In the past few months, I have heard all sorts of stories about the unfortunate massacre of Muslim faithfuls in Jos, Plateau state in central Nigeria on their way to the Eid prayer in September 2011 and how their flesh was roasted and eaten by Berom youths. I thought “roasted and eaten” was a metaphor of sorts so I never paid much attention to it. Even when I heard there was a video on Youtube that captured the “roasting and eating”, I never bothered to make a simple Google search to verify the incident because I just refused to believe it had happened. Then I saw the said video posted on Facebook today, I watched every frame of this unbelievably atrocious video clip with absolute horror and revulsion. I am not only incensed and disgusted by the new low some Nigerians have sunken to and how far they would go in their hatred and fighting in the name of religion, but I am very worried and disturbed by the deafening silence of our leaders, especially our Christian leaders and sections of our media over this inhuman, savage, despicable and barbaric act. [Video here]

This other video shows the Berom youths dismembering the roasted body of one of the victims. In some scenes, the decapitated and roasted heads of victims are impaled and bandied about as the youths brazenly take pictures and videos of their barbaric acts. It is very gory and gruesome, viewer discretion is advised.

There are graphic pictures of this massacre and cannibalism HERE.

In the clip above, you can see Berom youths visibly excited, in jubilation and at times cheering as the smoke billows from the roasting flesh of the “enemy”. Their “joy” is clearly conveyed in an audio interview with a BBC reporter Rob Walker who witnessed this cannibalism. You can find an account of the event HERE. At a point as the flesh is being roasted, someone says in Hausa language “…ni zuciyan na ke so…” meaning: “I want the heart”, while another person goes further to ask “…ka sa gishiri?” meaning: “…did you put some salt”? The large crowd’s visible complicity and excitement as they eagerly anticipate their cannibalistic feast marks a descent in our collective sense of humanity in Nigeria. What I find most ironic is that these butchers and party are communicating in Hausa language, the language of their slain “enemy” or rather, their “meal” and not their own native berom language. The presence of a police vehicle in the area where the “feasting” and cannibalism on slaughtered Muslims is taking place raises questions. The police should be protecting people, maintaining law and order and stopping any criminal activity from taking place, shouldn’t they? Of course as this video shows, this is not the case.

By far, the most worrying aspect is the deafening and resounding silence from the media and religious leaders considering this was an incident that occurred in late August while the video was posted September 2011. Even when this premeditated massacre of Muslims happened, very scant coverage was given by the Nigerian media which have shown more often than not to be very biased when it comes to reportage on sectarian crisis. There have been complaints on the media hurrying to use screaming (and sometimes exaggerated) headlines of Muslims killing Christians but hardly giving adequate or fair coverage when Muslims are the victims such as the virtual lack of coverage of the planned and premeditated massacre of hundreds of Muslims in Zonkwa, Southern Kaduna during the 2011 post elections violence by most media agencies. It appears the Nigerian media have decided there is only one type of victim, the noble Christian who is usually ambushed whilst worshipping in Church or in the dead of the night by a gang of marauding, sword-toting, gun-wielding bearded Muslims in a near murderous trance, chanting “Allahu Akbar”. Anything that goes contrary to or falls outside the purview of this dominant narrative is rejected and would never be entertained, published or broadcast. As a result, such crimes against hundreds of Muslims go underreported or even unreported.

The silence of religious leaders, especially our very vocal President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor on this matter is heart breaking. This is especially because the CAN president is one who is never reluctant to vociferously bare his mind on burning national issues, whether declaring his support for the removal of fuel subsidy, declaring that Nigeria is on the brink of religious war or asking Christian faithful to protect themselves using “whatever means”. As Oritsejafor seems to have lost his voice on this occasion, one wonders whether he hasn’t heard of this barbaric act by people claiming to be acting on behalf of Christianity, or perhaps he hasn’t watched the clip? I would give Oritsejafor and other Christian leaders the benefit of doubt that perhaps they have not heard of this incident. In that case, I hope Christian leaders would not hesitate in coming out to condemn this savage act in its entirety for it certainly does not represent the image or behaviour of majority of Christians. And this is not only restricted to Christian leaders as some of our intellectual elite such as Professor Wole Soyinka or former aviation minister Femi Fani Kayode who haven’t wasted time in writing volumes on Boko Haram — sometimes using it interchangeably with Islam as if Boko Haram represents Muslims — have kept silent over this despicable act.

This incident clearly marks a new low in our collective sense of humanity as Nigerians and Africans. For heaven’s sake, we are in the 21^st century, where our peers and counterparts in Brazil, China, India and Malaysia are becoming more productive, reducing poverty, broadening their perspectives and even competing with developed countries in economic productivity whilst we are too busy killing each other, demonizing each other, narrowing our perspectives and eating our “enemies’ ” flesh in the name of religion which we have perverted and twisted. The unfair coverage given to such needless killings by our sectional media and some of our religious leaders because some victims or events do not fit the dominant narrative that has been created for such pose the greatest danger to our peaceful coexistence. We seem to forget that no life is more precious than the other and that every human life wasted is a loss to all. But with the way things are going in Nigeria, I am reminded of the Orwellian case of “all animals are equal but some are more equal than others”. How long can we continue like this and how long will we continue plunging further into this abyss?

—–

Editorial: The full post, with pictures and embedded videos, is published here.

For a country that holds my childhood memories, Nigeria is very much like a childhood sweetheart. We met under controlled circumstances (for me, birth) and like children our love was innocent. With hardly any demand from either party, we simply enjoyed each other’s company. When our circumstances changed, we were physically apart but tried to keep in touch. We eventually drifted apart, wondering at times, what the other person was up to. So that when circumstance once again brought us back together, we raced with arms wide open, anticipating our embrace.

Our reunion had its shares of Oohs & Aahs because our memories were still intact. However after all the catching up, we stepped back to examine ourselves: one person looked better, the other worse. One person spoke of new experiences, the other grunted about the same old problems. It ended up being a disappointment. But how so? This reunion was supposed to reaffirm my decision to put aside any form of love that developed between me and the other countries in exchange for a labor of love with the one the nurtured me. Instead it left me with the reality of a faded glory, lost love on the brink of becoming obligation.

So what do you with a childhood sweetheart who has changed so much and looks nothing like they use to? Who refuses to move on, worsening instead? After your awkward reunion you begin to question their ability to keep you fulfilled. Do you give in and adopt their bad habits? Do you move on to others who will develop you or do you wait, tolerate and hope. It’s not a black or white situation but in the words of Onyeka Onwenu & King Sunny Ade if you love them, you’ll wait.

