Nigeria at the frontline

Last week, I was a guest of the Frontline Club, London, where I participated in an interna­tional conference on the state of the Nigerian nation.

Before the London road show, I had earlier been scheduled to play the same role at the Atlantic Council in Wash­ington, D.C. The two sessions were put together by government officials, dia­sporans, business people and concerned citizens who are disturbed by the welter of misinformation and disinformation about the state of affairs in Nigeria, especially as the country prepares to go to the polls.

The London event came under the theme: “Nigeria at the Frontline: A Con­versation with the UK Press.” The choice of the Frontline Club was apt in a num­ber of respects. For one thing, the club delivers an extensive programme of pub­lic events, bringing together many of the world’s best journalists, photographers, filmmakers and thinkers. For another, the club is known to promote engagement and dialogue on international affairs, champion independent journalism and provide a diverse range of training for journalists and other media workers.

It was within the four walls of this rep­utable organisation that Nigeria was laid bare. I was a panelist at the event where I, in conjunction with other panelists, spoke on a wide range of issues, includ­ing governance, the economy, security, corruption, the forthcoming elections and other topical issues about Nigeria that are of interest not only to Nigerians but the international community also.

As the theme clearly reveals, the event was more of a conversation with the Press in the United Kingdom than anything else. It featured all the major print and electronic media in the United States, the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe. Some of the media outfits present included Cable News Network (CNN), Aljazera, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), SkyNews, Ben TV, Arise TV, Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), The Telegraph, Time Magazine, The Economist, Washington Post, New York Times, The Mail, The Times, Bloom­berg News and a host of others.

It was, by all standards, a stimulating session on Nigeria. The panelists held divergent but informed positions on Ni­geria. The presentations were first-hand information for the foreign journalists most of whom hear and report Nigeria from far away lands. For instance, weeks before the international road show,The Economist, one of the media houses pres­ent at the event, had endorsed the candi­dature of General Muhammadu Buhari. Some of the assumptions that informed the position of the magazine were simply pig- headed. They were largely borne out of ignorance. That was why the magazine erroneously stated that life expectancy in Nigeria had reduced under the Jona­than administration when, indeed, it has increased by two years. Some of the facts and figures made available on Nigeria were quite revealing. They did not only help to keep the foreign journalists better informed about Nigeria, they also humbled the virulent critics of Nigeria who, unfor­tunately, did not have their facts right.

Some of the interventions from the audi­ence revealed the level of cynicism and skepticism that attends matters Nigerian outside our shores. Because Nigeria has been at war with itself over the 2015 gen­eral elections, the international community has come to believe that Nigeria is sitting on a keg of gunpowder. Again, because a segment of Nigeria, which is not properly disposed to the Jonathan presidency has held certain strong views about Nigeria, even when some of them are fallacious, the outside world has, somehow, imbibed those views and have begun to propagate them as articles of faith. It was on the strength of this that one of the foreign journalists present at the event stated that the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, was sacked by President Jona­than for revealing that $20 billion was missing from government’s coffers. Yet, we know that Sanusi was not sacked by Jonathan. He was only asked to observe his three months terminal leave, which is the standard practice in the Public Service. Unfortunately, the matter was politicised and detractors of the country are holding tenaciously to it while refusing to believe anything to the contrary.

In the same vein, two or three of the journalists at the event were insistent on the full report of the forensic audit of NNPC account carried out by Pricewa­terhouseCoopers. Even though the audit report gave the Nigeria National Petro­leum Corporation (NNPC) a clean bill of health, there are still suspicions in some quarters that aspects of the report may have indicted NNPC. That is the cloud of doubt that beclouds most of government’s actions. The outside world has borrowed a leaf from our own self-doubt.

A number of panels and inquiries were set up, both by the executive and the legislature to audit NNPC’s account with a view to establishing the veracity or other­wise of Sanusi’s claims. But those whose minds had been closed to facts and figures were not interested in such inquiries. They had made up their minds that money was missing. Sanusi had said so and that was it. That is fixation of the worst order. Such disposition does not help the cause of any nation or institution. It is one of the great­est afflictions that Nigeria is saddled with.

To underscore the level of prejudice and skepticism that reigns in the minds of some of those that observe Nigeria from a distance, one of the foreign journalists asked a Nigerian government offi­cial, Mr. Mike Omeri, who was also a panelist at the event, to tell the world specifically when Boko Haram insur­gency would end in Nigeria. Of course, Mr Omeri does not know and cannot know. And, indeed, nobody can know this. The foreign interlocutor ought to know this and he, probably does. But the prejudice in him could not let him be . He had to betray his private convic­tions about the ongoing war against terror in Nigeria by asking the senseless question.

Such an attempt to set a differ­ent standard for Nigeria is part of the problem of perception, which the country faces, especially in the hands of critics of the present administration. That is why terrorism, a worldwide phenomenon which, unfortunately, has crept into Nigeria, is being treated as if it is a blight that can be kicked out in a day. Yet none of the countries of the world where terrorism rules and reigns has been able to kick it out completely. They only strive to contain it. That is the dilemma of a Nigeria that has been rendered prostrate by a rapacious op­position and their mischievous interna­tional collaborators.

Regardless of this handicap, the panelists at the international road shows in Washington, D.C. and London came face to face with this oddity. But they confronted it with confidence and high sense of maturity. At the events, facts confronted fallacies, assumptions were neutralised by practicality and prejudic­es were rendered impotent by informed discourses and analyses. At the end of the day, the audience went home wiser and better informed about Nigeria.

But after the international road shows, the hour has come. In the next 48 hours, Nigerians will file out in their millions to elect those who will lead them for the next four years. The most talked about of them all is the contest between President Jonathan and Gen­eral Buhari. All that can be said about these men have been said. Nigerians have been able to underline the fact that Jonathan has character. His method may not have pleased everyone and cannot possibly please all. But he has the drive and sincerity of purpose that Nigeria needs at this point in time.

However, whatever may be the case, we must leave the rest to the masses of the Nigerian people whose prerogative it is to decide who leads them...