Zombie System Of Governing: The Disposition Of Nigeria Governors -By Emeka Ubesie

Laughter they say doesn’t show friendship. The word which is spoken is agreed to by a nod of the head. It is not by staring hard that one sees the road or understands what is going on. He who bathes in tears knows himself. If advice is given to a head but it doesn’t hear, when it enters the bag, it hears. Seeing but not speaking is characteristic of elders, while speaking but not listening is characteristic of younger people.’ These were her humble soliloquies in 2010, before she cuddled the mother earth and kissed the world goodbye. I had earlier promised my grandmother that I would be guided by her blameless and spotless lessons and teaches about life. But as I continued to experience certain irreversible vicissitudes, which I was imperilled to by nature, I decided in the end to disagree with one of her salient axiom which says; seeing but not speaking is characteristic of elders, while speaking but not listening is characteristic of younger people. The reason behind my irrevocable verdict towards this particular maxim is going to be a story for another day. Today, what is valid in my consciousness is; seeing but not speaking is characteristic of YOUNGER PEOPLE, while speaking but not listening is characteristic of ELDERS. You either concur or you dissent.

Sedentary by her graveside after so many years with my small Kachibo three finger battery radio, the gospel of Fela Kuti kept echoing like the vibration sound that was orchestrated by the first ‘Ogbunigwe,’ local bomb that was built by the Biafrans during the Nigeria Civil War. Ah! Fela is a god slipped from my maw audibly. Tilting my head left and right to see if I was joined by any uninvited guest or her spirit, the preacher shrieked louder and louder saying:

Zombie o, zombie (Zombie o, zombie)
Zombie o, zombie (Zombie o, zombie)

Zombie no go go, unless you tell am to go (Zombie)
Zombie no go stop, unless you tell am to stop (Zombie)
Zombie no go turn, unless you tell am to turn (Zombie)
Zombie no go think, unless you tell am to think (Zombie)

Tell am to go straight
A joro, jara, joro
No break, no job, no sense
A joro, jara, joro
Tell am to go kill
A joro, jara, joro
No break, no job, no sense
A joro, jara, joro
Tell am to go quench
A joro, jara, joro
No break, no job, no sense
A joro, jara, joro

Go and kill! (Joro, jaro, joro)
Go and die! (Joro, jaro, joro)
Go and quench! (Joro, jaro, joro)
Put am for reverse! (Joro, jaro, joro…)

Sobering and shedding tears with my inner eyes drenched like a sinner who couldn’t wait for dawn to swallow the dusk, before he or she could run to a nearby catholic church for confession, as my ears were enthralled by his honest truth. Lastly, I was able to relate the ‘Zombie’ that he was preaching about with the recent languid attitude of some of our Governors in this recent time. The portrait which his gospel framed in my subconscious mind became blatant that most of our Governors are practicing the ‘Zombie System of Governing.’

Describing some Governors as something that is more immobile than an effigy of a god will not be a bad idea. Come to think of it; the effigy of a god is motionless in most cases right? But yet it’s efficacy can’t be undermined. If you doubt this effigy analogy, kindly pay a visit to the Eze mmuo, chief priest of your land for more clarification. In fact, the effigy is far better and more productive than some Governors in Nigeria today. Calling some of them a piece of tree trunk won’t be bad either, because they can’t think and make good use of their brain. They don’t even understand what innovation, entrepreneur and creativity are all about. No wonder Fela referred to individuals that exhibit such lethargic mannerism as ‘Zombie.’

Most Governors of this country have failed to look inwardly into the various towns and villages that sum up their state, taking into cognizance the gigantic resources that litters on all their nook and cranny, and as well strategizing a means of exploring and transforming these resources that are inform of human, agriculture and mineral blessings, which God concealed in their domain into baskets of money. Some of them are tenderfoot in the area of understanding the role that the principle of comparative advantage plays in economic development, revenue building and accumulation of excess money (income) for a state.

