CELEBRATING OUR HERITAGE NIGERIA AT 50 A Paper Presented at the BUILDING A GREATER NIGERIA Conference at the Glasgow Caledonian University,

, Glasgow by Chimezie Umeh The Moderator; Prof. Kevin Ibeh, Conference Chairman; Mr. Alistair Soyode, Guest Speaker; Hon. Braeyi Ekiye, All Elected Representatives, Other Esteemed Speakers, Greatest Nigerian Students! Greatest Nigerian Students!!

Conference, the choice of my talk today may seem to be either an easy one or a difficult one depending on which side of the coin it is approached. Interestingly it is a subject that has dominated many discussions in the media print, online, television in the past weeks. I actually will make this presentation very simple by asking the simple question and then we can collate immediate answers. How many of us believe we have reasons to celebrate at 50? Can we take two reasons why and why not?

I will however take a safe approach and dwell on a reflection of our journey as a nation from 3 standpoints at 1960 just at the proclamation of our independence, 2010 as we celebrate the 50th anniversary, and 50 years from today in 2060, God willing that I live to see the year. It may seem an unusual approach but let us be the drivers of the vehicle Nigeria, and then we can look into the rear view mirror and see the past while the windscreen brings us to the future. While some of us in short most of us were not there in 1960, most of us will be there in their 70s and 80s in 2060. If we stand together in this hall or at any other gathering then, what will be our story?

Majority today will agree with the popular clich that there is absolutely nothing to celebrate and that the country is a fool at 50. We however have not spoken of what our various contributions have been both to the present and the future of our country Nigeria.

Like in a Sci-Fi movie please join me on this time travel back to October 1, 1960 as Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Belawa is reading the Independence Speech and TBS Lagos. Please observe the joy and the promise of a great future in the faces you see around. Can you see the hope and the look of anticipation for a great nation in each faces you see? Please observe that sense of fulfilment like everyone is saying Yes We Have Arrived! We can be sure how those look will be if they could see our failed educational system and the 79% failure at NECO. What will they say to almost 70% living below poverty line and at less than a dollar per day while we sit on one the richest deposits of natural resources in the world?

Please can we take a few minute to imagine what Sir Tafawa Belawa will be doing instead if he can see where our health system is with majority of our doctors outside that in the country and every politician travelling outside the country even to Algeria and Ghana for their medical checkups? As they lower the Union Jack and raise the Nigerian Flag, take a moment to think of the death traps on our roads, the non-existent rail transport networks? What will that crowd do if they were told that they were told that 50 years on Nigeria is yet to generate steady 6000MW electricity and that generators will become the primary source of power? Sitting at the pedestal will Chief Awolowo, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Sir Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, let us wonder if they had seen into the future and see us today? The very thought will make them turn in their graves.

50 years on, October 2010, our story has been that of despair and failure. Our educational system is so bad countries like Ghana build academic institutions solely on projections from Nigerian students. In the US, the UK, Sweden, Canada, Australia, etc the stories are all the same. Universities are now specifically developing programmes with Nigerian students as target audience.

Businesses are moving away into other West African nations as the cost of power is enough to kill a lot of businesses. How can businesses survive when the annual cost of diesel is more than the salary for three employees! In short, Small Scale businesses are now nonexistent and such the gap between the rich and the poor are overwhelming as there are no middle class. In the Niger Delta region, the rich oil fields have become a field of decay, despair, and toxic dump sites.

Health care is a no-go area that politicians no longer have any to use locally while the ordinary people depends on the outdated and dilapidated services where they are even available or affordable. There is no potable water, sewage systems are all rusted, unmaintained or not available. Malaria, Polio, HIV AIDs, kill hundreds everyday while a select few frolic on funds allocated for such programme.

