BY KINGSLEY OJOUGBOH Esq
JUST recently, the national assembly passed into law the bill to revert to the old national anthem “Nigeria we hail thee” given to us at our flag independence in 1960 from the National anthem “Arise o compatriots’ adopted in 1978 about 46 years ago. The president His Excellency, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Asiwaju Tinubu has assented to the bill thereby becoming a law. The national anthem is our symbol of nationhood.
The raison deter for the change from the 1978 anthem to the 1960 anthem is not known to me. Whatever the reason is, it pains me that the honorable lawmakers have abandoned very crucial issues affecting this nation and dissipating precious energy, money and time discussing trivialities, frivolities and absurdities. It would appear that they do not know the primary reasons why they were elected by their constituents.
Nigeria as a nation is presently beset with myriad of social, political and economic problems the panacea which ought to be the main focus of our honorable members of the national assembly. The problems include but not limited to insecurity kidnapping, banditry unemployment, terrorism, energy crises, embezzlement of public funds, corruption, prohibitive cost of living, deplorable roads, murderous herdsmen, deplorable housing condition, high cost of transportation arising from high cost of petrol, separatist agitation, human and drug trafficking, baby factories, environmental degradation, bunkering, pipe line vandalism as well as porous borders
The questions now are is it the 1978 national anthem that gave rise to these problems and is the change from the 1978 national anthem to the 1960 national anthem the solution to these countless problems? An ugly dimension to this bill is the meteoric speed with which it was passed into law while many important bills that can add value to the life of Nigerians are abandoned and left to gather dust.
It is ironical that our dear country which is adjudged as the sixth and ninth country with the highest deposit of crude oil and gas respectively in the world is alsoadjudgedas the poverty capital of the world, the second most terrorized country in the world, the second most corrupt country in the world and the second most prayerful country in the world. These problems particularly insecurity has scared local and foreign investors from investing in Nigeria as nobody wants to invest in a country where his investments are not secured.
In case our honorable law makers have forgotten the primary reasons why they are in the house or do not know why they are there, it is to make laws that will provide security and promote the welfare of all Nigerians. For the avoidance of doubt, section 14 (b) of the 1999 constitution of Nigeria as amended provides as follows: “The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government, and …………..
Our hospitals have been reduced to mere consulting clinics. Unemployment has reached embarrassing and unacceptable proportion. Many of our roads are in very deplorable conditions, most of our forests are under the full control of professional kidnappers and murderous herdsmen who now make it impossible for our farmers to access their farms yet, our honorable law makers who receive jumbo salaries and allowances and presumed to be the highest paid parliamentarians in the world are busy “chasing rats”.
Our Doctors and Nurses are migrating to Asian countries in droves while our young girls are migrating to Italy, Mali and other third world countries for prostitution. Many of our young girls dress half naked in a bid to attract customers arising from the poverty and unemployment in the land.
Dependable and regular power supply is sine qua non if we actually want to revamp our economy. Our electricity generating companies operate as if they are employed to generate darkness. Can factories survive on fuel and diesel given their prohibitive cost? Many parts of the country have remained in complete darkness for months and in some cases for years yet we are debating change of national anthem.
Is it national anthem that has made America, Britain, Germany, France and other advanced or developed countries to develop and become great economies? Nigeria is the highest importer of generators. Every flat in Nigeria has at least two generators. Generator fume has caused the death of many Nigerians.
We have since reached a turning point but refused to turn by shunning the practice of true fiscal federalism which is a catalyst for the growth and development of the country for selfish and sectional interest. The recommendations of the delegates of the 2014 National Conference are on the shelves gathering dust yet our honorable law makers of the national assembly are seeing national anthem as achievement and dividend of democracy for their impoverished constituents.
This is a country where in many states retirees are not paid their entitlements until they have waited between five to seven years. Many of these retirees have died while waiting for the payment of their entitlements or even monthly pension. Many are sick as a result of the peanuts they are paid which has subjected them to poverty and penury. Many of them who retired as senior staff receive monthly pension that is below the minimum wage of N30,000.00 (Thirty Thousand Naira). Some have been on the same monthly pension for up to ten years without increment in a country where prices of goods and services are increasing on daily basis.
There were years back when Indians and Ghanians were trooping to Nigeria in search of greener pastures. The Indians including their wives were mainly pure science teachers in our secondary schools as well as medical Doctors in some of our general hospitals while the Ghanians were lecturers in our universities as well as public secondary schools. Some of them were artisans and their girls earned their living as prostitutes. Today the reverse is the case. Our young boys are trooping to Ghana and Asian countries in search of green pastures.
Certificates obtained from Ghana now have more value than the ones obtained in Nigeria because most of our secondary schools are now “miracle centers” where candidates obtain nine credits at a sitting on the basis of “cash and carry “. Some of our higher institutions are becoming popular for sex or cash for marks in what is popularly known as “blocking”.
Many rendezvous are springing up in quick successions in our cities and urban centers where our very young girls and young women hang out for prostitution . Our young boys are now popular as internet fraudsters popularly called “Yahoo” while some are into ritual killing all largely because there is alarming, embarrassing, condemnable and unacceptable rate of unemployment.
Our currencies have fallen face down before foreign currencies. This is largely because we are importing almost everything and exporting virtually nothing. Our refineries are comatose. We export crude oil which is sold to us as refined petrol. We are still savoring the abundance of crude oil in Nigeria oblivious of the fact that electric cars are being produced which will eventually reduce the value of crude oil.
From 1950 to early seventies, the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy was agriculture. We have abandoned agriculture as the mainstay of our economy because of the discovery of crude oil. Nigeria used to be a major exporter of cocoa, groundnut, rubber, palm kernel, timber, cotton e.t.c. There were the groundnut pyramids of the north. Are our grounds no longer fertile for the production of the above agricultural products ?. The solid minerals are not receiving their due attention from us because of crude oil.
This country is in dire need of strong institutions like Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) judiciary, executive and legislature to put this nation on the path of growth, development and peace. These institutions are fertile grounds on which democracy thrives. This is a country that cannot conduct credible and reliable population census, we are not interested in knowing the number of people who will graduate from primary, secondary and tertiary schools in order to plan for their needs.
Those in authority are largely interested in how to enrich themselves. The advanced countries did not achieve greatness and advancement with corruption and change of national anthem. They achieved greatness and advancement with selflessness, patriotism and love for their country. These qualities we must emulate if we want to be great. Nigerians should think not of what the country can do for them but what they can do for their country.
