By Emmanuel Onwubiko<\/p>\n
As a young claretian who just got enlisted into the sacred vows of
\nchastity, obedience and poverty in the claretian missionary sons of Mary
\nof the Catholic Church in Utonkon, Benue State, my first shock came when
\none of the formators told us thus: \u201cMay your ways be rough.\u201d<\/p>\n
I particularly didn\u2019t know whether to say ‘Amen’ or to say silently like
\nthe Protestants would say that ‘it is not my portion’.<\/p>\n
I however swallowed the hard theological pill and affirmed ‘Amen’ just
\nlike many other contemporaries chorused in unison.<\/p>\n
In my quiet times however, I approached this formator, who is a well-built
\nyoung priest, and I asked him to please explain to me the theological
\nimplication of that prayer which to me sounded very harsh.<\/p>\n
He looked at my pretty innocent face and gave me a smile, saying that the
\nprayer meant no harm but that it was only a caution so we know that the
\njourney to the catholic priesthood is characterized by twists and turns
\nsince all that glitter are not gold and that anything worth doing is worth
\ndoing very well.<\/p>\n
Well, I thanked him and went straight to my room but not without
\nreflecting deeply on the words he gave me.<\/p>\n
But as we proceeded to the philosophy studies, I had an early encounter
\nwith Socrates, the father of philosophy who stated that \u201can unexamined
\nlife is not worth living.\u201d<\/p>\n
This sacred words of Socrates was further confirmed by Immanuel Kant, a
\nmodern day philosopher who stated that \u201cI think therefore I exists.\u201d<\/p>\n
With all the above experiences in mind, the saying therefore very recently
\nby the Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari that his last four years would
\nbe tough, did not shock me in any way.<\/p>\n
As variously captured by the media, President Muhammadu Buhari gave an
\ninsight into his forthcoming second term in office, saying \u201cmy last lap of
\nfour years will be tough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Buhari was declared winner of last Saturday\u2019s presidential election by the
\nIndependent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with over 15,191, 847
\nvotes to defeat his main rival and candidate of the Peoples Democratic
\nParty (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar with 11,262, 978 votes.<\/p>\n
Speaking while hosting members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in
\nthe Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa who had converged to
\ncongratulate him on his re-election, Buhari said his second term would be
\ntough because Nigerians are so easily forgetful.<\/p>\n
The president, who said he deliberately went through the rigorous days of
\ncampaign in all the 36 states of the federation before the election, added
\nthat he opted to campaign in two states per day to make a statement to the
\nopposition that he was strong and fit.<\/p>\n
He also said the next administration would face the economy very squarely
\nbecause of the huge unemployment rate bedeviling the country, which he
\nsaid had become a huge problem to everybody.<\/p>\n
However, he expressed gratitude to God that the agriculture sector had
\nhelped a lot in strengthening the economy through what he described as
\nsoft loans to farmers, pointing out that agricultural output has
\nconsequently been rewarding because of the steady rainy seasons. This
\nPresidential claims have no verifiable proofs because millions of farmers
\nstill operate within the fringes of manual labours and have yet to get any
\nform of financial facelift to upgrade to mechanized farmings.<\/p>\n
However, the politically correct president, who thanked God for the steady
\nrainfall, submitted that investment in agriculture would have been a
\nfutile effort if there had been no good and promising rainy seasons.<\/p>\n
He praised states such as Lagos, Ogun, Kebbi, Jigawa, and notably Ebonyi,
\nwhich he said had played notable roles in stopping rice importation
\nthrough large scale rice cultivation especially with the unpredictable
\nstate of the oil sector.<\/p>\n
Responding to the congratulatory visit by his ministers, Buhari asked them
\nto also congratulate themselves on the election victory, saying if he had
\nlost the election, the ministers would not have come around to
\ncongratulate him.<\/p>\n
Buhari who has lately become very philosophical, also gave us the texture,
\ncolour and characteristics of his next cabinet.<\/p>\n
President Muhammadu Buhari said that only people of integrity will make
\nhis cabinet in his second tenure of office. Does this mean he has many
\ncrooks in his current cabinet? One of his ministers forced her qualifying
\nNYSC certificate even as another dodged national service upon graduation.