Bailout Funds to rescue states that couldn’t pay for the services their citizens rendered suddenly became a perfect panacea to remedy this madness, by the Federal Government of Nigeria in this 21^st century. What a shame! Where is this country heading to? Fani Kayode once wrote that our country is on her way to ‘Kigali,’ but the reality is that ‘Kigali’ is a heaven, when compared to where Nigeria is heading to. Do you know where our country is tilting towards? Yes! Your guess is as right as mine. This country is on her way to ‘Hades.’ Do you know why? It is simply because we the citizens have sold our conscience to corruption, mediocrity and wickedness. We have jettisoned to uphold truth, no matter how miniature it appears. We have chosen to crown thieves our leaders. Religion and ethnic differences are the ‘two brothers in the hood’ that we have succeeded in immortalizing, and these evil now cohabit with us.

The Agricultural history of Nigeria is intertwined with its political history. In the 1920s and mid 1930s, their existed a resurgence in the Agricultural activities of this nation, and this period was referred to as the ‘Faulkner Strip Layout’ era. Faulkner provided an experimental statistical design for green manufacturing, fertility, livestock, intensification, rational cropping and expansion of research activities and training programs for Department of Agriculture. In the same way, other facilities for training individuals and junior staff in Agriculture were made available. Scholarships were as well awarded to some students in Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture in Trinidad and Yaba High College. These initiatives as at that time played a wonderful role in securing a laudable position for Nigeria in the area of Agriculture. But sooner than envisaged, the spiraling and hostility of the Second World War truncated the success story of these initiatives. Few years after the war, the reverse became the case.

All the States in Nigeria are endowed with unquantifiable natural resources and relatively good weather for agriculture and other economic activities that will enhance and boost the economy of each state, yet Nigerians suffer in the midst of plenty. So sad! The poverty rate of this nation when compared with other African Countries can simply be defined as a long walk that leads to nowhere, despite her high GDP.

A survey that was currently conducted in this country showed that less than 40% of Nigeria land is cultivated, despite the country’s enormous population and level of unemployment. Having taken a critical look at the role Agriculture played in the past before crude was discovered, it is obvious to note that Agriculture contributed more than 80% to the country’s budget then. My questions now are these; why then did we kill our good son (Agriculture)? What was his crime?

I totally believe that the list of importance of Agriculture to the Nigeria States is endless. I’m of the opinion that if our Governors can put on their thinking caps and carryout a comprehensive survey of their respective regions, in order to ascertain the abundant resources, which these regions are bequeathed with, with the sole purpose of investing and tapping from these resources that proliferate in their region, the option of bailout funds will automatically be substituted by a long lasting and boosting economic policies. The return on investment of this decision when executed properly will certainly be enough for the State Governors to pay all their bills and even have surplus money (income) for savings and other things.

Did you know what some State Governors did with their own so called ‘Bailout Funds?’ I will tell you. Most of them used the money to purchase Prado Jeeps and other cars for their friends and family members that were smuggled into the corridors of power, leaving their state workers starving without paying salaries. Is this what the funds were meant for? Mr. Governor, please answer. What a reprehensible and coldhearted act.

The earlier we decentralize power, making it mandatory for the states to provide at least 70% of their working budget, the better for us. Most Governors are so lazy and they lack the entrepreneurial skills to come up with good and long lasting economic ideas. What they do is to seat back and wait for allocation from Abuja to embezzle. Ndi aruru ani, wicked people.

Igbo aphorisms say that; the works that we do are the things by which we are remembered. If an old woman stubbornly builds herself a spacious compound, her dead body is carried to her own soup. Rat, don’t chew the doctor’s bag on purpose, and doctor, don’t starve the rat on purpose. One who doesn’t agree agrees on the death mat and one who serves benefits buys the service.

Most Nigeria Governors have settled for the ‘Zombie System of Governing’ their people and this is very bad. If you can’t create your state’s revenue by coming up with good and long lasting entrepreneurial and innovative ideas, and as well pay salaries, please, kindly handover to someone that is capable of doing so and stop waiting for bailout funds. It is also pertinent for you peopled to understand that Nigerians are not fools. Mr Governor, always remember that a grasshopper which was killed by the Okpoko was deaf.

(Emeka is a young Nigerian writer and public affairs analyst. He is a member of Institute of Public Diplomacy and Management (IPDM), The Royal Life Saving Society of Nigeria, Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM), and Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply Management of Nigeria (CIPSMN))

{Email: emekaubesie@yahoo.com, Twitter: @emeka_ubesie}