The Contributions of Individuals to Nation Building

admin · The Contributions of Individuals to Nation Building

The Contributions of Individuals to Nation Building

Akin Kekere Ekun
March 2003

0n the May 27, 1999, our nation re-embarked upon its course of nation building, which was interrupted' for a decade and a half. During this period of interruption, which I shall call the Interregnum, a great number of things, sometimes good, sometimes bad happened. I do not think they bear repetition here. What is important for our purpose this evening is that we acknowledge that the interregnum has ended and we have, once again, re-embarked upon our journey. Or have we?

It seems to me, to get a clearer picture of how this journey will unfold, that we must first understand who the principal actors are in this journey, what their respective roles are meant to be and how they interconnect and inter-relate with one another. I will start with the three most important constituent parts of our polity. The state, the government and the individual citizen.

First, the Nigerian State. This is the embodiment of everything that constitutes the nation we call Nigeria today. I do not think I need to dwell upon the various circumstances that brought about what is now known as the Nigerian state. Suffice to say that the state exists in fact and in law. Of course, many have questioned this fact and the corresponding laws, positing instead that we should revisit and re-examine the underlying basis of the existence of this state.

I can assure you that I am not one of those. Rather, it is my considered opinion 'that, after having fought a bloody civil war to maintain the existence of this state and after enduring decades of mutual interdependence, intermarriage and interrelations, it is a bit late in the day now to wonder if there ought to be a state. Instead, we ought rather to strive to continue to build and grow this state into what we really want it to be. By so doing, our individual and collective success will be measured not by what we think our nation ought to be, but rather, what our nation actually is.

As presently structured, the Nigerian state is built around one strong central government with not so strong regional units. This is not withstanding there are provisions of our constitution that clearly spells out the powers and authority of all of the constituent governments in the polity. But that is another matter for another paper.

Then there is the government - the second arm of the polity. By definition, the government is the body of authority that represents, stands for and is constituted in the state. It is the physical as well as the legal manifestation of the State. Oftentimes, the State is confused or used interchangeably to mean the government and the government the state. Yet, they are separate and distinct from each other. For starters, there' must be a government, in one form or the other, for a state to exist in the true sense of the word. The form of government is not what is important here, just that it exists. No matter how sophisticated or civilized we think we are, if there is no government, there cannot be a state. And if there is no state, what then can we say is the basis of our existence.

Our nation state exists on the basis of universally accepted norms and principles of democratic governance. Accordingly, the legitimacy or otherwise of any such government must conform, first and foremost, to those norms and principles. What are these principles? Our constitution provides that there shall be various tiers of government to direct the affairs of the state. It is this principle that confers legitimacy upon any government. But where, you may ask, lies the ultimate authority?

This brings us to the third major constituent part of the polity the individual. It is the collection of individuals that constitutes a state, that gives existence and confers legitimacy upon that state and its government. Just as there can be no state without a government, so also is it that there can be no government or state without its collective of individuals.

Now you all may ask: which is the most important - the state, the government or the individual. My experience has been that majority of people in this country believe that it is the, government. For starters, the government is so huge and omnipresent that it affects everybody in many ways every given day. The tendency, therefore, has been for us the people to think government is the most important part of the polity.

Also, the Nigerian economy is currently structured around only one major revenue yielding product with other items contributing smaller amounts into the kitty and it is the central government that is generally in charge of this. As a result, it has been the practice that everybody - governments, government agencies, companies and individuals alike - has looked to that central structure not only for well-being and opportunity, but also, it has become the one unit by which each constituent part has defined its own membership of the larger whole.

For me, however, the answer is very simple. A democratic system of government, such as the one we run, purports to put the individual first. As it is defined, the government is for the people and by the people.

It means, therefore, that "the people" are the focal point in the structure.
To illustrate, our constitution commences with the words "we the people". It is this collection of people (who as we already know have come together to form, the state) that have codified their system of existence in the body of laws called the constitution. Again, the same constitution expressly states that no person or group of persons shall take over the government (i.e. establish sovereignty over the people) except in accordance with the provisions of the said constitution. Or to put it another way, it is only "we the people" that can determine who shall govern us.

My conclusions, therefore, are as follows: that the nation state exists as a result of, and because of its people, not in spite of it. That a government is only that in so far as it conforms with the wishes and aspirations of the governed. If the situation were otherwise, it cannot be a government strictly so called. That it is the individual, as constituted in the totality of the people of the State that is the most important part of the State. What, then, is the role of this individual in the state?

It is a given fact that every man in his innate nature desires the best for himself in life. His very existence is based upon his quest for a better tomorrow. If this were not so, no one amongst us here gathered will do one day of work. Moreover, in his quest for individual improvement, the individual man has determined that, try as he might to better his circumstance, he cannot do it alone. Thus, man since the very existence of time, has determined that it is better for him to combine his efforts with others to achieve the betterment he so desires. That is how states were born.

