In everything, Nigerians are unbeatable. They take their own things to a ridiculous height, and they introduce costly humour in everything, no matter how serious. Celebration of 100 days in office by elected public office holders (particularly those who occupy executive office, such as president, state governors and local government chairmen) is not new to Nigerians.
From where the concept was copied, the thinking is that 100 days are enough to read the mood of a government and to tell if there is need to expect anything from that government. While some of the newly elected governors have come out to sincerely tell their people that there’s nothing much to celebrate, many other have remained their pretentious selves and are rolling out the drums in celebration of nothing.
From the centre to most of states of the nation, the executives are still “settling down”. Some newly elected ones are yet to wake up to the reality of their job specifications. As we speak, most state governors are yet to constitute their cabinet.
Some of them have busied themselves badmouthing and lacerating the character of their predecessors, showing everyone who cares to listen how profligate their predecessors were. Since the governments at the federal and state levels were inaugurated in May, Nigeria has not moved an inch.
Businesses have remained unimpacted as businessmen and investors have adopted the “wait and see” posture. Practically, nothing is happening. At the Federal level, the President nominated his ministers and sent the list to the Senate for confirmation. Some of the ministers were shocked and surprised that they were assigned portfolios they knew nothing about. For keen observers, performance was impaired from day one.
It was dead on arrival! Today, what do we hear and read as some of the achievements in 100 days? “I was able to constitute my cabinet”; “I signed many documents”; “I inspected some abandoned projects”; “I received many visitors who came on solidarity visit”; “I smiled at my staff when they expected me to frown”;
“I initiated policy to block financial leakages”; “I changed the furniture in my office and made sure the vestige of past administration is never ever seen again”; “I attended outside summits and several meetings”, and “for the first time, I spoke furiously against the killing of Nigerians abroad”, even though we are still trying to halt senseless killings in Nigeria. It is absolutely insulting how our leaders treat us. In case our President and governors have forgotten; this “100 days”assessment thing was birthed by Franklin Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States of America, who within 100 days in 1933 rolled out A NEW DEAL for the country.
He initiated a turnaround in the economic fortunes of a country that was writhing in pain of the Great Recession. He did not do this alone, but he carried along the legislature, rolling out programmed legislative activities that featured job creation, expansion of public works, anti-poverty initiatives, and visionary social engineering. It was this fantastic posting that initiated the 100 days’ assessment.
Since then, successive American presidents and governors have tended to measure themselves, in one way or the other, by their capacity for hitting the ground running and for indicating the tenor of their tenure. I doubt if it is what our leaders purport to do here in their own brand of marking 100 days in office. If you ask me, it is a grandmother of hypocrisy!
