I missed a week of writing. I had seized the Id el Fitr to visit my parents in Enugu and show them their granddaughter. It was a much-awaited visit – I had not seen them in a year, and my daughter was already six months old. They needed to see her before she turned one. We packed like the Israelites on the eve of the first Passover: the holiday came a day earlier, and we needed to use every bit of it before work resumed.
I tried to write, but the flurry of activities did not permit. Additionally, being away from my own space made it more difficult to get to work, and my group’s Corporate Financial Accounting (CFA) assignment needed urgent attention. We had two meeting sessions, each lasting at least two hours; and we also needed to get some preparatory work done before the sessions. Since I needed time to be with my parents, I could not afford the extra time (after we had done CFA) for writing the blog posts. Today, I write, and make a comeback.
The road trip to Enugu was smooth and enjoyable, although the road was bumpy for several sections. That was the first time traveling from Abuja to Enugu by road in 14 years. It was great to look at the beautiful vegetation, topography, and human settlements all along the way. I saw the moribund Ajaokuta Steel City again. After forty-four years, the Steel company remains still – four decades of no production. It is rumored that there is a use of portions of the complex to produce iron rods but over ninety percent of the complex lies untouched. All the composite and supporting facilities lie fallow: a rail line (now used for infrequent passenger transport from Warri to Itakpe), housing estates, hospitals, and a business community. Ajaokuta was an industrial city that never happened.
I thought about the mammoth taxpayers’ money invested in the dead complex and the opportunities lost – steel rolling, vehicle manufacturing, other equipment manufacturing, allied industries, and the multiplier socio-economic effects. Unemployment would have been at lower rates had Ajaokuta succeeded, many allied companies, and indeed numerous sectors of the economy would have received a boost too. All the benefits of the steel mill lay in ashes created by political instability and a visionless (and wicked) political class.
I wondered to myself if I could have made any difference if I belonged to the political class and had the necessary political power. I wondered if I knew enough now to create a progressive and epoch-making government if I was magically conferred with the required political power. I thought about what action plan I could use to revive and operationalize the steel complex if I was appointed its Managing Director. Would I be able to create change? Would I be successful in persuading the powers that be to commit to revitalizing Ajaokuta? Am I politically savvy enough to navigate the socio-political factors bedeviling Nigerian society? My questions ran on and on. I realize that my country needs urgent help. Yes, we are well-schooled and traveled people, but we have been unable to solve our basic problems as a people. What then is the value of our many learning? What then is the value of my MBA? How do I ensure that my many education results in practical problem-solving for my immediate society? I resolve to go for that higher calling.
Featured picture by Fernando Arcos on pexels.com
