Points for Nation Building
Being Part of the Keynote Address
By Oliver O.
Mbamara
at the Second Annual Nigerian
Leadership Summit in New York
- August 2011
The Nigerian (or African) in Diaspora is expected to deliver
by exemplary ways for he can now compare the two worlds. He stands in a
better position to apply what would work in effective and progressive
nation-building. Anything less would be a disappointment and a betrayal
of those African principles of brotherhood, extended family system, and
care for one’s neighbor.
1. Responsibility and Accountability: This is the
kind of respect and sense of duty and diligence that starts from the top
echelons of leadership and permeates through subordinate offices,
government parastatals and further down through local authorities. Leaders
have to abide by the law if they want the populace to be law-abiding. If
the executive or legislative arm of government would not respect the
verdicts of the Judiciary, and the Judiciary would not interpret the laws
of the land in accordance with duly enacted legislation or precedents, or
the Executive does not execute its policies according to legislation and
laws of the land, how would the populace be expected to abide by laws and
regulations than build and sustain a peaceful and thriving socio-economic
environment? As I partly stated in an article in August 2009, titled,
"Accountability and Responsibility, the Kind of Rebranding We Need" (Part
2):
- "The rule should be to lead by good example. Any attempt to encourage
Nigerians to be more patriotic, responsible, and accountable in their ways
of life towards creating a good image for the country would be an exercise
in futility, bound to fail if Nigerians would not find the confidence and
encouragement to look up to their leaders for good examples.”
2. Exemplary Lifestyle and Leadership: In line with the preceding
point it is important for leaders not to only say things that the populace
should do to turn the country around for good, but the leaders also have
to live what they say and preach. As we say – “not just what I say but
what I do.” It is useless to expect the populace to change their regard
for the state if the leaders only care for themselves. It is useless to
expect the populace to tighten their belts and live through economic
austerity measures while the few in power live in squalor and reckless
abandon. It is useless for leaders to send their children abroad to
foreign schools or the best schools even in Nigeria while the average
masses struggle to send their children to local dilapidated poorly
equipped schools. It is useless for leaders to go abroad for regular
health check-up and treatments while the average masses fight for their
lives at poorly equipped hospitals within the country. If leaders avail
themselves with the services of the same local school, hospitals, markets,
roads, power supply, water and other amenities of life, they will
naturally find it reasonable to provide these amenities or make them
efficiently affordable to all.
3. Honorable and Responsible Voting: This factor is very helpful in
achieving the preceding factor. Voters have to be responsible with their
votes so as to elect leaders who would be accountable to the public and
not their cohorts. Voters have to realize that their vote remains their
power. If they cast their votes without diligence, responsibility, and
conscientious reasoning they should not expect to have leaders that will
lead with reason, responsibility, and conscience. If the people cast their
votes based on monies received from leadership contestants or they vote
based on religious discrimination and nothing else, then they would have
sold their right and power to effect the change they would prefer. In a
national vote, tribal and regional factors should not be determinant
factors as that defeats the principle of nationalism which is in turn a
cardinal requirement of nation building. The voters have to account for
their votes if they want the leaders to account for leadership. Prudent
and honorable use of electoral power through voting would lead to the
installation of leaders who will account to the constituencies and not
just pamper to select group of friends, relatives, and cohorts.
4. Free Global Dissemination of News, Information, and Culture: We
have to tell our stories and spread our good news so the truth will
prevail. It is evident that many Nigerians and Africans in Diaspora
continue to excel in their various fields of endeavor whether it is in
business, academics, administration, arts, or otherwise. Yet, negative
news reporting and pictures of war torn societies, starving children, and
dilapidated suburbs are the kind of coverage Africa mostly gets in the
western. Since negative news sells and travels faster than good news, the
world is constantly fed with more negative news and impressions of Africa
than the positives.
Nollywood: The main success story here is the growth of Nollywood
(Nigerian film industry) and the impact it is having in exporting the true
stories of our people. We can take advantage of the popular reach of
Nollywood to paint and export a true and good image of our nation and
people through worthy film content.
