There is an intricate and intertwined relationship between hope and change. Human beings across time and space have always desired change in extant conditions because they believe their situations can be better. Those who advocate and promise the capacity to be midwives of positive change thus evoke great hope for the future in the hearts of their fellow citizens. The longer the time- lag however, between the promised change and the consequent great expectations aroused and its realization, the more intense the rising frustrations on the part of the citizenry resulting in a not inconsiderable degree of disenchantment.
That appears to be the fate of President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as the administration clocks one year in office tomorrow. There are loud groans about the continued and even intensified socio-economic hardships particularly with the recent, admittedly unavoidable, fuel price hike. Epileptic power supply has worsened even though electricity tariffs have been raised. Unemployment and inflation have spiked. Millions of Nigerians are wondering when exactly the fruits of the change they voted for will begin to manifest. But then, President Buhari has a four-year mandate. His administration cannot be fairly and justly judged on the basis of the first of four years tenure. In any case, only crassly partisan and incorrigibly anti-Buhari elements will not acknowledge the huge socio-economic, moral, political and security liabilities inherited from its incomparably venal, spendthrift and incompetent predecessor.
Perhaps the greatest hope for the ultimate realization of the APC’s promised change agenda is President Buhari’s personal incorruptibility and unrivalled moral integrity. He has thus pursued his anti-corruption campaign with a single-minded and uncompromising doggedness even though critics contend that the anti-graft war is one sided as it seems directed mainly at opposition political figures. The truth is that it is practically and logistically impossible for any administration to pursue and prosecute all corrupt elements at once. But the good thing is that where one administration stops, another will continue as no party can monopolize power for ever in our emergent democratic system. That is the beauty of a functional democratic process that facilitates the continuous moral cleansing of the political space by successive administrations until corruption, with time, becomes the exception rather than the accepted societal norm.
What cannot be denied is that in fulfillment of his electoral promise, Buhari is admirably focused both domestically and internationally on taming the corruption menace, bringing culprits to book and recovering as much of the looted funds as possible. However, as the administration enters its second year in office, it needs to demonstrate greater strategic acumen in its fight against corruption. For instance, with proper planning, it ought to have anticipated that an efficient and incorruptible judiciary is indispensable to any successful war against corruption. It should thus have taken far reaching proactive measures to reform and cleanse the judiciary to ensure that its fight against corruption is not a futile exercise. So far, the administration seems to have been content with screaming media headlines on alleged perpetrators of corrupt acts. Not a single high profile conviction has been secured in one year. The trial of Former Director General of the Nigeria Maritime Abdministration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Chief Raymond Omatseye, who has received a five-year sentence for a N1.5 billion contract scam, actually started under the previous administration. This is a signal failing particularly of an appallingly inept and ineffective Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.
Again, the administration should have known that a cooperative National Assembly with which it is on the same page is critical to any successful anti-corruption effort. Yet, as leader of his party, President Buhari was inexplicably indifferent to the process through which the leadership of the National Assembly emerged. We thus have on our hands a National Assembly that remains as profligate and its finances as opaque as ever even in these austere times. Furthermore, the anti-corruption war is still largely seen as that of a Messianic President Buhari. The people must be made to own the war. Now that a Director General has been appointed for the National Oriental Agency (NOA), this very important agency must come up with a mass mobilization programme to transform the anti-corruption war from that of President Buhari to that of the Nigerian people.
In its first year, the administration has performed creditably in substantially downgrading the offensive capabilities of Boko Haram. The military is better equipped and motivated to combat the insurgents and there is better coordination with our neighbours in this regard. However, the administration has shown no inclination towards the imperative of overhauling and fundamentally re-designing the country’s security architecture to make it more appropriate for a complex, federal polity like ours. Buhari has rightly affirmed his determination to protect and preserve the country’s territorial integrity in response to resurgent militancy in the Niger Delta and separatist agitations in the South East.
Yet, the military is distracted by having to undertake policing duties across the country as a result of a unitary and archaic policing structure that has become wholly incapable of maintaining internal security. Hence the astronomical increase in the atrocities of pipeline vandals, herdsmen, kidnappers, armed robbers and sundry other criminals across the country. We can only continue to postpone the urgent need to radically decentralize policing functions in the country to our collective peril.
It is perhaps in the area of reviving the economy that Nigerians will score the administration lowest. The inexcusable delay in the composition of the Federal Cabinet had negative implications for the preparation of the 2016 budget. Matters were worsened by the serial bungling and manifestations of gross incompetence at various levels that considerably delayed the ultimate signing of the budget into law. Meanwhile, the socio-economic conditions of the people continue to deteriorate abysmally.
There is also the tension between the instinctive patriotic and nationalistic inclinations of Buhari and the heightened fragility, vulnerability and dependency of Nigeria in the global economy. Thus, the administration has been forced by economic circumstances not of its making to substantially hike the price of fuel. Again, there are indications that it is gradually caving in to serious external pressure to formally devalue the Naira. There is the need for the President to considerably strengthen his Economic Team to come up with the bold, original, out-of-the box thinking times like these demand.
Most Nigerians still believe in the sincerity, honesty and integrity of President Buhari. However, not the same can be said of some influential members of his administration and trusted advisers who are widely seen as impediments to change. For instance, most of the President’s appointments continue to be perceived as unduly skewed in favour of the North. The electoral impunity and lawlessness currently on display in Kogi State remains an indelible stain on the APC’s banner of supposed integrity. The cavalier and casual manner with which his recent official visit to Lagos was cancelled at the last minute due to ‘scheduling difficulties’ leaves much to be desired especially when the entire state had been mobilized to honour and give Buhari a rousing welcome. This is more so as the President was widely shown in the media the following day heartily receiving visitors at the Villa.
One of the President’s advisers recently said that Nigerians should be thankful for having Buhari as President. This is not the kind of thing they should be telling the President. Yes, his integrity is unquestionable but he is not doing Nigerians a favour. Indeed, at every point he should show appreciation and gratitude to a people who sacrificed so much for him to ascend to power. Buhari has done reasonably well in his first year. He can do better.
Rachael Oyetesu unveils ‘Immortal’ on Democracy Day
It is certainly not fortuitous that singer, song writer, and a Christian worship leader from Lagos, Rachael Oyetesu, has chosen tomorrow, May 29, Nigeria’s Democracy Day, to unveil her new spiritual musical offering titled “IMMORTAL” to the public. May 29 represents Nigeria’s formal deliverance in 1999 from the cruel jackboots of military autocracy. Rachael Oyetesu’s impassioned divine lyrics are aimed at liberating her listeners from what Eugene Peterson would call the ‘brutal tyranny’ of sin and other forms of satanic bondage. Spiritual emancipation is as critical as political freedom seems to be her message.
A graduate of English language from the University of Lagos, Rachael is also a fashion designer and mentor of young people. A member of various performing groups and Choirs she is currently the Music Director of the Joseph Company Choir, an outreach Ministry of the He Cares Gospel Church in Lagos. She is married to Mr Owolabi Oyetesu of the Lagos State waste Management Authority (LAWMA) who doubles as her manager.
The event, which holds at the New Revelation Baptist Church, 8, Ashabi Cole Street, Daily Times Bus Stop, Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos, from 3 pm will take the form of a live video and audio recording with full audience participation. Yours truly will surely be there to soar in the spirit on the wings of soul stirring music.
