There is nothing more convenient in life than having a plethora of alternative routes to get to some desired objectives; early men had choices to make when presented with the necessity to relocate for safety reasons or for assurances of good harvests in the years to come. If we fast-forward to the present time, such myriad of alternatives is a drag on effective nation-building; this is especially bad for countries that seethe on the memories of “colonial yokes.”
Which is why it is appalling to observe that Nigeria’s “big-man” class has abandoned real nationalism in the true sense of the word in favour of jaunts here and there to nations that are flexible enough (and sometimes crooked enough) to open their doors to them. One case of note is the city-state Emirate of Dubai; as soon as it became known to Nigerians that properties could be bought and owned in Dubai, with something like permanent residency thrown in the midst, capital flight became the norm over here at home.
Public officers lost whatever vestige of conscience there was to vie for a piece of recognition on the Dubai scene whilst leaving the home front to fester in hovel dwellings and diseases; nowadays, to be a governor who “has arrived” the family must necessarily be segmented and sequestered in Dubai where “His Excellency” and “Madam (formerly First Lady)” repairs to from time to time and these governors are too happy to show up at Aso Villa with robust cheeks and baby-soft backsides smiling and pumping handshakes like Nigeria was the most developed country on earth.
It is really disheartening to see how these elected fellows live out their grand delusions. Now, too, Qatar is presenting another alternative for Nigeria; it was reported recently that the son of Dr. Maikanti Baru of the NNPC, a long-term resident of Doha (capital of Qatar), died suddenly and was duly buried over there in Doha. See, now Doha is preferable by some folks to Bauchi state.
Sunday Adole Jonah
Department of Physics,
Federal University of Technology, Minna
