The Nigeria of My Dreams

I have a bitter-sweet relationship with Nigeria. The only country I can beat my chest and call Motherland. Where I can roam the streets without getting asked, “where are you from?” Where the food does not taste funny because I grew up eating it. These are the sweet things about Motherland. But Motherland is not happy—most of her children suffer from dire challenges. People like the woman shivering in a crowded labor ward of a hospital, not only from the pains of childbirth or the scolding of angry nurses but also because she knows that death is lurking in the corner. It could either take her, her infant, or, as it often does, grab them both. The farmer on his farm who must watch out for bandits. He knows they would kill him since he has no money to ransom himself. As he lowers his head to take another dig at the soil, he remembers his wife and two teenage daughters. A neighboring town has been ransacked, and theirs may be next. Or the civil servant who just received his salary but is not happy. Because he must settle debts, and his meager salary would not last a week. Feeling abandoned, many have sought refuge in other climes. For me, this would be running away with my legs and leaving my heart behind.

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It is not all doom in Motherland—a few sectors are at global standards. The banking sector is doing the impossible. I was amazed at one of the banks with a machine to print an ATM card without human supervision. Their customer service and IT staff are just out of this world. You can make transactions using their mobile apps, and in a split second, it goes through. Their level today is so distant from what they were two decades ago—when we witnessed banks declaring bankruptcy and closing shop with depositors’ money.

Another sector doing wonders in Nigeria is telecommunication. Nigerians experience cheap and reliable services. How they can pull this off despite powering most of their equipment with diesel generators is beyond a miracle. I remember the horror days of wired NITEL, where rainfall could disrupt services for weeks, and the corrupt staff would fold their arms. Today, we are in an Eldorado of telecommunication.

These two sectors have defied the odds. Anyone responsible for their successes deserves all the praise. One thing is common in both—they are in private hands. Why have we failed to replicate these strides in other sectors??

Take healthcare, for example. Ordinary Nigerians are dying of treatable diseases like malaria, typhoid, and cholera. Our hospitals are stinking not only of repugnant disinfectant but also of neglect. The physician-to-population ratio is abysmal. There is also no lack of impunity from our healthcare workers who serve or own private clinics. A Nigeria that works should have a comprehensive healthcare scheme that is not necessarily free but affordable. The health insurance scheme should be extended beyond government staff. Private insurance companies should also be encouraged.

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Nigeria has also failed to provide adequate security for its citizens. Presently, a large chunk of our territory is in the hands of terrorists. Non-state actors are daring the government by declaring sit-at-homes and brutally enforcing them. Wielding assault rifles, they tax poor Nigerians and hoist their flags. Kidnappings for ransom have become a booming business. The most vulnerable are the poor village dwellers who can no longer farm and rear their animals peacefully. While our army and paramilitary efforts are commendable, I believe more can be done. First, we must look at the kind of people we recruit into our security apparatus. Today, many of the recruits are themselves not of good character. After we have selected the best people, we need to provide them with motivation. Their salaries and allowances should be paid on time. The schooling and welfare of their families should be adequately catered for. With these, they will have no business demanding token cash gifts at checkpoints. They must also be equipped with the latest military gadgets to match their enemies. Another important thing we need to watch is how these rifles get into the hands of the bandits. I believe we need to address our porous land borders. We may not have to build a wall. Still, we should ensure that any persons or vehicles crossing our border are searched and have a security clearance.

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Food security. Motherland is blessed—there is hardly any part of her territory that does not experience at least four months of yearly rainfall. You could throw a mango seed, and it would begin to grow on its own. Thus, we have no business importing certain types of food like rice, wheat, and corn. But that is not the case because our farmers are using crude tools. Sometimes, the government policy also inhibits local production since it is hard to beat the price of imported goods. It is worth applauding this government on its role in creating local rice production. Now, we have rice mills all over the country. However, people are still hungry because they cannot afford to buy food. The reason could be two-fold. One is because the local production is still labor intensive and thus expensive. The second, which is the most probable, is that cartels have taken over the food market. They mop up essential foods from the market, hoard them, and then sell them later at exorbitant prices. The government needs to come in. There should be price control to discourage hoarding and break up the cartels. The government should also encourage huge private investments in agriculture. With heavy mechanization, production costs will drop, and food will become affordable for the masses. The excess food can then be exported to earn forex. When the situation becomes unbearable, it would be only fair for the government to provide subsidies on essential foods.

