Continued from Friday (23-10-2015)
ALEMIKA, while urging Nigerians to de-emphasise the inordinate crave for money, said the fall-out of corruption was that development is stunted, causing increasing number of citizens to be trapped in poverty, as infrastructure and services are not provided while the existing facilities deteriorate as resources appropriated for the provision and maintenance of such infrastructure and social services were said to have been brazenly looted by a cabal of political and economic criminals that have captured strategic economic, political, socio-cultural and religious positions and resources in the country. On winning the anti-corruption war, the member of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-corruption said: “It is the responsibility of the intellectuals to expose these criminals and articulate effective structural, institutional, legal and policy measures against their crimes.”

He described most institutions and organisations in Nigeria as ineffective and weak because they have allegedly been captured by corrupt rulers to serve their personal ends rather than public good, saying that the executive, judicial and legislative agencies at federal, national and local levels do not serve the purpose for which they were established, adding that nepotism, another form of corruption, was another major factor responsible for the paralysis of government agencies, revealing that when incompetent people are employed or appointed to occupy strategic positions for which they were not qualified, it often leads to the destruction of the personnel, values, rules and processes of the organisations that were hitherto aimed and required for their effectiveness.

The Professor of Sociology of Law regretted that many intellectuals, who were expected to be apostles of transparency, accountability and integrity had betrayed their calling because the security, judiciary and law enforcement agencies which are critical to the enforcement of law and maintenance of security and order are weak because of corruption and inappropriate political control, blaming the government and private corporate organisations as well as the socio-cultural and religious bodies for the rot. They are weak and dysfunctional because they have allegedly been captured and incapacitated by those he described as ‘powerful criminal networks’ that made them serve private interests of individuals rather than the collective security and welfare of citizens.

Tracing the nation’s historical development, Alemika said that the economic prospects of the country were very bright in the 1960s but recorded progressive decline due to plundering and mismanagement since the 1970s, recalling that in spite of the huge revenues derived from petroleum products, Nigeria was currently ranked as one of the poorest countries with the lowest per capital income in which majority of the population lived in abject poverty and misery caused by unemployment, lack of access to effective health, shelter, education and other social services, charging intellectuals to propose workable solutions by partnering relevant social groups and forces in ensuring their implementation.

He decried the high level of insecurity and crime in the land, which manifest in the forms of armed robbery, kidnapping, assault on women, ritual killings, economic and financial crimes, massive corruption, illegal bunkering, money laundering, smuggling of goods, domestic, foreign cyber-crimes, prevalence of ethnic and religious violence, terrorism as well as the political and election-related violence killings. He admitted that these conditions constitute serious challenges to national stability, undermining human development and security and aggravated by lack of good governance by the rulers and weak capacity, as the security agencies fail to undertake appropriate proactive and reactive measures.

As a way out, he suggested that intellectuals should study and propose solutions that can lead to the consolidation of sustainable framework for democracy, economic development and equity, social protection, human development and security. He bemoaned that rather than mentor our youths towards national development and security, many intellectuals recruit them for political crimes, violent conflicts, armed and violent militancy, insurgency and terrorism.

Until early 1980s, the dominant orientation among intellectuals was that of being change agents, imagining and designing pathways and frameworks for national development. Students and lecturers in that era saw themselves as vanguards of national interests. The campuses of the universities were sanctuaries for Africanists, Marxists, nationalists and progressives. To be called a liberal or a conservative then was derogative,” he stated.

Since the 1980s, the dominant trend among Nigerian intellectuals was to become hand-made for political, economic and traditional power-holders in the country. Significant proportion of the intellectuals under the period had abandoned the country for survival in foreign countries that were previously regarded as neo-colonial and imperialist powers. “Till today, Nigerian intellectuals have not recaptured their early vision of being agents of human development and security in the country rather than entrepreneurs with skills for advancing capitalism and its inherent threats to human development and security. Contemporary Nigerian intellectuals demonstrate increasing indifference to the suffering of fellow human beings and miseries unleashed by bad government, and cultures of corruption and impunity. This development constitutes a betrayal of the responsibility of intellectuals”, he further stated.

He concluded his presentation with a call on intellectuals to deploy their knowledge towards the pursuit, realisation and sustenance of human development and security, rather than be mere participants or accessories to policies and actions that seem to undermine them in the sense that they have the responsibility for knowledge production, partnering with progressive forces in the society to ensure the adoption of evidence-based policies that would enhance human development, security, national unity, identity by guaranteeing good governance, democracy and development.

Reciting Josiah Gilbert Holland’s poem, “God Give Us Men!”; the guest speaker and a cross-section of participants at the lecture, extolled the virtues of Professor Akeredolu-Ale, describing him as a disciplinarian, who devoted his energy and resources to applied research and advocacy in the areas of social policy, social welfare and social protection, especially for the elderly, “was not known in vain social and political circles because he was too serious and perhaps as his critics will suggest eccentric. Yet, he was a scholar-patriot, sceptical of the intentions of government policies but did not incapacitate himself from interventions in social development policy making and implementation. He avoided being incorporated and co-opted into toxic, corrupt and criminal power structures and networks in the country.” That is indeed what our intellectuals should be!
Concluded.
Kupoluyi writes from Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB). adewalekupoluyi@yahoo.co.uk, @AdewaleKupoluyi