This week, precisely on May 29, it would be 365 days since fellow citizens voted a new set of leaders into offices. Few were in the saddle but got reelected. The greater number got fresh mandates into different strata of power and authority management. The President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the governors, whether reelected or on new mandate, got fresh authorization from the owners of sovereignty to govern,even as we have seen some turn it to “ruling.” Many virtually turn emperors.
This has been one of the banes of democratic practice in our sphere. It has caused our kind of democratic practice to defy categorization. Even as those in the helm of affairs begin their yearly stewardship accounts rituals, many can›t place their hands on the kind of governance system in place. Is it really civil administration? Democracy? Or pure oligarchy in the guise of democracy .
In truth we can have civilians in charge but their mindset could be revolving around command and control, especially if the entity has had a romance with the military in public governance as in our case. Our governments pull down citizens› residences without caring a hoot about their safety, convenience, comfort and more importantly dignity or even civil rights. They tell you all is in the pursuit of public good. Which public good if the human element has to be maltreated and made to feel less than human? The civil society is a conquered constituency, victim of greed pervasive in the entire strata of the society. Top to bottom.
Advocacy died totally with the conquest by negative forces obviously still on rampage. The people can›t save themselves, they have become vegetables rendered very helpless by a contrived Babylonian system in place, made more vulnerable by hunger and debilitating kind of economic emasculation ever experienced since we got independence. Citizens are “punch drunk” and worse is that they can’t fathom where the deadly blows are coming from.
The judiciary that held out so much hope in the early stages of Independence has become a captive of a system successfully debased. They speak and act the whims and caprices of the decadent section of the ruling class and add a comic side to what should be acts of manifest perfidy by turning round after various dubious outings to ask what is actually wrong with us. They see nothing in the manner pre and post election matters are handled, they seem incapable of comprehending the damage their warped judicial pronouncements do to the leadership recruitment process. In all, people are the greatest losers. They lose comfort and most troubling sovereignty. The Courts, instead of the people, now decide outcomes of what ought to be people›s choices.
This week, precisely on May 29, those in offices, specifically the President and governors would roll drums, in fact they have already started dancing and telling stories, tales about their activities since May 29, 2023. It is usual stewardship time. Many of them have started to celebrate, or reel off what they think are their achievements. Many waste citizens› funds hiring hands to validate what they pass as achievements. In all, they leave the real question unanswered, which if they did would have made the process of stewardship account not only easy but something to look forward to.
The big question is: are Nigerians better off today than they were one year ago? This is the question. It is the crux of the political season; it is also the major yardstick for judging or assessing performance, especially in our clime, where no performance index exists at all. Assessment has become a question of high «subjectivity.» Citizens, and this is very unfortunate, see leadership performance firstly from the point of «relativity», is the administrator from which to divide. If he hails from one›s tribe or faith definitely like Caesar he is above board, he can›t misfire. All he does or even doesn›t do is great and in the overall interest of public good.
Now what is the answer to the question our leaders refuse to ask? Simple! Nigerians are worse off than they were one year ago. Statistics available confirm a downward spiral and the most worrisome would be the fact it is in every aspect of national life. The atmosphere is very hostile to living. We begin from the political front, the concept of sovereignty we tried to hover around albeit peripherally appears to have slipped off totally from our hands. Foreign forces control our affairs and destiny as it is today. This is one truth many of us would not want to hear but which nevertheless we must if the worst won›t come. The process of loss of control didn›t start in the last one year though, this we must admit. Some make it look like a President Bola Tinubu slip, not in its entirety. We will get to the Tinubu era.
Under President Goodluck Jonathan we managed to retain some degree of our sovereignty. Yes, Jonathan told us after he left office that there was immense pressure along the line. It will always be there given the tussle for control and supremacy that go between countries. Under President Muhammadu Buhari things obviously assumed a turn for the worse, except the concept as scholars know it got redefined entirely. He took away power from the people and domiciled it with a retrogressive oligarchy who cared little about the rudiments of good progressive governance methods.
The misnomer proved very costly. He was adept at pan-Arab religious politics and that brought the country into big time ruins. His open border policy to all in Africa without a thought for process accounts for the high insecurity ravaging the country currently. He ran the country in the manner of the General Idi Amin of Uganda with the Central Bank printing and throwing paper money into the economy. Of course everything went down. The country was on its knees economically when President Tinubu took over. So stringent policies became very necessary.
Did the president and the governors, because we seem to place all focus on the president leaving out the governors who also take a large chunk of national earnings. Have they done well in the last one year? Truth is that the lives of the citizens got worse than it was one year ago. Politically, the key issues to national reinvention haven’t been touched at all during this period. Our leaders in truth haven’t run with the nationalist flavour we all had expected. Question of national unity and cohesion has remained a big challenge.
