Under pressure

BY PAULINUS NTA

It was Ras kimono, a popular Nigerian reggae artiste , who, in the 90s , asserted in one of his popular tracks, that we are all under pressure. Ras was right but little did he know that years later, Nigeria will experience a breath-taking pressure than we did in the 90s. 

If he had known, he would have reserved the song for today when we are experiencing the climax of decades of leadership failure. You can call it economic meltdown, blizzard, drop of oil price or the most common euphemism, economic recession, Nigeria is under pressure.

Without any fear of contradiction; without any ill will or any apology, Nigerian songs those days were issue-based. But today, the story is different, musicians fizzle away from issues of public concern  and beam their searchlights on sychophancy, sex, and other articles of immorality.

Anytime I remember the likes of Robert Nester Marley,[Bob Marley],Peter Mckintosh [Peter Tosh],Lucky Dube, our own Victor Eshiet [The Mandators], Majekodumi Fashek[The rain maker] Andy Shurman,[The Kinky reggae man], Maxuel Udoh, and a host of others who used music as a weapon to fight and criticise bad governance, racism, aparthy in South Africa, military dictatorship in Nigeria, and bad government policies, I shut my ears totally from the noises of today.

It is to me an irony of situation that the more we experience  musical revolution in Nigeria, the more we  witness mass extinction of issue-based songs. You will agree with me that The Mandators contributed through his songs, to the fight against apathy in South Africa, His songs might not have contributed directly, but it created awareness that aparthy is a crime against humanity.

A popular adage maintains that music is the fruits of the soul while Pundits see it as a phenomenon through which a people express themselves, their emotions, their philosophies, their ideas, their protests, criticisms as well as commendations and praises. For instance, Fela Kuti, used his songs to fight against military dictatorship, and the harmful effects of international politicson Nigeria and the Black race at large. Even though, he missed the bus, his contributions to the advancement of the black race shall remain indelible on the sands of time.

Away from music and its content bankrupcy, this literary communion seeks to carry out an intellectual surgery of a people who are consistently enmeshed in a climate of pressure.

In the economic melieu, we are not too far from what the Isrealites experienced under Pharoah. With steady growth of unemployment, high cost of living and proportional low standard of living, low consumption rate, high mortality ratio, low income and per capita rate, a dancing inflationary trend, poor access to good health care and essential amenities, empty plates on our tables; anyway, that is the beauty  and growth of the democracy we cried for. We are under pressure.

We are under pressure because our graduates are roaming the streets; we are under pressure because we are hungry. We are not happy because we are hungry. We are experiencing drought and starvation stocked by scarcity of real leaders. Before the advent of the current incarnation of democracy, politicians accused the military of institutionalizing corruption, but when the military returned to the barracks, Nigeria reached a moral spaghetti junction. Today the governed have no trust and confidence in the government, we have arrived at the melting point and the abysmal state of social decay. We are under pressure.

Every day, experts will analyse our political, economic. social and even our collective spiritual ailment. They will come up with the lasting solutions that will only end on the radio, in the television and on the pages of newspapers. Nigeria is a country that is widely known for a culture of formulating sound and vibrant economic policies, but these policies and projects suffer cultural abortions on their way to delivery.

Politically, the history of our political pressure dates bake to 1914, when we were coerced into a political entity, called Nigeria. Since then, we have always tried to tolorate our ethnic differences and accomodate diverse interests of diverse elements. You will agree with me that ethnic chauvinism, egocentrism, tribalism, multi-lingualism, multi-ethnicity and cultural\religious differences  have always impeded our collective stride to move forward.

Ok, let us leave behind the gabages of yesterday; let us allow voilent memories to give way to the passage of time. Political pundits will readily agree with me that President Buhari’s pressure started from his political surroundings. Though he swept the polls convincingly and broke a life-time record of  congratulations from the then incumbent Johnathan., most of the faces who drove  Mr President to office are men who do not possess democratic credentials. Some, morally bankcrupt.

Therefore, a man who conceptualized a litany of projects and programmes aimed at reviving Nigeria from the sick bay, found himself in a dilema between the devil and the deep blue sea. That was his first pressure. In order to move on , Mr president had to embrace the devil instead of diving into the deep blue sea. He had to appoint those who held the ladder for to climb, in spite of mass criticism because he owed them a debt of gratitude. therefore. Apart from a few rugged faces, Buhari has a rich cabinet, made up of a few men who can lay claim to reasonable integrity, remarkable transparency and sufficient education.

Back toAkwa Ibom state, Governor Udom Emmanuel is under pressure. The pressure of ballancing political equation, and running the state with a local government system that is widely criticized as being unconstitutional and constant rape on the  system. Udom’s  arguement  has been that the celebrated economic recession, which , offcourse, is a scapegoat, has punctured the state treasury and that the state cannot conduct local Government election and maintain elected councils. Some argue that the transition committees at the local government are only an avenue to compensate political supporters and not in any way useful to the grassroots. This, according to this school of thought, contradicts the essence of the local governments especially the local government reform of 1976.Whether the governor or the critics, are right, we are under pressure.

A couple of months ago, the same Governor dissolved and after a period, considered to be unnecessarily long, he reconstituted his cabinet. Akwa Ibom people from different walks of live and political divides, analysed and evaluated the governors men. In some ministries, he appointed professionals and in some, he ballanced political equation and earned commendations as well as vituperations and opprobrium. Even though ,the formation of his cabinet is the Governor’s prerogative the quality of governance should not be sacrificed on the altar of political interest.

At inception, the governor, having come from the banking sector, a background where merit and qualifications are the benchmark, he concieved a state exco of technocrats , beaurocrats, and men of proven  integrity. But when the stage was set, and for him to sail successfully to the shores in 2019 and perhaps beyond, merit, must blend with politics and that will equals to political tranquility. This, perhaps explain why some square pegs are managed in round holes. This also accounts for why public opinion does not form the data or imputs  in our public policies.     

But one thing I like Nigerians, we always complain and comply especially this part of the country. We believe that the government is always right and any opposition to what the government says is equals to sin. We do not have the culture of protesting and reacting to bad policies. No matter how obnoxious the government policies, we will complain but latter comply.

Today, kerosene is selling close to five hundred naira a litre and nobody coughs. Even if we wake up tomorrow and meet the cost of petrolat five hundred naira, Nigerians will grumble and latter comply. This is true because we were born into a country of pressure and we are always under pressure. May God deliver Nigeria from a culture of pressure? 

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