Government

President Buhari: You Don’t Feel Our Pains

/ Adeola / Leave a comment

For now, people like President Buhari who cannot ask the stinking corrupt politicians under his watch for their resignation letters because in principle, they are all the same and Mrs. Iweala who wants to preach the old testament after the new should please leave us alone and let us deal with our pains with respect.

President Buhari; No, You Don’t Feel Our Pains

By Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

Deceits brought us to this abysmal level in Nigeria.

In my opinion it was an insult to Nigerians for President Buhari to state that he feels the pains of Nigerians whereas there are no public actions or utterances to support the assertion. So what he said was not close to the truth at all.

Nigerians are not fool and they are not stupid.

When people voted for change, it was not as if they were not aware that there were several APC treasury looters and criminally-inclined PDP-decampees that migrated to the APC.

The votes were in trial that there may be a fresh start under our (strange) democratic arrangement. Now, the people are more than convinced that Nigerian politicians are birds of the same feather thriving in different nests

When various allegations of corruption have been levelled against prominent politicians under the APC-Buhari mandate, it became a rude shock to many Nigerians that President Buhari remained camera-shy in condemning the alleged criminals that were under investigation or even attending trials. Together they continue to steer the affairs of a failed country-Nigeria.

It is very sad that under our current statuses of economic recession and personal depressions, the APC-Buhari mandate failed to curbed corruption amongst its own. So the status-quo that we the people feared and put on trial by voting or supporting change is maintained and this government is no longer a trusted one.

Concretely, when the National Assembly’s leadership and membership were exposed for some of their crimes, we the people expected the presidency to make a direct pronouncement and denouncement of the crimes.

How can President Buhari now says that he feels our pain and remain on the same side as alleged criminals? Is party affiliation more important that fairness and justice for all? This is not a military government Pa. Buhari!

How can you feel our pains when you failed to take side with the people even when a rare opportunity finally came in form of a judicial inquest of the National Assembly?

What kind of change did you promise?

For those of us who abhor the inclusion of religion in politics, the pain becomes severe when we see the president lining up with corrupt people on prayer grounds. The bait of religion is the worst form of hypocrisy on earth.

Even when Mr. Dogara, an alleged criminal, added salt to the injury and deeply knowingly insulted 170 m Nigerians by saying that padding was not a crime, President Buhari did not request for his resignation letter. Instead they rolled together in Aso rock mocking the people. What a shame on Nigeria!

No, President Buhari, stop the lie and end the deceit. You don’t feel our pains.

As we continue to groan under the economic hardship in Nigeria, there is still nothing from your end to show that you feel our pains.

No, the APC-Buhari mandate does not feel our pains. When a regime is loaded with confessional, self-made criminals who boast about their loots, their budget-padding abilities and their abilities to twist the law in their favour, it is deceit to state that such a regime feels our pains.

One of the ways that would have been indicative of change would have been to turn a new leaf when the APC-Buhari mandate emerged in 2015. So far the APC government is a failed government.

Rather than address issues squarely, the APC-Buhari has resolved to continue to blame the PDP governments especially the one led by one Mr. Jonathan. But that blame game is only partially correct. We-the people-knew that both the APC and the PDP in various ways contributed to the recession that Nigerians are now suffering.

We knew that Mr. Jonathan did not save for the rainy days. Who else could have reminded us but the finance minister who supervised the wastage and looting until the end?

Now see where we are now, suffering like never before.

Together, they want us to believe that they feel our pain. Where are they-Amadiora and Sango-when you need them?

For now, people like President Buhari who cannot ask the stinking corrupt politicians under his watch for their resignation letters because in principle, they are all the same and Mrs. Iweala who wants to preach the old testament after the new should please leave us alone and let us deal with our pains with respect.

That much we deserved.

These people stole our lives, our common wealths and they are still robbing us of what is left of our common dignity.

How many of the pains in Nigeria does Mr. Buhari feels?

In my immediate environment, l have complained of the river of sewage flowing on the streets and nearby roads for years. I have written openly to his man in Lagos, Mr. Ambode and  many people told me l have to call out Abuja to reach FHA or even Mr. Fashola. People are dying of diseases everywhere and l have to personally run after the state and the federal government to see the reason. Who is feeling my pain?

