Nigeria has witnessed several political midwifing and reactions. The most recent being the reaction that produced Muhammadu Buhari as President. The reaction was in stages, the first phase was between political parties, Alliance for Democracy (AD) and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) which produced All Progressive Congress (APC). The reaction that produced APC was exothermic in nature, the heat and energy that accompanied it resulted in the melting and collapse of the once formidable Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the then ruling party christened largest political party in Africa reduced to naught. Have a look at the equations below:
AD + CPC = APC
APC + PDP + Other Political Parties + Nigerians = Buhari + (Recession?)
Upon assumption of duty, President Muhammadu Buhari body language and anti-corruption crusade showed signs of positive energy. The attendant hunger, pay cuts, sky rocketing prices of goods and services, alarming unemployment rate that now characterize the life of the Buhari administration questions the potency of body language in reducing the entropy of the Nigerian nation.
History has it that Nigeria resulted from the fusion of tribes intended for administrative convenience by the British colonial masters. The independence granted Nigeria in 1960 forced the colonial masters to abandon their experiment. An experiment that saw a mole of Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo tribes mix with moles of other tribes.
Successive administrations who have ruled Nigeria since independence have continued the experiment. Some of the results produced so far include, bloody and bloodless coups, civil war, annulled election, religious bigots and extremist, high illiteracy level, leaders who offer stomach infrastructure as dividends of democracy, citizens with “short memory syndrome” who allow negative history to repeat itself.
It therefore calls for concern, the quality of ‘scientists’ experimenting with the Nigerian socio-economic, political test-tube. We have had products like Structural Adjustment Program (SAP), Better Life Program (BLP), Family Support Program (FSP), Family Economic Advancement Program (FEAP), National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEED) National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP), Vision 20-20, Youth and Entrepreneurial Empowerment Scheme (YouWIN) and recently N-power. How it is that successive governments have not been able to sustain economic programmes of its successors? Can this development be linked with incompetence, greed, culture of mediocrity, lack of unity, no sense of focus or lack of willpower?
Having lived my life in Nigeria’s test tube, witnessed and survived experiments led by greedy and unpatriotic elements dubbed leaders across various organs of government, I am bothered what they aim to achieve by creating a society with so many ills – epileptic power supply, poorly equipped hospitals and non-functional systems. How long will they catalyze the Nigerian reactions with ethnicity, corruption, religious sentiments and mediocrity?
Are you a docile or active citizen? What is your position on matters that bother on Nigeria – the fence? Do you care to cast your vote for credible candidates when it’s time to choose our leaders and representatives? Do you join efforts with other citizens who call out to elected leaders for an account of their representation? We can choose to fold our arms and not get involved in the electoral process and governance but we cannot choose the dire consequence of decaying infrastructure, frightening crime rate, extreme hunger, gross disregard for citizens’ rights, and government of stomach infrastructure. There is no end to the negative consequences of abuse of your vote and civil responsibilities.
The belief that the Nigerian socio-economic, political reactions can be reversed gives me hope. If we all join forces to vote in credible leaders in future elections, we would succeed at installing competent ‘scientists’ with the experience, integrity, goodwill and purposefulness needed to make Nigeria great.
Original article first appeared on sharpjournal.com
Provide your email in the subscription box to get future stories in your mailbox.
