Barrister Willie Amadi, currently a federal commissioner/Ombudsman, Public Complaints Commission (PCC) representing Imo state, in this interview with CHIDIEBERE IWOHA, bares his mind on the the myriads of challenges plaguing Nigeria even as she marked 60th Independence anniversary, political bottlenecks and progress made so far, governance in Imo State and the way forward.
Nigeria’s exploits and leadership role in Africa
Nigeria has come of age and is an elder statesman in the comity of nations. Nigeria has represented the black world generally well. In fact, all black nations are very proud of us. We are also sought after by all countries of the world. A country that is blessed with enormous human and natural resources, I don’t think there is any country in the world that is as much blessed with human and natural resources as Nigeria. Is it gold, oil, uranium, tin, ore or coal ? We have all these in commercial quantities and many more resources too numerous to enumerate here. Nigeria has also done well in global and continental diplomacy and politics. Our brother African nations look up to Nigeria in times of distress and diplomacy. Nigeria has played major roles in their welfare and crisis through the continental bodies such as the African Union (AU) and ECOWAS. Our former presidents including but not limited to Olusegun Obasanjo, Goodluck Jonathan, Musa Yar’Adua and Muhammadu Buhari at one time or the other headed the organizations and provided leadership. So, Nigeria has really done well but a lot more needs to be done by the leaders and the led.
Leadership challenges
The leadership question and derivatives started very well from inception but somewhere along the line, there was military interregnum which introduced corruption into governance and also forced people who were not elected by the people or have the mandate of the people to forcefully take up the reins of governance and leadership with a gun thereby forcing poor citizens to accept them with so much fear. This consistent interruptions greatly threatened and delayed the early birth of Nigeria’s democracy. It is quite sad that technically, the military continued in government starting with the fourth republic democracy in 1999. The first democratically elected president in 1999 was a military man with a military psyche and mentality and this further diminished democratic tenets under the Obasanjo era. It was more of a diarchy than democracy. Obasanjo, a hardworking, focused and a no nonsense mind combined military commands with democratic norms of governance. Under his watch and unfortunately too, an elected governor was abducted by an Assistant Inspector-General of Police on perhaps his knowledge and or indifference, led hooligans to vandalize Government House in search of a sitting governor, Senator Chris Ngige and current Minister of Labour. The police officer was later to pay with his life for the desecration. His governance style afforded priviledged citizens the opportunity to buy up security personnel- the police, civil defence and even army for private protection. Nigerians of all ages became suspects in every part of the world. The anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) which was set up to arrest, investigate and prosecute suspects became a political tool for harassing, intimidating and or fighting political opponents and non-Nigerians not comfortable with and vocal against bad policies of the government. Corruption became a state policy too difficult to eradicate because of political expediency. Public and civil servants fought EFCC back with their looted funds. Corrupt practices quietly engulfed the entire nation and nearly became a state policy. Those who stole our money protected themselves with the commonwealth while those who served Nigeria selflessly and had no money were left to suffer and gnash their teeth in pain and regrets, even as pensioners. Merit has been thrown overboard while medicrity and ethnic and religious considerations became the fundamental principle of state policy. The National Assembly which make laws and oversight ministries, departments and agencies of government became apprentices to the “executhieves”. Today the National Assembly has been relegated to division three of our national league with the presidency deciding their leadership structure and even contents of their order paper when the occasion calls for it.
Judiciary
Under this motion without movement, the judiciary which used to be the last hope of the common man is now the last hope of the rich criminals as justice is hijacked and or bought by them while judgement is served cold to the common man. The church which has been the spiritual sanctuary for the distressed, weak, troubled souls and vulnerable persons is now a casino for gamblers where only money and magic healing confirm the spirituality and efficacy of the men of God who are managing directors of churches with family members as co- directors. God help us.
Consequences of corruption and misgovernance
With the above national stampede, security of lives and property became insecurity of lives and property as more human beings are slaughtered daily than cows, goats and chickens by disgruntled and frustrated Nigerian citizens. The Nigerian passport which was respected and revered worldwide at airports with so much admiration between 1960 and 1984 suddenly raised security flags irrespective of the colour, age and status of the bearer.Recently, Ghana, a country that was fed and breastfed by Nigeria during their economic woes, came around and became stronger and today are asking Nigerians living in their country to go back to their country and put it right. What a shame! At 60, there is no hope for our younger ones who are either in the secondary schools or universities. Each year over 100,000 students graduate from various universities without a single factory or strong indigenous companies to absorb them . The policy of government in terms of agriculture which should have provided alternative employnent with the advantage of vast arable land in the country is being operated in reverse logic. 70% of all graduates of Nigerian universities are both unemployable and unengageable in the absence of a finishing school. This has left them with the option of either going to cyber and or violent crimes. The rich will one day kneel down for these youths they have impoverished as a result of deliberate misgovernance and looting of the national resources.
