Nigeria has lost its way — Ndoma-Egba

Former Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, has said Nigeria has “lost its way” and must return to the values and discipline that once defined it as a great nation.

Speaking on The Exchange podcast hosted by Femi Soneye, the former lawmaker and lawyer reflected on Nigeria’s journey from independence to its present state. He said the country’s current challenges stem from a “corrosive shift in political culture and the abandonment of foundational plans.”

Recalling the excitement of 1960, Ndoma-Egba said Nigeria once had one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.“The economy was one of the fastest growing in the world, and the problem was not money, but how to spend it,” he said.

Now 69, Ndoma-Egba began his public service career as a board member at 24 and later became a state commissioner at 26. He compared governance in the past to today’s practices, saying that in the 1980s, most states had only seven to nine commissioners to save costs. While this helped reduce spending, he said it also came at the cost of efficiency.

“I was overseeing what would today be over a dozen ministries,” he recalled, questioning whether the current emphasis on cutting governance costs truly balances frugality and efficiency.

Ndoma-Egba said Nigeria’s institutional weaknesses are rooted in cultural problems, particularly the people’s “excessive deference to authority” and timidity in holding leaders accountable. He contrasted the simplicity of Nigeria’s early leaders with the showiness of modern politicians.“It’s the milieu, the environment that defines… today,” he said, noting that even his mother, who once served as a local government chairman, “walked to work without an official car or residence.”

Reflecting on his time as Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), he lamented that a master plan designed for the region’s development was “abandoned almost immediately” due to political interference.“The Commission was seen by many as a share of the national cake,” he said, revealing that there was a “62-step bureaucratic process for payments” that encouraged inefficiency and corruption.

He added that his efforts to investigate contractors’ allegations were violently interrupted by thugs, an incident that showed how deep the problem had become.

Nigeria has lost its way — Ndoma-Egba