Pathways for Transforming Nigerian Potentials
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In the midst of hopelessness and desperation, a kind of situation many Nigerians are facing today, no thanks to persistent but ferocious insecurity and economic adversity; it is prosperous to think deeply on how Nigeria can be made great. Yes, all great nations of today passed through similar challenges yesteryears. Nigeria cannot be different. USA, United Kingdom, China and the rest, all had their most trying times, barbaric era and tumultuous insecurity challenges at one time or the other. Today, these countries are seen as the most awesome and lovely climes, which many are aspiring to visit. History has documented chain of events on how each of these countries moved from abyss of misery and squalor in years back to boisterous and prosperous nation of today. So, how can we change the ugly trend to flourishing one in Nigeria? Do we have the wherewithal and the resourcefulness to make Nigeria great? Yes, Nigeria has all the prerequisites of becoming a great nation in a matter of time.
Nigeria is stupendously blessed with both human and natural resources making other countries grin with envy. Nigeria is richly endowed with a variety of Natural Resources ranging from precious metals and various industrial stones such as Barites, Gypsum, Kaolin and Marble. Each of the 36 sates and FCT has several mineral resources needing to be tapped. For instance, Kaduna has over ten mineral resources such as Amethyst, Aqua Marine, Asbestos, Clay, Flosper, Gemstone, Gold, Graphite, Kaolin, Hyanite, Mica, Rock Crystal, Ruby, Sapphire, Sihnite, Superntinite, Tentalime, Topaz & Tourmaline. Other states like Nasarawa, Ondo, Plateau, Sokoto, Edo, Imo, Zamfara and Katsina states have varieties of mineral resources similar to those in Kaduna State. In fact, each of the 36 states in Nigeria has a minimum of three mineral resources in appreciable quantity waiting for exploitation. Each of these mineral resources is reported to be in large quantity spread over large area. For instance, there are about 3 billon tons of iron ore deposits in Kogi, Niger states and FCT, 10 million tons of zinc/lead in Abuja, Kano and Cross River. There are over 2 million tons of rock salts and over 3 billion tons of coal deposits in Plateau, Enugu and Anambra states. Large quantity of gold is found in Zamfara, Sokoto, Oyo, Niger, Kwara and Kebbi states among others. These mineral resources provide tremendous investment opportunities for economic growth and nation building. If tapped, the country could be Eldorado.
In addition to mineral resources, there are other natural resources such as water and land resources. Nigeria has seven distinct climate zones, which provide average annual rainfall ranging from 700 mm in the far north (Sahel savannah) to 4,000 mm in riverine and mountainous areas in the south. Rainfall provides billions liters of water annually in addition to several other billions liters of water from River Niger. The river passes through the country and drains an average discharge of 5,589 m3/s into Atlantic Ocean. River Niger with a length of 4,180 Km and drainage basin area of 2.1 million Km2 is the third largest river in Africa after River Nile and Zaire. River Niger has six major perennial rivers as tributaries crisscrossing the length and breath of Nigeria making it the most endowed country with unlimited water resources available for development.
Land resources are similarly in abundance in Nigeria. The country has 91 million hectares of arable land with merely 50 % utilization despite the quantum of water resources, soil fertility, favorable topography and climates. Land and water resources are certainly important natural resources available for exploitation to develop the agricultural sector. Among the major minerals in Nigeria, the two most important and dependable resources are oil and gas as they constitute 90 percent of foreign exchange earning with all other economic contributors making the 10 percent. Oil also contributes about 70 percent of annual income to the three tiers of governments (Federal, States and LGAs).
However, these natural resources are mere potentials and not yet transform to reality that can propel the development of the nation economy. Potentials are like fertile land with adequate water for both crops and livestock productions left unattended and become vulnerable to infestation by dangerous reptiles. In any community or society, human resources are the driver of transformation of potentials into tangible reality. How capable are human resources in Nigeria to transform these potentials?
Good governance and nationalism are the strong pillars for a nation building and excellent performance among the comity of nations.
Good governance is an elusive objective that means different things to different people or organizations depending on what the intention is aimed at. However, there is a general consensus its concept; “good governance is perhaps the single most important factor in eradicating poverty and promoting development”. It is therefore an effective and responsible management of an organization, a society or country that includes good consideration of the society’s needs in the decisions making
Good governance centers on the responsibility of governments and governing bodies to meet the needs of the entire people as opposed to select groups in society. Consequently, the leaders of good governance must revisit policies that have worked in the past, set priorities in a strategic way, consider policies with greater impact on poverty alleviation and development as well as look for innovative ways to implement such policies effectively. What are the factors initiating good governance?
The first factor is the establishment and due adherence to the rule of law, leaders and followers must respect law, regulation, procedure and order in their conducts privately and officially. Nobody should be above law and the law should treat citizen’s equal before it. Anarchy and chaos hold sway in a society where rule of law is absence. The second one is provision of security. Physical, economical and social security’s must prevail at all time to galvanize economic development and allow peace to prevail. The best of an average citizen comes out when such citizens feel secured and assured socially and economically, corruption has relatively no place where rules of law are strictly observed.
The third factor of achieving good governance is strategic planning with clear focus for national development. A country must have a national developmental plan, what the country wants to achieve now and in the future; short, medium and long term plans with clear strategies on how to accomplish such plans. There must be national focus and direction and a clearly defined strategy to move the country towards such direction. The strategy must include actions to implement the strategic plan. The choice of the actions must be made based on merit and national spread to create sense of ownership to the citizens.
The second pillar of a nation building is nationalism. The word nationalism has both negative and positive connation depending on context and individual outlook. However, in this piece, Nationalism is an ideological concept based on the premise that the individual’s loyalty and devotion to the nation-state surpass other individual or group interests. Thus, nationalism makes people to think of what first they can do to their country before what their country should do for them.
In conclusion, President Muhammadu Buhari has an ample opportunity to midwife and mastermind the erection of these two pillars; good governance and nationalism to galvanize true change in the right direction. Yes, Nigeria should drift from abyss of despair and calamity, move towards economic progress and deservedly acclaim its rightful position. Can Buhari regime make it? Four years period is enough time to do that
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