For the second time in exactly two weeks, Norman Borlaug was thrust onto my consciousness. The first time was exactly two weeks ago at the Achebe Colloquium on Africa hosted by Brown University at Providence, Rhode Island, United States during which one of the participants from the U.S. State Department harped on the importance of food security for Nigeria. The second, and in a related subject is the entry by Bill Gates in the Time magazine 2009 Person of the Year special edition.
I first met Norman Borlaug in late 2003 at Des Moines, Iowa at a special event for international students where I shared a dinner table with him. I had not heard of the Nobel Laureate until that night that also starred Dr. Florence Wambugu. I have been thinking of these two brilliant scientists since October when I last visited my native Anambra state because of the emerging menace of food insecurity and increasing poverty that are the products of failure of governance in my home state.
Dr. Wambugu developed a high yielding sweet potato, while Dr. Borlaug, who by the way is generally credited with saving more than a billion lives across the world, developed the disease-resistant wheat varieties that he first introduced to Mexico in the middle of last century, transforming the country from a net-importer of wheat to a net-exporter in less than a generation. He later adapted this disease-resistant varieties of wheat for the Asian clime reason he among many recognitions, held India’s 2nd highest civilian honor until his demise earlier in the year. Both scientists have had immense impact on the lives of people that inhabit densely populated areas of the world, just like Anambra state.
Why have I been preoccupied with this Kenyan and American, and what have they got to do with the Anambra crisis –
Anambra state is fast slipping into chaos. During my visit in October, I observed the increasing desperation on the one hand, and despondency on the other among our people. By our people, I mean the doctors, the lawyers, teachers, artisans, taxi-drivers, people from all facets of the society, not just the mythical common man. About all our people have lost faith in governance, have become increasingly desperate, throwing their values to the dogs in the process. Today, I make bold to say that the face of Anambra state is the police check-points that include sand-bagged machine-gun post, and there are scores of those across the major roads in the state. A state that prides itself as Home for All, is now deserted by her people, feeding a vicious cycle of impoverishment, and desperation, Anambra’s economy, since the creation of Enugu state about 20 years ago, is largely sustained by remittances from her Diaspora population, therefore, any disruption of the state’s lifeline exacerbates the benign food insecurity that has bedeviled the country since the introduction of SAP by the Ibrahim Babangida administration.
It is no easy task calculating the financial cost of the Anambra crisis, a crisis that started with the 1998 PDP gubernatorial primaries in the state, more so in a society that data on economic indicators are not readily available. Anambra, like most Nigerian states, was never lucky with the military governors that ruled her for about the first 10 years of her “existence,” whereas many states have mended in the last 10 years of civilian administration, or in the least, stanched the rate of retrogression that was seen under the military dictatorships, Anambra for some reason has been unable to have a settled civilian governor, creating chaos and suffering for her people.
To bring home the impact of the crisis I will attempt a calculation of the financial cost of the 10 year old crisis:
First, I make bold to state that Anambra indigenes that stayed away from the state this year may be more than a million people. About every Nigerian will agree that Anambra has more than 4 million indigenes, and that more than half of that population live outside of the state. About every Anambraian also knows more Anambraians that live outside the state that refused visiting the state this Yuletide in particular, and throughout the year in general for reason of insecurity, and poor infrastructure. That means more than a million people stayed away this year because of the crisis generated from the botched 1998 PDP gubernatorial primary that punished the state with a very corrupt and under-performing chief executive under which guise the Obasanjo controlled PDP let lose a thug after the other on the state ever since. The 1million indigenes of Anambra state that avoided the state in 2009 estimate does not include “foreigners” that stayed away from wedding ceremonies (traditional and church), funerals, knighting, chieftaincy, and church ceremonies, launching of development projects, etc, and by “foreigners,” I also include non-Nigerians that did visit Nigeria but clearly stayed away from Anambra for “obvious” reason, I am also including other Nigerians, especially of eastern, mid-western, and middle-belt extractions that stayed away from the famous Onitsha markets for same reason, this list can go on forever, I will let you add yours here.
