Now many Nigerians appear to be so impoverished mentally and otherwise to the point that they imagine that they are perhaps responsible for the current failure the nation is experiencing. While there is some truth in this, it is by no means the absolute truth.
This is where I want to submit that Nigerians are choosing to let off their leaders so easily as far as their core responsibilities are concerned.
Great leaders make great followers – not the other way round. By perpetuating therefore, the ongoing notion that ‘Nigerians are not good followers’ Nigerians are subtly indulging the failures of the Nigerian leadership; indirectly absolving them of the awesome responsibility of leadership.
Make no mistake about it, leadership is a huge responsibility and the sooner Nigerians and those who seek political office understand that the better. Also the sooner Nigerians realize that the kind of leadership that can truly shift the needle and make a distinctive mark on the country has to be intricately different than the kind it’s had all these years of democratic rule!
Followers do not make policies that drive economic transformations, leaders do. Followers do not create enabling environments for teeming entrepreneurs who ought to be shaping the economy in vibrant ways – leaders do! Followers do not create infrastructure to ease and facilitate movement of goods and services across the country. Guess what? Leaders do!
Nigeria is lagging behind across critical indices. Again, the pervasive preference and satisfaction of a ‘vital’ few above the prosperity of an entire populace is an open secret and a vice that keeps pushing the country in retrogressive directions. Case in point is with the nagging question of efficiency at the Lagos ports. Access to and out of the ports remain a challenge of behemoth proportions. We learnt the axis was cleared out only when the President came to town early in the year. Administration and efficiency are critical issues that have defied solution only because of some nameless ‘cabals!’ And right in the midst of this untamed inefficiencies, the country is losing crazy earnings in the process.
The incessant lamentation of manufacturers whose raw materials get damaged on account of festering corruption and inefficiency at the ports continue to fall on deaf ears. In a saner clime, the government of the day would be in a frantic race to correct the horrid situations, freeing the frustrating bottlenecks and ultimately ensuring economic viability. Right? Well in Nigeria it doesn’t work like that. What we observe as being a higher priority by the Nigerian government is with the highly controversial Special Public Works programme job creation project targeted at 774,000 people across the country. Criteria for the selection of beneficiaries remain sketchy. The job holders are to earn the sum of N20,000 monthly stipends during the period. The project has run into all sorts of challenges – expectedly. For the records, the manufacturing sector would readily absolve this number of Nigerians if the environment was viable. Need I say that the employed population would also potentially earn more than the N20,000 short-term stipends being paid by the generous Nigerian government?
The question we should really be asking is what happens to this huge population after the expiration of the ‘job creation’ programme? Perhaps the answer is in the address of the NDLEA boss Rtd General Buba Marwa who recently reeled out dangerous statistics of the drug ridden status of the country. The Rtd General went ahead to disclose the humongous funding that the ministry is getting in order to stem the tide. While this is laudable, you would wish that there was a more holistic approach to intentionally upping the standard of living of Nigerians across board. Why do I believe that there is a direct correlation between the hardship experienced by people and their resorting to drugs?
As it is, the country’s budget deficit is alarming and the major global watchdogs continue to express their concerns. Nigerian government’s response to this? Borrow more money to finance the deficits. Nigerians largely believe that beyond spending on recurring expenses, the borrowed funds are actually being looted! The recent $200 million loan that comfortably made its way into the 2022 budget and initiated by the Ministry of health definitely is a case in point.
According to the ministry, the said loan would be used to medically fight malaria in the 13 orphan states which cover 208 local government councils and 3,536 Primary Healthcare Centres. For some weird reason, this defense wasn’t acceptable even to a House of Assemby that has secured a reputation as a rubber stamp.
I recall a similar controversial move where the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, said that a total 382,765 pupils, 124,589 households, and 2,859 schools in Ogun State, Lagos State, and Abuja, benefited from the school feeding programme during COVID-19 lockdown!
Quite frankly, Nigeria needs a break from woes and the predictable pattern of stories of retrogression. When global news agencies mention Nigeria as their news item, you can almost be certain something disastrous or distasteful has happened again. The state of rot in the system should intimidate any intending leader but it somehow doesn’t. Why? It is believed that problem solving isn’t necessarily the goal of persons seeking political offices. As we’re already seeing by those stepping forward to vie for the highest political office, getting to the seat of power appear to be more about a ticking a bucket list than the intent on solving the barrage of problems bedeviling the country. On this I desperately hope that Nigerians can be proven wrong – even if for once!
Continued in Part 2…
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