Harry Garuba

Time to Reclaim Nigeria Harry Garuba

Every Nigerian can tell you their own tale of woe about the state of the country, from stories about the frequency of the petty roadside bribe to the brazen looting of public resources; tales about the deadly infrastructure of roads and the inefficiencies of public utilities. But what most of us do not know is that we can reclaim the country from the corrupt and inept leaders who have turned it into a vast moral desert, a place where nothing works and where there is no conception of the public good. This is precisely what this book admonishes us to do: to reclaim the country from those who have brought us to our knees. As you go through this book, you cannot but agree with the author that it is truly time to do so. This book provides us with a historical record of wrongdoing spanning roughly the just-over-one decade of the return to democracy in Nigeria. It brings together the many columns written by one journalist over the years in different newspapers and magazines commenting on the state of the nation and its leaders, showing us the many wrong turns we have taken on the road. The 65 pieces collected here serve to remind us of the disparities of opulence and poverty that mark Nigeria, the plunder of its resources by an avaricious elite, the venality and chicanery of politicians, the utter disregard for the niceties of governance and accountability, and the list of odiousness continues without let. The repetitive folly the book details is only alleviated by the logic and lucidity of Onumah's prose which compels you to keep reading. - Harry Garuba, Head of Department and Associate Professor, Centre for African Studies, University of Cape Town, South Africa.