Introduction

To a cursory observer gazing from the outside, Nigeria would seem a paradox. And that paradox befuddles. How is it possible for a nation that produces oil to have epileptic fits of oil supply for local consumption? How is it possible for a nation known to have produced some of the finest minds in the world not to be able to manage its affairs? How is it possible, for a nation that was at the forefront of the political struggle to dismantle apartheid, to have problems putting in place its political system? How is it that a nation with abundant natural resources is ranked among the poor? How is it possible that one of the most religious nations on earth is battling with moral rot? Even more importantly, how does the nation keep on working despite the endemic problems it is saddled with?

Various attempts have been made to answer these questions and various solutions proffered. Many of the options are palliative at best and are more of fixings rather than sound engineering. This treatise dives into the inner workings and psyche of what some have tagged an enterprising dysfunction; it also presents a roadmap on the way forward.