Nigeria’s numerous socio – economic and political problems seem to have no visible solutions in sight and have therefore remained intractable since the First Republic when the Nnamdi Azikiwe – Abubakar Tafawa Balewa regime provided the country its finest era as a united, development - oriented and indivisible nation. The military incursion into governance of the country that succeeded this historic period only added some modicum of stability as a result of its martial traditions of sternness and no – nonsense mentality that tolerated little or no opposition or brooked no divergent views. Yet, this was the period that produced Nigeria’s first crop of vibrant civil society and community – based organizations geared towards raising the shrill voices of the oppressed and downtrodden. Great legends like Dr. Tai Solarin, Chief Gani Fawehenmi, Dr. Frederick Fasheun, Olisa Agbakoba [S. A. N.], Barristers Femi Falana and Festus Okoye and many others came to prominence at this time and became the leading lights of the struggle for the emancipation of the downtrodden masses in the country. While some of these great souls have either departed this world and joined our ancestors or shifted base from the range of fire, the few remaining ones are now preoccupied with other national calls thus leaving Mr. Dan Richard [as he is fondly called] to prowl the entire field as a Colossus to wage his lone battles for social reforms. Meanwhile, his consistent social reform crusades in recent times have attracted both national and international attention and having the necessary positive impact in the country.
In his latest chat with both the print and electronic media after Nigeria’s 51st independence celebration, he addressed numerous fundamental national issues ranging from the country’s national agenda, independence that was gotten on a platter of gold, visionless leadership, President Goodluck Jonathan’s emergence as Nigeria’s fifth democratically elected leader, the Boko Haram phenomenon and other sundry issues. If Nigeria were not a deaf and dumb country that does not heed good advice, it would not be the same country after hearkening to the passionate calls of Mr. Daniel Richard, especially his most recent social reform crusade.
While discussing the unfortunate fate of the country with some national media outfits, he reviewed Nigeria’s half century of existence as a sovereign nation and lamented that the country has no national agenda that would chart the course, mobilize resources and galvanize massive support for its actualization to give the country her befitting status as the giant of Africa. He bemoaned the poor plight of the beleaguered nation and was greatly irked that a country so much blessed with both human and material resources could become so deranged and distracted to lose sight of a bright future for its citizens.
Mr. Daniel Richard attributed the country’s gross underdevelopment to the circumstances that warranted her emergence as an independent nation and the poverty of vision of her leaders, both military and civilian. He contended that the ease with which the country attained nationhood on a platter of gold threw her virtually into a cul - de - sac where she lost contact with rational thought and action. This sad situation is better explained by Nigeria’s unexpected stagnation or gross underdevelopment compared with the Asian Tigers that fast tracked their emergence from the Third to the First World through effective management of both their human and material resources, although they had similar disenabling economic indices at independence.
The perennial and debilitating leadership problem of the country also occupied a substantial part of Mr. Daniel Richard’s media chat. He was disenchanted with the poor leadership qualities exhibited by most Nigerian leaders that unnecessarily ignited crises of monumental proportions that threw vast national resources down the drain. He postulated that when blind leaders lead dumb followers, the result will always be disaster. He then forewarned and forecasted that the country would grapple with more socio – economic and political crises than were experienced by the more advanced democracies of the world, whose practice of democracy spanned one or two centuries, because of primordial factors that rule our national life. On the way forward, his candid opinion tallied with the urgent calls of most Nigerians that leadership behavior must change tremendously for the country to have any profound socio – economic transformation or show any significant progress. With the type of unceasing and unrelenting high level corruption in the country where only four former governors were accused of embezzling N101 billion, an average of N25.25 billion each, and greatly indebting their poor states and impoverishing and disempowering their people, the leadership question has to occupy the front burner. More significantly, Nigeria should not be sacrificed on the altar of corruption. So, more serious measures should be adopted to curb the unwieldy menace of unprecedented sleaze in the country.
The social reform crusader ruffled some feathers when he reflected over President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s emergence on the political scene which attracted diverse comments from political analysts and the general public. Prior to this development, the political turf was overheated with the debate over the zoning principle of the ruling People’s Democratic Party which pitted the proponents of the system against its opponents and degenerated into regional and religious squabbles. Mr. Daniel Richard boldly reviewed the debate and cleared the prevailing doubts with diplomatic finesse.
As an indigene of the North – East sub –region which is the origin of the Boko Haram Islamic sect in the country, Mr. Daniel Richard offered his own solution to the current security problems arising from the activities of the Islamic sect. He therefore towed the path of others before him who saw great wisdom in dialoguing with the leaders of the religious sect so as to bring to a halt their deadly activities to restrain the turbulence of the recent past and foster peace and order in the troubled area.
Nigeria has few bold citizens left who are ready to make the supreme sacrifice for the survival of the country and are not afraid to offer honest advice to our leaders or chide them when they go astray. Today, Mr. Daniel Richard has emerged as a formidable force in this patriotic group and virtually taken over its leadership. It was Professor Wole Soyinka who wrote that ‘the man dies in him who keeps silent in the face of tyranny.’ Mr. Dan Richard has risen above partisanship, taken the gauntlet and made passionate national calls for action to cool tempers, quell uprisings or check leadership indiscretions that impact negatively on the society. Like the soothsayer, he is always ready to spring up and foretell the future and its eminent Armageddon. Sane societies take such rare men seriously and heed their words of wisdom. Nigeria is not an island and should therefore promptly rally round hers and hearken to their redemption songs so that our new national transformation agenda will become a great success.
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