It is growing in intensity today. The President Tinubu hasn›t done a zonal go round, he has holed up himself in Abuja except during stop gap visits to Ondo and Ogun on very private visits. That didn’t help perception. It rather made it seem the Buhari-discredited process was still very much in place. Issue of the national conference has remained muted, adding to doubts. If anything, a section of the northern political establishment has tried to create moves, which have increased fears among component parts that make up our union. The continuous trial of Nnamdi Kanu hasn’t helped the important question of national unity.
Economically, the experience is akin to going from a frying pan into the fire. President Buhari set the stage but it was foolhardy for President Tinubu to have fallen into it without first sparing a thought for himself, his administration and his envisaged legacy when it will be all over. Getting money into the coffers was urgent given the ruination that preceded his coming but a little circumspection on hindsight would have served him far better.
Everybody agreed the subsidy on fuel should go but the approach could have been far better planned. If thought was spared, perhaps the corruption associated with the process would have been taken care of while political will is exerted to establish a supply chain far away from international pricing for fuel and wholesome importation of product found in commercial quantities in the country. Petrol is at the centre of our economy and pricing it so high has left us in far more difficult situations than we would have wished to be.
Companies are folding up and those who have capacity are voting away with their capitals to other countries they believe have very conducive economic climates. We borrow money to fill gaps hoping that in that 4way we can raise the value of our currency. We have seen that it won›t work. It hasn›t worked elsewhere. Truth is we still run the old model of engaging in waste by various formats. In just one year, the President has left the country over ten times. Some of it is to attend seminars. President of a country like Nigeria to attend seminars? To learn what? One area of waste.
Tinubu didn›t bring the calamity but we blame him because he has equally not displayed a new capacity. He has tied himself to old processes and even in doing so hasn›t displayed the ability to lead from the front. If the economy is down and money is very scarce, what to do is begin by personal example, cut taste and events. Senegal just held a presidential swearing in ceremony without filling any arena. This is a good example of frugality. We minimize foreign travelers by those in power and authority. Today governors and ministers and other state officials compete to outdo one another traveling outside the country.
Why should a country experiencing an economic downturn be begging air carriers of other prosperous countries to resume flights from the country? What do the citizens travel out to do? The huge travel drain scares foreign exchange. No problem is solved from the level it was created; if that is the case, to reverse the ugly situation extraordinary efforts would have to be taken. The ideas must change. We think of Nigeria and use it made in Nigeria. Talking about production rather than consumption. There must be a total change in taste and even value.
This hasn›t happened and may not happen. Midweek last week the Central Bank Governor spoke the truth when he admitted there is no quick fix to the economic quagmire. He spoke the truth. The road would be worse if we thread the current path continuously. Those who know history can tell that no country developed by over taxing the citizens. The end point of every taxation ends on the head of the ordinary citizens. The practice is to tax this or that. As we speak, we have seen an increase of tariffs on electricity and interest rates too have gone up, high tariffs hasn›t improved electricity supply.
High interest rates is anti industrialization. Tinubu must be wary of his embrace with International Monetary Fund and World Bank, they don’t destroy third world governments, they emasculate the citizens and their country totally. Tinubu has done well fighting insecurity even though there seem to remain key problematic areas. Coordination is yet to reach the acceptable level. Commitment too is getting low. Food insecurity won’t get away unless we can make it possible for farmers to return to farms. What about mechanized farming?
At this point we observe the lack of cooperation between the states and the federal government, states doing things far different from the federal can›t give the kind of attention we need. There is need for synergy in very critical areas like road, electricity supply, aviation, security, railway development, free education especially on very specialized disciplines such as medicine, agriculture, engineering and the likes. Some of us visited some tertiary institutions and we saw the place were fit even for animals yet that is where train future leaders. Federal Medical Centers are eye sores. What about business credits?
President and Governors waste all the money on mainly road construction with billions and trillions reeled out each week as cost of construction. We are currently in a situation of utter hopelessness. Renewed hope still remains a slogan across the country. Massive suffering stoke the people. People are dying, this is the truth. The people have been told to keep hope alive that after suffering will come the good life , they have been so told several times and in the end suffering multiplies. Hope will only return when our leaders know the real vision and have courage to spend on them.
Truth for we see them prancing about, spending public and yet nothing meaningful is seen or felt. The government can’t pay living wage but it can construct roads running in billions and trillions. We run democracy but feel no qualms about inflicting the biggest injuries on fellow citizens. We destroy shops and residential areas and careless the fate of citizens with children and relatives. Meanwhile, our so-called leaders cruise about in the best cars amid heavy security, telling us they have created the Eldorado which only themselves see and feel. Those who know describe this as, “Audacity of Hopelessness”. We watch and hope things will change very soon too.