The President’s Elevated Scorecard – Lanre Ogundipe

I was at the brink of tears as I stayed glued to the television watching the maiden media chat of our beloved President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed and “Non-armed” Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu. I was impressed by the calm disposition of the President with the confidence and brilliance he exuded as he answered a barrage of questions from journalists paraded at the event. Hidden behind this self-assured mien is a seemingly troubled conscience, because he was aware his responses were at variance with the facts on ground. His responses failed to address the undercurrents. Our man just kept applying the typical bravado to give impression of being atop of the situation.

“I am not reducing my cabinet strength” was an emphatical statement. A solid proof of someone well prepared and positioned for the job. It was not the type of the political gimmick employed earlier in the contest for the coveted seat of Emilokan (it’s my turn), rather, the chat was positioned to prove that everything was cut and dry – the task, indeed, was to demonstrate governance skills and stamp that into our subconsciousness. The political craftsman deftly defended his life – suffocating reforms on which he scored himself high. No doubt, some of the reforms were well thought out and the anchormen are adjudged as round pegs in round holes. But Mr. President was far from blowing our minds when he gave his workmen hundred percent score as if everything is working fine. He cleverly downplayed the multiple impact on the already overstretched and happing populace beaten blue and black by the masses – unfriendly policy. It is apposite to argue that the political elite are insulated from the ‘sacrifice to survive’ proselytization of the President as they continue to enjoy perks of office, without batting an eyelid. But the attendant results are emotional pains endured by the defenseless citizens in addition to the economic quagmire, with no immediate remedy. Our President gloated with ease when he disclosed that he saw one of his friends who had five limousine cars and abandoned the exotic rides for Honda series. I am sure as he knows and acknowledged that it was a bad turn of events when he as our leader, cruises around with multi-billion limos with retinue of back – up vehicles and long convoy being maintained with public funds. Could that be said to be leadership by example? Yet, people must bear, people must endure and must sacrifice while those elected by their franchise move around publicly insulting sensibilities with calculated affronts, without recourse to decorum as public officers to demonstrate what they are forcing down the throat of the masses.

To a large extent, the media chat was aimed to further demonstrate that our leaders are special breed created to enjoy the life of a royalty while superintending pauperized subjects confined to misery, in a supposed attempt to clean up the stable.

Just as if to prove the President wrong, video clips of the economic affliction in the country emerged on social media showing about 2 kilometres long queue in front of the “Aso-Villa extension” in Lagos – the Bourdillion House, lined up with poverty – stricken, ‘well-dressed’ beggars angling for food handouts at the President’s home on the eve of Xmas, while our leader was busy lashing out at the organizers of the stampedes in Ibadan, Okija and Abuja, for failing to emplace adequate measures to secure and control the crowd. The Bourdillon clips reflected meticulous straight lines enforced by a retinue of law enforcement officials maintained by the public treasury over the years, and not because of astutely crafted ingenuity or organizational ability of officials, but the manipulation of state craft to massage personal ego.

One needs to ask an honest question from the. President – Are you not embarrassed with the long queues – two kilometres with more of people begging at your gate? Or do you consider it a thing of pride that your home is under siege by able bodied men and women, striped of their dignity by an unjust political-economic system? A country whose prospective productive assets are daily enlisting as scavengers, fraudsters and nuisance to the society?

Hapless and hopeless Nigerians who live their days on earth as “accursed” citizens begging for foods on Xmas eve! I wish to submit sir, that it is not normal. Rather it a national shame of immense magnitude! It is absurd as it is offensive against humanity! Palliatives have never served as remedy for instituted suffering or fertiliser to grow economy. It is rather a depressant with down-scaling implications.

Therefore, when the cabinet foot soldiers were given clean bill of health as performers, it leaves a sour taste in the mouth of an average right-thinking person. And that hangs on our commander’s neck as baggage of verifiable lies and narration of immense contestation. Mr. President, this write-up is not out to contest the validity of your submission but to point out the dark spots on government policies that require deliberate effort to reduce hardship and handouts dependency by “commoners”, on the elites in the society. These are the home truths that can stand your “renewed hope” slogan in good stead. Of course, truth is usually a difficult medicine to swallow. As a team leader, your failure to acknowledge your administration’s shortcomings, is tantamount to grandiose self-adulation. Deliberately sir, I avoided using the word Ministers, aides, and all of that but preferred to encapsulate all as cabinet’s foot soldiers to extend my reach even to the intelligence community and other service sectors, in my critiques. The adoption of foot soldiers seemed suitable for this discourse while some of your portfolio men and women need to be re-assessed. Some are with abysmal scorecards. Sadly, our mediamen at the parley failed in their duty to interrogate issues as diligently as required, and to situate in proper context. Instead, they allowed the window dressing to continue throughout the 60 minutes parley. They missed the privilege thrown at them by the host.

