As I woke up I decided to see what the new developments are and read a very brilliant essay by Segun Adeniyi where he concluded saying "at the end of the day, the ultimate lesson of this tragedy is that we should not have gotten to Chibok in the first place. But we are there right now and how we get out of it is what matters and that is the responsibility President Jonathan bears". Does this guy have what it takes to take us out of Chibok? Because unless we stop and put the ship of state in reverse gear, we are currently speeding along the "road to Mogadishu" or the "road to Kigali" to borrow from those who have previously used these two cities to describe what happens when you do not get your house in order.
Getting the young girls out of the grip of Boko Haram insurgents is not the same as getting "out of Chibok". Getting us out of Chibok means an elected president will not ever say "I don't give a damn" to his countrymen and women. It means $12 billion (or is it $20 billion) will not longer be unaccounted for; It means a minister will not waste our resources on chaterring private jets, it means N150 billion will not be spent on just under 500 elected lawmakers, it means ministries will put up their projects for open bidding and transparent tendering process, it means education will be qualitative from Buguma to Gashua; it means some fat cats will not create a fuel subsidy regime and steal the nation blind to the tune of N1 trillion.
It mean we will attempt to build a country fit for the modern age and digital civilization. Impunity will cease to exist either in the way we are governed or the way we are structured. Even our judiciary is not fit for purpose neither is the penal system from the courts to the prisons.
Nigeria's current structure is built around cults and personae; not around institutions. That explains why all institutions have either decayed or are decaying. Starting from the local market, we need to rebuild Nigeria. The same measure for garri in Oredo market must be the same measure in Gwagwalada. This is not a job for the federal government but that of the local administrations. Weights and measurements are so basic to commercial exchange that local governments can no longer permit impunity wherein market women cheat on unsuspecting buyers using padded and beaten-in cans instead of standard measurements. Yet they collect the rates and local taxes and their officials share these among themselves.
There is no major Western news media that has not reported the current Nigerian government as extremely corrupt and inept and there is no exaggeration. If anything, what is troubling is the feeling of total comfort and shamelessness of everyone in the Jonathan administration to this classification. And they all know the bad press is truly and completely justified because they themselves know they have been extremely corrupt and incompetent.Corruption at low level graduates to corruption at high level.
Many Nigerians are not uncomfortable with high level corruption because they are themselves immersed in low-level corruption. What Mr. Jonathan has called "stealing" is nothing else but corruption and lack of dignity. Reserving government contracts and services for well heeled individuals is corruption; paying stupendous allowances to lawmakers is corruption.
How do we justify paying "hardship allowances" to someone who begged us to vote for him? If the work is hard, let him stay at home and enjoy time with his family and not beg for our votes. No matter how much we dress things up in legality, the monies paid to political office holders is corrupt enrichment.
Will you remain quiet and your children have no country they can call their own in the near future. Rise up now and do something.
By
Oluseyi Steven Faseyiku
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