Shettima’s lamentations?

The Vice President, Kashim Shettima, was in the news recently, apparently lamenting how the dire social, political and economic realities can undermine the corporate stability of the nation in a decade or two to come.  It was a clarion call for the nation’s leadership elite to get their acts right. Coming from no other personality […]

The Vice President, Kashim Shettima, was in the news recently, apparently lamenting how the dire social, political and economic realities can undermine the corporate stability of the nation in a decade or two to come.  It was a clarion call for the nation’s leadership elite to get their acts right.

Coming from no other personality than the number two citizen to warn of the possibility of the nation failing, is serious indeed. The bottom line is, such a high-profile warning can hardly do the magic of resolving our lingering national rot.

So instead of Vice President Shettima simply lamenting and warning, he should engage his principal, PBAT to show leadership by example and consult with wide shades of opinions across the country on how to avert this dangerous drift towards anarchy.

Taking monumental decisions like the withdrawal of petrol subsidy by presidential fiat is both insensitive and undemocratic. What separates military dictatorship from democratic rule are the principles of consultation, representation, accountability and checks and balances to avoid monopoly or misuse of power. As someone in power right now, Shettima should act more than he talks; action they say, speaks louder than words.

That the survival of Nigeria hinges on good or improved governance in the next 10 to 20 years, according to Shettima’s warning, is in itself quite debatable. What is imperative is for us as a nation to immediately embark on a paradigm shift to steer our only God-given country away from disaster rather than giving the nation an arbitrary survival timeline.

The recent controversial decisions by the Tinubu/Shettima administration to move the headquarters of FAAN, the most critical departments of the CBN and lately, the alleged plan to transfer over 200 staff of the Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Agency from Abuja to Lagos, are no decisions anchored on national unity and cohesion despite the craftily advanced reasons.

Besides, there are better ways to move organs of government or its agencies closer to where they are critically required than the crude, parochial manner done by the government.  What of appointing only people from the president’s backyard to manage the most economically and financially critical MDAs while others are left with the crumbs? Was the recent apparent reenactment of the “Yoruba Nation” chorus, part of a wider plot or simply a coincidence?

The petrol subsidy no doubt is a scam of a sort as it was substantially enjoyed by those elite and business magnates who connived with highly placed officials managing the oil and gas sector. But the one enjoyed by the poor people at the pump stations is real and its abrupt removal by President Tinubu on the day of his inauguration has plunged the people into unprecedented hunger and poverty till date.

It is one thing for the president to “feel the pains” and another to act rapidly to provide succour to the suffering masses.

In a heavily import-dependent economy like ours, it is suicidal to allow the naira to freely float and find value for itself against the US dollar. A weak swimmer cannot cross a stormy water unaided. Even in some of the advanced nations, governments intervene regularly to shore up their currencies when the going really gets tough.

Shettima may be worried about the national survival in a matter of a decade or two. But the good starting point to avert such a drift is for their administration to immediately take far-reaching steps to place Nigeria on the path of genuine national unity and economic prosperity.  Otherwise, the PBAT administration may be one of the first political casualties, come 2027.

To Nigerian optimists like my humble self, regimes and personalities may come and go, but that does not mean the end of Nigeria.

 

Garba Isa wrote via [email protected]