The other success story is the emerging potency of Individual involvement
in sharing and disseminating of truthful news and information. Through the
use of easily accessible and affordable channels and devices such as
mobile phones, social media outlets like Facebook, Youtube, and blog sites
freely managed by individuals, truthful and current news and information
is at our finger tips to be shared. People no longer have to wait for
censored or doctored news coming from government outlets such as state run
television and radio stations. This way anyone could contribute in
creating awareness and in exposing negative trends that require
correction. The impact of this new trend in information dissemination is
actually driving a wave of reorientation and change across the world. The
viability cannot be questioned although there is a caveat to this
recommendation. Sharing of certain news and information requires caution
and management to avoid circumstances where reckless dissemination of such
news and information could actually lead to very serious consequences.
Example - revealing the residential address of a person accused or
criticized could unfortunately lead overzealous people to locate and
attack or harm such a person without allowing the full course of the law
to take its course.
5. Security, Security, and Security: The importance of this factor
cannot be overemphasized.” In March 2002, I wrote in an article titled,
“Investing in Nigeria (and Africa): The security question.” In which I
stated as follows:
“It is only upon a solid foundation of peace and security of life and
property that economic and political stability can be built to last. I
look forward to the day our leaders would make safety and security their
utmost priority for the populace (not just around the leaders
themselves). Employ more policemen, arm and train them better, but above
all pay them well to attract more recruits and discourage bribery - there
are many young men and women wasting away, yet willing and able to grab a
police job anytime. It is said, 'the idle mind is the devils workshop.'
When the youths have no jobs after their education, they easily accept an
offer of a token fee to carry out violence and mayhem.”
No reasonable investor would venture into a territory where he could be
kidnapped or robbed at will, and no nation can expect to thrive in today’s
world without significant foreign and private sector investments in the
economy. That is the nature of the world we live in and that is why global
economic sanctions continue to hurt obstinate administrations in the
world. A comfortable state of security (not necessarily a perfect state,
for that cannot be obtained on earth) will encourage investors and provide
the confidence for them to invest in the country and its economy. That
will provide more jobs, good roads, infrastructures, and sustenance. I
believe our leaders can comprehend this obvious equation. One has to hope
that someday a leader would come who would make the implementation of this
equation a reality.
6. Economic and Administrative Stability: No prudent investor would
want to invest his resources in an economy that could easily collapse or
be manipulated in a way that would not ensure any returns on investment.
It does not matter whether such investor is a Nigerian, an African or
other foreigner. Naturally, new administrations come with new policies and
as opposed to the days of regular coup de’etat when the military
forcefully disrupted the ongoing socio-economic structure and instituted
draconian rules that drastically deferred from the status quo. Elected
transitions do allow for some transition of at least the good policies of
one administration to the other. Investors have to trust that a change in
government would not bring about a drastic and arbitrary turn around in
policies that affect investments. Change in administration policies that
reflect reasonable state of things could be tolerated – in fact that is
part of the risk in investment. However, to change policies just to score
political, tribal, or personal points when the change is detrimental to
the socio-economic subsistence and stability of the state should be
discouraged. To change policies or replace executive appointees just to
compensate for political loyalty comes with a price of inefficiency when
the appointee has little experience necessary for running the office in
question except in those rare situations when the appointee is indeed
qualified to do the job.
7. Religious and Tribal Tolerance: Nigeria is a country with
numerous tribes, cultures, and languages. It will be folly to expect that
these varying cultures will always be in harmony. That is not natural.
However, tolerance and understanding of these variations would go a long
way in maintaining a sort of conducive environment for the nation to
thrive. It does not give the country a good image when fellow Nigerians
resort to maiming fellow Nigerians and burning down house, churches, and
mosques just because they do not agree with the other’s tenets. Which
foreigner, whether a tourist or investor would feel safe to be in an
environment where hoodlums can easily take over the streets sometimes at
the slightest or no provocation? Which investor would want to set up a
business structure today only to see it burnt down the next day by an
irate group that feels it has been wronged and that violence is its only
way to make its political, ideological or religious points? Acts and
threats of violence by an intolerant group whether political, religious or
tribal is an impediment to good governance. Recent administrations have
been willing to dialogue with dissenting groups which eliminates the need
for violence as the only way out. If a group is sincere and honest, it
will dialogue with the government or the opposing group.
