PRESIDENT OBASANJO: THE NATIONAL INTEREST
AND THE IMPERATIVE OF CHANGE
by
Daniel Irivboje Akerejah
President & CEO, Ditra International Inc., USA
Alliance for Democracy Gubernatorial Candidate, Edo State
Nearly
halfway into President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, there have not been
any serious and sustainable quality of life initiatives, while life has become even
more difficult for the vast majority of Nigerians. The euphoria and optimism that
greeted the advent of civilian rule in Nigeria in May 1999 has gradually given
way to a realization that despite the rhetoric of the administration, nothing
has changed in the quality of life of the people. I do not need to restate a litany of the quality of life issues
that have not been addressed or have been misaddressed. What is important is
that we have not reached a point of self-congratulations, as most newspaper and
magazine advertorials are more apt to present at every opportunity.
If
there is one important message to convey to President Obasanjo at this point,
it is this: Center ninety percent of your intellectual and political energies
on developing and vigorously implementing clearly articulated domestic
development initiatives that will be seen and felt by every citizen without the
Spin-doctoring of the Okupes and ‘egunje’
PDP cheerleaders. He must, during this legal
return at the helm of state affairs as opposed to his illegal first stint as
military dictator, consider what legacy he will bequeath to Nigeria and indeed
Africa in our checkered history of democracy and development.
This
is the 21st century and we must shed the weight of hopelessness and
underdevelopment and use our tremendous human and material resources in
developing TECHNOLOGY, EDUCATION, AGRICULTURE, COMMUNITY AND HEALTH.
(I
refer to this with the acronym TEACH which is a non-governmental organization
initiative set for launching in the third quarter of 2001.) To achieve this, the
President must urgently embrace the imperative of a swift and decisive infusion
of new men and women into his cabinet and rescue his administration and place
in history without any distractions from those that only want the jobs but
cannot get the jobs done. One thing all Nigerians agree on is the fact that Obasanjo
sounds sincere about the need to turn Nigeria around and transform the country
into a truly strong and united country. However, the performance of his cabinet
has been totally at variance with his articulation of his mission, particularly
in the context of where Nigeria ought to be as a nation after experiencing
decades of political brutalization of its institutions and processes. One fact
is not in dispute: The buck starts and stops at his desk, for we have put him
in charge.
The
President must not reshuffle his cabinet in the regular Nigerian sense of
pandering to the whims and caprices of the old guard, but reconstitute a team
of truly patriotic, energetic and competent Nigerian men and women, who can
neither be bought nor bossed by anyone. This way, he stands a chance to salvage his administration and
finally launch us on the path to the great Nigeria we have long been waiting
for with unparalleled patience. To this end, the President should consider reconstituting
his cabinet along the twin concepts of continuity and change. Clearly, there are areas of our national
life where we need a steady hand at this time, while there are also areas that must
have a change in leadership. It is this mix that the President and indeed the
country needs for the remainder of his term as we approach 2003 when a
wholesale change is a must in our national life.
There
is agreement that the power and steel sectors have been very unstable in our
daily lives both in terms of personnel and performance and I must submit that
its impact on our state of poverty cannot be understated. Therefore, the incumbent Minister of Power
and Steel should be retained for the remainder of the administration. Also to be retained in this category of continuity
are the Ministers of Justice, Defense, Education, Aviation and Works. New and dynamic individuals must replace all
other Cabinet ministers and advisers with a clear agenda for service as well as
a better understanding of the distinction between the personal and the national
interest. Certainly, one of our problems
as a nation has been the elevation of personal interest over the national
interest, which allows certain individuals and even groups to relegate and even
desecrate our national institutions in favor of personal and group aspirations. We are all too familiar with military coups,
disregard for due process as well as how court orders that should be the
hallmark of a progressive society are flouted and disregarded with impunity,
even by government and law enforcement agents.
Particularly
disturbing is the continuation of the anti-intellectual climate that was foisted
on Nigeria by the illegal military administrations of the past. This has led to
the utter degradation of our once esteemed higher educational institutions with
the flight into exile of some of our brightest minds. Others have been bludgeoned
into submission and forced to become emergency contractors and quasi-scholar-merchants
in order to fend for their families, in the face of a relentless assault on everyone’s
dignity. Sadly, the propensity of our
legislators and a good number of our executives at various levels (local, and
state) to do nothing but squabble over power, positions and the public’s money,
rather than pursue concrete policy initiatives, has not been encouraging in
light of our national circumstances of underdevelopment. It is now time to
redefine national interest as opposed to personal interest, since both have
been thoroughly confused in the Nigerian question.
.
