Responding to an essay I wrote sometime in 2005 - To Obasanjo and Others like Him, an anonymous writer stated the following “the great thing with our great country is its inherent endowment with great minds. The biggest hurdle is our over endowment with minds that are not sufficiently endowed.” While the said writer was stating a position in support of then President Olusegun Obasanjo, he unintentionally made a case for why I think President Obasanjo is among the league of the little minds that presided over the affairs of Nigeria within the last few decades starting from 1976 – present. With the exception of the Buhari/Indiagbon regime, all the regimes and administrations that have presided over the affairs of Nigeria have been for the most part visionless and directionless.
But the tragedy that is Nigeria and the role of the little minds will be a subject for another essay. At the present, my concern is that of the supposed great minds. Among these group of Nigerians, there are two camps; clearly delineated by their opposing ideology. There are those that have served in government or are still serving; and then, there is the Nigerian intellectual class both at home and in the Diaspora, excelling at colleges, universities, and fortune 500 companies. These opposing ideologues it seems cannot reach a consensus on the rebirth of the Nigerian nation.
As I ruminate over this malady, two examples came to my mind: Moses Ebe Ochonu’s position that former FCT Minister; Nasir El Rufai should apologize to Nigeria and progressive Nigerians in particular over his role in the treachery that was the Obasanjo regime – the precursor to the present nightmare. And Nasir El Rufai’s position that he served his country with merit and his tacit acknowledgement of the error of his judgment by helping the former emperor in foisting Umaru Musa Yar’adua on Nigeria. His present progressive activism he claims is born out of altruistic intentions towards the restoration of Nigeria.
While I share most of Ebe Ochonu’s sentiments and would rather see El-Rufai explicitly offer his mea-culpa, what is more important is the fate of the country – Nigeria - and its 150 million people. While the Nigerian intellectual class are busy quibbling over patriotism and other sundry issues - which in my humble opinion I consider exercises in academic futility - Nigerian little minds are busy running roughshod over the Nigerian people.
What we have today in Nigeria is a country enormously endowed with great minds but that have often ceded the political space to the little minds that are mostly in politics in the pursuit of lucre. In the past, I have questioned Segun Adeniyi’s involvement with the Yar’adua regime – see, Segun Adeniyi: This is not the politics you promised - but I will be willing to hear him out on issues that borders on the reclamation of the Nigerian project. The task before the Nigerian intellectual class and progressive Nigerians in particular is one of combining their opposing ideologies together and finding a compromise where they can mount a serious bid for power. While the Nigerian intellectual class is grounded without a doubt in sound intellectualism and academic creativity, there is scant evidence that they are grounded in the art of strategy. And strategy should come naturally to the Nigerian intellectual class; after all, the cornerstone of most graduate education is strategic thinking cum logical reasoning. Why the disconnect?
An opposing ideologue, Chris Ngwodo has often classified the Nigerian intellectual class as wishful thinkers; Ngwodo in many of his interventions on Nigeria asserted that the Nigerian intellectual class feels a sense of entitlement to Nigerian political power without doing the necessary ground work that will make this a reality. Lately, I have found myself sadly agreeing with Ngwodo.
Some of the ideas that I have often bantered about amongst my ideological friends are these: What would happen to the Nigerian intellectual class if after many persuasion they got involved in politics and the little minds outwitted them in the art of strategy and were voted into office in a free and fair election? Would the Nigerian intellectual class retreat into its shell or will it regroup and re - strategize as it aims to dislodge the little minds from the affairs of Nigeria? What kind of political ideology would Nigerian intellectuals pursue? Would it be a puritan or an inclusive one? These and many questions are necessary if the skills and intelligence of the Nigerian intellectual class are to have any meaning in the reclamation of the Nigerian state.
On this issue, this is where I stand:
I believe that Nigerian intellectuals whether in the academe, business, and government, ought to have a shared understanding of their role in the reclamation of the Nigerian promise. The back and forth quibbling should stop, instead, strategy should replace attacks and networking should replace exclusion. The ground work that is necessary to win Nigeria back from the brink where the little minds have anchored it must begin now. 2011 I predict will be a pivotal year for the Nigeria intellectual class; however, for them to make any impact, they must begin to strategize to get some of their own into the Nigerian state legislatures, the state houses, the national assembly or may be perhaps the presidency. Without a meaningful groundwork, the clamor for a progressive political space may be a mirage.
In the end, the Nigerian intellectual class is still the best hope towards the restoration of Nigeria. It must be acknowledged however that posterity has thrust upon them a difficult task; I sincerely believe that because of their education, training, and skills, they are well equipped for this task. Will the Nigerian intellectual class rise up to the challenge of leadership or will they be submerged in it?
The author can be reached at [email protected]
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