In Nigeria today, there are lots of dreams and aspirations that reality seems to have faded away with the winds. Everyone seems be living on hopes and dreams and even old dreams have been replaced by new dreams. Very Funny!Where should one begin and where should one end? The level of dream is such that people virtually live through reality in the pages of newspapers and broadcast media. Every action and inaction, bills and budgets, figures and accounts are only read or heard in the print media, broadcast media and social media. Nobody seems to care anymore.
Our leaders and administrators go through each day with empty promises in the name of manifesto, empty declaration and even the agencies, regulatory bodies and ministries are not left out with their empty ultimatum without any implementation or follow-up. Maintenance culture has been relegated to the gutters for corruption to eat it up. For how long are we going to continue like this? One era will tag it re-branding, another will label it transformation agenda and the later will pronounce it ‘change’, all these names are only classified in the pages of Newspapers and Magazines, radio and TV jingles, billboards, etc. Gone are the days political statements were, ‘I will water and fire the community/state, if you vote for me’.
Usually, the first year of a new tenure is for congratulatory messages, redeeming pledges and paying back personal debts, just as the congratulatory messages have already began to resound in the media and this goes on till 100 days in office. The following 100 days or second year is to go through the past governments’ budgets and accounts, recovery of lost revenues and funds, paying off old debts accrued by the past government. The next 100 days or third year in office is to practically try out some projects, awarding contracts and attempting some constructions. The last 100 days or fourth year is to campaign for his or her second tenure is to campaign for fellow party candidates if that’s the 8th year or 2nd tenure. At that time the gullible ones will start using statements like, “but he/she tried oh, look at all the things he/she (governor, president, minister, senator, commissioner, etc) did within this short period”. He/she sets up one structure or sand fills one major road and it’s all over the news, “why don’t we give him/her a second chance, vote or support X, Y, Z for continuity”. If I may ask, in the first place, were they voted or sworn-in to try? Is Nigeria a project that one can just try out at any given time and abandon? For crying out loud, this individual, commissioner, minister, president, governor, etc was voted or appointed to carry out a task, the people count on him/her to deliver his office dutifully. Therefore, he/she shouldn’t just try out and expect the next tenure to finish up or even abandon it for some other person to carry on.
The next step is re-run and election, when in this bid for re-election, if not elected, the next administration ensures that every project the other administrator ever embarked on goes into shambles. Perhaps, they are not of the same political party. Maintenance culture again is thrown into the wind. If the past government was embarking on education project, the new government will literally pack up the files and start with interior or foreign affairs. Whoever said the education project cannot be completed in the new era? Does it make the new government appear less of his personal judgment or less in charge of his administration? Our leaders most times would display their greed and selfish interests in all their projects, desperately fighting for fame or more support than the other and in that bid display their high level of irresponsibility. This is usually more pronounced with our Legislators shamelessly displaying their barbaric manners: in every transition, a new government, the same people, different political party with same agenda.The same people in different uniform, how do lawless people make the law?
I remember a minister of power speaking in one of the media interviews that his administration wants to ensure that at Nigeria’s golden jubilee celebration, there will be uninterrupted power supply. That it is targeted at providing something for Nigerians to celebrate at 50. How old is Nigeria today? Nigeria is a dream! A friend will continue to lament that the last time there was power supply in their area was in March, some others, December last year and so many others with their own stories. One question I keep asking, “How do these people cope?” Not long ago, there was a bidding project for power generating companies for various states on the media and it went on and on for hours on major broadcast channels across the country, this I believe was an avenue for Nigerians to know the caliber of organization or people bidding for and embodied with the responsibility of supplying power to the masses and to showcase how transparency can bring about the appropriate change, after the media show, how far?
In case our government do not know, most people live on generator, most small and medium scale industries operate on generator even large firms survive only on generator, constituting noise pollution, health hazards and nuisance to the community not to mention the number of families generator fumes have wasted away in their sleep. These entities use petrol everyday yet pay electricity bills, how then are their income and profits generated. The residents who live on generator have to cue up at Petrol stations whose respective reading meters have been adjusted easily extorting and cheating the masses. A litre of petrol officially sold for #87, the masses with their Jerry cans and gallons buy at #100 in the name of buying in cans. I always marvel at the relationship between a meter pump price and a Jerry can, is it that the meter is now sensitive enough to determine a Jerry can and a car fuel tank? Ordinarily, if our Power supplies were fair enough, people will not litter Petrol stations with Jerry cans. If one has no automobile, what else will he or she use Petrol or diesel for in this country? There should be an obvious difference between ‘a black market’ transaction and a supposedly legitimate Petrol station transaction. If this cheating continues, most petrol stations will be littered with people’s generating sets since the regulatory bodies will no longer do their jobs and carry out maintenance and compliance checks and curb these extortion.
