By Jerome-Mario Utomi
It is a common knowledge that The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has said it recently received 105 stranded Nigerians from Chad (N’djamena) at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano, Nigeria. They were made up of 24 male adults, 23 female adults and 58 children (33 females and 25 males). They are from Katsina, Kano, Adamawa, Borno, Yobe and Taraba states among others,” he said. While noting that they were brought back to Kano under the care of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) through a voluntary repatriation programme, Kano State territorial coordinator of the agency, Dr Nuradeen Abdullahi, explained that the programme was meant for the distressed Nigerians who had left the country to seek greener pastures in various European countries but could not afford to return when their journey became frustrating. Without doubt, the development looks good in principle especially when one remembers the declaration by Abdullahi that the returnees would be trained for four days on vocational skills and would be given the grant to become self-reliant.
However, beyond this peripheral consideration, the present effort by NEMA and Federal Government, qualifies more as a palliative that cures the effects of an ailment while leaving the root cause to thrive. The facts are there and speak for it. One, while Nigerians currently celebrate their return, Thousands of Nigerian youths with mixture of adults and sprinkle of females are lacing up their shoes to depart the country through these dangerous routes to unknown destinations. As to why Nigerians, particularly youths are taking such a risk, this piece believes that economic hardship in the country occupies the driver’s position. And government at all levels in the country are the greatest culprit of these injustices against the less privileged people by their inability to provide; good health care facilities, accessible and qualitative education, non-funding of social housing, non-availability of minimum wage protection, no welfare benefits for the poor and vulnerable people, no unemployment protection, no women shelters or adequate child care centres. Life in Nigeria, quoting Thomas Hobbs, has become nasty, brutish, and short. Nigerians have never had it so bad. Regrettably, while Nigerians diminish socially and economically, the privileged political class continues to flourish in obscene splendor as they pillage and ravage the resources of our country at will. This malfeasance at all levels of governance has led to the destruction of social infrastructure relevant to a meaningful and acceptable level of social existence for our people. Adequate investment in this area, it has been shown, is clearly not the priority of those in power.
The declaration at the Kano International Airport by Aminu Musa, from Kano State, one of the returnees, supports this assertion. He said. ‘’ I traveled to Libya to seek greener pastures because he was an orphan and his sick mother could not cater for the family.“My father died three years ago and things have not been easy for the family, so I decided to seek greener pastures.“During my stay in Libya for two years, my friend that we traveled together was kidnapped. “We suffered a lot and I decided to go back to Chad because I was scared of being kidnapped too. It was only the grace of God that brought me back,” he concluded. Aside from Aminu Musa ‘testimonies’, there is in my views, an entrenched distrust between the masses and of political leadership. Before, Nigerians loved to stay alive, as life was never a burden. But today, life in their estimation has become not only a burden but the shout of the ‘good old days’ now rends the nations’ wavelength. The country is currently a direct opposite of what it used to be. To explain the above claim, there is no denial that Nigeria is a awash with captivating development visions, policies and plans, but impoverished leadership and corruption-induced failure of implementation of development projects on the part of the political leaders is responsible for the under-development in the country; today, no nation best typifies a country in dire need of peace and social cohesion among her various sociopolitical groups than Nigeria as myriads of sociopolitical contradictions have conspired directly and indirectly to give the unenviable tag of a country in constant search of social harmony, justice, equity, equality, and peace.The country’s economy has shown its inability to sustain any kind of meaningful growth that promotes the social welfare of the people. The result can be seen in the grinding poverty in the land. In Education, 10.5 million children are out of school in Nigeria, the highest in the world. Our industries continue to bear the brunt of a negative economic environment. As a result, job losses and unemployment continue to skyrocket, creating a serious case of social dislocation for the vast majority of our people The running of our country’s economy continues to go against the provisions of our constitution which stipulates forcefully that the commanding heights of the economy must not be concentrated in the hands of few people. The continuous takeover of national assets through dubious (privatization) programs by politicians and their collaborators is deplorable and clearly against the people of Nigeria. The attempt to disengage governance from public sector control of the economy has only played into the hands of private profiteers of goods and services to the detriment of the Nigerian people.
Our hospitals whether state owned or federal owned have become veritable death centers where people go to die rather than to be healed. The absence of basic items such as hand gloves and masks are indicative of the level of decadence and rot in the country’s health National Budget recommended by the United Nations. With regards to the criminal justice system, our people, especially the poor and vulnerable continue to suffer unprecedented acts of intimidation and violation of rights at the hands of security agencies across the country. Extra judicial killings, lack of scientific based investigation of crimes and corruption in the judiciary contribute to acts of injustice against the innocent. Our prisons have become places where prisoners are hardened rather than places of reformation of prisoners for reintegration back into the society Also, Nigerian workers have faced unprecedented hardship over the years as governments across the nation continue to deprive them of legitimately earned salaries and pensions. It is quite unfortunate that as a Nation we are still debating minimum wage, and not even living wage, especially in a country where every commodity has skyrocketed, save the monthly take home of workers. And we supposedly have “leaders” who claim to have the interest of the masses at heart. This piece believed and still believes that leadership holds the key to unlocking the transformation question in Nigeria. Only a sincere and selfless leader and a politically and economically restructured polity brought about by national consensus can unleash the social and economic forces that can ensure the total transformation of the country and propel her to true greatness. This will help to ensure that there is provision of adequate social infrastructure such as genuine poverty alleviation programmes and policies, healthcare, education, job provision, massive industrialization, electricity provision to mention a few.
Also, as noted elsewhere, Nigeria must jettison the present socio-economic system that has bred corruption, inefficiency, primitive capital accumulation and socially excluded the vast majority of our people. The only way this can be done is to work to build a new social and political order that can mobilize the people around common interests, with visionary leadership to drive this venture. Only then can we truly begin to resolve some of the socio-economic contradictions afflicting the nation.
Utomi is the Programme Coordinator (Media and Policy), Social and Economic Justice Advocacy (SEJA), writes via;[email protected]