I missed a whole month without posting here and I don’t have any genuine excuse tho I used my phone with a cracked screen for a couple of weeks last month. I had started writing about ‘the village people’ which I wanted to publish today, then I had a change of mind after watching an old documentary about Nigeria.

I was on Youtube and I decided to check my downloaded videos. I found a 1984 documentary about Nigeria which I had downloaded a couple of months ago titled, Nigeria: A Squandering of Riches. I decided to drop some thoughts after watching the 49-minute documentary before I forgot.

The documentary was presented by Onyeka Onwenu who at the time was working with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA). Filming for the documentary which was released shortly after the 1983 coup, led by Major General Mohammadu Buhari, actually started during President Shehu Shagari’s regime.

First, I have to acknowledge the fantastic job done by Mummy Onyeka.

Now, to my random thoughts.

Thirty-six (36) years after the release of the documentary in question, every issue highlighted in it are still very much relevant if not more relevant than they were decades ago. Every quote in this post, except otherwise stated, is that of Onyeka Onwenu from the documentary.

We should be the richest

“…we are not only the biggest country in Africa, we are or should be one of the richest.” 

Interestingly, Nigerians and even non-Nigerians still say the above statement. This is because of the riches that lie on the shores of the country. One of the top oil-producing nations of the world with little to show for it.

Importing food we should be growing

“…we had a productive farming economy, we have minerals and we discovered a few years ago, we had oil: a lot of oil. Yet today, we are importing food that we should be growing.”

Since the return to democracy in 1999, all the Presidents and Agriculture Ministers that we’ve had have been saying this with little or no change. And Nigeria still spends trillions of Naira annually to import food into the country. Nigerian farmers are facing new challenges which the government doesn’t seem to be concerned about. I won’t even go into the details of how I lost more than 60% of my annual income to farming recently.

Large scale corruption but it’s now XXXL

“…we are a bankrupt nation and we have an international reputation for large scale corruption…”

If the documentary claimed that the corruption back then was a large scale, by that standard, that of the last two decades definitely have to be extra-large with millions and billions of dollars unaccounted for. And the new trend these days is account offices of MDAs in flames as soon as an investigation starts and officials come to their court hearings in crutches or on a wheelchair.

More than 3-decade old change

“…change has to come to our nation, our people wouldn’t continue to accept an inefficient corrupt civilian government of President Shagari. We were right.”

They were right in 1983 after Major General Muhammadu Buhari took over and promised change. And Three and a half decades later, we are still right. We have had promises of change ever since with the most recent being 2015. Coincidentally, Buhari who promised change after the success of the 1983 coup also promised change in 2015 when he became a democratically elected president. Well, you are the judge.

Eko ile

“Lagos is now the most expensive city in the world. It’s also one of the most uncomfortable.”

Some of the reasons attributed to Lagos’ uncomfortable lifestyle back in 1984 included traffic jam, lack of running water, constant power cut and mountains of rubbish in the streets. Unfortunately, all these issues are still very much around. The late Nigerian novelist and professor, Chinua Achebe was interviewed for the documentary and he said “To live in Lagos is to live in the war front. I don’t know how anybody can live day after day in that chaotic situation.”

Well, Lagos is still chaotic and we do jokingly said that living in Lagos should be part of our employment history. Now, you see why I really wish I could just leave this city.

About moral value

“I would agree that the country has gone through a state of moral decadence. It’s not only at the top but also at the button. I believe that the society needs a little bit of purification.” — Chief Chris Ogunbanjo, Lawyer and Industrialist.

Going by Chief Ogunbanjo’s comment in the documentary and the present state of moral decadence, then what we need is not just purification but a total overhaul, maybe.

Leaving the mess for the next generation

“They know that it’s wrong, they can see what’s happening. They know that some people are starving but they want the money for themselves. They are not interested in how we live tomorrow. When they leave, our generation would have to clean up the mess,” – Tina (Mummy Onyeka’s flatmate at the time)

Unfortunately, it’s still a case of ‘take all you can, while you can’ as far as our politicians are concerned. Nothing has changed, and if anything, it’s getting worse. Just as Aunty Tina put it, our generation would clean up the mess but it’s no longer Aunty Tina and Mummy Onyeka’s generation, it’s down to the next one, ours. And unfortunately, those at the realms of affairs in the 1980s are still very much in power.

And the decline in the demand for oil

“With the present (1984) world recession, the demand for oil has fallen. Nigeria’s revenues are now half of what they were four years ago. Our politicians have used this to suggest that our economic ills are beyond our control. This is partly true but a lot of us believe that it is much more due to gross mismanagement of the economy.”

Currently, besides the decline in the demand for oil, the price of oil is also currently on a decline. Just as with the early 1980s, we are still sharing the blame between oil and mismanagement of the economy.

There are lots of other issues raised in the documentary that are more relevant now than in 1984, and I can go on and on. These are things that usually make one ask what really was the Nigerian dream if there was ever any?