Wandering At 49?

There was a time when the Nigerian Police would arrest any young man walking on the streets and charge him for wandering! How did police officers differentiate between people who were on their way to or from work, or visiting friends or family, or perhaps someone who had gone out looking for employment, or a university undergraduate who was home on holidays and visiting his classmates? Our police officers then had that unique insight that enabled them distinguish between people who were “going” somewhere and those who were “wandering”. Implicitly taking a stroll was illegal, at least in poor neighbourhoods! Of course whenever the officers or their DPO was broke, the line between the two categories was liable to get blurred and any male walking the streets could be bundled into their vans and dumped behind the counter.
In my characterisation of Nigerian history and evolution of our political economy, I find certain periods that have a distinct theme. In 1960 to 1966 for instance, which I describe as the post-independence years, the key attributes are keen regional competition for economic development, (which other writers have described as “competitive communalism”) within a strong federal structure but which was eventually undermined by a ruinous struggle for political hegemony between the regions and their leaders. This was the first, but not the last example of politics getting in the way of economics in Nigeria. I have identified other peculiar periods-1966 to 1970 which was dominated by crisis and war; 1970 to 1979 which were the years of oil, soldiers, big government, powerful civil servants and profligacy; 1986 to 1990-the years of structural adjustment and economic reform; and 1999 to 2007 which for me was Nigeria’s second chance, with democracy, economic reform and international relations.
In my depiction, some eras however look very much alike-1979 to 1983 was characterised by weak leadership, policy stagnancy and drift (I called it “an interlude of drift”- a short period of civil leadership within two extended periods of military rule) under Alhaji Shehu Shagari and the National Party of Nigeria (NPN); on the other hand even though 1990 to 1999 featured several “leaders”-the last three years of General Ibrahim Babangida, the three months interim administration of Chief Earnest Shonekan, the five years of terror under General Sanni Abacha and the ten months transitional administration of General Abdulsalam Abubakar-for the nation it was similarly a period of drift and aimlessness. Each of those regimes was weak and unstable, though for different reasons.
Babangida had been scared by the April 1990 Orkar Coup and had fled to Abuja for safety. The Orkar Coup had also strengthened Abacha’s hand both because Abacha had essentially saved IBB’s life and while IBB hid away in Abuja, Abacha schemed and plotted and built a military constituency in Lagos that would later shove IBB aside. Of course Shonekan’s interim government was by definition inherently weak-It was neither a military government nor a civilian democracy, an illegitimate hybrid that would sooner than later give way. Abacha’s regime was also founded on multiple deceit-Abiola was told he would be helped to retrieve his stolen mandate, IBB that he would be protected, and many of Abacha’s military co-plotters wanted the office for themselves having bought the dummy that Abacha was not keen on ruling.
In the circumstances of his ascension to power, and his instincts and personality, it was clear Abacha could only sustain his hold on power by force. And of course after the death of Abacha and Abiola, Abdulsalam could only hope to run a transitional government of ten months only. What the 1979 to 1983 and 1990 to 1999 eras have in common is a nation that was rolling along aimlessly-politically and economically and in the process, social values were also been destroyed. I usually joke that if the United Nations had a Police Force that was empowered to arrest nations for crimes and misdemeanours, Nigeria in those years ought to have been arrested for wandering!
The question now is-how will the post-2007 years under President Umaru Yar’adua be characterised? So far, the signs do not look encouraging. In international relations, Nigeria has essentially disappeared from the global radar. Last week the United Nations was meeting, with President Obama presiding personally at the Security Council and virtually all world leaders taking the opportunity to stamp their impression on global audiences. We were absent. The issue of climate change was on top of the global agenda and the structure of the world’s response to this issue were been shaped, and we were not there. The G20 was meeting in Pittsburgh to agree on rules for a new global financial architecture, and we were not there. Meanwhile our Attorney-General was enmeshed in controversy over his perceived defence of persons with charges of corruption in local and foreign courts.
While a Vision 20: 2020 document was being presented many of our compatriots were wondering whether the political will to implement such a lofty vision was evident in the land. Our economy is drifting aimlessly along, paralysed by power failure, corruption and poor infrastructure. Kidnappers, armed robbers and assassins have free reign over the people. Unemployment is at an unprecedented high, irrespective of what official statistics says and 54 per cent of our people are officially in poverty. All our government-owned universities are shut as lecturers and government argue endlessly. And our democracy is subverted as elections are rigged and leaders are unaccountable. Is our nation wandering around after 49 years of independence?