….We must think A New Nigeria
I woke up this morning with a strong feeling of despondency, wondering how Nigeria came to be bellowing under the infamy of these current avoidable crises in political and economic spheres: some families have no food to eat, some communities are without schools, hospitals or even dispensaries, unemployment is high, insecurity, restiveness, and hopelessness are at all time highs; also the integrity of our infrastructure is below par, going by the recent pronouncements of the Minister of Works. Reconciling all these with news of people having stolen billions from our coffers, brings an eruption of anger in me.
The ELITE; yes the elite are the problem. Beads of tears rolled down my cheeks this morning in a gale of emotional somberness, and a feeling of hopelessness seeing the impurity of this system that is heavily dysfunctional. My tears, I know cannot wash away the setbacks of the dastardly actions of the people who have put us where we are, but they provide me momentary succour. Let no one blame President Tinubu, or anyone else. This is no time for that. What we need now is action for a “ NEW NIGERIA.”
Trubunal: Blackmail is a tool, not law, By Kassim Afegbua
In Abuja, the seat of government, I see the wattages of waste that dominate the homes of the elite. Opulence and inexplicable wealth sprawling the highbrow streets and boulevards of the capital city. The life in this city? Lawless: basic things like traffic laws are totally ignored, even siren blaring vehicles with their law enforcement officers in them break traffic laws, driving against the traffic, and exhibiting impunity as if to ask what the hell is wrong with passers-by. They drive past quickly with heads of some of the occupants outside of their moving vehicles, in nerve jerking speed, sometimes just to create a passage for their “Oga at the top.” Beggars and pan-handlers are everywhere, risking their lives criss-crossing in-between moving vehicles seeking alms from the occupants of tinted-glasses vehicles. Prostitution is on the increase. Joblessness is not abating; even workers are in despair. Unemployment and under-employment are staring us in the face with profund disgust. People are dying at exponential rates. Homelessness is rising, and shanties are springing up everywhere. Mr Wike has a whole lot to deal with to sanitize this city. The Elite have stolen our collective patrimony and rejoice in their filthy opulence with unhindered arrogance. In some instances, one individual has stolen billions for himself alone; in a life of uncertainty? In this ephemeral world that doesn’t tell us when it will eclipse
I sympathize with President Tinubu, he surely has a huge task on his shoulders. I do not envy him at all, even though those certificate-fishermen are envious of him with very green eyes, because they want to have the opportunity to make things worse. I wonder how Mr. President will be able to halt this drift and get us back to the path of glory. Where do we start? I think we need to re-orient our minds and rally round the president to collectively shoulder the bigger responsibility of doing things differently, and consciously take interest in the everyday workings of this government, embracing her new policies, which I believe are leading us to that right path. Truth be told, we are at a crossroads of confusion, hate and inhumanity. Fulani killing Fulani. Hausa killing Hausa. Yoruba killing Yoruba. Igbo killing Igbo, and you see them celebrating the dastardly act with brutish arrogance. They declared a stay at home order, and gradually killed the South-Eastern economy, all in the name of agitation and separatist movement. The bandits, insurgents, terrorists, militants and criminals all operate in their geopolitical zone where they derive so much strength. They unleash terror on their own people, install the infrastructure for poverty, and enslave their people in show of macho power. From the North to the South, East to the West, it is all the same narrative. Nepotism, cronyism, prebendalism, favouritism, selective amnesia and ethnicity are all packaged into one unwholesome pot of the confederal state, called Nigeria; with a dubious federalism that is neither here nor there. Clannish sentiments dominate our discourse more than nationalism. National cohesion is absent. With all of this, our local economy is heading south and so is the Naira against the Dollar. Our national infrastructure is unreliable. We complain about our elections; litigations are on the increase. Every political candidate wants to win at all cost; as a birth right, not minding the rights of the other person. They spend so much dollars in search of the flip side, searching for certificates or no certificates. What does my old mother in the village care about anybody’s certificate? All she wants is to see security, good roads on her way to the market, good hospital to attend to her health needs, education for her children and grandchildren and good water supply to quench her thirst. But the absence of the elite consensus has denied her those amenities. The monies have been swallowed up by the gluttony of the few elite who steal what they and their posterity will never need.
President Tinubu surely needs to take more than a step at a time in our current wretchedness to be able to close the gaps of absurdities that have gripped us. Also, he needs men and women who are ready to take the unfamiliar route to generate unique ideas to extinguish the existential threats confronting us at the moment. Religion is not our problem, we were born into it. Culture is not our problem, it was a habit we all grew up to embrace. What eats away our wellness as a country, is a combination of: greed and avarice, egocentricism, corruption, self-grandeur, and the culture of ten percenter. I support President Tinubu even if he has to step on the toes of some of the elites in order to make things right. It will not be easy, but knowing the President as a man of courage, he will jump-start a new culture. Please let us all support him, and follow him. Nigerians need a new orientation that would lead to attitudinal renewal towards a more holistic polity. President Tinubu may need to fry some big fishes, as a way of sending the message that, “a new sheriff is in town.” Waziri Atiku Abubakar should channel all his energies into other productive ventures to help Nigeria; say, removing the poor from the streets programme. The millions and billions I hear that lawyers are collecting from him for electoral litigations can be expended on more meaningful and progressive areas of our national life. We need restructuring and true, fiscal federalism that would yield ground for constructive engagement of all factors of production, where states would be made by the new reality, to open up their planes of comparative advantage. A true federal government has its own advantages in this contemporary world.
I support the steps the president is taking. We must take bold decisions and dismantle the big masquerades that have been taking shortcuts to individual fame. We must come with open hearts to see how we can collectively address our challenges. Those internal saboteurs who are hell bent on frustrating the president, and raping Nigeria must be smoked away. When the bigman commits a crime, and steals our money, he requests a plea bargain and we grant it; but when the poor man steals a piece of meat from our pot of soup, he rots in jail. The injustice favours our oppressors, the usurpers of our collective patrimony and has contributed to leading us to where we are. The rogues announce their riches with infantile madness; build houses that can accommodate a whole village, cook buffets for every meal, which they can never consume and feed their dogs with our national heritage. We can never strike the right chord for national growth and development along this route. When the rich breaks the traffic law, the law enforcement officers and the road safety corps salute him with respect, waiting for their palms to be greased by the stolen money from our vault. When a pedestrian is hit by the oppressors vehicle, the law enforcers will turn the accused to be the accuser; and the dead is left to go and bury the dead. That is our world. This nation seems to have different sets of laws; one for the rich and the other for the poor. All this must stop. We are very hopeful that President Tinubu will reverse this trend, and soon enough too. It may take some time, though; and I encourage him to step on erring toes as necessary to heal the wounds in the land. May God save Nigeria.