I also estimate that of this conservative 1million people that stayed away from the state, the state lost N1,000,000.00 for each of the more than 500,000 high-networth “non-returnees” (that does not include the “foreigners”). To arrive at the million Naira per high-networth “stay-away,” I put together the primary and secondary reasons that drive Anambraians to visit home, and the average cost/price that goes with visiting home for 12 months for this group. I considered those that may have spent more than N100million in building gas plants, petrol stations, hotels, light/ heavy manufacturing firms, hospitals, housing estates, etc. Then I looked at those that may have spent more than N50million but less than N100million for same economic activities above, and also the construction of personal residences, purchase of large tracts of land, community buildings/projects that include town halls, markets, schools, etc that funds are raised for in launches that attract both indigenes, and non-indigenes, finally, I looked at the largest group in my 500,000 population that includes those that would have spent anywhere from a million to N50million for all of the foregoing including wedding ceremonies (traditional and church), funeral rites, Ozo, Ogbuefi, ofala, and Knighting ceremonies, the average land purchase, helped out a relation to start a business, and other sundry economic activities that we engage in at home.
Clearly, my number is not sacrosanct, but a reading of past investments and development in the state suggests I have been exceedingly conservative, however, I am open to further discussion on this issue if you have reason to disagree. To buttress the impact of insecurity this year, my mother had remarked that our more than 100 years old home church failed, for the first time in her memory, to send invitations to the “Enugu Diaspora” for its annual Harvest Thanksgiving and Bazaar ceremony. Any wealthy Anambraian knows that spending a million Naira for Thanksgiving and Bazaar events is not outside the budget of more than 100 members of their community (Anambra has about 180 communities) , and that amount is just for the local church. Another pointer is the bizarre story of a friend that lives at Philadelphia. He told of the family mandate to his U.S.-based uncle to suspend further work on his country home for fear of kidnappers picking they, the unfortunate home-based relations, up. They were magnanimous enough to also offer him the option of depositing ransom money with them if he insists on carrying on with construction. Just a few days ago, I spoke with a former CMD of UNTH who instead of heading to Anambra is staying at Enugu because his extended family and friends all stayed back at their respective locations rather than head home, the sad stories are endless.
With other assumptions too numerous and inconvenient to list in this essay, I can summarize that Anambra state lost more than N500,000,000, 000.00 (five hundred billion Naira), the product of more than 500,000 of her indigenes and a conservative estimate of N1,000,000.00 ($7,000.00) they would have spent had they felt free to visit throughout the year.
That does not tell the whole story. First, it is important to note that the sum we just arrived at is about 7 times the value of the 2009 state government budget as proposed by the governor at the end of 2008. When you account for security votes (gasps), wastes (yawn), and other sundry corrupt practices that we’ll rather not mention, you’ll more accurately size and bemoan the price of the “little PDP crisis” that true-up Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju in 1998. To further drive home the point, if we assume a 5% savings for the N500billion, we’ll have created N10,000,000, 000,000 (yes, ten trillion Naira) wealth (a multiplier of 20 being the result of a 5% savings rate). A conservative estimate of ten trillion Naira wealth has been lost to Anambra state in just 2009 because we have failed to govern ourselves responsibly.
The 5% saving estimate I used is more than optimistic being that many, if not most beneficiaries of the money spent in the state do not save that much, if at all. These includes the Okada riders that ferry us around, or acts as our local GPS, the carpenter we patronize for our furniture, roofing, etc, the mason and his brother, the day-laborer that would have built that new house, extended the existing property, fenced the new land, etc, the taxi-driver the nouveau riche would have hired to go from place to place this Christmas, the hotelier, seamstress, fashion-designer that makes the uniforms for the Igba-nkwus, funerals , church events, etc, the electronic dealer that all debutantes would have patronized in fulfillment of their rites of passage. How about the water-tanker driver waiting with his leaky truck, the load-carrier in our local markets that defies all road rules, not to forget the village disc jockey and gospel singers that must be seating on their fingers this season, and all year because Ify decided to have her igba-nkwu at Enugu, Lagos, London, Boston, etc than risk lives to have it at Nnewi, and Dr. Obi refused to perform his late dad’s funeral rites waiting for such a time his safety could reasonably be guaranteed? We can stretch this list to the limits of available paper.
