Days of reckoning

Days of reckoning

It may have been reported as a mild drama but the scholarly disagreement between Muhammadu Buhari and Yusuf Maitama Sule at the Gamji Forum on the state of Nigerias economy is a reminder that military heads of state would one day be asked to account for their days in office. The fact that an eminent civilian could challenge the views of a former head of state is a measure of the nations mood about the economic contributions of past military governments in Nigeria. These former heads of state must be made to take responsibilities for their policy blunders, in particular economic and political blunders.

At the Gamji forum, the only point Maitama Sule and Muhammadu Buhari agreed on was the Sardaunas likable quality vis-a-vis his readiness to delegate authority to the technocrats. In Maitama Sules views, while past civilian administrations recognised and utilised the services of the technocrats, the military ignored the technocrats and ruled as if they were solely endowed with knowledge on how to rule. Maitamas Sules point is simple: no one ñ military or civilian ñ has a monopoly of knowledge or idea on how best to move the nation forward. Nigeria has been particularly unlucky. Our 40-year history is replete with an array of military officers who ruled with economic blinkers on their faces. Virtually all of them lacked the basic knowledge and understanding of elementary economics. In their political and economic policies, they played April fools game with the Nigerian nation. How? You will need to revisit the inaugural broadcasts of each military leader, to find how the Nigerian people have been fooled over the years. Each junta started by informing the nation that it had intervened to stop financial profligacy, economic mismanagement and unfulfilled promises by its predecessors.

From the regime of Yakubu Gowon right through to Sani Abacha (with the exception of former General Olusegun Obasanjo and General Abdulkadir Abubakar), promises made by past military leaders to lift the parlous state of the economy and to return the country to a democratic system were never kept. English playwright William Shakespeare was right: there is no art to read the minds construction on the face. For over three decades, Nigerians were unable to see through the masks on the faces of the military leaders. Those leaders whose teeth shone most in public turned out to be the most reckless and unreliable in the management of the economy. Lets revisit history.

Gowon changed the date he set for himself to step down. But his game of political chicanery exploded on his face. He infuriated not only the civilian population but also his closest aides. He was bundled out of office at the most unexpected time of his tenure. Before Gowon was removed by a military coup, his government had enjoyed public and economic blessings in many ways. The economy was in a boom. Oil production yielded surplus revenue. The government had so much money on its hands. He threw in the Udoji Award. The award brought in baskets of cash to virtually every Nigerian home. Civil servants were inundated with money. Everybody went shopping. There was dancing on the streets. The good times had arrived, or so many people assumed. But it was the beginning of a disaster. As Nigerians shopped, they pushed up inflation. Importation of luxury goods was officially encouraged. Clothing and footwear items, rice, toothpicks, stockfish, cement, ice cream, colour television, videocassette recorder (VCR), vegetable oil and all manner of foreign-made goods were rushed into Nigeria. Overnight our seaports were jammed. The local manufacturing industry was simply asphyxiated by the overflow of imported goods.

Udoji Award left a sour taste in our mouths years after the official ceremony. A class of nouveau riche Nigerians emerged and overturned our social values. We developed an unusually large appetite for foreign goods and an equal degree of contempt for locally made products. Those who could not benefit from the government largesse started a new occupation ñ armed robbery. The Udoji Award remains the most uninformed economic decision made by a military government in Nigeria.

Gowon was overthrown by Murtala Mohammed and his officers. Before Mohammed could even begin to unfold his political and economic programme for the nation, he was cut down by Bukar Suka Dimka and associates. Olusegun Obasanjo the lucky guy found power entrusted on him. He told the nation he was assuming office against his "personal wishes and ambition". He outlined a programme of disengagement of the military and the return to power of elected officials. To his credit, Obasanjo kept his words and became an instant star with the Western powers. Today Obasanjo still enjoys the popularity of that decision to return Nigeria to a democratic government. Never mind that his kith and kin accused and still accuse him of having handed power to Shehu Shagari and his National Party of Nigeria (NPN). Muhammadu Buhari and Tunde Idiagbon could not tolerate Shagaris politically inept and bumbling administration. The duo emerged on the scene carrying outsized koboko with which they hoped to flog Nigerians until they learned how to queue and take turns.

Although Buhari and Idiagbon said part of the reason for their overthrow of the Shagari government was to end the economic mismanagement and financial profligacy of the ruling NPN, as well as to halt the spiraling double-digit inflation, they hardly had time to focus on the economy. They were consumed, it turned out, by their personal desires to instill discipline in Nigerians and to rid the country of the rising wave of crime and drug trafficking. For a while the WAI campaign seemed to function but before Buhari and Idiagbon could settle into power, Babangida emerged with his gap-toothed smile.

Babangida and his troops must be credited for their in-depth knowledge and understanding of the psyche of the average Nigerian. Babangida held up a basket of promises ñ economic revitalisation and accountability in government, capped by a seemingly innocuous programme of political transition. Nigerians hailed the new messiahs. Hardly had Babangida completed reading his inaugural address than Nigerians trooped into the streets to cheer him and his junta as the 20th century saviours. They say if something is too true to be believed it probably is. Babangidas administration turned out to be a government of pretenders. Many people were disappointed by Babangidas failure to keep to his words or to fulfil his promises. He held out so much promise but messed up the opportunities. When Nigerians replay the audio and video tapes of the events that marked the arrival of Babangida, they will surely be outraged by Babangidas unfulfilled promises. Babangida turned inconsistency into a virtue. Not only did he con the nation with his slippery programmes of political transition, the economy was also destroyed during Babangidas eight-year tenure. The naira was devalued. It also lost international respect.

Babangida misread the mood of the nation. He stayed too long on the stage. The day Babangida terminated the 1993 presidential elections without justifications was the same day he booked his exit from office in controversial circumstances. In 1993 the Nigerian public read the riot act and Babangida the messiah was booed out of office. He left in such a disorderly manner he never gave deep thought to his likely successor. Thats why he imposed on the nation political jokers such as Ernest Shonekan and Sani Abacha. Perhaps in Babangidas estimation, anybody was okay to succeed him as long as that person did not bear the name Moshood Abiola.

No matter what they say, past military leaders in Nigeria cannot escape blame for the state of the nations economy and our long-running search for an agreeable political formula.

Prof. Obijiofor teaches journalism in Queensland, Australia.