The State of the nation

The need for development in Nigeria cannot be overemphasized. While Nigeria continues to nosedive in the critical welfare index, the issue of development takes center stage in most progressive political discourse, and there remains a widening gap between the capacities of government institutions and the rising need of the people.

A quick look at the infrastructural deficit will sadly reveal an unsupportive environment for life and livelihood. The resultant effect is both human capital flight and mental session of the Nigerian people. While the later is responsible for political apathy, to consider an example of the later, one may consider a troubling statistic reported last year by The Guardian, stating that about 2000 medical doctors leave Nigeria yearly for greener pastures in countries like United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and South Africa.

A more critical look at this migration loss will show that most of these doctors enjoyed a well subsidized education of up to $20,000 per individual paid for by the government that does not plan to benefit from this investment. Losses like these, facilitated by underdevelopment, harass the sensibilities of every conscious citizen, and therefore behoove a need for ideation and organization. 

Moreover, it is unlikely to find a Nigerian who can’t state the problems. He/she is in constant reminder as he/she is daily assaulted by the lethal vices of the failed system stemming from underdevelopment. 

Yet what can’t be argued is that Nigerians on the average have poor knowledge and understanding of politics, governance and their civic duties. Perhaps the most alarming is how political choices in form of actions and inactions are divorced from the grotesque portrait of the nation. 

This is revealed by how daily activities are being approached. You will always find that Nigerian who brandished his/her non political participation as saintly virtue. The prideful I-am-not-a-politician easily finds its way into street discourse and any attempt to facilitate sociopolitical reconstruction.  

The national psychic is, therefore, the one that have conceded the political structures to a few, less than one percent of the population, mostly touting individuals, employing intimidation and violence to further deepen the national wound. 

But the beauty of democracy is participation and the drive for participation can only be fostered or drawn from the complex relationships between political stances and development – development being how people become better off.  

This is interesting as there is actually no Nigerian that is not active in the process of getting better off.  There is an aggression seen in crime and also in how business endeavors and social climbing are undertaken. We have people who will toil morning till night, work different jobs to survive or get ahead. 

It is, therefore, common to see a Nigerian close from an 8am – 6pm white/blue collar job resume to Uber driving or produce selling till he is completely exhausted at 10pm but what this individual and others may not consider a potent survival tool is their political activity and will not bat an eyelid for any serious political engagement.   

It is, however, rare to see an average Nigerian work within the ranks of a political space and structure although politics remains what gives permission to everything. Even when he decides to vote, he is left to choose between the options decided in the primaries by often less intelligent actors. 

Most of the factors holding people down politically other than ignorance are mythic and over generalization.  Clichés like all politicians are bad is an example. In this case, he is does not know that implicit in such statement is the non participation of better or good individuals that may include himself.

The gaps can therefore be closed by provoking enlightenment in the people.  Social, cultural and even religious organization need to inspire their audience to make a more engaging political involvement in order to change the nation’s lot and improve her development indices. Pro-development organizations also need to take this campaign to all possible fronts, attack the mindset of apathy and create basis for development.

By Adeeko Ibukun