Nigeria at 60 is like a patient under anaesthesia, a patient that is not alive and yet not willing to die. Perhaps, the only solution to reinvent the Nigeria of our founding fathers is to adopt the only stringent measure of mass killing of all Nigerian adults above 18 years of age to evolve a new Nigeria with colonial masters of G-7 nations coming back to mentor the new Nigerians and show them the path of rectitude, civility and transparency in good governance.
Economy
Every strong economy definitely depends on a conducive environment to thrive. A country with functional corrupt leaders and thieves can never guarantee security which will provide investors’ confidence. Economy also functions in a country with steady and affordable power supply or alternative source of power to ensure vibrant commercial activities. A country’s economy cannot survive where the oil producing states that lay the golden eggs in the poultry have been vulturized by nothern cabals operating in NNPC, LNG and warehousing 95% of all the oil licences in Nigeria. It is obvious and unfortunate that our country does not have a functional economy which accommodates the middle class and the poor but only the rich and mighty in the society. This sad development has regrettably provided a breeding ground for the practice of survival of the fittest by citizens and has unleashed the Machiavelan principle of “the end justifies the means” as seen and noticed in the spate of armed banditry, kidnappings and other fraudulent schemes. Nigerian economy is today on auto-pilot without any defined route and destination, sustainable economic policies, implementation template or peer review mechanism. Our foreingn debts and Gross Domestic Product(GDP) are both rising and declining simultaneously unlike the corruption index which keeps posting brilliant upward performance every succeeding year.
Spate of agitations by ethnic nationalities, a healthy development ?
I believe that whenever there is no contact, there is conflict. There is informal contact amongst Nigerians nowadays with zero tolerance. Tolerance makes a great nation. A country is a mere geographical entity and can only become a nation or country if fairness and justice reigns. In a family, whenever any person is unjustly marginalized by either his father, mother or members of the family acting jointly or severally, rebellion becomes the justifiable alternative. Nigeria is a country with diverse ethinic values and orientation which should have bound us together but the leadership question and challenges have inadventedly sown seeds of discord in the polity, the fair and equitable distribution of national resources.
The amalgamation that brought us together was politically skewed by the British in favour of our Northern brothers. Nigerians are now more divided religiously, politically, and spiritually, thereby placing the country on a precipice. A stitch in time saves nine.Regrettably, Nigeria is a time bomb which, God forbid, could be detonated at the slightest provocation. The recent declaration of severance from the rest of the country by people from South-East, Middle-Belt, South-West based on notorious injustices metted out on them by some Presidents from the northern part of the country is a very delicate indicator and calls for prayers from all men of goodwill. A more United Nigeria where equity and fairness binds our brotherhood may be postmortem if care is not taken. I advocate for a genuine Sovereign National Conference where recommendations for Constitutional ammendments will be articulated and agreed upon in order to make constitutional ammendments possible, going forward. The elimination of certain provisions in the constitution that have encouraged marginalisation of any of the federating units will extinguish the different regional agitations.
Assessing Imo government and advice to the citizens
Imo is probably the most enlightened state in the South East and probably has the highest number of educated and resourceful young population in the zone. On return to democracy in 1979, Imo state produced the best governor in the person of His Excellencey Samuel Onunaka Mbakwe, the weeping governor who provided the unbeatable foundation for the state. Thereafter, Enwerem, Udenwa, Ohakim, unfortunately Okorocha, Ihedioha and Uzodinma presiding. Each of these governors have left their footprints on the sands of time and history will judge all of them according to their deeds. My candid and apolitical advice to Governor Uzodinma is that he must and should learn from the experiences and mistakes of his predecessors to make the difference. I will assess his administration after two years of governance with public imput. To the citizens, I urge them to begin to resist the imposition of leaders by political parties because that is where the damage is done. Citizens must criticize objectively and constructively because we must talk the talk and provoke the thoughts. Edo, Rivers, Benue and many other states have done it. Citizens must be ready to protect their votes and insist on who will govern them. In terms of infrastructure and good governance Anambra, Enugu and Ebonyi states appeared to have taken off, while Abia and Imo are still using compass to navigate their way. With Imo recovering from the locust years of 2011-2019. I pray and do hope that Governor Uzodinma will make the difference and return the state to her glorious days to the glory of God Almighty.
