Democracy, Socialism and Leadership – a disharmony in marriage -By Jimi Bickersteth

As the nation’s Sheriff’s tenure, coasting, to its end, and, he keeps seeking and ‘attempting‘ a shunt in the ‘right direction’ on the issue of leadership. Leadership, a factor that has been a bane on the nation’s oodles of marches to greatness and glory. The sheriff, in the light of reason and the experiences of last weekend, and the expectations of leaving an enduring legacies, must, today, not forget to consider and review, and institute revolutionary steps, of course, within the limited time left for him to so do, of the reasons why and how the nation have consistently, missed its way to political maturity and economic independence, and, all these, in spite of the best brains available for its use.

This, may sound a bit uncharitable, but, it’s the plain truth, a truth that is furthered by the fact that, the nation, because of its perceived leadership absence and the ruling elites highwired conspiracies, and, in today’s parlance, and, what was generally known and acknowledged as the unwritten rules and policies of “man-know-man” is not growing up nor going up on the national, regional, interregional and or global political and socio-economic indices, ladder, and scales.

The very glaring and quite obvious mass sufferings and surrendering to ‘fate’ by its mass of humanity attested to that assessment and rated it finely so, and, that could be evidenced from the experiences of the people in their wholly and unquestioning acceptance and believes in the ‘leaderless’, orchestrated ‘October 2020’ protests and the several strident calls from the southeast and southwest (which, although fell the hands of those that believed in the indivisibility of the nation) for self-independence, equality and justice, although, quashed by the PMB government’s fascist’s power.

However, the very government has itself shown that anything to the contrary to the agitations and protests would forever remained purely hallucinatory, and a life of self delusion.

The nation with its vision less without dreams for greater heights has not been able to prove its mettle, amidst, the enviable and overwhelming potentials inherent in the gifts that it has pleased the almighty nature to endowed it with. The country’s human and natural resources, as the “‘richest’ nation on planet earth, has been seen severally wasted with reckless abandon in a frenzy of profligate lifestyles of its leaders and an uninspired and complacent followership. I know and I’m aware that Nigerian’s know enough to ask commonsense questions and not to swallow everything that’s presented to them, and this inability to make anything good count in their favour will be a subject to visit in the foreseeable future.

Democracy and Socialism, so, what has that gotten in common with marriage, well, plenty. Democracy and socialism are ways of life and good for living, so is the marriage of two consenting adults is a good sign of living. But, democracy and socialism, just as marriages have been a common place pastime in the federation and elsewhere in the world for now and the future, and they have nothing in common but one word: equality.

Just as human beings have greed, avarice, beauty, death, birth and limitless aspirations even with their piting limited talents in common, this is verifiable in the way, our eminent scientists, zoologist and professors, and experts in other natural and physical sciences, had led us on to a less illustrous path, challenging to the soul and mind . But notice the differences: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism like marriages seeks equality in restraint and servitude, and harnesses, balances and tend to stabilise, all the latest tendencies full of disadvantages, ensuing, from all what humans have in common.

The people are told that their only hope is for government to fix their problems. What has happened for Nigeria, is that generations of people have bought into this nonsense and as a result have remained hopelessly mired in poverty and despair, and often keep going spiralling downwards into the mire of unspoken bitterness, in a land where the tide of the future flows from beneath the seas, promising riches such as the world have never envisioned, the source of the wealth is oil – the black gold.

Black gold is presently the lifeblood of the modern world. And our country sits upon some of the greatest pools of oil ever known to man. But the nation’s leaders have enslaved it by keeping it economically dependent. For the nation and its people Its either the budget or nothing is happening. Yet, the budgets and its promised solutions don’t work. And they will never work – they never have. Because it is always seeking ever to make energy a substitute for clearly defined plan; the results are going to ever be as hopeless as trying to transform a hobby horse into a real steed by brisk riding. Why? The basics are wrong. The nation is in the throes of the warped legacies bequeathed on it by its leadership.

The problem is threefold: a. attitudinal, as much as it is, b. organic, and, c. systemic, all of which combined in different measures has been able to condition Nigerians to derive their self-esteem, self-worth and self-respect from their perception of how much the government cares about the people. The nation got sold on the pernicious lies in the politicians numerous ‘agendas’, and high fallutin and comical manifestoes, which in all honesty were mere political statements and  academic exercise, hence mere semantics than senses.

If government refused to provide infrastructure, then what is it supposed to do. It tars a kilometre of road for #1 billion and a borehole for #10 million and commissions both with # 2billion (the last time I checked the borehole dug in my mother’s place costs less than three hundred thousand naira (#300,000.00k only.) Government magic (apologies to the abàmì ẹ̀dá, Fela Anikulapo Kuti).