Again, man, ever thinking, realized that there were many things that he could not only not do by himself, he could also not do them at all, even in combination with others. That is how governments were born. Thus man devised a means whereby he, in concert with others, would thrust the majority of his affairs in the hands of a group of people (the government) who would direct his affairs for him and do things that he himself could not do. He then sought to establish rules and regulations for this government. This done, he now laid back and did nothing.

Every where you turn, you will find rules and regulations for what a government can do or not do. Naturally, the most important of these rules is that government must take steps to better the lives of its citizens.

Let us, for instance, consider the peculiar case of Nigeria and examine some of the things government has been required by its citizens to do. Government is required to wave its magic wand and solve the lingering economic crisis that has hovered over us for well over a decade now. It must solve the crisis of low capacity utilization in the manufacturing sector. It must also sort out the mess that our agricultural industry has now become. Concurrently, it must provide jobs for all its citizens. In the midst of all of these, it must conjure up other products for us to export to relieve our dependency on only one source of export earnings. And that is just the economy.

Government must also solve all the ethnic crises now brewing in many parts of the country and threatening the very fabric by which we have woven this nation together. Then, it must also relieve the burden that armed robbery and banditry have become to its citizens. It must renew the professionalism of the armed forces, the police and the other paramilitary agencies, It must make our highways and airports safer. And somehow, in the midst of all of these, it must find a way for us to win the 2002 world cup in Japan and South Korea. The list is endless.

It is easy, as we have often done, to look to government as the source of the solutions to all of our problems. Sometimes, this may be so. A major reason for this is the style of government we adopted in the recent past, which was essentially a unitary system of state administration. It is easy also, as it has been in the past, to actually look to government as the source of these problems.

Sometimes, this may also be so. Yet, I dare say, surely, there must be much more that the individual can do to help to better the state without waiting for government. Surely there must be much more that you and I can do to help make Nigeria a better place to live in especially now, the dawn of a new millennium'.

Why do we have to wait for government to always lead the way? Suppose government fails, neglects or omits to act? Shall we leave our country to go to the dogs? Even if government does its fair share, are we, as citizens of this great country, going to say that there is nothing that we can do to make this country even greater.

It has often been thought - and if I ask many of you here, I am sure that I will receive the same response - that nation building can only be a collective effort. That it is something that we must all come together to do. That it is not something that one man can do alone. That one man trying is like whistling against the wind. That one man cannot do it. That one man is not enough. That "I" cannot do it alone. That because one man cannot do it, then he should not seek to contribute anything to the system. But is this truly so?

Consider this. Am I a Nigerian because there is a country called Nigeria? Or is there a Nigeria because there are people like you and me? Most of you are lawyers so I will leave you to ponder the jurisprudential connotations of this proposition. I, however, am like the proverbial unlearned man. I play it by ear only. Empirical evidence and day to day existentialism rule my life. These experiences tell me that I am, not because there is a country, but that the country exists because of me and people like me. It means, therefore, that the country is what I make of it. To put it another way: the type of country we have is the type of country we help build.

If you conduct a poll of all of the people here and ask: Which one of you is a law breaker or which one of you considers himself to be faking actions directly inimical to the interests of our nation, I am sure you will not find one person raising his or her hand.

Instead what you will find - and this applies to the entire nation as a whole - is that every person here and every person you talk to or come across will leave you in no doubt that they are indeed the most law abiding of citizens around. You will find a whole nation of people where virtue is king: a whole nation where each individual believes that he is indeed the instrument by which all works of virtue will be wrought. You will find a nation where the churches are filled to the brim every night and day and prayers emanate therefrom every minute. You will find a nation where the sizes of the mosques have become inadequate because they are not big enough to hold all the people filing into them five times a day to say their daily prayers. You will find a nation where the mighty and the rich are constantly being honoured and feted for their services to humanity.

And yet, you will find a nation abundant in misery, poverty, deprivation and internecine warfare. You will find a nation where brother is pitted against brother sometimes for food, other times because he happens to come from a tribe other than his own, and at other times still, for no fathomable reason. You will find a nation where greed and avarice have become noble arts and where stealing, corruption and destruction have been elevated to acceptable forms of behaviour.

Why, is there so much misery in our country? Is it because of the government? Why is there so much poverty and unhappiness pervading the entirety of the landscape? Why is there so much crime with many having to resort to depriving others of what is rightfully theirs in order that they may feed? Why is there so much corruption that our President has deemed it necessary to place before the National Assembly a bill designed specifically to tackle this hydra-headed problem? - Why are we so miserable and wretched as a nation? The answers lie within us all.

Is it that we have done all that we can do as individuals to better the lot of our nation and we can do no more? Is it that we have expended all our energy on nation building that has not yielded the desired result and we feel that there is no more we can do? Or is it that we have not done our own bit as individual members of this great nation and we ought to do more?

Let us consider some interesting aspects of the Nigerian nation. It is the one country in the world where the rich and successful businessman builds a N50 million mansion and yet drives along a pothole filled road to reach that mansion. The reason: because government is supposed to tar the roads.

It is the one country that the international business or holiday traveller returns to after a successful trip abroad and immediately begins to engage in acts that directly contravene the laws of his country. Yet, he did not disobey or contravene a single law in the country from which he just came. The reason: because law enforcement is relaxed in Nigeria.