\nStill, another Advisor has fake WAEC certificate.<\/p>\n
However, the President who also promised women and youths that his
\nadministration will not disappoint them said that he will not exclude
\npeople of his generation which he said is his own constituency in the
\ndistribution of positions.<\/p>\n
President Buhari stated this during a victory dinner organized by his wife
\nDr. Aisha Buhari on Saturday night for the All Progressives Congress
\nYouths and Women Presidential Campaign Council at the Old Banquet Hall,
\nPresidential Villa Abuja.<\/p>\n
While acknowledging the role played by women and youths towards his
\nre-election, he reassured Nigerian women and youths that he will not
\ndisappoint them in the next four years.<\/p>\n
The group, women and youths had in their demands appealed for more women
\nand youth representation in the next cabinet.<\/p>\n
But President Buhari in his remarks, promised that only those with
\nintegrity and interest of Nigeria will be considered for appointment to
\nthe next cabinet.<\/p>\n
According to him, \u201cI assure you that I have listened on the representation
\nmade that my cabinet should include women and youth.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t celebrate it yet, I said I have listened to some of the
\nrepresentation made here. Well, I myself I am considering some of the old
\npeople and I will protect my constituency too.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I will assure your I will continue to have a team of people of
\nintegrity that are really concerned with Nigeria and Nigerians.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also assured them that in his second term in office, he will not
\ndisappoint them. He said, \u201cI will not disappoint you, our objectives are
\nthe same. We have to fix this country so that the next generation can have
\na country to be proud of.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are working very hard to get the infrastructure in place, the roads,
\nthe rails so that Nigeria will mind their own businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cI very much appreciate your coming here tonight \u2026, but I\u2019m congratulating
\nourselves for succeeding, if we had failed, my good God, thank goodness we
\nhave succeeded.\u201d President Buhari noted that more fertilizers were being
\nmade available to Nigerian farmers at a lower rate, adding that food
\nimportation was reducing while more Nigerians have started to embrace
\nagriculture.<\/p>\n
Deconstructing the above affirmations of president Buhari has come out
\nwith a synthesis that he may after all not have meant harm at all but to
\nwarn Nigerians that it is not yet Eldorado.<\/p>\n
If the explanation offered to me many years ago by my formator is anything
\nto go by, then it is not a bad thing entirely that president Buhari has
\nfurther cautioned Nigerians not to expect a bumper harvest of prosperity
\nand the easy life in his last term going by the fact that his first term
\nwitnessed the worst case scenario in the area of economy.<\/p>\n
The last four years of Buhari between 2015 to 2019 just before Nigerians
\nwent to the polls last weekend\u00a0which has come out with a very
\ncontroversial outcome stating that Buhari won by 15 million thus beating
\nhis nearest rival of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Alhaji Atiku
\nAbubakar, saw Nigeria go through the first ever economic recession in
\nthirty years.<\/p>\n
Also, during the years under review as aforementioned, there were cases of
\nclosures of factories in the manufacturing sector due to collapsing
\ninfrastructure just as capital flights led to phenomenal job loses which
\neven by official estimates saw Nigeria losing millions of jobs. Even the
\nsudden postponement of the February 16th\u00a0polls led to the sudden loses of
\nover $7billion according to estimate by the chambers of commerce and the
\nNigerian stocks exchange.<\/p>\n
Experts say the postponement cost Nigerian businesses about $7.605 billion
\n(N2.737 Trillion). The amount is about two percent of the country\u2019s Gross
\nDomestic Product (GDP), $427 billion. These experts spoke to ThisDay
\nNewspaper.<\/p>\n
Also, the Nigerian Bureau of statistics said that 3.3 million Nigerians
\nsuffered job losses in 9 months in 2018. The Bureau of statistics stated
\nthe above in its labour force statistics, released on December 19th\u00a02018.
