Michael Onas- Chief Editor
Have you heard story of a lady recounting the obstacles she experienced on her way to becoming wealthy under a government administration in Nigeria, only to be insulted by the leader of such government minutes later, by laying claim to her success?
If not, please read Nigeria: Obasanjo Claimed to Have Made a Folorunsho Alakija Billionaire
I am writing this opinion in response to the obvious elephant in room, that every Nigerian continues to ignore. That elephant in the room is that Nigerian men have a long way to go, towards the acknowledgement of the contributions of women in our society.
This fact has been supported by our current President Buhari’s reaction to the statements made by the First lady to the BBC on his administration. As we all know, Buhari immediately put his wife in her place by making what was clearly a misogynistic statement in front of the Chancellor of Germany; Angela Merkel, who was clearly displeased.
As noted in the article, both Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Mrs. Folorunsho Alakija were speakers at the recently held 2016 Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Forum, with 2000 entrepreneurs in attendance.
Mrs. Folorunsho Alakija, a Nigerian businesswoman who is the richest African woman in the world, told attendees of the difficulties and obstacles she had experienced at the beginning of her oil ventures, during Obasanjo’s term.
In an ideal world, former President Obasanjo could have either apologized or ignored the comment and stick to his own prepared speech, but in a typical Naija man stance, our former leader felt the need to not only defend himself, to avoid the appearance of being a coward, but also claim the success of Mrs. Folorunsho Alakija.
In his own word, the former President Obasanjo was quoted as saying “There is a saying in my part of the world that when a proverb touches you and you failed to reply, then you are a coward,”
It would have been against the grain of our culture, for a man in his class to admit wrong-doings under his administration. In fact, I have been looking for the translation of the word “accountability” in Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Ijaw and Edo languages and I am yet to find it.
Bruce Lee, a man who I admired once said “Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.”
In Nigeria, we are naturally and justifiably proud people, but there is a fine line between pride and arrogance.
The sad reality is that people who have deliberately mismanaged, looted and mistreated and killed fellow Nigerians are still in governance and also at helm in the political parties today.
Absent of basic human conscience and accountability, they are parading around in Nigeria and foreign countries as elder “STATESMEN”.
In my homeland is a culture and environment where speaking truth to elders or people in position of power is deemed disrespectful. As a result the status quo in Nigeria is less likely to change anytime soon.
It is a classic case of armed robbers, taking victory laps at the scene of the crime, dressed in fancy colorful garbs, while the victim helplessly watch.
The state of Nigeria today has been in the making for over fifty six years and while many of us would like to solely place the blames at the feet of Goodluck Jonathan, he only took mismanagement to a higher level.
My open questions to the former President Obasanjo who is claiming to have “MADE” 25 millionaires are as follows;
- How many small business loan initiatives were created under his terms as the leader of Nigeria and who were the benefactors.
- What percentage of government issued contracts were awarded to Nigerian entrepreneurs, in contrast to their foreign counterparts under his terms.
- What existing institutions were created towards the provision of capitals in forms of loans to entrepreneur under his leadership?
Personally, I am still trying hard to identify how Nigeria benefitted from Obasanjo’s terms as a military or civilian leader. Most of the roads and infrastructures in Nigeria today were created under Gowon’s rule and very little has changed. Perhaps Obasanjo should take inventory of the current state of Nigeria and congratulate the few citizens, who have made their money in a legitimate manner, in contrast to those who openly stole their wealth and will never be held accountable.
Becoming a legitimate and honest millionaire in a parasitic and fraudulent environment, in which your primary obstacle is the corrupt government is not an easy accomplishment. Many Nigerians residing overseas, who have tried to conduct trades by shipping goods and merchandise home have lost their hard earned investments at the port of Lagos and Port Harcourt due to unfriendly and corrupt systems, designed to frustrate their efforts.
African Women as second-class citizens at homeand abroad
Nigerians and African society as whole needs to address and correct the existing tendencies to easily undermine women in our society. The actions of these two men, specifically Obasanjo and Buhari are the reflections of our backward-leaning society towards our mothers, sisters and daughters.
I have written articles in the past, in which women are customarily disinherited based on the grounds that once they are married, they no longer have rights to any of the family inheritance.
I am sure by now, you have seen many reports of Nigerian men, physically, mentally abusing and in some cases killing their wives, simply for being successful or deemed to be arrogant, as a result of earning more income.
The fact is that women both in Nigeria and abroad are the key bread winners in most households, yet they are never acknowledged in such roles.
Many of us are aware of husbands who have left their wives to take care of all of the family needs here in America or Europe, while they conveniently travel to Nigeria, under the false pretense of “business opportunities”. The same abandoned women are called upon to remit money to them in Nigeria, while the actual “business Opportunities” are socializing and exploiting economically deprived underage girls at home.
I have seen many social platforms commentaries of marriage-age Nigerian women, clearly stating that they would rather date white men, than to expose themselves to abuses in the hands of our men and I honestly cannot blame them. For there is something within our culture, that seems threaten by successful, independent and outspoken women.
The recent global economic shift has favored women more than their husbands, and this may have exacerbated the traditionally embedded war of the sexes. Most women in the Nigerian communities in America and Europe are employed in high demand careers, such as nursing and are earning more than their husbands.
Ideally, you will hope that couples in these situation would seek to cooperate better and build a stronger partnership. But this has led to so many well publicized abuse, divorce and in some cases, death.
In our culture, we celebrate weddings like no others on the face of the planet. However, very little attention is placed on how we treat our women, once the celebration is over. In a culture that frowns upon the word “DIVORCE” and in most cases will not seek marital counseling, we have a long way to go making marital relationship better, to break the cycle of marital abuse.
Like in many other society, women going through such abusive relationship are not encouraged to speak up and seek help from their family or friends. It is more acceptable for them to accept the abusive relationship and hope for the best, while keeping up the appearance of a perfect union.
Recently, a woman in Nigeria, after many years of physical abuse by her husband and inlaws, parked her few belogings and left for her family’s home only to be turned back by her family. For they could not bear the shame of having her back in thier home. She died in the hand of her husband days later and her family had to care for her burial.
She might still be alive today, if the family had allowed her to return home.
