A fundamental concern for others in our individual and community lives would go a long way in making the world the better place we so passionately dreamt of – Nelson Mandela
It was nine years ago in Geneva, Switzerland. He was invited as one of the guest speakers, to mark the 100 years of the International Labour Organisation, ILO. Also there, was Ghana’s ex-President John Kuffour. Then, he spoke. He warned that when the youth of Africa got angry at the hunger and frustration, particularly unemployment, in West Africa, it could prove uncontrollable and disastrous like the Arab Springs which was then ravaging North Africa. He said people like him (Obasanjo and other affluent Nigerians) would have no hiding place.
In my THE FLIPSIDE column published sometime in April 2011, I reflected on former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s thesis and agreed with him that something needed to be done urgently to tackle growing youth unemployment, to forestall an uprising or protests by the then growing angst. As the #EndSARS protests, later hijacked by hoodlums, spread across Nigerian cities for almost two weeks, I couldn’t help recalling what amounted to OBJ’s prediction and prognosis nine years ago. Note: While some of the circumstances may have changed, the piece remains as relevant today as when it was first published. Please, go ahead...
It’s not difficult for his countrymen not to despise him. He represents for many, the wasted years of leadership; golden opportunities frittered, wrong and misplaced priorities, and at best, leading governments that dwelt more on precepts rather than concrete actions that could have transformed Africa’s most populous nation into the true giant of the continent.
Yet, there are also a few die-hard ‘devotees’ who wrap him in the garb of the quintessential statesman who has had the most profound influence on his people; an unshakeable believer in the indivisibility and unity of his country, the pacesetting innovator who has had a monumental impact on her development.
Whatever opinions that are held about him, one fact is indisputable: no one can ignore the ex-soldier and former president of Nigeria. When he speaks, he detonates a bomb; even when he chooses to keep sealed lips and out of public glare, you wonder what kind of ‘mischief’ the old man is up to.
With OBJ, there are no middle courses: you either love or hate him passionately.
Now, Obasanjo is back in the news (you ask, when is he never in the news?). But this time around, he’s made, in my opinion, the right kind of news. He’s spoken the minds of some of us, he’s mirrored our fears, he’s foretold the cataclysm that could befall the giant of Africa if care was not taken to address the growing and gnawing inequalities between the rich and the miserably poor, who abound in millions.
For a man who is part and parcel of the ‘oppressor class’, who has certainly empowered more of his class to the detriment of the toiling citizens of his country, I found OBJ’s thesis of an ‘impending revolution’ interesting and intriguing. Whatever was his motive for his ‘revolution thesis’, he hit the bull’s eyes in his postulation, even though it could also have been self-serving.
Now, what exactly did Baba say?
At the 100th session of the International Labour Organisation, ILO, conference in Geneva, Switzerland, Obasanjo, who was one of the discussants alongside his former Ghanaian counterpart, John Kuffour, said he feared that there may be ‘no hiding place’ for people like him and others in privileged positions, who did nothing to alleviate the growing unemployment and poverty, especially amongst the youth population, if the kind of revolution sweeping across the Arab nations berthed in West Africa, including Nigeria and Ghana.
His words: “I give example of my own country, Nigeria. We now have 120 universities. When I was growing up and I had to go to university, there was only one university. With polytechnics and other tertiary institutions, we have more than 200.
“We have over 600,000 graduates every year and we are not creating 100,000 jobs for the graduates. The youths can be ignited at any time. We have a population of about 165million people, we must be talking of jobs, jobs, jobs. If we don’t, the youth will be ignited and we will all be consumed.
“Our situation of lack of employment is predictable of what will happen. If it happens in our countries in Africa, none of us will be spared. I know that I will be a victim. Kufour too will have no place to run to.
“If the unemployment situation in African countries is allowed to continue and not checked and addressed, the revolution that would take place will be more severe than what is being witnessed in the Middle-East.”
Obasanjo was not done. He took a swipe at his successors (the late President Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan) for lacking the political will to tackle corruption which he said militated against the development of the country.
Of course, it doesn’t matter whether you love or hate the ex-president: Nigeria is surely heading towards a people’s revolt, except urgent steps are taken to address the plight of the angry deprived citizens.
I agree with Obasanjo that when a revolt takes place in this clime, it would be worse than what happened in the Arab nations.
I also agree that the first casualties will be leaders like him who had the exceptional privileges to wipe away the tears of the people by building enduring infrastructure and a people-oriented economy but instead foisted on us inept leadership that virtually retarded our march to progress.
Today, we still lack focused leadership that shows us no light at the end of the tunnel. To those who hold the cynical view that a ‘revolution is impossible’ to achieve because ‘Nigerians are docile, merry-go- happy people,’ they underestimate the capacity of the slave to break his chains of bondage.
As I also once noted in this column, I believe strongly that we are sitting on a time bomb which could explode sooner than we think.
The way we are going in this country we may soon be faced with the revolt of the poor, the proverbial hewers of wood and drawers of water; the people who are experiencing the worst form of existence in a land that ordinarily should have no business with poverty if not for the thievery of the elite ruling class.
The way we are going in this country, the rich may soon discover that the poor they have continued to ride roughshod over are no longer willing to accept their fate. They will not only demand for their share of bread but commandeer it.
It will be sudden and involuntary.
There will be no leader of the rebellion or anyone directing them to act. Hunger and the survival instinct will be the propelling force. And by then, the so-called affluent in the society will either be compelled to examine the plight of the poor or flee from their wrath. Doomsday prophecy? Not quite.
The reality today, if we must call a spade by its name, is that more Nigerians are going to bed on empty stomachs; many have no roofs over their head; health care needs recovery, while hopelessness rules the land.
Many Nigerians live below 65cents a day. The faces you see reflect frustration and disillusion. There are Nigerians who haven’t held N500 [five hundred naira] for a long time now. And this is no exaggeration. Many don’t know where and when the next meal will come.
Amidst this hellish living, a few powerful Nigerians are erecting breath-taking mansions and gliding in eye-popping wonders-on-wheel. Federal legislators and other government officials are taunting the rest of us with obscene allowances which they have greedily slashed for themselves.
They flaunt their wealth everywhere in the face of the majority haves-not, daring us to go to hell and stay there. Since no one willingly wants to go to hell or make it a permanent abode, a few depraved poor are taking their destinies in their hands and making it impossible for the wealthy to live in peace or sleep at night.
What do we have?
Fortresses everywhere in the name of residences. Alsatian dogs and hi-tech security gadgets enveloping homes of the super-rich who have become unwilling prisoners in their residences.
Even that doesn’t make them safe.
They still have to drive their exotic cars on the roads and risk the attack of dare-devil robbers who are themselves victims of a dysfunctional system. The way we are going in this country, if the inequities are not addressed we may find it difficult to curtail the ensuing anarchy.
If we don’t find jobs for idle hands and engage the minds of our deprived citizenry, the catastrophic impact may prove intractable for our country. The way to abort any upheaval or revolt of the poor is for the rich amongst us to turn a new leaf and begin to spare a thought for the less privileged.
When you throw a champagne party and throw excess food in the garbage, remember there are many who haven’t had a meal in weeks; when you insist on spending every weekend in London, Paris or America, remember that many of your compatriots are right now under the bridge and yet many are dying in hospitals with no money to buy drugs.
* First published in 2011
