“We should measure the prosperity of a nation not by the number of millionaires, but by the absence of poverty, the prevalence of health, the efficiency of the public schools, and the number of people who can and do read worthwhile books.” ~ W.E.B. Du Bois
There is no future without the present. But Nigeria has lost or forgotten the past, has no present to speak of, and has mortgaged the future without any ownership for the people. The issues that concern our nation are so elementary it doesn’t beg restating repeatedly. There is a constant drumming by the pundits who are always quick to take sides and point fingers at everyone else but themselves.
We Nigerians have refused to come to grips with the reality that the problem is ‘us’. We are quick to point out the failures of our leaders without assuming any responsibility for their failures. President Tinubu has come at the right time. He must protect – among other things – the structure of government as sanctioned by the constitution, and Nigerians must find leaders like him, in political offices, who pledge allegiance to upholding the Constitution in full.
It is evident that most of us are corrupt and the elimination of corruption will require courageous actions in several directions by several people, with most emphasis coming from presidency. The President has got his work cut out for him. We all shudder upon the realization that our Governors behave as if corruption is a badge of honour, with a few exceptions.
The National assembly does not function as intended, the Judiciary and most of their instruments do not function as intended, the giants that are in control of public utilities, energy/fuel, and the financial authorities – GENCOS/DISCOS, NNPC, and the CBN – do not function as promised – forget about how they were intended to operate! Most of the apparatus of government do not function as intended since allegiance to an individual is more valuable than competence! Every important task of Government and governing has been outsourced to small parastatals supervised by politicians, instead of career civil servants who understand the intricate nature of public service and delivery.
The Security agencies do not, and probably never will, function as intended, the State governments do not function as intended since most occupants of the Governor’s offices are there to distribute favours and allocate the commonwealth to themselves and cronies. The local governments do not function – pardon me, the non-existent local governments cannot function as intended, since the state governors have unilaterally decided that Nigerians are too dumb to operate Local Governments. The educational structures and their accompanying systems cannot function as intended; especially when no one in leadership seem to place much value in them.
The only system that works extremely well, and never prone to failures, is Corruption! It manifests through bribery, graft, treasury looting, subsidy and pension theft, money laundering, advance fee fraud, general indiscipline, favouritism, and nepotism. The deep-seated nature of corruption and its drawbacks have earned Nigeria all manner of rankings by world monitoring agencies like TI. Aside from the major gap created by politics and politicization in the combat against corruption, there are also constitutional constraints. First, the number of the convicted kleptocrats by the courts is quite negligible in comparison to the Allegations. Both the ICPC and EFCC have failed where they have prima facie evidence of wrong doing against the majority of former state governors, but have been unable to prosecute them because of restraining legal frameworks.
“The EFCC claims that the state governors, altogether, hold assets worth 175 billion dollars in foreign accounts. Under the current law, the governors cannot be the subject of criminal action until they cease to hold public office.” (Akinseye George, 2000; Newsweek, 2005). We cannot even begin to imagine how many billions they hold today!
Leaving the laundry list of problems aside, the law is the law. There are no substitutes for its letter. Corruption is a crime! Unfortunately, it is a crime without any sanction or punishment! Respect the law and you are a good citizen, ignore it and you do so at your own peril, and if you break it you must answer to the people of Nigeria who adopted it for their own good. Your position in any political office must not become the yardstick for who gets prosecuted and to what degree. Every corrupt Nigerian must be brought to book!
“The substance of the law at any given time pretty nearly corresponds, with what is then understood to be convenient; but its form and machinery, and the degree to which it is able to work out desired results, depend very much upon its past” — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. The Common Law (1881)
Nigeria is unable to produce that substance of law that depends very much upon its history. There are certain crimes where justice must be swift. Corruption must be that crime if we will realize a great Nation sooner rather than later.
“The fantastic wealth occurring from oil, which dominates Nigeria’s exports, encourages greed, corruption and berthed the new trend among the political class to seek power by all means because of the opulence ensuing from it. About $2.8 billion of oil revenue was allegedly declared missing from the state affairs in ‘70s, as reckless spending characterized an unaccountable governance (Nwankwo, 1999). This prompted the Obasanjo Declaration at Jaji in 1977, sign-posting the commencement of the battle against the creeping culture of corruption, and indiscipline.” Unfortunately, the degree of corruption since the Obasanjo declaration at Jaji has become fantastic and mind boggling, so much so that the world has finally recognised that Nigerian leaders must be insane, not just mad!
