STATE OF THE NIGERIAN NATION – Dr. Uche Orji

Barely 2 years ago, luck, as it were, fell on Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ) to lead the most populous nation in Africa as its President. One full year later, he was substantively sworn in as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

On both occasions, he swore to abide by the laws of the land, protect the interest and promote the welfare of the people and peoples of Nigeria. On strict moral grounds, GEJ had no other options than to do that, in so for as he occupies the office he is currently occupying.

 

Unfortunately, going by recent developments in the land, the reverse has been the case. Without indulging in the drudgery of listing numerous shortcomings, it is abundantly inarguable that President Jonathan has not gone into office to serve the interest and welfare of the masses.

 

During the recently held parley on the controversial “fuel subsidy” removal, the government’s delegation shamelessly informed the nation that the government was totally incapable of enforcing the laws of the land as it relates to the regulation of the downstream sector.

The Coordinating Minister for the Economy (CME), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala boldly looked Nigerians in the face and told us that the government was spending about N1.3 trillion annually on the so-called subsidy, a fact that was corroborated by the CBN Governor, Malam Sanusi.

Meanwhile, according to the 2011 Appropriation Bill signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan, and which the members of the Federal Executive Council swore to implement to the letter, only about N240 billion was earmarked for the subsidy. Yet, one did not learn of any time that the National Assembly (NASS) was approached to increase the subsidy allocation from N240 billion to N1.3 trillion.

At the same parley, Malam Sanusi shamelessly admitted that they (at the CBN) were clearly in the know of several brazen acts of sabotage that go on in the sector. Yet, he didn’t tell us how they have tried to arrest the perpetrators of these acts of economic sabotage.

Reeling away in a manner clearly symptomatic of the crass moral failure pervading the land, Malam Sanusi tried to convince about 167 million Nigerians that the only way to check the excesses of the thieves paid with taxpayers’ money is to make the same taxpayers pay for the immoral acts of the government workers saddled with the sole responsibility of running the relevant sectors as dictated by the laid-down policies and laws of the land.

 

But, just as one was bracing for more jolts from the prevaricating government officials as April 1st approached, one was rather electrocuted with the crude news of the sudden removal of the said subsidy on January 1st, 2012. The treachery and deceit in the whole subsidy claim and its recent removal has been long over exposed. What would bother one most is the effrontery displayed by the Presidency in going ahead with the most unpopular policy of our times, especially at a very inopportune time as now.

 

Since his assumption of office as the President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan has, just like his inglorious predecessors, only brought the nation man-made bad luck. Despite huge sums of money sunk into several developmental projects, the nation has continued to deteriorate. Under his leadership, security has taken the worse turn ever in the history of the nation.

A rag-tag outfit like Boko Haram (fake or real) continues to assume some a  monstrous image, while the security chiefs spend nearly a trillion naira annually on security but end up gunning down innocent citizens in cold blood with reckless abandon, and eventually go home with national awards. At this rate, one may not help but wonder what the Presidency might know about Boko Haram, especially given its recent call on Nigerians to learn to live with it. Such a development does not just smack of crass insensitivity and culpable incompetence, but also of feasible collusion by the Presidency.

 

Furthermore, the Judiciary is getting mostly ever compromised and arm-twisted, while the legislators continue their loot under GEJ’s watchful eyes. Corruption continues to climb to the highest of places, while he feigns to neither see nor hear any evil.

The whole sectors of the economy continue to suffer abysmally, while the government officials continue to sardonically smile to the banks. The education, healthcare, manufacturing, power and virtually all other sectors continue to collapse astronomically despite huge foreign incomes and allocations to them, while impunity and high-handedness continue to soar unbridled in high places.

Numerous atrocities are committed in many places in the land, and the victims have no one to recourse to.  Those that summon the courage resort to self-help and take the laws into their hands. At the end of the day, the common man suffers, and suffers, and suffers.

 

Embarrassingly, the sorry situations that we find ourselves in may never ameliorate. That corruption in high places is the root cause of all the problems in the land is a fact that can never be denied. And, for the nation to make any progress, that malignancy needs to be tackled squarely. Unfortunately, Goodluck Jonathan, given his stinking records, grossly lacks the moral capacity to confront corruption, let alone fight it.

 

With the recent withdrawal of the acclaimed fuel subsidy, the level of poverty in the land will increase geometrically. More people will lose their means of livelihood, while more reluctant armed robbers and prostitutes will be unleashed on the public.  More people will be killed by hunger than by the much-feared bombs and guns, while more illiterates and almajiris will take over the streets. The impending annihilation will be second to none. Yet, our government officials will grow fatter and more influential at the dire expense of the poor masses.

 

The situation can only but get worse. And it sure will, so long as we have the disingenuous character, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan in office as the President. This is totally unacceptable! And the situation must be rescued.

 

 It was silly enough to expect a member of the criminal gang called PDP like GEJ to ever serve the interest of the masses. It will rather be far more than stupid to expect any change of heart from an unrepentant marauder who is so convinced that he could loot and rape at any given and get away with it, as he had done severally in the past. A continuation of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria can only lead to more anguish and regrets in the fatherland. As such, the best way to stop the whole madness is to stop him, together with his gang of looters in the Legislature and elsewhere.

 

The ongoing anti-subsidy-removal protests should not just be for reversal of the wicked policy. It should not be to for us to beg or force the government to do its job, either. It should be for us to ask the sadistic government of Goodluck Jonathan to resign en-masse, together with his counterparts in the Legislooters!

 

And the time is NOW!