Beyond May 29 Inauguration

Rev. Fr. Leonard O. Anetekhai

It is often said, that the way you dress is the way you are going to be addressed. A public figure cannot be addressed as a gentleman or woman, when he/she dresses like a hooligan. It is the morning that shows the day. Politicians, who were voted for less than a month, are now with all vigour fighting over who leads the National Assembly, who among their cohort will get a ministerial seat. These men, politicians they call themselves, whether in America or Europe are all the same, master deceivers. They deceive us and makes us see what they want us to see, so one does not need a microscope to see these manifestations in the events around the country which demonstrate the truth of this assertion.

Though in my last month's publication on “Jonathan's victory: A scary movie”, I did congratulate the President elect, but this does not mean that the truth should be compromised. It is believed by some Nigerians that Goodluck Jonathan has promised to secure Nigerians through the provision of basic amenities and make security his priority, but the real Jonathan they say will spare no life in achieving his personal ambition to reaching his good. How true? Time will tell.

Statistically, Nigeria has the second highest poverty rate in the world, the highest global incidence of diseases such as polio, the second highest road accident rate in the world, the second lowest life expectancy in the world and without mincing words, tops the list as the most corrupt country in the world. These are harsh statistics which are indicative of Nigeria's steep decline into a failed state and underscores the urgency and importance of a new deal from President Goodluck Jonathan in addressing these issues.

Why we cannot begin to point accusing fingers, let us look beyond May 29 to see if the eight Millennium Development Goals: eradicating extreme poverty and hunger; achieving universal primary education; promoting gender equality and women empowerment; reducing child mortality; improving maternal health; combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensuring environmental sustainability; and developing a global partnership for development which the International world has tasked him to pursue will be a reality and lead us to become a nation to be reckoned with in 2020.
Mr. President must thus vindicate the hope entrusted in him by being a transformational leader that works very hard to change the unsettling realities of a nation that has increasingly become a failed state and tops all indices of bad governance ranging from a total absence of pipe borne water, bad roads, electricity, dysfunctional schools, hospitals and mass unemployment. Looking beyond Goodluck Jonathan's inauguration, Nigerians will want to see some functioning sector in the country addressed properly:

EDUCATION: Our educational sector leaves little or nothing to be desired anymore. The picture is so miserable and appalling that space would not allow us to address it with all clarity. First on our list of educational woes is the complete deficiency of concrete educational policies and structure. Educational policies are changed by every new administration and even within an administration; it has been known to have been changed time after time. This has led to the policies been ineffective and unproductive thus negating any usefulness the policies may have served. In addition to this, the widespread of malpractice in every level of our educational ladder, has led to the birth of 'half baked' graduates. There is an increase in the list of primary and secondary schools and majority of them are below minimum standards. Our existing universities are understaffed, inadequately funded and over populated. Strikes and the yearning for good pay by lecturers are commonplace, they often disrupt the academic calendar. It is an undeniable fact that the depth of a nation's development is dependent on the amount of its educated masses. Thus with these and in addition to the absence of long term educational policies, this administration has a lot of work to do.

SECURITY: Nigeria is experiencing the worst security crisis in her entire history which has amongst so many other challenges, recently progressed to include bombings. The Protection of life and property is the most fundamental constitutional responsibility of governments anywhere in the world. President Goodluck Jonathan must give security the priority it deserves so that social order can be restored across the nation. A practical first step to reforming the Nigerian police is accountability. The Nigerian police has practically collapsed due to corruption, and lack of accountability. Reforming the police, with all strict measures must thus begin by introducing accountability in the police.

The Police force should also be re-organised and properly equipped with vehicles, mobile communication gadgets and given specific standard of crime control within their jurisdictions. Any police officer, be they commissioners or zonal commanders that fall short of the stated standard in their respective jurisdictions, should be removed and possibly demoted. This will definitely impact discipline and determination to combat and thus drastically reduce crime.

UNEMPLOYMENT: The army of millions of unemployed youths without any means of income is a time bomb whose explosion will leave no one spared. Massive infrastructural development and other public works programme that will repair and build new roads, hospitals, schools, water generation and distribution schemes etc, will significantly create jobs. The president should also consider creating a committee on direct labour that will register unemployed youths in every state who should be used at lower costs to carry-out public works on a recurrent basis.

CORRUPTION: Socially, we have also experienced hiccups in our journey since independence. Corruption has eaten deeply into the fabrics of our national growth. “Kickbacks” are daily routine in the civil service. The news everyday is incomplete without stories of politicians being declared wanted or arrested for misappropriation of public funds,
Ethnic clashes, religious violence are part of the framework of day to day living, irregular power supply is as acceptable as sleeping at night while countless efforts and massive funds have been allocated for the revamping of the power sector all to no avail.

Nothing has devastated the nation as much as corruption. It has single handedly destroyed every national institution and brought the nation to her knees. In spite of the colossal destruction corruption has wrought on the nation, there has been no genuine and effective strategy to decisively combat it. There is a general consent that the war on corruption is largely a deception. President Goodluck Jonathan must demonstrate a determination to combat corruption by sponsoring a bill to create time limited special criminal courts or tribunals to adjudicate and dispense with corruption cases within given period of time with stiffer sentences including capital punishment.

Mr. President, if these are put in place, by re-inventing honesty, industry, trustworthiness, religious tolerance, love for one another, respect for authority and national institutions, discipline, creativity, innovation, personal responsibility and accountability and finally the rule of law in the nation by your administration, Nigeria can once again, begin to be a respected and contributing member of the world's developed nations and thus, eventually and truly assume her age-old role of the “Giant of Africa!” To get Nigeria out of this rot and decadence and turn things around for the better and greater good of all lies in the way we make our bed.