Mario Puzo, while telling the sad story of Sicily under the claws of Don Croce and the Mafia, in his book, “The Sicilian”, painted a picture of utter desolation among the masses. The people were held by the jugular and made to slave it out for the few. Those who attempted to resist the evil hold of these principalities and powers like the legendary Turi Giuliano, was conspired against and murdered by the hands of his childhood friend. At that point, Sicily became a failed state and the citizens started leaving for other countries in their droves just to have a breath of fresh air.
As I read this story, I could not help but draw a parallel between that story and what is playing out in Nigeria right now. Look at the way the government has turned authoritarian and those in religious and political powers have helped the masses by the jugular. Impunity has become the order of the day and people get away with crime and dehumanization.
None of the systems are working. The political class share the common patrimony of the people amongst themselves and only drop crumbs for the masses. The religious leaders have taken advantage of the vulnerability of the people and their desperation to overcome the hardship the political class placed them in. These pastors now sleep with the masses’ wives and fleece the men of their hard earned monies while quoting out of context verses of their scriptures. The disillusioned lot who seek for succor from traditional religious leaders are not better off and these dibias and their likes have devised the same tool used by the christian leaders to ensure that the people part with the meager earnings they have while promising them of some miracle money and power that never comes.
Our health sector is not better off. Health practitioners are emigrating from the country while those that are still in the country are forced to work under the most substandard conditions. A visit of our primary, secondary and tertiary health institutions would confirm this. The health infrastructure is nothing to write home about. The judicial system which is supposed to be the final hope of the common has been hijacked by the political class. Judgements and counter judgments are not given based on how much money is brought to the table.
There is not water scheme. The power supply is still epileptic. The education system is still so 19the century. The students still have to study under the most discomforting conditions and the curriculum is still not as functional as should be. Which is why people now call the conventional education system a scam as those who pass through it come out more vegetable than they were before they enrolled. The social welfare scheme is non existent. The government has no plans for the old. In the last elections, people with special needs were mostly disenfranchised as there were no adequate provisions for them to exercise their civil duties.
It is a woeful situation to say the least and the just concluded general elections with the associated compromise of the system by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) seem like the final nail to seal the coffin bearing the dying body of Nigeria as a state. What is trending now on the media is that we are about to swear in a past drug baron as our president and this will with its resultant negative effect on Nigeria before the international community. The news today that Nigeria’s unemployment rate has degenerated to 40.2 per cent. This simply implies that for every ten Nigerian within the proper working age, four are not employed. This does not factor in the issue of under employment. It is a known fact that most of those still classified as employed are not paid enough to take care of their basic bills given the ever increasing cost of living.
Is Nigeria not a failed state? My childhood friend who left his juicy banking job and migrated to the UK with his family to take up a care giving job has repeatedly told me to borrow if I must and ensure I relocate away from Nigeria.
This was someone I thought was doing so well. He was earning more than 4 times what I am earning presently. Yet he left. Another associate of mine who was rooting for this present government and even floated a support group for Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s presidential bid, left for the UK too, less than 2 months to the election. He left with his whole household including his mother, I was told. He left permanently. You can see why this is a burning question in my mind. You see why I feel the Sicily, Puzo painted for us in that sequel novel to The Godfather seems at par with present day Nigeria? As I type, France is carrying out a revolution against their president, Emmanuel Macron. What caused this revolution? That Macron proposed to increase retirement age by 5 years. 5 years only. Imagine what we are tolerating as a people over the years.
Is Nigeria a failed state? The way the judiciary and the election tribunal will handle the case presented before them by Mr Peter Obi will provide the final answer to this.