The end of festac

In my state of birth and residence, the Apapa area generates income that helps to sustain the entire country. The federal road that leads to the Apapa-wharf area is an eye sore. It continues to lead many to their graves. I feel the pain, we feel the pain, and the federal government takes the money!

Do we all see the villages and towns that are spread around the Niger Delta area? What about in the North-Eastern part of Nigeria? The people living in these regions are in pain. Their environments have been destroyed. The government of Nigeria at all levels does not feel the pains of the ordinary citizens. It is only the ordinary people that feel the pains. No one feels the pain of the farmers and fishermen who have lost their means of livelihhod.

Even the militants and the terrorists don’t feel the pain. They have been fed over the years under different aegis and acronyms by a corrupt system that would rather select and deal with a handful of people rather than address problems holistically once and for all.

The story of our pains are endless. Which of them does President Buhari shows empathy for by keeping the company of budget padders?

Education that ought to be free now cost a fortune. Where is the money? Soon, ASUU will go on strike. The children of politicians and other people doing very well are attending schools abroad. How can they feel our pains?

How many of our pains does President Buhari feel? Unemployment? High cost of essential commondities? Bad federal roads everywhere? Flood after rain? Absence of compulsory education for children? Insecurity? Lack of public health care?

If President Buhari actually travelled abroad to fix his ear problems and l have spent all my life living with 2 defective ears, how does he feel my pain?

If president Buhari, other Nigerian politicians and big men can fly private jets to wherever they want to go and the local airlines cancelled and postponed my trips because of the nonsensical way the country is managed, who is feeling my pain?

I can count in more than one thousand ways why president Buhari and the rest of Nigerian politicians both in APC and PDP do not feel or share our pains. They are all liars and budget padders.

Beyond our pains is what would become of the future of this country Nigeria.

We cannot shout enough that a political solution will invariably lead to economic resuscitation of the country. It will take time but it appears to be the best option that has a life-time durability.

What APC hopped upon in the last 18 months was a fire brigade approach to fix the economy and so far they have failed with all the trials and errors. The failure is to the extent that the APC has started re-adopting some of PDP’s policies that it discarded when the APC-Buhari mandate emerged.

In any case, Nigerian politicians needs to act before it is too late. We all need the political will to pursue a long lasting political solution. It is a national patriotic call.

The people who go to Abuja for politics are doing so for personal benefits. The risk they take is getting more expensive. One day, they may return home and find that nothing is left. With the way things are going out of hand in certain parts of Nigeria especially in the North-East and in the Niger-Delta area, there will not be a better time than now to sit down and fashion out a political solution to Nigeria’s problems.

National debates will avail much. It is time to reason along the line of a system that will for all time be the basis of the economy of the regions and states of the federation.

The wasteful spending of the federal government of Nigeria in keeping all the current unnecessary and jargonistic unitary structures of government does not reflect that the federal government feels the pain of the people.

The waste is huge for a system that has never worked and that will probably never work.

As a result of their selfishness, Nigerian politicians are living in a world of their own. They exist in their own bubbles of delusion. The people are suffering and dying in thousands daily. The people are in pains that no one in Aso rock can ever feel or imagine!

It is impossible to feel the pains of Nigerians with a myopic view. Let’s take our eyes off the crude oil for a while. Let’s take our eyes off the proceeds of the Apapa Wharf for a while. Let’s reason together and build something that our children and children’s children will be proud us before we destroy everything totally.

In the meantime, as the law continues to fail to serve justice, we the people demand that the criminal politicians who are rubbing shoulders in the local, state and federal government institutions should stop padding budgets and stop stealing of what is left of a country in deep recession.

aderounmu@gmail.com

Dark November Blues

/ Adeola / Leave a comment

The story of Nigeria is a sad story of cyclic idiocy.

Dark November Blues

By Adeola Aderounmu

20151101_155430-3

This weekend l looked at the headlines as l have always done. In fact l usually look at the headlines during the week as well. This way l am in touch with happenings and events not only in Nigeria but also around the world.

If you are a columnist or a blogger there is never a deficiency in what can trigger your opinion for your weekly essay or regular write-ups.

For sometime now l have also been thinking about the possibility of travelling to Nigeria for the first time since 2010. This has affected my mood, my disposition and my thoughts in no small way.

