The headline of this column today is not my coinage. It was Ronald Reagan’s ‘killer’ question during the 1980 US Presidential debate with then incumbent President, Jimmy Carter. Reagan, the Republican presidential candidate, was seeking the mandate of the American people to unseat President Carter, of the Democratic party who was seeking reelection. The phrase has since entered the lexicon of political speech, referenced frequently by politicians and political pundits.
The import of Reagan’s compelling question remains ever relevant today, and even beyond. It was Reagan’s grim and despairing assessment of his countrymen, the awful situation they faced under Carter Presidency. Indeed, it was a crisis situation that struck at the very heart and soul of the national will. By this time, the citizens were disillusioned, divided, in fact, cynical about the performance of their political leaders and institutions. Therefore, in that debate, October, 1980, facing the television cameras, Reagan asked that question that has become one of his most iconic quotes. It wasn’t a rhetorical question. He asked whether it was easier for Americans to go and buy things from the stores than it was four years ago; if there was more or less unemployment in the country than there was four years earlier. He asked other soul-searching questions like the perceived decline of America in world affairs. He asked his countrymen to ponder and answer the questions truthfully, dispassionately. And I think they did.
Remember, the issue wasn’t Carter’s morality and decency. The issue was leadership, competence and effectiveness, and how Carter had faired in this index. Like America 39 years ago, Nigeria and the people, are in a similar, if not worse situation today. It is not unkind to ask similar question(s): Are you better off now than you were four years ago? Is it easier for you or your wife to go to the market and buy foodstuff than it was four years ago? How is your disposable income today? Is there more or less unemployment today than there was four years ago?
Do you and your family feel safer today than you were four years ago? What about the level of poverty in the country? Is the economy better now than it was four years ago? Is our country more united or more polarised today than it was four years ago?.
You see,it doesn’t matter which political divide you are today, these are compelling questions, simply spoken that need honest answers. It is so, because in a time of choosing, as we are about to make in few weeks time, if people are to take the trouble to vote,they must expect something from the leaders they choose. In setting national priorities, the voters expect programmes and policies that will address the central problems that concern them, not exaggerated expectations of ‘Change’ that is good in style,lacking substance.
I was impressed when the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democractic Party(PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, unveiled his agenda for the next four years, asked the same question that Reagan asked the American people almost 40 years ago. I feel relieved when his running mate,Mr.Peter Obi, in the Vice Presidential debate last month,emphasized the realistic objectives for the next four years,how they will spur the creation of million of new jobs,accelerate the economy, provide quality, affordable health care, restore our floundering education sector, as well as make life safer in this precarious, and uncertain times of insecurity. One would expect the PDP to emphasize more on this message of how better or worse we have faired in the last four years of the present government and let the government defend its record of stewardship of the last forty-four months in power.
Very sad, the ruling party has hit the campaign trail not addressing the issues that concern our people. Issues-based campaigns that we were promised have disappeared. Demagoguery, a plain misstatement of facts,has taken over. The real question in this campaign remains: Are Nigerians better now under this present government than before it came to power? The question really is not between APC and PDP, or indeed, other parties, who has the better vision of Nigeria. The question is who will act to make that vision a reality. Nigerian people are,indeed, ready for the truth,simply spoken, and what government can do for them, what it cannot do, and, in fact, what it should do.
It struck me as cold and arrogant, even egotistical, watching the National Chairman of APC, Adams Oshiomhole, on a campaign hustings in Edo State, on January 17,2019, saying that if you defect to the ruling party, “your sins are forgiven”. That’s is a bad testimonial for the ruling party. It perhaps answers the question that APC has lost grip of present realities in the country, and cannot in truth accuse the PDP of double standard. Oshiomhole may have told us the true colours of APC.
The truth is that,when people optimistic about the direction their country is going, it’s reflected in the economy. In like manner, pessimism is reflected the same way.Right now, a national mood of apprehension and concern has reached a frightening level. If in doubt, go out there and sample opinions. What worries many most is that the present leadership is living in denial that we are better now than four years ago,yet the political desperation bears that out. Almost in all key sectors,this administration has compiled dismal record. Under its watch, inflation and unemployment have reached unacceptable levels. In 2016,inflation reached all-time high of 18 percent. Though, it has come down to 11.8 percent in the last quarter of 2018,that’s still more than the single digital ceiling recommended by the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN).
The unemployment figures released last month by the National Bureau of Statistics(NBS) paint a grim picture of the job crisis in the country. The figure showed that 20.9 million of our people were jobless at the end of Q3 of 2018,an increase of 23 percent, up from the 18.8 percent in 2017. In terms of gender, unemployment among women is 26.6 percent. The recent World Economic Forum(WEF) report said that Nigeria has reached the dreaded 50 percent on the world’s misery index. This is a time bomb. Last year, the Brookings Institution published a chilling report that Nigeria has overtaken India as the “World’s poverty capital”. Nigeria is now the “home to highest number of world’s very poor people”, an astonishing 87 million people living below $1.90 a day.
Our national debt is increasing by the day. Just last week, the CBN in its communiqué at the end of its Monetary Policy Committee(MPC) meeting caution government about the risk of rising debt on the economy, saying we risk going back to the post-2005 Paris Club crisis. Government says there is no need to panic, “no shaking”. Nowhere has this government compiled a more dismal record than its handling of security so terrible that we are now Number Three in the world terror index, after Iraq and Afghanistan. These are not mere statistics; they are realities staring us in the face.
Against these chilling facts,again we ask: Are you indeed better than you were four years ago? With few days to the presidential election on February 16,it’s beyond argument that we are living in uncertain times that requires new,capable leadership. It’s an hour of history that troubles the minds and hurts the hearts. The choice we make will be critical, perhaps more than at anytime in recent history. That’s why politics matters. We need an umbrella that can once again bring us together, restructure our polity, give that realistic attention to the various sectors of the economy for the next four years. We need leadership that will heal our land.