The Nigerian Dream

Grief is the only emotion that can be felt after engaging in deep thoughts concerning the state of this
nation. I recently engaged in such and wanted to know the real cause of the country’s gross
underdevelopment, especially in the midst of abundance. After 50 years as an independent state, we
are yet to crawl, let alone run or fly. It hurts and it does badly.

We lament the state of our beloved country a lot. We sometimes proffer solutions, at other times we
merely lament, yet the situation remains the same or even worse in most sectors of the economy.
Without knowing the cause of an ailment, there is bound to be no cure. If at all there seems to be
improvement in the situation, I can assure you that you are only treating the symptoms NOT the
disease. This perfectly explains the situation of Nigeria, a country without vision, plans and road
maps for development.

It is the reasonable thing to do as a person who is ambitious, sensible and responsible to plan our
lives, income, future etc. As the popular saying goes; he who fails to plan, plans to fail! It really is that
simple. This is not rocket science or brain surgery, it is mere common sense. A young elementary
school student knows the importance of planning; he knows he has to get his homework done over
the weekend for school on Monday, he knows he has to study in advance for his exam to make
meaningful success of it. All these are ways of planning to succeed is his academics.

We, as a nation, have lived our lives blindly and in the dark. We have vast amount of resources
committed to us but like a 14 year old child whose billionaire father bequeaths his wealth to, we did
not (still do not) know what exactly to do with the money. That obviously is the reason for the high
level of corruption and waste experienced in the country. Without plans, budgets and strategies,
everybody tends to just deep his hands into the pot of soup and at the end of the day nobody gets to
enjoy the soup.

After independence, we discovered crude oil, a source of wealth and development for most nations
but instead, a source of pain, war, anguish, greed, tribalism and all sort of vices in Nigeria. Countries
like Norway, UAE, and Saudi Arabia are few of those who have benefitted immensely from God’s gift
(crude oil) to mankind. How come we chose the path of Rwanda and Liberia, who turned a blessing
to their curse?
With trillions of dollars realized by the Nigerian government from the first day oil was discovered,
what good thing can Nigeria boast of? The Lagos-Ibadan express way is arguably the busiest road in
the whole of Africa and one of the busiest in the world, yet it qualifies to be one of the worst roads in
the world. Does it even qualify to be called a highway or an express road? It is nauseating to think
Africa’s busiest road is a pot-hole-infested 4-Lane road (2-lane on each side, which narrows out to 1-
lane where some trailers have chosen to park and the government dares not challenge them). What
is even more disgusting is the fact that Nigeria (only Ondo state as a matter of fact) has the second
largest deposit of bitumen in the world and it is the purest in the world, yet Nigerian roads are death
traps.

The Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, was built pre-independence, pre-oil era, yet it is still
Nigeria’s biggest and most beautiful campus. What are we using the so called oil wealth for? No
Nigerian university is rated top 500 in the world, yet we claim to be giants of Africa. Universities
worldwide carry out ground breaking researches; when last did we hear the report of ANY research
done by a professor in a Nigerian university? How do we even become professors? By copying and
pasting other people’s works? Where and how much is government grant to universities for
researches? Where are the labs and research institutes? I shake my head!

Government officials travel abroad for medical attention. That tells us that there is no hospital in
Nigeria fit to take care of human beings, let alone save lives. Where is the oil money going to?

We cannot boast of having the tallest building in the world, the largest aquarium in the world, the
biggest airport, the longest bridge, the best rail system, the best hospital or school, the best urban
water system, the best sewage and drainage system, the biggest farm, the best electricity system, the
best security or intelligence network, the best army, the biggest refinery… the list is endless. Not
even any mega structure that can be associated with Nigeria for national pride. Where is our own
Eiffel tower, where is our Statue of Liberty, where is our Taj Mahal, where is our Sydney habour
bridge (3rd mainland bridge, eh? LOL!)?

