Thanks be to God for the gift of life that is in us. Today marks a very important day in the history of our great nation and the entire world. For on this day many years back, a patriot was born. A man committed to the progress and advancement of humankind. On such an important anniversary, it is pertinent to address certain national issues.
NIGERIA TODAY
Once again, our beloved nation is at a major crossroad in its history, a time when we go to the polls to elect our representatives in government. Political campaigns so far have been characterized by violence, deceit, calumny and hate speech as has been witnessed in many previous elections. Although in paper many pacts and pledges have been signed by political aspirants promising to promote peace among their supporters and run issue-based campaigns, this has not reflected in the build up to the much anticipated 2015 general election.
Going by the time table released last year by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), for the forthcoming election, we should have only 24 hours away from the presidential election. Although the recent decision to shift the polls by six weeks may have been politically motivated, the reasons cited for this action cannot be overlooked. The electoral commission had on many different occasions insisted that it was adequately prepared for the smooth conduct of the exercise. But how prepared were they really???
As stipulated, one may only take part in the voting process if he/she has a Permanent Voters Card (PVC), and at the moment, more than 20 million eligible voters are ye to receive their PVCs. It is therefore ridiculous for INEC to claim it is fully prepared to conduct free, fair and credible elections. Could there indeed be something fishy going on as alleged by the ruling party? Whatever the case, like I have argued previously, INEC has no right to disenfranchise anyone. It would have been an unwise decision to go ahead with the conduct of the elections when such a large number of registered voters were yet to receive their cards.
PERFORMANCE OF THE GOVERNMENT
Four years ago Nigerians turned out en masse to vote Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as President of this great nation in what has been widely acclaimed as the most credible election in the history of Nigeria. With so much expectation, we believed that this man coming from the minority in the South-South region, a man with unique antecedents having been familiar with the predicaments of the common man as he ‘once had no shoes’, will finally rescue Nigeria from many years of misrule by corrupt regimes and bring the country some good luck. Many who hoped for a better Nigeria under his leadership have been left heartbroken.
The massive corruption in the country orchestrated by a culture of impunity in the Jonathan-led administration has left many to continue languishing in the midst of plenty. Unfortunately, the various challenges confronting Nigeria has left the economy in a state of decline. Under the watch of President Jonathan, corruption and inefficiency has left Nigeria at the mercy of unscrupulous government officials that continue to loot the nation’s resources while the poor masses struggle to make ends meet. Too many cases of corruption have been swept under the carpet to the dismay of the citizenry.
President Jonathan whom we thought would be our hero may just have given his political opponents more than enough justification to criticize his government and work against his reelection bid. As long as the often quoted GDP that places Nigeria as the largest economy in Africa does not translate into sufficient jobs for the unemployed and better welfare for citizens, it amounts to nothing!
In all of this, the fact that the present administration has recorded many key achievements cannot be dismissed. Progress has been made in the fight against insurgency and many sectors of the economy like agriculture, education and the movie industry have improved. Many universities have been created to address the plight of students seeking admission for degree programmes; Nollywood, Nigeria's movie industry has also witnessed significant improvement. But these have been overshadowed by the alarmingly high rate of corruption in the land.
FROM WHERE COMETH OUR HELP???
Just a few years back, a group of political parties came together to form a strong coalition, the All Progressives Congress (APC) to challenge the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that has taken charge of the Federal Government since the commencement of the Fourth Republic. This news came with great joy and hope for a better Nigeria as many believed the perfect opportunity had come to sack the PDP that has been in power for 16 years characterized by massive corruption and abuse of power to the detriment of the citizenry.
But soon the story began to take a different dimension as events continued to unfold. This new party formed to bring change to the political leadership of Nigeria after consistently criticizing the ruling party for 16 years of misrule and mismanagement of resources, began a massive recruitment from PDP. What a mess! No sooner than later, the All Progressives Congress (APC) had acquired into its fold, many PDP stalwarts, once sinners, now saints. These ex PDP members now make the loudest noise when criticizing the PDP for 16 years of bad leadership, 16 years during which they partnered with the PDP and implemented PDP policies. Could this be change??? I read recently, an article where someone described the APC as an Association of Past Criminals…..
The major opposition party and its Presidential Candidate, a former Head of State, General Mohammadu Buhari, have promised to tackle corruption and promote democratic norms if elected into office. I find this too hard to believe considering the stock of leaders in the APC and their antecedents. I believe the APC has taken the wrong step in picking General Buhari as its presidential candidate. Buhari led the most authoritarian regime in Nigeria. One may argue that we have had a military leader, Obasanjo, as President but the level of human rights violation under Buhari’s regime was epic and has no comparison with his colleagues. He is not fit to run a democratic government and I can’t see him according much respect to our democratic institutions. Be it under a military or civilian regime, no one who orders execution with a backdated degree deserves a second chance in governance. Buhari has a lot of questions to answer for the litany of crimes and abuses carried out under his reign as Nigeria’s military leader.
It should also be recalled that the former Head of State made series of inciting statements in the build up to the 2011 election that produced Goodluck Jonathan as President. He did virtually nothing to calm the post election violence that claimed so many lives and rendered people homeless. Politicians must stop acting like they own Nigeria.
With the poor performance of President Jonathan during his first term in office, one may feel Buhari is the man to liberate us from bondage. But I must say here like one of Nigeria’s renowned playwrights once said, that the grounds on which Gen. Buhari is being promoted as the messiah are faulty. Some opportunists may be taking advantage of our displeasure with the present government by presenting just anybody as the messiah to save this nation from decay. We must be careful how we express our discontent with the present administration. The anything-but-Jonathan syndrome may lead to the mistake of 2015.
THE WAY FORWARD
Corruption in Nigeria poses a more serious threat than Boko Haram. Government must stop paying lip service to this war and ensure that there are no sacred cows. The running cost of government should also be reduced drastically and agencies with overlapping functions should be scrapped to check the massive looting that goes on in the country. Government should be more prudent by reducing their spending spree and redirecting resources to development efforts that will result in the creation of employment in many sectors of the economy.
If after five decades of coexistence, we still habour fears over who or what region produces the next leader, our political structure needs serious reforms or review. We must fashion out a system of government that suits us and make legislations that guarantee the progress of every segment of the society. Facing the reality of our religious and cultural diversities will help in addressing the structural problem of Nigeria and facilitating speedy development. The government will also be closer to the people allowing them to contribute meaningfully to the development of the country. In addition, it will give the federating units an opportunity to look within and harness more resources other than crude oil that currently constitutes the bulk of our exports. This will help to promote accelerated economic development.
In the match towards national greatness, the role of the political leadership cannot be overemphasized. Considering the fact that politics is the authoritative allocation of values, effective leadership devoid of ethnic or sectional interests is required to ensure that the scarce resources of society are well distributed. It is important that Nigerian leaders back their policies with ideological commitment and political will in order for the institutions of government to be more effective. Government must ensure that social mobility does not outrun political institutionalization.
It is my hope that whoever takes over the task of leading this nation come 29th of May 2015, will give priority to the implementation of the 2014 National Conference report. The recommendations made at that conference reflects the views of representatives of virtually all the stakeholders in the Nigerian project and it must be accorded great respect by whatever party takes over government at the federal level. This will for the first time in our history justify the “we the people” preamble in our constitution.
I rest my case.
Michael Akusu
Distinguished Senator-in-the-making
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