Column
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| By Paul Okolo |
FOLLOWING the improvement in power supply after the swearing-in of President Muhammadu Buhari last year, many Nigerians attributed the development to the president’s body language. When queues for fuel suddenly disappeared, some people shouted “hope rising.” The new broom also said he belonged to everybody and to nobody, raising expectations that he’s perhaps the man to take the people to the Promised Land. Nigerians praised his resolve to carry the battle against Boko Haram terrorists to their stronghold in the northeast. Hope was equally rekindled when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission revved back to live from a curious comatose state.
Almost a year later, the pervasive feel good factor in those early days of the All Progressives Congress’ federal government seems to have vanished. Power supply has returned to its previous dismal level. The outages, coming at a time of record high temperatures and a recent 50 percent hike in electricity tariffs, are making life unbearable for the longsuffering populace. Revelations of stomach-turning treasury looting then hit the newsstands, causing more and more people to despair.
The very people responsible for cleaning out the treasury quickly returned to the drawing board and launched a damaging attack against every move made by the new government. “So where is the promised change,” they’ve asking sarcastically. As President Buhari had accurately predicted, corruption is fighting back. Consequently, a gullible segment in the country is beginning to say there’s no hope after all, and concluding that the APC is no different from the Peoples Democratic Party-led government it had replaced.
But despite the barrage of criticisms, change has indeed come to our shores. One or two examples will suffice. The federal government-owned radio and television networks that toed the PDP-led government’s line during last year’s general election campaigns have become more balanced in reporting the news under the new administration. An independent observer will also notice that the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria and the Nigerian Television Authority are not being unduly influenced in editorial matters by the government in power. Another undisputed fact is that we’re now enjoying far more freedom of expression than under the former government. Critics may point at the wobbly economy as evidence of failure.
But nobody should expect the mess created by the PDP in 16 years to be cleared overnight. That sort of change only happens in home movies. That’s not going to happen in reality. Change takes time just as building a house takes time. You start by laying the foundation, and then you mount the blocks on the foundation, fit the windows, doors, the roof and finally the accessories or something like that. So it is with steering a nation back on the right track after years of derailment. It would be unhelpful for people to be hoodwinked by paid propagandists into believing that nothing is working. By now, one year after the polls, partisan politics ought to have given way to the serious business of running a complex entity like Nigeria. So whether it’s APC or PDP, what should be of the greatest concern to the country is the wellbeing of all Nigerians.
The country has a lot of catching up to do in the area of human development with former peers like Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. These Asian nations have since overtaken Nigeria by most yardsticks while we opened the gate for thieves to roam. Nigeria, for goodness sake, has no business being poor, giving the huge revenues that it has earned in the years of plenty. For example, between 1999 and 2012, the country earned no less than $475 billion from oil sales, according to Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives. Sadly, much of it can’t be accounted for.
It could have been used to build modern houses, hospitals, standard primary, secondary and higher institutions in each of the country’s 774 local government areas. The whole country could have been connected with road and rail networks that could have been the envy of others nations. We could have become a net exporter of electricity, fuel and agricultural produce such as rice, maize, palm oil, and tomatoes had the funds not been siphoned into private coffers. A list of what could have been is endless. If you’re in doubt, see what the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar – fellow members of the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries —have done with their own oil receipts in recent years. Unlike in Nigeria, malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis no longer kill millions of citizens of these countries because of the heavy investment they’ve made in the social sector. Rather than thinking upon these missed opportunities and finding the way forward, some people want us to believe that the bad old days were actually a golden era. I beg to disagree.
That said, correcting the wrongs of several decades is not for the president alone to do. He needs as many change agents in all areas of the administration as he possibly can get. One local adage says one hand is incapable of carrying a load on to the head. The fight against corruption and everything else responsible for our current pitiable position must be a collective effort rather than a one-man show. Other people in positions of authority in key establishments must be enlisted immediately. President Buhari will be the symbol of the campaign but all of us must support him in our own interest.
So to make this change irreversible, ministers, permanent secretaries, state and local government administrators as well as technocrats have to proactively begin dismantling the old order where they’ve not already done so. It’s about time people started to justify their pay by rendering satisfactory service to the public. For example, the change we need in the process of obtaining our national passport ought to be apparent to all by now. Getting this travel document should be relatively easy today without applicants having to part with any amount of money above the official price as is currently the norm. The head of the department should, without waiting to be directed, put transparent measures in place to ensure that applicants are able to get this document within a stipulated period of time. If for any reason there’s a delay, the officer in charge must provide satisfactory reasons or be sanctioned. The point must be made to public officials under this government that they are employed to serve the public and not to subject citizens to all sorts of indignities.
Public places like post offices, police stations, airports must also be seen to be rendering quality service without demanding and receiving any gratification. The work places should be made uncomfortable for those who insist on carrying on as in the past. Those caught taking bribes or extorting helpless citizens must be stopped and made to face the music. We must employ technology in this fight. Closed circuit televisions should be installed in public offices not only to boost security but to enhance transparency and reduce shady deals. Unscrupulous people who have been shortchanging the country for years must be told in plain language that they have no place in the new Nigeria we’re building. Points of entry to the country need to be sanitized. A road trip to Ghana takes almost forever because of corrupt practices perpetrated at the borders, keeping travelers stranded for endless hours. If we confront these bad habits with determination, our little efforts will begin to gather momentum and eventually become unstoppable. But if things continue unchallenged, then we’re in serious trouble. To drive home the point that it’s no longer business as usual, the President needs to make an example of one or two uncooperative public servant. After firing somebody, others will sit up.
— Mar 30, 2016 @ 13:50 GMT
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