It’s time for innovative solutions

When the All Progressives Party (APC) promised change in the 2015 national elections Nigerians fell for it hook line and sinker! Tired of the rapacious, incompetent, corrupt, and uncaring People’s Democratic Party (PDP) government which was leading the nation to ruin, everyone wanted change for the better. Regrettably the nation appears to be getting exactly […]

When the All Progressives Party (APC) promised change in the 2015 national elections Nigerians fell for it hook line and sinker! Tired of the rapacious, incompetent, corrupt, and uncaring People’s Democratic Party (PDP) government which was leading the nation to ruin, everyone wanted change for the better. Regrettably the nation appears to be getting exactly the opposite.
The economy is in free fall, companies are closing and relocating, kidnapping and armed robbery are still rampant, and elections still substandard. As a result, both President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) and the APC are becoming progressively unpopular. PMB himself is, as can only be expected, firmly entrenched in the past. It’s not unusual for men of his age to be unable to either understand the dynamics of modern society or sympathise with the aspirations of the youth. To be fair no one really expected PMB to behave like a modern leader or provide innovative solutions to the nation’s problems. He wasn’t elected because of any reputation for intellectual prowess or deep understanding of socio-economics. He won the election because although the PDP dismissed him as a perennial loser, they hugely underestimated his drive, commitment and appeal to the common man. The brilliant ideas were supposed to come from the Federal Executive Council (FEC), and it is they who are failing the nation. Half way through his tenure PMB is expected to shuffle his cabinet, but the general consensus of opinion is that he should replace them completely.
The opposition PDP have adopted the mantra of “let’s change the change” and even though they lost the recent Edo State election in circumstances which were less than convincing, there is no doubt that their mantra has captured the public’s imagination.  The problem for PDP is that very few people want to change back to the old days of their mismanagement and corruption. Nigerians crave the sort of innovative, disciplined and caring government which PMB himself undoubtedly desires. But rather than nominate new faces who can think outside of the box, PMB unfortunately filled his cabinet with the same old people who got us into the mess in the first place – recycled politicians.  In an ideal world, Governments would have enough funds to employ sizeable workforces to maintain and repair infrastructure.
With the current paucity of funds our Ministers quite evidently have no clue on how to proceed. Their lack of creativity and innovative ideas is leading the nation to slide inextricably towards infrastructural decay and social decadence. This isn’t the case in advanced nations which are going through economic hardships but have innovative leaders. For example, Devon, a county in England has the largest road network of any highway authority in the UK. Due to the economic downturn and scarcity of funds for road maintenance, potholes developed all across the area just like in Nigeria. Instead of wringing their hands in despair and making excuses like Nigerian government officials, authorities in Devon turned to the community for help. The cash strapped authorities arranged an innovative scheme in which volunteers are given two days training on how to fill in potholes safely and economically. Volunteers are provided with the tools they require to maintain the standards of the roads. Their “Community Road Wardens” scheme is so successful that many other highway authorities are now adopting it.
With almost 200 hundred potholes filled in, Devon County Council engineers report that all the repairs carried out by trained volunteers are still intact. The results have been impressive because the training leads to a City and Guilds Certificate which qualifies holders to safely work on the roads filling potholes with a material known as Instarmac. The repair of larger potholes continues to be carried out by specialised road crews but the idea of disregarding small holes until they become death traps has been abolished.  While our clueless government does nothing but moan about lack of funds, look to sell assets, or borrow money in order to award road maintenance contracts, Nigerians are forced to fill potholes with either cement, broken blocks or vegetation all of which are ineffective temporary solutions.
The Devon volunteer program is the ideal way forward. When one day future generations study the decline of the nation they will find it mystifying that such a small number of inept people continuously wielded such extraordinary influence over our fate. To some degree the APC are victims of their own success. Once voted into power they lost their driving principle. The total disarray within the PDP appears to have wiped out APC’s very reason for existing and as a result they are tearing themselves apart. It’s become self-evident that Party was prepared for opposition but not governance. There are too many shameless scandal-plagued self-promoters within its top ranks, and the reality is that unless they can rise above vicious internal politics, appoint different personnel to key positions and come up with innovative solutions, their popularity will continue to decline and we may soon have to say R.I.P to the party that changed Nigerian politics forever.