The Damage Done When Political Leaders Flaunt Their Unpatriotism -By Azuka Onwuka

Many Nigerians have been sharing the pictures of Nigerian politicians with their children graduating from foreign universities. Prominent among them were the pictures of the First Lady, Mrs Aisha Buhari, and her children; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and his children; former Senate President Bukola Saraki, and his children; a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara, and his children, former Minister of Transportation, Mr Chibuike Amaechi, with his children.

If there was any shame left in our political leaders, such events should have been made completely private with none of them posing for photographs that will be released to the public. The reason is that even though it is their individual rights to train their children in whatever country they deem fit, such public display of their children graduating in foreign universities sends a bad message: that those who run the affairs of Nigeria do not believe in Nigeria.

It is like the managing director or a director in Guinness Nigeria Plc publicly drinking a bottle of beer made by Nigerian Breweries Plc, or a senior member of the Toyota company seen driving a Mercedes Benz and taking photographs with it. No matter how that person explains it, it is a terrible de-marketing action of the company that pays the bills of that employee. That member of staff is loudly telling the public: “Don’t patronise this company I work for, because it is not good enough!” Most companies would most likely sack that person.

That is gross disloyalty to the company that pays the bills that cater to your needs. It is betrayal of trust. If you cannot patronise the company you work for, how can you convince others to patronise that company? Even if you do not believe in the organisation that pays your bill, why not hide in the privacy of your home to use the products of the competitor?

In medicare, it is even worse. Our political leaders travel overseas to treat even headaches and malaria. The excuse is that one should not take chances with one’s health. The message from our political leaders is clear: Nigerian facilities are unreliable and nobody should use them.

The dangerous part of this is that it is a sign that the political leaders have no genuine plans to revamp education, health and other facilities in Nigeria. In the mid-2000s when avian flu was causing fears in Nigeria, there were campaign materials in the media to douse people’s fears. The messages said that once chicken was cooked, there was no fear of contracting the disease, as the flu was weak and would not survive under intense heat. Many people still refused to eat chicken, preferring to err on the side of caution. Then President Olusegun Obasanjo took a step that helped to douse people’s fears. He walked into a fast food outlet in Abuja, ordered for chicken and ate it. The media were with him with their cameras. Television stations feasted on that display by the President; newspapers reported it on their front covers; radio stations reported it as headline news. What months of campaigns could not do was achieved with one action of the President.

Why was that action successful? The people reasoned that if their President could risk his “important life” to eat chicken in a restaurant in spite of the bird flu, then it was safe to do so. That is leadership by example. People are swayed more by what leaders do than by what they say.

There are only a handful of our leaders whose children study in Nigerian universities. For example, when Dr Goodluck Jonathan was President, it was heart-warming to see that all his children were studying in Nigeria. When Mr Peter Obi was the governor of Anambra State, he also ensured that his children studied in Nigerian universities. There are a few others. But they are in the minority. It is also instructive that the few politicians who prefer to train their children in Nigerian universities are also the few who prefer to spend their official holiday in Nigeria or get treated in Nigeria. It is a thing of the mind.

As long as Nigerian leaders flaunt the pictures of their children graduating from foreign universities, no special attention will be paid to the country’s universities. Since it is only the children of those who cannot afford the high foreign tuition that attend local universities, there will be no pressing need to revamp the universities. That is why occasionally, one is assaulted with the depressing pictures of students of our federal universities sleeping on bare floors or on cartons or on horrible mattresses in dingy hostels and using toilets and bathrooms that look like those reserved for rats and cockroaches rather than human beings. Interestingly, these are people being trained to take over the leadership of the country.

There is no denying that the Federal Government is incapable of managing any facility. Nigerian Airways collapsed years ago; Nigerian Railway Corporation went moribund; Daily Times died; universities nose-dived; hospitals went numb; the electricity corporation (under different names) went under; Nigerian Arts Theatre got abandoned by the public; stadiums became overgrown by weeds. Nigerian government seems to be the opposite of Midas: whatever it touches turns to dust.

The reason is that there is no belief in Nigeria by many Nigerians. Many of those who are in charge of running the country are more concerned about what they can grab for themselves and for their ethnic group. That is the reason the call for the restructuring of the country and devolution of powers to the federating units will continue to be raised.  States or regions should be allowed to run their affairs.

However, in spite of the freedom to choose where to be treated or where one’s children should study, there is a need to create laws that bar public office holders from seeking medical treatment abroad, except in extraordinary circumstances which will be approved by a special body set up for that purpose. In addition, public office holders should also be barred from sending their children abroad for secondary and university education, especially first degree education. Public officers include political office holders, civil servants and anybody who is under the payroll of the local government, state government or federal government. Those who feel that they want to have the freedom to choose the hospital to attend or the university to send their children to should choose not to accept employment, election or appointment by any level of government.

It is very treacherous to be getting sustenance from a source and at the same time taking actions that deny that source the capacity to continue to exist. That is what our politicians and public officers are doing to Nigeria and her institutions. They are killing the nation by instalments while pretending to be patriotic.

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