Our South African Shame

Comfort Obi

In all my adult life, I have never felt as low as I am feeling this year about Nigeria. Whatever the case, I had always looked forward to every October 1, Nigeria's independence day. I grew up taking it as a very special day. In deed, it is. Being independent is a big deal, either for a country, or an individual. This year, I am indifferent to October 1.
I am sure you would think it is the goings-on between the President and the Vice President. Or the recent plane crash which killed a generation of our top military brass. Or the recent, excuse this cliche, can of worms opened by Nuhu Ribadu, the EFCC chairman at the Senate. No. Of course, those are depressing. For, let’s be honest, how will other countries look at us when virtually all our leaders are being accused, by a government agency, of corruption and are being labelled common thieves? How do we react when we now know, thanks to Ribadu, that the world’s biggest treasury looter is a Nigerian? Yet, the low moments I feel today stems from two things which happened last week. Both connected to South Africa. And both a monumental shame to Nigeria.
The first is a direct consequence of the military plane crash. The national shame came on Monday, September 25, when national newspapers were awash with the story that two survivors, Cols. Nuhu Angbazo and Abraham Luka Dusu, had been flown to South Africa for treatment. My first reaction was happiness. Anything to save their lives. But a couple of hours later, I was filled with shame. And I asked no one in particular: South Africa?
Dear readers, my feeling stem from the fact that Nigeria, the largest country in Africa, one of the world's top 10 oil producers, 46 years after independence, has no good hospital. This situation is not for lack of money. Nigeria’s annual budget gives a number of African countries fever. The budget of some states in Nigeria are more than those of many African countries. Nigeria supports, financially, some African countries. On at least one occasion, Nigeria had paid the salaries of the military in a neighbouring state. At least, one other country gets electricity from Nigeria. That the West African sub-region is stable today is because of Nigeria. Forget the fact that these countries, ever so often, look at Nigeria with contempt. They treat Nigerians with disdain. They think, inspite of our money and population, that we are big for nothing. And you know what? I don’t blame them.
How can they be wrong when, with all our money, we have not even one well equipped hospital where we can run to, in cases like that of our military officers? The budget each year for the Ministry of Health is more than the budget of some African countries. Yet, with all that plenty money, nothing. What do they do with all these money? Can you imagine? Not even the National Hospital, Abuja, could handle the cases of our military officers. Not the teaching hospitals. Or the big private hospitals. Look at South Africa. During the apartheid regime, Nigeria was one of the countries that was funding the African National Congress, ANC. Now, the ANC is in power in South Africa. The South African President, Thabo Mbeki, was on exile here, being maintained by Nigeria. Now, they are not only better than us in everything, they look down on us.
Mbeki thinks Nigeria is in competition with South Africa. He and his people think they are superior to us. Why not? They have the best hospitals. We don’t. Their country has been chosen to host the World Cup before Nigeria. We couldn’t even host the Miss World Beauty Pageant. South Africa has been hosting world beauty pageants for years. South African Airline was, at a point, chosen to manage our own national heritage, and our symbol of shame – Nigeria Airways. Until the Rivers State government broke the jinx, Nigeria had no air ambulance. Each time there was a need for that, we call South Africa, from where the air ambulance comes. And, they take their time. Many lives had been lost over that. That of Major-General A.K. Adisa easily comes to mind. It took about 20 hours to get an air ambulance to fly him to London when he was involved in a vehicle accident. That delay was fatal. And he died, just like that.
While I was trying to get over the hospital shame, we were hit again by another shame. The luxurious property of the former disgraced Governor of Bayelsa State, DSP Alamieyeseigha, is to be auctioned in Cape Town, by South Africa. A few years after the apartheid regime, our Who-is-Who here, especially top government officials, find South Africa more conducive for investment than their country, Nigeria. So they go there with our money, and build mansions, pent houses, luxury apartments. The other time when Ovation magazine did a splash on the luxury houses of the Igbinedions in South Africa, I was in shock. It was obscene. But they are not the only ones. Top government officials now see South Africa as a haven to invest their stolen wealth. The question is: How many South African government officials come to Nigeria to build houses? None.
But that’s how we are. Inferior. Shameless. Greedy. Why won’t other countries treat us with contempt? Even Ghana treats Nigerians with scorn. They have steady electricity. We don't. Now, some Nigerian parents prefer to send their children to schools in Ghana. Our schools are rotten, infected with cultists and gangsters and armed robbers and murderers. Students carry guns, machetes, axes and kill one another, instead of studying. Any wonder even Nigerians studying in Ghana are now being discriminated against. They call them cultists, gangsters, and murderers. And warn them not to infest their society with these viruses. If we had arranged our country, our students wouldn't have become this terrible.
So, 46 years after, with all our oil money, what can we boast of? Our nightmare: Successive bad leadership since October 1, 1960. God forbid.