\nThe labour force report, for the 04 2017 to 03 2018 released on that date
\nstates that the number of unemployed Nigerians rose from 17.6 million to
\n20.9 million.<\/p>\n
Nigeria also faces terrible problems of infrastructure collapse and acute
\nenergy poverty just as these spectacular social crises have meant that the
\ncosts of living in most parts of the country are at the highest
\nintolerable degree. The crises of infrastructure collapse and energy
\npoverty means that the private sector and the real manufacturing sector
\nwould not operate optimally. Even the ministry of power and the Presidency
\nbudgets multimillions to purchase and fuel generators.<\/p>\n
I think, these are areas that president alluded to in his speech in which
\nhe warned all of us to brace up for the realities of hard and tough times.
\nThose who work in the Presidency know that even the state house clinic
\nsuffers from corruption and lack of amenities. So the tough times are
\ndomiciled amongst the staff of the Presidency especially those without any
\nform of control of public funds. Last year, a driver in the Presidential
\nVilla reportedly committed suicide due to hardship even when the National
\nAssembly members who face no hardships collect HARDSHIP’S ALLOWANCES
\nrunning into millions yearly.<\/p>\n
What we need to do as citizens is to participate qualitatively in the
\ngovernance of our country by monitoring the implementation of the\u00a0 budgets
\nat all levels and follow the trails of implementation of these budget
\nlines in our different communities.<\/p>\n
The coming 9th\u00a0session of the National Assembly must open up the process
\nof procurement and throw the informations to the faces of Nigerians so all
\nNigerians can very easily follow the different stages of implementation.
\nBuhari should appoint the Council to oversee the Bureau of Public
\nprocurements so the meetings of the Federal cabinet stops being used as
\nprocurements and contracts awarding forum.<\/p>\n
The president must run a lean government made up of smart ministers and
\nalso scale down the cost of government by appointing very few technical
\nadvisers and avoid populating government with boys and girls of politics.<\/p>\n
The next national Assembly must reduce the cost of running their offices
\neven as government appointees need to also be captured by the new national
\nminimum wage bill that the government has approved.<\/p>\n
Let no one in government be paid juicy salaries that are not covered by
\nthe National minimum wage Act even as the Revenue mobilization board must
\nbe inaugurated and allow to autonomously operate.<\/p>\n
President Buhari should get tough with corruption tearing apart his
\nadministration from the top most echelons. Within his kitchen cabinet,
\ncorruption is loud and clear.<\/p>\n
The NNPC which he runs as petroleum minister even against a binding
\ncourt’s verdict is a cesspool of corruption under Buhari just as the law
\nenforcement agencies only go after political opponents of Buhari.<\/p>\n
This double standard must be resisted by all Nigerians.<\/p>\n
If all these tough measures are adopted universally not minding political,
\nethnic or religious affiliations, and if strategic security jobs are
\nallocated to reflect federal character principles and not concentrated in
\nthe hands of Fulani and Hausa Moslems then it is a welcomed tough tenure.<\/p>\n
This story by an international news magazine is apt: \u201cHis (Muhammadu
\nBuhari) victory this time will not generate the same euphoria it did in
\n2015. The former general, who ruled briefly as the country\u2019s military
\ndictator after a coup in the 1980s, has struggled to fulfill many of the
\ncampaign promises he made four years ago. Mr. Abubakar\u2019s people\u2019s
\nDemocratic Party (PDP) claims the results were rigged. In a sign of
\ngrowing voter apathy, turnout, which languished at 44% in 2015, fell to
\n36% this time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor many Nigerians, the election has been tarnished by the sloppiness
\nwith which it was run. The vote was originally scheduled for February
\n16th, but INEC postponed it just hours before it was meant to begin
\nbecause it had been unable to get materials, such as ballot papers, to
\npolling stations on time. When the vote was held at last on February 23rd,
\nobservers say most polling stations opened hours late for the same reason,
\nand many election officials were unprepared. The European Union\u2019s observer
\nmission cited \u201cserious operational shortcomings.\u201d (The Economist, March
\n2nd\u00a0\u2013 8th\u00a02019).<\/p>\n
*Emmanuel Onwubiko is Head, HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA By Emmanuel Onwubiko As a young claretian who just got enlisted into the sacred vows of chastity, obedience and poverty in the claretian missionary sons of Mary of the Catholic…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n
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