The resignation, recently, of the government of Prime Minister Hassan Diab in Lebanon on the heels of the massive protests over the destruction that trailed the explosions in Beirut, on August 4 offers some useful lessons to Nigeria’s lethargic political elite. Lebanon, noted for its flourishing cider trees, witnessed violent protests in the capital city after the explosions in which demonstrators clashed with the police and took over the foreign affairs ministry building and other government offices. The protesters displayed banners that read “resign or hang.” Many blame the explosions squarely on the government’s inaction.
As in Nigeria, aside from debilitating corruption, enervating sectarianism and suffocating parochialism, dysfunction and inefficiency evidenced in state institutions, and governmental system in particular, leave much to be desired. People are appointed into government and leadership positions not based on merit and competence, but in furtherance of sectarian, religious, and partisan interests. Even the country’s army lacks the capacity and firepower, without support from allies, to confront and defeat the militant group, Hezbollah. In fact, the ousted prime minister himself conceded that “corruption has asphyxiated the country.” They are the reasons why the capital, Beirut, a city once referred to as the Paris of the Middle East, now lies in the ruins of its self-inflicted destruction.
For instance, the government, described by an expert as “a government of political warlords…with corruption as its glue,” is blamed for leaving 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate packed inside a Moldova cargo ship belonging to a Russian mogul at the port in the heart of Beirut, for 17 years. The ship was alleged to be heading to Mozambique, but had an ill-fated stopover in Beirut. This highlights the sheer irresponsibility of the government.
Incidentally, even when port personnel reportedly warned government officials of the imminent danger, mum was the word from a captured government that served no national interest, but was characteristically enveloped in inertia until the ship caught fire, resulting in the explosion. It blew out windows at the Beirut International Airport’s passenger terminal, located some nine kilometres away. Scary television footage showed that residents of neighbouring Cyprus, 200 kilometres away from the scene, also felt the impact.
The aftermath was devastating. At last count, at least 171 people were dead, 6,000 injured, 300,000 rendered homeless while the total damage was estimated at about $5 billion. Strikingly, many Lebanese citizens saw the explosion as “a deadly manifestation of government malpractice,” resulting in the street protests that ultimately led to the government’s ouster. It is instructive too that the protesters asked the foreign donors not to channel the funds and relief materials for the devastated victims through the government, claiming they could be cornered by its officials. World leaders had made an initial pledge of $300 million in aid to Lebanon in response. That speaks volumes and is an unhidden vote of no confidence in the political class.
An exasperated Maha Yahya, a Beirut resident and director of the Carnegie Middle East Centre, said during a web panel hosted by the think tank that the explosion’s tragic aftermath was “complemented by a total absence of state institutions. Even the rescue mission has been botched by the government.”
Yahya was spot on when he observed, “The absence of the state and the presence of the people are an example of the kind of criminal neglect by this political class. This sense of not caring for the population is palpable.” This was corroborated by the Lebanese Minister of Economy and Trade, Raoul Nehme, who admitted, “I think it is incompetence and really bad management (that caused the explosion) and there are a lot of responsibilities from management and probably previous governments.”
The above scenario bears striking resemblance with the Nigerian reality where primordial interests, corruption, incompetence and inertia have combined to hobble the functioning and efficacy of state institutions. Like Lebanon, corruption reigns supreme in government circles in Nigeria as clearly shown in the probes into government agencies and serial low rankings of the country in the annual Corruption Perception Index by the Transparency International in recent times.
Typical of the bureaucratic inertia, earlier this year, operators of the biggest Roll-on-Roll-off terminal in Lagos, PTML Terminal, reportedly raised the alarm that no fewer than 2,000 cargoes were abandoned inside its facility because of the failed auction system of the Nigeria Customs Service. The content of the cargoes may not be known after all. It is estimated that abandoned containers occupied 30 percent yard space inside the terminal. This has huge implications for the safety and security of the facility, its environs and the economy. In the likelihood of an explosion in the facility as happened in Beirut, the devastation would be overwhelming, given the state’s population, both in terms of human loss and monetary cost.
Many Nigerians could recall a similar incident that occurred in the Ikeja military cantonment, Lagos, in 2002 when an explosion took place in its armoury. To date, the exact figure of lives lost and damage incurred are not known. What lingers most in the people’s memory was the angry riposte of then President, Olusegun Obasanjo, to a distressed woman who asked why government officials failed to respond in time to the emergency.
Just as Lebanon’s glorious past quickly evaporated on account of sectarianism, Nigeria has not been able to live up to its often-mouthed potential since independence due to, among other factors, the corrupt predilection of its ruling class. Its huge mineral resource deposits notwithstanding, it has since declined in economic relevance, leading to its ranking in 2018 as the world’s poverty capital by the Brookings Institution, overtaking India in the process. Even the war against Boko Haram insurgency is hobbled by base considerations.
However, when state institutions fail, as they did in Lebanon, and are doing in Nigeria, the citizens should mobilise in peaceful protests, a democratic right, to reclaim their nation. It is a legitimate aspiration and obligation. Public outrage expressed in mass demonstrations yielded positive change, though momentary, to the Lebanese citizens. Nigerians, especially the teeming youth population, should not leave their fate and indeed the country’s future wholly in the hands of a despairing and underwhelming political class.