Occupy Nigeria Logo designed by Zakari Ahmadu

“Occupy Nigeria was a test-run to a revolution”

-          Kayode Ogundamisi. Citizen journalist

So it was that in the wee hours of Monday 16th January 2012, the series of strikes and mass protests called Occupy Nigeria for the most part came to a grinding and anticlimactic end. Just when the mass protests were reaching an unprecedented crescendo, the Labour Unions (NLC/TUC), which formed only a sub-set of the #OccupyNigeria movement entered into an agreement behind closed doors with government… and the rest as they say is history. While this was incredibly disappointing to to those who had high hopes for its potential as it signalled a growing democratic deficit, others are of the opinion that some gains have been made in terms of political participation and mobilization for our nascent democracy.

An obvious gain is the rise of youth movements both online and offline, their influence and their strength. #OccupyNigeria movement, a loose coalition of various individuals and civil society groups was a spontaneous movement that began on the 1^st of January 2012 in response to the arbitrary fuel price increase by the executive arm of the Nigerian government. For the most part #OccupyNigeria started online, with Facebook, Twitter and other social media used as outlets for people to express their outrage and as platforms for organizing and mobilizing people for street protests. It was individuals and coalition of youth groups such as the Enough is Enough (EIE) from all over Nigeria: from Lagos to Abuja, Kano to Kwara, Kaduna to Ibadan and in the Diaspora who discussed, mobilized, organized protests, shared information with one another mostly online and offline as well. This served as an opportunity for youths (who constitute over 70% of the population) who had hitherto been alienated and marginalized from political discourse, discussion and participation in the Nigerian public sphere to register their relevance and make their voices heard.

Furthermore, the spontaneity of the Occupy Movement as an embodiment of collective outrage felt by Nigerians meant it was representative of the feelings of ordinary Nigerian youths at home and in the diaspora. The movement cut across the country’s mainstream divisions and fault lines: Muslims and Christians; Northerners and Southerners; Hausa, Yorubas and Igbos; Nigerians at home and abroad; Men and women; students, graduates and workers etc. By collectively expressing our outrage, Nigerian youths realized that the labels we have been tagged with are superficial as we all have the same needs; we are all demanding better governance and transparency from our leaders and are all troubled by the rising insecurity in the country. By far the most symbolic and powerful personification of this unified collective outrage lies in the unbelievable images of Christians protecting Muslim faithful whilst they prayed in the cities of Kano and Kaduna, the covenant of peace entered by Muslim and Christian faithful and the solidarity visit to churches in Kano by Muslim faithful. These served to shatter the long-held myth of the irreconcilable differences amongst Nigerians. It also served to rekindle a sense of nationalism, patriotism and belief in the viability of Nigeria amongst many who were fast losing hope in the Nigerian project.

This is about where the gains end.

As much as ordinary Nigerians were for the first time able to make their voices heard, those unified voices were apparently not loud enough as the government did not yield to any of the movement’s immediate demands (and that of the lower chamber of the Legislature, the House of Representatives) of reverting fuel price back to N65 per litre and drastically cutting government’s bloated recurrent expenditure. The labour unions who joined the mass protests spearheaded by the OccupyNigeria movement after it had gone on for a week are now regarded with suspicion and resentment for what many perceive to be their hijacking of the movement and acting arbitrarily, negotiating with and reaching an agreement with government to peg fuel price at N97 without consultation with the rest of the Occupy movement. While government has since then, at least the the House of Representatives has commenced committee hearings and unearthed a ton of fraud and opaqueness in the oil sector and the operations of agencies like the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) and the state-owned oil coy Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the basic demands of the movement were not met and the deal brokered was not in tandem with the basic demands of #OccupyNigeria.

Directly related to the above is that the perceived lack of disregard for the voice of the ordinary Nigerian by those in government. This has fed a growing lack of trust, disillusionment and cynicism  on the activities of government officials who are widely regarded to be alienated from the public. The decision to “remove” fuel subsidy and increase petrol pump price was taken unilaterally by the executive while consultations with the public and civil society were supposed to be ongoing; the unified front presented by government officials in vehemently defending the policy and the non-resignation or breaking of ranks by even one government official adds fuel to this distrust and disillusionment by Nigerians. The strikes may have been called off, the movement might have lost its vigour but the distrust in government has only persisted and perhaps even worsened. A recent gallup poll conducted revealed that 94% of Nigerians do not trust the government.

Lastly the brutal repression of peaceful protesters by security forces at the behest of government portends the greatest danger to our democracy. Over 20 protesters were reported to have been shot and killed by police in Lagos, Kano, Ilorin and other cities while many more sustained injuries. A very disturbing aspect of it all is the deployment of the army to Lagos and to a lesser extent in Kaduna allegedly to quell protests. There were reports of use of tear gas  and other acts of repression on those who had continued with the protesters beyond 9^th January when strikes were called off by Labour Unions.This was perceived by many civil society groups and activists as a breach of fundamental rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

Thus, despite the very modest gains of the OccupyNigeria movement, the underlying issues and contradictions that brought about the movement in the first place have not been addressed. Fuel prices are still high, soaring inflation still persists, and the disconnect between government and ordinary Nigerians has only increased. In addition, there is seething resentment amongst Nigerians for government officials over the way the movement was hijacked, stifled, suffocated and rendered irrelevant by labour unions and the government. There is obviously a need to address these issues; bridges of political communication need to be rapidly built in order to restore trust and confidence in the government. Otherwise, this seeming democratic deficit has the risk of boiling over one day, perhaps in the not too distant future.

ANNOUNCING A CALLOUS POLICY WITH IMPUNITY

A liberalization move by the government to deregulate the downstream sector of the oil industy by removing subsidy on petrol was announced on Sunday 1^st January, New Year’s Day just when Nigerians were reeling from the shock of deadly bomb attacks on Christmas day and a spate of sectarian killings in Ebonyi state, the South-East of Nigeria. This unilateral decision by the Executive arm of government took Nigerians by surprise as it was meant to take immediate effect, and as government was supposed to be conducting “wide consultations” with stakeholders on the controversial and highly unpopular policy decision, and even as the National Assembly was yet conclude deliberations on the issue.

NIGERIANS TAKE TO THE INTERNET… AND TO THE STREETS

Despite our renowned resilience and almost legendary perseverance in any situation, the removal of subsidy seems to have been the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. We took to the internet, especially Facebook and Twitter to express our vehement disapproval of this insensitive policy and its callous and untimely implementation on New Year’s Day. That same afternoon, people started mobilizing on social media for mass protests the next day in Abuja, Lagos, Kaduna and other cities across the country. Even the leading opposition parties and professional associations like the Nigerian Bar Association and the Nigerian Medical Association issued strongly worded statements condemning this move in its entirety and threatening mass action.