Chief Sunday Inengite an indigene of Oloibiri in Bayelsa state remembers the day oil was struck in
the community marking the first time in Nigeria. "They made us happy and clap like fools, dance as if
we were trained monkeys," he says. Years later, the now 74-year-old looks back on his youthful
enthusiasm with sour regret. Nigeria has become one of the world’s biggest oil producers, but the
people of Oloibiri complain they have not seen much of the money made in the 52 years of oil
production. "It smacks of wickedness, hard-heartedness," he says.

I say that is the result of lack of vision/planning!

Our problem was/is PLANNING. We have NEVER at any time had a concrete road map towards nation
building. By that I do not mean any of the jamborees we have done in the past that have been
branded economic committees or technical working committee on national planning and
development. All such committees only seat for as long as the administration they are serving lasts,
without any whitepaper (or green or blue or any color at that), master plan or realistic and
achievable set goals for our nation.

The kingdom of Nigeria is like a man who doesn’t know and increase his income, neither does he
know the number of children he has. He keeps impregnating his wife and virtually every 9 months
there is an addition to his family. His income will most likely dwindle as his responsibility keeps
increasing. The lack of family planning will eventually create poverty in his family; his children will
be sent out of school and will become street urchins, his girls will most probably take to prostitution,
his wife will abandon him for their landlord and on goes the catastrophe.

Until he puts a stop to his ‘madness’ and starts making serious plans to alleviate is poverty, his
situation and that of his family will only get worse.

If you ask any member of the Federal Executive Council what the ‘real’ population of Nigeria is, how
many federal government owned hospitals there are, how many government owned secondary
schools there are, the population of school-age Nigerians etc. the answer without doubt will be:
‘Hmm… I’d have to check’, or at best you’d probably get some fictitious figures just for them to get
rid of you.

Do you realize that the question we have asked is of what is already on ground, not what will be?
Then I can imagine us taking the challenge to our ‘leaders’ to tell us how many new cities will spring
up in the next 20 years, how many hospitals we will have in the next 50 years, how many megawatts
of electricity will be the generated by the year 2075, what will be the country’s GDP by the same year.
What a shame it is to know we are a nation without NATIONAL STRATEGIC PLAN!

There is indeed no successful corporation today without a vision statement backed up by clearly
articulated strategies. This is what guides you, it is what keeps you going, and it is what the people
run with and hold on to for HOPE.

To buttress my point, Nokia have their vision as: "Connecting people"! It is now connecting people to
what that matters - whatever that means for each person - giving them the power to make the most of
every moment, everywhere, any time. Connecting the "we" is more powerful than just the individual.
That's how Nokia is needed to help make the world a better place for everyone.

There is what we have all come to know today as the American dream; what is the Nigerian dream?
What do we promise ourselves? What do we hope to achieve in the short, medium and long terms?
This is our collective destiny; we ALL deserve to know!

For clarity, I am not talking just about ‘The Sovereign National Conference’ though I strongly support
it but what I am clamoring for in this paper is STRATEGIC NATIONAL PLAN, ECONOMIC PLAN,
INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN, URBAN AND REGIONAL PLAN etc.

The Lagos-Badagry express way is being reconstructed from a 4-Lane road to a 10-Lane road with 2
additional rail tracks. Did I hear you say bravo? Yes bravo! Bravo indeed! Before we ‘bravo’ all we
want, can we ask some fundamental questions here please? How many buildings had to be
demolished for this great feat to be achieved? How many families and businesses were displaced?
How much was wasted in the demolition exercise.

Without taking anything away from the brilliant idea to make that road a 10-lane road, I insist there
would have been no need to demolish and waste such huge resources had proper plan been put in
place by the government that constructed the road initially. They built for 1980 not 2010. In 1980,
there were few settlements along that road, so a 4-lane road was very adequate for what was needed
then. But with proper planning and vision, someone would have realized that the population of the
area will grow from 200 thousand to 2million in 30 years, and the road will need to be expanded.
In simple terms, even if the government did not have the means to build a 10-lane road then, why not
build your 4-Lane road then put measures in place to have enough building setback, disapprove
construction on the proposed expansion site and successive governments can add 2 extra lanes to
the existing one. As such, there would be no waste of resources on demolishing and clearing of
buildings.

