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From Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
Chris Eluemunor is a former chairman of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Anambra State and served as Chief Press Secretary to Governor Jim Nwobodo in the old Anambra state during Nigeria’s second republic. He lamented Nigeria’s decline after 65 years of independence and advocated for regional government as the way forward.
Nigeria is 65 this year after independence in 1960. What is your assessment of the country so far?
I’m 76 this year so I’m 11 years older than Nigeria but I feel ashamed that the country is still crawling at 65. I have seen the best and also the worst part of Nigeria. When Queen Elizabeth came here, I was already out of primary school and it is very unfortunate that this is where we are. What can we say about Nigeria at 65? A man at 65 has seen it all in life and has retired waiting for time. Nigeria as a toddler is not sitting down yet not to talk of running and it is a very shameful and pathetic situation. We are taking two steps forward and twenty steps backwards. Nigeria is at its worst end now but I believe that God will bring us a redeemer who will rescue the country. The question we should ask ourselves is what is wrong with us, what is the problem? When Peter Obi came to vie for the governorship of Anambra State, he asked one vital question- Are we cursed or are we the cause? And that is the same question I’m asking Nigerians today- Is Nigeria cursed or are we the cause? There is nothing to be proud of this country because things are getting worse every day.
When did things start falling apart?
We had a better Nigeria when we had regional government but things started falling apart as soon as the civil war started and ended when Nigeria became a different country altogether and we have not survived the decline till today. We have to retrace our footsteps and find out where we got it wrong. Nigerians who are leading us are so selfish that they don’t even think about those they are ruling. They think only about themselves. When you begin to think about the EFCC telling you that someone made away with billions, then you ask, where is the money? What are you going to do with such hefty amount? How long are you going to live in this world for you to keep that kind of money or build properties with it? It is a shame. Look out our situation, there is little development where we still talk about bad roads. An average Nigerian cannot go to market with N1000 and buy something to feed but we used to cook a pot of soup with N500 and still have some balance left. Can we compare ourselves with our countries that had independence with us at the same period and see where we are? I don’t want to talk about the problem of this country because we know what it is and how to solve it but we don’t want to address it.
What do you think is the problem of Nigeria and how can it be solved?
After the civil war, there was a careful exclusion of a certain part of this country in the scheme of affairs. That is where the problem started and when they also jettisoned regional government, the problem escalated. Before the war when the Igbo were in leadership of this country, how were we faring and since after the war when the Igbo were excluded from leadership, how are we faring?
You attribute Nigeria’s problem to the disconnection of the Igbo. But have the governors of the southeast states been able to give quality leadership so far and also immune from corruption?
The environment influences one’s character. When you find yourself in an environment where without money you are nobody, you will be forced to accumulate. That is why when someone becomes a governor; the first thing the person does is to build an empire for himself so that he can become independent, rich and wealthy in such a way that when you want to vie for higher position, you don’t have to beg for money to do that. That is the situation. People will be clean but the moment they enter there, the system corrupts them. If you don’t join them, they will defeat you, they will blackmail you. But there are exceptions. Look at Peter Obi, of all the governors who have served no one has beaten the record he left. They probed him and found nothing. He came in as a rich man and left the government the way he was when he came in after performing excellently in office. If you have a strong character to say no from what others are doing, you will succeed but many people lack such strong character and are always influenced by the environment. The problem we have is that no one wants to come out from government and still remain poor. We also have a very corrupt civil service in Nigeria. They are the one who tell the political class to do what their predecessors did by stealing money and helping them to cover their tracks without traces.
Do you think Nigeria can fare better with a regional government?
Yes I stand by that. The politics they introduced into Nigeria after the war in order to marginalize the Igbos is what killed Nigeria. When they began to split everything and carefully excluding the Igbo from sensitive positions, things fell apart. Even when Gowon declared no victor no vanquished and introduced the 3Rs, everything became lip service. My father had huge money in the bank before the war but he was given only 20 pounds when the war ended. The family insurance he had was cancelled and he started everything afresh at his age then. Where are the Igbo today and the rest of other Nigerians? God created the Igbo to develop anywhere he stays. Before the war, the eastern region was one of the fastest developing region in the world but after the war, everything scattered.
If we go back to regional government, you will see what will happen in Nigeria. Tying everybody to the central government is what is pulling us down. Even the states we have now can be grouped to make up a region, give them their fiscal independence though they are still part of Nigeria, they will make their money and make contributions to the center instead of this centralized system where they have to come to the center to take money before they can develop. We must decentralize. The states will be there in the regions and allowed to develop at their own pace. Allow them to exploit the minerals they have and make contributions to the centre. There will be federal police while the states and local governments can also have their own police. When we go back to that system, Nigeria will bloom again.
The people running the show in this country doet believe in prosperity for all. Their system doesn’t allow the ordinary man to be rich. Their system selects few people in the community to be rich and every other person will be under them to feed. There is large scale corruption in Nigeria to the extent that some individuals are richer than government institutions yet we have anti-graft agencies in place.
Some are advocating for death sentence for corruption while others say they prefer life jail. How do you think we can strengthen anti-corruption fight in Nigeria?
Death sentence is globally unacceptable today so I go for life jail. It is better to put the person away for life instead of death sentence. In China, if you steal you are dead and this deters people from committing such crime. Nigeria needs stronger and stiffer measures against corruption no doubt because corruption has eaten deep into the moral fabric of the country. But there are questions in our method here. Why should the president be the one to appoint the EFCC chairman and also the electoral body chairman? These methods of appointments erode public trust and transparency. Such positions should be by public vote and not the appointment by the president. The person appointed to head such establishment should be working for the people and not be answerable to Mr President. Look at a situation where those who allegedly stole public funds are all in government serving and they are being cleared secretly. Where will that lead us to? We copied the presidential system of government from America but we are selective in implementing their system. In USA, the president doesn’t appoint the electoral commission chairman or the head of the anti-graft agency.
What do you think successive governments in Nigeria should do to redeem the country on the path of greatness?
I repeat it again -give back the government to the people by reverting to regional governments. I’m not calling for the dissolution of the states. Let the states be there but they should be part of the regional governments. Whatever minerals in that region be tapped by the region and they make contributions to the centre. This was part of our resolutions at the National Confab which I was a delegate. We came up with more than 600 resolutions during the confab but unfortunately the succeeding government didn’t have the political will to implement the decisions. There is no way we can develop in this country if we are not sincere to ourselves. We need a revolution in this country.