How about the incalculable lost opportunities to make deals, the type that opens the door for the poor first cousin thrice removed to get funding for his education. Maybe s/he would have become the next Dr. Wambugu, or Borlaug, a sorely needed game-changer to save the people of this state from food insecurity and anarchy being that the land has been tired for years (see Achebe’s No Longer at Ease where Umuofia people in Lagos referred to their land as such if in doubt). What of the tawdry despots mimicking the gubernatorial gladiators in their respective hometown union elections, this vehicle of accelerated development for most of last century now laid prostrate because we have lost respect for electoral process, a fall out of the crisis at Awka? Also provide for the significant impact this lost wealth would have had on the local economy because it would have been spent in hundreds of thousands of packets as against government funded projects that are concentrated in a few hands, reason George Bush sent hundreds of dollars to Americans in 2008 for the picture to get worse.
This incremental wealth denied Anambra people in 2009 is probably the most dramatic change we may have witnessed in the last 10 years of civilian government. We have had communal wars that gave birth to armed robbery, and other forms of social ills that had discouraged people from traveling home, however, I have never seen Anambra people this frightened of going home, this embarrassed and outraged by the breakdown of law and order in their home land they prefer to stay away than I saw in 2009. I recall the incredulity of friends and family at my visit to the state 2 months ago, actually, my family prevailed on me to spend just a night at my village, the home of the mythical Okonkwo of Things Fall Apart (connect the geographical co-ordinates) than the week I had planned.
The tragedy of the Anambra people is all the more heart-wrenching because of the characters that have denied her peace. We have more than 2 dozens gubernatorial candidates, many may argue that only half dozen of them are to be taken seriously, truth is that, when the dust on the February 2010 election settles, about all of them would have gotten a slice of the small, and diminishing state resource, no matter how thin as settlement. It is painful how democracy has failed a people that have practiced republican democracy for more than 1,500 years of archaeological supported history.
As I turn to the next page of the Time magazine that is keeping me company this Christmas day, I know that Anambra state can only begin to heal itself if we the people of that state, and Nigeria in general say no to electoral fraud come February 2010. As many homes dine away the last days of 2009, may we all ask ourselves what to do to save the suffering people of Anambra state. What can you the attorney, student, banker, mason, medical doctor, carpenter, professor, disc jockey, trader, scientist, priest, teacher, market woman, etc do to stave off the looming crisis –
First, we must eschew the extremely annoying behavior of supporting the ambition of our friends, colleagues, acquaintances, etc. Anambra may be the poster-child for the practice of “any government I am close to, is a good government” syndrome. This is especially prevalent among the elites. Then, we must learn to participate in the process – we must tell our people to come out and vote in February 2010, and also protect their votes. We must organize at the town-union level, at the village level, at the umu-nna level, and at the family level to resist this madness. We are all victims of this crisis – the poor, not so-poor, and wealthy. We are all paying some price or the other because of the failure of central government in the state, and bear in mind that the price we’ll still pay for the lost generation of the last 2 decades is yet to come to roost.
We must learn to spend our money in support of good governance. Gather the boys in your area, arm them with just a cellphone to take pictures during the elections and send to you, then send it to the campaign office of the house of assembly, gubernatorial, senatorial, house of rep, local government, councilor, etc candidate that got cheated in the election in your village. If you don’t know how to send it to the candidates, send it to me, to Jimmy Carter (Carter Foundation), send it to National Democratic Institute (NDI), send the boys that monitored the election to the election tribunal, or to Maurice Iwu’s home town’s clergy at Mbano, Imo state, maybe, they will prevail on him to be honest next time, just do something besides complain and watch the thugs ruin their mother’s funeral, which unfortunately, is also ours.
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