Re-basing Re-basing...

Hello people,

How are you? I expect a response… It’s getting really annoying talking to myself. Anyways, I hope you’re all well. I've really taken to this blogging thing, haven’t I? Yes… it soothes me a little. I woke up this morning to the news that Nigeria’s GDP is now about $510 billion which makes it the largest economy in Africa. I was like “what..?” GDP was like “Them don re-base me na… Abeg park well.” And then I started to do some research on the subject.

I've always known that Nigerians love shiny things. We put value on things that have no substance and our priorities are skewed. I like to extrapolate – to draw conclusions about unfamiliar things based on stuff I already know. I wrote on my blog the other day about our need to propagate the illusion of success which is why we buy expensive cars and rent massive houses that we cannot afford. It happens all the time here. I’m not saying that it doesn't happen in other parts of the world; it’s just that here, people will always have something to say about your situation which puts pressure on people to live extravagant lives. Another example is age group competitions and I think this example summarizes my point very well. When Nigeria goes for age-group competitions especially football, we take over-aged players because we want to win. The purpose of those competitions is not winning per se – it is for the discovery of exciting talents that could potentially be future world beaters. But we are not concerned about that. We carry these over-aged men and women, we win and everybody is happy. Take a look at this stat: Nigeria has won the under -17 world cup 4 times but have never gone past the second round of the world cup proper. Countries like Brazil, Argentina, and USA all do the right thing. And sometimes they don’t win but they keep their eyes on the big picture. Are our priorities skewed? I think so. We like the illusion of success. A deeper look at things will show this.

Now imagine my lack of surprise when I woke up to the news of the GDP re-basing. I was not moved in the least. I was thinking yesterday about what to write on the blog and this came like manna from heaven. It’s something I’ve thought about a lot. In the newspapers, the big news is that Nigeria’s economy is the 26^th largest in the world and Africa’s largest. What they didn't mention is that in GDP per capita terms, we rank 121^st and that South Africa’s GDP per capita s over three times our own. What they didn't mention is that almost two thirds of the world’s poorest people are situated in 5 countries, one of which is Nigeria. What they didn’t mention is that 100 million Nigerians live below the poverty line and that a good proportion of them are classified as extremely poor – extremely poor means living on less than $1.25 dollars a day. Quite frankly, I’m tired of complaining about the situation in this country but stuff like this just irks me.

When I came back into the country last year, I came with certain expectations. I know that I’m extremely fortunate to be able to come back and I’m grateful for that. But a lot of these expectations came from my experiences abroad. One thing struck me when I was there – they are not different from us. We are exactly the same. If you put an American in Nigeria, he will act like a Nigerian – he will cut corners, grease palms and all sorts. However, the system over there controls behavior. It makes people want to do the right thing simply because it’s in their best interest. This is something their founding fathers knew in the 1700s which just makes it unbelievable that in this day and age, we are still where we are. I guess the reason we are where we are and they are doing so well is because those founding fathers had a vision. They had a very clear idea of what they wanted their society to be. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the America we know today is an iteration of the America that was founded in 1776 – It has evolved because the world has changed but in very many ways, it is probably the same. The founding fathers were able to put the needs of the many before their own and act in the interest of the general public.

I was reading today that we have a democracy and that people should leave Jonathan alone to rule. I maintain that we don’t have a democracy – we have a civilian dictatorship. The only difference between this and a military dictatorship is that this one is tenured. Democracy is highly nuanced – it involves all bodies working together. It needs an impartial judiciary, an alert legislative body and an active electorate. These all control the executive. I’ve said it before: Democracy is not an event. It is a process. The situation we have now is that the executive is allowed to run unchecked and as is only logical, they are acting in their own best interests. This is human nature and should not be surprising.

In my opinion, what we need is proper law enforcement. If that is implemented, all other things will follow including power. Let us amend the constitution to ensure the independence of the police force, revamp it and make sure it is funded, not according to the whims of whoever is in charge, but by a mandate in the constitution. Let the Inspector-General have a single term of 5 years to so he doesn't have to worry about his job or who he pisses off. Apply these same principles to the judiciary and we’ll see this country turn around – I’m sure of it. An active law enforcement apparatus is important to reduce corruption. It is no surprise that in the most corrupt countries in the world, there is a corresponding lack of law enforcement. It doesn't make any sense for man to go against his nature in that situation – it is just stupid.