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When Will Nigerians Get It Right? By Shehu Mustapha Chaji
Most Nigerians, even those in position of authority do admit that things are not right. Even with abundant human and natural resources , poverty, illiteracy ,corruption, lack of adequate social amenities just to mention a few are some of the features all over the country. Problems bedeviling Nigeria and Nigerians have made every Nigerian with exception of those in authority to become critics without the sincerity of providing alternative solution and the attempt to put things in order.
Nigerian history relates to us how our people struggled to end colonialism with the hope that with Nigerians at helm of affairs their living conditions will be better. After independence , due to ethnicity, sectionalism , power tussle , internal wrangling and differences paved the way for military intervention which brought more hardship and changed the destiny and fortunes of the Nigerian people as they even fought a unprepared war to hold the country together which led to lost of lives of hundred of thousands of Nigerians and their properties.
With the military in power after toppling the First Republic criticizing continues to the present dispensation as many Nigerians are always not satisfied with any government in power. They only evaluate governments when it is no longer in power as they always praise the previous government as much better than the present occupiers of political office. So also they give legitimacy to whoever bulldozed his ways to occupy the highest office in the country rather through the barrel of the gun or stolen mandate. With the exception of first and second republics, Nigerians have never gotten the opportunity to actively participate and have their yearnings and aspirations reflected in the kind of leadership they have, the rest either rob Nigerians of their constitutional rights through forcefully taking over power with the gun or those imposed on them without their consent through “arrangee democracy” or massively rigging of election.
Even though most Nigerians believed that bad and undedicated leadership is the central point of most of our problems. Why is it that the critics of yesterday when opportune to lead becomes worse off than those they criticize when in power? Where does all those good ideas and vision they have for the country go to when they have political power? Why do they forget easily the privileges they had free of charge and today they are advocating and implementing policies for removal of most subsidies for Nigerians to enjoy? Most Nigerian leaders are critics of previous administrations and regimes, and when saddle with leadership other Nigerians do also criticize them for their style of leadership.
Are Nigerians really sincere in the much talked about change they are advocating for? When will they actively participate in bringing the right type of leadership they could trust to change their fortunes? When will the arm chair criticism, idle talk and gossiping will be replaced with action in terms of actively participating in our democratic process to provide the desired changed?
Right from Councillorship, Chairmanship, representatives in both States and Federal level, governorship and Presidency, how many Nigerians are really involved in their emergence in the first place? How many Nigerians are card carrying members of our various political parties? The work have been left to some individuals who have changed the meaning of democracy to self service who from emergence of candidates field the highest bidder or those that will serve their whims and caprices. And after their emergence we keep on complaining and criticizing them, while in the first place they do not truly represent our interest rather their own interest and those of their collaborators who propel them to the political office they occupied.
The bulk of Nigerians that can provide quality and progressive leadership especially on the local level do not participate due to conflict of interest The political space have been left to school dropouts at the councillorship level, while other positions have been left to pensioners, retrenched or down sized workers, self employed and those running errands for their parents and masters. Many Nigerians with the education, capability, experience and know how on politics and governance out of fear not to loose their carriers due to the nature of Nigerian politics shy away in active partisan politics.
The fear and uncertainty about loosing one’s carrier have been denying Nigerians many capable hands that can bring about positive change in our governance. While other Nigerians indifference in participating actively also contributed in providing the type of leadership we have today. Criticism is the easier thing most Nigerians can do as even in their wards they neither participate nor even know how their Councilors emerged. It is always after election or selection that they will start complaining and grumbling that their Councilor is a school drop out, tout, delinquent, area boy, jobless, drug addict e.t.c, then how can such a person truly represent them, protect their interests and help in bringing about development to the grass roots?
The Nigerian people must all act what we preach from our leaders to the followers. We always talk about our problems, but we never sincerely act to set things right. We lie, cheat, exploit, hate ourselves while at the same time we expect our leaders to do otherwise. We are also great pretenders as things are not moving in our favour we criticize, but immediately we are opportune we still follow the path of those we always criticize. We are also part of our own problems, as we assist and support in election rigging as those we accuse of the rigging are not on the field on election days, also we accord undue honour and respect to those we know got their wealth through treasury looting and close our eyes due to religious, sectional and tribal sentiment to those we knew are not competent or capable of providing the desired leadership for growth and development of our wards, towns, states and nation in general.
We will only get it right when we are sincere to ourselves and stop pretending. Our laws should be made to give opportunities to every Nigerian in our democratic process through encouraging the bulk of dedicated and educated citizens the right to actively participate in partisan politics than to let the field to mere opportunists. To fight the scourge of poverty and corruption the living standard of ordinary Nigerians should be lifted to international standard.
And when we talk about democracy, good governance, rule of law and free and fair elections, all Nigerians should be sincere in the implementation. The burden is not only on the ruling party to implement, other opposition parties should also be sincere through conducting free and fair elections in their domains. While the Nigerian people on the other hand should endeavor to live by example through shunning any form of collaboration with the political class to rig elections, impose unpopular candidates and seeking for personal favours from politicians rather than demand for implementation of policies and works that will benefit all.
Until when all Nigerians , feel that they have a stake in their nations development, we will continue to day dream and having false hopes of our dreams for national development. It is not late if we are sincere to make sure that things are getting right in Nigeria as every individual have a quota to contribute that can make Nigeria go hand in hand with the develop nations of the world.
Yours Faithfully
Shehu Mustapha Chaji
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