Our financial markets have been made a death trap to investors. Millions lost their lives and means of livelihood through investments guaranteed by our leaders whom we trusted with our meagre savings. Investments like Transcorp, AP, were used as a political chessboard, and banks were no longer providing those traditional financial services. Unemployment tripled. Our local industries were closed in preference to imported products that even with the crude oil we produce, we had to import petroleum products. Security of lives and property became a mirage. The police force turned into a den of corruption and continually intimidates and harasses innocent citizens on the road. Crime, kidnapping, and all kinds of unmentionable crimes became the order of the day. Conference, we turned into thuggery and engage all kinds of militants for personal security as there was a complete lack of trust on the law enforcement agencies. Our judiciary a toothless bulldog as all political leader is beyond the legal rulings. While the other peer nations including countries like Ghana, made progress, Nigeria declined. Development stagnated as some individuals made away with the countrys wealth. The military men and the politicians alike stole with impunity and to a degree never seen before. The most disheartening aspect of the looting of Nigeria is that almost everyone who stole has gotten away. The Fund for Peace, a non-profit research institution projected that the country is very to the status of a failed state! From a ranking of 177 countries according to 12 social, economic, political and military indicators, Nigeria had moved from the 19th position in 2007 to 15th in 2009 and then a shaming 14th in 2010. We are now in competition with countries like Somalia, Haiti, Sudan, Chad and Afghanistan, among others, for the top 20 bottom economies by 2020. Next year we go to the polls yet again, and just as always the political mainstream is flooded again with the same set of politicians who had sold our political transparency for a Kobo that rigging, massive rigging and election malpractice is the order of the day. Elections had become who can rig the most. Regrettably over the years, our best brains

were literally machine gunned out that it became a playing ground for thugs and never do wells. The list is innumerable. And like the biblical quotation How are the great fallen? The Giant of Africa? Conference, Great Nigerian Students! Our greatest gift is that we still have today 2010 is still with us. Our task therefore will be to totally separate our yesterday from tomorrow and our future different from the past. Today Conference is the history of our tomorrow. Conference, join me again in that time travel to 2060. Hoping that we may not look like specimens from a history book as we sit yet again in October 2060 with our sons and daughters probably making this presentation instead. Can we see the bright and uninterrupted power supply, clean, potable water flowing from our taps, beautiful roads devoid of bumps or potholes, with clean drains and pedestrian walkways? Can we see our young leaders of the future at their young age, wearing clean uniforms, purpose in their heart, a sparkle in their eyes and smiles on their faces as they make their way to the public schools knowing that they have a great class to attend, a resourceful teacher to learn from with a state of art labs and libraries to carry their researches on? Can we see our banks and financial institutions giving the best financial services to individual, aspiring and emerging entrepreneurs, global brand companies all creating employment opportunities for our graduates? Please let us tune the financial market channels and see as the Nigeria Stock Exchange compete with the Dow Jones and FSTE as they trade on the global stock market. Can we see the several Nigeria Delta cities and in short those neglected villages give Abuja a run in infrastructural development. Checking the current market indices, note that agriculture, art, tourism, trade, etc giving crude production a run as contributors to our national GDP. Join me as we enter the PortHarcourt fast train to Kano or the 3rd Mainland tunnel. What of the Kaduna Underground? Lets enter the Nnamdi Azikiwe Shopping Complex in Onitsha and we buy from global brands competing the Marks & Spencers. What about the security agencies? Our best brains in the police force, 24/7 street camera being monitored to maintain security and civil order. Lets take a trip to Aso Rock with zero tolerance for corruption, ghana must go bags used only in the shopping complexes, our leaders pragmatic and charismatic, following the biblical injunction of a leader being a servant. At the national assembly, we have representatives who are responsible and accountable to their people, who organise

