The imposed president of Nigeria courtesy of a compromised judgment by delivered by the Supreme Court in presence of glaring evidences of forged credentials and fake identity, deserves full-throated cheers for dribbling the judiciary and for taken the bull by the horn for the first time at our ‘economic’ recovery war by scrapping the fuel subsidy regime at his May 29th inauguration without a serious look at the consequences involved. Though the ban on rice, dairy and poultry imports remains enforced, it is bearding the lion of economic irresponsibility in the den.
To an extent, we should appreciate that the exited 9th National Assembly at odd times behaved as a liquidator of everything good for Nigeria. So, it would have been in vain for the then president Buhari to have attempted introducing certain economic recovery structures that he had wanted to do on imports by closure of land borders.
Besides, Buhari was a president surrounded by hypocrites, ethno-religious jingoists, blackmailers, mischief makers, sycophants, political touts turned contractors and fake economic gurus in his first tenure; suffocated so much that he had no breathing space for daring dynamic measures. Sadly, one still find some of those known sycophants and mediocre on the corridor of power in a Tinubu administration.
In 2015, President Buhari took off as president from ground zero economically as he claimed. The infrastructure built over 100 years ago, were steadily demolished by previous governments as was claimed. The organized private sector had to move shop to neighboring countries which sent millions of Nigerians out of gainful employment even before Buhari emerged the scene to swell the number beyond count possibly as part of his party’s manifesto.
Worse still, some of the states were looted by their governors to bleeding point and some of Obasanjo’s and Goodluck’s ministers and other associates pillaged the nation’s, till with impunity and pride under the guise of service. Cases of Diezani Ali-son Madueke, Rev. Jolly Nyame, Sambo Dasuki, Muhammed Bello Adoke, Joshua Chibi Dariye, Danjuma Goje, Ayo Fayose and several others are still fresh in our memories.
It is noteworthy that despite those handicaps, Buhari still succeeded in ‘forcing’ Nigerians to feed themselves from the stuff of their farms. And, he considerably rehabilitated some of our decayed infrastructure, achieving what his predecessors could not achieve in their uninterrupted years in power.
So, he has some projects to showcase such as the completion of the railway started by Goodluck Jonathan, roads construction, local food sufficiency and vigorous fight against insecurity and corruption to his credit in his first tenure to stamp his footprints against reelection.
It is easier to destroy than to build. Buhari’s contract with Nigerians in his 2015 victory speech raised the expectations of the people to higher pedestal. Unfortunately, he was not fortunate to have the good luck enjoyed by Generals Yakubu Gowon, Sani Abacha and former president Goodluck Jonathan when Nigeria had competent, tried and tested hands like Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo, Anthony Enahoro, Malam Aminu Kano, Femi Okunnu, Wenike Briggs, Abel Eke, Shettima Ali Munguno, Sen. Bala Muhammed, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso and few others at his beck and call as it was in the regime of Gowon, Abacha and Jonathan. And the bureaucracy then was world-class as well also as it was in the tertiary institutions. Also, Buhari did not have a hardened military officer Tunde Idiagbon in his time as civilian president to deliver the expected service as he had as military head of state.
Abacha enjoyed that store of manpower initially in his administration in the persons of Gen. Jeremiah Useni, Lateef Jakande, Samuel Ogbemudia, Abubakar Rimi, Sam Aluko, Bamanga Tukur, Adamu Ciroma, Melford Okilo and few other patriots in the cabinet.
Nigeria lacks such men of thought and deeds in the political and economic spheres of today. All you hear from commentators and contributors to national discourse is “funding” including funding the Home-Grown Feeding System during lockdown in the absence of benefitting pupils. Even some so-called journalists of today request for funds to investigate critical stories that can make headlines. Why is there so much ignorance and un-intellectualism in our Nigeria of today? The job of the reporter is to get the news and follow up as it develops for public consumption. I have seen and been to the inside of some of the best newsrooms and I know that the “lingo” in the newsroom is “the news”.
Blame the decay in Nigeria on the docile and some compromised press. One watches and sees no determined, courageous and fearless reporters these days in the horizon. At best, one finds reviews not news breaks in most journals and electronic and social media. This shows the sharp drop in professional excellence in about all the facts of Nigeria’s life.
While you permit my diversion, let me plead that Buhari could not have performed…..any better in an administration in which a Secretary to the Government of the Federation and a Head of the Civil Service were on trial for corruption. Service Chiefs were completely out of touch with insecurity situations on ground. We had more of politicians as service chiefs than what we expected. Within the security system, corruption flourished and insurgents had field days.
Man creates wealth; wealth does not come on its own. Wealth comes from creativity, persistence and ability to manage assets. But wealth in Nigeria even before Buhari ever dreamt of occupying the position of leadership was the ravaging of the public treasury by the greedy and criminally-minded public servants.