An elected government will go into power, make a list points-agenda and even add more points to the ones in place, is he/she writing a book? Nigerians do not care about the number of points-agenda because they end up achieving none, a majority of the people in Nigeria today clamour for Electricity. With uninterrupted power source, Nigerians will survive, Unemployment will minimize if not eradicated, people will employ themselves, most small scale business are going bankrupt because loads of expenses on petrol to run their generating sets. With Electricity, youth restiveness will reduce. Trekking from places to government house was the latest, who knows what next they will bank on. Employed or engaged youths will not go about trekking away useful days and hours of productivity.
With Power supply, ministries and commissions of water resources do not need to provide water because they have not done that in decades, Nigerians will keep making bore-holes and providing water for themselves. Agriculture and farm produce will grow extensively, farmers will improve and succeed. Education system will get better; students will study better and succeed. Most students do not read anymore partly because they go to school during the day but battle with darkness when they want to study at night. Of course not every community will benefit from the fair power supply but for a start, it can be introduced in the urban areas then gradually to rural areas.
When we have maximum Electricity, many sectors will improve and the economy will improve. Telecommunication, Aviation, Women and Youth empowerment, Health, Information and Technology, etc will all improve. Service providers and manufacturers will likewise improve. A colleague will say, ‘how I wish electricity issues in Nigeria will be resolved in my life time, let there be light for complete 24hours in a day, not a complete week oh, I’m ok’. Our leaders and administrators travel to other parts of the world even some countries in Africa yet they do not see the need to provide basic amenities to improve this country. They keep depending on foreigners to come and improve Nigeria. Even when they make headway in a project, they will end up envisaging the impossibilities instead of being optimistic, making a wild goose chase at the end of their tenures.
Presently, the Federal Government is looking into tracing looted funds and all and Legislators are setting committees for review into reducing their allowances, these all avenues to curb our excesses and manage our resources, they are all courageous patriotic steps, but I hope all these brilliant ideas do not end up in the media thus creating another wild goose chase.
Back in the days of “Ghana must go” era, Nigeria ordered African illegal immigrants mostly Ghanaians to leave the country, Ghanaians went back home and have since transformed their country. Even the Ghana currency today rates above Nigeria currency. Now is the time for Nigerians to come back home and reform their country too. Corruption has so eaten deep that even our children are not left out, the youths have gone worst. Who then are the leaders of tomorrow since the elders are not wise enough to inculcate good morals to the younger generation. There is no doubt that most developed world is corrupt too but with the level of Corruption in the country, it wouldn’t even let her get to a developed nation. Nigerians should stop shying away from their problems or covering them up but deal with it, everyone is involved in this task, rich and poor, old and young, literates and non literates, leaders and followers, Nigerians in Diaspora and Nigerians at home. Perhaps, this is the time to use the slogan, “Nigeria must go” for other nations and “Nigerians must come” for people in Nigeria. Administrators, Legislators, Executives, Judiciary, Civil and Armed forces, Government Agencies and Ministries, Regulatory bodies and Industries should study, learn and know their job descriptions, know their jurisdictions, apply them diligently, follow it to the latter and curb the excesses, “he that does not work, let him not eat”. Anyone who does not know his/her job description should not receive any pay for that role until he/she learns it. We should learn to drop this “my brother or my sister” syndrome, if one is given a job for the mere fact that he or she is ones brother or relative and yet he doesn’t know the job, if the job turns out shabbily done, it comes back to the person in-charge i.e. the administrator.“What goes around comes around”.
Frankly, our leaders should look into these major points-agenda, Electricity and Corruption Management/Eradication, that way, we will go back to the drawing board and stress the need for maintenance culture and project evaluation and checks, contracts/project follow-ups and not undertake so many points-agenda that we will end up achieving none. Yesterday was militancy, today is Kidnapping, Boko Haram Insurgency and Fulani Herdsmen, and now is Trekking, who knows what’s next? Every and any crime and murder whatsoever that is committed in the process of planning or setting up these restiveness, actions and inaction, Nigerians are all partakers, politicians and lay Nigerians alike, we are all affected. Therefore, we are Nigerians, Nigeria is our homeland, whether good or bad, we remain Nigerians, be it dual citizenship or nationality, “east, west, north and south, home remains the best”. We all should contribute our quota to make Nigeria better, enough of the bad names we receive from other nations. Some people think its best Nigeria divides but that will be the beginning of our major problems which will lead to a catastrophic demise. But God forbid!
Finally, Year in Year out, Elections will come and go but Nigeria remains, therefore let us shun violence, extortion, embezzlement, greed, cheating, disunity and above all Corruption, embrace accountability, peace, selflessness and oneness.
