No cheers for October 1

IT should serve as an opportunity for recounting the giant strides the nation has made in all spheres of life. But no, it is not so. The nation’s independence anniversary has become a stark reminder of wasted opportunities. It riles the discerning among us no end why our leaders are enamoured of a self-serving idea of the yearly celebration of independence. They are not weary of the pomp and ceremony of independence anniversary because it is one of the many occasions they can seize to ventilate their taste for gaudy spectacles and self-adulation. But the bulk of the population understand that it is not their interest nor that of the nation that these leaders seek to celebrate with so much extravagance.

Today, on the occasion of the 55th independence anniversary of the nation, the leaders would once again tread that beaten path. They would not break their fixation on expressing the need for unity and peace.

Yet, this independence anniversary ought to be a watershed. For if our leaders are serious about changing the nation, this independence anniversary should remain memorable. It should mark a break from the past while it becomes the decisive moment for the inauguration of a trajectory of the improvement of the lot of the people.

Our leaders must reflect on the blunders of our past that have mired us in under-development.  They must reflect on how they frittered away so many opportunities that the nation has offered so many years after independence. Of course, much of the introspection should be done by our leaders since their warped reason for seeking power is what has aborted the progress of the nation.

When we consider how our leaders have ruined this nation, what easily comes to mind is that they are actuated by the notion of power that is cast in a narcissistic mould. Such brand of power was once identified by Friedrich Nietzsche. As he puts it: “ Not necessity, not desire  – no, the love of power is the demon of men. Let them have everything – health, food, a place to live, entertainment – they are and remain unhappy and low-spirited: for the demon waits and waits and will be satisfied.”  This power is not for the ultimate good of all – but for only those who wield it, their families and cronies.  For the past 55 years, the nation has been saddled with the purveyors of this kind of power.  This power has triggered unmitigated crises in every realm of the nation’s life: economic, political, judicial, educational, religious, and others.

But for the leaders and their cronies, this appalling condition provides a much-cherished opportunity for self-enrichment. It offers an untrammelled passage to appropriating the commonwealth at the federal and state levels. You don’t need to look far; cases abound. They have diversified from stealing the funds from the oil resources into embezzling pension funds meant to cushion the elderly who have spent their youthful vigour on serving the nation. And there is no judicial comeuppance.

They have the money to hire the most senior lawyers and buy over the judges. In the long run, it is the poor citizens who suffer. They are the ones who cannot pay for these iniquitous short cuts. So at the least suspicion of their being involved in a crime they are thrown into prison where they rot away.

For the bulk of the citizens, hopelessness stalks the land. Where are the jobs that could give hope to the teeming population of youths?  For the few fortunate ones who are employed, where is the security under whose auspices they can pursue their careers? As always, the police personnel are on the prowl, mowing down innocent citizens. No one is punished for this. In killing the innocent citizens, the police have accomplices in the bloodhounds of Boko Haram.  Since they began their atrocious attacks, they have captured and killed thousands of innocent citizens. The fate of over 200 girls whom they abducted from their school is still hanging in the balance. The poorly funded hospitals are also accomplices with the police.  The poor are wasted away by the mildest ailments and other manageable diseases and sicknesses. Let the national health care system collapse. It is none of the business of the leaders.

They can build their own hospitals which are out of the reach of the poor. They can complement these with overseas treatment. How about the roads? These are also sources of death to the poor citizens. The leaders are immune to any danger posed by the roads. They can afford to fly in the air on their personal or official jets. From that vantage position, they can see the carnage caused by their embezzlement of the funds meant for roads’ rehabilitation.

This bleak lot stokes the imagination of the youths – but negatively. They think that the ultimate redemptive route leads to other lands. They prefer to suffer in foreign countries    to staying in their own countries to live as second-class citizens. They are ready to take up the menial jobs they cannot do in their own country. In the process of seeking this foreign salvation, many of them die on the high sea or the desert.  But soon, they realise that no fortune awaits those who make it to the foreign lands. For here, they become prostitutes and frustrated by their cruel fate, some take to crime. Is this the nation that should roll out the drums to celebrate another independence anniversary?

It is against this background of feckless leadership that has spawned mass disillusionment that posterity would judge President Muhammadu Buhari: whether he has succeeded in breaking away from the mould of those who seek power just for its irresistibly alluring glory. It is thus his responsibility to make this independence anniversary the last one in which the citizens would only brood over the misfortune that is the inexorable fallout of their citizenship of Nigeria.

It is his duty to make hope bloom that in the next independence anniversary, the citizens would find themselves in an era where they would be proud to recount the benefits that their citizenship of Nigeria confers on them. The President seems to appreciate this weighty task. This is possibly why he wants a low-key celebration that would cost the nation N70 million – which is probably prudent as opposed to the extravagant votes that catered to the egregious tastes of his predecessors.
• Dr. Onomuakpokpo is a member of The Guardian Editorial Board.