By Livinus Ukah
Nigeria is a wonderful country blessed by God and admired by many people even the whites but started retrogressing and now the talk of everybody and the whole world. This is because of her mediocre governance. Nothing is predictable in Nigeria anymore. You may not know what comes next because everywhere is dicey and tense including the seat of power; Aso Rock. Everything is going down in history. Lack of managing her economy and numerous issues the country is going through. Nigeria is in a deep sea floating and needs to be rescued. It has an avalanche of scholars, technocrats, scientists, Economists, Engineers, Doctors, Political gurus, all seeking to rescue Nigeria. These people are ready to rescue Nigeria completely. There are many Nigerians in the wilderness calling Nigeria to come out of the woods and telling Nigeria that they have the solutions to her numerous political problems.
Nigerian political problems include the gigantic monsters of ethnicity/tribalism and religious bias. All these flow with ideological frameworks that lack oxygen to convince the people or solve Nigerian problems. Nigeria has been packaging and repackaging and now people have known that she is nowhere to be found in the global scheme of things. Every citizen can feel in their political platforms that they have not gone anywhere. What has been packaged and unveiled are what they have seen and experienced. What they have seen and have been experiencing have provoked them to anger; Bandits, Abductions and killings everywhere. Sudden prison attack led to a jail break with insecurity ravaging the land. The poor and the vulnerable are facing the economic doom that has been creating disaster in the country. Fuel costs make car owners walk to work. The cost of foods is astronomically high. We have come again to when rats compete with the Nigerian poor in the dustbin. The political arrangements have been set. Are we going to be squeezed into the arrangements made for us? The answer to these questions should be provided now! It is not next year.
Is Nigeria going to be like Donald Trump who is trying to turn democracy and the truth down? Nigeria has enormous capacities to confront the present problems but calls for new tools because you cannot use the old tools to solve new problems. Nigeria is yearning for a respectable and competent leadership for a better Nigeria. Nigeria should not forget Afghanistan, Rwanda who engaged in ethnic cleansing but now has turned to a new political leaf. Lebanon is in political disaster. The President of America; Joe Biden once said “Unity is the strength of America” The same thing Nigeria aspires. There is a sign of Unity emerging from different parts of Nigeria.
People talk of those things pinching them and affecting their businesses because Nigeria is no longer at ease. We can see someone from the North supporting somebody from the South-West and South-East in a political position and vice-versa. Nobody is pigeon- holed any longer in his own native politics which is the bane of the current political problem. Nigerians now no matter their tribal origins see positivity in other Nigerians trying to vie for power. That is a big step by the electorates. It seems that we are now speaking with one voice and very soon solidarity would emerge as was seen in Poland where Lech Walesa; a youth captured the votes from the old military regime. In fact we should be happy that the ethnic lines are gradually fading away and we want this energy sustained. What we are doing now is normalization of our one voice that needs to be solidified in politics not politics of alienation. We can now know the importance of education. Education is one of the tools of getting to where one wants to reach in life and ASUU doesn’t know that, this is the reason for the drag in strike.
Now it has reached the stage of Zero-Sum-game which is not a plus to ASUU but a big minus. Britain is also trying to pick up a new leader but the situation that led them to make this new choice cannot be experienced in Nigerian politics because no Nigerian or African leader no matter their shortcomings can willingly resign. The sit-tight syndrome and greed has blindfolded them.
In the forthcoming 2023 presidential elections the focus should be on maintaining the voice and not changed by usual empty promises that would take us back to square one. The focus should be on competency not swayed by money, tribal or religious sentiments that have blindfolded us over the years. Nigerians should tolerate one another’s choice of candidate but should be mindful of whom to cast their votes for having felt serious pains of bad governance that has dragged the economy backwards putting the citizens to unbearable sufferings. Any mistake made in choosing the right candidate would amount to another cycle of suffering and international ridicule which every right-thinking individual should stand against.
Very Rev. Monsignor Ukah
A Catholic Priest, Author of many books and a Social Justice and Peace Advocate