Most Nigerians are particularly incensed because this policy is not only highly unpopular, but also because the government has had little consultation with the public. After the last (public) meeting it had with the media and some stakeholders in Lagos in December where people expressed their extreme disapproval, government promised to continue consultations before fuel subsidy would be removed from either January 20^th 2012 or April 2012. The government’s unilateral decision on New Year’s Day which appears to be a stealthily well-planned siege on Nigerians has further heightened Nigerians’ extreme distrust for the government and vindicated our view of government officials as highly duplicitous. Most importantly, Nigerians are infuriated by the immediate effect of this policy which has resulted in inflation in transport fares, food stuff and basic commodities by as much as 200% as fuel prices have increased from N65 ($0.48) to over N140 (almost $1) per litre. In some places like Calabar, fuel is reportedly sold for over N200 per litre.

In Lagos the commercial capital, mass protests began on Monday which were largely peaceful:

In Abuja the capital city, scores of youths led by a former Federal Legislator, Dino Melaye on Monday marched to Eagle square carrying placards and signed a protest register. The police tried to foil the protest and to confiscate the protest register but they later returned it. Several protesters including Melaye were arrested by the police and taken to the Anti-robbery Squad but were later released.

In Kaduna on Monday, scores of protesters gathered at Murtala Square to peacefully sign a protest register but were later dispersed by anti-riot policemen.

In Kano, the turn out, just like in Lagos was huge. Hundreds of protesters turned out en masse on Wednesday 4^th January and even spent the night at Silver Jubilee round about which was christened Kano “Liberation” Square.

In several other cities across the country, scores and even hundreds of protesters have been pouring out onto the streets as the pictures below show: from Kebbi, Katsina and Bauchi in the North, to Ibadan, Akure and Benin in the South. Nigerians are angry and are not hiding it.

The two images above are from the Northern city of Katsina.

These two images above are from Benin city, the capital of Edo state, one of the states in the President’s home region, the Niger-Delta.

The image above is a picture taken of Ijaw youths (from the President’s ethnic group) protesting the removal of Subsidy on Wednesday 4th January.

Protesters in Bauchi in the North East, at the Emir’s palace. Unconfirmed reports later stated that the Emir joined the protesters in marching through the city.

Abeokuta, Ogun state.

Ibadan, Oyo state.

WHAT ARE THE DEMANDS?

The demands of Nigerians basically centre on the reversal of this decision: mainly restoring fuel subsidy, cutting government waste, tackling corruption, provision of infrastructure, repairing the ailing refineries and building new ones. While many protesters have been calling for the President’s resignation and indeed the popular use of the term #OccupyNigeria by protesters could mistakenly give that impression, there are really no explicit political goals from protesters. The protests are simply an expression of indignation at a policy which will and is already bringing untold hardship on Nigerians. The labour unions – the Nigerian Labour Conress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) have given the government an ultimatum to reverse the decision by Monday 9^th January or face nation-wide protests which would shut banks, schools, offices, oil installations, airports etc and effectively cripple the economy.

This video below sufficiently captures and encapsulates the demands of many Nigerians:

TECH-SAVVY YOUTH MOBILIZE… AND BROADCAST TO THE WORLD

With a population well over 150 million people, Nigeria is reported to have over 43 million Nigerians (educated middle to upper class) on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter and connected to the internet. Nigerian youths have mobilized to take to the streets and challenge the government’s unpopular decision. In the face of scant media coverage and even blackout towards the protests by government owned television and radio stations like the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) and some government friendly newspapers, it is social media savvy youth who have broadcasted images and updates to both local and international media. Citizen reporters on ground tweet pictures, videos and live updates of events and use Facebook, Youtube and blogs. These updates are sent to local and international media like Channels TV, BBC Africa, CCN i-report, Al-Jazeera stream and others using the hashtags #FuelSubsidy and #OccupyNigeria. Notable citizen journalists and activists include Sahara Reporters, Japeth Omojuwa, Kayode Ogundamisi, Gbenga Sesan and scores of others.

In an ironic, but not surprising twist of fate, President Jonathan’s Facebook page which he and his advisers have severally used to brag about his social media savvy-ness and popularity has been bombarded with tens of thousands of highly critical messages by his Facebook fans expressing raw fury and emotion, with some comments bordering on downright insults and curses. President Jonathan seems to have set the record as the “most cursed person on Facebook”

THE GOVERNMENT’S OBSTINACY, HALF-TRUTHS AND MANIPULATION 

Knowing the Nigerian government’s antecedents of its brazen disregard for the feelings of ordinary Nigerians, its actions, statements and responses to the mass opposition and protests against its deregulation policy since New Year’s Day did not disappoint in the least bit. It only served to vindicate Nigerians’ massive distrust and growing disdain for government officials. Here are some instances:

The Minister of Labour, Chief Chukwuemeka Wogu in his reaction, on Channels TV, to the threat by Labour Unions to embark on massive strikes said: “As a government, you don’t succumb to threats or pandering… from the people you rule…” You can watch the video clip HERE.

Ahmed Ali Gulak, a Special Adviser to the President on Political Affairs, in an interview with the BBC World Have Your Say programme on Wednesday 4^th January claimed that “majority of Nigerians are in support of the removal of subsidy” to which a Nigerian, Nicolas Adikwe, present at the BBC studio countered and said it was an “insult” to Nigerians out on the streets, and that it was misleading.

The Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minster of the Economy Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala (believed to be the arrowhead of this allegedly IMF-backed policy) have rehashed the same well worn-out economic arguments to justify subsidy removal, albeit with complete detachment from the reality of the Nigerian socio-political environment.

The government in an emergency cabinet meeting on Wednesday has stated that it remains firm and resolute on this decision and will not reverse it.

GOVERNMENT BRUTALITY AND REPRESSION

While protests have been largely peaceful, the government has in some cases used violence to brutally repress peaceful protests.

In Lagos, this video shows a protester being beaten and brutalized by the police:

In Ilorin, witnesses say an unarmed protester; Muyideen Mustafa was brutally shot by the Police on Tuesday, while Police Officials claim he was stabbed by protesters. He was the first casualty of the protest and his remains have been laid to rest.

In Kano, though the police behaved well on Wednesday towards the protesters, they waited until the early hours of Thursday from around 02.00am local time to lay a cowardly late night ambush on protesters, beating them and firing tear gas cannisters. It was a hair-raising moment for social media users keeping tabs on the events in Kano as most liaisons and citizen reporters giving live updates from the Silver Jubilee roundabout (Liberation Square) in Kano were unreachable for several minutes. An estimated 40 people were reported to have been injured.

