By Emeka Alex Duru
The immediate take-away from the antics of the two leading political parties in the land, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), since the race for 2019 was officially flagged off, is the vigorous attempt at aping the colour and character of the second republic politics. Unlike the current dispensation where the APC and PDP lead the pack of 76 political parties, six stood out between 1979 and 1983 when the second republic lasted. They were the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), Great Nigeria Peoples Party (GNPP), Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP), Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) and National Advanced Party (NAP).
But try as the APC and PDP do in mimicking these parties, they have merely come up with a poor copy. They do not, for one, possess the organizational skills of those they labour to imitate, while their chieftains at all levels, including the presidential candidates – President Muhammadu Buhari of APC and Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, lack the charisma and flamboyance of their counterparts in the second republic. This is even taking it from Nigeria’s standard and not comparing them with the trend in the advanced democracies.
Yes, they flaunt the crowd – real or rented; they advertise manifestoes and lay claims to punch lines in their statements. But these are the nearest they can come in terms of comparison. Even at that, the contents of their manifestoes are usually shallow and skeletal, perhaps, deliberately, to confuse their followers or avoid being pinned down on anything at the end of the day.
This is why, almost three weeks after the launch of the APC campaign slogan –Next Level on Sunday, November 18, by Buhari and that of the PDP – The Atiku’s Plan – the next day, Nigerians are still in the dark on how each of the parties intends to lift the country from its present piteous situation. Incidentally, APC, painted an enticing picture of Nigeria in the next four years, if given another chance through the ballot, while PDP, through the Atiku Plan, encapsulated its agenda for a better Nigeria if voted into office. Each spoke on the parlous state of the country’s economy, promising to turn around the ugly tide if elected. With the fleeting pledges, their foot soldiers have been all over town, marketing them to the unwary Nigerians.
But none, curiously, has given any hint on how it intends to go about repositioning the country. The electorate have also, surprisingly, not taken them on the issues. In the process, matters of base disposition have been elevated to the status of national discourse. This is why from the PDP, the main issue of campaign against Buhari, is the sordid story of the President being dead some time ago and an impostor, a certain Jubril from Sudan, being thrown up in his place. On the side of the APC, their major arsenal against Atiku, is the worn-out tale of his ineligibility to travel to America on account of unstated corruption cases waiting for him in the country.
In ordinary times, there may not be much wrong in occasionally throwing up such hilarious banters, if only as interludes or on time-out basis. But to front such trivial matters on campaign in a nation that is going down the ladder of prosperity, nearly every second, shows the extent the level of public engagement has degenerated in Nigeria.
Take for instance, between Sunday November 18 when APC launched its Next Level to Monday and November 19 when PDP unveiled The Atiku’s Plan, terrorists had enveloped a military facility in Metele, Borno State, leaving in their wake, scores of soldiers dead and many wounded. For a murderous insurgency that has confronted the country since 2009 with huge toll on human and material resources, expectations would have been high on how the two parties intend to strategise on tackling the menace, given that previous efforts in this direction are not appearing adequate. They are yet to do so, convincingly.
The economy is also not catching their attention as expected. For instance, aside running over the bogus claim of what his administration has done in the last three years, Buhari has not been specific on how he plans to halt the unceasing slide of the economy. He even lacks the grace to admit that his government has failed woefully in putting forward the right foot in arresting the drift. Thus, while he drives himself on the fantasy of a rejuvenated economy, the World Bank, is there, raising the alarm of a bleak economy for Nigeria in the days ahead.
In its “Economic Update” issued in Abuja on November 28, the Bank observed that Nigeria, like many other countries, has underinvested in human capital and remains very low compared to others. The report also noted that the Nigerian economy remains dependent on the small oil sector (under 10 per cent of GDP) for the bulk of its fiscal revenues and foreign exchange earnings. It thus, suggested that certain key policy reforms would be important to support macroeconomic resilience for Nigeria.
None of the two parties is seeing this gloomy picture as a challenge. Particularly painful is the lethargic attitude of the APC – the ruling party any time issues of this kind resonates. On such occasions, rather than articulating ways of navigating the country out of the ugly bend, its publicists resort to playing the Pilate – blaming the poor economic vision of the previous administration for the bad news. In such escapist exercise, the party looks for any development no matter how insignificant, to animate itself.
It is on this backdrop that the recent excitement by the government and its officials, over the report that Nigeria recorded a leap on the 2018 Legatum Prosperity Index (LPI) of most prosperous countries in the world, can be understood.
Currently at 129, the country moved up by three points from its 132nd position in 2017. The LPI is an annual ranking developed by the Legatum Institute, a division of the United Arab Emirates-based private investment firm, Legatum.
The index measures prosperity using nine pillars: economic quality, business environment, governance, personal freedom, social capital, safety and security, education, health and natural environment. Of these pillars, Nigeria ranked 139, 66, 107, 111, 48, 145, 123,143, 104 positions respectively.
“In the overall Prosperity Index rankings, Nigeria has climbed by three positions from 132 to 129 when compared to last year. Since the Prosperity Index began in 2006, Nigeria has moved down the rankings table by five places,” the report read.
Since the release of the report, high officials of the Buhari administration, have l been on frenzy of sort. But that is not what it should be. For a major oil producing country – in fact, the sixth in the world, a good placement in prosperity index should, ordinarily be taken for granted by its citizens. However, a succession of leaders without vision, has seen the country in its present state.
Neither Buhari nor Atiku, is seriously talking about freeing the country from this trap. For the PDP candidate who has made the most noise on restructuring the country to free up the latent productive potentials of the various zones, there has not been a precise agenda on how to go about the exercise, given that the current constitution in the land, does not have provision for referendum. His celebrated pledge of reinventing the economy, equally remains suspect, since it is yet to be tied to any other alternative except the undue dependence on oil.
The situation, therefore, remains grim, unless we address the issues, properly.