Patriotism With Usman: Enhancing Patriotism Through National Identification Numbers

 

It is said that Nigeria has a population of about one hundred and eighty million (180,000,000) people spread through a total area of nine hundred and twenty three thousand, seven hundred and twenty two square (923,722) kilometers. They cut across various socio-economic, religious, ethnic and political affiliations yet over the years there hasn’t been any accurate statistic about Nigerians. Amongst these Nigerians are students, civil servant, the aged, the young and the unemployed. Lack of accurate statistics has hampered policy and decision making by all tiers of government in the country. In the country today, it is very easy for an individual to have multiple personalities with different names and identities rubbishing all attempts made so far to have a reliable data base of Nigerians. Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) records, phone registration (NCC), FRSC driver’s licences and all government agency records are replete with inconsistencies and multiple registrations. Unpatriotic elements falsify names, ages, addresses, signatures, work places and certificates at will and with impunity in order to wrongly take advantage of the government and the system. There is therefore a need for the system to be set right. 

 

Of a truth, it will not be out of place to assume that the fault lies with the leaders who emerged during the early post colonial era. While their counter parts, who were also colonized, put every machinery in motion for effective data collection on their citizenry for proper planning and policy making for future purposes, our leaders were more interested in the comfort, honor and prestige power gave them. They capitalized on the naivety of the people to emphasize regionalism and inadvertently ethnicity and tribalism. This way, they were able to garner the support of their indigenous people who made heroes out of them although at that time, not to the detriment of the country at large. (This will be the topic of discussion for another day). 

 

And so it was that they failed to plan for the future generation. They built schools, hospitals, prisons, roads and other infrastructure without a work plan because they had no statistics of Nigerians which was supposed to guide policy decisions. They did not keep adequate records of births and deaths and did not monitor patterns and trends of growth, therefore most of the developmental infrastructure provided were grossly inadequate for an ever growing and versatile nation. The result of this haphazard approach to social policy was that a lot of things went out of hand for the future generation. Crime went undetected, corruption skyrocketed, the economy took a downward turn, and things that were hitherto affordable such as feeding of tertiary institution students became unaffordable over night. This was the situation that led us to our present state.