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Motherland also has a huge infrastructure deficit. Because of our unmarked and pothole-ridden roads, most Nigerians now write their wills before they embark on road trips. As an oil-rich country, our paved roads should be the envy of every other nation. This is true because the main component for constructing roads is bitumen which is derived from crude oil. There is need to revamp the road maintenance departments. Roads should be marked and railed with streetlights. More private partnerships should also be sought, where roads are built and toll fees are collected to offset their cost and maintenance. Companies and contractors who make roads that collapse before their due dates should be penalized. It is a great joy that trains are returning—we need to accelerate their construction to ease the burden on our roads.

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No twenty-first-century nation can develop without adequate electricity. It is ironic that we are in the dark because one of the cheapest ways to generate electricity is by burning fossil fuels that we have in abundance. In a weird arrangement, generation and distribution are primarily in private hands, while the government wholly owns transmission. The entire process should be in private hands, and a single company should handle its generation, transmission, and distribution as we have in telecommunication. It is excellent news that a bill has been passed that will allow state governments to handle all three processes. Before the bill, any electricity generated by states must be passed on to the national grid, but not anymore. The bill also allows private individuals to generate and distribute electricity of up to one megawatt without requiring licenses. This will open up the sector and allow private participation—but Nigeria must be careful. We should not waste our scarce resources by listening to climate change activists. They say we should save the environment by going for “clean” renewables like solar and wind. In my opinion, this is nonsense. We have no business doing any renewables at present except for residential usage. “Clean” energy is for those who already have enough. It is like telling a malnourished person to go on a vegetarian diet. Nigeria needs massive power to drive its industries. Burn that oil and gas, Motherland.

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Oil and Gas is another sector that has disappointed. Nigeria is arguably Africa’s largest crude oil producer, with a staggering production capacity of around 1.3 million barrels per day. Unfortunately, today, we still have queues at our petrol stations. Other products like cooking gas and diesel have reached astronomical prices. This is because, with virtually no functioning refinery, we import 95% of our refined oil products, mainly from countries like the Netherlands and Belgium. Nigeria is losing in the oil game. For example, in 2019, we exported petroleum products (primarily crude oil) worth $45.11bn. However, we imported refined oil worth $93.97bn, a deficit of around $48.86bn. Because we must source for forex to cover this deficit, we put massive pressure on the Naira.

Additionally, of these imported products, petrol (used in most cars) is subsidized. In 2022 alone, the government is estimated to spend $9.6bn on petrol subsidies. First, these subsidies are not entirely transparent. Moreover, since most of our neighbors have no oil subsidies, there is a substantial financial incentive to smuggle Nigeria’s subsidized petrol to them via land borders, making us literally subsidizing the entire subregion.

Moreover, there is a vast oil theft going on. Before, we talked of people siphoning from pipelines and loading into trucks and speed boats. But today, as the revelation of the Navy has revealed, oil is now stolen in large vessels the size of “three stadiums.”

It is excellent news that individuals are investing in local refineries. This would at least ease the forex demand on the government. However, there is a need to create a foolproof system that would stop leakages in our pipelines and oil revenues.

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The Nigerian civil service today reeks of corruption. You can hardly move a file an inch without greasing palms. Many of them have colluded with corrupt politicians to milk the country dry. We have always tried to penalize corruption and have been faced with a rude shock. The same people responsible for checkmating corruption are corrupt themselves. Incentives can be a good option in fighting crime. Our civil servants are paid salaries they can hardly live on. Sending fresh graduates to Abuja and placing them on a paltry salary of fifty thousand Naira is giving them the green light to steal. Again, one may argue that civil servants should find side hustles like farming to support themselves, but this makes no sense. First, some jobs do not even provide time for such “side hustles.” Moreover, another danger is that soon, the attention of the civil servant might shift to their private business. Who would want to be attended to by a tired doctor who has spent their entire weekend in a private farming business? Nigeria needs full-time civil servants—who work from Monday to Friday, rest during the weekend, and then come back fully energized to serve the masses. These full-time servants should be paid “living wages,” and their salaries should be reviewed yearly and adjusted for inflation.

