I like the story of the agama lizard. We were told that it jumped off an iroko tree, landed on the ground safely (which was quite a feat). It looked around, saw humans, expected applause but none came. Trust human beings, they hardly applaud the good. The lizard knowing this of men took the next natural option which was to nod its head in appreciation of self-accomplishment. What the lizard did is a life lesson. Until you say you are, it is difficult for even your neighbour to acknowledge your presence, and this would be irrespective of the value you think you have. If I were President Muhammadu Buhari I would be patting myself on the back and on my chest for a job well done last Monday.
Buhari gave his third broadcast in one month to the country and that was a reflection of the bad time the country is going through as a result of threats posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is not the first time Buhari in his five-year rule would give a broadcast. He has done so severally, in fact broadcast to the nation has become the real thing; the difference this time is that Buhari was indeed very presidential in all ramifications. The setting was okay and his visage reflected clearly the President of the largest Black nation in the world. His composure depicted assurance and confidence, strong ingredients for effective leadership. His delivery was excellent; he employed tonal variation to good effect. Buhari has been used to being brash and commanding but in his last outing there was plenty of democratic flavour in his countenance, delivery and in the content of the address itself. He caught the major issues and fears, then took the citizens along by way of persuasion.
Buhari in the past sounded arrogant and aloof but this time he was sensitive. He showed great willingness to flow or pander to the wishes and aspirations of the people. Every patriotic, well informed citizen would agree that the choice the president faced before his broadcast was not an easy one, he found himself between the devil and the deep blue sea; the choice was either to catch the devil and embrace him or to take a dive into the deep blue sea. It was a choice between health and hunger and closely attached to it destruction of businesses and attendant massive poverty and collapse of national economy. Buhari chose to dive into the deep blue sea and it was a good choice; he could at least swim and see clearly to take himself to the safe shore. The observation of misspellings is good but it does not detract from the substance, it is a simple lapse that could be easily ratified subsequently.
In that amazing outing, the President met majority expectations by the decision to relax some of the restrictions. Limiting the lockdown from May 4 to the nights is a very good decision. Elders in my Umuiku, Asa in Ukwa-West village do tell us and I agree that a man whose roof is partially open in the raining season should fear lightening. With Coronavirus still in our midst and increasingly recording victims, we live in a house actually but the roof is partially open. What it calls for is vigilance built on readiness to intervene quickly. President Buhari is aware of this and has assured that the government and the health officials would remain standing until the task of defeating COVID-19 is achieved. This is good.
It is not enough to romance with the idea of vigilance, given the time in which we are and especially the severity of the challenge at hand; it is important to give a structure and face to the term vigilance. The battle word should be cooperation and partnership; all tiers of government must be involved in the task, understand the destination and the process for reaching it. So far, all hands seem to be on deck quite alright but if the truth be told there has been so much dissonance in organization and approach. Minus the broadcast, the President and his deputy appear very distant from the day-to-day operations. Since we like to imitate, President Donald Trump of the United States and Boris Johnso, the British Prime Minister, offer good examples to follow. Federalism is good but on this issue, it should be within the context that the central governments set the broad guidelines. If this had been the case we would have been spared the situation where each state rambles along according to how they deem fit.
A high level of patriotism anchored on sound rationalization with an eye on homegrown solutions is the biggest challenge. The President for instance spoke of the palliatives being implemented on a transparent manner; that is not true. No Nigerian including the President can say with certainty what in actuality has been done, to whom and in what quantity. The woman distributing federal government money to the vulnerable spent considerable time and money in her region of origin to the detriment of others. Even then there was no scientific approach to what she was doing. It is possible if you ask her for accurate data today she won’t be able to raise one. The same for the medical intervention efforts, the testing centres are far from enough, worse still government officials are making it look like the testing exercise is akin to a journey to an unknown planet, when it is not. Ogun State has shown that standard mobile testing centres can easily be established across the nooks and crannies of this country within the shortest possible time; a lot of public funds are being channeled into this project and we have a responsibility to make it reflect in terms of equipment, efforts, research and motivation.
The President did not speak of local content, he touched on the disease and efforts but the vision of his effort bothered on the superficial, the issue or main challenge is developing a vaccine, trial and error is it, we ought not to be dependent on outcomes from developed nations. Developing a vaccine locally is no rocket science, less endowed countries like Madagascar and Senegal have done this, so even if we do it now, it is no feat. China has produced a vaccine yet South Korea, France, Germany and America are almost producing theirs and the question is why? The answer is world pandemics are not about natural causes, they are often instigated wars designed to achieve intimidation, manipulation, dependence and finally domination.
It is a war of imperialism. Societies that know and react well would retain their dignity, they will stand strong to compete and enjoy economic buoyancy. Imperialists have gone beyond talking about the virus, the emphasis is now on vaccine for sale and loans for foolish countries that would run with the old idea that their economy has been run aground by reason of the pandemic. It is a trap and it is my wish that my country would not in the 21st century, with our eyes wide open walk into another entanglement. If anything this period offers us the best opportunity to take another look on how we have been carrying on.