The last time this country had two elected leaders in top leadership who were unarguably above corruption was Shagari/Ekwueme. Buhari/Idiagbon were also like that but they were soldiers. Today, it is well-nigh impossible for anyone to successfully argue that Buhari/Osinbajo will take decisions with “what’s in it for me and my boys?” at the back of their minds. The value of this fortunate circumstance is beyond calculation. It is a huge capital
That said, incorruptibilty, we now find, however, is excellent but we can only bask in its reflected glow for so long… then things must start happening. Government must be made to work and be seen to be working for the people. The perception of incorruptibility is not an end in and of itself. It is a weapon, a huge one no doubt, but a weapon is only useful when it is used decisively.
Yet, as with all weapons, if not properly deployed or even not used at all, the weapon becomes obsolete and strikes no fear in the hearts of the adversary. The passage of time without decisive action in the many socio-economic and political sectors that call for action may well corrode popular support, while also encouraging the denizens to continue, but this time only more quietly than before, with their acts of impunity.
These past five months without a cabinet inaugurated, without naming the heads of important regulatory bodies and operational agencies will prove to be very costly for Nigeria. Ministers are not in place and therefore important domestic and foreign engagements cannot be properly managed; the 2016 budget and the policies and programmes they will espouse are unknown; investors encouraged to engage again with Nigeria have no signposts to follow, they do not know whom to talk with.
In oil and gas, there is total paralysis, while a silent war rages between the two camps – one in support of the current NNPC GMD continuing in office while also Minister of State; the other wanting the usual separation between the two offices. This latter camp is then sub-divided into those who think it is time to have a GMD from the West, others want a GMD from the South-East. Yet others say the next appointment should go to the North, outside the North-West. Another group points at Iran where the Deputy Minister of Petroleum is also the head of the Iranian Oil Company and advocate that the incumbent GMD of NNPC should also be the Minister of State.
While all this speculation proceeds apace, governance suffers, and our adversaries – corruption, impunity and incompetence – are making hay and have held the field for a five full months by 29th October; and has continued into November. It is difficult to explain the challenges. Suffice to say that they are not limited to the obvious security challenge that Boko Haram poses. To give just one example that could become far worse than Boko Haram, look at the education sector. One million school leavers are competing for 280,000 university spaces of dubious quality; in a country in which the middle level education that was provided by polytechnics and vocational schools has virtually disappeared, compelling technical and vocational skills to be learnt on the job from “masters” who themselves are mostly barely literate and lack any kind of formal schooling. With 85m citizens at or below the age of 18, what kind of future are we breeding, raising and nurturing.
Similar challenges confront the Federal and State Governments across the entire spectrum of national life. Corruption must surely be challenged but it is becoming increasingly clear that the Federal Government must learn to multitask and very rapidly confront myriad challenges with the riches of human capacity that seems to have been assembled in the Federal Cabinet.
It is safe to say that 2015 has been lost to political campaigns, elections and the delay in fully constituting and settling down to give the country direction and competent governance. This is still in the making and it is now incumbent on the President, the Vice-President and their team to ensure that the present atmosphere of uncertainty and worry does not persist into 2016. Otherwise, the consequences will be dire for Nigerians. If that happens, Nigerians will see depressed socio-economic conditions in 2017 and probably into 2018. Thankfully, the last Nigerian economic summit closed with a resounding exposition of the various scenarios that Nigeria faces and what we must do as a nation. It is time now to act.
