I have lived in Nigeria’s Federal Capital, Abuja since 1993, and like many other city residents I have grown to become accustomed to the language of government and the typical sentiments and thinking that dominate social discourse in the capital city of Africa’s largest economy. From the days of the military and up till the last government, the narrative, and the resultant behaviours and consequences remain the same. With each new change in government, all we hear about are the new “big boys” coming into town, buying up property (driving property prices to the skies) and issuing contracts to the new “cabal” of friends of the new government. We even know about the people who have become renowned for being relevant in every successive government – “Any Government in Power” (AGIP), and have developed a penchant for being able to weather the storm of change, regardless of political affiliations. Well, this storm of change is different and most of them have caught a fever.
We have become accustomed also to the pomp and pageantry associated with corrupt and wasteful public servants, and even have to accommodate the recklessness of their children spinning in cars from the ministerial fleet and the stories of their new found Abuja concubines, and most significantly how “levels have changed”. We also became used to powerful ministers, permanent secretaries and director-generals of government agencies that bestrode the city like colossuses – siren blaring, long convoys of vehicles, and a reputation for making big speeches and promises on the airwaves, backed only by more corruption and looting.
Enter June 2015 to date and the narrative has completely changed. For those political opportunists that have relocated from other parts of the country to have their ‘levels change” in this new political dispensation, they have been utterly disappointed. Their first reaction was “Baba Go-Slow” – complaining that the President was too slow, which slowly fizzled away, and now fear and caution as the reality that things are set to change is finally dawning on us all. For many who are new to the city, they would have preferred to come to Abuja earlier, when things were “rosy” under previous administrations that supported the opportunistic exploitations that they are looking for.
The anti-corruption crusade that the president promised has left many in dire straits. The initial narrative of a “witch-hunt” has slowly faded away as Nigerians and the international community are alarmed at the colossal, atrocious and mind-boggling stealing that has been going on in this city and country. On the issue of witch-hunts, I believe that people who are truly innocent of any corruption should have nothing to be worried about. Using the historical reference of witch-hunts, it is either you are a witch or you are not, and if you are indeed a witch, and the “documents” as the president referred to them in the presidential media chat are there to prove it, then let’s move on from describing it as a witch-hunt, and arrive at medieval tradition of “burning the witches at the stake”. The truth about these so-called witch hunts is that they typically open a can of worms, and everyone’s back-side. I urge those who have indicting “documents” against some of the members of this administration that are corrupt, to please bring out their “documents”. The more witches that get burnt – ultimately, the better for Nigeria, and the poor masses of this country. If for nothing else, the soap-opera and comic relief from “swallowing evidence” to other shenanigans that are taking place adds flavour to the gloom of a hard-biting economy and recession.
One aspect of the narrative that has also changed is how we have scandalized our children and youth with all of these shameful actions and revelations. Listening to the news and conversations at home have created a new language for our children that is completely unprecedented. During one of our interactive Sunday Mass homilies in our chapel in Apo a 9-year-old child got up to describe the challenges of our country – stealing, looting, corruption, greed, she said as we all applauded the depth of her response. The Priest quickly reminded us that most adults in this generation never knew of such words when we were nine years old: we have exposed our children and youth to a very rotten and spoilt Nigeria, and one can only imagine how their early exposure will influence them in future – hopefully for good, but possibly for bad? Only time will tell. Someone analyzed the drama of bad government in Nigeria over the years that our children have had to witness, and our hope in the future generation as “playing a pornographic movie for your kids and expecting them to remain pure” – to that commentator, we have long mortgaged our future, and perhaps if there is any hope, it will lie in children who were less than three years old as at May 2015.
So, the narrative has indeed changed – people are no longer so excited about taking up government appointments – after all, if everyone focused on the up to 30% mark-up available on public procurements, that profit margin will be more than enough to take care of themselves. We have a president who openly admits that his people are desperately poor, unrepentantly corrupt, and that our economy is weak (things that were unspeakable in the past from sit-in Nigerian leaders). Bankers are no longer carrying around large sacks to distribute around town, monies are no longer being “washed” from one bank account to the other, the days of public sector deposits and interest-rate arrangements between directors of finance and bank managers are over, and finally, government ministers are quiet – focused on doing their jobs and not flaunting their feathers like peacocks around the city.
While the unfolding story of the new administration is not yet over, and has been plagued by a number of its own mistakes: “budget-gate”, “naira-gate” and so on, at least we are rest assured that the big issue of corruption, and the “latrine-culture” that was pervasive in the past are gone, at least for now. Residents of Abuja and other parts of Nigeria are now looking to be more positively innovative in contributing to meaningful economic growth. Unfortunately, some of these innovative ideas cannot receive the financing they need either because the money-bags are not accustomed to investing in real businesses (preferring contracts, crude lifting and property speculation) or those same money-bags are too afraid of getting caught when the real source of their investment capital is linked to corruption. So, for some of us who never got to be maggots enjoying the dirty latrine of what used to be our country, nothing has changed – we still are not enjoying, although we remain hopeful that things will get better as our toilet gets cleaner and the maggot infestation is destroyed.
Omagbitse Barrow
