I must confess that I have never had the luxury of attending any of the annual lectures of the Media Trust Group fully, or for a considerable length of time, until the 20th. For the few I attended, I only made fleeting appearances and disappeared to look for daily bread. But this time I created the time. It was a very interesting session for those who have cultivated the fine habit of attending seminars and large conferences where they are likely to make many important friends and network with the high and mighty. I must commend and congratulate the organisers of the event, especially the Chairman of Media Trust Group, Mallam Kabiru Yusuf, for having carried his vision so far and built up the conglomerate that is Media Trust Group today. I was given the opportunity to be a regular columnist in 2006 while I was in the middle of a masters’ programme in London.
I’m not sure I have missed more than a week or two of publications with my writeups. And so, at 52 columns each week for 17 years, I must have sent in about 884 articles to this distinguished platform. Then one day someone called to inform me that they wanted me to be one of the “celebrity presenters” on Trust TV, the television wing of the expanding portfolio of high performers. I wasn’t aware that I am a celebrity. True to my wiring though, I said “yes” to the challenge and must have recorded close to 50 episodes on TrustTV till date. I am almost beginning to enjoy it. I know that everything is a process, and some of the aficionados we see and admire today started somewhere.
My gratitude to the platform is much, but if I had been lucky to have had the mic at Q&A time on January 26, I certainly would not have said any of the above. The atmosphere had become intellectually charged by that time, and unfortunately for lesser mortals like me, by the time the mic went round to all the big men, the ex-this ex-that movers and shakers of society, it was late. My phone was ringing off the hook by then. And though I waited, the dicey-ness of it all dawned on me. I left.
However, I had something I believe is very important to say which I believe must still be said, in the hope that it reaches the intended audience, that audience being the impressionable students that were invited to the conference. I noticed though that most of the students came from some of the posh private schools around. Some of the questions and comments that emanated from them were also beginning to mirror the cynicism that pervades society, and that may have formed the crux of discussions on that day. Some of the panelists felt that things had gone South for Nigeria and hope was dim. Whether it is about how Nigerian politics is not working for the majority, how politicians are ruining Nigeria, how the elections may not hold because of agitations in the South East or banditry in the North West, the elders present had a very kaleidoscopic picture of despair to paint in the budding minds of the students. Some of the elders also regaled the students about how whoever becomes president in 2023 is likely to fail like his predecessors, how leading members of political parties are all there to make money, how our political parties lack ideologies, how there are more desperados than democrats in Nigerian politics and how Nigeria is cooked, except it is restructured. The restructuring debate, however, got bogged down by the usual inability of those present to define what restructuring is – whether it is about creation of more states, revenue sharing formula, or what.
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A few of the teenage students who spoke also echoed that despair. I recall a lanky boy asking a question that showed that even at his age he had lost hope or aligned with those who have. Now, students of our expensive private schools usually disconnect from Nigeria quickly. Tai Solarin warned that that was what would happen, even with the students of Kings College (KC) which was the poshest school of their time. And true to his words, most graduates of KC headed outside Nigeria immediately, most never to return. So, with the barrage of bad news and forlorn hopelessness, chances are that 90 per cent of the students who came that day went back even more sullen, afraid of the future, and eager to japa once they could find the opportunity. I wondered for a second what the attitude of public school students will be. I had once tried to invite such students to an event anyway, only to realise that their principals were not encouraged by the authorities that be to allow them out for such events. Perhaps they could have more hope and grit than the aje-butter ones. A research carried out on one of the Government Secondary Schools (GSSs) in Abuja showed that 70 per cent of the students were houseboys and housegirls in posh homes around, whose bosses were gracious enough to allow them get some education.
So, I wanted so badly to tell the students not to give up. I wanted to tell them so badly not to activate the japa attitude; that Nigeria is their best bet; that if they japa as they are likely to do, they will end up hitting glass ceilings and being discriminated against abroad, like many friends I know. I wanted to tell them that the correct response, if a country like ours has problem, is for its citizens to stay and solve the problem. I wanted to inform them that is what the citizens of USA, UK, Singapore and other places we admire do. They do not abandon ship and leave their nations for others to come and fix. I wanted so terribly to advise those youths to delve into history, because history holds the clue for us. And that if they do, they will find that all, I mean ALL, the countries we admire today did worse things that we condemn ourselves for today. UK’s greatness was established on the loot of pirates and buccaneers who got Royal Charters to go to sea and steal so that their haul will be shared with the Crown. When they were sated stealing on the high seas, they went into slavery and then colonisation. Same goes for France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and the rest. Anyone going to enjoy the ambience of their countries today is actually enjoying part of the pains, sweat, tears and blood of the people their ancestors oppressed and brutalised. The US on its part was established on so much savagery to the indigenous Indians, brutal slavery, plus incredible levels of political corruption as it built its democracy. What was more? That country took delight in toppling governments and causing much mayhem around the world. But her people still love her, just as we should love Nigeria. I wanted to inform them that we could achieve an elite consensus that will involve their parents, and that the consensus will agree on how we should proceed by empowering our millions of poor and disenfranchised folks.
I wanted to take a moment to inform those youths never to give up. I hope someone shows them this article. I feel I failed in not saying these words that day. Perhaps I must get into political office someday so that I could be easily recognised as an ex-this and ex-that.