In Ibadan, protesters, mostly students were tear-gassed by security forces.

UNITY IN DIVERSITY: A SERENDIPITY

One of the most remarkable serendipity of sorts to have occurred so far is a growing sense of unity amongst Nigerians hitherto known to be deeply divided along ethno-religious lines. Perhaps the shared sense of frustration, anger and oppression by a ruling class cutting across most ethnic and religious groups is finally uniting Nigerians and achieving what political scientists, sociologists, historians, religious leaders, donor agencies, countless government committees and integration policies have failed to achieve.

This bond and unity was most evident in the city of Kano, hitherto a hotbed of inter-religious squabble, where Christians on Wednesday 4^th January stood guard to protect Muslims as they prayed. A mutual agreement for peace was said to have been reached between Muslims and Christians where Muslim would protect all non-Muslims and escort them to their places of worship and vice-versa. They vowed to resist any attempt to use religion to divide them with a register opened to that effect.

Similarly in Kaduna, an agreement is reported to have been reached between Christians and Muslims today (Thursday 5th January). The photo below shows Christians surrounding and protecting Muslims as they pray.

It is too early to tell whether this bond would grow stronger and whether it would be replicated in other parts of the country, but it certainly is a welcome development

“EMINENT” AND “RESPECTED” RELIGIOUS LEADERS: MUM IS THE WORD

As some Nigerians are gradually uniting over their shared sense of frustration, virtually nothing has been heard from most of the prominent Islamic and Christian leaders, neither on the fuel subsidy removal, nor the mass protests enveloping the entire country. With the exception of local imams, pastors and some catholic bishops, “eminent” leaders such as the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) President Ayo Ortisejafor, the Sultan of Sokoto, the Jama’atul Nasril Islam (JNI) and others who are usually very vocal towards many national and political issues have surprisingly maintained a deafening silence on this. You tend to wonder…

A SENSE OF HUMOUR, AGAINST ALL ODDS

Trust us Nigerians. Our resilience always unleashes bursts of creativity and even humour, as these pictures and video show:

“Praying”  that water turns to  fuel?

FINALLY, A NIGERIAN “ARAB SPRING”?

So is this the start of a Nigerian “Arab Spring”? There are certainly a number of similarities with the uprisings in the Arab world: a shared sense of anger and frustration; a growing unity amongst hitherto divided people; protests mobilized by an educated, sophisticated and tech-savvy youth; wide use of social networking and growing support for the protests and so on. However, as mentioned earlier, there are no overt political goals yet as most Nigerians simply want a reversal of this policy. Therefore, the labour unions could reach a compromise with the government as is usually the case with unpopular government policies. What seems to be different this time around though, is the widespread anger and disenchantment by the public and also that Nigerians poured out onto the streets without waiting for the go ahead from the NLC/TUC. Nigerian youths also for the first time in a long time feel as if they are really part of something, by expressing their displeasure and protesting. It remains to be seen how things pan out in the next few days.

But the issue isn’t my skin color. It is– for lack of a better word– skin deep. As a product of an “inter-tribal” union, my bloodstream is not dominated by a majority ethnic group; rather, it consists of minority groups originating from Delta and Edo with a debatable speckle of Egyptian (I’ve been told that my maternal ancestors made a great trek). Trek or not, life is easier when it comes in one package. And for me, my brand happens to be made in Nigeria. So when people ask where I am from, I just say: Nigeria. White people don’t look so confused but sadly enough Nigerians themselves are baffled. They want to know what tribe I belong to. But where exactly in Nigeria? They are never satisfied with my answer.

I suppose you could say it all started in boarding school. A time when the roster distributed to my teachers marked “Nigerian” as my nationality. It was with this same guide that students identified their own kind, Ghanians covered their backs, Zambians joked freely among each other, Gambians laughed among themselves and Nigerians, the most diverse group of students, defended themselves in jest. National rivalries aside, we were all one big happy family. A “tribe-less” community with only national borders as our boundaries.

During the same time, my tribe-less bubble of community faced the bursting threat of reality at a dinner I had with two of my Nigerian friends and their Dad. He wanted to know where exactly in Nigeria I was from. I paused for a moment and thought about what it was about me that made me Nigerian: Lagos.

The dinner ended with me regretting what I said. He didn’t say it but I knew he didn’t believe me. I wasn’t Yoruba after all. It was then I realized that growing up in a household that embraced nationality over tribe translated as bad upbringing. Such conversations were usually accompanied with disapproving facial expressions and probably resulted with the internal question of what kind of person doesn’t know where they are from?

While I faced college with people willing to accept my nationality as my identity, I came across one or two Nigerians who also wanted to know where exactly I came from. And since it was established that I was not from the only city I ever lived in while I was based in Nigeria, I did not pause to think about what made me Nigerian. I spoke without thinking. I proudly pronounced my paternal grandmother’s village.

They didn’t know where it was, neither did I. This approach changed that dreaded question of “Where exactly are you from?” to “Where the hell is that?” Back to the drawing board.

I once read a proverb that went: No frog is tied to a rope by a pond. My understanding of this proverb is that, although we are not physically bound there, we will always return to our home. Back into the pond where my parents resided, I laced them with questions about our heritage and found out that they also spent majority of their lives outside their hometowns (as did their parents) and were influenced by the various Nigerian cities they lived in. We were all in the same boat. At this stage, I did what any reasonable human being looking for answers will do. I created my own answer. I became Nigerian to non-nigerians and Delta & Edo (whatever that meant) to Nigerians. And for the passport official who asked why I held an Irish passport? That was another story.

But after years of soul searching, of seeking the answers from my tribal-free parents and creating my own answer for the outside world, I have given up on this idea that knowing your village or tribe is the true essence of discovering where you are from — or better yet, being Nigerian. Isn’t it time we have equal claim over our land? I ask, perhaps with wishful thinking, that instead of creating distinctions between ourselves, we learn to embrace our common identity; the one we tend to reminisce about when we are on foreign shores, the one we defend when non-Nigerians judge us. Because whether or not our make-up is diverse, our brand is still made in Nigeria.

Public residential buildings are seen in Po Lam, one of the "satellite towns" in Hong Kong, on September 14, 2011. This southern Chinese city is described as a concrete forest, famous for the number of high-rise commercial and residential towers. About 25 percent of the world's tallest 100 residential buildings stand in the territory. (Reuters/Bobby Yip)

“Our world is one of terrible contradictions… Plenty of food but one billion people go hungry. Lavish lifestyles for a few, but poverty for too many others.”

