My Parting Point With Buhari

To all those who insulted me because of what I wrote on Buhari on 17th September 2016, apology accepted! Allah ya yafe mana baki daya 😁.

……….

Marzuq Ungogo

Before it’s too late I believe we should all add our voices to happenings in Nigeria. Perhaps the presidency will feel the 2019 continuity agenda is threatened and wake up from this slumber. It’s apparent these days that either the president is shielded away from knowing what is happening to the country and its people or he knows it and decided not to do anything about it. And before I proceed, let me make it clear to the “oversabis” who will start ascribing meaning and judgement that Nigeria is greater than all of us and to many of us altruistic motives exist. Let’s go into some of the things making many of us hopeless these days;

1. Too much ado about the past; a week can’t pass these days without a top government official telling us why Nigeria is where it is. For Allah’s sake we all know how it is, otherwise we wouldn’t have changed it. Why worry us with “16 years” nonsense excuse all the time??? Is the government suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder of dwelling on the past?? What are you doing to provide the change you promised? When will we move and look forward? Are we still campaigning for the 2015 election??

Plot to remove Jigawa Speaker thickens, as serving Senator from the state is fingered in the process

2. Confusion and incoherence; this government has more than 10 times so far contradicted itself. What ministers tell us is different from what Femi Adesina will say. Garba Shehu too can contradict Adesina. And above all Buhari himself will say completely different thing. From China trip to updates on Twitter, Nigerians have been subjected to either misinformation or confusing information on almost everything. Nothing is clear.

This at best shows confusion or incoherence on part of the government at best or at worst insincerity. But what is most annoying is the several reckless statements devoid of logic or reasoning made by several ministers. I have since decided not to take Audu Ogbe and many others in this administration seriously anymore. They ain’t just worthy of my time. I am avoiding hypertension.

3. The economic team; Buhari formed economic team late and he himself has several times mentioned that the country doesn’t need it. That means the president is ignorant of the current economic practice globally and largely oblivious of the dire situation in the country. But then he went ahead anyway to form the team. Why then form a team the country doesn’t need??? But then the economic team itself is made up of the Vice President and so many other people we know ain’t economists or people we are confident can meaningfully chart a way forward for us. This shows unseriousness to the core.

4. Economic plan; so far there is no written or documented long and short term economic plan for the country that is widely known. I want to believe the ambiguous article published by minister of finance in pages of newspapers can’t pass as an economic plan. The policies themselves made on banning imports ain’t real policies per say because there is no roadmap for food sufficiency of time limit. We just woke up and saw laws edicted by presidency and supported by other arms of government. I think policy will include a roadmap and strategic plan. Of course the story of rice from Kebbi and that of Dangote mill is encouraging. But are they policies or part of the roadmap or merely dividends of a programme??? Ain’t Dangote an opportunistic capitalist sensible enough to invest and on the long run we will know he’s doing it for profit not charity.???

We all learnt that recession is often unavoidable and no one can prevent what has already occurred. But sincerely we feel it’s either not managed the right way or we are simply not told. Either way, it’s wrong. The government in democracy doesn’t only need to do the right thing but it’s also its duty to make it known to stakeholders who gave it the mandate and trust -the citizens. But even if we were not told, if there is something “tangible” we would have touched or felt it.

5. Injustice; many of us didn’t vote or worked for Buhari’s success for him to turn Nigeria into Canada within weeks. We all believe he’s “Mai Gaskiya”, and at least justice will prevail

We all know the shortcomings of Nigerian legal system. But certain injustices are not necessarily doing of the judiciary. Nepotism is still pronounced and those of us who know or learnt about happenings in the villa are aware of the untouchable family and friends circle created by the president.

The situation is the same in Almost all parastatals and ministries. While the children of the poor were encouraged to farm and forced to register with N-power and its 20,000 salary the often less brilliant children of the elites are secretly recruited into CBN, FIRS and so on. The presidency without sensitivity to the trust people have it even had the audacity to refute the claim which everybody knows is truth. No apology so far, only rainin hankali

I am not saying government should employ everybody, but when all vacancies are advertised and clear transparent process ensued in all employments, people will have more confidence in the government and the democratic process. Quite alright many children of the poor who studied in Sokoto may not outshine graduates of Surrey in recruitment exams, but the fact that a merit based system is in place will instill hope and people will work harder.

6. Slow pace; in a fast developing world, any player who wants to catch up has to do it at an accelerated pace. We claim to be catching up to compete globally and fail to produce results. All projections made are in years the government is long forgotten so that if they don’t come to pass no one will be blamed. I am not advocating rush work, but certain things we all know are better at a fast pace. Why will it always has to take us long to accomplish what more developed and less developed countries do at a shorter time???

7. Wrong Approach; sustainable development is wholistic. Although certain things like power drive development in all sectors, growing individual sectors in a wholistic manner is what will translate in to better Nigeria. But even energy and power that would have stimulated economic growth are yet to get the president’s deserved attention beyond the mystical “body language”. Sectors like health, environment, technology and aviation are all left to collapse completely with attendant consequences. What he hear daily from education ministry so far is a ban on post-UTME. The president promised free tertiary science education, it’s 3 months to the end of the year 2016 and nothing is seen.

These are just some and there are so many others. I believe we can’t #StandWithBuhari anymore, we can only stand for Nigeria and ensure right thing is done. I also know if Buhari leads by example, takes full responsibility, ensure justice and show more seriousness, people will change. That’s just where the change should begin.