It might, on
account of the sheer number of Nigerians or Nigerian-born persons performing
remarkable feats across the world, seem another story of ordinary compatriots
making good. But the report the other day of Adewale Adeyemo, otherwise known as ‘Wally’, who was appointed Deputy National Security Adviser of the
United States by President Barack Obama,
is exceptionally remarkable and should lift the spirits in these gloomy times.
Nigerians are renowned for excellence in every sphere of human endeavour, but
Adeyemo’s ascent to that level of power in America is real testimony to
commitment to excellence and the indomitable spirit of a people.
Born 34
years ago to a Nigerian school teacher-father and his wife, a nurse, both of
whom moved to the United States in search of a better life for their children,
Adewale Adeyemo has been acknowledged as a superstar of the Obama
administration. He has been credited with helping to end the global economic
recession, which started in 2008, in which much of the world is still reeling
but from which the United States has largely recovered.
Indeed, the
words of the American President are unequivocal in the assessment of Adeyemo’s
worth to the U.S. and to the world. “At the Treasury
Department (America’s equivalent of the Ministry of Finance), he was part of
the team that helped coordinate our response to the global recession, laying
the foundation for renewed growth at home and abroad,” said President
Barack Obama.
An effusive
Obama went on: “Adeyemo helped establish the Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau and he has been our point person on a range of
international economic issues, including negotiations on strong currency
agreements.”
He then
concluded by saying that he “will be calling on Wally’s
intellect and judgment” as America seeks to sustain its global economic
leadership, “which reinforces our national security…”
Adeyemo had
before now been deputy chief of staff at the same Treasury Department among
many other powerful positions he earlier held, and, with his new job,
speculations are already rife that he is set for higher things. The height to
which a man with Nigerian roots has risen now in the American power equation is
enough reason for joy.
And if you
are one of those who think the dancing over Adeyemo is beginning to take on the
air of over-celebration, add another Nigerian name, which popped up as having
made a great stride in medical practice. Bennet
Omalu, the first pathologist to report chronic traumatic ancephalopathy in
professional American footballers, wrestlers and other high impact contact
sport athletes as well as military war veterans. He made the discovery by
probing the obvious mental and physical degeneration before death of some star
athletes and his curiosity led him to this particular form of brain damage they
had suffered while plying their trade. The story of Omalu’s discovery is now
the subject of the much-anticipated movie, “Concussion,” with the famous actor,
Will Smith, playing Omalu.
Omalu’s
discovery, like many such ground-breakers, of course, earned him the ire of the
professional sports world, which claimed Omalu seemed to have concluded that
sports was unsafe. Even so, the authorities have been compelled to act on the
strength of his findings and contact sports will never be the same again.
Omalu’s discovery has even spurred better funding for research into a cure for
the condition, towards highlighting the need for better education on sports. Omalu,
from Enugu-Ukwu, has been named Health Hero 2015 in the U.S.
In all
spheres of life, Nigerians, especially in the Diaspora, have notched up feats
that change the narrative often re-inforced by the international media of a
nation populated only by crooks, scammers and ruled by thieving elites. These
achievements have, nevertheless, exposed the ineptitude of Nigeria’s leaders
and challenged them to a better utilisation of human capital. For, were Adeyemo
and Omalu home-based, their stars shining as they do now are a possibility. A
more potent possibility, however, is that those stars would probably have been
extinguished by a bureaucracy that stifles merit, a system that is the
graveyard of talents.
Nigeria has
had and is facing very daunting challenges. It has often perched perilously on
the edge of an abyss. There are times, indeed, when it seems only elegies are
left to be written about the country. Her potential greatness having been
squandered by inept leadership, various ills assail Nigeria’s soul, weakening
further an already damaged giant and making the reality of obsequies seem only
a matter of time.
We all
railed against the American diplomat, John
Campbell, who predicted the just ended year, 2015, as the appointed date of
Nigeria’s demise. But we all actually acknowledged that his prognosis had some
basis in real evidence and, even if patriotic instincts would not let us admit
it, most Nigerians expected the worst. Remember the airports on the eve of the
last elections and the multitude running as far as their pockets could take
them?
Then the
2015 elections came and went smoothly!
In a classic
demonstration of the true meaning of democracy, the people said they would be
ruled on their own terms as enshrined in the national covenant and that they
were capable of changing their rulers when such fail in the service to which
they were consecrated. The transition went even more smoothly and Nigeria
pulled off a miracle of sorts!
But Campbell
and his prediction are not shamed yet. The continued pauperisation of the
people, inequities in the land, compounded by a weak, wobbly and monumentally
fraudulent federal structure have yielded such gangrenous manifestations in the
nation’s body as threaten her life or, at best, may consume her limbs. And a
lot of work still needs to be done to prevent a situation in which it would be
said that Campbell got only the date wrong.
It is
against this background that the news about Adeyemo and Omalu are very pleasant
reminders of who Nigerians truly are. Or what it means to be Nigerian. Brilliant,
talented, hardworking and assertive, the Nigerian, from the North to the South,
the East to the West, is one who masters his or her environment and conquers it
for good. Nigeria’s purpose is clear: United in diversity, fierce in the battle
for peace and unrelenting in the work of prosperity for all.
But there
are serious worries over corruption and the elevation of self over anything
else, which is at the root of the nation’s leadership shortage. Character is so
much in short supply, a particularly tragic deficit that runs through all
strata of the society. Hence, greed rules!
The economy
is in danger and poverty has made mince-meat of the majority, while a few have
cornered the common wealth for their personal selves. If only members of the
ruling or looting elite would appreciate, as former British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, once said, that wealth
must serve more than the wealthy, fortune should be for more than the fortunate
and riches should enrich not some of the people but all of the people, and that
wealth can only be sustained when it is shared.
In this
atmosphere of despair, however, stories such as Omalu’s and Adeyemo’s are
pointers to the endless possibilities for Nigeria’s redemption. (Source:
Guardian)
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