Colonialism was better but SNC now needed—Professor Oyebode

Prof. Akin Oyebode, Professor of International Law and Jurisprudence at the University of Lagos, said there is need for Sovereign National Conference. Going down memory lane, the professor said, “I was in form one when Nigeria got her independence in 1960.

“My school made a big feast: slaughtered cow, gave us jollof rice, a bottle of coke and some momentos for Nigeria including the National flag, coins, memorabilia for Nigeria’s nationhood and as young people we had great dreams that we thought we would have gone into eldorado of its independence. So, it was tremendous optimism and lots of razzmatazz in the country.

“And looking back now, 51 years, our reaction is that Nigeria’s dream has been a deferred dream. We have not fulfilled the dreams of our crusaders for our national liberation. And according to a book written by late Sam Epelle, The Promise of Nigeria, and by all indications, Nigeria has under performed and we are said to have tremendous potential which we are yet to actualise. Paradoxical as it might sound, it seems that life under colonialism was seemingly much better than what it is now.

Because at that time, there was peace. There was no Third Mainland bridge but Carter bridge. Marina didn’t have those parking lots, hustling and bustling. There were fewer vehicles on the road, life was saner. I think the serious crisis that we experienced which brought the military into power in 1966 and for the next 30 years caused us tremendous loss in terms of achievement.

The military brought the hands of the clock back. They might have built more roads and few structures but they arrested Nigeria’s political development. Every time we go back to the drawing board after the restored so called civilian rule, there was no sense of continuity.

If we had kept the old political parties including the Action Group, NCNC, NPC, Nigeria’s development would have taken a different turn in terms of continuity, perspective. Economically speaking, I believe the so-called oil boom that we had after civil war became a burden on our economic development because we had growth without development and we acquired consumer risk taste.

We had the impression of an easy life where we were spending and the implication of that production was de-emphasised in favour of consumption and the situation which Nigeria experienced was characterised by my late friend Claude Ake, which the President in his address quoting Claude Ake when he was a student in UniPort.

Claude Ake used to describe the Nigerian economy as a dis- articulate economy and by that he meant an economy that produces what it doesn’t consume and consumes what it doesn’t produce the gap between production and consumption magnifies what economists call under-development.

By the time one bridges the gap between production and consumption, it will no longer be described as a developing economy. What that means is that the economy has taken a bashing because we continue to export primary commodity especially petroleum without any value added. Even cocoa that we export would have been improved upon thereby producing cocoa butter before exporting.

“Our failure to transform the Nigerian economy means that we have occupied and continue to occupy the periphery of international trade. And the laws of international trade in terms of balance of payment, exchange rate, deficit means that the more we sell, the less we can acquire because we trade in foreign currencies. And the relationship between the currency of trade and our own economy is queued, we have a lop-sided international division of labour and skilled balance of payment international trade terms, so we seem to be in a cogma, which means, the more we struggle, the deeper we sink. We are not making progress, we are increasing under-development because of very backward fiscal and monetary policies.

“We have not learnt to put our emphasis where it should belong in terms of creating a self-reliance economy, in terms of generating a self-propelling. We are servicing economy of foreign countries and acquiring pieces of paper in the name of trade. The relationship between our economy and the foreign one is in-equitable because of the exchange rate. Right now, a dollar fetches about one hundred and sixty naira.

“There was a time when the Nigerian naira fetched one dollar twenty cents, it is terrible.

We have massive unemployment the graduates of our various institutions can’t find jobs and there is a lots of distortion, a situation where doctors working in banks lawyers, engineers selling recharge cards and riding okada. The result is therefore instability in terms of social malle, armed robbery, juvenile delinquency, drug trafficking, human trafficking and de-instrialisation. There was some certain things we were supposed to be producing especially after independence but now many of the companies have relocated or folded up including batteries, textile industry. We are just enduring a situation of living everyday at a time.

“There is no enough investment in terms of savings, as foreign investment has taken a flight due to collapse of its capital market, Nigerian economy hasn’t recovered from the effect of the global meltdown. Looking at this scenario with the economy it become problematic.

Tieing that into political instability, to economy like ours epitiomise the restlessness in the Niger Delta and exacerbated by Boko Haram, the whole recipe is on for chaos and imminent failure of the Nigerian State.

“Nigerian State has not completely failed but definitely Nigeria is a failing State. I believe that is what impelled President Jonathan and his government to adopt a low key celebration. Because there is nothing to celebrate. Are we celebrating mass poverty or continued impoverishment of the generality of the Nigerian populace. It is only a few people that are creaming off the goodies available in this political economy. Those who have access to foreign currency. We don’t have basic needs, education for children, no employment, quality health care, the infrastructure is collapsing, we cannot guarantee twenty-four hours power supply in any part of the country.

“Looking at the totality of the Nigerian State is more bad news. And all we need to do to access to our contemporary Nigeria is to take a look at the faces of the people on the street, bus-stop or market places. People who don’t know when and where their next meal is coming.

My conclusion is that aside from keeping the country as one, we are just wasting our time. Even the survival that we might want to celebrate is put in a question by those argue that the solution is taking to one’s heels. That this system can’t go on that if we don’t want a hot African summer, then, there is need for Sovereign National Conference reviewing the modalities of our cohabitation.

Nigerians must take drastic decision to arrest this inexorable drift to exploitation. It is clear in the minds of social observers that Nigeria is facing implosion. Anyone is genuinely patriotic should know that there is fire on the mountain and we have to do something to arrest the drift to chaos.