8. Conscience: One leading factor on how successful it is to
achieve and maintain a tolerant and conducive environment for the economy
to thrive and peace to reign is the conscience of community tribal and
religious leaders. Nigeria has been and continues to be a country
dominated by the culture that requires people to listen to their elders
and leaders. It is therefore natural that these elders and leaders have
significant impact on how their followers think, reason, and act. An elder
or leader with good conscience will impact such goodness and conscience to
his followers. He will not rile them up to go and kill and maim innocent
people just because those other people share or express a different
opinion on issues of life, morals, politics, or religion. A true leader
with conscience will not stand by or look the other way while his
followers commit mayhem in the name of religion or political affiliation.
The other side of the coin is that even if the leaders lack the conscience
to respect human life, property, and fairness, the individual has a
responsibility to choose his own decision and do what is right while
abstaining from that which his conscience find to be wrong. In the end,
the individual will have to account for any atrocities committed. He could
be prosecuted and jailed here on earth for his criminal offence or he
would face the wrath of the spiritual law of Karma even after life.
However, it must be conceded that to trust on the individual’s ability to
make good, moral, or conscientious decisions on his own has its
shortcomings. The fact is that sometimes an individual maybe so
brainwashed or indoctrinated that he no longer has a reasonable ability to
ascertain what is right and what is wrong. He could be an extremist zealot
and as cruel and heartless as can be yet “believe” that it is the right
thing in the eyes of his God. This is usually the case in those situations
where people have been so indoctrinated to believe that they could fight a
war for God (as if God is that powerless), and they therefore take the
laws into their hands to kill and maim others based on their narrow
religious convictions.
9. Reorientation: Whether at home or abroad, whether a leader or
the led, Nigerians have to believe in the spirit of the nation, Nigeria.
Nigerians have to be proud of being called Nigerians regardless of the
taint on the image of Nigeria by a few other Nigerians. Choose leaders
based on qualification and merit for the job, not just on tribal,
political, or religious sentiments. Think what can be done to make things
work not what can be found that is wrong with the nation. What can be done
to bring about some positive change no matter how small, not what can be
done to exploit the situation to selfish ends. Encourage what could be
beneficial to the future generation Nigerians, not just what is
immediately good in it at the moment. Be bold to speak out or act (with
votes) against the nefarious activities of leaders even when such leaders
come from the same village, tribe, political party, or religious
affiliation as the Nigerian. Look beyond mere allocation of portfolios and
instead consider whether the appointee fits the office. Be constructive
and not destructive in the criticism of Nigeria and fellow Nigerians.
Dwell also on the achievements of many great Nigerian men and women who
continue to excel in many areas of life be it academics, sports, medicine,
law, research, engineering, or many others, and not just on the bad egg
Nigerians.
Conclusion: Many of these things we know but how willing are we to
go forward and make the move. Some of us give up before we even start. The
task is huge and sometimes it is hard to know where to start but the
simple rule is to start with ourselves. Look in the mirror and honestly
address the man in the mirror and then go out and live an exemplary life.
Shun bribery, corruption, dichotomy, favoritism, tribalism, and other
kinds of discrimination that have negative impact on the progress of the
nation. Some little sacrifice here and there. Rearrangement of our
priorities, here and there. Sacrificing of our times and resources to do
things that would be good for the nation and the people of Nigeria in
general. These may seem too numerous or too minor but they add up if we
all do just our little bit everyday and everywhere.
Similar to a point I have made elsewhere before, I ask: If the man that
finds himself on the corridors of power and trusted with leadership either
by electoral votes or by fate, fails to let his good conscience reign,
what then is his value if he lives, acts, and leads like he has no
conscience? If the man that is blessed with the opportunity fails to use
it for improvement, what then has he lived for?
Role
of Nigerians (Africans) in Diaspora in Nation building: An open Paper by
Oliver Mbamara
Thank you.
Oliver Mbamara, Esq. © August 2011.
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR: Oliver O. Mbamara is an Admin. Judge of New York State.
He is also a filmmaker and a
published writer, poet, and playwright. For
more on Oliver Mbamara, please visit www.OliverMbamara.com
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