-          UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon 31^st Oct 2011

Just two minutes before midnight on the 31^st of October 2011, in the crowded Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in Manila Philippines, the tiny Danica May Camacho was born. A few thousand kilometres away in Mall village Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, Baby Nargis was born at 07:25 local time (01:55GMT). Both babies along with several others around the world have been identified as seven billionth babies, marking the 7 billion milestone of the world’s population identified by the United Nations. This staggering and somewhat fascinating massive surge in global population has brought to the fore many issues primarily bordering on the consequences of the growing population on global resources and its impact on the environment. The question is that is this really a problem and does this really signal a population crisis? If so will the proposed measures actually address this problem?

Global population has been on a dramatic and rapid increase in the last two centuries. Right from the late 18^th century when the renowned British economist and clergyman, Reverend Thomas Malthus famously remarked that “the power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man”, or in other words, that the geometric increase in global population would far outstrip the arithmetic increase in food production, the world’s population  reached 1 billion in 1804,  hit 2 billion in 1927 after 123 years, then the pace accelerated to 3 billion in 1959, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1987, 6 billion in 1998  and now 7 billion in 2011 and counting. According to UN forecasts, the world would have more than 10 billion people by 2083. While the bulk of this population increase is in developing countries, half of this population it is projected will come from Sub-Saharan Africa which already has the highest birth-rates and the deepest poverty in countries such as Niger, Burundi, Mali, Nigeria. As the driver of this population increase is fertility, Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and renowned development economist states that in such countries, families have 6-8 children on average while simultaneously in the developed world, fertility rates have reduced.

As global population increases, the world is not only becoming overcrowded according to some demographers, environmentalists and development economists, but also that finite and exhaustible global resources such as fossil fuels, soil fertility, forests, fisheries and ground water are being rapidly depleted. Thus there has been a corresponding increase in food scarcity, droughts, water shortages, competition for viable energy sources and environmental damage due to increased use of fossil fuels, pollution and deforestation.  Such experts state that food and most especially water shortages if not checked, could fuel political destabilization in developing countries. Nowhere is this more evident than in the recent and still on going drought and famine in the horn of Africa which has affected over 11 million people in Somalia, parts of Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Uganda, regarded by the UNHCR as the worst humanitarian crisis of the region in 60 years. The growing phenomenon of “land grabbing” where companies in countries like Saudi Arabia, China and the UK acquire large hectares of land in places such as Ethiopia, Angola, Ghana, Madagascar, Ukraine and Sierra Leone  fuelled by a desire to capture water resources to irrigate farmlands for large-scale agriculture and growing bio-fuel crops also lends credence to this argument, as it leaves subsistence farmers displaced, vulnerable and at the expense of these large corporations.

Most importantly, the persistence of poverty and underdevelopment in these developing countries as evidenced by lack of employment opportunities, increase in violent conflict over access to food, water and other economic opportunities and the prevalence of diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis are aggravated by a growing unmanaged population. The population density of large cities such as Lagos, Jakarta and Mumbai ensures that such diseases are easily spread.

Most of the solutions to arrest this population crisis proposed by the development experts revolve around family planning policies to be put in place by the government since the people in these countries are regarded as too poor and incapable of making such choices themselves. As Jeffrey Sachs argues, family planning would be available and the families would be expected to VOLUNTARILY choose to have fewer children which would be better for them and for their children as they would have better nutrition, better healthcare and greater opportunities of living better lives for “when they are very very poor, they need help to be able to have those choices”.

However, one cannot help wondering whether this issue is really being examined from the most pragmatic perspective. While indeed growing population is putting a strain on global resources, evidence shows that the rising population in developing countries has little bearing on the consumption of global resources. The UN Human Development Report (HDR) shows that 54% of global income goes to the richest 10% of the world’s population, while 2.5 billion people living on less than $2 a day or 40% of the world’s population receive only 5% of global income. The Economist reported in January 2011 that “the richest 1% of adults control 43% of the world’s assets; the wealthiest 10% have 83% of global assets while the bottom 50% have only 2%”. In fact according to The Guardian UK of the 23rd October 2011, one Briton has the carbon footprint of about 22 Africans. Even in terms of carbon emissions and pollution, it is mostly perpetrated by industries, firms and corporations of developed countries. As George Monbiot, an author and activist notes, in the face of western over-consumption criticising expanding population in developing countries means “blaming the victims”

Furthermore, overcrowding and population density typically abound in major cities in both the developed and the developing world. John Bongaarts of the New York-based Population Council notes that ”most of that growth will be in Africa’s cities, and in those cities it will almost all be in slums where living conditions are horrible”. Thus, many small towns and rural areas in developing countries have large swathes of land which are sparsely populated and could accommodate millions of people easily. It is noteworthy that other factors such as rampant rural-urban migration account for the swelling population of many developing-country cities.  Conversely many developed economies in Europe, North America and even parts of East Asia are faced with shrinking birth rates and rapidly ageing populations notably Japan, Italy and Russia where birth rates are lower than replacement rates of less than 2.1 children per woman. In order to reverse this ageing population, countries like Russia have initiated a policy known as “mother capital” where women are paid about $10,000 to have more than one child albeit with little success. Thus, there seems to be plenty of space to fit everyone and more as it has even been argued that the entire 7 billion people of the earth could fit shoulder-to-shoulder in the city of Los Angeles, California.

It is also worth considering that if global population is putting a strain on global resources and threatening the delicate eco balance, should the most viable solution then, be embarking on projects of halting this growing population in developing countries through family planning? This is far from pragmatic, it is unsustainable, not to mention highly unfair for if as evidence shows, developing countries are not responsible for excessive over consumption of resources and the world still has space to accommodate so many more people, then why should people’s reproductive rights be interfered with? What assurances are there that some governments would not embark on over-zealous coercive depopulation measures such as India’s mass sterilisation campaign in the 1970s where thousands of men and women were forced to undergo vasectomy and tubal ligation respectively. Whole villages were reported to have been rounded up for sterilisation with a ruthless efficiency and it persists to this day, though to a much lesser extent.

The following pictures by professional freelance photographer and author Nick Rain, shot in December 2003, reveals the sordid story of the mass sterilization camps in India:

 In a remote part of India on the border with Nepal a local clinic managed to convince the local women to come enmasse to undergo sterilization to combat poverty. The women however were not aware how the crude operation would be carried out. The operation took place inside the dirty clinic with hundreds of women waiting like cattle to be operated on.Copyright: Nick Rain.

One by one the women were put on the operating table, the instrument used looked like a twelve inch metal tube with a sharp edge at one end. It was then forced into the womans stomach and the physician looked through the instrument and made what looked like a twist and a snip, a quick stich and a plaster and the women were dragged outside to recover on the grass. This operation is called Tubal Ligation. Copyright: Nick Rain.