It is the country where you and I make most or all of our income from yet we store this income in banks in London, New York and Geneva. The reason: because we don't trust the Nigerian banking system and we feel that the polity is not stable.

It is the country where, in our very presence, our neighbour flagrantly abuses the law of the land in every aspect and yet, we turn a blind eye. The reason: because it is not our job to enforce compliance with the laws of the land.

It is the country where we consciously aid and abet our children spouses, friends and associates in evading taxes, duties and levies or from adhering strictly to laid down fiscal rules and regulations that could improve revenue accruing to the state. The reason: the state does not do anything for me, why should I help contribute to the revenues of the state.

And, sadly, it is the country where brothers are turning against their brothers and unleashing unimaginable sorts of violence and bloodshed all in the name of ethnic empowerment. The reason: because he is not from my tribe and, in any case, I am superior to him.

But are all these reasons truly valid? Has our case become such that redemption is now beyond us? Has our country descended to such levels of madness that each man must now become an island unto himself? Is that really the case?

Our country has become one where the rule of law has been observed more in its breach than in its observance. Our country has become a land of anything goes because we refuse or neglect to do our duties as citizens and we even hamper those who might wish to do their own small bit. We have reduced ourselves to thinking in the singular -"I", "Me", "Us" whereas we are a country of over 100 million people divided into over 300 ethnic tribes.

We have failed to do anything to make things better because we believe it is the government's job to right things when they go wrong, to cure where they ail and to rebuild where they are destroyed.
But what, fellow countrymen, have we as individuals done to make our country better? What do we, even among those of us here gathered, consider to be our individual contributions to the betterment of the Nigerian nation? Once again, the answers lie within each one of us.

Our country today is such that no man or woman amongst us, including those of us gathered here today, can really beat his chest and say out loud that he has done his best for his country. That he is a hero to himself because he has done and he can do no more. Or, who amongst us can say that his contributions to this nation have outweighed the benefits he has derived from it.

Yet, amongst us and amongst the generality of the multitude that make up this nation, there are thousands, nay, millions who want to do more. Do you know why those people choose to do nothing? Because they are cowed into thinking that one man cannot make a difference. They believe that no matter what they do, their contributions will be lost in the crowd. They believe that whatever they do, Nigeria will not change for the better. So what do people like this do? They do nothing. Therein lies the dilemma of our country today.

So what can you do? If I knew the precise answer to this question, Nigeria would be the greatest nation on earth today. It would be a land where people flock to for opportunity and a better life. But I do not know the precise answer. What I know, however, I shall share with you.

Firstly, you can start by holding virtuous all that is Nigerian. we must first accept and believe that this country is worth living in. If we are able to do this, then we are clear on where we want to go. Then we must strive to make this country livable and help it to remain so. Finally, we must be and remain vigilant, ever conscious of the dangers that laxity can pose. Thus, we must always be steady to stand up to struggle for that which we know will only make our country better.

How do we do all of these? Firstly, we must each realize that even though one man we may be, one man can truly make a difference. That tiny effort that you put into making things better today will show up on some screen somewhere and the country will be better for it.

We must understand that government is made of men and women like you and I. People of flesh and blood. They make mistakes. They sometimes do what they are not supposed to and, at other times, omit to do those things they ought to. But being constituted by human beings, this is understandable. We must, therefore, each and everyone of us, constitute ourselves into agents of government.

We must do those things that we know we can do to make our country a better place. We must stop waiting on government to put things right. There is so much more we can do by ourselves and for ourselves. We do not need the government to tell us to pay our taxes. We know we ought to do this. We do not need government to clear the drains or gutters in our surroundings. We can very well get this done by ourselves.

We do not need government to contribute to projects in our community that will uplift these communities and make life better for the citizenry of that community. You see, one man can make a difference. You only need to think that you can. You see, ultimately, government is our agent. We are the principals. It is that which we as a collective of individuals strive for that government will seek to achieve.

We must understand that it is only by efforts of people like you and I that Nigeria can become great again. Resolve to do your own bit. Believe in your self and in your abilities. Believe that you can make a difference and act now to make that difference.

admin

One persons comment re: the present disposition of Nigeria.

As has been said in earlier posts, we need to start educating every Nigerian not to vote for anyone who has contributed in any way to the present predicament. That is probably a good way to start. It is most disheartening to see that all the politicians in govt at the moment are the same people who have been in Government in the past and have brought the nation to the present position. These people are more interested in millions of naira for housing and toilet roll allowances, than service to the people. We must start voting, not just for those who have money to throw around at election time.

The mentality of Nigerians probably dictates that they get the type of leaders they deserve. (Some) Nigerians never take anyone serious unless he/she has plenty of money to throw around; irrespective of where/how they got the money. This explains why politicians always strive to steal as much as they can so that they can respected and hence get elected.

NIGERIA WILL REMAIN THE SAME WAY TILL NIGERIANS CHANGE THEIR MENTALITY... THE TRUTH IS BITTER

1/04