When l’d travel to Nigeria as l have done from time to time since 2002 when l first left Nigeria straight to Sweden, it had always been with mixed feelings. Partly, l am happy to see my families and friends again. On the other hand l am sad because l am reminded of the life of poverty that l always return to.

As far as Nigeria is concern, l am still a man living in poverty. I have written many times that becoming a member of the Nigerian family in diapora is not an escape from the poverty that stare at you in the face in Nigeria.

If one lives well abroad or even in Nigeria and pretends to be immune to the intensity and spread of social, infrastructure and material poverty in Nigeria, then one is heartless.

Personally I have never seen living in Sweden as an escape from the life of poverty that l know in Nigeria. It will not matter how long l live in Sweden. l have come to realise that l cannot dissociate myself easily from the several millions of Nigerians still struggling to live on less than 25 dollars a month or nothing at all.

Today l just need to purge my random thoughts, my november blues out of my mind. That way, l become free and my soul is set free.

This happens because there are so many things running through my mind at the same time to the extent that l doubt if l could say l slept well this outgoing week.

When l’d thought about my future trip to Nigeria l am so sad that the people that l know have become fewer in number. One of the laws of nature catches up with us as we grow older-the old and sick dying and newborns emerging.

My mother will not be there amongst those who l want to fondly remember. There are so many others that will be missing and l will not indulge myself in writing about those who went too soon. In almost all the situations where death has cheated me, l realized that the causes are either related to poverty or direct failure of governance.

But l refuse to elaborate further on those who have been taken away from me because of the rat race existence in Nigeria. I will let the tears l’ve shed wash my sorrows away.

There are so many reasons l write regularly, mostly about Nigeria.

One day someone who had been close to me during my adolescence commented on one of my essays: Adeola may you live to see the Nigeria of your dreams.

I think she aptly captured the essence of my essays. She is probably one of those who realised that l could have gone on to live a quiet life like millions of Nigeria living abroad. Those who write genuinely about the socio-political problems in Nigeria have no obligations to do so. It must be the love in their hearts.

My friend’s comment meant that she has been reading a substantial part of my essays where l refused to give up on living a good life in Nigeria. True, that Nigeria where things are normal and work as they should remains in my dreams.

To some people writing about Nigeria and your frustrations about the criminals ruling Nigeria means that you have an agenda, most likely that you have a political ambition that will make you become one of the criminals in government.

Must everyone steal/loot in government? Most people answered: YES.

That aspect saddens me.

In any case, for a country with more than 150 m people having unlimited natural resources and extreme diversity of languages, culture and heritage, there is a need for more voices and opinions from reasonable and selfless people.

This is urgent because a critical analysis of the Nigerian mindset based on the evolution of the social media and in fact conversations with ordinary people one meets leave a lot to be desired. Usually l am easily devastated by the urge of many more Nigerians to participate in politics because they want to become criminals like their fathers, mothers, uncles, friends and neighbours.

Who is going to bring about the Nigeria of my dreams?

Who is happy that several millions of Nigerians remain in absolute poverty living from hand to mouth? Who is happy that their brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers are placed on minimum poverty wage of N18k per month? Who is happy that unemployed people may receive N5k per month as poverty unemployment allowance?

Is it not in the same country where some people stole several billions of dollars and remain free men and women? Is it not in the same country where a few men and women called politicians and their counterparts in the military have access to unlimited funds that they can loot, steal and divert for personal uses?

What is security vote? Nobody is even looking at that anymore. I heard it is several billions of naira given to a governor to provide security for the state he/she governs. I heard the governor does not have to give an account of the state’s security votes. Really?

So a governor can divert security vote to his personal account  for 8 years and get away with it just like that. Is this why insecurity is one of the biggest problems in Nigeria?

This country Nigeria is a country built on destructive tendencies in all ramifications!

So the story of a failed country goes on.

The senators are still earning as much as possible doing almost nothing. Sometimes they shout YA or NAY and millions of naira get wired to their accounts. Just like that! Then, they will decide one day to give 5 thousand naira to unemployed graduates. What a fantastic mess? Absolute rubbish and senselessness!

Ministers will finally emerge in the mid-November blues and they are mainly the same old suspects of corruption from the APC or the old PDP converts.

Then the judiciary and the presidency will play the probe game back and forth. They will decide who can be probed or not. Listen! Probe Jonathan! We can’t probe Obasanjo..! We can’t probe Babangida..! Abacha was not corrupt..!

Each government continues to blame the previous administration instead of hitting the ground appropriately to work. The story of Nigeria is a sad story of cyclic idiocy.

I am just wondering.

What can be the worst outcome if Nigerians storm the streets across the country and ask for the sack of all the federal and state senators and legislators and then place them on N5 000 a month until they find new jobs?

On the proposed N5k for unemployed people, my take is that rather embarking on such a disgraceful and dehumaninzing gesture, the government of Nigeria (at all levels) should double their efforts and committments to alleviating the suffering in the land.

There are what we call short-term plans and long-term plans.

Some short-term plans are achievable within 12 calender months when sense is applied. But when you spent more than 6 months to form a common cabinet or executive at state and federal levels, then it doesn’t make sense anymore. It means you are happy with your election or emergence and the people can go to hell!

I think 100% of the unemployed people will be happy to donate their proposed poverty stipends of N5 000 to the motherless babies home if for example electricity is constant in Nigeria say from January 2016 and for ever more.

With a common infrastrucure as electricity many of the unemployed people will become gainfully employed by either engaging in private businesses or becoming  absorbed by organisations and enterprises whose monthy profits are mainly used to provide power and other avoidable costs of running businesses.

Even the olden days agricultural development and settlement schemes of western Nigeria availed much. The blueprints must still be somewhere!

There are endless suggestions on either side of the take.

Long-term plan means tacking the fundamental issues that not only affect the political instability in Nigeria but also addressing the economic and development implications at the same time.

The Boko Haram war, the new face of Biafran uprising and the endless agitations in the South-West and in the Niger-Delta will not go away simply because President Buhari has a military background. You can’t purge away these uprisings and wars by a wave of the hand. Agidi o ran!

Boko Haram was underestimated, see where it is heading. Now people are wishing Biafra a sudden death..! what a pity!

That is why referendum exists.

Nigeria needs one now before the country explodes fully.

At this moment, the most reasonable way will be for Nigerian politicians to eschew their selfishness and adopt regional government as quickly as possible. It will not solve all the problems but it will a bold step in the right direction.

aderounmu@gmail.com

At 55, Nigeria Still Crawls

/ Adeola / Leave a comment

Without complete and due accountability, without a system of government that removes power from one man in one place now called Abuja, Nigeria will crawl even when she celebrates 100 years of independence.

At 55, Nigeria Still Crawls

By Adeola ADEROUNMU

Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

The present status of Nigeria is still fragile, more like in the heartbreaking mode.

Week 40 of 2015, 4 days to Nigeria at 55 and Mr. Buhari is not in Nigeria. There are no ministers to run the various ministries and federal departments. There are no blueprints or references or working documents to measure the performance of government.

This is lack of respect for more than 160 m people! It is disregard to the principles of democracy and good governance. It is a way of creating confusion in the land.

Candidly l don’t think Mr. Buhari knows the difference between civilian rule and military rule yet. It is disgraceful that the APC and Mr. Buhari cannot produce ministers more than 100 days after their mandate came into effect. They are not ready to lead the country and if care it not taken Nigeria’s economy will suffer greatly. The people will become poorer.

Surely the saintly, angelic ministers must appear someday. But how the APC-mandate under Mr. Buhari will unfold will be of historic significance.

No one has spoken openly about how public education will be revived and made affordable. No one has spoken about housing, standard of living and the welfare of the citizens. No one has spoken about how to move Nigerian hospitals away from religious or revival centers to structures where lives can be saved and cherished.

The pictures emerging from New York showing how Mr. Buhari and Mr. Obasanjo are mingling with Mr. Gordon are extremely insignifcant to the welfare of Mama Taju and Baba Chukwudi who are waiting in Ilasamaja and Onitsha respectively for the blueprints on the education of their children and how their future can be ensured.

Buhari OBJ Gordon

Buhari OBJ Gordon

This has been the pattern, that Nigerian rulers and the conquerors of Abuja continue to maintain a distance from the people. The reliance on the ineffective unitary system of government and the insincerity of the state and local governments are perfect scenarios for misgovernance and maladministration-the hallmarks of public service across Nigeria.

I remember the assault on us when Nigeria became 25 years as an independent country. There were all sorts of sponsored jingles on the national TV channels and radio stations.

Arise, salute the nation, come join the celebrations, Nigeria is 25, Nigeria is 25. Every day, every time, this jingle was imposed on our minds and melted into our subconsciousness.

Nigerian rulers are ruthless and they lack respect for the citizens. The jingles in 1960 and the jingles in 1985 orchestrated by the civilians looters and the military gangsters respectively were part of the greater plot to enslave Nigerians.

Sadly in the days approaching 2016 the majority of the Nigerian population are living as slaves. It is even sadder that the people who are living as slaves do not realise this. They have become so pre-ocuppied with different survival strategies that they do not even have the awareness that they  are living the lifestyles they didn’t choose, one which the power to change will always be in their hands.

The immediate post-independence generation is gradually fading away without winning back the Nigeria of their dreams. They allowed the criminal politicians and the military gangsters among them to get away just like that because of tribal or ethnic sentiments among other unacceptable reasons that promote evil over good.

Similarly the entire post-independent generations are entangled in a struggle between hope, promises and fading dreams. They grew up seeing their fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, their friends and families carting away the treasuries from the local, state and federal governments.

Some of them are direct or indirect beneficiaries of this social malady. The majority are on-lookers shouting every weekend in mosques, shrines and churches. Some are disconnected totally from reality and thereby choose to kill, maim or kidnap others. They turn their anger and frustrations on fellow citizens using religion as a platform. Religion will remain among the most dangerous inventions of man.

As a result of the network of political gangsterism in Nigeria, the fight for a common country with fairness for all was lost a long time ago. It does not appear that the struggle for the emancipation of the masses will be fought again unless the civil society become organised and united.

When I am doing fine and when my family is doing better than our neighbours, l don’t care. This slogan is the hidden Nigerian anthem.

The selfishness and the evil in the hearts of men in any country are stumbling blocks working against the spirit of patriotism and the achievement of the common good of all.

There are radical ways to bring Nigeria back on track.

The government must work for the people and the people must work for the government. The political system must be right and the institutions of government must be functional.

All the things that have crumbled must be revived at the same time. Education, Health, Housing and Roads among a growing list of the things that have made life less worth living in Nigeria. Family planning and citizen orientation will avail much.

At some point the people must find the trigger to orchestrate the fight for what they want and how they wish to live a better life. The government full of corrupt people and treasury looters will not offer it to them on a platter of gold.

It must be emphasized that only an insignificant proportion of the Nigerian population have had it well. Even then they have co-existed with the wretched population in the same environment that is full of abnormalities.

All the sad situations in Nigeria are well known. Some people want critics to proffer solutions and we reply by saying the answer lies in good governance and accountability. It is as easy as doing what is right, condemning what is wrong and making sure you leave every situation better than you met it. How hard is that?

We have added that the political system and the political structures are not working. They give room to the emergence of criminals in public services under a unitary system that makes dictators out of democrats and tyrants out of soldiers.

Nigeria is always at a crossroads, the choices that the people and the government make each time are always on the wrong side of history. For example, Saraki is on trial and the man has not even resigned! Nigerian politicians are special breeds of criminals, hard-heartened and die-hard looters.

What decision can Nigeria make at this time? Another easy question!

After Saraki’s trial and wherever the law leaves him (free or in prison), Nigerians have a collective responsibility to continue this process of cleaning the political and public arenas.

There are Halliburton criminals in Nigeria and they are friends of Buhari, even travelling the world with him! Buhari is not even ashamed of what ordinary citizens are ashamed of. He is not yet a good ruler! It still looks like the birds of the same feather.

Nigerians have the power to occupy the entire country until the judiciary orders the police to produce all the Halliburton criminals in court. Let’s see where the judiciary will leave them when their trials are over.

Why should Nigerians even stop there? There are several hundrerds or thousands of politicians and military gangsters living in Nigeria and abroad who have looted the treasuries. Do they have 2 heads while Saraki has one?

Again, Nigerians have the right to occupy their country or the judiciary until justice served to one is served to all.

There are many ways to move Nigeria forward and two signals that need to be clear are that stealing is corruption and that no one is above the law.

One way not to move Nigeria forward is the ruling government playing the role of the opposition. The APC leadership has perfected the art of responding to PDP’s disruptive PRO machinery. The government that should lead is stupidly playing the opposition because of its lack of creativity and initiative.

As all these play out, if some people remain above the law, more than 90% of Nigerians will continue to live forever as slaves no matter the style of governance.

The way to make Nigeria great is to make every single citizen account for their time and service to country and humanity. Without complete and due accountability, without a system of government that removes power from one man in one place now called Abuja, Nigeria will crawl even when she celebrates 100 years of independence.

aderounmu@gmail.com

Why Are Our Politicians Criminals?

/ Adeola / Leave a comment

The overbearing nature of the systemic corruption becomes the burden of the people, the states and the country. Invariably corruption is accepted as a way of life in Nigeria.

Why Are Our Politicians Criminals?

By Adeola Aderounmu

Which Way Nigeria?

One of my earliest articles in the Nigerian Guardian Newspaper (precisely in 2002) was titled: Why Politicians Steal. Since then I have made references to that article several times.

It is still very shocking that nearly all Nigerian politicians are criminals.

In my opinion, since they are all stunningly rich whilst in office and their lifestyles/wealth accumulation afterwards does not reflect their salaries or allowances, l am going to conclude that they are all guilty until proven innocent.

Why are they all criminals?

There are no easy ways to explain how Nigeria got to this point. It reminds me of the irreversible reactions from my chemistry lessons.

In Nigeria you almost cannot get anything done anywhere in the country unless someone’s palms are laced with bribes, kickbacks or advance fees in form of fraud. Hence the overbearing nature of the systemic corruption becomes the burden of the people, the states and the country.

Invariably corruption is accepted as a way of life in Nigeria. It is the system and the way things work.

In Nigeria government and governance collapsed a long time ago giving way to corruption as a highly organised syndrome in the society.

It must be the organised nature of corruption that makes it possible for a respected former governor like Fashola to be in the news for the wrong reasons in recent weeks, no matter if these are the handiwork of his enemies or detractors.

Someone submitted a quotation to drill 2 boreholes for N139 m and the state approved it. The state (represented by Fashola) and the contractor (representing the people) are both criminals.

This is just one example of the thousands of contracts awarded across Nigeria monthly.

Through contracts, inflated wages and allowances and in many other ways Nigerian politicians remain criminals in their dispositions.

Why are the local government chairperson criminals? Why are the state governors’ criminals? Why are the state and federal lawmakers’ criminals? Why are all the former presidents and former heads of states criminals? Must they be criminals?

I heard that when completed projects are commissioned in Nigeria, that contracts are given for the purchase of the pair of scissors used in cutting the tapes or bands. The average cost of the pair of scissors usually ends up at N150 000!

The person who got the contract, the person who approved it and the public official (chairman, governor or president) who used a one-time pair of scissors that cost N150 000 are all criminals.

Next time anyone needs a pair of scissors to cut tape in Nigeria, please send me an email or give me a call. I will send one for free. My only request will be that the N150 000 should be donated to the motherless babies home in lsolo because someone will add the N150 000 to the expenditures anyway.

Nigeria politicians remain criminal because that is what the system requires, sadly. It doesn’t have to be so. I heard that if a man or a woman tries to be honest and trustworthy, that he or she can be murdered by friends or colleagues.

People who try to be honest at places of work or in public services are soon disowned by friends and families.

When good people become endangered species, the result is what reflects in the daily lives of the ordinary masses-the downtrodden.

Nigeria is rotten in uncountable ways. People who are not willing to play ball are neglected, cast aside or even never given the opportunity to emerge as public servants or contributors to the success of the society.

In this sense the country Nigeria has been a tragic occurrence since the years that precede the civil war years.

But are there ways to get out of this ugly situation? How can the people be cured of their permanent fixation on corruption as a means of succeeding in the country? Nigeria does not have a specific dose of ingredients or actions that will cure her.

It is very difficult to know what should come first in an attempt to move this country away from these criminalities that fill the minds of all and sundry. The majority of the people have never known a system that works correctly.

The majority of the people have been wrongly orientated for most part or all of their lives.

Education is no longer universal in Nigeria and civics, history and citizen responsibilities are off the curriculum. People grew up seeing that their existences are like a rat race and the ultimate goal became to be materially better than your friends and neighbours no matter how you do it. This is so tragic!

The only thing that has mattered in Nigeria since the collapse of governance almost 5 decades ago is how one takes the shortest cut to wealth. Family values collapsed as many parents became incapable of raising normal children in an abnormal country. Even politicians mentor their wards and godsons to be criminals like them.

But there are still many people who are representing Nigeria positively in various ways at home and abroad. There are good families and there are good parents.

Yet, one is worried about the several questions that beg for answers and solutions.

How can the majority be educated or given the appropriate orientation that will help to reduce or eliminate the criminal tendencies in them either in private or public institutions? How can Nigeria one day revert to that point where a proposal for a borehole will reflect N1m or N2m if that is the correct cost rather than an exaggerated N70 m?

The alternative costs to Nigeria’s corruption-ridden contracts and looting of treasuries are inestimable. Does the Lagos State government for example know how many Lagosians that can be housed with N70m? Then multiply that by 2…Then let us imagine the scale of corruption nationally!!!  Tragic! Painful!

There must be a particular action that will set the ball rolling.

How can Nigeria stop choosing criminals to serve them? How can Nigerians stop seeing criminality as a normal way of life? How or when will this falling country be able to finally round up all the political criminals still parading themselves around town as saints?

I can reiterate two things that l think are important for Nigeria and Nigerians.

First is the political solution that all beneficiaries of the political nonsense in Nigeria do not want to discuss. Just now Nigeria remains a game and whoever captures the center controls everything.

At this moment it is Buhari and APC who decide who a criminal is or not. To some extent it seems the EFCC is wriggling its tail in recent months after many years of nonsense job done. The EFCC itself is rotten! The judiciary is lame.

A correct political system will remove the power at the center and allow the different regions to develop at own pace. Some 50 something years ago Nigeria was among the best countries in the world under the regional system of government. Why is it so hard or impossible to implement the system that works best? It baffles the intelligent minds.

A correct political system will settle the nonsensical discussions and arguments about the useless federal character to a large extent. Resource control can be discussed so that another idiotic war does not break out.

The second issue is independent of the first. It is about the institutions of governance, how they can be managed correctly and productively.

For a dysfunctional unitary system (as it is now in Nigeria) or a decentralized regional government, it is still important that criminals are not in positions. This is a dilemma for Nigeria or the states.

Under any kind of system, the persistence of criminals everywhere and in political offices anywhere in the land will continue to show in the low standard of living, the high cost of living, lack of electricity, lack of social justice, lack of social amenities, lack of public schools, low life expectancy, high mortality rate, increase in number of uneducated people and many other vices that are characteristics of a poverty-ridden country/a failed country.

One solution that has never failed in history is the genuine revolution masterminded by the downtrodden masses who have lost everything to the oppressors and losing their own lives became the ultimate price for the freedom of their children and children’s children.

aderounmu@gmail.com

Buharism

/ Adeola / Leave a comment

The success and future of Nigeria lies on the shoulders of all her citizens. It is a collective national assignment to ensure that the institutions are sane and functional.

Buharism

By Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

It is worrying when people start to think that what is needed to clean the political and economic messes in Nigeria is just Buhari alone.

There is no doubt that there is a need for people who are upright in character in public service.

There is no doubt that a country like Nigeria with many bad people in government since 1960 and corrupt people everywhere needs a fresh breathe of life.

A lot of people are expecting that Buhari will prosecute all the Jezebels and Judases in Jonathan’s regime.

There are even expectations that only saints will be able to govern alongside Mr. Buhari.

The euphoria of the different miracles that General Buhari will perform has brought Buharism back to life.

For many people with this ideology, Buhari is like the messiah. For them without Mr. Buhari, there will not be discipline and accountability in the Nigerian society.

These-Buharism and the corresponding ideology-if sustained may spell a doom for the future of Nigeria

What is at stake for Nigeria and Nigerians is beyond one man. The prospects and the hope that Nigeria will rise again is not in the domain of either the APC or the PDP. It definitely cannot rest on Buhari’s shoulders alone.

It will be too risky to hinge the next 4 years and even the next 8 or 10 years on Buhari, APC or the undesirable return of the PDP.

It is not Buhari’s job alone to fight corruption. He is not the court of law. He cannot be the prosecutor, the judge and the jury at the same time.

Personally this should sadden all sane minds-to see the hope of a country as big as Nigeria hinge on one man only.

I am aware that one man must lead. I know that one man can make a difference and that the people who lead or who run political institutions and other institutions are important.

However, the hope of a country cannot be on one man or a small group of people alone because they will not always be there. Life is a passage and human existence is transient in nature.

It is the institutions and the general population that will always be there. It must be possible to always have the people that will lead the institutions in the best possible ways among the population.

For more than 50 years the key institutions in Nigeria have been in disarray and dysfunctional.

Among the dysfunctional institutions in Nigeria today are the police and the judiciary.

If they had been properly maintained and functional, the call for Buhari to arrest and prosecute politicians for example would not have arisen. Buhari is not a policeman and he is not in charge at ICPC or EFCC.

By default, when the useless immunity clause falls off criminal-politicians, it is just proper that the police, the anti-corruption agencies and the judiciary do their jobs. Unfortunately Nigerian politicians disrupted the flow of separation of powers and the Nigerian people got used to a system that is totally malfunctioning.

What the APC mandate can do is to restore proper governance and work hard to enforce the political changes (especially looking into the need for regional government) that will return the glory of Nigeria politically and economically.

The APC mandate can also ensure that powers are separated and that all government institutions (political, economic and all others) start to fulfil their mandates without hindrances and undue interference.

Leadership by example will avail much, definitely. Let the executive, the legislature and the judiciary play their roles according to the laws and the constitution of the land.

Corruption needs to be tackled by the appropriate institutions. It is everybody’s responsibility to ensure that criminals and dubious characters don’t run private and public institutions.

The role of the media and information outlets in this regard is full of several shortcomings.

Sincere and purposeful journalism is lacking in Nigeria, mostly. The media is supposed to be part of the control mechanism for the heartbeat of the nation but unfortunately the brown envelope syndrome is still common and rampant.

Bias news, misinformation and favouritism are common in the Nigerian media.

Another factor that paves the way for corruption and ineptitude in Nigeria’s public institutions is the zoning of appointments and political posts.

Closely tied to the useless federal character system, this zoning will remain a huge clog in the wheel of progress of Nigeria. For as long as these anomalies exist, Nigeria under the present faulty political arrangement will never enjoy the benefits of the best men and women for the positions that duly suit them.

Zoning is part of the national tragedies and it underscores the need to constitutionally adjust Nigeria’s political system. Each region can make use of its best human resources for the benefit of all and sundry. It is better than a central system where it is easy to idle away and sustain corruption.

In the background of Buharism, one must not forget that APC is now loaded with PDP dropouts. PDP ruined Nigeria since democracy returned in 1999. Also there are many cockroaches and skeletons in the cupboards of the APC. There are no saints around Mr. Buhari and he is not going to be a miracle worker.

Nigeria’s rescue mission does not rest on Buhari alone. It is far beyond the APC mandate. It is the people who have waited this long under oppression and useless governments that should get themselves checked.

If governance is built on institutions and of course good people, the system will run itself and things will eventually iron out even if the start is rough and untidy.

Nigeria will not be rebuilt in one day. It will not be rebuilt in 4 years. To maintain and rebuild are constant processes. These are the secrets of the developed countries.

The imperfect APC mandate provides a new chance for Nigerians to think and start again. It must be repeated that the success and future of Nigeria lies on the shoulders of all her citizens.

It is a collective national assignment to ensure that the institutions are sane and functional.

Nigerians must always demand for, and elect men and women who can uphold the virtues associated with civil rule and the common good of all Nigerians.

Buharism in 1983 and Buharism in 2015 is a sign that Nigeria is not producing and nurturing good people for political assignments. It is a fundamental flaw on the overall mentality of the citizenry. It is a sign that Nigerians are not sincere with themselves.

I will state this again: Nigerians should look at themselves in the mirror and take away their garments of evil. For any government in Nigeria to succeed, it is not enough for the people to shout change or (Buharism again). It is very important that people become the change that they want to see.

aderounmu@gmail.com