In the face of deeply entrenched socio-cultural beliefs and values over reproductive rights in many developing countries, where children are regarded as a “blessing” from God and the inability to bear children easily leads to stigmatization, or in rural areas where children are still seen as a sign of wealth so that they can work on farms, it is quite unlikely that people can be reasonably convinced to drastically limit the number of children they bring into this world. Suspicion and allegations of covert Western support and prodding for coercive population control in developing countries does not help matters either given that wealthy countries like US from 1966 under President Lyndon Johnson, Japan, Sweden and UK have devoted large funds to reducing Third World birth rates. For example, in Peru, the government of former President Alberto Fujimori’s forced sterilization of hundreds of thousands of poor, rural Peruvians between 1995 and 2000 under a “public health” plan is reported to have been principally financed using funds from USAID, the Japanese Nippon Foundation, and later, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). In Nigeria there have been various controversies over alleged “covert” plans by global powers to sterilize women and control population.

With such facts, one could argue that the international community seems to be unrealistically putting undue emphasis on population and birth control in developing countries at the expense of more important issues such as providing greater opportunities for education and empowerment so that the poor and disadvantaged can have better opportunities in life, can be lifted out of poverty and contribute meaningfully to their communities’ development. Improving access to basic agriculture technologies for many people in the poorest countries whose livelihoods depend on subsistence farming is one way to reduce the threat of food scarcity. As research shows that women who finish at least secondary school are in a better position to make informed choices about their reproductive options and are more likely to plan for and have fewer kids that they can actually take care of, educating and empowering women should be the top priority. The growing youth population of many Sub Saharan countries such as Nigeria or Kenya where up to half the population is under 25 years old, regarded by experts as a “youth dividend” could fuel a productive surge if they are meaningfully engaged, trained, educated  and their potential utilized. It is very easy to envision how the potential of the teeming youth of Nigeria’s over 166 million people could be harnessed to revive the agriculture sector and to power desperately needed manufacturing and industrialization especially in the North.

Therefore, while world population especially in developing countries is growing at a rapid pace, a more realistic, pragmatic and sustainable approach needs to be taken by the development community in managing the situation by advocating for a balance in utilization and consumption of resources. Developing country governments in Sub Saharan Africa on their own part need to focus more on empowering their vibrant and dynamic people and orienting them towards more sustainable development.

P.S.

The video below is an episode of a show on Russia Today called Cross Talk, where current affairs are discussed. The debate in this episode centers around the population crisis debate.

Point is that we all agree that things cannot continue this way. There is consensus around the fact that otherwise we are headed for a precipice. Problem is that it is the other person who bears the greatest responsibility for undertaking the needed change! So what do we do? Now, being a very religious people, inevitably, we take all this to the Lord in prayer: asking that he arranges, somehow, to redeem us. This is the sense in which we (both government and the governed) have approached Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s acceptance of the office of coordinating minister for the economy: part alchemist; part prophet; part messiah.

Now, there’s a certain Jewish tradition that resonates with this: the scapegoat! According to Wikipedia, “Throughout the year and on the Day of Atonement, the record of all the sins of the Israelites was transferred to the Tabernacle by the blood of the sacrifices. On the Day of Atonement, the tabernacle was cleansed of all the accumulated sins by the ritual described in Leviticus 16. At that time, the high priest confesses the accumulated sins of the Children of Israel to the scapegoat, which is then sent into the desert wilderness. The Tabernacle and the Children of Israel were thus cleansed of sin.”

Having transferred our sins unto the super-minister, we go on sinning. Until the next Yom Kippur!

For anyone who grew up in Northern Nigeria, the Eid-el-Adha/Eid-el-Kabir festival commonly referred to as “Babban Sallah” evokes images of wearing brand new clothes, preparation of hearty meals shared with neighbours (Muslims and Christians alike), exchange of visits between family and friends, going to gardens or parks, and most importantly, the symbolic slaughter of a ram to celebrate and commemorate the near sacrifice by Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) of his son, an event similarly recognized by Christians and Jews as well.

This year however, things turned out to be quite different for Nigerians for as many prepared for the Eid amidst rising prices of basic commodities such as food stuff and  transportation fares and as people travelled to their hometowns with their various families, they were met with sad and frightening news of the utterly despicable and violent attacks unleashed by Boko Haram in the two north eastern cities of Maiduguri and Damaturu. The series of (suicide) bomb blasts and gun battles were targeted at Police Stations, Joint Military Task Force (JTF) Headquarters, 6 Churches, a mosque and even a bank. By Sunday, casualty and death toll had climbed to over 150, according to the Red Cross and other official sources.

To say that the country is under siege by Boko Haram would not be farfetched. Bombs and violent assassinations have been going on through-out the year. The fact that Boko Haram seems to be growing stronger and more daring with each passing day is simply a reflection of government’s utter inability and incapacity to restore order and protect innocent citizens. The fact that Boko Haram unleashed this mayhem on the eve of the Islamic festival and celebration robs them of any religious or moral undertone, for Islam clearly does not preach murder and bloodshed. It has reached a time when Nigerians, especially those living in the North are slowly coming to grips with the stark reality that peace and basic freedom which were taken for granted,  and every aspect of normal daily life is suddenly being fundamentally altered. The way the Eid celebration activities were almost grinded to a halt in Maiduguri and Damaturu as residents were forced to stay indoors in fear, is a clear indication of dark clouds looming in the horizon.

It also appears Boko Haram is revelling in this attention it is getting from the naked fear it has driven into people’s hearts. Shortly after it claimed responsibility for the carnage in Damaturu and Maiduguri, it’s spokesperson, Abul-Qaqa stated that more violent attacks should be expected, while the US and even Canadian embassies have issued statements warning their citizens of impending attacks in three major luxury hotels in the FCT, Abuja.

You have to wonder what Boko Haram actually intends to achieve with this bloodbath onslaught.  Would its unreasonable desire for complete Islamization of Nigeria be attained by senseless bloodletting of innocent Nigerians? Or is there a larger political objective, even though no “Abuja” politician has so far been a victim except ordinary, common Nigerians  – Muslims, Christians, moderate Islamic clerics and occasionally one or two Maiduguri politicians? So what exactly do they want? This is a question whose answers seem unclear to the vast majority of Nigerians, the authorities inclusive.

