By Bilesanmi Abayomi
A Nigerian musician, singer, and the youngest son of the famous Afrobeat pioneer, Fela Kuti, Oluseun Anikulapo Kuti, who is called by the name Seun Kuti and spoke to the Kosofe Post at the maiden edition of the Elijah Tobi Obishakin (ETO) foundation colloquium held last weekend in Lagos, said what we need in Nigeria is a socialist.
The Afribeat singer, who leads his father’s former band Egypt 80, discloses that Nigeria is not only governed by the people, is not owned by the people and run for the people, and is used by the people because everything is Commonwealth.
He stated that God did not, or the ancestors did not, put limestone in the ground of Nigeria so that Dangote could be a billionaire. It was put in the ground so that Nigeria could have limestone to build their homes.
He noted that the situation now is that Dangote has become a billionaire with the same resources that should be beneficial to Nigerians, while some are homeless.
Explaining further, he said, “In the 1970s, Nigeria’s oil was publicly owned, and the land was publicly owned.” None of these things were run privately by an individual. “It was run by the government, be it a corrupt government.”
Kuti noted that there was still enough for the people because they were not feeding their excesses. He decried that presently, Nigeria’s Commonwealth resources—oil, limestone, and land—are being used to feed the excesses of a few to the detriment of many.
He stated that the only difference then was that, now, everywhere was full of private jets, yachts, and people-owned homes all over the world, while Nigerians themselves have access to none of the wealth that their Commonwealth generates.
According to him, “when they were privatizing Nigeria, when SAP was being agreed to and the IMF loans were coming in, the agreement was that let’s enrich a few individuals so they can invest in the country.
“However, what we have is that we are enriching a few individuals, and they’re still enriching themselves and investing in only themselves to have world-class homes. We don’t have homes; they have world-class transportation or private jets and the best cars; we don’t have decent public transportation. So I think that is what is different in Nigeria today. And we, as humans, look for a way to wrestle our wealth out of the hands of the few and back into public ownership,” he asked Nigerians.
Speaking on the possibility of using the forthcoming election to wrestle Nigerians’ wealth out of their few hands, Kuti said he doesn’t think Nigerians understand their part as the election draws nearer.
He said it’s only we, the people, that can save Nigerians, especially the Nigerian professionals; they have a large role to play because they hold the power. People’s power is mostly within the professionals, and the professionals of Nigeria.
However, Kuti urged Nigerian professionals to be good people by aligning with Nigerians, not the oppressors, saying, as soon as the professionals of Nigeria also decide not to be complicit and decide to align themselves with the people, they will refuse to do the bidding of the elite because the oppressors of Nigeria are not destroying Nigeria by themselves.
Kuti said they need the willingness and complicity of the professionals—police or soldiers—who are willing to brutalize and bastardize their citizens because of the illegal orders of some politicians. He added that even in the court of law, judges and lawyers are willing to constantly defend the oppressors to the detriment of the people.
Kuti lauded the ETO Foundation for the initiative while urging others to also try their best and imploring Africans not to diminish education.
He said, “I think it’s a very good initiative for many young people in Nigeria to think there is a spiritual awakening for political freedom in this country; whether we like it or not, everybody knows internally that something is waking up inside of them.
“We are trying; everybody’s trying their best, and I think this is Obishakin’s best effort as well. I think we should all be trying, you know, but in the process of trying we should also not diminish education. Africans need to learn, know themselves, study our history, and know the things we’ve tried before that didn’t work so that we don’t keep doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results.”
Continuing, he said, “We all just have to play our part.” Nigerians should not think that some people are going to fix Nigeria for them. You can join a political party and dedicate those two or three hours to the meetings of the party when your party needs you there; that beats any book you want to read or anything that you are developing, so for me, that’s what we need to do.”