Have you wondered why scores of unschooled traders at Idumota, Aba, Onitsha, Bauchi, Kano etc, knowing not even one syllable of the English language, manage nevertheless to prosper in those places. It is a tacit admission that the world repletes and is filled with people who have a positively wretched childhood and lived in indescribable poverty, who have accomplished great things even though their government didn’t want them.

It is irresponsible and dangerous for government’s coterie of advisors and with the pervasive lack all around, to run around (which is as often as they like) shouting and mouthing the same old conventional wisdom about solving poverty – more and more money doesn’t work. What was the last budget, +4tn, today as announced its+#6tn, and still counting. It reportedly shared a whopping sum of #243 billion Paris fund to the 36 states of the federation, what was wrong with directly channeling the money into productive sectors of the nation in behalf of the states if it was sincere and logical about its poverty alleviation propaganda.

Its intents and pretence on TV to liberate hundred million Nigerians out of the clutches of poverty looks defeated. What is so threatening and risky about teaching young poor Nigerians that the way out of poverty is by investing in themselves. The way you help the poor improve their lot in life is to empower them to do it themselves; self-reliance and achievement develop pride and breed respect and motivation, not by sharing Paris fund to be added to the state governors political war-chest.

The government is not doing anything near enough to help people access the opportunity this country has to offer. As it happened to the Femi Otedolas, the Jimo Ibrahim and the Aliko Dangotes (between 1999-2003). The government need to improve on its attempts to make life meaningful for its teeming mass of humanity, or migration —the oldest action against poverty is imminent, and with it, the resultant brain drain, loneliness, economic setbacks, prolonged separation from family and friends, and its negative effect on further development of a developing economy.

The government should be grateful because Nigerians don’t get their bowels in an uproar over what is, because they appeared as a funny people whom storms of life cannot shake; otherwise, it would have had the group roasting, from belligerent, ever restive nerves of expectations of Greece in our hands.

If you were in Bichi-Kano last weekend for the Nikhai, you will observe the arrays of private jets of the shakers and movers of this great nation, the Ẹbọra Owu was missing though, apparently, he’s not in the class of private jets owners, or perhaps, his giant size belly and greed would not afford him the luxury of owning one; and also on the fair ground of the celebration, one cannot but noticed the nation’s meeting of strange bedfellows in their well-decked and well-embroidered flowing babanrigas ( who says there’s austerity measures and attendant belts-tightening), and in the air for great measures was the invited guests and the chief hosts deep penchance for ego-massaging and smoothening ruffled feathers, which is almost legendary and fast becoming a national philosophy, as the nation is been held hostage, by the perceived rot and corruptions in the system.

The Bichi-Kano expedition and the dramatis personae really summarises the oxidation of a dear nation and its politics by human elements that symbolises sand, water and sun.

Methought the world is too advanced into the age of reason- time and moments when thinking men should try to free mankind from the fanaticisms that had enslaved the human race and system. But the Bichi-Kano extravagance took the nation years back. Let’s ask ourselves, what really is the main desire of our leaders, and if we have amongst them lovers of virtue. The truth be told, wrong is wrong, no matter how well you wish to couch it. This been so, those with strong opinions about it should carefully distinguish between the things they know to be true and those thought to be true, as Roses by whatever name would still remain Rose.

The leaders should avoid being arrogant or dogmatic, they must take a cue from the nation’s sufferings, privation, and deprivation, PMB and company must be serious and willing to admit mistakes. One may be gifted, privileged yet, humble enough to speak the truth and admit one’s indiscrection, this is consistent with democratic, socialist, even fascists ideals. After the tortuous journey on that horrible route, that nearly broke the Lexus 350’s chassis, and ended up being treated like a sore thumb was a fatalistic reminisces of the Rhodesians and the South African experience of segregation. It portrayed clearly, that the nation’s persistent and consistent glorification of the individuals in government has resulted in the near-cult of the ‘superior person’, whereas superiority should derive from personal merit rather than from stolen vantage station in life.

The president may be attempting to shunt in the right direction, but the best moments of life don’t come from pleasure. I have a great feeling that he’s deeply aware that he is being stretched and challenged and that in all this flow, the job of PMB, even as he continues to bounce on Terra Firma and in the delights of the Bichi-Kano extravagance is to continue to invest his abilities or whatever remained of it to create value for Nigerians, to build and invent ways to cause our people to flourish.

#JimiBickersteth

Jimi Bickersteth is a blogger and writer.

He can be reached on twitter@alabaemanuel@bickerstethjimi@akannibickerstetEmails: jimi.bickersteth@gmail.comjimi.bickersteth@yahoo.co.uk