By Bukar Usman
Dear Adegoke Adegoroye, PhD, OON.
Thank you very much for making available to me the soft copy of your lead paper delivered on September 29, to mark the 63 Anniversary of Nigeria’s independence.
I note that the paper was anchored on twin-aspirations of Hope and Vision expressed by the present administration and apparent lack of progress in national development commensurate to the enormous human and material resources God has endowed Nigeria.
The comparison of Nigeria’s shortcomings in relation to its peers at independence is apt and should always serve as a clarion call for sober reflection on where things went wrong. Nigeria had prepared national plans and visions like other countries. Why are they not achieving the same results?
Indeed, a new administration always provides the opportunity to correct the failings of the past and for a nation to relaunch itself. You rightly called it a New Dawn and used the national symbol, the Eagle, as a metaphor of Nigeria being a country that has been incapacitated and wanting to be plumed to fly again.
Various key decisions had consequently been taken by the new administration particularly on the economic front coupled with a restructuring of the government framework and a host of personnel appointments in key positions. In a way, it is left for those currently put in charge to deliver and the President has given ‘marching orders’ to the appointees to do so. Needless to say, that positive results are anxiously being awaited and patience appears to be running out even though the administration is only a couple of months in the saddle.
And so there remains high expectations on performance in delivery of goods and services. At the moment, the horizon is not too clear. There is a huge performance and credibility gap vis-a-vis pronouncements made while public anxiety remains high as the negative fallouts of the major policy pronouncements weigh heavily and unbearably on the people.
You have tried to highlight several areas for due attention, some of which had been identified by the administration itself to include:
•Moving away from heavy borrowing
•Tackling joblessness
•Tackling poverty
•Attraction of foreign investment including encouragement of Nigerians in theDiaspora to do so
• Correction of leadership deficiencies and non- observance of the rules that results incorruption and leakages of treasury
Streamline functions to check duplication of functions arising from the enlarged Ministerial portfolios
Coordination of Government activities
•Proactive initiatives
•Receptiveness to new ideas
•Relieving non- performing officers, adherence to tenure policy and hiring best talents
• Competitive compensation
•Creation of a Foreign Service Board
•Checking default in procurement contracts
•Review of perquisites of some public officers and privileges of revenue generation/ collection agencies
•Checking abuse of spate of ‘project vehicles’
•Relations between Accounting Officers/ Political Heads
•Relations with Labour
Among others, you proposed increase in coordinating portfolios. While there is merit in creating a Board or Commission for the Foreign Service, the same cannot be said of additional coordinating portfolios. The induction or seminar for public servants and political appointees of which you had been an ardent advocate would have taken care of many of the points. Unfortunately, the forum is yet to take place. The fears expressed about duplication of functions arising from the restructured portfolios should also have been taken care of well before and not after the creation of the new bodies. As it is, the service is being confronted with the proverbial ‘putting the cart before the horse’.
As at now, much is expected from the leadership of government. If there is support of the Accounting Officers from the above in enforcement of Financial Regulations a lot of the financial abuses could be checked as there are rules only that they are strictly not being observed. For instance, benefits to certain posts have been monetized since the Obasanjo administration and yet there appears to be more costly ‘official’ vehicles bought and maintained at public expense in edition to incumbents drawing heavy perquisites. Hence monetization had hardly achieved its intended objectives. Presidential Review panels could be set up to look into some of the naughty areas of abuses, the treasury leakages and financial mismanagements to tighten the loopholes while government strives to increase the quantum of revenue.
While some of the shortcomings you enumerated will hopefully be looked into in due time, there are few worrisome areas requiring urgency in action and positive results. These include:
Increase in oil production and export as one of the major sources of foreign exchange earning.
• Curbing increase in foreign exchange rate
•Reduction in rate of inflation
• Increase in and stabilization of electricity supply
•Curbing incidence of kidnapping and robery
•Improvement in general security
Looking back at the celebration of the Golden Jubilee Independence Anniversary in 2010, I wrote a pamphlet Dreams and Realities: Issues in Nigeria’s Golden Jubilee Independence Anniversary (Klamidas, 2010). Therein, among others, I here recall my remarks that:
Some achievements are pretty obvious like the country remaining one after all the numerous squabbles Nigeria had gone through including a devastating civil war. It is a no mean achievement considering that other countries which are less diverse than Nigeria had broken up between the end of Nigeria’s civil war and 2010…However, the internal dynamics of chronic malfunctioning of democratic institutions and systems, corruption, decline in shipping and rail transportation, poor urban and intercity transportation, extreme shortage of electricity and other basic amenities, especially when compared with the performance of less endowed countries…reflect the depth of peoples’ feelings and disappointments…
Regarding power supplies, I observed that:
Nigeria at 50 has 4,000MW but needs, according to Nigeria Energy Commission 50,000MW of electricity to realize Vision 20:2020 goals.
