A PRESIDENT IN NEED OF DISCIPLES

BY DELE MOMODU

Fellow Nigerians, let me say right away that I do not envy President

Muhammadu Buhari at this moment. It cannot be easy carrying the burden of

nearly 200 million highly boisterous people. It is worse when your

predecessors had messed up big time thus almost snuffing life out of a

potentially great nation. What a shame!

I’m not trying to find and make excuses for the President. Far from it, but

it is pertinent to constantly remind ourselves of how we got to this sad

juncture. I seriously doubt if Mr President ever bargained for this

monstrosity that has confronted him so early in his long awaited and much

trumpeted second coming. The Naira has nose-dived in the most cataclysmic

fall ever in the history of our beleaguered country. And the disaster I

foresee and predict would be monumental if a miracle does not happen soon.

I won’t be surprised if our great leader is experiencing insomnia and

wondering what has hit him like a thunderbolt.

When I had the privilege of sitting with our President one on one, I was

reasonably persuaded that he has in him the right dose of passion and

patriotism necessary to reignite this great country. He also has the guts

to take on dangerous tasks. He wouldn’t have been a Major General if he was

lily-livered. There is no question in my mind that he has what it takes to

lead Nigeria out of the doldrums. But whenever I think of the debilitating

challenges he is currently facing what comes to my mind is that the man is

running a lonely marathon. I’m not sure he has enough disciples around

willing to imbibe his spirit of simplicity and integrity. The reason is

very simple. It is not so easy to be a Buhari devotee.

What do I mean? Buhari is a preacher who teaches what is quite difficult

for an average Nigerian to follow and obey. I already explained in my

column last week why corruption is very attractive in Nigeria. The

contradictions within our ruling classes make it almost impossible to be a

pontiff in our clime. The society makes silly demands of the public

officer. The public officer also has the mind-set of a demi-god. He knows

everyone sucks up to him and expects him to be a Santa Claus in office.

There are other expectations he must activate and actualise. In summary, he

is not expected to retire into poverty and perdition. Now Buhari is saying

that is no longer possible. And that Big Brother is watching everyone and

everywhere. How realistic this is, we are yet to see.

Corruption is not an easy scourge to exterminate especially when it has

become cancerous and malignant. Ours has spread far and wide. What is the

President doing? Fighting corruption has become an all-consuming agenda,

indeed, perhaps, the only visible agenda that is raking in all attention

and headlines. No one knows how much has been recovered, where it is kept

and what is being done with the humongous loot. The EFCC is working

frenetically on overdrive. I hope they are able to cope with the deluge of

cases that keeps unfolding almost on daily basis.

The President also seems to have placed his fate more in the hands of

Government technocrats. These civil servants are expected to propel the

policy directions of this administration. But is that working as planned

and expected? I can’t confidently confirm anything of the sort. I’m almost

certain they are already letting down the President. There is no other

evidence than the budget conundrum that has left this Federal Government

terribly exposed and heavily scandalised. Whoever participated in crafting

that horrific document has not done the President any favours. In fact, the

budget-drafting team has done incalculable damage to a government that rode

to power on the crest of frugality and accountability. Not only is the

budget outlandishly profligate it is atrociously hypocritical.

What Nigerians wanted from President Buhari is simple and straight-forward.

One, reverse the reckless spending in Abuja and replace it with prudent

spending on common-sense capital projects and investments. Two, make

corruption unattractive by establishing a workable regime of crime and

punishment. Three, tidy up the economy and create a conducive environment

for investors and their investments. Four, arrest the perfidious attacks of

Boko Haram and make every inch of the Nigerian landscape safer for every

citizen or foreigner. Five, upgrade our worthless educational system and

create substantial opportunities for our army of unemployed youths. Six,

fix our comatose infrastructure and restore aesthetic glory to our

environment. Seven, find some veritable alternatives to our over-dependence

on a monolithic economy in this season of oil commotion.

Unfortunately, I don’t think some of the disciples are working in tandem

with the Commander-in-Chief. Rather, they are skilfully wasting the

resources that are so difficult to come by. Worse still, they want Nigeria

to mortgage its future by borrowing money to fund their expensive habits. I

sincerely beg the President to cancel the rubbish budget and substitute it

with one that will reflect the principles and values upon which he was

elected. It is better late than never. Nigeria is in bad shape. There is no

point pretending to be a wealthy nation when we are miserably poor. We must

do what countries like China and India did, invest heavily in education and

food production. Education is the greatest leveller and the key that can

unlock a prosperous future. Remove hunger out of poverty and you would have

killed penury half-way and also energised the people.

I watched in utter amazement as theorists propounded some jejune thesis on

how to save the Naira against the US Dollar. They cleverly stood truth on

its head by recommending that those sending their children to schools

abroad should be ready to pay the full dollar rate. What stupidity? No

sensible country plays politics with sound education and good health. Even

at a time Nigeria had quality education most of those who later became our

elites schooled abroad. They travelled by sea and later by air. Most of

them enjoyed government or foreign scholarships. My own Brother left

Nigeria as an indigent student in 1965 after his A’levels and returned with

a PhD from Stanford University.

Those preaching that Nigerians should remain at home have refused to take

care of home. These preachers will still spend public money on sending

their own children abroad for studies and vacations. They will go for

medical treatment abroad at public expense. Education is a universal

phenomenon and no amount spent on it is ever wasted. It is a shame that our

politicians and members of the privilegentsia would rather punish Nigerian

students abroad instead of cutting their own excesses at home. They would

rather we produce half-baked illiterates than offer our youths the

opportunity to display their natural wizardry globally.  This is the worst

decision any government can make and President Buhari should veto the

shenanigan of the carpetbaggers who are trying to sell him a rubbish

legacy. What will save Nigeria ultimately is a well-educated citizenry and

not the beautiful government houses and bullet-proof cars. I can name

thousands of our icons who schooled abroad and returned home with bright

ideas needed to grow our economy.

The Chinese and Indians litter everywhere on this planet! You find them as

IT gurus today because their governments encouraged them to acquire

knowledge from the greatest institutions in the world. Only the children of

the poor would be affected by our ill-thought decision while the rich can

afford anything, anyhow.  Education would then become the exclusive

preserve of the privileged few and those who wish to join them would have

to steal to catch up. We should not push our people into more hardship.

Paying fees abroad is more verifiable and virtuous than budgeting billions

for over-inflated contracts and flights of fancy.

The President should please avoid enemies from every direction. In case he

is not aware, Nigeria is tension-soaked at the moment. The change we

promised was to reduce and not to escalate hardship. Nigerians are ever

willing to make sacrifices if and when the leaders are seen to be

reasonable and sincere. As promised, when I met our great leader after he

took office, I will continue to advise this government in order to avoid

the pitfalls of the past. There are huge challenges but they are not

impossible to tackle. The solution is not the type of jamboree and

propaganda that certain people are recommending. We finished campaigning

with drums and tambourines last year; it is now time to settle down to

serious work. Rebranding Nigeria every time a new government comes is

shambolic and myopic. There is nothing to campaign about again after

election. A beautiful work will always speak for itself.  

On a final note this week, the President should fast-forward the war

against corruption by recovering as much loot as possible very urgently. We

should decrease the raucous and riotous drama surrounding the corruption

crusade by revving up the substance of the war and establishing our goals

and destination. When tomorrow comes, no one would ask how many people were

jailed but everyone would always remember the hunger that ravaged the land

in the time of Lagbaja.

It is the bitter truth.