“No one can effect change in a society without being directly involved in its political life. It is for that reason that professionals should strongly consider joining politics
By Idika Kalu
Doctors spend close to ten years before becoming fully fledged Professionals. Lawyers spend about six to seven years, soldiers who learn strategy go to NDA for about four to five years, Engineers spend about seven years, Accountants spend about five years, Architects spend about four to six years, Professional Political scientists spend about five years in training. Regular traditional Politicians who run our lives and our country spend about how many years? In which Institute? What is the standard and requirement we have for them? Yet they are in charge of our development as a nation. We can choose to be politically sentimental, or we can choose to look the truth in the face. We cannot continue to do what we have been doing if we want new results as a country and a nation and as a people.
It is only in Nigeria that the most important job of governing lives and determining destinies requires no education, no training, formal or informal and no experience and we are all comfortable with that. The professionals, in particular, are to blame.
Lately, there has been a big increase in the exodus of professionals from Nigeria. Relocating to Canada, Ireland and other part of the world has become a norm for the Professionals. They are all doing this for greener pastures and to flee the insecurity in the country. I wonder if they ever hope to come back and if they, do I wonder who they think is going to fix the country for them.
There is a popular adage that says, “If you must criticize, then you must offer a better solution”. Today, I will be constructively criticizing the professionals and making suggestion relating to what role they can play in towards the development of Nigeria.
Can the professionals come together and also get massively involved in politics instead of running away? Our professionals cannot keep throwing in the towel and running away instead of giving politics a shot as a way of uplifting this nation
Why is it that the professional is always the one in the political background? He or she runs the campaign for the politician. When the political appointee comes in as a Minister, for example, it is the professional that advises the politicians. In essence, if we say the politician is corrupt, then the professional accountant is implicated in the corruption. If policies are badly formulated for the sectors of our economy, for the signature of the politician who has absolutely no professional knowledge of medicine or engineering, the professional is to be blamed.
The Hausa people say that “ babu mungun Sarki kaman mungun bapada”. Meaning that the king is as wicked as his advisers. It is time for us to demand some level of accountability from the professionals in this country. As a professional, when the Minister or Governor or President asks you to come up with a budget for example, do you pad it or not? Do you collaborate or not? As such, when we speak of corruption in this country, the professionals play a very strong role directly or indirectly.
For the Professionals who desire a better Nigeria, running away is not the Solution. It is time for the runaway professionals in Nigeria to start thinking of Technocracy as the solution to our underdevelopment.
We have all that is takes to be an industrialized super-power, but we have embraced the culture of square pegs in round holes. We desire a better power sector. Question is how much knowledge do the people at the helm of affairs in this sector, have about energy in this day and age? If the political appointee does not know, do the professionals know or not? Why should we expect to have development without energy security and how do we expect the politician who has never heard of energy security until his appointment as Minister, to know exactly how to solve our energy problems? Someone will say that I am being idealistic, that the politicians know but simply do not care enough or are more interested in their personal profit margins. They will say that the problem is not that the professionals do not know what to do but that it is the person who is in charge, who has the final decision that does not know or does not listen. Well, it is a fact that wanting to do something is one thing and knowing how to do it is another. No one can give what they do not have so the onus lies on those who know what to do and how to do it.
If the person in charge has the final decision, can the professionals step out of the political background and vie for this position as well? Can they be in charge and have the final decision? Can the professionals come together and also get massively involved in politics instead of running away? Our professionals cannot keep throwing in the towel and running away instead of giving politics a shot as a way of uplifting this nation. I am talking about the professionals who want to see a better Nigeria.
No one can effect change in a society without being directly involved in its political life. It is for that reason that professionals should strongly consider joining politics along technocratic lines.
Professionals should also not tell us that politics is a game of money. They have money if they pool their resources together. They have resources to educate the populace if the political scientist develops political educational strategies which for educating the electorate about technocracy and why it is the only way out of poverty. That is a political resource. If the Run-away Doctors come home and bring resources that they have gathered from their sojourn abroad, that is a political resource. If the lawyers take over our houses of assembly with their legislative prowess, that too is a political asset. Politics is not just a game of money. It is also a game of numbers and the Professionals across board, when pooled together, have more numbers than the traditional politician. I will vote for my doctor and my lawyer for starters. I personally believe that doctors are next to God followed by NDA-trained Soldiers and Lawyers.