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Justice delayed is justice denied. No country can develop without a justice system that is fair and swift. Today, crimes that are stark black and white can take decades due to judicial bureaucracy. I can count many corruption cases that have dragged on and on and then died. Another disgusting policy is “plea bargaining.” This is when someone steals billions and then promises the court that they would give a part of it back. It is like saying, “good, now that you have returned a part, go and steal some more.” Annoying as it may sound, we keep petty criminals behind bars and give a standing ovation to big thieves. A working justice system should be fair and fast. It should serve as a deterrent, not an enabler to others.

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Finally, let us take on education. Coming from a family of teachers, I am upset. It is my belief that a country cannot develop beyond the education of its people. But what we see in Motherland is the bastardization of education. Right from primary school, children are taught how to cheat in exams. They have unexpected accomplices—school administrators and their own parents. So, from the get-go, we tell kids— “it is okay to cheat.” What do we see in secondary schools? A further desecration of the system. Final exams are leaked before their due dates. It is not uncommon to see parents hiring mercenaries to write exams for their children. The universities are no different. Here, most students can bribe their way to top grades, and shameless ladies trade their bodies. No wonder we keep producing unemployable graduates. The Nigeria of my dreams will have patriotic school administrators driven by passion, not profits. They would ensure that exams are airtight. University graduates would be motivated to produce innovations. To achieve this, we need adequate funding. However, with government’s dwindling resources and the increase in student enrolment, the government alone cannot fund education. University unions should know this, being intellectuals. They need to develop innovative funding ideas rather than the archaic, unsustainable strike action they take to facilitate government funding.

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Due to these challenges, many Nigerians, especially youths, have flocked to other countries for greener pastures. However, it is rather unfortunate that most of them engage in criminal activities such as fraud, drug dealing, prostitution, and cultism. This is a great danger to our nation because they further tarnish our image. Additionally, they make it difficult for those trying to earn legitimate incomes abroad. The Nigeran government should not wait for the host country to find these criminals. Through our embassies, we should identify them and deport them for prosecution. Those convicted should have their biometrics taken and placed on travel bans. Moreover, another thing that may help is the establishment of a labor export commission. Here, Nigerians with different skills can register and then the government can facilitate their job offers. They can then officially go aboard and offer their services.

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All these reforms can be wishful thinking because they cannot come to fruition through miracles. We need the right crop of leaders to implement them. However, our electoral process is flawed and produces terrible leaders. Leaders who cheat and buy their way into power. How would you expect such leaders to steer us into a new Nigeria? In fact, some of the reforms would fix our elections so that power mongers like them can never come close to power. Then, what options do we have? First, we need to suspend the copied and inefficient 1999 constitution. This entails dissolving at least the present legislative arm of government. Then, an interim national assembly should be convened to draft an indigenous constitution tailored to our peculiarities. Any person who has held a political office or appointment in the past should be banned from joining the interim assembly. The membership should include traditional leaders and elected members, with decisions made by a two-thirds majority.

Nobody easily relinquishes power. The current political class will fight the creation of the interim assembly with all its energy. If this were to happen, our military and paramilitary should do the needful. However, their intervention should be sincere, unlike what we had in the past. They should form a supreme council involving this quartet—Army, Navy, Airforce, and the Police. Decisions here should be made by consensus. Their intervention should be strictly to suspend the 1999 constitution and convene the interim assembly. As we try to get things right, we must watch our backs. It would put us in collision with the giants of Europe, America, and Asia. Since they know that once we industrialize, they will no longer have a place to dump their used, refurbished, and often substandard goods. They will use their powers and some enemies within to scuttle the interim assembly. Again, the needful should be done with these traitors with minimal collateral damage. Motherland needs your help, Comrades.