I
returned to motherland Nigeria about 10 days ago to celebrate Nigeria,
witness CHANGE, and rejoice with Muhammadu Buhari, who will today, after
four persistent and tenacious swings at the Presidency, receive the
baton to lead Nigerians into a future none of us can predict. I also
salute outgoing President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, leader of the biggest
economy in Africa and captain of an intricate and complex arrangement
named Nigeria for his wisdom and statesmanship expressed in the dying
minutes of his reign. Jonathan now warms up to take the next available
flight out to Otuoke into the waiting hands of his excited tub-thumpers
who are still unhappy that he lost the election; but happy to see their
son back home, at least alive. I wish Jonathan the best in his future
endeavours.
It is on a sad note, however, that after about
16 years of democratic rule, with ten of trillions of naira expended in
the malodorous odyssey of government-after-government, and innumerable
lives lost in the process, Nigeria is still neck-deep in an undeserved
thralldom.
As a page in the history of this
nation ends today and another one flips open, those on the other side of
the Peoples Democratic Party aisle are no longer custodians of the
liberal luxury to unceasingly hammer Jonathan for every gait and
gesture. Sing-songs of harsh critiques and long lyrics of probes will no
longer be about the past but the present; the examination will no
longer be about the PDP that blew up many opportunities to lift up
Nigeria out of doldrums and quiescence but about the All Progressives
Congress and Buhari who convinced over 15 million voters that they are
smarter than their opponents in running government business, and that
they are incomparable connoisseurs of all that good governance is all
about.
Buhari is beginning a sojourn in a terrain filled with
all manner of economic and financial cyclones ravaging Nigeria; it is
the truth that the General has signed on to commence a surfing
expedition in the eye of a monstrous hurricane and a very bad storm. His
deputy, Yemi Osinbajo, just told us that the nation’s economy is in its
worst shape in history. Nigeria is currently having an international
debt profile at $60bn and in 2015 alone, a debt serving bill of N953.6bn
which represents 21 per cent of the 2015 national budget. Statistics
released by the Debt Management Office inform us that Nigeria’s domestic
debt today has ballooned to N8.51tn from N3.4tn the outgoing President
inherited in 2010. Nigeria borrowed N5.04tn from the domestic debt
market, her domestic debt at the federal level grew by 157.48 per cent,
and external debts of both the federal and state governments rose from
$4.31bn to $9.46bn. Twenty five per cent of Nigeria’s annual earning
will be spent on servicing the huge debt; and another 25 per cent will
be spent on the trumpery and tommyrot called oil subsidy. What then is
left for Buhari to run Nigeria?
That Nigeria is a tough place to
live and do business is an understatement. Untold hardship pounds down
on Nigerians daily. When the baton of power changes hands today, the
chants of “Sai Buhari” will suffuse the air. But we need more than
emotional intones; Nigerians want immediate signs that a sigh of relief
from all manner of ills and difficulties is one hop away.
The
people are waiting to see what better curve will be invented to ensure
that our comatose economy comes back with vibrant kicks. They are
waiting to see not just how corruption will be fought in a nation where
the debauchery has almost become a way of life, but how it will be won.
They are waiting to see how a nation that is listed as the biggest
economy in Africa; the sixth largest producer of petroleum in the world,
and the eighth largest exporter and the 10th largest in proven reserves
will provide enough fuel for its citizens’ private and business
consumption. They are waiting to see how the endowment of diverse
treasures under the earth in this nation will make life better for the
people.
Nigerians are not only waiting, a majority believes that
Buhari and the APC possess the magic wand to get things done quickly.
That will be the greatest challenge that the new President will be
facing. This challenge will be more than fighting corruption, more than
battling security quagmires, and more than cleaning up the economic
mess. The expectation of immediate miracles is the steepest mountain
Buhari and his men who convinced Nigerians to get rid of Goodluck
Jonathan will have to climb. How they get things done is no bother to
the hurting and tormented Nigerians who just want a way of escape from
heart traumas, and who will not settle for a weight of excuses from the
government. If in six months, there are no signs that “today” will be
better than “yesterday” with Buhari in power, I tell you that the chants
of “Sai Buhari” will approach a drastic diminuendo because the people’s
patience has become thin and fragile.
All the figures
indicating bad times and economic kamikaze mooted over by Buhari and
Osinbajo mean nothing to the people at this point. They mean nothing to
the man in the creeks of Niger Delta who just wants to feed his family
and send his children to school. They mean nothing to the farmer in
Enu-Oosa in Oyo State who only believes that the government is indebted
to him to make life livable. Don’t run these statistics by the man in
Dutse, Jigawa State, as an excuse; he doesn’t want to hear it. All he
has been told is that our leaders are specialists in stealing government
money to buy private jets and live in ostentation. Nigerians are just
too angry right now because they are too hungry. Unfortunately, they are
too hungry in a rich country like Nigeria that keeps making money but
making no progress.
For the month of April, Nigeria’s income was
N388bn. The Federal Government received N132.1bn, representing 52.68
per cent; 36 states got N67bn, representing 26.72 per cent. Local
governments received N51.6bn, representing 20.60 per cent. N23.1bn
representing 13 per cent derivation revenue was shared among the oil
producing states. Who wants to hear any excuses with this big flow of
money? Unfortunately, for many years, glowing reports like this mean
nothing in Nigeria.
We have had booms in times past and the
profits melted off into somebody’s private accounts. Governors are
personally counting billions and legislators receiving millions in
direct deposits from severance pay as pain and agony continue to grow
like fertilised yam tubers in the land. Cabals are entrenched in oil
business, Mafiosi drive policies and politics. With reports of big money
inflow, some departments of the Federal Government and two-thirds of
the states are still not able to pay their workers as looters continue
to loot without giving a hoot. This time round, Nigerians are not
expecting excuses as options; they want a way of escape from the misery
the government has unleashed on them.
Nigerians have never
experienced miracles in government, maybe, this season will usher in a
first. The miracles they expect are not “the-dead-man-walking,
deaf-woman-hearing” type of thaumaturgy. When the leader stops diverting
the people’s funds into private purses, it will be a miracle here.
Graft and gluttony are the reasons why the nation is bleeding to death.
We have lofty ideas but lousy implementation; we have many laws in the
book but measly enforcement. We hope Buhari is that man we have been
waiting for who will both implement and enforce far away from the
barnyard of graft and greed. We HOPE Buhari is the man; that’s all we
can do at this time.
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