Politics in Nigeria is not only a venal and profane enterprise, it also verges on lunacy. The absurdity of its practitioners would leave a first time visitor, especially one from a saner clime, bewildered as to the psychological makeup of those steeped in the trade. Here, politics is all about shadow chasing and an endless row over inanities. Both the so called opposition and government are perpetually engrossed in devious maneuverings to score points, while leaving their remit unattended to. For those who think the past 14 years is enough to usher a modicum of decorum are bound to be disappointed. Depressingly, every year brings more of this charade to the fore, while sadly the new set of politicians is becoming more retrogressive than their forebears.
Any impartial observer would definitely agree that the raging feud between President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State has its bearing on who emerges winner in 2015. That is why every little ruckus is magnified to give the impression that the long awaited Armageddon is around the corner. The furore over the chairmanship of the Nigerian Governors' Forum (NGF) has been made to look like a vicious war between supporters in the two camps. In this war, all weapons of intrigues, subterfuge and barefaced intimidation, are brought to play. And with no side willing to back down, the country may be in for the worst of times. Curiously, not many Nigerians know that the NGF is an illegal entity under the Nigerian Constitution. Nowhere in the Constitution was this quango mentioned, neither was its mission and vision.
Of course, Nigerians are notorious copycats, with a proclivity for poorly imitating people in more organised countries. The NGF was copied from the United States of America. There, it serves as a sober and apolitical conclave for governors to dispassionately look for ways of confronting the problems in their respective states. It was not established to act as a parallel government or a bastion for seeking political glory. Unfortunately, the Nigerian model has swerved off course, while the interaction among its members has become subsumed in murky politics.
Today, an impression is being created that any governor occupying the chairmanship position could run an alternative government and make policy pronouncements on behalf of the country. It is such shibboleth that is ominously heating up the political space and convoluting the very essence underpinning the establishment of the body. When the country was ushered into the new democratic dispensation in 1999, there was unrestrained joy and excitement that it was out of the woods at last, and that all the years of the locusts are gone for good.
Nigerians were prepared to put up with any inconvenience from their new political masters, if only to keep the marauding military at bay. Moreover, the first four years was seen as a period of trial in which they could make mistakes and even have their sins forgiven. But years down the road, they have failed to put the country on the trajectory to a great future. Our politicians have neither learnt new things nor forgotten old habits. Rather, they have brought their innate sense of greed and corruption to bear on all they set themselves to do. This can be seen in all sectors of national life, from power to education, agriculture to industry, and from health to infrastructure. It is a crying shame that successive administrations have not been able to fix the country's power sector, which is the most important vector in any industrial development. This is in spite of the billions of dollars purportedly spent in building of new power stations and rehabilitating old ones. What we have to show for all the wasted resources is a paltry power output of 3,000MW for a population of 165 million.
Fourteen years after, the youths are not only jobless and emasculated, they look condemned to a hopeless future for themselves and their children. In the midst of these frightening predicaments, our politicians have remained unfazed to the depression and privations around them. Rather, the size of government has continued to balloon to make room for all manner of political actors and cronies. The security situation has remained dire, with fundamentalists and all manner of militants holding sway in different parts of the country. It is rather ironic that the number of persons killed and kidnapped on daily basis has remained an all time high, for peace time period. As it stands, the social contract between the citizens and their rulers has ceased to exist, given that the leaders have perfected the nefarious act of pilfering the country's resources to cater for their own personal comfort.
Much as we are tempted to blame all woes on the government, the actions, inactions and disposition of the opposition have not given any cause for cheers. What we are seeing as alternative government in waiting, is a rehash of the old and tired apparatchiks with a benighted sense of political entitlement, rather than a bunch of people with new and creative ideas of taking the country to the Promised Land. As we observe Democracy Day today, let it be known that the citizens are yet to witness a new dawn while the political class has remained the albatross holding the country in the miry pit.
National Mirror