Saving Nigeria from those who want to ‘save’ it

The implication of this statement is quite clear. It is a tacit acceptance that the country needs saving. The question is saving from what? Since 1999, the PDP has been in power and election rigging, embezzlement of public funds, impunity, political intrigues and lack of development, have been the hallmark of the party. Not one […]

The implication of this statement is quite clear. It is a tacit acceptance that the country needs saving. The question is saving from what? Since 1999, the PDP has been in power and election rigging, embezzlement of public funds, impunity, political intrigues and lack of development, have been the hallmark of the party. Not one single major project has been completed in almost fifteen years of PDP administration. If anything the nation needs saving from the half-truths and ill effects of PDP government. The House of Representatives recently faulted the assertion by the Minister of Finance that despite evident and apparent widespread suffering somehow our economy is improving. The truth is very different as virtually all claims of an improving economy have been debunked by unbiased experts. The real yardsticks for measuring the success of an economy are the exchange rate, the rate of inflation, conditions of employment, the labour market, and the vibrancy of the manufacturing sector. In all these areas Nigeria under the PDP has consistently been moving in the wrong direction.
 Although the open letter written by perennial critic and failed leader Olusegun Obasanjo should be ignored, the revelations by the Central Bank Governor have seriously damaged the credibility of the PDP-led government’s financial operations. The proposed National Conference which is supposed to “save the nation” by providing solutions to all our problems has very little chance of succeeding. It should be seen for what it is; a simple contraption to divert attention from failures of this government and buy time until the 2015 elections. Civil rights activists are rightly calling for a referendum to determine the fate of the conference. Asking the delegates to work out modalities for integrating their deliberations into the constitution defeats the purpose.  
Most Nigerians agree that the present constitution does not represent the wishes or aspirations of the people and the document must be thrown out and a new one fashioned by the conference. The conference decisions are bound to be controversial and generally unacceptable because the composition of the delegates has been left to the whims and caprices of government in order to ensure that advantage will be taken of the power of nomination to manipulate the final outcome and views expressed. Unfortunately even as the current crop of politicians cannot provide a solution the situation is worse with the youth.  Perhaps the area in which we need saving most is in our failed educational policy. It is a disaster of monumental proportions because it permanently handicaps us in the battle to rescue our country from intellectual mediocrity in leadership.
With our disastrously low standard educational institutions we shall forever be trapped in the mess of underdevelopment. The run down conditions of our Colleges of Education bears testimony to the low rating of the teaching profession by PDP.  Meanwhile in the absence of sensible education our youths themselves need saving. They continue to show their willingness to be used as tools by politicians and really have to be made to understand that politicians don’t have their best interests at heart. Even as the nation needs saving from terrorists, the Arewa Consultative Forum has said that the military campaign in the North East cannot end terrorism, but only reclaim territories occupied by Boko Haram; apparently only a negotiated settlement will end the carnage. Saving the nation requires ending the military deployment as soon as possible. How or why President Jonathan thinks PDP can save Nigeria is beyond comprehension. Former vice president Atiku Abubakar claims they can’t save the nation because the party has “lost touch with Nigerians and is now our number one problem. The All Progressives Congress   (APC) has come to the centre stage of Nigerian politics as supposed saviours hoping to overwhelm the country in 2015. However it is increasingly difficult to see them as having the ability to save the nation or be an alternative to the PDP. As the national chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Victor Umeh so aptly pointed out, the APC is harvesting a broad spectrum of discredited politicians most of whom are held in contempt by the general public for their past record in office. Be that as it may it is difficult to see how the PDP can save Nigeria when its own fortunes are going from bad to worse. A few years ago PDP enjoyed a large majority in both chambers of the National Assembly.  In the House of Reps, the majority has been wiped out and in the Senate there is no longer an overall majority. The unending defections coupled with internal crises over political aspirations indicate a party in total disarray and incapable of saving themselves much less the nation. Unfortunately the PDP hierarchy fails to realize that most of their critics are former supporters completely disillusioned and disappointed by a lack of inspiration and bland character on the part of the President. The fact is that since he assumed office President Jonathan has not once given any indication of any statesman living or dead whose style or ideas he admires or shares. He is also personally incapable of providing the inspirational leadership and oratory needed to galvanize a new patriotism that is the only hope of saving the nation.  Lastly the PDP has singularly shown no willingness to investigate the high profile assassinations that have taken place under their watch. There is no way Nigeria will ever be saved until justice is done to the dead who fought for the democracy that the Peoples Democratic Party has so badly mismanaged.