Today, Wednesday April 27, 2016, will go down in history, as a day, eminent Nigerians from all walks of life, were gathered, to unveil ideas on how to make the Nigeria of our dreams work. Nigeria doesn’t seem to be working. Or do you think it is working? Make no mistake; the non-workability did not just start today. E don teh, like some would say.
I know there are some who hold the extreme view that “there was a country” called Nigeria. But while not trying to dismiss the sentiments of those who hold such a belief, there are still majority of us who believe that there is a country, called Nigeria.
The problem, however, is that even those of us in this category do not appear to love our country as much as we love our tribe, state, ethnicity and religion.
In other words, the sharp matchet has no handle, while the one that has a good handle is blunt. This is why the Deputy President of the Senate is asking “Who Will Love My Country.”
“Who Will Love My Country,” is the title of the latest book written by Senator Ike Ekweremadu, and it is due for public presentation this afternoon, in Abuja.
The book is his own modest attempt at analyzing the challenges of the country, with a view to providing ideas capable of provoking the minds of Nigerian leaders, to pause and think of how best, a Nigeria of our dreams could be built.
Because Ekweremadu is a politician, there is the tendency for some little minds to impute politics into the whole event. Far from it. The event was initially planned for 2015, shortly after the 2015 general elections. However, certain exigencies made it impossible for it to go on as planned.
Although, I am not the book Reviewer, I had to go this far, to let Nigerians know that the gathering is about the country, and its future. Three eminent Nigerians have been selected to speak on three broad themes that run across the book. His Eminence, the Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, will speak on how to Reduce Poverty in the land; Professor Pat Utomi, on Peace, Unity and Progress, and Professor Sam Egwu, would be speaking on Democracy and Development.
Again, most of the views espoused in the book were long held views of the Deputy President of the Senate. For instance, everyone knows where he stands on Fiscal federalism, just as his views on decentralized policing system, which some want to refer to as State Police, is unmistaken. You will find his lucid arguments on all of these issues in the book.
Each time, there is a drop in oil price, the country’s leaders and the rest of us panic, largely because oil, is the country’s cash cow. But should this tradition continue? Thank God, the new song in town now is diversification. Apart from diversifying the country’s economy, Ekweremadu believes strongly that the current 36 states system we run, is not viable. Instead, he suggested that we return to a regional arrangement with six geopolitical zones as federating units.
He said further that the act of “robbing Peter to pay Paul, which I term feeding bottle federalism, is at the heart of poor governance, underdevelopment, indolence, and ineptitude in the Nigerian federation. It is the reason some state governors can afford to sleep for an entire month, knowing they will pick up some free money from Abuja at the end of it… It is also the reason financial trepidation grips the land each time there is a hiccup in the flow of free money, usually occasioned in the crash in oil price. At such times, the whole nation tosses about, gasping for breath and survival like fish removed from water and flung on a hot, sandy beach.”
On corruption, he said: “The irony of corruption in Nigeria is that almost everyone who matters and who is in a position to curb the menace of corruption preaches against the ugly phenomenon, yet corruption continues to thrive.”
Like every Nigerian, Ekweremadu also believes that our educational system has completely collapsed. He argued further that: “Societal decay, slack moral values, an apotheosis of wealth, corruption, indiscipline, and absence of shame as a chastening influence on behaviour, has infested our educational system, draining it of relevance and public standing…. Some universities have descended as low as to reserving sensitive courses such as Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, etc. only for the highest bidder.
This is injurious, indeed atrocious, because if we consider the implications of a healthcare system in the hands of incompetent personnel, we would conclude that our universities are digging mass graves for our nation. We should not be deceived, for what a man sows, that he shall reap.”
The occasion is therefore not about APC or PDP, but about your children, my children and our unborn children. I pray that our leaders will have the courage and political will to do the right thing, all the time, so we can build the Nigeria of our dreams. As for Ekweremadu, he has played his own part. He loves his country. Over to you! Will you also love your country?
Omipidan, is the Special Assistant (Media) to the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu
