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Uzodinma Nwaogbe
In recent times, there has been increase in the list of prominent voices against the violence, kidnapping and destruction of communities and killings of citizens in Nigeria by bandits. The most painful part of it to Nigerians is that the government in power is doing very little to stop these mass killings. Daily in Nigeria communities are razed, people are massacred, children, women, pregnant mothers, the aged, with no strong resistance from the security agencies. The most recent was in Kaduna where more than 50 human souls were reportedly killed. The killings attracted the visit of the government of Kaduna state, led by the Governor, Mallam Ahmed El’Rufai, who apologized on behalf of the state government. That was not the first, it has happened many at time, yet there is no security intelligence and strategy in place to check possible future occurrence. What kind of a country is Nigeria? What sorts of leaders manage its affairs? Why do we not place premium on human life?
The organized mass killings are not new, so why the country managers have not devised means to checkmate and successfully deflate these wanton killings is worrisome. No serious government goes to sleep when its citizens are brutally killed, maimed, their homes burnt, businesses destroyed. The security challenges facing the country are impeding social-economic growth and development and, there cannot be development when almost half of the country is on fire. Why the government is not changing tactics and personnel to improve on security is not clear and that raises some very pertinent questions. Travelling on the roads in the country is now a big risk to take because armed bandits, kidnappers, robbers are now kings of the highways.
The government of Muhammadu Buhari has shown willingness to go for a $22.7 billion dollar loan with the usual reason, to cater for our fallen infrastructures. This is the usual singsong of all governments when going for foreign loans. There should not be any fear from the people if the previous loans were judiciously used. The lion share of Nigeria’s wealth is pumped into payment and allowances of political office holders. In other climes, loans are meant to boost the country’s economy, infrastructure for the benefit of the citizens. If loans are invested in the right places where revenue can accrue for easy pay off of debts then Nigeria should not owe or go borrowing.
The Nigerian people and indeed future generations of this country must be saved from sinking into the dark gully of a perpetual debt trap. Not with the enormous revenue from several avenues recorded in recent times should this government go into another borrowing. This government have just transferred more financial burden on our country and the future generations. They have further shown that the government is not a listening, nor a government that has the interest of Nigerians at heart.
All the electoral gains the last administration achieved are gradually been eroded, now the courts decide electoral victories in Nigeria against the counted and declared votes of the majority. The courts are now involved in declaring winners in an election, not as a result of their faults but because of poor organization of our electoral system that are alleged to be under some control. The courts are now been smartly used by politicians to acquire victories, the cases of Imo and Bayelsa readily come to mind, the courts hide under technicalities to justify and endorse electoral frauds.
The courts are now used to institutionalize the writing of election results by individual contestants against the will of the majority that voted at an election. There must be a remedy to correct our entire electoral process before it is vanquished. The recent judgements had created a burden of precedence and fallibility on the judiciary. All the recent judgements had created a big hole on the confidence Nigerians and the international community had on our judicial system.
In the 21st century Nigeria, with all our signatories to international principles, laws, statues, with the fundamental human rights in our constitution, where it is expressly clear that every citizen must enjoy rights of movement and expression. With our height in Africa and the world, it is hard to believe that Nigeria can still subordinate itself to such archaic and draconian law of banishment. It is more shocking that the Presidency, Attorney-General, Inspector General of Police, Directorate of State Security are not rising up to protect our laws. It is the turn of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi today, if this unlawful banishment is not quickly addressed, a Nigerian citizen may be thrown out of Nigeria someday by a Local Government Chairperson.
From Lagos to Abuja, Calabar to Lokoja, Kaduna to Enugu, Ibadan to Jos, Lafia to Yenagoa, and every nook and cranny of Nigeria is in darkness. The trillions meant to improve power and ensure efficient power services went down the drains. There appears to be no end in sight at resolving the power sector wahala to provide adequate electricity supply for domestic and industrial use.
In summary, we do not have regular electricity in Nigeria due to corruption in the system, the government’s insincerity and lack of focus. The non-existent power in Nigeria has killed the industries, destroyed our economy, made nonsense of our science and technology, buried talents, created huge unemployment bracket in the country. Yet our government moves on without blinking an eyelid.
The huge cost expended on the maintenance of our politicians at the detriment of building infrastructures, tackling illiteracy, sickness, fighting infant and maternal mortality, removing the street children, investing in economy, reducing unemployment, is a progress in the wrong direction. Governments of other parts of the world are investing in their countries, spending huge sums to better the life of their citizens while ours is the reverse.
Nwaogbe writes from Lagos