Should Nigeria look up to any other country for rescue or introduce stringent laws to check the excesses of corrupt public officers and thieves of public funds? Nigerians did not accept that in 1967 (civil war period) or in 1993 (annulment of June 12) when requested. The time has come for us to be inward-looking. The time has come for mass mobilization of every Nigerian to help solve the problems bedeviling our progress by embracing self-denials of “boycottables”. In fact, boycott the boycottables should be our present clarion call. Only a collectivist approach, not the present individualistic steps, can facilitate our social and economic recovery. Since the infamous and unlamented Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) of the Babangida military government, Nigerians have lost their thinking caps and gumption.
For instance, what does “Trader Moni” stand for and meant to achieve? That was a policy below the standard of even a village economic thinker. It was what happened in India when one free-marketer derailed the progressive philosophy launched by Indira Ghandi to inflict on the people an economic pattern of individualism.
Indian farmers took loans and could not repay their debts. Thousands committed suicide to avoid jail sentences. It was also true of its tradesmen’s plight. In the collectivist climate of Indira Ghandi, cooperative societies throve. They were availed of technical skills in management by inspectors. They were strong because they bonded as in the case of China and Vietnam.
It is regrettable that the Court imposed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu retained some of Buhari’s economic policies forgetting that with one thousand Dangotes, Dantatas, Sani Bellos, Funsho Alakijas, Bola Shagayyas, Abdulkadir Auwalu Ranos (A.A Rano), Olu Benson Lulu Briggs, Abdulsamads, Tony Elumelus, Femi Otedolas, Mike Adenugas etc, the fortunes of Nigeria cannot be changed. Only the people in a committed crusade for progressive change can alter the predicament.
Tinubu though imposed, should strive to re-establish the marketing, commodities and price control boards. They played profitable roles in advancing food and cash crops production in the past and stabilized prices. It was Gen. Obasanjo who introduced Operation Feed the Nation (OFN), Shehu Shagari introduced Green Revolution and former military president Gen. Babangida introduced NALDA (National Land Development Authority) and they all played significant roles in massive agricultural production.
Presently, we now need technical institutes and technology colleges to train manpower not only for middle level agricultural production purposes, but also for advanced operations in every aspect of our living.
The late Sardauna of Sokoto and premier Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello Rabah was a brilliant Barth socialist in his approach to modernizing the Northern Region. He introduced free primary education in 1953. It predated the much trumpeted free primary education of Western Region.
Ahmadu Bello launched an aggressive industrialization scheme in the region that started yielding fruits before he was gruesomely murdered. The North then had food and beef canning factories, cotton ginneries, leather works and textile manufacturing companies that are today no more for failure of good governance bedeviling the once bubbling region.
Chief Obafemi Awolowo was a democratic socialist and it reflected his social, political and economic development of western region while Dr. Micheal Okpara was a pragmatic socialist which shows in his agricultural and industrial stripes till date.
Dennis Osadebay in the Mid-west was a democratic socialist which speeded the frenetic take-off of the new region after creation from the western region. Dr. Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe was a Fabian socialist which made him wily and indecisive in taking positions on issues.
Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was a 14-crat bourgeois. The centre could not grow as fast as the regions. Tinubu should beware of bourgeois elements, especially bankers, quasi-contractors and money launderers who laundered our surplus for their criminal masters and rats in power for several years. While banks declare profit from unearned wealth, factories, farms lay desolate and tormented with imports of all sorts of goods, even toothpicks and serviettes. Those IMF agents masquerading as economic advisers cannot be our shepherds that we know.
Tinubu should go further by banning the imports of all electrical appliances, house wares, furniture, shoes, textiles and goods we can easily produce locally. There should be total ban on all luxury goods including automobiles and baby foods.
Honestly, there can’t be any economic recovery without an industrial resurgence in a country with over 180million people. The manufacturing sector must have a major part to play. But with what looks like policy somersault in our energy sectors, electricity especially, the whole industrial approach is non-starter. The power distribution companies (Discos) are disastrous and Tinubu must save Nigerians from the ongoing disaster by disbanding them to save Nigerians from unabated extortion. See the mess they made with sales of pre-paid meters given to them free by government. There is no part of Nigeria including the Villa that enjoys uninterrupted power supply. They extort from the people with inflated forced bills for services not rendered. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Vice-president Kashim Shettima, Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Speaker House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abas must act now to bring back sunshine to our economic life.
Nigeria needs peace to progress, unity to prosper. The present security structure seems to be cruising in the same direction with the failed system in confronting insecurity challenges created by unabated corrupt practices.
The establishment of a National Presidential Committee on Security under the office of Chief of Staff to the president for maximum service is overdue to confront all security related challenges independent of any other security structure. We must bring new ideas to the table, engage good brains and recruit those desirables to rescue our country from catastrophe before we become a lawless country where the application of jungle justice becomes inevitable to flourish. The judiciary is overdue for total overhaul to save the country from corrupt judges that deliver compromised judgments under different guises. We must wake up now to collectively rescue our country.
The imposed leadership is already enmeshed in several scandals and is glaringly incompetent and incapacitated for lack of sincerity of purpose and patriotic instincts to save Nigeria unless through magic. Which way out then? I cry for my beloved country, Nigeria! We have again, missed the direction for progress.
Muhammad is a commentator on national issues
So Far, No vision, No Hope for Nigeria at Sight
- Sanusi Muhammad
- November 4, 2023
- 2:21 am