When I said we should be reluctant to shout bravo, even for the laudable move to expand the road to
10 lanes, my reasons are these;

1. If the population of the area is around 2million now, what will it be in 50years time?
2. When expansion is needed in 30 years time, how many more houses will have to go?
3. Should there be no room for future expansion, where will the alternate road be constructed?
No plans for that as well? Hmmm!
4. If or when Nigeria develops to the point where there will be gas pipe into every home, where
will the pipeline be? What of water pipe, electric cables, sewer pipes etc?
5. When and where will Nigeria have its subway rail line in the already existing cities?

There are many questions begging for answers.

Ever before owning an apartment of my own, I already planned what I wanted my apartment to look
like. Though I didn’t have the means to rent, buy or furnish an apartment, I had a dream/vision in my
head of how I wanted my apartment to look like, so when the means to do it came, I did not waste
time in realizing what I had set out to do. And making such plans as an individual is not peculiar to
me. So what is wrong with us as a nation?

We can only succeed with well laid plans and strategies that will be clear to and understood by all
Nigerians home and abroad. With such vision and strategy, every Nigerian knows what we had, what
we have and ultimately what we will have.

If we start now, there will be an 80yr old man who will be contented knowing that, come 2032, his
remote village somewhere in Kogi state will be on the world map because in the national plan, we
have planned to build the world’s biggest fishery in his village which will draw so much development
to the village, turn it into a city with all social amenities and bring economic emancipation to the
people. Even if the old man doesn’t live to see it, his soul will indeed ‘rest in peace’ knowing his
children and generations after him will not live in such inhumane state he did.

The United Arab Emirates is a classical example of a nation that thrives on good national plan. The
UAE consists of 7 emirates which were independent but decided to forge unification. Abu Dhabi is
the richest in oil (the major source of national revenue) but reports have it that he oil in Abu Dhabi
will dry out in 150years while that of Dubai in about 10 years. In 1993, while Nigeria was busy
annulling its ‘freest and fairest’ election, the UAE were busy planning and building for the future
without oil.

They planned to build cities that will attract the attention of the entire world. That they achieved and
have not relented on their mettle. The success they achieved was as a result of strategic and
realizable plans. When oil dries out, the Emirates have created for themselves a source of wealth that
will never dry out. While building a beautiful country, they were creating jobs, generating revenue,
building lasting legacies, building national pride and importantly this was done in record time.

That is the result of planning; you achieve your goal better, cheaper and faster.

Lack of planning encourages corruption, greed, blind leadership and followership and ultimately
encourages mediocrity. It is lack of vision that makes a state government give out taxi-cabs to degree
holders to operate in a state that is agriculturally viable. Annoyingly, the same people whose rights
are being trampled are the first to jump to the support of the underperforming governor. In the same
vein, Nigerians were quick to celebrate the administration that gave out licenses to private mobile
network operators in 2001, when Japan was already using mobile phones in 1979 and Bahrain in
1981. The same Nigerians have forgotten to ask the government what happened to the government
owned telecoms firm. Mind you, in as much as there are other mobile network operators in the UAE,
the state owned Etisalat is a big international player.

Lack of vision indeed celebrates mediocrity and breeds underdevelopment.

The challenge is on us now to start planning the Nigeria of our dreams. Even IF the money is not
available to build now, let us make the plans in every sector; education, transportation, health,
security et al. We can achieve the Nigeria we want ONLY if we DREAM of it and turn our dream into a
workable PROJECT!

This is a good place to say; Yes, We Can! Why? Because, we can!

Let us dare to dream!

God has Blessed Nigeria!

Iregbogbo Balogun

Iregbogbo@hotmail.com