By Emeka Alex Duru
When Nigerians complain that they are not being carried along in governance, it is not that there are no organs charged with the responsibility of propagating the activities of the government.
On the contrary, there are quite a legion of bodies claiming to be doing the job, even if in reality, what they do is mere propaganda and outright falsehood.
The main issue that the citizens complain of in the matter is that they are not adequately informed of the actions of their leaders. This had been the case with previous administrations in the country. It is also the problem with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) that continues to see itself as being in opposition.
For instance, insecurity, especially, the Boko Haram challenge. Before the inauguration of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, the nation had been at the receiving end of Boko Haram insurgency.
While the insurgents embarked on their murderous onslaughts, they severally launched massive assault on the country’s corporate existence.
They even went further in hurting the country’s international reputation by their Monday, April 14, 2014 bomb blasts in Abuja and abduction of about 276 students of Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State.
The abduction, which laid bare the fault lines of the nation’s security network, attracted bad publicity to the then Goodluck Jonathan administration.
The Chibok saga and the pledge to fight corruption, were the two issues Buhari and APC, flaunted before Nigerians to win their votes in 2015 elections.
And to rub in its feat in this regard, one year into office, the government announced to Nigerians that it had gained substantial grounds in reducing the menace of the insurgents.
Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, in particular, pranced about media houses, claiming that activities of Boko Haram had been technically degraded and the sect, virtually defeated.
Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, a Lieutenant General, also parroted the story, adding that what remained to clear-off the insurgents was mere mop-up operation that ground forces were taking good care of.
To add effect to the announcement, Nigerians were told that Sambisa Forest, said to be the base of the sect members, had been captured from them and would soon be converted to games reserve.
There was even an occasion when select newspaper editors and foreign military experts were taken on aerial view of the Forest, as proof that it had been liberated.
In line with the excitement that was engineered by the assurances from the government, displaced villagers from the areas that had been annexed by the insurgents, were encouraged to return on ground that the war was over.
While the enthusiasm, propelled by heavily spiced propaganda by Lai Mohammed and his foot soldiers seized the country, those who called for caution and demanded the true state of affairs had rented commentators and government attack dogs unleashed on them in both the mainstream and social media.
As far as the government information managers were concerned, anyone that sang any song contrary to the illusion of Boko Haram degradation was simply an unpatriotic element.
But the chickens, as they say, appear to have come home to roost. Truly, there is an extent to which a pregnancy can be concealed, because, even as government agents go about claiming that the menace of the sect members had been literally neutralized, daily reports on their onslaught against soldiers and civilian populace, keep rising in bounds. This is aside their changing strategies in recruitment and deployment of suicide bombers on dastardly missions.
It is this obvious inability by the government to continue living in denial on crushing blow dealt on the country almost on daily basis by the insurgents, that may have forced the governors to approve the withdrawal of $1 billion from the Excess Crude Account by the Federal Government to be used in the ongoing fight against them.
The approval was revealed by Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, after the meeting of the National Economic Council which held inside the council chamber of the Presidential Villa Abuja.
According to Obaseki, the approval was announced during the 83rd NEC meeting by the chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, and Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari.
His Gombe State counterpart, Ibrahim Dankwambo, who spoke earlier, reportedly said the Excess Crude Account had a balance of $2.317 billion as at December 13, 2017.
None of the governors stated whether the balance was what it stood at before or after the approval.
It may be necessary to state here that one is totally in support of any genuine action intended at freeing the nation from the clutches of Boko Haram.
Aside the loss of life and property which the murderous activities of the sect and its members have wrought on Nigerians, their activities have equally caused a great deal of trauma to the citizens and foreigners living in the country.
Regular travel advisories by Embassies and High Commissions on their nationals in the country, also come along with loss of business and economic potentials and opportunities.
To that extent, defeating Boko Haram is a war that must be won. But the strategies in going about the exercise need to be transparent and convincing to Nigerians. And this is where the invasion of the excess crude account by the governors and federal government, gives cause for concern.
The Excess Crude Account is a government account used to save oil revenues above a base amount derived from a defined benchmark price.
The Account was established in 2004, with its objective, primarily being to protect planned budgets against shortfalls due to volatile crude oil prices.
The account is not an intervention fund on matters like Boko Haram. The annual budgets that carve out lion’s share for defence should be able to tackle the shocks arising from the menace of the insurgents. If the allocations for defence do not meet the target, the one from internal affairs should complement. The President can equally approach the National Assembly for supplementary budget in tackling the menace.
But drawing from the excess crude account to the tune of One Billion Dollars to fight Boko Haram in a system with collapsed infrastructure in many parts of the country, is surely, an overkill. This is misplacement of priority by the governors and the federal government.
What then happens to the sections of the country that had experienced incidences of Herdsmen criminality or such natural mishaps as erosion and other occurrences? Who takes care of them?
There is no hiding the fact that with elections just by the corners, officials, including governors seeking re-election, can go to any length, no matter how absurd, to retain their seats.
Also, those serving out their terms can do anything to be in the good books of the federal authorities to avoid being probed, afterwards.
It is on this ground that the undeclared reason by the governors in approving the withdrawal from the excess crude account can be understood.
But whatever the reason, the action is simply, absurd and amounts to invasion of the sovereign wealth of the people.
