Following my recent visit to our country, Nigeria, Dec. ’99 - Jan. 2000, I feel that our present leaders/elite should sit down and seriously take inventory of some "stupid things" some of our past regimes have done in order to stop mass suffering in the country. In deed, to make this millennium our millennium, each and every Nigerian leader/elite must create a folder of "stupid things" done by some of our past leaders/elite in order for Nigeria to experience some meaningful progress.

First and foremost of the "stupid things" done by some of our past regimes was robbing Nigerians only to feed foreigners. Presently, Nigerians are still suffering from this highway robbery. So many people are still hungry and jobless, hospitals are grossly sub-standard, roads are filled with endless pits, teachers are still underpaid, beggars are at every corner of the road, many able-bodied men and women are still asking for handouts, many people, especially children still walk around bare footed, motorcycles (Okada) are still a part of public transportation devices, so many towns are still unelectrified, large number of people still die daily due to malnutrition and inadequate medical care, armed robbery is still rampant. [Notice that all these negative developments are taking place in a society ranked no. six in crude oil reserve]. Ignorance, one must admit, is a deadly disease!

To retard this mental retardation, our present leaders/elite should continue to recover all the looted monies, have them invested in Nigeria and also make sure that new monies are not siphoned abroad to those who have either directly or indirectly exploited and enslaved Africa, and still portray and treat Africa unkindly. Our leaders/elite must grow up; they must realize that the job of good leaders is to provide for the welfare of the masses by providing a solid economic system in the country. This, in turn, will provide jobs, better schools, hospitals, roads, etc., rather than to starve the people by building greener pastures in foreign countries.

The second "stupid thing they have done" was the institutionalization of a new kind of slavery in Nigeria – the enslavement of the housemaids, security guards, drivers and apprentices. During my visit, I discovered that this slavery is still going on. Basically, housemaids, drivers, security guards, and apprentices are, in most instances, subjected to "hewers of wood and fetchers of water" – the deplorable position our forefathers were subjected to during slavery and colonial period.

Today, the "boys," as they are often called, run all sorts of errands. While the masters’ (Ogas’) children are taken to school by the drivers, the "boys" stay at home cooking, cleaning and doing all kinds of menial jobs. Oga and his own family will eat the better part of the meat, the "boys" will eat the leftover, e.g., feet, head, and intestine. Worse still, the "boys" are paid little or nothing. In fact, I learnt from one driver that he is being paid N1,000 ($10) a month, i.e., $120 a year, to feed himself and his family. To these Ogas, these are his "boys." To those in my camp, they are his slaves. It is time this type of slavery stopped in Nigeria.

I also discovered that so many Nigerians have been taught to suffer and to suffer their own people. Our fairly recent administrations have basically taught our people, especially our youths, how to enslave and suffer their own people with pride and impunity. For instance, they have learnt that it is "OK" for the NEPA to "take light" at will and at the same time bill people for light they did not use. This is very sad!

They have been taught that it is "OK" for the NITEL to make a killing by overcharging phone calls but the phones never worked properly, and access to phones grossly limited. How then can a person in danger call for help?

They have been taught that it is "OK" for a manager/supervisor to come late to work almost all the time, while the business stands still and customers wait forever. The message is quite simple: "do as you please so far as you are a manager." Above all, the youths have learned that it is "OK" for the masses to suffer while very few (in the country) bury the people’s money in their houses and pile up the rest abroad.

All told, the legacy of the people suffering their own people is still conspicuous in Nigeria. Our present leadership must put an end to this legacy of cannibalism by investing Nigerian resources in Nigeria and by showing genuine mercy for their fellow humans.

In accordance with my tradition, I visited some high schools and universities. During my visit, I discovered that a complete neglect of education, a legacy of the past administrations, still remains obvious. Libraries still lack new textbooks. Teachers are still underpaid, and some of them resort to selling hand-outs/notes to make a living. When the handout money runs out, they go on strike, leading to closure of schools. In fact, professors at the Enugu State University of Technology ( ESUT ) went on strike as the students were about to take their end of the year exams. Worse still, students do not even know when they will complete their degree programs due to frequent strikes. Our present leaders/elite should seriously revamp education in Nigeria in order to have a clear break from the mess of the fairly recent past regimes.

Another "stupid thing" they have done was to shamelessly rush themselves and their families to foreign countries for medical treatment/checkup. In effect, our hospitals were left barren because our leaders have no business going there. I visited two friends in two different hospitals, and discovered with tears in my eyes that our hospitals are still acutely substandard. While some might argue that one has the right to go to any doctor/hospital one chooses, one must also realize that Nigerian leaders/elite have all the money to build quality, world-class hospitals in Nigeria. On that note alone, I beg our present leaders/elite to pull their resources together to build quality [private] hospitals staffed with excellent doctors. Instead of accumulating, on average, over a dozen automobiles in their families, taking all sorts of useless/bogus titles, burying millions of public funds in their homes and pilling up the rest abroad, they ought to be building better, quality infrastructures in Nigeria.

I also discovered that what is in vogue now in Nigeria is the building of hotels in big cities. Almost everyone now talks about such hotels as Sharaton, Nikon, etc. All well and good, but those in my camp are eagerly waiting to hear about new giant manufacturing industries in Nigerian cities; new world-class hospitals in Nigerian cities; new ivy league universities in Nigerian cities; low unemployment rate in Nigeria. In fact, we are waiting to hear the best of the news that Nigerian leaders/elite have resolved, in a NATIONAL ECONOMIC CONFERENCE, to start investing ALL Nigerian resources in Nigeria as Japanese, American, French, German, Canadian leaders/elite are doing in their own countries. Nigerians deserve excellent quality of life like every body else, and our leaders/elite need no one to be telling them that.