It is likely that a Nigerian leader may dictate to us, demand from us, disfavour us, disparage us, denude us, or even disconsolate our collective wisdom, but we are still left with only two options available no matter what happens; Either beg or steal. There is hardly any middle ground. And for those sitting at the high table, they have long ago forsaken the road to begging. They are prepared to go to great length via unconscionable trickery to guarantee their continued claim to the riches that come with high office. There are no saints in the quest for power, only those who are too poor to win.
They emasculate us by declaring that power comes from God! (I say loudly that God is not an election rigger or a corrupt candidate for office!) How politicians get into office is supposedly nobody’s business, or is it?
Anyway, the feeling now is that Nigerians are slowly beginning to decide what ‘is’ or ‘is not’ there business. Those who think they can ignore this new power, do so at their own peril. Repeatedly, we have accepted dishonesty so long as it serves our immediate needs. It is high time we begun to condemn duplicity in all its forms, because in the long run, we all lose.
Tinubu is the beginning of a good and focused government! But he must acknowledge mistakes in policy quickly and correct course. It is wrong to remove the subsidy and then struggle to give us rice, flower, and cement to mitigate the pain and hunger in our Nation. He (the President) must sit down with his team, review the subsidy regime, and find a workable way to wean Nigerians from Subsidy without putting their lives in peril. I say this as someone who has campaigned hard for this government.
The Renewed Hope Agenda admits (and intends to change), that we are from the land of lost hope, the land of tomorrow will take care of itself, the land of unfulfilled dreams and expectations, the land of broken promises, the land of justice denied and honesty and fair play imprisoned, the land of the rudderless were things get shaken up at a tornadic pace only to climax into the same sorry state we found it in the first place. The Renewed Hope Agenda understands and proposes steps that must be taken by the government and all Nigerians. The Agenda Must Succeed. We can’t fail this time!
My heart aches and bleeds for my country. When Independence was the cry, we succeeded only in murdering our best because we are in a hurry. When unity became the second calling, then also we killed millions in the name of one Nigeria only to remain ever more divided than ever before. When corruption became the gathering gloom, we pitifully managed to tolerate successive governments who couldn’t tell the difference between governing and attrition. And when freedom and human rights became the song, it put the world opposed to our nation long enough to cripple the surviving goodness in Nigeria – the poor and the hardworking.
Of recent past, we have embarked on so many lofty goals (including some that may be worth forgetting) only to see us come crushing back down to earth. Where is Electricity today, we still cannot find the light at the end of the tunnel. Peace has eluded areas that were previously known to be peaceful, because ethnic conflicts and violence have become the order of the day. Crime and terrorism has infested every aspect of Nigerian life and rendered economic activities as either too dangerous or outright unprofitable.
We know what is wrong; we just lack the willpower to fix it. So why do we expect that our tomorrow will be any different? The politicians have littered our so-called democratic history with failures so fantastic; it is hard to imagine us doing any worse. This time around though, we swore we are not going to fail. The Renewed Hope Agenda is here.
No one is appointed to decide for Nigerians, we must decide what should happen despite what all the tired, geriatric occupants of the high table claim is good for us. Tinubu is challenged and I know he is ready to lead Nigerians to do the right thing for Nigeria. Nigerians are indefatigable, we expect Tinubu to be even most energetic in confronting our vices.
Can Nigeria be corrected to sail in calm and peaceful waters, to dock in economically affluent lands, plus set a blueprint for a developing and great Nigeria? Yes! If so, are we so severely beaten that we can no longer stand up against our debilitating prejudices just because we are hungry? And for how long must we be run over by pretenders who are nothing but political criminals, masquerading as regional, state, and local champions? These questions must be answered sooner or later, if our democracy is to endure.
Let us remind all those who hold executive offices that they must key into the Promises and the Covenant they made with Nigerians to fix the sectors that determine the survival of our Nation, as well as emulate the politics of integrity and honesty in spending our commonwealth.
Finally, I urge President Tinubu to resist the Drum beat of moving everything to Lagos. It is an elementary reaction that confirms mistrust of a United Nigeria. It says I do not trust other Nigerians, or other lands except my own. It says I am preparing for a possibility of a divided Nigeria seeking advantage if we break into pieces. That must never be a figment of the President’s thought process.
Nigeria will remain one! And Nigeria will Succeed!! Tinubu must take comfort in that and build our Nation without choosing to pick what is good for himself. Let us build new ones instead of uprooting old ones! It is a bad precedent for future leaders if the trend continues. Obasanjo was the original uprooter, let us not copy a failed letter writer!
Otherwise, of where we came, so shall we return!
Hf Dauda MoiSoro
[email protected]
February 9, 2024
