Nigeria’s Political Dilemma And Economic Necessity – Richard Odusanya.
Let me begin with the words of a leader with profound oratorical articulation, Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi an Italian general, patriot, revolutionary and republican. He contributed to Italian unification and the creation of the Kingdom of Italy. He is considered one of the greatest generals of modern times and one of Italy’s “fathers of the fatherland”, along with Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, Victor Emmanuel II of Italy and Giuseppe Mazzini. Garibaldi is also known as the “Hero of the Two Worlds” because of his military enterprises in South America and Europe. Maria posited: “Necessity does not submit to debate”
Our beloved country Nigeria is facing various problems on political stability and economy. The major problem is that of national unity in an atmosphere of the rising profile of ethnicity and religious bigotry. ‘True federalism and political system restructuring have been identified as the panacea to the current socio-economic challenges in Nigeria’. By the “Nigerian Dilemma”, I am referring to the ethno-sectarian divide that defines the perennial conflict, violence and nebulous between North and South – between Muslims and Christians in our country. It has virtually become Nigeria’s national curse; colouring every aspect of its political and human development.
In addition, it is important to note that crisis times require bold reforms and the incoming administration should be emboldened with the ability to take on one of the most difficult problems in his country in order to succeed, “Mind Restructuring” the new government that will emerge from the upcoming election will also need to take on another challenge – transparency in the use of resources. The government must utilize these resources more efficiently to create social welfare and infrastructure improvement programs that will not only improve the quality of life for Nigeria’s poorest but also put the country on track to meet its development goals.
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Furthermore, this article seeks to examines the complexities around fiscal federalism in our system within the framework of the resource curse dilemma. Nigeria is an oil-rich country yet governments at all levels perform poorly. Different level of governments continually experience fiscal gap and deficiency in service delivery. Not only that, the vast majority of the citizens live under the twin burden of poverty and unemployment. The inability of the Nigerian state to address these challenges, despite the huge oil revenue, contributes to the continuous debates over the value of the country’s fiscal system. Bearing in mind the debt profile of 77 trillion Naira.
It is against this backdrop that the profound articulations of octogenarian Chief Emeka Anyaoku’s six zone structure comes to mind. Chief Emeka Anyaoku, a Nigerian diplomat of Igbo descent. He was the third Commonwealth Secretary-General. Chief Anyaoku who believed in the political survival of our beloved country Nigeria advised a satisfactory reconstruction to allow for political and economic stability. He prefers the six zone structure to the present amorphous 36 States. The position of the elder statesman validates my documented submission to the 2014 confab. I had argued that many of the states are insolvent.
Chief Emeka Anyaoku, the former Commonwealth Secretary-General further admonished on the type of leadership that can navigate us through the storm. He posited: “leader must, in my view, possess to a good degree inter alia the following attributes: the capacity to inspire and form affinity with the people that the leader is leading; the capacity to have and articulate a vision of where he/she plans to take the country concerned; the capacity to deliver electoral promises; and the capacity to identify with and be seen to be tackling the challenges facing the people he/she is leading. Hence, leadership is primarily about service, and servant leadership enables the building of trust with bonding and continuing inspiration of the people. A good leadership must be defined by discipline, resilience, perseverance, determination, unyielding devotion, and, above all, a strong political will to act without deference to sectionalism.
Conclusively, permit me to dedicate this article that focuses on Nigeria’s Political Dilemma And Economic Necessity to an accomplished personality, octogenarian Chief Emeka Anyaoku on his 90th birthday precisely on the 18th of January 23. Congratulations!
Happy birthday Chief Emeka Anyaoku
Richard Odusanya
