Growing up, we were all constantly fed with the rhetoric of Nigeria being the “Giant of Africa” and a “Nation with great potential”! However, the more I grow older and wiser and continued to analyze this country, the more I realized that Nigeria is far from being a great country. The definition of a great country may vary slightly from one person to the other, but I expect all the definitions to contain some of the same ingredients. I expect to hear that a great country is one that protects its citizens, where the political system is relatively stable, one that provides quality education and healthcare to its people, one where basic infrastructure such as water supply, electricity and an efficient transport system are available and work efficiently regardless whether or not they are provided by the private or public sector and one where the rule of law reigns and citizens can find redress in the law courts.
Unfortunately, all of these things are currently not ingredients of the Nigerian state. Roads, water, healthcare, education, security, access to justice and electricity (to mention a few) are not readily available to the majority of Nigerians. Maybe they once were, but no more!
Not too long ago, Nigeria was shunned by the President of the United States of America, who chose to visit Ghana over Nigeria, despite the fact that Nigeria is supposedly pivotal to its energy needs and at the forefront of peacekeeping around the world and more importantly on the African continent. Following this was the scathing remarks of the US Secretary of State on her visit to Nigeria, showing just how far down the rungs of greatness Nigeria has fallen. The sad part of all of this is that those in government have not realized that Nigeria is longer great, if it ever really was. Nigeria was certainly once rich, but great!? Of that I am not so convinced.
We continue to beat our chests and boast of the being the 9th largest producer of crude oil in the world, 6th largest exporter of the product and the largest in Africa. We even boast of having the largest TV Network in Africa, as well as the largest political party. But in the 21st century are these supposed to be claims to fame? How about having a vibrant, robust and diversified economy that creates jobs for its people? What about having a functional political system? Is having a functional educational and healthcare system a bad thing? Is it impossible to be able to expect that our roads be smooth and motor able without fear of where the next pothole will be? Should a nation with the kind of coal, hydro and thermal resources that Nigeria possesses not expect that it will be able to enjoy 24 hour electricity? Is it out of place that almost 40years after the first bridge was built across the river Niger at Onitsha, that we should have a second one, regardless of who builds it? Many other examples of the failure of the Nigerian nation abound – Nigerian Airways, Nigerian Railway, National Stadium Lagos, National Theatre Lagos, Power Holding Company of Nigeria, Nigerian Telecommunications Plc, Nigerian National Shipping Line, Aluminum Smelter Company of Nigeria, Nigerian Coal Corporation, National refineries, Nigeria House in New York, Nigerian Mining Corporation and many more. It seems everything “Nigerian” is bound to end up in gloom and doom.
However, even if the Nigerian story does not inspire much hope in the heart of the average African, another country is at least making up the gap and standing up strong on behalf of the continent. South Africa is currently hosting the world and my word, what a showpiece!! The stadia were built in many cases ahead of schedule and below budget. Just to put it in some perspective, The Durban stadium (the one with the arc) cost $200mln, about N30bln. Yet, we built the Abuja stadium, in 2003, for about N50bln! Hmmm! I thought inflation made things more expensive!! And whilst the Durban stadium is state of the art and visually breathtaking, the Abuja Stadium, whilst still being a good stadium, is rather basic in its aesthetic design. Bottom line, South Africa has made the whole continent proud and FIFA had from the turn of 2010 been telling the whole world that South Africa was ready to host the world. This is in stark contrast to when Nigeria hosted the U-17 tournament a few months ago. Although the scale of that tournament was much, much less than the world cup, FIFA had palpitations from the build up right through to the end of the tournament, fretting about minor things from the state of dressing rooms and media offices to more serious issues of the possibility of floodlights going out (which eventually did occur) and rain literally carrying the playing turf away.
This is just symptomatic of the differences between South Africa and Nigeria. I struggle to find any parameter where Nigeria leads South Africa. Electricity supply, political stability/maturity, educational standards, quality of healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, mining, transportation, tourism, broadcasting, urban development, intellectual capacity, police capability just to mention a few, are some of the areas where it is obvious to any onlooker that we are nowhere near South Africa. Indeed our economy is gradually being taken over by South African corporate imports. Shoprite, MTN, Dstv, Stanbic IBTC, Alexander Forbes and Protea Hotels are examples of South African corporate bodies that are operating successfully within the Nigerian space. South Africa is the largest economy in Africa. It is a world leader in coal, diamond and gold production. The country has just launched a high speed train service in Johannesburg. The country has the most developed financial services industry on the continent. Its educational facilities are world class. The country boasts of 4million tourists every year. Cape Town is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Most of us who can afford it watch South Africa’s Dstv. If we do not lead in any of these areas, how on earth do we manage to justify our stake to the claim of being the Giant of Africa. Perhaps it is by our leadership in police brutality, political assassination, illiterate and incompetent political class, advanced free fraud, death traps called roads, failing banking system, comatose economy and absence of electricity despite huge volumes of gas!! Certainly not! The world is not interested in all of these things!
As usual we have managed to pull a veil over our eyes in this country. Rather than our leadership taking the steps to really put Nigeria in a position to begin to compete for that title, we put our heads in the sand and mindlessly proclaim our greatness. Instead of sitting down to work on the Electoral Reform bill, the Freedom of Information bill and the Forfeiture of Assets bill, 65 of our Senators have flown to South Africa to watch the world cup at taxpayers’ expense. Unfortunately for them, it seems that Nigeria will be coming home early. I say unfortunately because I figure most of them would have made plans till the 2nd round of the competition, on the assumption that we would get that far. However, knowing them, it would not be out of place for them to find some other excuse to stay behind even after the “Super” eagles have returned home. A popular one is likely to be that “we are staying back to understudy the organization of the world cup in order to enable us host big events in the future”. What a bunch of clowns!! And to rub salt into the wound, they do not bloody care!! And with the caliber of our political class, it is not surprising that we are where we are as a nation? Take a sample of the members of the Senate or House of reps of more serious countries. They are mostly occupied with men of timbre and caliber-people whose intellectual capabilities are not in doubt. Just listen to the typical member of the American Senate speak. Or a member of the British House of Commons! The quality of speech or debate that goes on in our National Assembly is of such a low quality that it is no surprise they have not been able to pass more than a few bills in the last couple of years. Just a few days ago, I was listening to BBC radio and they were speaking to the Nigerian Ambassador to Venezuela, trying to discuss the cultural linkages between the people of Africa and South America. My word!! The poor quality of speech, logic, general knowledge and awareness of this gentleman was shocking! I was so embarrassed for Nigeria that I had to turn off the radio.
We are constantly fooled by our supposed oil riches, yet Nigeria with all its 2.3mln barrels of oil per day has a per capita GDP of about $2,400. South Africa on the other hand, that produces NO oil, has a per capita GDP of over $10,100. To put it in further perspective, Algeria with less oil production than Nigeria has a per capita GDP of $7,000. This amplifies the point that rather than deceive ourselves, our leaders need to appreciate that the country is not anywhere as rich as it seems to be and as such, should be doing so much more than they are currently doing to develop a viable and robust economy.
So in your mind is Nigeria the Giant of Africa? All things considered, my answer to that is far from it! South Africa, the real Giant of Africa should please stand up and be counted. And the sooner those in Aso rock and Abuja realize that we have long been displaced from that position and begin to take urgent steps to remedy the situation, the better!!
