An open letter to my country men

PARDON me for choosing this medium to communicate with you. I appreciate, as esteemed compatriots and committed nationalists, your burning desire to see our great country and pride of the Black race, join the league of advanced economies and democracies.  It is just that I am convinced that this medium of communication and interface will enable me to reach the vast majority of my fellow countrymen and women and profoundly demonstrate that I share in the pains occasioned by ongoing moves by our fatherland to rediscover itself and potentials.

No doubt, nothing comes easy in life. After all, there are no gains without pains. Talk about the Asian Tigers, their meteoric rise to greatness, sustainability and prosperity as individual countries. South Korea, Nouth Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong didn’t attain their top-flight ranking in different spheres of life without having to make enormous and grueling sacrifices. Today, their phenomenal rise from ashes has enabled them to conquer the world in the fields of science and technology, even to the chagrin of the all-conquering Japan, Germany, Britain, United States of America and other industrialised nations. Aside underging rapid and sustained industrialisation and impressive growth rates, these countries maximally explored  their individual comparative advantage such that the four have become advanced and high-income economies. Today, while Hong Kong and Singapore remain world-leading international financial centres, South Korea and Taiwan are world leaders in information technology manufacturing, thus serving as role models for most developing countries. But the Asian Tigers suffered serious haemorrhages in the quest to attain greater heights.

Just like Nigeria is witnessing now, the Asian Tigers weathered a storming and devastating financial crisis in 1997, with South Korea as the worst hit. Its foreign debt hit the roof-top by about 50 per cent. The economies of Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan also recoded heavy losses owing to the financial crisis. A similar bitter experience befell the Asian Tigers at another time but, they quickly overcame the crisis in 2008, based on a paradigm shift to export-oriented economies. Those countries relied on the resilience, patriotism of their citizens and visionary leaderships to rise to the occasion. These attributes formed the basis of the well-informed views of the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Professor Babatunde Osotimehin on the Asian Tiger model and his advice that Nigeria emulates.

Dear compatriots, I think that one unique feature of the citizens of those countries is their profound decision and commitment to self-reliance, inward-looking and unparalleled spirit of nationalism. Rather than allow their countries to be made the dumping ground for imported goods that they have the capacity, potential and skill to produce, the Asian tigers doggedly chose to consume locally produced items towards conserving foreign exchange, shoring up local industrial base and technology no matter how crude they might be. Today, they are better for it.

There was a time we had Peugeot Automobile Assembly Plant, Kaduna; Volkswagen Automobile Assembly Plant in Lagos; Leyland Plant in Ibadan; Dunlop Nigeria Limited, Nigerian Airways, Nigerian national Shipping Line; Steel Rolling Mills, Berec Battery, Michellin tyres, Kingsway, AG Leventis, Arewa textile,  Leyland Nigeria Limited, to name a few. There burgeoning commercial and business interest with vast outlets across the country and employing millions of skilled and unskilled Nigerians. Where are most of them today? How viable are the few still afloat from the cesspool of corruption?

Statistics and indices about corruption in Nigeria are frightening. Figures on unemployment are terrifying. The rate of criminality is no less disgusting and scary. Neither is the degree of arrogant display of arrogance, avarice and self-construct among the business and political elite irritatingly provocative and inciting. Access to the public till is meant to steal. Public offices are opportunities to pilfer and be celebrated. Looters are heroes and heroines. Arraignment of corrupt individuals in court of competent jurisdiction is episodic and a medley of theatrics. Buhari is not Nigeria’s problem. Those that constitute enmity to the country include the NASS, which sees itself as a parallel government, milking the country dry, yet still behaves like an Oliver Twist. Buhari is not the problem of our country but those that looted the treasury and stashed their stolen wealth abroad. Their children attend some of the best schools in advanced countries, while public schools suffer reckless abandon and criminal neglect. Yet, a few individuals play God by wishing Buhari dead.

It is totally unhuman to wish a fellow man dead, since it is only whom God pleases that He makes to attain political power. In fact, it is an abomination for anyone or group to arrogate to themselves any form of divine power.  On a last note, I am convinced that Buhari is not the problem of our beloved country because, over the years, its people wallowed in poverty, want and misery, despite sitting on a goldmine. Each of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is endowed with abundant solid minerals, human capital and not just crude oil and gas that is majorly associated with the coastal regions. Our country has the comparative advantage over most advanced economies: the huge potential in tourism and agriculture, if fully harnessed, can sustain the country as the veritable foreign exchange earner, and at the same time guarantee food security at home.

All Nigerians have the right to exercise their fundamental human rights. But every individual must recognise that in exercising such rights, he must demonstrate the capacity and understanding to appreciate that such rights go with a lot of responsibility, discipline and decorum. While the protests held in a few places against the perceived inadequacies of the present government were in consonance with the principles of fundamental human rights, it is also important that the initiators organise similar protests over on the wanton corruption, crass impunity and unprecedented looting of our commonwealth that characterised past administrations. At least a number of the culprits have so far refunded part of the loot to government’s coffers. My compatriots, I am of the view that a referee cannot officiate a match based on two distinct forms of rules and regulations. Otherwise, we might be playing the ostrich and oscillating like the proverbial barber’s chair.

• Prince O’odua, a security consultant, writes from Lagos.