Following through both local and foreign media, the euphoria that surrounded President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent trip to the United States of America got to a somewhat ridiculous height. The aggregate trend in most of the views and opinions expressed by most media analysts in respect of the visit is that it would usher in ‘big time prosperity’ for Nigeria. Though most of the analysts did not really state the basis for such extravagant optimism, the general consensus, nevertheless, was that with President Buhari’s trip to America, Nigeria’s greatness is a foregone conclusion. One very over-excited analyst said: “For President Obama to invite President Buhari to America is a big deal. I am now very sure that our economic problems are over.” How simplistic!
Without a doubt, President Buhari’s recent visit to America would open new window of opportunities for relations between the two countries. It would be recalled that relations between the two countries had gone sour in the recent past. Nigeria, being the most populous black country in the world, ought to take leadership in Africa in terms of diplomacy. So, it was somehow demeaning for the country to be overlooked by a superpower like America when it comes to taking decisions on critical issues that concern the continent. This is what happened in the past. With President’s Buhari’s visit to America, it is believed that Nigeria would, once again, be at the centre of Africa’s diplomacy.
But then, that is where it all ends. In international relations, every country looks after its own interest to the fullest. It would, therefore, be too naive for people to erroneously believe that America would want Nigeria to be a great nation. The truth of the matter is that America is responsible for its greatness and that is the way it must be for every other country. The issue of recovery of stolen funds put away abroad back to Nigeria was one of the top priorities for President Buhari in America. Would America help us recoup stolen funds stashed in America and other western countries? In all honesty, this is quite doubtful.
The sincerity of the American government in accomplishing this task is rather uncertain. It is common knowledge that the US and most western countries operate very rigid financial system that easily detects fraudulent financial transactions. The big question then is: How did the stolen funds get into the US and other such destinations in spite of the legendary tight financial mechanism put in place to checkmate such crooked cash movement? Another interesting puzzle is: for how long have the funds in question been kept abroad? Now, if at all they are going to be repatriated, what exactly would we be getting? The exact amount stolen or the stolen amount with accrued interests on investment?
It is naive and unrealistic for any country to think that its salvation lies abroad. One of the mot wicked acts that the Nigerian state has ever committed against the citizenry is the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election. I was a bit naïve politically when the annulment took place but I was quite pained by that action. So, I supported to the fullest every action that was directed towards the revalidation of the stolen mandate. One of such was the foreign trip made by the acclaimed winner of the annulled election, late MKO Abiola, to several western nations including America to solicit foreign help concerning his plight. The idea then among some of Abiola’s supporters, including myself, was that with America and other western nations backing Abiola, it would be easy for him to retrieve his stolen mandate. After weeks of toiling abroad over the issue, Abiola eventually came back home with no concrete success recorded from the trip. Upon getting home, he had to start all over by meeting with key stakeholders in the country on how they could help him to regain his stolen mandate. It was the struggle that eventually consumed Abiola and his wife, Kudirat. Though it remains largely unproven till date, there were insinuations of foreign complicity in the death of Abiola.
For our dear country to get out of the wood, it is very essential that we look inward. Most of our challenges are self-inflicted and could be better tackled with home-grown solutions. The present international political order under the supreme leadership of the US is replete with hypocrisy and deception. Why, for instance, should every country practice democracy as a system of government? If democracy has been working for America, is it a guarantee that it would work for every other country? Libya, under the late Muammar Gaddafi, was a prosperous nation. But to the US, Libya was not a democratic nation. So, Gaddafi must be dealt with to usher in democracy in Libya. What exactly is the reality in Libya today?
Inasmuch as it is true that the world is now a global village, it is also a reality that every country in the global village must determine its own future. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo spent almost the first year of his administration junketing abroad to sell the idea of a new and democratic Nigeria overseas. Whatever successes such trips recorded were largely made nonsense of by home-grown developments. What we need to build enduring socio-political and economic institutions are largely internal. What we need to become great as a nation is to look inward and make the best use of all untapped potentials.
What we need for our economy to get better and stronger is to diversify the economy. We need to develop the non-oil sector of the economy. Our founding fathers built the prosperity of the nation on the non-oil sector. In the First Republic, it was agriculture that gave us a prosperous economy. Till date, agriculture remains a vital sector that could sustain food security, generate huge employment and stabilise our economy. The nation of Israel, despite its natural limitations, is renowned for its rich agro-economy. We could draw lessons from China which bounced back from a great famine that took millions of lives between 1958 and 1961 to become the world numero uno in food production.
Now that President Buhari is back from America, it is time to frontally confront all home-grown tendencies that have been impeding our progress as a nation since 1999. For instance, do we really need a bicameral parliament? In spite of vital national issues begging for attention, both federal legislative houses have been on break for most part of the current dispensation. It is not likely that their wages and emoluments have equally been on break. Can we actually afford to continue like this? Do we need someone from abroad to tell us what we already know about ourselves? Our real problems are home-grown. For President Buhari, the clock is already tickling. Now is the time to face the real work. God bless Nigeria!
Tayo Ogunbiyi
