By Theo Adebowale

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Ebenezer African Church, Ekotedo Ibadan was the largest primary school in Western Nigeria. The population of teachers in the school was about 4 classrooms. Each arm had two streams and the equivalent of two head teachers when the Universal Primary Education Programme began. Pupils, teachers and their coordinators were of various characters. Mr Adeogun was a class coordinator, CTR, he went to retake his Grade two Exams annually without luck. He raraly spoke English even though: Vernacular was prohibited. He loved to organise thrift and loans for teachers. He would be the first to collect, and thereafter default. To draw benefit from the welfare package, he came to report that his son in Olivet High School died. When the false report yielded no dividend, he lodged a complaint.
He was shown why he was not qualified. But he tried other means to gain from the palliative. Adeogun’s stream was the most under-developed, least disciplined and most unviable stream. The gist was that some day he was telling his own story of exploits in the school. He did not know that two of the teachers who knew him so well, were listeners. They marveled where he got from the confidence and the language to make his narration. And that is the problem of the leadership in the community of a people who have no dignity. Mr Adeogun in his own case went far away to blow his non-existent ego. These days men that had leadership foisted on them without merit rent a crowd to help them sing a song without rhythm. They forge the lyrics and dedicate the lie to the Most High. The other day, the Executive Governor invited the Executive President to commission projects. His adversaries were waiting at the site of one of the agricultural masterpieces carefully designed and executed to ensure food security. With a special number suspected to have been constructed by a member of his cabinet, well rehearsed, it was launched, oko oloko, oko agbado, simply translated, a rented farm, the maize farm. Dr Olusgeun Agagu, geologist, university don was passionate about the vast deposit of bitumen in the state.
He set up a company to exploit and prospect the commodity, but had to wind down taking to account the cost and benefit. It would take the technology for coal, for tin and petroleum to process bitumen. Without a thought for political implication, the All Progressives Congress Federal Government went ahead to celebrate the wonderful programme of the Peoples Democratic Party government in the state. Six years after, nothing has come out of it. Billions of naira continues to go down the drain because a people would continue to allow themselves to be deceived. Whereas official bottlenecks were blamed for lack of information, since passage of Freedom of Information law, what change in attitude has been recorded? As with bitumen, what comparative advantage would citizens derive from the commodity when petroleum, the cheaper for prospect is on the high sea searching for buyers?
Supposing President Muhammadu Buhari was able to keep his covenant with Nigerians to fix the refineries and construct new ones, or rather as we suggest in this column, direct the oil companies to operate refineries, since inception of his government would Nigeria be facing the avoidable embarrassment of no space in the international market and exorbitant cost of transporting home crude exploited as home? It would require collective amnesia to be faithful, loyal and honest to the state whose leadership flagrantly violates basic principles of policy making.
The Nigerian state prefers to sustain a crop of officials in the refineries over the decades at a very great cost, doing nothing. The Nigerian National Petroleum Company has been running at a great cost at a loss for some years. These and many other revenue generating establishments have been a leakage on the national economy with serious security implications for government and the state with officials not bothered, loading ethnic and religious interests at the expense of good governance.
Funds that could be judiciously employed for development are wasted with impunity, while banditry, militancy, crimes and treasury fleecing have become a norm. The only attempt to refute the theory of collective amnesia, which is #EndSARS has so hit our democratically elected government that is has denied, afterwards admitted sending troops to Lekki, with some expended and live ammunition. Government is considering imposing sanctions on Cable Network News in the order of AIT and Channels. By that they might know that hate speech and fake news would not be tolerated in an atmosphere that is calling for regulation of social media. Not that fake news and hate speech should be tolerated in the modern society; just that extant legislation has been applied successfully by countries that have a clear idea of freedom of expression to maintain decorum.
The knotty issue about collective amnesia is that its beneficiaries may adjust but is victims may be unforgotten. How would I have believed any more an aspirant who had promised to make economic policies that would make gas available at cheaper rates, compel distribution companies to supply power more steadily but cheaply, demonstrating how adorable the task is only for him to tell me stories later, and forbidding a protest, but still expecting me to display loyalty? Vote buying is no doubt a component of collective amnesia but like many human devises, it would soon be exposed as lacking in strength to package self deceit as a preferable alternative to good governance. Not even with the cost on infrastructure, wages and emoluments.
Again, a victim of amnesia is not a material for public display. Political hawks are after him to attack, bully and destroy him. He many play into their hands irredeemably. He needs to be overprotected in order to secure the individual interests of his immediate loyalists. Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan would have had opportunities to educate his people on why he did not construct the road to Otueke throughout six years tenure as President. He was ‘selfless, nationalist and a democrat.’ The same reason Obasanjo did not pay attention to roads in the South West corridor in his own eight years. But collective amnesia is culture bound, the reason PMB gees to China and now to Brazil to procure loans to make not only roads but also rail all over the place unto Niger Republic, and may be beyond and perhaps for ultimate unification of the United States of Africa. Mischief makers may want to permutate a unification of Nigeria and Sudan, which is understandable and perhaps possible in a state of collective amnesia.
Amnesia cannot be backdated. It did not occur to Buhari/Idiagbon during their military years otherwise they would not have terminated the rail project to ease traffic congestion in Lagos then. That would have taken some cost from the Chineze loan and sovereignty requirement. In this land where youths are unhappy that they are excluded from the governmental process, a man who has spent over 20 years in the legislative and executive arms of government at the state and federal levels might not be demonstrating amnesia as far as conceptualization of sovereignty is concerned. When Rt Hon. Rotimi Amaechi was Speaker, Rivers House of Assembly, how much did sovereignty of Nigeria matter to him? When he was Governor River State what was the sovereignty of Nigeria to him and how well did he promote it from his constituent unit?
From reports from default, how would the attitude of amnesia, and collective amnesia help the public servant to situate the sovereignty of Nigeria in policy making.
Regulation of social media is desirable to maintain sanity. But those who are desirous of the task must realize that it is no substitute for collective amnesia they would prefer to plunge the people into. If only they would regard their covenant with the people as sacrosanct and be committed to the terms of the testament, they would minimize the damage of adversarial politicians and sustain legitimacy. Doing otherwise many not be an alternative. The bitter seed planted in Lekki Toll Gate must be uprooted at the earliest opportunity and destroyed forthwith.