The Constant Retrogression of Nigeria.

Nigeria's problem has nothing to do with the greed of politicians, corruption and all the stuff blamed for it. Look, there has always been corruption in Nigeria (maybe on a lower scale). Chinua Achebe's novel No Longer at Ease was published in 1960 and it dwelt on things that happened just before independence. The main issue in that novel was bribery and corruption. But it did not stop Nigeria from progressing at a time there was no crude oil.

There is corruption in many of the countries that are progressing speedily. The difference is that those countries genuinely fight corruption. Nigeria had a working system then until the end of First Republic, in spite of the corruption then and other negatives. Guys from the West praised Awo - who gave them free education, first TV, etc. The North praised Bello, who gave them groundnut pyramids, ABU, etc. We praised Zik and Okpala, who transformed education in the East and built factories. The Eastern Nigerian economy was one of the fastest growing in the world then, even without crude oil.

Why was that so? Because Nigeria had a system that encouraged innovation and growth. So no matter how much was stolen, the country continued to progress. What we have since the 70s is anti-progress. It is just a matter of time before everything crumbles. And that queer system encourages corruption, greed, ethnic tensions and backwardness. You cannot yoke people with opposing values together under a unitary system and expect any progress, no matter how you pray and hope. If you release Lagos, or Anambra, or Delta, or Ogun or Kano or Akwa Ibom etc to stand alone as a country, each of them will be far better Nigeria. It is not rocket science.

We should stop deceiving ourselves with this mindset that Nigeria is retrogressing because we have the worst politicians on earth. No. Nigeria is retrogressing because people with opposing values and visions were yoked together without laws that encourage competition, creativity, merit, justice and patriotism. Every month free money is shared to states, creating laziness and lack of accountability. That is why we need restructuring.

So if you like combine Kennedy with Churchill and Gandhi in one person and send to Nigeria, the genius will achieve nothing.

© Azuka OnwukaSeptember 10, 2019