Since the return to a democratic system of government over two decades ago, Nigeria has witnessed unbecoming violent attitudes that were seemingly tolerated by the society, before they later snowballed into the nightmarish monsters that we have today.
Browsing: Viewpoint
In Nigeria, the shortest side-track or scheme to stardom is to take an appointment with the Government. No matter how private, quiet or inconsequential one is, the minute he or she picks up an appointment with the Government, particularly political appointment, he or she has become a prey for the press, who may turn him or her into a punching bag, out of whom a harm must be made. Yes, be a political appointee in Nigeria and get ready to be turned into a patsy by the members of the pen profession, the primary constituency of yours truly.
Since the announcement yesterday, Thursday, 15th June, 2023, by the State House Director of Information, Abiodun Oladunjoye, that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had named eight persons as Senior Special Advisers, SSA, amongst whom is the retired Assistant Inspector General of Police, and the pioneer chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the minds of many Nigerians, yours truly inclusive, went into a frenzy of bewilderment, because of the uncertainty of the position of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu. The question everywhere is, as Adviser Security, is he going to be the familiar National Security Adviser?
It’s all done and dusted and today, May 29, 2023, stands out as a day with a difference, for reasons that are numerous. However, because of time and space, I can not deeply underpin the significance of the day, except to buttress one aspect that puts it beyond the conventional democracy day. In doing that, I would bring forward the bizarre behaviour of Nigeria’s brand new President, His Excellency Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the 16th sworn in President of the country.
It was Sir Hubert Henderson, the British economist and Liberal Party politician that said, there is a merit in being unimportant, which he paraphrased in a book under the caption, “The Importance of Being Unimportant.” Sir Henderson expressed the idea that, under the right conditions, it is desirable to be a very small part of something big. One needs not be an expert in English language to understand that Sir Henderson was talking about the goodness or distinction of modesty, particularly with respect to the righteousness of rectitude and the enviable quality of being moderate in behaviour. And precisely that is the quality that I think is missing in the displayed attitude of the now suspended Governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank, Chief, Godwin Emefiele.
In 2020, one of the reputable national newspapers in Nigeria in its editorial comment among other observations noted that Nigeria would be facing another round of fiscal headwinds this year with the mix of $83 billion debt; rising recurrent expenditure; increased cost of debt servicing; sustained fall in revenue; and about $22 billion debt plan waiting for legislative approval.
It is no longer news that some of the first-term governors-elect will face many months of unpaid workers’ salaries and mounting pension liabilities, as well as agitation for the implementation of the nationally agreed minimum wage, rising inflation, escalating prices of goods and services, and dwindling purchasing power. These incoming governors, about seventeen of them, according to reports will have a difficult time boosting the economies of their individual states because they will take over at least N2.1 trillion in domestic debt and $1.9 billion in foreign debt from their predecessors.
The emergence of the member representing Hong Constituency in the Adamawa House of Assembly (ADHA), Bathiya Wesley, as the Speaker was more of a God-given and divine arrangement.
After an unexpectedly sluggish start (it took him longer than usual to appoint his spokesperson, which conduced to the luxuriant flowering of avoidable rumors and disinformation), President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is finally decisively stamping his authority on the Nigerian political space with a frenetic blizzard of appointments and disengagements of the personnel of government.
One week after his suspension and subsequent arrest, Abdulrasheed Bawa, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), remains in custody. This does not speak well.