surgeries to listen to the complaints of their people. Conference, please observe how these politicians did not have to sell their birthright, nor play lackey to a god-father before being elected. See how the average homes in Obalande, Makoko, Cement, Ipaja etc are stable, with laughter, love, respect, and self confidence. Conference, its time to turn back the switch of our time machine. Its 2010 still! It is no time to address the question At 50 what are we celebrating? Some had said it is a celebration of independence are we truly independent? Are we still shackled in the irons of oppression by neo-colonialism, corruption, avarice, insecurity, abject poverty? Is it a celebration of the dividends of democracy? Not of course! If it is why did we have to spend the over N20bn (almost $120m) in the celebrations when there was a massive outcry from the electorate that government should used the funds meaningfully to develop social infrastructure. What of the political chess mastery? Is it the elections of 2007? When had the representatives actually listened to the people they supposedly represent? Definitely not a celebration of the dividends of good governance as it is obvious that collective results had not judged our leaders right. We therefore cannot celebrate this abysmal failure of todays realities with the aspirations of our founding father 50 years ago. Some had argued that we should celebrate our survival as a nation. Yes while it may be worth celebrating it means nothing if it is not reflective with the citizens. While I never supported a divided Nigeria, former USSR had created better economies after its disintegration. What matters really are the citizens! You and me! Are we celebrating the leadership we have lost among the nations of the world and Africa in particular? NO! Not of course. But Conference, we have a cause to celebrate. We celebrate the heroes of our independence those whom years before independence had fought for and defended a sovereign Nigeria. We celebrate great men like Oba Akintoye, King Jaja of Opobo, Herbert Macaulay, H. O. Davies, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Ahmadu Bello, Obafemi Awolowo, Ernest okoli, Alvan Ikoku, Enahoro, Osita Agwuna, Samuel Akintola, and a whole lot of others including unions who fought through conflicts, agitations, organisations, protests, petitions and negotiations, fought and won us the right to self government that we take for granted today. May we never forget that many were

killed, exiled or jailed in the cause of that great struggle to end the long years of captivity in our own land. Conference, we celebrate the founding fathers who wasted no time in pursuing their vision, establishing schools and industries and sponsoring liberation movements all over the world. Although, these visions have suffered set back over the years, the great legacies of their foot prints still endures. Legacies that tell the story of a nation that remain a great beacon of hope for the black man all over the world, from the deserts of Sahara to the waters of the Caribbean. We celebrate the effort of a nation that had been at the forefront in the eradication of the colonialism and apartheid, and terrorism which worries our generation presently. We celebrate our men and women that have paid greatly in blood and treasure to end bloodbath in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Congo and Sudan. Indeed in the past fifty years, Nigeria has emerged as sole guarantor of stability in the West African sub region. Most importantly Conference, we celebrate the people of this great nation. Many who have excelled in every field. From science to art, from music to the movie industry, in business and in research. We celebrate our Chinua Achebe, Adichie, Emeagwali, Anyaoku, Soyinka, PSquare, Asa, Nneka, Kanu Nwankwo, Onyali, Chuka Umunna, Chinyelu Onwura, the 12 years old Davidson Oseremen who became the youngest Microsoft Certified Professional in Africa, the teen Kimberly Anyadike who broke the US record at 15 years on a 13-days single-engine Cessna cross-country flight, Chidera Ota the 16 years old that led the GCSE roll of honour with 15 As and so many unsung heroes of today who in there very little ways contribute to what makes us proud to be Nigerian. Conference it is a celebration of YOU and ME! Let us not mince words about this; we are the today and the foundation for the future of our country. Let us therefore suspend our todays worries and distractions and savour the great milestone we are a part of. It is very fashionable to to blame IBB, Obasanjo, Abacha and other past & present leaders for the state of the nation and while this criticism is deserved, we must not forget that we are now part of the ownership of and responsibility for Nigerias direction. A lot of us forever complain and have vowed never to return. We are forever critical of what happens and never bother to talk about solutions and how things can improve. Suffering will persist on the African continent and even elsewhere in the world until more people fight for social justice and true freedom. They say the best things in life are free. Social justice and freedom have not yet made the list. They are definitely not free. The oppressed must rise,

