By Kola Ayeye
In the 10th Aug edition of The Punch, Azuka Onwuka lamented the tragedy that has befallen Nigeria and Nigerians in such elegant prose. Nigeria he pointed out perhaps had the largest contingent of nationals representing and winning medals for other countries. Nigerians, deNigerianised as economic refugees from decades of wanton mismanagement, donned the colours of other countries winning medals which Nigeria didn't. He gave several examples.
It was a well-researched elegant piece of journalism. I would have been celebrating this piece but for an undertone, more than a passing emphasis, on the fact that all these athletes were Southerners. He wrote "Curiously, all the Nigerians competing for other countries are from South of Nigeria. This also plays out in other spheres of life: medicine, nursing, teaching, soldiering, policing etc.... What has become clear is that Nigerians, especially from the South, are desperately eager to flee from Nigeria to other continents. Even the fear of death is not a deterrent. They seem to feel that it is better to die trying to leave Nigeria than die living in Nigeria".
This is my point of departure with Azuka. We should be careful not to paint a picture that the Northern masses either enjoy this status quo or are indifferent to it. Not true. They are not. The large majority do not. Limited by poorer education, poorer economics and much more limited socialisation, emigration to other continents is not an option, it is not in their world view. Their USA and Canada and Europe and Asia is in Lagos, Port-Harcourt, Enugu and other cities of the South as Maiguards, cobblers, hewers of wood and drawers of water, Mairuwa. They are as much victims of Nigeria as their Southern compatriots. Perhaps worse. Nigeria's per capita income is a meagre $2,300. More than 100m Nigerians live below the poverty line. If we do a regional disaggregation of these numbers, the three Southern Regions and the Middle Belt will be far better than the North West and North East.
The political elite of both the South and the North, in cahoot with a thin business elite who feed off patronage masquerading as entrepreneurs, have worsted the Northern and Southern masses, "deNigerianising" us. The Southern masses flee abroad. The Northern masses flee to the South, or are radicalised out of ignorance to join Boko Haram, or to join banditry.
The greatest failure is that of the professionals, the graduates, the fairly educated, that cadre struggling to survive in the South, Middle Belt and Far North. It is on us the duty has fallen to organise, finance, and create an alternative grassroots political movement to oust this thin political cum business elite that has savaged our commonwealth and deNigerianised our Nigerianness. We have a duty to do it along with the struggle for survival. And here we have failed miserably since 1999 and continue to fail. We have focused solely on personal survival and completely ignored individual and collective action for change.
The Northern masses are victims as well, maybe even worse.
I'm praying and working for the emergence of the famed but elusive 3rd Force, a people's alternative to APC and PDP. We all need to participate. The Fourth Estate of the Realm led by exemplars like Azuka should fully deploy their media to stir this failed inert class from its slumber to do its duty of providing a path that can oust the ravaging locusts in Abuja and every State capital, and provide the people an option to follow.
Kola Ayeye
(Kola Ayeye is the pastor in charge of Friends of God fellowship, the publishers of this page)
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