USA Africa Dialogue Series - MESSAGE FOR THE PRESIDENT‹Re: NIGERIA AT 61: BEATING A PATH AWAY FROM THE BRINK

Oloruntoyin, 

My dearest friend, 

The best friend Nigeria has;  

That Africa and its folk, its lands and cultures have; 

Indeed the best friend this our world has at this shaky juncture 

—Yet another one/ for we know only recent comparisons as the serious convolutions of change are deep buried in obsidian/ product of the volcanic spews every 50 million years or so/ long before our species we call human had appeared on this Planet—or so we are encouraged to believe. I am told we have yet 40 million years yet to go before we shall face the next, which in its effect will be little different from what the latest nuclear holocaust would produce. 

Do please  remember; we all of us are mere callow youths/ women/ men/ pin-pricks in the aeons of time, of this planet we call Earth. 

And in the tiny passage of the past 4000 years upon which we lavish such attention—a ridiculously brief period where we depend still on much speculation—immense movement has rumbled from below and above; enormous change has suddenly thrust  forward; and we, in our varying conditions, have been carried forward on the resulting tsunamis. 

You, my great friend, are the Henry the Navigator/ the Galileo/ the Copernicus of this current age—none of whom, as you will recall, was greatly popular with Rulers in his time. The tsunamis are rolling. You, along with many others in this small world, are the stimulus/ the force that, like Great  Agbo, keeps em moving/ rolling on. 

As the spirit and behaviour of our root “Savage Infant” is still fully engaged; it is worth repeating:  it will, sadly, be some time yet before a gentler and humane code best suited to the wondrous light of those beliefs/ attitudes/ behaviour that reside within/ that clamour constantly for release/ will break free. 

It would perhaps be nice to have "Nation-Building," achieved in the flash of activity and huge industry in which Americans vest such belief. But world change and development, even Americans are coming to recognise, work to the rhythms of a very much deeper  orchestration. 

Great rush, we are coming to learn, does not necessarily carry us forward towards our fundamental goals any faster. 

So long as someone does not “push the button”,  the life of this world, like that huge Ship of State, will continue on its course. There will be small deviations under changing interests/ pressures/ and influences. Cyber-Forces when finally they settle down, will  serve as the continuing instrument of the progress and Value Consolidations we all seek. And with continued hard work—including Marches and other Clear Statements of Natural Right/ the Mass (98ers) Expression of the Peoples’ Will/ with the assists of Dame Fortuna, the Orisa Osun and other deities of folk worldwide allied with the Creator and Forces of Light—this Passage will continue its travels. For like that Ship of Life, Change, as we also all know, is a Continuing Passage, even during Stops along the way. Tis the nature of the life allocated and opened to us. 

So from the Horizon Future, that place Beyond the Boundaries; that place where Oloruntoyin and I and a great many more of us, World Wide, have resided for varying periods—we are long and well-established "Second-Home Owners"—I convey this message. Tis a message which seeks to provide sight far beyond what I, at this moment, must witness, yet again, in all its flame and billowing black smoke, via our ever-vigilant Mass Media; yet another instance of the savagery in our Earthly Home that has been long and cruelly present. 

MESSAGE FOR PRESIDENT BUHARI—If there is a Message to be conveyed on this Birthday Celebration of Nigeria:  let it be a short Message to our Head of State, President Buhari. Let it say, that in your state of profound despair and distress/ a condition shared by so many of Nigeria’s Citizens; Please can the President provide for us all, Statements and Enlightenment on those Achievements  contributing Positive Thrust and Great Light, that we so greatly need to see/ and which will provide the support and encouragement we so desperately require to gain Salvation of Simple Hope. 

These are the Life Realities/ the Assurances/ sound and enduring we need right now. 