The issue of poverty in Nigeria was never seriously considered by the past regimes. If one man could bury well over $750 million cash in his house and still was appointed by all the political parties in Nigeria to be the only and best presidential candidate, it was obvious that no body cared for the poor. This was so shameful. [By the way, has any body ever thought of dividing that $750 million by 100 million Nigerians, at least hypothetically, to let people know the magnitude of this atrocity committed by the man our then five parties considered the Biblical Moses of Nigeria? Of course, we were told that that money was put in a special account in Nigerian Central Bank; but those who understand the "magic" in Nigeria would say, "yeah right; it is all soldier go, soldier come."] Today, the number of poor people in Nigeria is staggering. We are hopeful that the present leadership should stop this tradition of "soldier go, soldier come," and seriously declare war on poverty by investing Nigerian resources in Nigeria as supposed.

The relationship between rising incidence of armed robbery in Nigeria and rising unemployment/poverty has not been critically examined nor has it been given adequate attention. To the past leaders/elite, so far as they had security guards in their homes, traveled in a motorcades, fired some gun shots at some gathering, things were normal. Of course, I witnessed this legacy during my visit as some of our leaders/elite today still travel in motorcades, fire some gun shots at some gathering as "solutions" to armed robbery. My good people, that is not an effective, lasting solution to armed robbery; in fact, they are not solutions. Nigerian leaders/elite must tackle the increasing rate of armed robbery head-on by simply doing the smart thing, namely, investing Nigerian resources in Nigeria, to at least end those kinds of robberies due to economic hardship.

The mentality of "get rich quick by all means," another legacy of the past regimes, is still apparent. This moribund value system that begets "ojoro," "akpuruka," "419," "OBT" (obtaining by trick), and other similar "cleverness" must be replaced with a value system that embraces honesty, hard work, good work ethics and morality. Because of this value system, most Nigerian leaders/elite in recent past did not talk about the overall progress of Nigeria. They never seriously talked about how Nigeria could be like other progressive countries they visited with pride. The issue of bribery and corruption never mattered to them, after all, in their narrow, corrupt minds "there is corruption every where." Nigerian leaders today must end this mentality of get rich quick by all means by rewarding hard work, and by enforcing tough laws to end "cleverness." Hopefully, the anti-corruption bill in this present administration will be implemented without fear or favor.

While starvation was used to keep the masses quiet and confused, hired assassins were used to silence champions of change, especially during the past administration. This legacy still remains alive in Nigeria. Nigerian leaders must condemn and stop the elimination of those who wish Nigeria well. Hired assassin is not only stupid; it is crazy. It is crazy and stupid for a man to kill another simply for differing viewpoints. To move Nigeria forward, our leaders must be willing to accept criticisms and try to reach some compromises with their opponents. Striking acceptable compromise (by persuasion) is one of the true measures of good, quality leadership. Live and let live should be the motto.

Most Nigerian leaders/elite in the past hardly read books, especially books on how other countries have accumulated wealth and developed. Because most of them did not read books, one constantly heard such baseless comments from them that "it took the US over 200 years," and that "there is corruption everywhere." During my visit, I ran into some Nigerian elite still propagating those empty phrases. While these kinds of answers help them confuse some Nigerians, we know (through our history books) that American leaders, for instance, did not have bank accounts in Africa at the present age of Nigeria (and still do not have bank accounts in Nigeria today). In fact, they had Africans (Nigerians included) as slaves at the age 40. Our leaders/elite should develop good reading habit to better understand where they are coming from and where they are going or should be going.

Conclusion

As I grow older (with some wisdom, I think), I have come to a hard conclusion that the future of Nigeria lies with liberated Nigerian minds. I am talking about the minds that understand how this world operate and therefore act and react accordingly; the minds that understand that as one makes one’s bed, so must one lie on it; the minds that understand that education is the key to progress and therefore must be improved; the minds that understand that wealth in the hands of a few does not make a country; the minds that understand that inferiority complex kills and therefore true leaders/elite must rise above inferiority complex; the minds that understand that east or west, home is the best, and hence, charity MUST begin at home and not abroad; the minds that understand that title-mania is not the solution, but doing those things to get the title is the solution; the minds that understand that investment at home is the ONLY pillar for economic growth; the minds that understand that it is simply stupid for one to rob one’s mother only to feed jackals; the minds that understand that if leaders do not lead well, the followers will not follow well.

All told, our present leaders/elite have a lot of work to do, and to accomplish them with ease, they must take a good inventory of some mistakes made by their predecessors in order to avoid committing the same blunders. Human sufferings (brought by some men against their own people) must end in Nigeria.

May God bless Nigeria with mind liberators who can save Nigeria from the dungeons of those whose minds are clouded with the thick cloud of inferiority complex and whose style of leadership is charity begins in Switzerland and not in Nigeria, their OWN country.

Editor’s Note: Dr. Umez is a Professor of American Govt. at Lee College, and the author of "The Tragedy of a Value System in Nigeria: Theories and Solutions" (1999), and "Nigeria: Real Problems, Real Solutions " (coming out next month, Feb. 2000).