Nigeria’s Deceit And Self Denial

By Emma Disu 

Everyday we hear of the
setting up of a new
committee to deal with issues
in government. These range
from House committees
claiming oversight functions,
to ministerial committees
allegedly investigation various
wrongdoings.
We have investigated
everything from Oil to
Pensions, Niger Delta
Militancy, Boko Haram,
Power, Telecoms, Aviation;
the list is endless.
We have ministries and
parastatals in abundance
covering everything
imaginable. We have so-
called experts and specialised
agencies at Federal, State
and Local Government levels
all taking turns to comment
and attack one another. We
never see any joined up
thinking. One arm of
government briefing against
the other; blaming one
another for whatever mess is
the order of the day.
The on going subsidy issue is
a case in point. We have
conflicting information
coming from every single
agency involved in the whole
mess. We have the Ministry
of Finance joining the party
recently claiming another set
of figures and threatening to
name yet more alleged
corrupt marketers. One is
tempted to ask what the
ministry was doing at the
height of the probe into the
subsidy issue. I recall
watching the proceedings on
live TV and their
representatives being all
muddled up with a
disconnect between what the
officials were claiming and
CBN, a subsidiary of the
ministry was stating.
The ministry for want of a
better description is the body
that pays the actual bills.
How then can they have
taken so log to carry out an
audit and present the actual
figures Nigerians have been
waiting to see. Are the
systems and processes so
cumbersome in this age of
technology that they are
unable to produce a set of
accounts till now?? Are we to
now believe a ministry that
until recently was alleged to
have paid out billions in just
one day contrary to accepted
practices and the basic rules
of transparency?
We would like a joined up
approach with all the relevant
agencies sitting together to
agree a position on what was
paid to whom and when.
What is the actual forecast
for payments, subsidy and
consumption going forward?
What is the current state of
revenue accrued from the
partial removal of subsidy in
January this year? Surely
these basic questions are
within the capability of our
high-powered economic
management team and the
Co- coordinating Minister of
the Economy.
We are tired of different
arms of the same
government briefing against
one another and carrying out
a phony war on the pages of
our newspapers through paid
advertorials etc.
The issues confronting
Nigerians are too big to be
used as a pawn to curry
favours, attack colleagues and
create confusion in the polity.
It is time to draw a line in the
sand to agree collectively to
work for a better Nigeria.
The corruption in our society
did not begin in a single day
and has passed from
government since the 1st of
October 1964. No one has a
magic broom that can sweep
it away, however we all have
a duty to make a start. We
are all to blame for the ills in
our society, it has been said,
“that a people are governed
by those they deserve.” The
stark truth is that we have
developed a culture of
corruption that permeates
the very fabric of who we are
as a nation. We all sit back
and wait for our proverbial
turn. We hold no one to
account, not even ourselves.
Yesterday’s harshest critics
are today’s worse purveyors
of the same stupidity. How
many so called ex firebrands
and critics have gone on to
become the master’s voice?
How many of us criticise in
one breath then hail the
Chief, Excellency, Mr
President, when finally
coming into contact with
these same people. We live in
a country where titles are
bandied about like cheap
confetti, where “chairman” is
a standard greeting to all and
sundry and “we are loyal”
substitutes for hard work and
honest endeavour.
In a country where how
much you have, is not
prefaced by how did you
acquire it. Where today’s
nobody is tomorrow’s
somebody. Where merit and
capability take a back seat to
mediocrity and so called
Federal Character. Where in
order to have any progress in
a particular area it is not
based on strategic imperative
but tribalism and selfish
sectional interests.
There is nothing wrong with
affirmative action or
protecting the less
advantaged in society,
however Nigeria is over 50
now and we have sent
people from all states and
regions in the country to far-
flung places to acquire
knowledge. We should be
able to find competent
people to run our institutions
and government. We need to
move away from the crooks
and political jobbers currently
running things and get
technocrats with a mindset
that is geared towards the
greater good. We need
selfless people running our
government concerned only
with the welfare of the
majority not a mindless
minority. We need affordable
power, water, health and
education. We need security
and the rest Nigerians can
take care of themselves.
All we ask if for government
to do its easy part and give
Nigerians the tools and
collectively we will turn this
great nation around.

#CONSENSUS 2015