With Much Light and Love, 

As always, 

Baba m

From: Prof Toyin FALOLA <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu>
Date: Thursday, 30 September 2021 at 11:36
To: Prof Ayo OLUKOTUN <ayo_olukotun@yahoo.com>, 

Subject: Re: NIGERIA AT 61: BEATING A PATH AWAY FROM THE BRINK

Great Ayo:

 

This is a depressing moment in our collective history. I reluctantly agreed to give an October 1 Lecture for The Republic, an initiative by a set of young men and women. Wale, one of its brains, even came to Ibadan to discuss the idea with me. The Republic is a voice of those who see the decline. My reluctance is based on too many reasons: the set of current politicians at all levels—abusive, uncaring, corrupt. The death of Dr. Mailafia, one that illustrates the depth of the collapse of our institutions. The hopelessness of our people—the anguish of the elderly, the joblessness of the youth, the pain of those in mid-age whose lives are being wasted. An uncountable number wants to leave the country.

 

Today, we cannot pass to the next generations the values of anti-coloniality, self-defense and independence. Whether we are righteous or not, brigands or thieves, labourers or prostitutes, we must share a collective story based on our cherished values. We keep enriching our biography of failure and shame, demonstrating convincingly that the seeds of our destruction are germinating, despite the vibrant godly episcopy.

 

Let me leave you with positive words so that you can enjoy your pepper soup with a cold beer. At this point, we need no longer waste our time, as you and I did at Ife, caught in the debate between Osoba’s Left and Soyinka’s Right that later produced an Inaugural titled “Barthes, Leftocracy and other Mythologies”. Let us fuse popular conservatism and popular radicalism into a collective. The binary must dissolve to produce popular resistance. Let us create a new Department in our colleges, what I will label as the Department of Axiology, where our sons and daughters will learn to formulate an activist Protestography.

TF

 

From: Ayo Olukotun <ayo_olukotun@yahoo.com>
Date: Thursday, September 30, 2021 at 4:46 AM
To: Richard A. Joseph <richardjoseph65@gmail.com>, Olatunji Ayanlaja 
Subject: NIGERIA AT 61: BEATING A PATH AWAY FROM THE BRINK

NIGERIA AT 61: BEATING A PATH AWAY FROM THE BRINK

Ayo Olukotun

 

“The Nigerian economy is about to collapse because the goose laying the golden egg for Nigeria is about to die. The future lies in a knowledge-based economy but Nigeria is behind many African countries on the Innovation Index.”

Mohammed Sanusi, a former Governor of the Central Bank at last week’s Closing Ceremony of Kaduna Investment Summit.

 Daily Trust, Friday, September 24, 2021.

 

             Today, October 1 2021, is Nigeria’s Independence Anniversary, denoting the date when the British, 61 years ago, lowered the Union Jack and granted independence to a former colony. Doubtless, the mood in several quarters is raw and upbeat compounded recently by the trending heated debate on which region, North or South, is to produce the next President in the 2023 elections. But let us begin with the good news.

Defying all odds and informed predictions, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics announced recently a stunning quarterly GDP growth of 5.01% in the second quarter of 2021. In a country where good news had been scarce for a season, government officials and publicists naturally lapped up the information, deploying it as evidence of hard work by the economic managers. Even if the figure turns out to be a bit padded, it is a bellwether of sorts that economic activities, despite the holdover and continuing rage of the COVID-19 pandemic, are accelerating in a post-recession period. Doubts in some quarters about the figure notwithstanding, it has been described as the highest quarterly gain for the economy since 2015 when Major General Muhammadu Buhari (Retd.) took over the reins of government. Also and as this columnist reported a fortnight ago, there have been improvements and steady growth in some states, though few and far between, providing a counter-narrative in a sense to gloomy economic and social indices.

             The opening quote sourced from Mohammed Sanusi, a former Governor of the Central Bank and a former Emir of Kano, provides a flip side to the narrative of improvement by raising the alert that the economy, still heavily oil-independent, may in fact be about to collapse. Reeling out a sheaf of statistics, Sanusi demonstrated that rather than trudge on, the economy is in fact trailing those of several African countries in the crucial areas of innovation, ICT, and the development of a knowledge-based economy.