fight and take what is theirs. For Nigerians, the days of true independence and liberation are still ahead. Nigerians should stand up and protest. Peaceful protest all over the world in our words and actions is the only way forward. When our politicians visit hospitals in London or anywhere else, let Nigerian's gather and carry placards and protest. Should we know of a Bank where they have stashed our money, please tell others and go to the Bank and protest! Constructive protest in words and actions we must continue until our leaders become responsible and accountable. Great Nigerian Students let us join political groups here and across the world. Our nation calls upon this generation to rise and transform our pothole riddled roads into the safest highways in the world, transform our schools without teachers, classrooms without tables and chairs into centres of academic excellence. It is a clarion call to duty! My brothers and sisters let us celebrate this opportunity given to us to rebuild and restore the nation from the brink of destruction. Let us begin to celebrate in advance, the next 50 years of Nigerias glory. A glory that will be written to our names - to the names of Prof. Ibeh, Hon. Ekiye, Rex Idaminabo, Sussan Igwenagu and all of us here. Let the next 50 years of our nations history not take us by surprise. We will be the heroes past in 50 years! What will be said about us? The time has come for us to position ourselves as custodians of this great legacy to step up and deliver the future. It is time to arise with a sense of duty that takes more than mere success or the acquisition of wealth; to go beyond cheap talk and side commentary and begin to act with a sense of collective purpose to transform our nation. Conference, real change will not happen overnight, but the process is one we must begin earnestly as the time comes for us to once again choose our leaders at all levels. We must not fall victim to the clich of our votes wont count because that is as false as it gets. We must spread the message of RSVP (Register, Select, Vote, Protect) and turn out massively at the polls to demand a firm break with the past in our choice of leaders, as those who have brought us to this point clearly have nothing to offer. We must stand together and encourage each other, because the journey has just started. Some of us will be in elected office, some will end up in government as technocrats, others will do neither, but we must keep each other honest at all times because together we will sink or swim and history will judge our actions when were gone, just like those who come after us will judge us when were alive. Complete change is possible in our lifetimes. China

went from a peasant economy to a global powerhouse in 30 years. The countries of the Arabian Gulf went from desert to emerging economies in the same length of time. We have no excuses. Clearly there is work to be done but great is the future of Nigeria. Loads of work! We have to continue in this fight collectively and as I remember our usual slogan during my year as the student union president at the great University of Nigeria, Nsukka an institution also celebrating its 50th anniversary; Aluta Continua Victoria Acerta! We must deliver the future. Happy 50th Anniversary. God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Chimezie Umeh 8th October 2010

Mr. Chimezie Umeh is a graduate of Electronics Engineering from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He also holds a Masters degree in Operational Research with emphasis in Business Intelligence and Information Analysis from the Strathclyde Business School. Prior to start-up of Baseline Projects where he is the Principal Partner, he worked with the NHS24, Sumerian, NHS-ISD, Alliance Consulting, FSB International Bank (now part of the Fidelity Bank Group) and Linkserve. He also currently leads the Projects and Programs Unit of Accentric Environmental Solutions as a Senior Analyst. Mr. Chimezie Umehs interests are in the areas of applying new technologies as a means of developing sound research methods for advocacy of public policy, sustainability, and good governance through courses of action, regulatory measures, and priority concerns by governmental and non-governmental representatives and the professional communities. He is currently the Black and Ethnic Minority Officer for Glasgow North East CLP of the Labour Party; Interim Chair, African & Caribbean Network; Chairman, Scottish Pan-African Initiative; and member of several related organisations including The Fabian Society, Glasgow Anti-Racist Alliance, Black Leadership Network, Ethnic Minority Civic Congress, Central Association of Nigerians in the United Kingdom (CANUK), Nigerians in Diaspora Organization Europe(NIDOE) UK Chapter, The Igbo Union Welfare Association Glasgow etc.