Preparing for the coming storm

It is not as if I am some sort of spoilsport or a killjoy. No. it is just that any discerning patriot can easily see that the victory of either Jonathan or Buhari will not ensure that Nigerians live happily after the event of March 28. This is because those who have eyes can clearly […]

It is not as if I am some sort of spoilsport or a killjoy. No. it is just that any discerning patriot can easily see that the victory of either Jonathan or Buhari will not ensure that Nigerians live happily after the event of March 28. This is because those who have eyes can clearly see a gathering storm. In fact, the storm has gathered already and is fast acquiring sufficient momentum to devastate Nigeria and Nigerians in the coming months. Some have already dubbed it post-election economic gloom. For some of us therefore, May 29 will not be a call for the sharing of election booties and the clinking of glasses but a call on all Nigerians to roll up our sleeves and begin the serious work of nation building. We shall be called upon to do what we neglected to do all along because the oil boom had beclouded all our sense of reasoning.
Unlike many doomsday prophets, my own fear is not about post-election violence. It is about the economic difficulties that Nigerians are going to face in light of falling oil prices. Already, many state governments owe teachers and other public servants up to eight months of unpaid salaries. In the days ahead, many more states will be unable to carry out any development projects as they will simply lack the wherewithal to do so when they cannot pay even salaries.
It is not being unnecessarily alarmist to say that the days ahead are going to be very difficult for either Jonathan or Buhari. Winning the election will be the easier thing for either of them. The more difficult task is how to lead Nigeria to weather the coming stormy economic weather. It is therefore something to worry seriously about that in the course of this boisterous campaign for the presidency, none of them seems to be fully concerned about the economic danger lying ahead for Nigeria. None seems to have a well -articulated programme providing specifics as to what they will do in the short, medium and long term to ride Nigerians over the storm. Or is it that we are too focused on their election winning gimmicks to notice what they are saying on the economy?
The March 28 election will go down as the most hotly contested in our political history and the closest we will ever have. Because it will be so hotly contested and too close to call, its outcome is sure to leave this country so bitterly divided. Whichever way the election goes, one side will be left sorely disappointed; what plan does each side have for containing the eventual disappointment, pacifying the lost side and recruiting some of its members for the urgent task of nation building and effecting reconciliation?
Whether we elect to continue with Jonathan’s ‘transformation’ or to effect Buhari’s ‘change’, things are not going to be the same for Nigerians. The oil boom is over. The oil gloom is now come upon us. When some public servants are inevitably asked to retire or are retrenched, what plans do Jonathan and Buhari have to pay them their entitlements possibly on the day they receive their disengagement letter so that they can retire without much frustration and rebuild their lives from there?
Nigeria would have to contend with social problems that are going to be fall-outs of the economic difficulties that will befall us.  Without sounding like a sadistic doomsday prophet, there will be a rise in armed robbery and other social ills; how prepared are Buhari and Jonathan to contain this almost sure -to- happen ills?
I am so worried because the two leading candidates do not appear honest enough to tell Nigerians in their campaign speeches that all is not well with their country and that they should prepare for the coming storm. I think it is in their interest to be very frank because that is the only way they can sensitise the people to the doom that the nation will face or is already facing and secure their co-operation to be able to overcome whatever difficulties that will unfold.
The cost of our governance is so high. We spend about 80 of our national resources on administration and only a paltry 20 per cent goes for development. Even of this infinitesimal percentage, corruption takes a substantial portion of it which means that in actual effect less than ten per cent of our money goes for development. How will the two candidates address this unacceptable state of affairs so that Nigeria can witness rapid development?
The challenge I am talking about calls for bold initiatives on the part of those aspiring to lead us. So far, we are not seeing anything that suggests that either of them is fully aware of what is happening not to talk of a coherent plan to address the problem and the many ways it is going to manifest in our national life.
To get Nigeria out of the woods, anyone who emerges as president will require taking very painful steps that will hurt rich and poor alike very badly. Is Jonathan or Buhari ready to take those necessary steps that will cost them enormous support and goodwill of the people?
Perhaps, the Nigerian Election Debate Group should devote their planned March 22 presidential debate exclusively to interrogating the two leading candidates on these economic and associated issues.