Pendulum : Wait A Minute, How Did We Descend This Low By Dele Momodu

Fellow Nigerians, I know truth is always bitter, but the time
has come when we must all confront our realities and say it as it
is. Nigeria is in a big mess and there is nothing a million Buharis
can do to change the horrible situation around. However, maybe,
things may change slightly if Mr President is ready to change his
own mind-set.

I read somewhere, in the last couple of days, that our dear
President confessed that he is a very sad man, or to quote the
source more appropriately, that the President said he is the “most
unhappy” man on earth. I’m not sure if he actually used any of
those words or if his Spin Doctors did so on his behalf, in order
to save face, in view of the disgraceful and disappointing
breakdown of law and order in virtually every part of Nigeria,
especially in Northern Nigeria, a region that has produced most of
Nigeria’s military and civilian leaders and some of the most
powerful humans on earth.

More than ever before, Nigeria has not only become the poverty
nation of the world, it has also become one of the most insecure
nations of the world, a country that is perhaps one of the few
dangerous places to live on Planet Earth. Almost every news out of
Nigeria now is bad news. Human lives have become like that of
chickens. Nigerians are being killed per minute, per second, and it
is so bad, even our governments hardly bother to talk about it
again, probably because they are ashamed of the colossal waste of
human lives or, maybe negatively, as some suggest, because they
simply don’t care. Most of those who inform us of the deadly
massacres presently going on in our country are foreign
journalists. Our government and our people have become desensitised
and immune to the death of their fellow countrymen and women. If
possible, I’m sure the government would prefer we just gloss over
it and pretend nothing is happening. But these are fellow Nigerians
being slaughtered like Sallah rams and it would be tantamount to
promoting evil and wickedness to ignore the seeming genocide
ongoing in our dear beloved country. What is worse is the
culpability of those who were once so vociferously vocal in the
days of President Goodluck Jonathan but have now suddenly gone
funereally silent out of fear, compromise or comfort under this
regime.

What I know is that if we do not make concerted efforts to chase
away the problems of Nigeria, the problems will chase us all in
different directions like locusts and we do not know how things
will eventually end.

Nothing has brought this reality nearer home than the
lamentations of some Northern elites in the last one week, led by
the powerful voice of my dear friend and sister, Kadaira Ahmed, a
famous television personality, and another unusual demonstration in
London, anchored by my friend and Brother, Bulama Bukarti, a PhD
student and analyst at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.
These two Northern intellectuals protested in Abuja and London
respectively, jettisoning their comfort zones to speak up against
the haplessness, helplessness, and seeming hopelessness, of the
Buhari government in tackling the menace of chronic insecurity.
Both are known to be admirers and supporters of President Muhammadu
Buhari. The fact that they came out publicly to demonstrate against
the government at different locations is enough proof to those who
thought only the “wailing wailers” are grumbling and groaning.
Someone should tell the ‘demigods’ in Abuja and elsewhere that
their devotees are no longer smiling. In fact, they are crying and
weeping uncontrollably.

I will not bore you with details of how Nigeria appears to be
haemorrhaging dangerously to perdition. The bad news is flying
left, right and centre. Although government is feigning that the
Nigerian economy is well, the reverse is clearly the case. The
petroleum sector, which happens to be the chicken that lays the
golden eggs is facing its own challenges. There are wild
allegations of gross malfeasance against the NNPC. Meanwhile, the
substantive Minister in charge of the Petroleum Ministry is the
President himself. If it is true that massive corruption, in form
of oil subsidy scams, still practically exists right under his
nose, then there is hardly any hope for Nigeria. But this is not my
main mission on this page today. I wish to make a few suggestions
that can readily catapult our nation back to greater, loftier
heights, almost effortlessly. Our problem is not as severe or
malignant as it seems. Our unreasonable obstinacy and foolish
attitudes are what have brought us to this sorry state.

President Muhammadu Buhari can lead us out of this perfidy by
purging himself of his rigidity. First, he must accept that he is a
leader of Nigeria, father of the nation, and not that of a section
of it, and embrace every one of us. Unity would instantly eliminate
many of our challenges. There is too much bitterness in the land.
No nation can ever prosper when a large chunk, and the most
productive and well-educated part of it, are treated as second
class citizens. This is the main reason many people are clamouring
for “restructuring.” The word means different things to different
people. But I believe what needs to be restructured urgently is the
pervasive oppression of fellow citizens in their own country. This
has become highly amplified and too pronounced under this
government. The jackboot mentality of the Buhari administration
must wind down to a friendlier one. Not even kids can be brought up
successfully under an atmosphere of fear, intimidation, bullying
and downright commotion. Nigerians are not as bad as this regime
tends to portray, but what can people do when they have brains and
muscles but nothing to do with it.

The next thing to invest in without any shade of doubt is
education. There are too many ignorant people all over the country.
A properly educated citizenry would live and act more responsibly.
They will be more employable and have better chances to think
creatively about setting up their own businesses. In other to
achieve this, both the Executive and the Legislature must rejig our
unrealistic budgets. The Nigerian Presidential system, as presently
configured, is just too profligate. Nothing has changed in the last
four years to showcase the fabled frugality of President Buhari and
his disciples. Rather the Presidency seems to have been on a binge,
if we consider the atrocious budgets his government, ministers and
their lackeys have been presenting. A conscious and substantial
sacrifice must be made to drastically reduce public spending. The
recent scenario where governments funds are being tossed in the air
like confetti, and as if money is going out of vogue, leaves much
to be desired. The government can’t be spending money so lavishly
and expect that the ordinary citizens would become less attracted
to material acquisition, by hook or by crook. The outlandish
ceremonials and celebrations of this government appear contrary to
promises made pre-2015. Its sincerity of purpose remains to be
seen.

President Buhari needs to shake up his new cabinet as soon as he
is sworn in next month for a second term. I’m not one of those who
would subscribe to many frequent reshuffles, but it is obvious that
this cabinet has not sparkled much since it was constituted in
2015. Apart from the few members who resigned for different
reasons, none has been fired in a government bedevilled by abject
incompetence. President Buhari should please replace those he
removes eventually with more accomplished people. If he brings some
deadwoods again, the result should be obvious to all in advance,
nothing but monumental failure.

If I were President Buhari, I will worry less about controlling
heaven and earth and face the main business I was voted to fix. One
of the biggest afflictions of this government is its obsession and
proclivity to be in charge of the different tiers of government.
Buhari has spent the better part of four years fighting all manner
of enemies, real or imagined. In the process, he dissipated too
much energy and squandered resources on many fronts. He should try
something different and allow all organs to function independently.
If he pursues the same agenda like he did these past years, he will
receive the same result and certificate of failure.

President Buhari should interact more with his people. He is
just too aloof and standoffish. If he could travel round Nigeria
and speak to Nigerians regularly during his re-election campaigns,
he should not stop doing so now. Love can achieve what war can’t.
It is unfortunate that he does not personally sympathise or
empathise with the bereaved families involved in the disasters
ravaging our country. There is no country where 10 dogs would be
killed and life would continue as normal, not to mention 10
citizens. The President should make it mandatory for his Ministers
and their aides to visit their States of origin regularly. It is
totally unacceptable that they are all comfortably ensconced in
Abuja while they claim to be the representatives of their people.
Also, as they say, all security is local, so if the President won’t
support State policing, for reasons best known to him and his
advisers, he should ensure no head of security should be posted to
unfamiliar terrain. Even if they are not posted to their own
States, they should be sent closer home, to their Regions. The
system of sending soldiers to crush Nigerians like millets is
totally provocative and unhealthy. No Igbo soldier would go to
Igboland and order his own people killed summarily. Since ethnicity
and religion are too volatile in our country, the President should
never send complete strangers to quell riots in any part of
Nigeria.

Finally, I wish to respectfully suggest that President Buhari
should find time to study what made the extraordinary and amazing
Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola win the most remarkable
election ever in the history of Nigeria. Abiola’s likeable
personality, built on his love for humanity contributed in no small
measure to his success. Abiola made strenuous and meticulous
efforts at reaching out to different parts of Nigeria and their
people. He employed people without any sort of discrimination on
grounds of ethnicity, religion or sex. He created opportunities for
people in different communities. He built mosques and churches. He
established schools and donated classrooms and libraries. He gave
scholarships, endowed professorial chairs and donated funds to all
Nigerian universities. His emergence as a pan-Nigerian Presidential
candidate was not a fluke. It was a destiny that he himself had
helped to shape.

The life of that departed hero and martyr is worth studying when
it comes to issues of uniting our country. We lost Nigeria the day
June 12, 1993, was killed. With a man like Abiola in power, there
would never have been the kind of stupidly irrational divisions we
have today. Insecurity would never have been this rife because he
knew how to create jobs and encourage entrepreneurship. Abiola
would have paid attention to the continued unity of our people and
the diversification of our economy. He would have worked hard on
improving our institutions. Political systems can’t work well if
the institutions are useless. Abiola would not have tolerated
individualism above institutions. That is largely responsible for
the failure we are experiencing today. Notwithstanding the cult
following the President appears to enjoy in a section of the
country, he and the people who surround him in power today don’t
seem to have the commendable ambitions of an Abiola or indeed his
antecedents and pedigree. Our current crop of leaders have simply
displayed limited, myopic vision in handling affairs of the
State.

It is not too late to pick useful tips from 1993. However,
sadly, what I see today is a return to 1983. We can do better.
Even, President Ibrahim Babangida’s electoral system can help us,
despite his personal flaws. The Option A4 of that time was a stroke
of genius. Our political parties have become too unwieldy. Two
major parties should be the only ones that can contest Presidential
elections while there may be smaller parties in the States and
Regions to contest local elections. That has been the only impact
and relevance of parties like APGA, Labour Party, Accord Party and
others. Electoral reforms should take care of this.

I have disseminated many of my views in this missive
consistently, but I won’t be surprised if this government chooses
to stick to a failed system that leads nowhere. Whatever the
outcome, let it be said that I played my part…