Imagine, how can it be a good day for any sensible official to say he feels good for borrowing to invest in the capital market from the excess production that we have? It has never been that bad as a nation, for a government to celebrate foreign loan to finance a project that should be financed from within? I am in a strait to understand the logic. Though I’m not an economist, elementary arithmetic allows me to know that when developed countries borrow, they often do so from within. I was made to understand that they borrow from their own currency. Though,, I’m not averse to our nation borrowing from the currency they issued. What I am unsettled with is the tendency to go borrow foreign currency to feed. This malevolent practice portends great danger to our economy and is an ominous sign of future crisis. Yes, it can be secretly done, but you don’t gleefully announce such a deal. That runs counter to good sense, if any. If someone is sick and in need of blood infusion, and friends rally round to help, you do well to appreciate them, without eulogizing it as the best day of your life.
Herein is my submission. This administration needs to run an economy in such a way that we can generate capital for ourselves. There are visible steps in this direction. Unfortunately, I think the finance anchorman looks uncoordinated. Even though he is supposed to be the coordinator of the economy, he seems not coordinated, that is by my assessment. I believe if they coordinate well and work with the human and material resources in the country, we should be able to generate wealth from within. This is the defect I observe in this government which they may find difficult to accept. Simply because they feel they are in a vintage position to understand the nuances of the economy policies.

On the average, the shift from Presidential aloof-ment to Nigerians in the last one and half year to friendly chat is a good sign that we are being engaged as joint stakeholders. Mr. President was on track when he confirmed that the fight against corruption is a difficult task. And the refrain from this is the euphoric phrase adapted from the civil war slogan of General Yakubu Gowon- “it is a task that must be done”. In his word: “corruption cannot be totally eradicated, but shall be reduced to barest minimum”. This submission is commendably forthright, as nowhere in the world is corruption wiped out completely. The best in any circumstance is to tame it. Give it to BAT, he brought on board men committed to the anti-corruption war, as the helmsmen of the two anti-graft agencies have shown they are committed to the work but the big question is, is the environment conducive for the battle with economic criminals in all shades and forms? Besides these two aforementioned anti-corruption czars, is there any indication that government leaders at every level including the President himself are genuinely committed to lead the war by unreserved support for the anti- corruption war and personal example? How about the underhand dealings still witnessed at the legislature and other critical institutions of the state?

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A genuine anti corruption war should harbor no sacred cow either at the executive, legislature, or the judiciary. Corruption enablers in Nigeria have to be incapacitated and obsolete laws must be obliterated and expunged from our law books. Presidential control of anti-graft agencies constitutes an anomaly. It should be relinquished. The legal profession should be sanitised and sanctions should be served to erring lawyers seen to be circumventing justice for corruption offenders either in public or private sector. The plea bargaining is a major energizer of corruption. It needs to stop. The civil service must be told in unambiguous terms that it’s no longer business as usual.

Capital punishment must be meted in form of “Ghana and China” punitive measures. This will send jitters down the spine of those who consider the anti-corruption war a child’s play.

Energy sector is another area that deserves attention – the incessant collapse of our national grid. I often wonder how my country survives on the epileptic power supply. The generalised comments by the President that the government is cruising fine is not only a mockery of our situation but a grossly dishonest statement. How could that be related to the several industries relocating from Nigeria because of the unbearable high cost of operations while small scale businesses are winding up daily? And yet things are okay and well, says our leader and President. It is in our best interest to speak well of our country but as it were, we are yet to see the green light.

On security, I’m sure no one is interested in chasing shadows or probing any of the security chiefs. What we look forward to is a security architecture that protects lives and properties in the country. A situation where our defense budget has no significant impact on improving our security situation is highly concerning. Our dear President, we deserve and demand for a more honest and transparent governance than what you have given since assumption of office. These should really be our take home from the chat, my sincere apologies, sir.

Lanre Ogundipe
Public Affairs Analyst,
Former President Nigeria and African Union of Journalists writes from Abuja.