A nation without patriotic leadership can never attain economic independence and technological advancement. Such a nation will never be viable enough to avoid being under the modern-day feudalism of other opportunistic and exploitative nations.
Oftentimes, we accuse Europe and America of deliberately sabotaging our quest for technological advancement and economic growth to keep us perpetually under their dominance and in shackles of economic hostage. Unfortunately, the reality of the last 25 years shows that the selfishness, greed and lack of patriotism of those we have had the misfortune of entrusting authority to in our country are the albatross of our national development and liberation.
It is an incontrovertible fact that electricity drives technology. But rather than providing us with a stable electricity supply, Mambilla Power Project was allegedly used as a conduit pipe to siphon billions of dollars from Nigeria under the presidency of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. The project was not executed and the money has not been recovered. Till this day, we are still grappling with electricity problems.
We were inundated with petroleum scarcity during the presidency of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan due to the poor state of our refineries. But the Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Madueke, allegedly stole billions of dollars that could have been used to repair the refineries and build other projects for the benefit of Nigerians while the Chief Accounting Officer of the nation was in slumber.
Despite the trillions of dollars unaccounted for in the guise of refineries’ repair and maintenance, our only hope today is for a private refinery to the rescue. The presidency of Rtd. General Muhammadu Buhari that we reposed so much trust in did not only turn out to lack the aptitude to solve the problems inherited from Dr. Jonathan, it added more to the problems.
In the attempt of Buhari to supposedly boost the local production of rice in Nigeria, importation of rice was banned and trillions of Naira were shared to supposed rice farmers for local production. Right under his superintendence, the price of local rice tripled the price of foreign rice before his intervention, which cost Nigerians trillions of naira.
Now the price of the local rice has quintupled the price of the then foreign rice. It has now been revealed through the trial of Mr. Emefiele that the trillions of Naira purportedly released to boost local rice production went into the pockets of their cronies.
“It takes a patriotic and selfless leader to place good value on his country at the bargaining table”
While they are now living extravagantly on the loot, rice has become unaffordable and out of the meal menu of most Nigerians. Every opportunity to change the government of Nigeria through election brings excitement and hope for a better future to Nigerians.
We exuded in that hope moving towards 29th May, 2023. Almost a year now into the new regime, we have only had to bear more pain than we bore prior to May 29, 2023. Some people say that it is too early to appraise the government. But a drug that will heal you doesn’t have to make your condition horribly worse at the first dose of it.
The first message to Nigerians on the inauguration of President Ahmed Tinubu was that “fuel subsidy is gone”. There is no one in Nigeria that does not know the dastardly consequences of subsidy removal on the livelihood of the people. Expectedly, the president promised palliative measures. But while the political office-holders, who were mostly already overfed and belching, were immediately given millions of Naira to ameliorate the effects of subsidy removal on them, the civil servants, who could not live decently on their salaries even before the subsidy removal have been left on the same salary despite the exponential growth of inflation occasioned by the subsidy removal.
Every nation that is serious about technological advancement and stable economy will prioritize the strength of its currency at the international market. Unfortunately, the apex bank’s administration that is saddled with the responsibility has only been coming up with policies that weaken our currency.
In the first quarters of 2023, Mr. Emefiele banned the use of naira credit cards for international transactions online. So, for a Nigerian to buy even two dollar worth of integrated circuit (IC) online, he must source dollars to deposit in his domiciliary account to make payment, thereby putting pressure on the dollar and shooting up its value against naira.
What neocolonialism could be worse than that? Whatever the financial savvy Mr. Emefiele thought that was, the outcome has proven it to be one of the dumbest policies from the Central Bank of Nigeria. Hitherto the policy, Naira was around N700 to a dollar. Today, the naira has depreciated to N1, 450 to a dollar. There is actually no official exchange rate in Nigeria because only those in power and their cronies obtain dollars and other international currencies at the official rate.
The ban on the use of naira for online transactions was introduced neither to help the advancement of our technology nor to boost our economy, but to find clients for their surrogates at the Bureau de Change. As treasonable as that policy is, it is still sustained by this administration.
Why then should we be blaming the hegemony of foreign countries for our self-inflicted woes? The crimes enumerated above are only a few of the numerous committed against Nigeria to hinder Nigeria’s competitiveness at the committee of nations.
Those crimes were not committed against Nigeria by foreigners; they were committed against Nigeria by those that Nigerians were unfortunate to have in leadership positions over time. The leadership of countries scavenging for countries like ours to exploit through our unpatriotic leaders for their own national development and prosperity should rather be envied for their patriotism and nationalism. It takes a patriotic and selfless leader to place good value on his country at the bargaining table.
Rabana writes from Minna, Niger State.
