“What sort of a nation is this?” That was the question Prof. Wole Soyinka asked in his book, Open Sore of a Continent published in 1996. The book is his lamentation, nay anguish, over the mess being made of his country, particularly by the miscreant then in power, General Sani Abacha. Saddened by how Nigeria exemplifies both the highest of hopes and yet the worst of disappointments of African nationhood he asks in utter despair: “What sort of nation is this?”
That is exactly the question that comes to mind as scandal rivals scandal from the avalanche of sordid revelations from Wikileaks: “Which kine contri be dis sef?” A country in which the president or his ministers feel honored to be in the company of a foreign ambassador to the point of blabbing freely on the goings on in government, who is doing what, who is stealing what; then acquiescing to the dictates or wishes of such foreign emissaries – which kine contri be dat?
To be honest, I think Nigerians are now completely inured to the scale or manner of looting being reported. The figures are so large they are shrugged off in disbelief or despair. You hear of president after president creaming off $60m or more monthly to himself from the oil revenue; you hear of figures in hundreds of millions of dollars that would translate to billions if not trillions of naira being swindled or squandered and huge chunks of it ending up in private pockets of some ministers, governors or business fronts; and all in a country where there are no good health facilities, no meaningful infrastructure, no functioning utilities, but so much hunger – you cannot but wonder, first, “which kine contri be dis sef?” Then seeing no one revolting, you ask: “which kine people be dis sef?”
But the manner of opening up the innards of the government and of the country by Nigerian officials to foreign diplomats, in particular to the American ambassadors to Nigeria, for me is proof enough that we do not yet have a nation, certainly we do not have a country its leaders are proud of and whose interest they are inspired to guard jealously.
The examination and lamentation of Nigerians (especially those in the Diaspora through the various Internet newsgroups) on the malaise make interesting read.
Mr Emeka Ugwuonye who has been counsel for the World Bank and attorney to Nigerian Government in the US for years, says of Nigerian officials visiting the US:
“They are mostly subservient and timid, and when they try to be something different, they are crude and primitive. They are always ready to sacrifice the country for a bowl of porridge…
“Because Nigerian politicians understand that they lack legitimacy with their people, they desperately seek external legitimacy (i.e. acceptance by outsiders). Obasanjo quickly adopted and over-implemented the International Court’s decision on Bakassi, and Ngozi Iweala and Obasanjo formulated the program of paying out $12bn as repayment for questionable foreign loans; all to get the international community to not object to the plans for Obasanjo to amend the constitution to give himself a 3rd term.
“It was really an experience being a lawyer for the Nigerian government in the US and going with them to some of their meetings with US State Department. You come out of those meetings and head straight to the toilet to throw up. The greatest irony was that it was the foreigners trying to stop Nigerian officials from slaughtering their own country. The impression you get is: “What a poor Nigeria”. All its officials are willing to trade against it.
“You need to know what happens when a Nigerian Minister meets with the World Bank officials, for instance. He starts by thanking the World Bank representatives for the wonderful things they have done for the country and how grateful Nigeria is. It is the World Bank staff that would be stunned and struggling to say: “We are just doing our job”.
“Indeed, as a former lawyer for the World Bank, I knew that World Bank loan negotiators negotiate exclusively for the interest of the Bank, and, by implication, against the interest of the Borrower. We give you the terms most favorable to us and definitely least favorable to you. There is usually a significant room for negotiation. But it is for each country to negotiate for itself. The World Bank lawyers are not to negotiate for you. They are not allowed to.
“At the Bank, I negotiated or witnessed negotiations of loan agreements with countries such as Russia, Brazil, China, and clearly those countries come with their own lawyers prepared to even bully the Bank’s lawyers. A Nigerian Minister comes without lawyers because he believes that World Bank lawyers are from heaven working on God’s mission to save Nigeria. The last thing in the Minister’s mind is Nigeria’s interest, which he does not understand anyway.
“Indeed, at some point, the World Bank officials made effort to state in the loan negotiation package they hand over the Borrower before negotiation commences, that their lawyers are lawyers for the World Bank and should not be expected to represent the interest of the Borrowers … Nigerians just come and try to over-befriend the Bank officials. Hence, they endure paying loans they never really should have accepted or repaid.”
And my good aburo and friend Prof. Pius Adesanmi, Professor of English and African Studies at Carleton University, Canada, adds:
“Excellent points you make here. The only thing you omitted is the nauseating obsequiousness that Nigerian politicians, government officials, and “big men” display in the presence of small small oyinbo boys when they come here. I always tell folks back home that they would throw up if only they knew what those despotic tin gods in Abuja become when they come to the West.
“A Nigerian Minister or Senator may be the crudest, most overbearing, most arrogant, most insufferable big man at home, treating his staff and subordinates in Abuja like goats. The same man comes to the West for meetings with junior Western officials, small oyinbo boys who do not even qualify to be in my doctoral seminar, and begins to grin foolishly from ear to ear, thanking them 20 times in one second for what they are doing for Nigeria. The transformation from oga to oyinbo foot mat is always magical.
“I once told a French government official in Paris: this man that is all humility, this man who is here grinning yes sir yes sir in Paris, you have no idea what he becomes the moment he exits the plane in Abuja … back to sirens and other outrageous appurtenances of power.
“Like you said, Nigeria loses a lot to this irritating attitude of our officials. Apart from our loss of dignity, our officials are usually so awed in the presence of Western officials they can’t even read the fine print … they return to Abuja with yeye contracts and spurious bilateral agreements that your children and mine will end up paying for.”
The country, no country, can continue this way. We need to rebuild Nigeria and give everyone a true sense of belonging, and pride in being Nigerian. The time for that National Conference is now, lest it is too late.
And that’s saying it the way it is!