The Future of Nigeria

My opinion....by Onuora Amobi

I see good times ahead for Africa's most populous country. Nigeria has had the recipe for civil war at hand for the past 4 decades. We have actually fought a civil war and stood at the brink of several more yet today, we stand united.

There is a reason for this. We as Nigerians are very complicated people. We love/hate each other but we would hate being without each other even more. The different ethnic groups talk about how they would love to be free of the other but they never dare to change the status quo.

Nigeria I believe, is on the edge of several different explosions. We are on the verge of an infrastructure explosion. Based on our debt reduction deal, we now have a lot of resources available to pump back into our economy. Not only into roads, schools, bridges and healthcare but into computers and technology as well. We have the opportunity for a very fresh start and so far, we are slowly taking advantage of it.

I have always believed that the captain of a ship is responsible for everything that happens to that ship on his watch. In the US under Bill Clinton, the country was tremendously prosperous. He gets a lot of the credit for that (rightly of wrongly). Under Bush, terrorists struck and killed more Americans on US soil than ever before. He gets the blame for that.

Under President Obasanjo, we have seen the burden of debt come off. Under his leadership, we have seen our oil reserves swell and we have seen a chance to give our children a better tomorrow. Say what you will about the man but he got the job done. Some would argue that it was the unanticipated rise in oil prices that are responsible for our prosperity. I would respond by saying that his administration has shown an unprecedented level of transparency. The profits from oil actually made it back to our reserve! I didn't see the West trying to do any deals with IBB or Abacha. There was a reason for that.

Obasanjo has raised the standard for any man or woman who would dare aspire to be president. He gets my vote for that. I am concerned however. Concerned that when he is gone, the next person who takes power will be recalcitrant and go back to business as usual.

I submit that we have come to far to fail. We are the exception in Africa. A nation that is full of promise, potential and persistence. We need to be vigilant and watchful. We need to hold our leaders to the standard that Obasanjo has set and never go back. Better for a leader to be killed than once again enslave 100 million plus people.

There is no reason why Nigeria shouldn't be the outsourcing giant of Africa. From basic data entry to basic programming, Nigerian schools are pumping enough grads out to perform thoise basic tasks at competeive global rates. It is though however, a two way street.

The government needs to fix certain things for Nigeria to go forward.

1) Security: Nigeria's number 1 problem. Once this is fixed, the sky is the limit. People can not conduct business when there is an absence of safety. Private industry cannot do this, only the Government can. Bring the army out if we need to, but secure the country.

2) Infrastructure: Uninterrupted electricity is necessary for a basic business to function. Straight forward, we need to fix this. Running water and basic phone service too.

3) Education: The children are the future. More money needs to be pumped into the schools. Email, the internet, and Microsoft office should be learnt by every school age Nigerian before we can feel we have accomplished anything.

4) War Against Indiscipline II: The EFCC have started that but it needs to be more granular and hit the common man at the ground level..

There are more but those of us who are Nigerian will get the idea...

I love my country. I believe in her. I long for the days when she will allow me and others in Diaspora to safely and constructively give her back all she gave us.

We will conquer. I believe it.

God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria

-Onuora Amobi