I then asked:
If it took us 50 years to achieve 4,000MW, how is it feasible to achieve 50, 000MW in 10 years?
I concluded that:
it is most intriguing to say that since independence and in spite of the intensified effort and promises made over the last decade, the aggregate electricity supply still hovers around four thousand megawatts, leading to seemingly endless load shedding throughout the federation.
Here we are today in 2023 still hovering around 5,000MW if not the same figure as at the year 2010.
Some messages I received from associates around this time, some of which are in celebration of Nigeria @ 63, reproduced here, are sufficiently instructive on matters of general concern about the prevailing situation:
Dear Dr Bukar, just to wish you, Happy Independence Day celebrations. May the God Almighty change the situation of our dear country Nigeria as we clock 63. -Franca Ocheche.
Good afternoon, Sir. I wish you happy independence, happy new month. May Allah bring solution to our dear country Nigeria, insecurity and hardship. May He grant us the way out to build a new Nigeria. Have a nice celebration at 63. – Anthony Daniel
Indeed, Nigeria needs to be rebooted. Warm regards. – Amb Martina Geren Sen
Accept my post- independence greetings. May Nigeria be Great again. High regards. – Tade Jawonisi.
…things are so bad right now that we need total rebooting. However, in my own little mind if government can just pick up insecurity and face it and tackle it the rest of the problems will fall into place…Greetings and blessings to all in the Family.- Finzi Ghaji
I have had exchanges with another associate about celebration of Nigeria @ 63 as follows:
As salamalaikum, Sir. I hope you and your family are well. Sir, I feel proud to make your acquaintance and I enjoy all the emails you have been sharing with me. I find your recent publication on the condition of the FCT concerning, especially the kids roaming and fighting in the streets. Thank you for your intervention and raising awareness. Please find attached a copy of a poem I composed in commemoration of Nigeria’s sixty-three years of independence. Enjoy, Sir. NB: feedback is highly appreciated.
Today, I feel weighed down by 63 years of mortal anguish
I dare say I am color-blind to the sorrow of celebrating this day
Amid plenty, I am mortified by everything running at everyone
I dare say the future looks great
Seems like yesterday, that my neighbors used to marvel at my beauty
I fought and broke the chains to set them free
Those days have since perished in the struggles of living in me
I dare say I am a giant
I once lived in a brothel with the hope of survival
Many saw me as a prostitute, sharing my bed with a whisker
I see myself as a nationalist, propagating diversity and inclusion
I dare say you get what you see
In far-far lands, across the shore
I hear word of the dwellings of my sons and daughters
Some with beaming rays that light up the magical world
I dare say, my children are a curse to the universe
In a sudden twist of fate
Those marching on murky grounds with empty stomachs press forward
Those running on green grasses with heavy pot-bellies move onwards
I dare say you choose the land you step on.- Faisal Mudi Kurfi
Dear F.M Kurfi. Good afternoon. This is to thank you most sincerely for the compliments. It is very kind of you. As to your poem on Nigeria@63, I tried to decipher the five stanzas one by one. In stanza one, you are pained at suffering of Nigerians amidst plenty and yet you remain hopeful of Nigeria’s future of greatness. In stanza two, you recalled the role played by Nigeria, the Giant of Africa, in the liberation of some fellow -African countries from colonialism. In stanza three, you also attested to sacrifices made by Nigeria in quest of human dignity and freedom of association among nations. In stanza four, you lamented about fellow Nigerians in the Diaspora some of whom behaved and lived well while others behaved badly to disrepute of Nigeria. In the fifth and final stanza, you saw Nigeria of mixed opportunities. Some wallow in poverty while others are prosperous. It all depends. Thus Nigeria @ 63 is a mixed bag of success and disappointment. Kindly let me know how close I am to interpreting your poem please. – Dr. Bukar Usman
Good evening, Sir. I want to express my gratitude for your excellent analysis of my poem. Sir, you explained every stanza exceptionally well, providing the clarity that I would find challenging to replicate. With your permission, I would like to share your insights within my circle to help them grasp this critical message. Thank you once again for your support and encouragement. Best regards. – Faisal Mudi Kurfi
Dear F.M Kurfi. Good morning. Thank you very much for the endorsement of my analysis of your Nigeria@63 poem. Please feel free to share it among your circle and any other platform you may deem appropriate. I look forward to many more creative poems of yours. With warm regards and best wishes. – Dr. Bukar Usman
What a bag of unanimous expression of concerns and prayers for Nigeria!!!
With warm regards and best wishes.
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This is Dr. Bukar Usman’s review of a lead paper delivered by Adegoke Adegoroye, PhD, OON a colleague and former federal permanent secretary, on Nigeria @ 63 that the latter made available to him. The title of the paper was ‘Actualizing The Vision of Renewed Hope for Socio-Economic Development of Nigeria Through Effective Leadership’ delivered under the overarching Theme: “Nigeria at 63, Renewed Hope for National Unity and Prosperity”.