By Dayo Omoogun
Listening to President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2021 New Year message this morning, one was impressed with the fact that he tried to cover as many issues as possible which by broad categorization fall under the following heads: insecurity, economic challenges and anti-corruption.
It is also noteworthy and commendable that he went to great lengths to try to placate and woo the Nigerian youth population. According to him, “Our young people are our most valuable natural resource, at home and abroad. Their ingenuity, creativity, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit is evident to all. Many of our young people are excelling in various spheres of life including sports, entertainment, information and communication technology, commerce and are globally recognized as achievers.
“As a Government we are committed to actively engaging with the creative energies of our young people. In this regard, we will partner with the legislature to develop an enabling environment to turn their passions into ideas that can be supported, groomed and scaled across regions. This will create vast opportunities in fintech, agriculture, business process startups and in the entertainment industry.”
That was fatherly and highly commendable, a huge progress from when they were referred to as lazy youths by the same man.
However when he embarked on some ego trip in the speech it sounded hollow and is at best an insult to the sensibilities of the average Nigerian and this is the core area that this piece is centred upon.
For instance, in what context was he speaking or on what premise was his claim based when he told the nation that Nigeria stands tall in the comity of nations?
“Yet, here we are, 61 years by the next anniversary in October, and not only are we here, we are standing tall in the comity of nations as one country united under the will of God and also actively growing that indivisible Nigerian spirit that has enabled us, year after year, decade after decade, to weather all stormy waters and emerge stronger and better where others have fallen and disintegrated. This nation, this Nigeria will survive and thrive.
For a President who is well endowed in terms of physical height, it would appear from the statement that his understanding of the word tall is rather short. How tall in the comity of nations is a country that is known as the poorest or the poverty capital of the world? Is it a manifestation of tallness when a nearly 61-year old oil-rich country takes its crude outside of its shores for refining before it is then brought back for consumption at avoidable high cost just because it is unable to maintain its own refineries or build new ones? How can we present ourselves in the borrowed robes of standing tall in the comity of nations when our innocent citizens are daily cut down on the roads, in their homes or on their farms? It is as if the nation is under siege such that there is little or no escape for the innocent, law abiding citizens as though there is adeliberate, comprehensive, multi-fold, multi-layer annihilation strategy where whoever escapes from the guns of bandits or insurgents, must not get away from the herdsmen and any other gaps must be closed by kidnappers. Standing tall? With our beleaguered power sector? Can we truly say that we are standing tall when we are bogged down by a heavy debt portfolio? Mr. President, how tall is Nigeria’s standing when we compare notes with Malaysia and such other nations that took off at about the same time with us?
On security Buhari said his administration will be “Re-energizing and reorganizing the security apparatus and personnel of the armed forces and the police with a view to enhance their capacity.” I hope he understands that the only interpretation of this phrase that will appeal to most Nigerians and get their buy-in is the sack of the current service chiefs and their replacement with fresh, younger, energetic, capable hands. It is important if and when these new appointments are made, to ensure that their work is target-based with time-based measurable key performance indicators clearly spelt out. This President loves to be dressed in the garb of a listening leader, a niche he tried to project when he said in his address, “This government heard, this government listened and this government is committed to fulfilling the five demands of our youths, fully understanding that we all wish well for Nigeria “ . He also said somewhere else that “This government heard, this government listened and this government is committed to fulfilling the five demands of our youths, fully understanding that we all wish well for Nigeria”. He must be reminded that Nigerians have repeatedly spoken with one voice on the need to remove the current service chiefs and inject fresh blood but he has remained adamant and unyielding. To many Nigerians, this government, in spite of its claims to the contrary, is one of the most deaf regimes in the annals of the country.
There were two major omissions from my point of view. He did not touch on the protracted ASUU strike and the closest he came to the issue of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) which takes off today, was when he spoke about the recently reopened land borders. It was a huge opportunity to address the concerns of students and parents who are still smarting from the distortion/loss of academic calendar occasioned by the first cOVID-19 lockdown cum protracted ASUU strike which was just called off about a week ago only to be faced with the prospect of another fresh lockdown. On this matter, I believe the Presidency can be more determined and creative in the search for a way forward beyond just embarking on another lockdown.
On the second omission one would have expected the President to rally Nigerian business men and women as well as traders and professionals of various callings to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the nascent development which effectively turns Africa into one huge market. These missed opportunities bring to the fore the abiding suspicion within the polity that Mr. President is “not aware.”
Another sore spot in the address was his excuses section where he said inter alia “Nevertheless, I call upon all Nigerians to carefully recall the circumstances of our coming to office…” To the discerning listener this is a new improved diplomatic way of repeating the administration’s overused cliché about the so-called 16 years of PDP misrule as excuse for its own non-performance. If the PDP was drunk for 16 years and the APC has supposedly been sober in the last five, almost six years, should the hangover continue be so pronounced for this long? When you keep badgering your predecessor as incompetent in a system that is a continuum, are you suggesting that after your tenure your successor will have no problems to tackle?
On the whole the speech shows that Mr. President’s speech writers took cognisance of the flaws pointed out after the President’s last outing and the thorough bashing that accompanied it in preparing this one. It is hoped that the President and his team will do more to write their names in gold for posterity and do so with single-minded urgency.