Nigeria: Towards Nation Building, Economic and Human Capital Development.

Some 18 months ago, I was visiting a fashion designer friend of mine who was making me a dress. For some reason, we decided to turn on the TV. It happened that a documentary on illegal migration was being aired at the time. In that documentary, the narrator highlighted the dangers of travelling illegally and attempting to cross the sea with that particular means of transportation – a dinghy boat which is usually overcrowded with African migrants fleeing the hardship in their countries. The narrator posed a question and said, “could the conditions at home be so dire that dying in an attempt to cross the sea into Europe is a better alternative”?
In an ensuing interview, a Nigerian man who had made the journey with his family – a pregnant wife and son said that the poverty back home was too much for him and his family to bear. That they would rather die in the attempt to cross to greener pastures than return home. It hurt me, because that was my country man, who had lost all hope in this country. It was sad to watch and sadder to reflect on it because that was the reality of millions of people across Nigeria. At the time, Nigeria had been announced the poverty capital of the world by the world bank.

You would often hear us refer to our country as the “Giant of Africa”. Growing up, there were many songs made out of this slogan and there might have been a time when we actually owned and lived up to that slogan. But as time went by, we slipped and kept going downwards in every metric of Human Development. I remember watching the 2012 London Summer Olympics and seeing how countries with large human population topped the medals table, e.g. China, USA, UK. I also remember hearing a comment from a commentator, about how those 3 countries were demonstrating the advantage of a large human capital base. Whereas, Nigeria being the most populous African nation and most populous black nation failed to record a single medal at that event.

So, where lies the problem?

The people make a Nation. Nigeria is just a geographical entity and could be anywhere in the world. It is the people that make Nigeria. If there’s something wrong with the country, then something wrong with the people. We cannot go back in time and fix our wrongs, but we can start from where we are now to build to the future that we want.How do we find our way back? How do we raise responsible leaders who would care about tomorrow as much as they do for today?

We usually say, “it’s better late, than never”.

So, for starters, I believe that the Nigerian constitution needs to be revisited and amended as it leaves room for numerous interpretations to certain clauses and generally appears like it was put together in a hurry.

Secondly, the issue of educationally disadvantaged states has outlived its usefulness in my perspective. It’s been over 25 years since certain states were declared “Educationally Less Developed” and given certain concessions to encourage their citizens to acquire formal education but we have seen after 25 years that the bulk of those states haven’t made significant improvement in school enrollment or academic performance. States like Ebonyi and Zamfara State were both declared educationally disadvantaged at the same time but Ebonyi State has made significant improvement in citizens’ education while Zamfara hasn’t really grown. While Ebonyi State had 112 cut off marks for both male and female students, Zamfara State had 4 and 2 respectively. Now, this is not an attempt to attack any region or State in particular, it is just a pointer to the fact that this strategy hasn’t worked well and is overdue for a review. Also, it is now obvious that the “educationally disadvantaged” thing didn’t have a time line or a plan to it. So, how do we measure the progress or how much of it has been achieved and what the original goal was?

Thirdly, I believe that Nigeria needs a concrete population control plan. Allowing our population to grow uncontrolled is only going to worsen the already bad situation of things in the country. Taking a cue from countries that have successfully implemented population control policies. Singapore and China have successfully implemented different forms of population control measures that helped sustain economic growth in the case of Singapore, and reinvigorate the economy in the case of China. Knowing that the small Island nation could not afford a population explosion, Singapore’s Premiere Democratic Government led by Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew launched a population planning initiative in 1966 after World War II as the country faced post war food and housing shortages. China had to review its family planning policies after it experienced a spike in births that saw its population almost doubling in less than 3 decades. From about 540 Million in 1949 to 940 Million in 1976. The introduction of the one-child and two-child policies at different phases with some exceptions and concessions helped set these countries on the path to economic prosperity.

Fourthly, Nigeria’s Leadership needs to take our youth development seriously. Sports, industrial training and vocational training are key to harnessing the potentials of our young people for national development.

Lastly, Nigeria needs to exalt meritocracy above nepotism. It is key to building strong institutions. Some time back, a friend was going to drop me off at home, and on our way, we were pulled over at a “check point” by some mobile police officers and one of them attempted to coerce my friend to give him a tip (roger), unfortunately for him, my friend is an experienced Lawyer and started asking him several questions he couldn’t answer. He quickly discharged us as the situation became uncomfortable for him.
I believe that the root of the deep–seated problem within our Armed Forces can be traced to the recruitment process. People pay money to get a job they don’t really want because they don’t want to be unemployed. People take oaths to protect citizens but turn on the same citizens at the slightest opportunity.

They say the journey of a thousand miles starts with a step. We can’t change the past, but we can begin where we are if our leaders are responsible. But then again, the leaders come from among the people. Let’s not wait for official positions or titles before we make a move as citizens.

I know it sounds cliche, but the easiest place and most important place to begin is with “you” and within “you”. The people make the Nation, it’s time we took ourselves seriously!!!