By Modestus OKAFOR
If one accepts what one reads on the internet and newspapers, sees on the television, and hears on the radio about Nigeria, one is bound to conclude that Nigeria is a haven. This is because Nigerian governments are specialists in recruiting professional liars whose sole duty it is to feed the populace with false information. At the federal, state and local government levels, government agents tell us what they want us to believe because we do not even have any means to verify whatever they tell us. And so, they feed us lies.
They tell us that all roads in the country have been fixed, all railroads have been re-activated, pipe-borne water now flows to every home, education has been made very affordable and reachable to 150 million Nigerians, security of lives and property has been beefed up, food sufficiency has been guaranteed by government, the nation’s reserves have been increased, and health facilities have been made available to all. Nigerians also hear of government interventions in the health and education sector, but these institutions remain deplorable such that the wealthy have abandoned them for private and foreign ones, leaving a greater number of the Nigerian poor to languish in poor health and ignorance. We also see pictorials where efforts to guarantee sufficient power and petroleum supply had reached concluding stages, where all industries had received a facelift, where adequate artilleries and soldiers had been provided to protect the country’s sovereignty, and where government had secured adequate social security for its citizenry. Yet majority of Nigerians live primitive lives of drudgery, deprivations and lack.
At the end of every Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting, there are briefings telling Nigerians that all their problems have been deliberated upon and would soon be solved. We hear such long sentences like: “Council had deliberated on the sufferings and plight of the eastern-bound travellers from Lagos occasioned by the deplorable condition of the Lagos-Ibadan-Ore Expressway and has approved the reconstruction of the road to Messrs ABC at the cost of $XYX.” The speaker, often the minister of information, would add, “This is in tune with the desire of the federal government to make every part of the country accessible and promote business and communication”. Several times too we have heard the FG announce that the Ajaokuta Steel Company is being refurbished as contract for its re-vitalization has been awarded to a foreign company, yet the company has remained unproductive. The second Niger Bridge which successive governments had repeatedly announced that it had been awarded, and sometimes that it was nearing completion, still remained one of the cardinal campaign promises of President Goodluck Jonathan to the South-East. Ironical indeed!
The state and local governments are not left out in this festival of deception. While the citizenry groan under poverty, they spend millions of naira posting fake beautiful pictures on the pages of newspapers and on the internet, announcing their ‘giant strides’. These helmsmen also crisscross the length and breadth of the country to receive well publicized awards and accolades from self-serving organizations while their people feel no impact of good governance at home. Regularly we see moribund facilities constructed in the 1970s and 80s repainted; we see state governors install make-shift power generating sets and invite the president who punctiliously commission such only for it to stop work the next day. Because they believe Nigerians are fools, they cow everyone into submission and send their foot-soldiers and very few beneficiaries to shut everyone up. And when it is time for re-election, they intensity their ruse in the media and cast aspersions on anyone bold enough to challenge their deceits.
As Nigerians mourn their loved ones lost in several attacks occasioned by security breaches and as we scamper for safety, we should recall that at several times, government had assured us that it has put everything in place to guarantee the safety of lives and property. They use the available police personnel and weapons to guard themselves, leaving every other Nigerian’s life to chance. We hear in the media how every facility has been put in place to forestall break-down of law and order and also hear top presidential aides telling us that government had approved supply of sophisticated weapons and detectors for the Nigerian Police. Yet at every turn, robbers and other criminals, militant groups and even mobs brandish highly sophisticated weapons that beat the police. Next, same government officials would trade more lies about how a retired Inspector General of Police had embezzled funds and how the Police Equipment Fund had been misappropriated, yet nothing would be done to prosecute such embezzlers. When they tell us that they will fish out those who killed our fathers, our brothers, sisters and kinsmen, we know that such statements are mere colloquium. They promised to fish out the killers of Bola Ige, Funsho Williams, Marshal Harry, Apo Six, and others, yet no clue has been arrived at. Sometimes, to hide their inefficiency, they parade innocent youths as culprits. But the recent blast in the seat of Nigeria’s security outfit has proved that the force has been slumbering.
Now they have promised to unravel those who killed innocent youth corps members in the North in the aftermath of the elections and have set up a committee on this. The committee would be allocated heavy funds and logistics, but as usual, nothing will come out of it. My advice to all who lost their loved ones in the post-election violence is to take solace in the Lord and look up to God for he gives and he takes and knows the process through which everyone would return back to him. Of course, this is why Nigerians are very religious; their lives are not guaranteed naturally.
It is disheartening that in today’s Nigeria, government is of less value to the citizenry – the people provide almost everything they need in life. Government is not helping in agriculture for farmers still embrace the pre-independence skills, till the ground with hoes and cutlasses and harvest the same way their grandfathers did. Many Nigerians still rely on the traditional healthcare, and even those who had embraced the Western system are reverting to the former since they can no longer afford the latter. Government’s supply of power and water is so erratic that Nigerians now rely on generators and privately-developed boreholes. Even in education, those who can afford it take their children to qualitative schools owned by private individuals or groups here and abroad. Government is not providing jobs and not encouraging investments, but is shutting down the existing ones, suffocating financial institutions, and killing research. While millions of Nigerians wallow in poverty, die young and live unfulfilled lives, government officials are busy sharing the proceeds of Nigeria’s oil wealth among themselves.
No doubt, Nigeria needs a true government if it has to make a headway. Sincere individuals occupying leadership positions should champion a complete review of the government system to allow for less corruption and sleaze. Yes, the masses have made the mistake of allowing the iniquitous take seats of power in the past but there are still opportunities ahead to change the tide. They did it in the last election where they chose, in some states, their popular candidates. They must do it again. We need governments that will protect our lives, provide power and water for us, give us good education and health, and create enabling environment where business would thrive.
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