By Joel Oseiga
“You cannot get a 4-year mandate, do rubbish for 4 years, become desperate for one month and expect to be returned. Na home you dey go.” -JJ. Omojuwa
Nigerians all over the world are known to be remarkable achievers. You might consider that a highly over-rated statement but if you take your time to look into that statement critically, you will discover the truth and simplicity hidden in it
Honestly, it takes a lot of wisdom to achieve great things internationally and takes even more wisdom to dupe a fellow man. So, from whatever angle you have had to deal with a fellow Nigerian, you will agree with me that we are a bunch of very hardworking, intelligent and strong minded people who love to achieve things even if it is just so we can put it in the faces of our children while growing up, or for the after party. The Reasons for hard work vary from person to person but one thing is sure, whatever the reasons may be, Nigerians just love and take glory in achieving feats. We are a country of intelligent and smart people who would never allow ourselves to be cheated perhaps due to the ‘Nigerian’ blood that flows through our veins. That we are blessed with extremely rich human resources and also, a functioning brain, is altogether a no – brainer.
About a month ago marked exactly a year since Nigerians marched out in large numbers to stand against what I would describe as fifty five years of bad governance. A few days from now will mark exactly 365 days since you resumed at your then new office. We had had our own share of misgovernance and were tired of years of total waste, missing public funds and the recent monumental corruption codenamed ‘Transformation Agenda’. Years when Nigeria sold her oil barrels at very high prices and still had nothing to show for it since those spear heading her ‘transformation’ chose to siphon a very large chunk of it and feed themselves and their family fat with our collective patrimony at the expense of the average citizen. Years when money allocated for the purchase of arms for our gallant soldiers were diverted to private accounts and used to fund totally unnecessary extravagant lifestyles while our lands got socked with the blood of those that defended it. This heist in high places were so bad that it reflected directly on unarmed and innocent Nigerians. The reflection was so vivid that it showed in the ‘stealing’ of a group of young girls from their school in Chibok while the nation watched helplessly.
Indeed it was against the foregoing backdrop, that May 29, 2015, will forever be regarded as a historic date. Nigerians finally had a reason to dance in the streets and smile again as we did on the eve of independence, or so we thought. We were all excited at the sweet rhetoric of Change and total transformation which was good music to the ear ; the promise to slay the Larnean Hydra of corruption; to provide a transparent government, bring our ‘stolen’ girls back home, give us light and to improve the economy of our great nation. We were all in high spirits on that fateful day like little kids waiting to see Santa Claus at Christmas . We danced, laughed even bought free beer for random people in celebration of what we assumed to be the rebirth of Nigeria, the beginning of a better life, but it appears we were disillusioned.
First, I must commend the huge and obvious difference between your administration and the previous in the area of counter terrorism. This was a thorn in the flesh of previous administration as it did not seem to wrap its arms around the issue properly which finally was one of the major things that led to its unpopularity and subsequent downfall. Under your watch, territories have been recovered and our gallant soldiers display the spoils from their victories almost every day. Peace and stability has started returning to high tension zones such as Maiduguri and even a football match was hosted there recently. Places like Plateau state have resumed their day to day activities with very little fear of the unknown which is a huge difference compared to between four to five years ago. Thank you very much sir, you have done well.
Having said that, it is so unfortunate that since you came into power, there have been an unexpected drop in the price of crude oil, a free fall in the value of the naira and an increased global economic tension. Now, that was just unlucky as many people would readily agree! There is no better word to describe your predicament but, the truth is, only one out of ten Nigerians actually know or even care to know how much a barrel of oil is or how much a dollar costs either at official rates or the parallel markets.
To the average Nigerian, if a new president is sworn in and suddenly, he can’t afford to feed his family again, fuel suddenly becomes scarce and the price ridiculously high, the light he wasn’t enjoying before drops to almost nothing , life just suddenly gets harder for him , notwithstanding how much corruption you fight or how many thieves you put in prison, you are a bad man. Of course I personally think you are not a bad man and I strongly believe you mean well for us as a nation but honestly speaking, that’s not what it looks like on the street. We are broke, we are hungry and we are stranded. I am sure you are aware sir that not too long ago, Universities in Nigeria started to shut down because of the harsh effect the economy was having on their students. We want you to continue arresting these thieves but not at the expense of our daily bread.