As if Nigerians do not have enough to deal with – the bombings, the fear, the incompetence of the security apparatuses to safeguard lives and property– more is added to the list of problems by subtle propaganda and allegations that Boko Haram is sponsored by politicians from the North, the “sore losers” of the last general elections, hell-bent on destabilizing President Goodluck Jonathan’s government. What started as an online rumour and unfounded allegation has made its way to mainstream media  circles with even hitherto respected national figures regurgitating such baseless allegations. The absurd allegations specifically state that some Northerners are simply fulfilling their promise of making Nigeria “ungovernable” if they did not win the last general elections, due to a feeling that the Presidency is regarded as “the birth right” of the North. If you ask anyone making these false assertions to list one person who actually said this, or to give evidence of who said such, where and when, they are unable to do that.

This is clearly unfounded for despite the fact that Boko Haram is clearly being sponsored by powerful people — especially in the wake of the evolution of their tactics — from the use of motorcycles and scooters to the use of expensive SUVs and other exotic cars in their recent violent activities — to say that the group is acting at the behest of Northern politicians to undermine the government is absolutely outrageous. President Jonathan would not have won the elections without active support of northern politicians and elite, many of whom actively campaigned for him during the PDP primaries and the main elections proper. Even during the primaries, northern PDP delegates who happened to be in the majority could have supported Atiku Abubakar – a Northerner and Jonathan’s then rival – but instead, they overwhelmingly rooted for Jonathan. This notion of a grand conspiracy by northerners to destabilize Jonathan’s government is simply a divide and rule tactic, employed by the political elite as usual, as has been done times without number in the past, to divert the attention of Nigerians from the relevant issues. And it has proven to be highly effective every single time.

As Nigerians round-up the Eid-el-Adha, the festival of sacrifice, it is pertinent we remind ourselves of the ultimate sacrifices others have been forced to make with their lives in this country, the increasing state of helplessness of many more Nigerians regarding their basic personal security and to hope that government will wake up to its responsibility of safeguarding the fundamental right to life of all citizens. For with each violent attack by Boko Haram, the descent to complete breakdown of law and order seems to loom dangerously closer in the horizon.

Some background

And so the Nigerian Senators having spent 46 of the first 100 days of this legislative term in recess resumed the active duty of promulgating serious legislation which last week included the Same Gender Marriage (Prohibition) Bill 2011.

The bill after much lively debate passed its second reading, but it behoves one to examine the purpose and intent of such a bill in Nigeria today.

It is quite evident that in much of Africa a swathe of fundamentalist religious fervour has swept through many countries endangering the lives of homosexuals. In Uganda, for the past few years, not only has the clamour to criminalise homosexuality rang out, the punishments to be meted out included the possibility of the death penalty.

Tolerated impunity in Africa

In January, a gay activist was bludgeoned to death by someone ready to plead gay-panic defence and his death cannot have been unrelated to the harshly virulent, bigoted and intolerant rhetoric of politicians and religious leaders alike who have with Machiavellian determination mined the mob element of the people to support the atrocious.

In South Africa with both homosexuality and same sex marriage legal, lesbians have been subjected to “corrective” rape, some have died in such attacks and I was completely repulsed beyond measure when a video was circulated of the public humiliation of a lesbian in West Africa with onlookers literally cheering on.

In other words, the concept of the acceptance of homosexuality in Africa will only be under duress from free societies in negotiations for other things than it becoming an accepted thing in society.

No danger of progressive thinking

Now, that is not to say that homosexuality does not exist in Africa, it has existed amongst humanity from time immemorial and for many in Africa it has not required the so-called influence of Western societies for it to be present and possibly thrive, no matter how little the numbers are.

That said, it will take a leap of faith bordering on the impossible to countenance a time when same sex marriage will gain any form acceptance where the law already prescribes punishments not far off from what would have made the Mosaic stoning acts almost merciful.

In the reports about the debate, as we have observed in other countries where homosexuality laws have been repealed, the legislators employed interestingly colourful language, all possibly based on conjuring the most revolting images to blackmail the unpersuaded to take sides for this attack on civil liberties.

Blackmail by revulsion

Taking root from religious law, they have conflated homosexuality with paedophilia, incest and bestiality which probably happens more amongst professed heterosexuals but it never finds mention. It would be nigh on impossible for such legislators to promulgate laws against adultery or fornication, though one is not suggesting that they have the propensity for such.

In the case of rape, when mention was made of the gang-rape and criminal assault of a lady, a member of the House of Representatives had the temerity to question the need for such discussion in the midst of other pressing Nigerian problems – it would have been wonderful for such minds to prevail on the fact that same sex marriage is not on the horizon for Nigeria in the foreseeable future and hence the debate was just an abject waste of time.

The bill was sponsored by 26 senators of which 3 were women, one of whom was once a Federal Minister of Finance; it invalidates unions and does not recognise any same sex marriages contracted in foreign countries where such is legal.

Witnesses criminalised more

What is quite amusing about the penalties is where the subjects of the “solemnisation” of the marriage are liable to 3 years of imprisonment whilst witnesses to such an event face either a term of 5 years imprisonment or a fine of NGN 2,000 or both.

In terms of groups, the fine is limited to NGN 50,000. What is confusing about what is patently a bad law is that it appears the same-sex marriage participants are not as severely punished as the witnesses to such an event – there are no two ways of stating that a bad law punishes observers more than the actors – it is radically and patently flawed whilst at the same time unfortunate that supposed learned legislators are blinded by moral fury so as to be oblivious of the miscarriage of justice that looms in the wake of this outrageously condemnable stance.

You have to ask if the stenographers or publishers of such laws for debate take time to review their copy, proofread the documents and ensure that ambiguity and incorrect spelling, context or content is accounted for.

In the section about the interpretation of the law, it suggests that “Same Gender Marriage” means the coming together of persons of the same sex with the purpose of leaving (sic) [I suppose living was intended here.] together as husband and wife or for other purposes of [a] same sexual (sic) [sex] relationship.

Unintended consequence already evident

However, let us not be given to unnecessary pedantry and look at the issues here; in the prevailing circumstances our Senators have just legislated for a mirage with the hope that they have handled an issue that hardly if even remotely touches any sense of reality – this bill shows an idleness of purpose with people so highly paid but lacking in principle, priority and focus to tackle more thorny issues that affect Nigeria and Nigerians at large.

Human-beings will always be human-beings and they will satisfy whatever feeling and persuasion they have regardless of the laws that encroach into the morality of society to attack an almost invisible minority.

The greater danger will be in the many who because of societal pressures will attempt to present public heterosexual lives whilst they pursue secret homosexual liaisons in what is commonly known as being on the Down-Low.

Societies that promulgate moral laws will always suffer from the almost schizophrenic tendency for people to live double lives, men or women with their families eventually getting caught up in literally unspeakable circumstances.

