnapping, IPOB/MASSOB agitation, inter-communal and religious extremism. But there is a better way forward. Nigeria is the most populous black country on the African continent and the ninth most populous country in the world. The country has one of the highest population growth rates as in the case with the rest of West African countries with huge populations of young people. The United Nations estimates that Nigeria will contribute significantly to the total increase in the world’s population by 2050. The country is Africa’s major player and oil producer with the largest natural gas reserves on the continent, yet its people are living in penury. The mismanagement and abuse of public office has become the norm. Nigeria is the sixth largest producer (and eighth largest exporter) of petroleum in the world, and has the 10th largest proven resources going by the statistics. However, Nigeria faces several socioeconomic problems. Some of the most critical and dysfunctional challenges to development in Nigeria are deeply rooted poverty and unemployment, hunger and burden of diseases.

One may be tempted to ask why the country and its people have not gotten things right. The answer(s) cannot be far-fetched:  leadership failure, as captured by Professor Chinua Achebe of blessed memory in his book The Troubles with Nigeria. According to Professor Achebe, leadership crisis has been the major bane of Nigeria. Politics has been monopolised and become a private estate and also a game of patronage and reward, thus negating the fundamentals of leadership and good governance. Merit is sacrificed on the altar of mediocrity and the ripple effects are seen in bad governance, poor infrastructural development, shoddy deals and corruption. Currently, Nigeria has over 186,988,000 people (UN data, 2016) to feed. The population is growing, and an estimated 122 million people now live on less than US$1.25 per day. Nigeria accounts for 23 per cent of arable land across all of West Africa with an arable land potential of 98 million hectares. of which 84 million hectares are cultivatable. Nonetheless, Nigeria agricultural potential is largely untapped with only 34 million hectares being cultivated. Nigeria’s health indicators remain among the poorest in the world. Nigeria has the second-largest number of people living with HIV globally and accounts for nine per cent of the global HIV burden. Millions of children have been orphaned and made vulnerable as a result of the HIV/AIDs epidemic. Nigeria continues to have the highest burden of malaria in the world which is proving to be resistant to drugs and mosquito-treated nets, and which remains a top cause of maternal and childhood illnesses and deaths.

Nigeria is also besieged by violent conflicts which have resulted in displacement and large-scale loss of lives and property. The Boko Haram insurgency has resulted in a highly insecure environment in northeastern Nigeria. Ethno-religious crises that have always hinged on ethnicity, religious and landdisputes between indigenes and settlers, pastoralists, herders and locals have increasingly resulted in the deaths of thousands community people. These and other conflicts have led to an increasing number of internally displaced persons (IDPs). At present, Nigeria has the highest number of IDPs in Africa with an estimated 2.1 million people displaced in 13 states of the federation (OCHA 2016), and the second largest IDPs in the world after Colombia if my memory serves me right, many of whom live in host communities and/or informal satellite settlements. Immediate challenges include food security, water, sanitation and hygiene; shelter, health concerns/services and psychosocial support for displaced people and the communities that host them. Attacks on health facilities in the north east have forced health workers to either flee or shut down clinics and hospitals. This has led to a shortage of healthcare workers, limited availability of healthcare services and supplies, and restricted communities’ access to health care facilities. These conflicts and displacements have also disrupted agricultural production and trade, significantly affecting the rural population who depend mostly on agriculture for household nutrition and livelihood.

There are several far-reaching consequences of violent conflict, including the deterioration of the social fabric of communities along with trauma and polarised mistrust. However, the sole aim of this write-up is to seek ways of promoting and exploring better solutions to the problems bedeviling this great nation. The present tension, mutual suspicion, distrust, claims and counter-claims should be neutralised and doused to pave way for the rancor-free, social inclusiveness, and integration with utmost narratives of sincerity and unity of purpose. Technology-based propelled economy with modern equipment should be encouraged and courted by the government in order to engage the disenfranchised and yet the robust youths into productive ventures. Again, healthcare systems should be prioritised and given its pride of place in the scheme of things by re-equipping and re-stocking healthcare facilities and ensuring strict enforcement and prompt payment of healthcare givers in order to encourage productivity in the system.Our institutions of higher learning should be revived to form the basis of entrenchment of the right morality inculcation in young men and women whom in near future the mantle of leadership would fall on them to pilot the affairs of this nation.

Also, governance should be made less lucrative in order to curtail the excesses of the corrupt, power-drunk, money conscious politicians from contesting public office. Religious and traditional leaders should also key into these narratives pin pointed out and also complimenting the efforts of government by admonishing their subjects and followers on the essence of brotherhood and observance of spirit of Ubuntu (our binding humanity). Finally, the 2014 Confab reports and recommendations should be implemented by the APC-led Federal Government by mustering the political will to do so.

Bello writes in from Abuja.