Hello Sir. President, I am writing this letter inspired by your ban or rather, suspension of twitter in Nigeria. A lot of issues and questions have been raised and are still being raised in relation to the ban.
Was it necessary? Good or bad? Are the accusations sincere?
Was it the most honorable way of tackling the danger of the rascality of uncensored social media? What is the balance between the positive and negative aspect of twitter?
Does it have economic impact on Nigeria and the citizens?
None of this is actually the reason for this letter. It is the fact which itself has become news, that the announcement was made on the same twitter before it went into effect. Some questioned the logic behind it, others saw the funny aspect to it and for some it was a technical knock out.
I think announcing the suspension on twitter shows humility on your government’s part, humility in accepting the far reaching power and big audience of twitter, say, when compared to the Nigerian Television Authority and other media platforms in Nigeria.
Maybe it was a quick decision taken in the heat of the moment or a show of strength on twitter’s own turf.
Now it got me thinking, tweeting twitters ban on twitter, you could also end corruption with corruption. I choose the word corruption because I know like every other Nigerian that the fight against corruption is one of, if not your main passion as a leader. A driving force as to why you contested for elections multiple times before finally tasting victory. Apart from corruption, there are many other issues we can raise.
It’s 6 years now since you got into power, this is your second tenure Sir and corruption does not appear to have receded in anyway. I am not saying it is your fault. It wouldn’t be exaggeration to say the world is corrupt, even the so-called advanced countries have corruption. The thing is that they have strong systems as opposed to strong men.
And this is where Nigeria fails it, we have a lot of strong men. So, Sir, you have to fortify the state and governing system, not necessarily the regime, for the issue of strong men to be drastically reduced. Also, corruption has become culture and culture is a difficult thing to change, to dismantle its stronghold. But for hope, we never say never.
In your speech at the weekend, you mentioned that there were those who want this administration to fail. Your body language during the speech portrayed honesty and brokenness. You emphasized that you have always worked constitutionally.
It is true Sir, people want the administration to fail. It is also true that people want the administration to succeed. What do you want as the leader– failure or success – for the country at large.
For the sake of your time sir, let me focus for now on one of the main points of corruption in Nigeria – CONTRACTS, the award and execution of contracts. At all levels of government, federal or local, it is the same thing. The process of the award is a complex issue on its own. To be honest, with the revenue we generate in Nigeria, we have never needed to borrow huge amount of money, but it has been the case even before you came.
From my myopic view, if just 30% of the contracts awarded since the beginning of our democracy till date have been executed, Nigeria would have been a developed nation. Developed in every sense one can imagine. It even comes with a bad mix, which is, contracts are awarded and the contractors do not know where the contract site is or what the contract entails, so they never carry out the project but are paid in full. At the other end, contracts are awarded, executed and payments withheld for inexplicable reasons, maybe failure to pay bribe by the contractor.
An issue presently rocking our nation is insecurity, coupled with persistent protests here and there. For the protest, the simple truth is that people are hungry, poor and hungry, yes, hunger. It is hunger, greed and madness that fuels insecurity which itself is ignited by hate, fear and sheer evil. If you can tackle hunger aggressively, you would have reduced insecurity to the minimum.
As for fighting corruption by corruption, you will have to step out a bit from the constitution. It is a difficult call and may sound absurd, especially as you said you have always strived to work according to the constitution, but the fact is, it is possible. All you need is sincerity of heart, nationalistic view and tact.
After all, you have been accused of dictatorial tendencies; an indifferent body language and no respect for rule of law. If it is said that you have forced pain on the masses, you still have time to force development and happiness on every Nigerian to prove your accusers wrong.
For more than a decade you contested elections and finally got into power. When you come out of office, as you settle down into community, and you find that Nigeria is still as it has been; the social fabric torn and degraded, the economy epileptic and politics as usual, will you run again, cry with the masses again or protest again.