The wheels of social justice in reverse

The Same Gender Marriage (Prohibition) Bill is not one Nigeria needs at any time, it is legislating for the unforeseeable in anticipation of the improbable where there are no extenuating circumstances of evidence available to show that the country is vulnerable or prone to any such development.

Even in countries where Same Sex Marriage is legal, the homosexuals are not flocking to the altar in droves, it takes a lot to develop relationships between people regardless of gender-pairing and somehow our learned legislators in attempting to appear knowledgeable have just exposed they utter ignorance of a side of human nature they are completely clueless of – if we have such lack of expertise addressing even more pertinent legislative issues in Nigeria, we are the much poorer for it and we are sadder for the brigandage that allows for so much to be paid for such inconsequential and irrelevant service to Nigerians.

In the end, where we have allowed moral laws to trample on the rights of other who have committed in the eyes of this unjust law victimless crimes, the wheel of negative social justice reforms is never stationary, it continues to roll until to encroaches on other rights abrogated by reason of some moral law or code – we already see that our leadership have to compelled to speak up for victims of sexually violence, they probably will not readily condemn violence against others as a result of this bill as we inure ourselves from the plight of others.

Acknowledgements

The basic document of the Same Gender Marriage (Prohibition) Bill 2011 the news reports of the debating the bill appeared on ThisDayLive and The Nation newspapers.

Nigerian Coat of Arms

“ ‘Nigeria is a state, not yet a nation’. Discuss” was the very first continuous assessment essay question for GENS 101, Nationalism course in my first year and first semester at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria. Myself and many of my classmates probably wrote complete drivel in a bid to answer it partly because we were fresh out of secondary school and hardly understood or were able to distinguish the concepts of statehood and nationhood, and partly because the lecturer hardly came to class to actually “teach” that module. It was not until relatively recently that I got to fully appreciate the weight and import of these concepts, how they relate to me as a citizen and why I was asked that question at the university. This question of Nigeria’s statehood and its viability as a nation was an issue our immediate post independence leaders were confronted with at independence in 1960 and remarkably more recently, as Nigeria marks 51 since the attainment of political independence, Nigerians are increasingly asking the same question: whether we recognize ourselves as members of a single Nigerian nation, bound by common values of Nigerian-ness.

At independence, Nigeria’s political leaders were acutely aware of the socio-economic and political challenges confronting the newly independent entity and were aware of the profound socio-cultural divergence between the hitherto autonomous northern, eastern and western regions. As former US Ambassador to Nigeria John Campbell rightly notes, the nationalist leaders, their differences notwithstanding recognized the need for unity under the common banner of a democratic Nigerian state due to shared ideals for the pursuit of economic development, governance according to the rule of law and to serve as a beacon for other African countries on the global stage. These ideals were embodied in the lofty motto “unity and faith, peace and progress” as inscribed in the Nigerian Coat of Arms.

Along the line, after years of intense elite bickering, military coups, a civil war, electoral manipulation and fraud, those common values, yearnings and aspirations have become lost on both leaders and followers in Nigeria. A typical manifestation of this phenomenon is that some Nigerians, from students and civil servants to public office holders cannot recite the national anthem or the national pledge. The basic philosophy of our Nigerian-ness after more than 5 decades has become lost amidst the rubble of crippling poverty, increasing inequality between the haves and the have-nots, the dearth and near collapse of infrastructure, alarming level of insecurity, intensification of ethnic, regional and religious cleavages and animosity amongst citizens, infamous bad leadership and scandalous corruption.

All these have culminated in a political leadership that is confused, mediocre and grossly inefficient populated by a corrupt, self-seeking, and fractured political elite devoid of patriotism, nationalistic pride and sovereignty as the recent batch of Wikileaks cables on Nigeria have revealed. This leadership and elite have not only resulted in weak and dysfunctional state institutions but also a followership which in the absence of effective and inspiring leadership is distrustful of such leadership, and is mutually antagonistic of one another; a followership bedevilled by poverty, inequality, marginalization and a sense of injustice that is increasingly becoming desperate, disillusioned and militant. The militant and violent Movement for the Emancipation of Niger-Delta (MEND) recently warned Nigerians to steer clear of Independence Day celebrations in Abuja because it claimed it was planning a bomb attack.

A leadership which lacks nationalism and patriotism similarly inspires a followership that has little nationalistic pride and devotion. For several years many Nigerians, save the ones in government who have to participate in official protocol, hardly genuinely participate in the Independence Day celebrations. What celebrations can you participate-in when there is hardly power (electricity), when several bombs have gone-off in various parts of a city, when you are grieving over the loss of a relative or friend who died in a ghastly road accident, when newspaper headlines are daily screaming with sordid salacious stories of government corruption and inefficiency, when parents have several graduates loitering aimlessly at home unemployed and where university students nurse a perpetual mortal fear of finding themselves stranded, unemployed in the labour market?

Interestingly, while acknowledging many of these enormous problems, one basic fact which most Nigerians fail to recognize or prefer to (willingly) overlook is our role in it all. It has almost become an automatic reflexive action for everyone to quickly attribute Nigeria’s problems to bad leadership (which is not under dispute). It is almost a comical irony to read the transcript of interviews with some legislators, ministers or other public office holders and hear them complain about bad leadership as the bane of Nigeria’s problems forgetting that they actually constitute such “leadership”. It is as though the concept of leadership in this context has assumed the notion of a nebulous, abstract bogey-monster which provides an escapist punching bag for us to blame for our woes. In our eagerness to blame “bad leadership”, we conveniently forget that those leaders are not foreigners or aliens, but are part and parcel of our society – they were once ordinary citizens like us and are an embodiment of the nature, the pulse and attitude of our society. We fail to remember that if we want our leaders to change, we need to change our ways, our mindset and re-assess our aspirations so that the leaders will reflect those values and when they falter or waver we make them (or pressure them) to toe those lines.

After 51 years of “independence” and over 12 years of democracy we are yet to accept that change has to come from within all of us. If we have forgotten or we no longer respect the philosophy and common values that bind us together, if we have relegated our yearnings and aspirations for a developed, progressing, stable and effectively governed and democratic Nigeria where everyone is equal and can realize their full potentials, then how do we expect our leaders to be any different from us and miraculously have the much desired “interest of the nation at heart”?

As Nigeria marks 51 years since independence, we need to embark on a sober reflection of what Nigeria means to each of us, and what role we have played and are playing in the state of Nigeria today. A nation is built when it’s constituent inhabitants recognize the common values and aspirations they share despite their differences and how crucial it is to safeguard and protect those ideals in every sphere of life. Until we recognize and embrace that, our march towards nation-hood will continue faltering.