There is no point dedicating your entire administration to the cause of chasing thieves and fighting corruption if it doesn’t reflect on our day to day lives. If anybody on your cabinet tells you that we Nigerians are solidly behind you just as we were last year, Mr. President not only should you sack him, you should ban him from ever entering your presence forever because that person hates you! We know you are probably having sleepless nights over the State of the Nation and I can only imagine how angry and disappointed you were with the kind of things your SSA on media and minister of state petroleum came on national television to say.Maybe they need to be thought how to handle sensitive matters so they don’t end up making you appear like a very insensitive president who doesn’t care about the welfare of his people.
As regards our economy, like I said in my opening paragraph, Nigeria is blessed with big brains. Highly accomplished and very intelligent economists, some might even be willing to render their services for free. I wonder why we are going through such hardship when we have highly skilled and experienced economists who have achieved a lot in their lifetime and also have a track record of integrity and standing for what is right. These people can be fished out and brought together to make a wonderful economic advisory team. I strongly believe that if an advisory team is gathered, we will be saved from this economic mess we are in as a nation. Let me also use this medium to suggest that you take a look at how Plateau state which is majorly a civil service state generates revenue internally.
Everybody pays their personal income tax; the multinational companies, the small shops in front of houses and even to the wheel barrow pushers. Instead of shooting outside the country to plunge us into more debts, we can come up with ways of raising money from within. If people are taxed with amounts that can actually be paid and can see what the money is being used for, then Nigerians will happily go to the banks to pay what is due. Also, you spoke about diversifying the economy and agriculture playing a major role in this diversification but then, with all due respect sir, I don’t see any seriousness in that. The amount allocated to the agricultural sector in a 2016 budget that still hasn’t been signed as at April, 2016 does not show any seriousness at all. That amount is even too small to run the agricultural sector not to talk of making it a major source of income for our country.
Dear Sir, I must sieze this opportunity to comment on your handling of some internal security issues since you came on board, a case in point being the ugly episode between members of the Shiite Islamic sect and a convoy of the chief of army staff leading to the massacre of members of the former by the later in zaria, kaduna state late last year. Up until this day, the leader of the Islamic sect is still held by security operatives neither has anyone been indicted over the extrajudicial killings and mass burial in shallow graves of the members of the sect. Not only does this speak of you as a former army general still battling with the officialise of life in civilian garb, it paints you as a leader with little or no regard for the Rule of Law and the uncontested sanctity of the human life. Suffice it to say that pundits are watching and all of these may add up in the future to rob you of the popularity that brought you aboard this ship of power. Also, the recent recurring killing of innocent Nigerians by some armed herdsmen.
Mr. President Sir, there is nothing more disheartening than reading news about selfless and defenseless fellow Nigerians losing their lives. The newly adopted man slaughtering and genocide approach by this group of herdsmen is shocking and heart breaking. The frequency of the attacks by these ‘terrorists’ masquerading as herdsmen have continued to increase with an impunity that must be checked. We may recall that in March, more than 50 persons were killed in Agatu local government of Benue state ; 19 people declared missing in Uzo-Uweni in Enugu state in February and more than 48 people have been murdered again in Enugu not too long ago. The perceived silence from the right authorities in my opinion gave these heartless groups of herdsmen more reason to orchestrate more attacks, Mr. President Sir, as the chief security officer of the country, your first service to the nation is to protect lives and property therefore, you should as a matter of fact name these group of herdsmen what they are, terrorists and treat them as such.
Mr. President, we love the fact that you are traveling all around the world in order to attract more industries and trade to our great nation. A very big development being the recent deal we had with china. Thank you very much. But sir, who wants to invest in a business where you just might lose? Nigeria has a ripe market, yes I agree but we don’t have the electricity which is the soul of any industry. In fact, of recent, electricity has become so bad that I am tempted to ask what Mr. Fashola is doing at Abuja. Words cannot even explain how great our sufferings are as regards the scarcity of fuel. Most of the time that would have been used in self and country development is being spent at petrol stations. I know you know this but then, it is taking too long. It’s been over 6 months now that this issue of fuel scarcity started. That’s definitely so long a time for that problem not to have been solved. Who else can we turn to for questions? You are both the minister of petroleum and the president of Nigeria.
Although eleven months is too short to judge your administration, it is enough to know if you are on track or not. Well, we are still a bit confused but our hopes are still high. We still hope you will bring the desired change. The one we sang about during elections and the one we voted you for. We love you Mr. President and for the love of Nigeria, we hope everything works out fine. I know that seat isn’t easy and of course, I can only imagine but uneasy has always been the head of he that has the Crown. I wish you the very best in restructuring our country and rewriting our history.
Joel Oseiga is a Cyber Security Expert, Political Analyst and the Director of New Media for Kowa Party, he tweets via @joeloseiga
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