First, months were reduced to weeks; then weeks to days. Today, it’s a matter of hours before the smoke of change engulfs the nation.
Something is about to happen. Hope is on the way. Expectations have been reduced to reality. Ideals are about being tested in the laboratory of practicality. Will the centre hold; or will things really fall apart?
The sign of change emerged last week when the President-Elect, Muhammadu Buhari, a retired two-star general and former dictator, dropped his cherished rank of general and said he should simply be addressed as: Muhammadu Buhari, President and Commander-in-Chief.
I can assure the general that the Nigerian media will soon go back to addressing him as he has always been addressed; at least in the last 30 years.
When Olusegun Obasanjo, a former dictator and a four-star general assumed office as an elected president in 1999, he wanted to be addressed as Uncle Sege! As a confirmed chief of Yorubaland, it was easy to address him as Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
However, whenever editorial writers and columnists or even civil society groups were not happy with his actions and inactions, they addressed him simply as General Obasanjo.
Buhari must expect that when things go wrong as they sometimes would, they would not only stop at calling him general, they would, without any solicitation, add Alhaji. I really do not see anything humble about dropping the ‘general’ thing for C-in-C. It doesn’t even have the semblance of change.
The real change will come when Buhari and his team stop painting a picture of the hell called Nigeria and tell us how to quench the fire of that hell. I will explain what I mean by that. Just as my pastor has said not a few times, what kills most people most times is not death itself but the fear of death.
Recently, it has become natural for Buhari and his Vice President-Elect, Professor Yemi Osinbajo to hawk tales of woes as though they were saints arriving hell from heaven. It’s as though everything simply went bad because they were not the ones in charge.
Nobody needs to be told that the economy is in a bad shape in spite of the hype about being the biggest in the African Continent. We know about corruption; we know about insecurity; we know about joblessness; we know about the fallen standards of education; we also know about the collapse of the health sector. The list is endless. The woes are many.
That was why Nigerians needed a change. Every Nigerian is looking forward to what that change would bring. No one needs consistent and annoying reminder of the hell we have been soaked in for so long.
Not quite long ago, Buhari told some visitors that the revenue that has accrued to Nigeria in the last 16 years was more than what the country has earned between 1914 and 1999. It’s difficult for some of us to either agree or disagree with the former head of state because in his position, he may have some information we do not have.
However, I’m still wondering what that message was meant to achieve; except perhaps to expose the wastefulness of the PDP government. My assumption is that the time for politics is over. It is time to lead. Good leadership, for God’s sake, must inspire and not incite.
This past week, Osinbajo said in Abuja that the incoming administration will inherit the worst economy ever in the history of Nigeria. He supported his assertion with figures showing how much Nigeria owes in both its external and internal debts.
He said, “We are concerned that our economy is currently in, perhaps, its worst moment in history. Local and international debts stand at US $60 billion.” He went further to expose more mind-melting figures standing against Nigeria and Nigerians.
I am not in a position to argue with the law professor who has served in government before. He is in a better position to know what some of us do not.
My feeling however is that he and his boss and the party at large seem to be more interested in highlighting only the low points of the out-going administration. Nothing is said about the high points. Am I trying to justify poor management of resources? God forbid!
However, I agree with what the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola said in an interview published in May 21, 2015 edition of Punch. When asked to explain the N418 billion debts he is leaving behind for his successor, he replied that it seemed people were more interested in the debts without looking at the assets too.
He went ahead: “I am leaving behind hundreds of kilometres of roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, courtrooms, social services, skill centres, streetlights and traffic lights. I am leaving also people who now have jobs…I am leaving behind stronger security force…..that is where the money went. I am leaving behind assets for the continuity of life…I think we should talk less about debt and more about development.”
That is my point. Yes, the debt is there. But is that all there is? It’s time for positive talk; it’s time to talk about the bright future and not the ugly past. I believe President Jonathan did not put the government in debt to build his country home; or finance his wife’s wardrobe.
No matter the weight and depth of excuses, Buhari must deliver. Spending precious times analysing the failures of the past administration is not what Nigerians expect. Let the change roll! Pull back the eclipse. Let the sun shine again.