07/01/2015
A nation in search of heroes
By Babatope Babalobi
Who should be Nigeria's Man of the Year for 2014? Who does the cap best fit? Is it possible to reach a national consensus on this issue? More importantly is the concept of the Man of the Year still relevant or significant in Nigeria's political life or should it be wiped off from the nation's political lexicon?
Many people will argue that the concept of Man of the Year has been devalued in Nigeria. Just like the National Honours, this honorific title has become politicized, bastardized, and corrupted. In the past, it was not as if there was a national consensus on who deserves the title, as several media houses simply go ahead and bestow the title on, however, they feel deems fit, based on public opinions. In recent years, the givers of the title seem not to bother about public opinion any longer, rather opinion of various political caucuses seems to hold sway.
This situation is not helped by the fact that the nation is lacking in heroes. There is a glut of selfless leaders who have made sacrifices for public good. Gone are the days of the Tai Solarins and Gani Fawehinmis who seemed to have made a vow of sacrifice, integrity, and selflessness for the public good. Everyone now seems to be involved in a rat race to grab his own share of the national cake.
Nigeria has become a highly commercialized society where every activity is denominated and decimated by consideration of monetary and pecuniary benefits.
This scenario has stifled the emergence of national heroes, now replaced by 'Nigeria idols' whose distinctive ability is their sonorous voices and tingling dancing steps. There are no more Consciences of the Nation, our Conscience is not ruled by the pocket, rather than the heart as everyone seems to be concerned about the volume of naira load it its pocket. No one seems to be interested in carrying the national burden again. Individuality has given way to publicness, privatisation has murdered national interests, and selfishness has trampled down the public good.
So back to the question: Who is Nigeria's Man of the Year 2014? Lets look at some of the people already named as such. The only announcements, I have read in the papers in this respect, is by City People magazine which named former Lagos Governor-Bola Ahmed Tinubu as its 2014 Man of The Year, and Sun newspaper named Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, as The Sun Man of the Year 2014. At a time when Nigerians are increasing divided according to political lines, these awards are open to criticism by opponents of the All Peoples Congress which the two Governors belong.
I would have named the erstwhile Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu as my Man of the Year, for his diligent coordination of the National response against the Ebola fright. But his membership of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which has performed woefully at the Federal level, will make this a contestable rating. Also, many people have viewed that the hero of the taming of Ebola is the Late Dr (Mrs) Stella Adadevoh who paid the supreme price for physically restraining the American-Liberian Ebola terrorist- Late Patrick Sawyer from fleeing her First Consultant hospital and infecting other Nigerians, after he (Sawyer) was diagnosed as a carrier of the virus. Maybe the Man of the Year fits her best.
campaigner Dr (Mrs) Oby Ezekwesi would also have won my nomination for her relentlessness advocacy for the release of the girls, but I have a distrust for her recent activism, based on her past reactionary role. It would be recalled that as Federal Minister of Education under the Obasanjo regime, she forcefully canvassed for the outright sale of Federal Government Colleges to private profiteers in defiance of national condemnation of the act. People of integrity do not oscillate between reactionary and progressive principles either in and out public office.
Who else deserves to be named Man of the Year 2014? Among the All Progressive Congress Governors, Babatunde Fashola, Rauf Aregbesola and Kayode Fayemi stand out. But their constituencies are localized. Also Fashola seems to be be an old worn out tune. His dynamism in the first tenure obviously, surpassed the second. Rauf is a performing Governor no doubt, but he is stained with with controversial policies; while Fayemi's acclaimed progressivism was paradoxically 'rejected' by his own kith and kindred.
Among the Peoples Democratic Party, the Governor of Akwa Ibom, Godswill Akpabio who build an imposing 'Nest of Champions' at a cost of N16b deserves consideration, though critics would argue this may become another white elephant project which does not increase the standard of living of the common man in the oil rich state.
The President of the Federal Republic, himself is best placed to be named Nigeria's Man of the Year, as he controls enormous resources and wide powers to effect positive change that should be felt internationally, nationally, locally, and and even at the family level. Alas, the task of rebuilding Nigeria cannot be achieved by luck, rather by careful programme planning and strict implementation; placing the ordinary people firsts, ahead of Peoples Democratic Party's (peoples') interests. With naira now nearing almost two hundred to a dollar, Good luck has evidently been squandered by Jonathan.
All said and done, the tragedy of our political life as year 2015 rolls in today, is that no living Nigerian deserves in my view to be named as Man of the Year for the previous year. This sadly explains why Nigerians fared better on January 1, 2014 than today,January 1, 2015; as no hero has emerged in the previous year to stem the continuous tide to the state to bankruptcy and decadence.
Babatope Babalobi is the Coordinator of the Movement for Revolutionary Change (MRC. [email protected] +2348035897435
