Another View on The Southerner 

Saturday, September 13, 2025

Nigeria is a country that is so blessed in all ramifications. It is blessed humanly – yes, we have talents in all fields of endeavour. There is certainly no area of life in the world where Nigeria is lacking in eggheads.

We are blessed with all kinds of natural resources that draws the attention of the world to Nigeria. Geographically and physically, Nigeria is blessed with the most beautiful weather and arable land that is friendly and very favourable to agriculture.

Nigeria is rich economically and financially. We are so blessed that, other nations of the world envy Nigeria. But why does this Great Country still ‘wobble and fumbles” is still a serious concern to millions of Nigerian and foreign pundits.

We have refused to lock ourselves up in a room and take decisions on how to scale our hurdles. We have enveloped ourselves with ethnic and religious sentiments. We have surrounded our grace with corruption, looting of the treasury, avarice and personal interest above our collective advancement.

Nigeria from all indications appears a country under captivity. It has been captured and held down by a tiny group of myopic and cruel individuals. They are far from the larger percentage of the population. This tiny group have tightened their grip on the political space and economic privileges of the country.

Our elementary understanding of political science defines politics as a means of organizing the state and people to govern and establish for themselves accepted norms, build peace, law, order, good governance and security for all. But in Nigeria, it is far from reality. Our political elites and economic giants are holding the rest of the country hostage.

These privileged class are not interested in building a functional nation for the benefit of all. They are rather more keen in building a country that will continue to add and maintain their vast economic interest, wealthy accounts, and empires.

Our leaders must understand the importance of tackling the social and economic pains that has worsened poverty in the country.

Presently, there is no known way that the government has provided to soften the harsh economic measures that its policies have created for the suffering masses.

In other climes, their governments provide safety nets to arrest harsh economic measures as a result of some desirable policies. In Nigeria, it is not so. The government rather deroens the hardship by introducing all manner of seen and unseen taxes.

It is this political and economic heavyweights that decide on how the state functions. They organize the political structure, make the laws, and ‘elect’ or ‘appoint’ the actors to man various offices to govern the state.

It is the owners of the country who owns and gifs their cronies the oil wells to manage. They have shares in the oil companies. They have their family members in strategic positions in both the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and foreign oil companies that control the oil sector.

They control the import licenses and decide whom to give it to. They are the owners of the press and communication companies hence manage the flow of information. They are in charge of the banks, the Central and commercial banks.

These political elites and economic bourgeois have hijacked the electricity industries, airlines, security and insurance companies. They are also in charge of education and religion. They have moved to the streets and taken control. The masses only role is to ‘siddon look,’ and ‘obey the last order.’

Nigerians must understand that no country can develop with the way the country is arranged and administered. The country is held by the jugular by our ruling class. The leadership of other countries are working so hard to get their countries moving up. But in Nigeria it is all about what to grab, thereby entrenching stagnancy.

We must encourage innovation among our youths. A country that do not encourage innovation is a country in a long recess.

Nigerians have to wake up from the present economic slumber. To allow economic monopoly in a country of more than 200 million people is not advancement but a complete progress in retrogression. Something urgent needs to be done by the people to save the country from collapse.

It is worrisome that in the 21st century, Nigeria, a country rich in crude, with about four refineries still allows its crude to be taken out for refining and later brought back for local sales. If this is not betrayal of loyalty, economic sabotage and leadership failure, I wonder what else it can be called!

Why should Nigeria since independence in 1960 be in darkness? Our political and economic elites have cornered the electricity sector and sold us out to their local and foreign collaborators. No government has decided for once to take the bull by the horn in solving the power problem. As it is there is no end in sight. The people are just being milked by the power ministry, generating and distributing companies. And, there is no group to our rescue, not even the Labour Union.

How can tiny and poor African countries with less economic interests be doing so well more than Nigeria? These countries from available reports pay their teachers, University dons, medical doctors far higher than the ‘Giant of Africa.’

The educational system in those countries is very much in tact, better organized, fitted with modern facilities to aid teaching and learning. They are highly supported by their governments.

It is shameful that our University lecturers and medical personnels are checking out in droves to these other countries to grab employment because of poor welfare packages back home. But in this same country, ordinary state legislative aides earn more than professors and doctors.

In Nigeria, we are still awarding and building same roads in the last 65 years of our existence as an independent country. There is no government that has not awarded contracts and worked on Lagos – Ibadan expressway since it was built in the 1970s. Virtually none.

Building of roads have become a major achievement for State Governors and Federal Ministers. For them, it is a landmark credit and, for the people it is development in progress. The tragedy of this, is that human development, the engine room for the advancement of any country in the world suffers gravely.

There is no state that can boast of an ICT centre in this modern world of internet technology. Even schools that teach computer/internet science are not well equipped with gadgets to support the training of its students.

Our political elites and the rich in our society still travel outside for medical treatments whenever they fall ill. There is no up to date hospital in the country to attend to patients especially requiring serious ailments. Nigeria’s two former Presidents, Umar Yar’Adua and Muhammadu Buhari died in foreign hospitals where they had gone to seek for medical attentions. A big shame for a country that is so endowed.

The country cannot continue with the way it is going and survive. Something drastic must be done to save it from collapse. With the growing population, a restive one, the country may be sitting on keg of a gunpowder. This country may eventually explode someday. We need to reset the system to allow for its growth and development.

If Nigeria must continue in unity, we need to redraw the map of our politics to reshape our economy. The country cannot continue with this unpatriotic march to doom and remain peaceful and united.