13/05/2016
"You can fight all the corruption you want, but the monster will not disappear completely from our shores, as you may wish, insofar as the system nurturing corruption is not qualitatively and comprehensively overhauled. This is because our instrumentalist approach to fighting institutionalized corruption is clearly defective; and, if anything, it is not yielding tangible results. It seems to me that the tragedy we are currently faced with is that the man controlling the levers of our affairs does not seem to understand the implication of his solo approach to governance, that is, an approach in which some shadowy forces hovering behind the throne are conveniently exploiting for the benefit of whatever interest they are representing. Momentarily, we are tinkering with unclear home grown approach; in yet the same breath, we are romancing with worn out measures that would only deepen our existential malaise. As we all know from the experiences of other developing nations, neoliberal agenda in whatever guise or form will not work here as it has not worked elsewhere, even in the so called developed nations of the West. Why don't we put everything on the table in order to come up with lasting solutions to the mess we have individually and collectively created? What we must not do, however, is to insist on an approach in which one individual or select few are allowed to direct the complex affairs of the Nigerian state as it used to be under military dictatorship. Consensus building is better than a situation in which few individuals are allowed to arrogate wisdom to themselves. I believe Nigeria has abundant intellectual and technical resources and, of course, the necessary will to proffer solutions to our fundamental problems, based purely on the application of practical reason. Yes, I also know that we are irreversibly operating in an increasingly globalized context, but achieving success in a complex global system largely depends on our ability to create our own space in it, and to effectively negotiate our way through other spaces. In the context of current global economic uncertainties, moving eastward will be more rewarding than westward. Needless to remind you that the center of global economic gravitation is the East. We have variously tried Western prescriptions to our economic woes, but all to no avail. At the moment, all we need is to understand the merit of engaging in a major economic rethink. All we need to do to understand the futility of uncritically swallowing the neoliberal pills is to look at the gathering storm of economic collapse in Europe and America that will sooner or later end up with serious global cataclysm" Prof. Liman