There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to con­duct or more uncertain in its suc­cess than to take the lead in the introduction of new order –Machi­avelli

TODAY the matter is crucial and very germane to the recreation of this nation. For this reason I will talk straight. The matter is about the prop­er examination of the activities of the Buhari administration so far. Those who read my work regularly would agree that I have stated that one year or two years is not enough time to pass verdict or initiate scorecards on governments with four-year tenure; rather what ought to be done is to re­view the leadership attitude, policies, processes, actions and see whether they are in line with the desire for positive change. I have refused to be part of the crowd that behave like the tortoise who had been in the pit for six days and on the seventh day when rescue was in sight, began to scream to his rescuers, “please hurry up, the environment is very hostile.” Our cir­cumstance is bad, if you like terrible and like I observed last week, it did not begin in the last 16 years nor dur­ing the military era even though they contributed their own quota to the mess. It began the minute the tricky colonialists handed over power to their less imaginative local succes­sors who didn’t see the need to create a productive nation.

To cap it all our nation in 56 years of nationhood has never been a value driven society, this perhaps explains more than anything else why things we “ate” in the past and felt it was good have gone sour, causing pains and bringing on us international op­probrium. Any nation that thrives in false life would inevitably come to a point where it must wallow in confusion, dislocations, deprivation and constant internal strive, often of the worst kind; situation remains so until such a society either explodes or summons the courage to reinvent itself. Staging a comeback is not al­ways easy, if the lessons from Russia, China, even America, are anything to go by, rediscovery can be distress­ing, usually a source of discomfort, sometimes including annihilation. China for instance closed her world to the outside society, insisting that they will only enjoy what they have, not what the world offered, and the progenitors of change created entire­ly new culture including new work ethics. The Chinese suffered hard­ship and millions of them had to be killed for the new order to emerge. So when I see my fellow compatriots’ desire magic or quick fix I laugh and wonder where they are from, perhaps it is one of the distortions imposed as a result of military intervention in our politics.

In last week’s discourse, I said three things were necessary for a na­tion to begin the journey into posi­tive statehood. The first is the mood/ desire for change. I said the objective conditions for change must be vis­ible and those who want to pilot the change must be able to see the mood, understand it and convince them­selves they have the capacity to cash in on the prevailing climate to put the nation, particularly the citizens on the path of change. I would explain the latter somewhere in this article because of its importance. I said last week that Buhari is aware of the mood for change, it was this knowl­edge that sustained his repeated quest to be a civilian president. From his speeches, one can deduce that Bu­hari also knows the essence of the kind of change we want, which is to recreate the Nigerian nation and even the people, bring up a society that is productive, where life is full and which has capacity to make unique contributions toward civili­zation. I am also convinced that he knows that mere wish will not take us there; what would is nationalistic vision driven by hard work, sacrifice and discipline. I take the issue of dis­cipline for instance and what comes to mind is the ease with which fellow citizens forget issues that have con­tributed to their misery. By this time last year, one major complaint most Nigerians had against the PDP lead­ership and even the military leaders that preceded them was that of indis­cipline and the poor disposition of supposed servant leaders becoming emperors, the atmosphere was really suffocating. The introduction of Bu­hari is a refreshing one to those who recall vividly what the misbehavior of the political class had been like. Buhari has not only brought integrity but added honesty and am glad to see a Nigerian leader say publicly I won’t “chop” public money and in­sisting his officials must follow this line of sanity. This is the kind of trend all who wish this nation well should support rather than get bogged down by few correctable missteps that are bound to happen in a complicated human task such as nation building. I am still trying to fathom the kind of situation we would have had on our hands if Buhari were not the presi­dent at a time our national income has dropped as result of a drop in the oil prices.

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From what I see, this administra­tion has discipline, and I can also see political will and even though some Nigerians demand a blueprint, I can from what they are saying see where they are going and the strategy is to start from the known and start from the basics and approach the bigger picture; the sound bite is good for the first time. We are talking diver­sification and doing everything to give practical effect to it. Buhari is committed to change but what I am not so sure is whether they appreci­ate the scope of what is at stake and particularly the hazards often associ­ated with any change venture; people loathe change, they can resist it when not properly explained and change can turn awry if the requisite structure to carry it is also lacking. I feel hesi­tant to make this remark but in the interest of the nation I have to, Bu­hari media team needs to be straight­ened and a proactive approach clearly established for its operations, some of the issues that have tended to subtract from the Buhari push has come because the caliber of people who should project and defend the administration are in short supply. The controversy that attended new pricing for petrol could have had the government coming out stronger if the communication section had constructively and massively en­gaged stakeholders and explained to them the good intentions behind the laudable policy, if after this govern­ment went ahead to do what it has just done, it will certainly have more supporters and stand a better chance to win over more people. Even the timing was very wrong; a tactical ad­ministration will at least celebrate its one-year that is just by the corner be­fore jumping into very serious mat­ters. Democracy requires tact and if there is one advice I would want to give, it is that Buhari must learn to always talk to Nigerians here in Ni­geria and play politics.

For Nigerians it’s time we know that nothing of value happens with­out a cost, the quality if price deter­mines the prize, as Pastor Ibiyemeo let me know that it took Brazil 20 years to change levels even after massively borrowing, they went through hell before things turned around; India had to ban textile and luxury cars from abroad and today India is the best in textile and pro­duces her own cars. Our problem is that we don’t want to make sac­rifices yet we want to succeed, it won’t work. Next week we will look at forex, corruption, petrol and insur­gency among others.