             Still on the depressing side of the matter, a national newspaper reported in the course of this week that Nigerians are poorer today than they were in 1960 when Nigeria became independent, broaching the phenomenon of what some experts termed as growth without development or jobless growth. Of course, this has been with us for several decades now, including seasons of boom when economic growth ascended to a merry high tide while Nigerians in their huge numbers remained miserable and poverty-stricken. So, if the mood in town does not quite resemble a celebration, the reason should be clear; namely that individuals and families reeling from the whiplash of galloping inflation, increasingly unable to make ends meet, may not see much reason for rolling out the drums to mark another Independence Anniversary.

             What this suggests is that the search and struggle for inclusive growth as well as sustainable development are far from being over and may be, in some sense, as elusive as ever. Obviously, therefore, the hopes and dreams beckoning for Nigeria when it became independent are yet to be realized while a parlous dystopia has quickly replaced the projected utopia of Nigeria as Africa’s giant with a strong presence in the global marketplace and a deliverer of the black race.

             Uniting a federation so widely diverse as ours cannot be a mere walk in the park. Nonetheless, having turned deaf ears to frequent cries for restructuring by reducing it to mere constitutional amendments, the issue has come back with vengeance to haunt us in the shape of resurgence of ethnic nationalities, the fierce contentions over Value Added Tax, the persistent outcry for state police in the face of pervasive insecurity, the ongoing debate between Northern governors and Southern governors on which region is to produce the President among other divisive tendencies. Would it not have been cheaper and more expedient to have gone for a national conference that will renew the federal bargain and holistically address the simmering centrifugal divisions that currently seize the headlines?

Sad to say also that despite the efforts of law enforcements to beat back the overarching advance of insecurity, the tide ebbs only to be succeeded by new flows. In a sense, the politicians have driven the country too often to the edge of the cliff leaving the rest of us to wrap our heads on how to escape what may be the consequences of hurtling down an unpredictable and deep valley. Those who may be profiting from such brinksmanship may be laughing to the banks but the rest of us are not amused.

             What is required is to rapidly beat a path away from the brink, return the country to an even keel while reassuring Nigerians and the global community that a new beginning is afoot.

 

A PRAYER FOR CITIZENS JULIUS OSHADUMO AND ABIODUN

             Elder Julius Oshadumo is the Pioneer Provost of the College of Education Technical, Kabba, Kogi State. A fortnight ago, he attended, with his wife, his regular church, Evangelical Church of West Africa, Kabba in Kogi State as he has done for many years. Unfortunately and tragically, gunmen stormed the church and shot to death Reuben Gbenga, Chief Security Officer of the church, causing the Pastor and the congregation to flee the church amidst the murderous pandemonium.

Oshadumo’s wife, Olu, a retired public officer, was shot at and assumed dead by the bandits. Oshadumo, presumably unable to run (he is close to 80 years) was carried off into the kidnappers’ den along with another member of the church, Elder T. O. Abiodun. Friends, relations and community associations including the Jege Development Union, which Oshadumo once presided over, have held vigils, prayer watches and fastings, asking God to intervene by sparing the lives of Elders Oshadumo and Abiodun.

The apprehensions and fears are that the two men, considering the gravity of their ages, may be unable to survive protracted exposure to the rigours of the kidnappers’ forest hideout.

This columnist joins other concerned Nigerians in supplication for their preservation and release. More importantly, one hopes and prays that the time will come, and soon too, when Nigerians can go about their lawful businesses without becoming victims of kidnappers on the prowl for men and women, irrespective of their age and health condition to be used to attract ransom at any cost.

As Nigeria marks its 61^st anniversary, we must ponder afresh how we came to the present sorry pass in which citizens are assailed and kidnapped at will. Only a few days ago, the House of Representatives lamented a recent circular credited to the National Youth Service Corps Headquarters stating that Corps members travelling on dangerous highways are admonished to be in phone contact with at least one of their relations so that as necessary, ransom could be paid on their behalf in the event of their being kidnapped. Some of the honourable members wondered whether kidnapping had been so legitimized or tolerated to the point that such a circular could emanate from the NYSC.

In spite of all, this columnist wishes Nigerians a happy 61st Independence Anniversary.

 

Professor Ayo Olukotun is a director at the Oba (Dr.) S. K. Adetona Institute for Governance Studies, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye.