Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation with potential to be a major player in world politics and economy. However, it is besieged with dilapidated infrastructure, terrible healthcare, failing educational system, power failure and citizens who can’t wait to relocate to other countries.
Nigeria’s current state can be linked to the rulers who have consistently failed to take the nation forward.
Notice I said rulers and not leaders?
Analysis of some of the traits of Nigeria’s politicians gives you an idea why the nation has refused to walk despite crawling for long.
Their eye service is second to none
Deji was on his way to visit his boss who had just returned to the country after her maternity leave. He fully expected to spend the better part of an hour driving from his home in Maryland, Lagos to his destination at Iganmu.
Few minutes after leaving, he suddenly realized he was already at the National stadium in Surulere. It also dawned on him that there were no trailers on the road. He slowed down to contemplate the strange turn of events.
Where had the trailers disappeared to?
He placed a call to his friend, Paul, a staff of the Federal Road Safety Commission. Paul confirmed to him that the trailers/trucks had been evacuated because the president was coming to Lagos.
“Tell me something”, Deji exclaimed.
‘Lagosians’ had been clamouring over the years for the tankers/trucks to be moved but were steadfastly ignored.
But action was taken immediately the president was billed to visit the city.
Note: The tankers/trucks returned to the roads few hours after the president left the city.
Just negodu!
They love fooling themselves
The current government listed ‘massive’ improvements in rice production as one of its major achievements. According to them, Nigeria now produces 90% of the rice it consumes.
You heard me right; 90%. This metamorphosis from major rice importer to major producer occurred in just 3 years.
To be fair to them, more people are now embracing agriculture and rice farming in particular. Though the jury is still out on whether this newfound love for farming is due to incentives provided by government or caused by job losses attributable to government ineptitude.
Coincidentally, during the period when Nigeria has supposedly reduced rice importation, there has been a huge spike in rice importation by neighbouring countries.
Considering the fact that these countries didn’t suddenly increase in population, and factoring in our porous borders, you don’t need to be as smart as Einstein to realize what is happening.
The rice we refused to import legally and earn duty is now entering the country illegally. Of course the import duty has entered voice mail.
Despite evidence to the contrary, they keep chanting their rice sufficiency tune. Who am I to stop them? After all, they are the owners of their voices.
If they don’t blow their trumpet, who will?
They are confirmed hypocrites
“In US & Europe, governments are working to reduce debt & fiscal cliff, our Jonathanians are rushing to borrow away the future of our nation”
The quote above is a tweet by a current governor and one of the bedrocks of the present APC administration.
It is pertinent to note that between 2015 and 2019, the current government has broken all borrowing records.
We are still waiting for him to say something about the borrowing. Maybe he is trying to confirm if they are borrowing away our past.
A former governor once said that “a serious government should provide electricity in 6 months”. As fate would have it, few months after leaving office, this same governor was given a ministerial portfolio that included managing Nigeria’s power sector.
After being in charge for the better part of 3 years, the country’s power situation is still comatose.
They have eyes but they can’t see
Nigerian politicians regularly travel out to developed countries for business and pleasure. They are opportune to see the good roads, covered drainages, quality education, excellent healthcare, superb infrastructure and good governance enjoyed and taken for granted by citizens of these countries.
What do our politicians do?
When they come back, they persist with their horrid tradition of constructing statues that add no value to the populace, building weak roads with open drainages, schools with blackboards and poorly trained teachers and so on.
“Who did their travel help?”
Hopefully soon, our politicians will take action to ensure that their projects are well-planned and meet the quality of those they see when they travel abroad.
They are pathologically selfish
The people are dying of hunger and preventable diseases but Nigerian politicians don’t think twice about hoarding/stealing billions of money in cash and bank accounts.
Their people don’t have access to good roads, pipe borne water and other basic necessities but Nigerian politicians will rather embark on vain projects like building statues and constructing giant brooms at city gates.
Nigerians are being killed daily by a dysfunctional police force. However, politicians have their pick of the best security forces to guard them and their families. Because they feel safe, they are not bothered to take concrete steps to reform the police.
Our politicians move by air. When they are constrained to travel on land, they are usually ensconced in the best vehicles money can buy.
Their followers are either nit-wits or bewitched
The favourite past-time of many Nigerians is to blame the federal government for all the issues they face. However, many of us fail to realize that the state governments are even more culpable for most of these challenges. A state like Bayelsa which receives “armed robber” monthly allocation, with only eight local governments, has little to show for it in terms of development.
Some time ago videos/pictures emerged of Nigerians on a petrol queue waving ecstatically at a Nigerian politician moving in convoy. The politician was responsible for ensuring that basic amenities like power and fuel were available. However, he had failed woefully. Yet the victims of his failure were so beguiled by him that they failed to see the relationship between his ineptitude and their presence on the fuel queue.
They wear tyranny like a cloak
Some time ago, a serving governor ordered the demolition of a radio station belong to a popular musician. According to the governor, the said radio station contravened the laws of the land. However, there were insinuations in many quarters the governor’s action was politically motivated.
This political undertone was further confirmed months later when the said governor gave permission for the said property to be rebuilt. The grapevine indicated that the musician had succeeded in getting into the governors good books.
Nigerian politicians have this knack of demolishing properties or going after businesses of real or perceived adversaries.
Insight isn’t their forte
Nigerian politicians are indisputably short-sighted
Nigeria’s sights and sounds have the potential to entice the most demanding tourist. The Ikogosi warm springs, the Obudu cattle ranch, Yankari Game Reserve, Oguta Lake, Wikki Springs, Olumo Rock and other amazing places too numerous to mention. However, our ‘leaders’ are so besotted with Crude Oil that they fail to see the untapped tourism goldmine.
Few days ago, a minister in the current dispensation was obtuse enough to state that Nigerian doctors are welcome to relocate to other countries because they wouldn’t be missed. According to him, he wasn’t bothered because Nigeria has excess doctors. Of course he wouldn’t be bothered because at the first sign of a headache, he can leave the country to make use of good hospitals abroad.
It didn’t occur to this minister that doctors and other professionals are leaving in their droves because Nigeria’s health sector is nothing to write home about.
Child and maternity mortality is at an all time high in Nigeria while our medical facilities are in “severe pain”. But a minister thinks doctors should travel out in order to earn foreign exchange for the country.
It will never be well with the person(s) that did this to us.
They think they are ‘doing’ us
Few years ago, one of our recent election contestants was in a position of power. During his tenure, electoral malpractice was perfected into an art. Ballot box snatching, voter intimidation, vote buying and other electoral misconducts became the order of the day.
In his capacity as an elected official, he could have influenced improvements in our electoral process. Sadly, he didn’t. After all, he was part of the ruling elite.
Fast-forward few years later, he contests an elective position within the same defective electoral system. However, this time, he isn’t part of the ruling elite. Your guess is as good as mine. Naturally, he loses the elections and screams blue murder.
One of our governors has cold-bloodedly refused to pay workers salaries for the better part of 3 years. However, elections are approaching and the said governor is running helter skelter to seek support for re-election.
They are natural disasters
Nigeria does not have a high incidence of natural calamities like typhoons, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
What we lack in natural disasters, our politicians more than make up for them with their disastrous decision making and nefarious tendencies.
Or the fact that governors and other office holders approve life pension plans for themselves despite looting the states dry and being unable to pay workers’ pensions?
How else do you explain the fact that our politicians go about in 25 car convoys while the citizens are gnashing their teeth?
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