If by providence, Santa reads this piece. I hope he
grants my only Christmas wish. I want change in Nigeria. Ideally, this should
not be a request because going by the grand promises of the present government;
I should have started experiencing change since 29 May, 2015.
Politicians in Nigeria love to play with words, this
works on us like magic hence they continue to do so. It is a no brainer
changing a winning formula. The only time I believe that we were not scammed by
subtlety through carefully coined campaign mantra was in 1993. ‘Hope 93’ was
MKO Abiola’s campaign mantra. This was honest in my opinion. The man only told
us to hope, nothing concrete yet, just hope. Indeed, we hoped, across the
length and breadth of this nation, with an infectious hope transcending religious
and ethnic sentiments, we voted for hope, we believed in hope and hoped against
hope. Unfortunately, our hopes were dashed.
Goodluck Jonathan’s mantra was ‘transformation’, it
lived up to that name. It takes a genius to see that. We transformed from a
nation whose public officials steal covertly to the one whose officials steal
and rub it in our faces. Stealing and mismanagement in billions became the new
benchmark. Whoever stole millions was seen as a petty thief. Infact, from the horse’s mouth came the
validation that ‘stealing is not corruption’. End of story.
To the present administration, let us not talk about
the fact that we waited for six months to have supposed super efficient
ministers or the fact that the 2016 budget was touted as the best thing to
happen to Nigeria since 1914. I remember how the word zero-based budgeting was
brandished proudly as the panacea for the country’s budgeting flaws. Alas! This
budget was robustly padded. Up until now, no one has been really held
responsible and reprimanded. Just like in the last administration where
stealing was not the same as corruption, the speaker of the house of
representative, than man in the very center of the padding debacle, after a
meeting with the president, in Aso Rock, stood proudly and said to reporters
that budget padding is not a crime anywhere in the world. End of story.
Jonathan’s administration had a finance minister who
was always in the eye of the storm, accused of unwholesome practices. Very
grave allegations that were it in saner climes she would have stepped down
whether guilty or not, to allow investigation. She remained, like the rock of
Gibraltar, till the end. Untouchable.
The present administration also has a sports minister
who has continued to insult the collective sensibilities of Nigerians. Let us
forget the uncharitable remarks he made about the team that represented us at
the last Olympics and all the drama that ensued. Perhaps he was still new on
the job and learning the ropes of acceptable conduct as a public official. What
shall we then say about his submission that the Super Falcons were not expected
to emerge victorious at the just concluded Women African Cup of Nations hence
the reason for the sports ministry’s unpreparedness in meeting their financial
obligation to the wonderful ladies that did the country proud. In saner climes,
people have resigned or had their political career perpetually ruined for less.
This is Nigeria, he is still standing, and tall too. No repercussions, no
consequences for his actions or inactions and utterances. Why wouldn’t he do
something worse or why wouldn’t any other public official tow the same line?
Let me stop with these few comparisons because I can
go on till next Christmas giving reasons and instances to show that nothing has
really changed in this country. It is still a vicious cycle of media
propaganda, shameful denial, shirking of responsibilities, utter cluelessness,
policy summersault and blatant corruption. For the sake of morality or honesty,
I would that the change mantra be rebranded to ‘Continuity’ or have we really
transitioned to ‘Change’?
follow @AbayomiGOmotayo on twitter
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