Government by photo ops
Even the most mundane activity like commissioning vehicles whose effective life span never exceeds four years is celebrated with a great deal of fanfare and televised live in day long ceremonies. Sometimes such “earth shaking” events are beamed live on several TV channels at the same time while multi million naira commemorative brochures are commissioned. […]
Even the most mundane activity like commissioning vehicles whose effective life span never exceeds four years is celebrated with a great deal of fanfare and televised live in day long ceremonies. Sometimes such “earth shaking” events are beamed live on several TV channels at the same time while multi million naira commemorative brochures are commissioned. Marke-ting gurus who specialize in subtle deception techniques have their fingers in the State Government pie and have somehow convinced their Excellencies to “re-brand” themselves and their States.
These are the same people who convinced GSM companies and banks to spend millions rebranding without actually improving their services! Enthusiastically embracing the idea Gover-nors are gradually turning themselves into television actors competing with Nollywood for peoples’ attention. Obsessed with “achievements” that can be filmed and photographed projects like environmental beautification, civil works, new government building complexes, street lights and traffic lights go on while there is a collective failure to grapple with the serious social problems bedevilling our society. The potentially disastrous lack of employment opportunities, condemnable financial profligacy of government, and increasingly desperate impoverished citizenship is causing a myriad of ills in the nation. A report by the African Development Bank (AfDB) asserted the rate of poverty in Nigeria is increasing with an alarming number of citizens living below the poverty line. It’s not surprising that violent crime, prostitution, fraud and corruption are rampant and we have become a less caring and compassionate society. Governors have failed to come to grips with the fact that people are concerned with their personal welfare not with physical structures of government.
A former Minister of Education, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, attributed the rising poverty to poor governance saying we have been unable to translate the huge natural resources at our disposal into improvements in the standard of living of citizens. Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi the Central Bank Governor lamented that Nigeria’s immense wealth is contradicted by the poverty level and said that government must begin to make key investments not only in infrastructure but also in people. The average Nigerian citizen as in the rest of the world has three major concerns namely what happens to them if they become unemployed? what happens if they become sick and cannot work? and what happens when they are too old to work? A spanking brand new Government House means nothing to them. They want and deserve rights which cannot be photographed. Government has a duty to address these three issues by enforcing certain rights. Truly democratic nations which respect human rights allay these fears by enforcing fundamental rights for their citizens. Firstly any unemployed citizen has a right to be paid a weekly subsistence allowance by government. Secondly any sick citizen has a right to free standard medical care. Lastly every citizen upon reaching a stipulated retirement age has a right to receive a pension.
Apart from enhancing human dignity and promo-ting a sense of contentment these rights discourage begging, crime and vagrancy. Let no one be deceived, the nation can afford the cost the truth is so much money is being stolen in government because people are not being given their rights. Peace of mind, a feeling of security and well being, and an expectation to fulfil ambition, are key factors in satisfying the aspirations of the citizenry and these can only be achieved by enforcement of rights which cost money and cannot photographed. Constructing sustainable infrastructure is of course a necessity but it is by no means the solution to our problems. Commercial agriculture, technical education and industrialization are the key elements. Industrialization by State governments is limited to “factories” which are merely warehouses for assembling equipment or processing agricultural products.
Building hotels and holiday resorts are not considered as development of industrialization. Governors must forget photographic governance and act upon their obligation to subsidize the welfare of citizens. The resultant social services will provide employment opportunities that the nation so urgently needs. The funds used for publicity, rebranding, advertising, promoting, and sensitization campaigns on government achievements would be better employed in funding citizens’ rights. The cost of enforcing rights is far more burdensome than that of constructing physical structures and Governors will naturally claim that they do not have sufficient funds. In countries where the rights of citizens are enforced there is no money for lavish lifestyles by political office holders, no money for multi-million dollar cars, guest houses, and banquet halls. The recent Oronsaye Committee Report condemned the cost of our over-bloated government and recommended funds for true development could be freed by merging many agencies whose functions overlap as well as scrapping others which are unnecessary.
Like so many other reports it has been buried to gather dust. Former United States President Bill Clinton hit the nail on the head when he said deliberate efforts should be made by the three tiers of government to give succour and economic opportunities to Nigerians lagging behind. According to him our political problems and violence that appear to be rooted in ethnic and religious differences are in truth connected to poverty. The nation simply cannot afford to continue with this government by media. If Governors do not stop their self deception and very quickly address the issues of high poverty level with sustainable income generation opportunities the problems of social upheaval will not go away. Going into the new year it should be evident that Government cannot continue produce documentaries while waiting for insurgency to take root and then panic and either go to war or proceed to offer a share of the Nation’s wealth in the form of “amnesty” to those who are bold enough and callous enough to break the law and take life with impunity.