By Bimbola Oyesola , [email protected]
Nigeria’s march to progress is being stunted by none but the political class who wandered from the dreams of a great country and became fixated on personal conquests, says organised labour.
Both the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), without mincing words, said Nigeria, 61 years ago, was certainly on the march to greatness.
NLC president, Ayuba Wabba, in the NLC’s Independence message, said politicians, through primitive accumulation of wealth, aided by a deliberate divide-and-rule politics derail Nigeria from its expected course at independence.
He said, “Upon the attainment of independence 61 years ago, a lot was expected of the country that hosts the largest population of black people on the planet. It was on the strength of that hope that Nigeria shortly after Independence became the pilgrimage destination for many development-minded world leaders including the famed Lee Kuan Yew of the Singapore phenomenal transformation.
“Sixty-one years ago, Nigeria was certainly on a march to greatness. In every part of the country, there was a manifest gush of hope, faith, energy and commitment in the stride of most Nigerians as our compatriots strove to prove a point that independence was not a fluke – that indeed we could do better than the white colonial administrators.
“Indeed, we sure made such great progress in those initial years of our national life. Those were the days of the famed groundnut pyramid in Kano, palm oil plantations in the Eastern region, the rubber estates in the Mid-West and the cocoa fields in southwestern Nigeria. Life was indeed safe, secure and abundant!”
Wabba recalled the contribution of Nigeria’s working class to national development, peace and unity, the selfless efforts of past heroes and heroines past and present – workers, pensioners including ex-servicemen and women, members of the armed services, women, youths, and Nigerian children.
He lamented that the politicians shifted the nation’s direction from progress, building on the zeal and energy of Nigerian workers and people to redeem the image of the black race, which was badly mauled by slave trade and colonization.
“Till today, after many successive governments, our country is yet to recover from the tsunami of ethno-religious politics, values disorientation, and the weakening of unifying institutions,” he said.
Noting that the symptoms of the break in the nation’s progress march stare Nigerians hard in the face, Wabba stated that the country’s deterioration has come so fast and furious that Nigerians have inadvertently surrendered their will and space for development to very unreasonable, violent and destructive non-state actors who have not only become a law to themselves but are trying to impose their regime of lawlessness on all Nigerians.
He said, “Today, millions of Nigerians are almost accepting life as internally displaced persons as normal. Today, many Nigerians would rather die at home than incur humugous hospital bills for surviving family members while wasting to a slow but certain death in our dilapidated public health facilities.
“Unemployment, especially among our teeming youth, has risen to unprecedented levels and the youths are no longer willing to wait for jobs that are nowhere. The frustration and despondency of our youths is at the root of the numerous ills and crimes prevalent in different parts of the country. When we paused the march to human capital optimization, industrialization, food sufficiency, and egalitarianism, what were we expecting? Even the blind and the deaf now know that the chicken has come home to roost.”
He declared that it was time to own up to the truth of the self-inflicted pains and examine closely where Nigeria lost it as a nation.
“It is not too late to resume our paused march to greatness. We can still become that country that accords the pride of place to truth, productivity, hard work, excellence, integrity, patriotism, service and sacrifice,” Wabba said.
He charged that Nigerians can still create industries for teeming youths to gain decent jobs, provide the excellent infrastructure that inspires inclusive economic growth.
He added, “We can still foster an atmosphere of rule of law, equity, social justice, peace, law and order as a sustainable cure for the deregulated crises of violence in many parts of Nigeria. We can still regain our humanity of love and care for workers and pensioners.
“The rest of the African continent waits for us. The entire black race believes that our renaissance as a country will be their redemption. We must not keep them waiting for too long. We must now come to the party and take our high chair in the comity of nations.”
The Trade Union Congress equally enthused that Nigerians have proven to have the innate ability to create wealth. According to the TUC president, Quadri Olaleye, the nation’s resources have not been well managed by the elite, hence, the country is categorized today as the poverty capital of the world.
“This has become our tale because appointments are predicated on political affiliation, ethnicity and religion,” he said.
Olaleye opined that the major trouble with Nigeria is that it has not been fortunate to have patriotic and dedicated leaders.
He said, “Nigerians have not been given the opportunity to truly choose their own leader as seen in the gang up against electronic transmission of election result. The gap between the haves and the have-nots are daily and deliberately being widened so they can have the people at their whims and caprices.”
“All agitations and social frustrations across the country are not unconnected to the failure of the elite to take advantage of our national diversities and build a collective national prosperity.”
Just like his counterpart in the NLC, Olaleye believed that even at 61, the country can still find its feet “if we have the right leaders that are ready to ride on equity, fairness and justice. Leaders must remember this saying by late South African president, Nelson Mandela, that; “The world will not respect Africa until Nigeria earns that respect. The black people of the world need Nigeria to be great as a source of pride and confidence…”