Guest Columnist By Ifeanyichukwu George
It has been the norm in this country especially since the end of the civil war in 1970, to have our leaders and, of course; the citizens come to say that for the country to regain her lost glory and pride of place in the comity of nations; all the country needed was either a return to civil or democratic rule (if the soldiers were in power) or true federalism or constitutional amendment or even a return to regional structures or what is commonly nicknamed political restructuring. Interestingly, some or all of the afore-mentioned palliatives have been applied at some point in our history. Yet, Nigeria’s continuous slide to nowhere remains steady. Why? No answer; because no one seems to have the courage to speak up.
Now, this doesn’t mean that the problem is not known. Our problem is well known to us. But then, we are too coward-hearted to attempt to answer it. Nigeria’s problem, unlike the erudite Professor Chinua Achebe once alluded; is simply and squarely greed. And once we pinned the problem to this behavior; it therefore means that the problem has to do with people. Everyone appears to fall for the cliché that the lack of a focused leadership is our problem. But how do you explain the existence of such in almost all the cadres of responsibility as far as Nigeria’s government is concerned? Are we saying that every Nigerian is bereft of even natural leadership traits? Of course, the answer is in the negative.
Why do our leaders prefer the monetization of solutions to our problems to commonsense ones? The answer lays with what I just alluded to above; namely, greed. Greed, as it were, is an offshoot of how a person’s mindset works. When a people’s way of thinking is ill; their actions will most certainly reflect it. You will no doubt agree that the level of greed that is reflected in the behaviors of an average Nigerian is legendary. For instance, there is no doubt that the war against insecurity – which has since inception, claimed countless number of innocent lives – has proved insurmountable despite monetized solutions that has been proffered.
Again, monetization of solutions has not yet brought succor in the quest for food security despite the billions of naira that went down the drain in the Anchor Borrowers Scheme nor has the monthly allocation which accrues to the 36 states of the federation – that also runs into billions of naira since the removal of fuel subsidy – been able to affect the poor masses in the rural areas of Nigeria. It seems that money has had no way of making things easy for leadership but that is essentially because wrong mentalities never get to do anything successful. When a problem is discussed; the several discussants never really care about solving it. All they care about is what is in it for them. Eventually, billions is spent with no results.
The greed story in the journey of our history is perhaps highly visible in the political stagnation that has characterized our political voyage since 1999 especially as the much touted democratic rule has remained unwilling, unable or totally incapable of creating any new state or even local government council. Worse is its crippling effect on the sensibility of the political leaders whose impunity and arrogant conversion of our commonwealth into their respective estates seems to be more of an addiction than it appears to be an ill-behavior. After 24 years of unbroken democracy and, when the entire country is calling for a political system that works; the politicians are fighting hard to remain at ease with greed.
If the problem is leadership ineptitude; why is that problem always with making government accountable to the masses and never with the proper sharing of the country’s revenue among the federal and state governments? Why does the political stagnation that is affecting security, food sufficiency, employment, state creation and national prosperity not also affecting the political class? It is painful to state that as the country presently stands; our collective patrimony revolves around the president, his deputy, the national assembly members, the federal ministers and of course the demigods in our 36 states. Even those who worked with these leaders as assistants and advisers, lawmakers and councilors got nothing!
To underpin in clear terms, how greed propelled corruption and impunity in this country let me draw our attention to its effect on the economy and the masses. Are you aware that presently, what drive the country’s economy are the salaries of the civil servants? When the civil servants receive their salaries and spend from it; it trickles to players in the private sector who are mostly into petty trade, transportation, construction materials business, schools, churches and banks as well as household entertainment companies like DSTV, STARTIMES and FREETV etc. With the lion share of the monthly allocation going to them; the average politician hardly spent their monies in the country except maybe for food.
And this behavior is the only reason why the economy is in a serious state of comatose. Imagine, what the poor masses are going through every day in a country where, no politician travels in any known public system of transportation whether by air or road? Imagine what happens to a local market where the only players you find are civil servants whose salaries as we know cannot take them home? Just think of the workings in an economy where increase in PMS or increase in workers’ salaries drives inflation and how the masses fared under such a condition? Incidentally, either ways it goes, such an inflationary situation never gets to affect the political class! This is Nigeria, and this is where greed drives hardship.
Given the foregoing; one would have thought that the civil servants shouldn’t have been driven to the point of embarking on a strike before efforts are made to assuage their financial situation if indeed we had a sensitive government at the center. But the obvious is happening. And even with the now 2-day strike embarked by the NLC and the TUC; the federal government – as usual – have resorted to their hide and seek approach. The body language of the SGF (Senator George Akume) in coming to announce an amount that is yet to be corroborated by any other member of the federal cabinet and, to also declare a call-off of a strike he did not call-on to begin with; only goes to show their adamant resolve.
In all these gimmicks, one question that I’m yet to find answers to is why the Joe Ajaero and Festus Osifo-led joint industrial action hurriedly called off the strike. Have they collected “The Brown Envelop” as their past leaders usually did? Or are they not yet tired of the endless brouhaha with a government that appeared bent on cheating their ways out of every warning or substantive strikes? In case Labor is going soft suddenly; let me remind Comrades Joe and Festus that Nigeria’s economy whose oxygenated air is singlehandedly supplied by worker’s insufficient wages – when they spent – is in a dire need of a better spending habit that can help to jumpstart the economy at least until the next subsidy is removed.
For a country where leadership abused the fundamental human rights of its citizens to the point of denying them a robust industrial-centered economy and, where impunity is so loud that noise pollution emanating from worship centers are even considered as normal reminder for faithful’s that it was time to pray (but the faithful’s never wait to be reminded it was time to steal public money); why won’t strikes come as reminder to government of its obligations to its citizen’s, if the idea of call to prayer isn’t seen as absurd? Now, a government that is in no hurry to improve worker’s welfare will most certainly be in no hurry to turn the citizen’s fortunes around for good. We all saw this during Buhari’s ill-fated reign.
In the final analysis, the federal government must know that if it wants to destroy whatever is left of the already badly beaten and comatose economy then it should keep dancing like an unguarded masquerade and not concede to the demands of the labor movement. Otherwise; the best way to go as things are at the moment is (1) increase the minimum wage to 170,000.00 naira, (2) introduce price control in the domestic market and; (3) reverse the electricity hike as well as (4) permit the CNG buses to begin flight. Anything away from the above suggestions or suggestions similar to them will further skew the economy from hyper-inflation into hell.
Amb. Ifeanyichukwu George; Executive Director, Self-Awareness for Suicide Prevention Initiative, Africa writes from Abuja. 08062577718
