By
Rahman Owokoniran
President Bola Tinubu’s sojourn in the United Kingdom is what it is –a reminder of where we are as a nation. If we want a different perspective from him or his administration, we should wake up from our nightmare. The man is a true representation of the leadership packaged by APC and it is no news to us Nigerians. We are a nation whose people deserve better for our resilience but tolerate tragedy, truth and injustice. Thus we continue to wrongly choose our leaders. We pick our leaders for the wrong reasons and expect them to perform wonders. Of cause, it will not happen because “what you see is what you get.“ Na so dem dey talk am!
The only reason we might be concerned about our situation is because of the time lag. Now 64 years after Independence, Nigeria is still crawling in diapers. Nigerians in the Diaspora have proven that our people are not crippled. Therefore, we shouldn’t be a crippled nation at 64 years of Independence.
Borrowing from our history and the circumstances of independent Nigeria, the foundation left behind by the British government might be fussy with little hope for survival as a nation. Imagine a nation with its diversity characterised by multicultural, multilingual and multi-religious traditions being boxed into an amalgamation and entity called Nigeria. The concept of diversity is not unique in context but rather the ultimate objective and goal of the creation left a lot to be desired. After all, there are so many nations equally diverse with cultural, linguistic and religious diversities; and yet they are not only making significant strides towards equity, inclusivity and growth, but they have also achieved significant development milestones.
Nigeria had been blindfolded by its colonial past, lack of diversity, corruption and poverty. The handicap so affected our psyche as a nation that we hardly could think straight. Hence, we experienced the rat race of the last few decades.
How can we get it right without the support that we need but continue to ignore? How can we get it right when the leadership gave up on scrutiny of criminals and instead celebrate them? What end result do we expect? We are now a nation celebrating rogues and criminals. Our nation has become a laughing stock in the comity of states. Aren’t we asking too much, asking a cat to look after the kitchen table laden with fried fish?
This is where we are at 64, a pariah nation. Make no mistakes about it; we didn’t get here solely because of President Ahmed Tinubu, who has magnified the problem greater and faster than any of his predecessors.
Like other leaders before him, Tinubu is also scratching the surface of the problems. He is simply following the instructions of the IMF and the World Bank to reduce the Naira value and at the same time to increase tariffs. This way he could generate enough spending money locally through increased taxes and the nation’s revenue reserves increase through Naira devaluation. These two goals are not in the collective interest of our nation. Tinubu needs money to run this government but no nation wants to do business with us. Therefore, he must continue to run around the globe to show proof of performance. He must continue to show that we have not consumed our accumulated wealth.
He must sell our trust to those who will do business with us. This terrain is not strange to us or we forgot OBJ’s many travels across the globe in his first term in office that finally produced reduction and debts forgiveness. The textbook adopted by Tinubu is the same as that of OBJ, the difference being that while one had the human touch and empathy for the people, the other had decided to throw the people under the bus and pay deaf ears to their cries.
Again, we continue to move in a vicious cycle where there is no balance between a person and a man. It is very easy to copy from someone but the copied version cannot be as effective as the original. As the musician 9ice said: “Photocopy ko easy.”
When will the leaders be ready to make decisions on what matters most to us? When will they turn the wheel in the right direction and make Nigerian citizens proud of their heritage? Until then the leaders will continue to push their own interests and work for their personal aggrandisement. They will continue to pursue their agenda to the detriment of the people. Therefore, it is essential that we pursue our interests and values in every aspect that serves our interests.
First step is to make sure our voices and values are heard by our community members.
Second step is to ensure that our voices are heard by the legislators.
Third step is to make sure you vote for those really passionate about making things better for you.
Fourth step is to vote your conscience and not others who don’t have a clue about your needs.
Final step is to encourage your community to make your votes count so that you can put your own government in charge.
After all, that is the true definition of democracy: Government of the people, by the people, FOR the people.
HON. RAHMAN OWOKONIRAN WROTE FROM LAGOS
