Generally, it has been a tale of woes. Nowhere else has this tale of woes been more reflected institutionally, than in the economic arena. Since independence the erstwhile promising economy has been battered into submission by not only the political leaders but also by subservient economic leaders who, to protect their interest, work hand in hand with the politicians and even sponsored them to implement policies that are anti-people, and favour only some sections of the populace. The consequences has been dire on the country. The Army boys for example, shut out the Nigerian Airways. As at that time when Okpere (now a retired Air Force General) was in charge, the Nigeria Airways had 22 planes in its fleet doing good business all across the globe. The army regime ensured that the Nigeria Airways died. The sacked staff, many of whom died , have not, and may not ever receive their gratuities, pensions and other entitlements .
Whatever happened to the Nigeria Navy Shipping line? Dead and buried. It died during military rule, under a barrage of bad policies. I remember the vibrant Nigeria Railway Corporation before its decline, the rails were functional to the extent that the NRC had a great railway team featuring men like Ironkwe and his mates in the ‘’Union line” which formed the bulk of the Nigeria team in the mid 1950s . I remember going to the King George V stadium in those days to watch the rails and shout ‘’UP RAILS” till my voice got hoarse .
So What happened to the railway corperation? The Army killed it and in collision with their economic wing, they brought in the trucks, instead of developing the railway to criss -cross the country a’la Canadian system that goes from the east to the west coast of Canada, or the Tanzam railway in East Africa, the rails were abandoned for trucks on road that could not withstand their stress. The result was that the truck got damaged and littered the road today, and the road also became unfixable. Government propagandists will always have their say about building millions of miles of road, but those who go on Nigerian roads know where the shoe pitches them (all through the time, bad economic leadership qualities have resulted to Nigerians being led into untold ruins by economic leaders who have had no capacity to do painstaking jobs to lift the system). Take all the indices, inflation has been rising and is now at 34.5%, the exchange rate now stands at 1500 to a dollar, the GDP keeps stalling, and usually acts in such a fluctuating manner.
Agricultural production has fallen, owing to the insecurity of farmlands, which insecurity the government has failed to solve. Prices of petroleum products have gone haywire, the much wanted solid minerals remained buried in the ground, and the entire economy remains embroiled in mysterious atrophy.
The degeneration in the educational institution has been taken, as it were, for granted by Nigerians. Several factors are responsible for this decline in educational standards. Such factors are –
- wrong policy decisions by educators - wrong policy decisions by government - wrong decisions by parents - the emphasis on materialization by the society.
The basic symptom of fallen education standard is that what a graduate at earning level could read or write in earlier days is far beyond what the same graduate with the same level can read or write now. There is no disagreement on this point. The effect on the economy, the effect on perspective, the effect on the entire society is extremely negative.
Educators have a large share of the blame. They inspire and encourage examination malpractices for pecuniary offers and promote failed candidates automatically.
Education officials, examining bodies all take money from parents to influence the fortune of children pushing them unto higher classes that they do not merit.; Automatic promotion prevails over genuine hard work, hard earned promotion.
Mediocrity is rewarded over excellence.
Parents make the matter worse by not only acquiescing to the payment of illegal promotion money but even insisting on what class their children or wards should be placed. Money not academic brilliance is the purveyor of certificates, the entire society suffers. This we have witnessed since independence.
The stress of materialism of course does not matter as many people care less about the aesthetic of “an educated man”, educated for the purpose of being educated, not necessarily educated for the sake of getting a job! But the irony is, now that the jobs have thinned out, why do people still want to get an education by hook or crook? This paradoxical situation can only be sorted out by the ignoramuses who will not work hard and stop cutting corners. The disunity being fanned by religious bigots has also led to a schism among Nigerians, and a division into 2 divides compounding the county`s degradation.
This disunity is caused by political leaders and even religious leaders but before independence, it was not so. I remember the days of yore in Lagos, we as Christian Youths would wake up early in the morning to watch Muslims Ajiwere singers. Rams at Salah were killed and distributed to all and sundry by our Muslim friends, Christmas rice was given out by Christian folks to all in the season of peace and good will.
Today the situation has changed, there is virtually no love lost between the two faith and the center cannot hold. The politicians make it worse by their body- language and decisions. And now the family, the last institution we mention. Here the parents are the chief culprits. The values imposed at home govern the behavior of children. People try to defend themselves by saying that the societal values has led to a degradation in the Nigerian societal values which has led to disaster in the society. But the point is that a child is first part of socialization. The first part of socialization is the home and so the above argument becomes non sequitur!
If Nigeria has to come back to the road of sanity, the basic institution of society has to be rebuilt and those in the manning of those institutions have to work and walk themselves back to the road of propriety. If they do not do this, probably the degenerating Nigeria may lead (God Forbid ) to a situation where centrifugal forces may overwhelm centripetal forces and the society that was laden with hope, sixty five years ago, may see its opportunities for greatness whittle away with limitless abyss.
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