Nigeria on a crossroad – It Would Have Been Funny If Not So Tragic

Nigeria is at a crossroads. The economy is in doldrums. It’s so bad that we are borrowing from the dead. That’s what the Government’s plan to raid the vaults holding unclaimed dividends is. This economic downturn coupled with the lack of jobs is as bad as it gets.

Download the first chapter of The Storytelling Series: Beginners’ Guide for Small Businesses & Content Creators by Obehi Ewanfoh.

Add into the recipe insecurity in form of banditry, cattle rustling, farmers’ killings, kidnapping, robbery, ethnic profiling, and illegal evacuation notices engendered by a lack of faith in the government’s capacity or willingness to protect everyone and you get a combustible mix. No one now sleeps with two eyes closed or travels on our roads without their hearts in their mouths.

See also our previous article – We Can Start Remaking Nigeria In 2023 by Austin Isikhuemen

Surely, in the midst of this state of anomie you would expect that ministers and government officials, cleared by our National Assembly as competent and of the right temperament to render service to all of us without ill-will will at least be able to say things that will reduce the fear and hopelessness that loom large across the nation.

If they cannot solve the problems, they should at least be able to say the right things to minister to our senses and ‘cool temper’ according to Lagbaja! But what do you find? Ministers sometimes say things that, to put it mildly, are totally unhelpful. At worst, aggravatingly insensitive. Let us sample some.

How can Gen. Bashi Magashi – Minister of Defense, a retired decorated general who probably moves around with a platoon of heavily armed soldiers, DSS operatives with concealed guns that fire 100 round a minute, as well as armed policemen paid for by taxpayers, accuse unarmed folks of cowardice?

In the face of Kalashnikov wielding murderers, bandits, and kidnappers? Hear our Minister of Defense (not “the fence”): “at times, the bandits will only come with about three rounds of ammunition, when they fire shots, everybody runs. In our younger days, we stand to fight any aggression coming to us.”

“I don’t know why people are running from minor things like that. They should stand and let these people know that even the villagers have the competency and capabilities to defend themselves.”

How sir, are these forsaken village folks going to ascertain that the guns of their attackers contain only three bullets? “Hey you Mr. Bandit, let me see your gun.

How many bullets are in that your AK47 magazine?” That’s the conversation our competent, well-guarded minister expects the villagers to have with kidnappers and bandits, or is he advising unarmed citizens to risk their lives and limbs accosting a marauder with the belief that he probably has no more than three bullets?

If this was ‘minor’ sir, why is the defense headquarters area barricaded with massive concrete barriers and houses of high officials heavily guarded and their spouses and house-helps chaperoned by armed operatives everywhere they go? Minor things like that? No sir, these are fatally major threats that send citizens to the great beyond!

Rotimi Amaechi – Minister of Transportation:

“The problem I have is that most Nigerians are not able to distinguish between Ministry of Transportation and Ministry of Finance”

On whether Niger Republic will pay for the construction of the Kano-Maradi rail line he said, inter alia:

“They don’t have to because we are soliciting for them to use our service. They will bring their uranium, and gold through the line to Lagos. They will stay overnight, eat, maybe drink and buy things in shops. This will help pay for the rail”.

Our minister has an idea of how that rail line, when continuously used would ultimately be financially beneficial to our country. I, for one, believe in regional integration which this line engenders.

One to Ghana across Benin and Togo would be a very good idea too. But getting Benin, Ghana, and Togo to pay for their portions would not be a bad approach at all. So would the Maradi leg. But to present the buying of orange juice and Fanta in Lagos as the means for recouping a $1.9bn investment is to take Nigerians for fools.

Someone needs to tell Rotimi that Nigerians can distinguish silly subterfuge from the truth any day. And that sort of thinking and behavior would not be helpful in a disguised quest for Vice President or even less so, the highest office in the land.

Even the said plan to build a university as a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) gesture as announced by the Honorable Minister and former two-tenure governor emits corruption-like fumes.

How on earth do you build a brand-new university as a ‘thank you’ present to a contract awarded when the cost of building the university rivals the cost of the project itself? Rotimi is a practicing Catholic and ought to know that Benediction is never longer than Mass.

He said most of the funds will be sourced from Europe. He must know that Europeans, unlike China, attach stringent ‘code of conduct’ conditionalities to the loans they give. Though they themselves benefitted from the corrupt exploitation and despoliation of Africa and still do by harboring looted funds stashed away there by our looting elite, they monitor their debtors with a fine microscope.

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They are no fools. They only allow you to play as you like with their money if their interest receipts will ultimately far outweigh the funds, they lend you.

Lai Mohammed – Minister of Information:

For the first time, we saw Lai tell the ‘truth’ because he was on the receiving end. He obviously has his sights on the Kwara Government House. Hear him:

“The guidelines stipulate consultation with all stakeholders by the Registration Officials from Abuja. After the botched attempt to have a meeting of stakeholders due to orchestrated violence, the Registration Officials failed to consult with all stakeholders before the commencement of the membership registration exercise.

They opted instead to work with only one of the four tendencies here in Kwara, the Fagbemi Group, to which the governor belongs. They excluded the three other tendencies – The Akogun Group, the Gbemi Saraki Group, and the Lai Mohammed Group, without which the ‘O To Ge’ Movement would not have succeeded. Ironically, the Fagbemi Group is the weakest of the four tendencies. Out of the 193 wards in the state, the group has only nine ward chairmen and does not have even one local government chairman,”

The rich also cry? Isn’t this the sort of shenanigans that people have cried about all along? So e dey pain? For the first time, he has been told by his top party hierarchy to stuff it. Meaning, he lied. Caught in the game with hand in the soup pot.

Sorry, sir. Next time you tell us through your clenched teeth that Nigeria is safer now than in the past we won’t only yawn, we will belch and tell you to geerrrout of our sight!

Pointing out errors alone does not solve a problem. So here goes my unsolicited advice:

As a minister, you are supposed to serve Nigerians, not lie to them or consider them unintelligent to know the difference between your ministry and the ministry of finance.

If you do not want to answer questions regarding financing for the projects in your ministry, then do not talk about the cost and source of funds. But you cannot do that and then turn around to say you cannot answer other related questions that are a follow-up to the information you provided. That is either being clever by half or a demonstration of a lack of detailed knowledge of the job you do.

Those that serve ought to know that you cannot be a public servant and at the same time lord it over the rest of us. It smacks of arrogance that can only be tolerated in a polity where might is right and there are no democratic checks and balances.

Why would an appointee not talk down with imperial condescension when he paid for his position or those who should call him to order are busy pledging allegiance openly in plenary?

Watch the British parliament and see how ministers, even the Prime Minister, is held to account. Watch how they explain policies to the populace and the language in which such explanations are crafted. Our lack of proper education rankles. Education is not just the passing of exams. It is the sum total of the behaviors you exhibit privately and in public and how in tandem they are with societal best practices.

We expect our public officers to know that our children are watching them and many see them as role models. Their characters will eventually be shaped by what they see you do and say, for good or for ill.

For many right now, it appears that quite a number talk without serious thinking and preparation. That is what we need if the future is to be better than our past. We are already hearing not so sensible things about the Kagara abductions.

This need not be so. You cannot say we will not surrender Nigeria’s sovereignty when it has already been acquired by terrorists. Do what sovereignty demands and the parents of Chibok and Kagara will believe you. Even those in Kankara as well as Abuda’s kinsmen in Fugar.

Owerri, 18th February 2021 – Austin Isikhuemen

Download the first chapter of The Storytelling Series: Beginners’ Guide for Small Businesses & Content Creators by Obehi Ewanfoh.