[OPINION] No, Nigeria Can’t Be Broke – By Dele Momodu
ll
Fellow Nigerians, the biggest story everywhere at
this moment is that Nigeria is broke, as poor as
a church rat. The frustration of our citizens is
boldly written on many faces. Even the rich are
crying. Depending on who you talk to, Nigeria is
broke because of the profligacy of the PDP-led
government in 16 years of the current democratic
dispensation. According to these persons, the
worst victim and our ubiquitous scapegoat is Dr.
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, who reigned fully as
President for five years out of the 16 fabulous
years of PDP misrule.
For my part, I sometimes wonder if the
politicians under Jonathan stole more money
than under his predecessors. And then, what of
the PDP politicians who absconded over to APC
in the gale of unprecedented desertions that
rocked and ravaged that inglorious political
party? What happened to all the traced loot and
recovered cash at home and abroad, not just
under President Buhari but also under Presidents
Obasanjo and Jonathan? Others profess that
Nigeria is broke simply because, since
independence, we have not put together a
coherent economic and social policy capable of
harnessing the abundant human and material
resources that God has deemed fit to endow us
with. We have embarked on disastrous
development plan after disastrous development
plan and never been able to put together a
creditable and veritable team of individuals that
could make some sense of those plans and
salvage them. In short we have lacked
competent hands at the helm of our affairs. The
problem is not therefore with Jonathan and his
ilk of seeming merry bandits but with all those
that have led us to date although some have
clearly been more culpable than others.
Whichever view you subscribe to, the question
now on every lip is: could Nigeria be broke? It is
difficult to imagine that a country that was
declared the biggest economy in Nigeria barely
three years ago has suddenly transfigured into a
miserable apparition and a laughing stock in the
comity of nations. But I personally refuse to
believe Nigeria is as broke as our leaders now
make out. I have listened to series of arguments
on why the Nigerian economy has plummeted
from the pinnacle of the temple to the deepest
depth of the abyss. The most constant and
plausible prognosis is that Nigeria was a
disaster waiting to happen and that Jonathan as
the undertaker had only succeeded in embalming
the dead body in order to keep it looking fresh
while the soul was already gone.
As a Minister assured me, it was only a matter of
time; Nigeria would have collapsed on Jonathan
and led to our hasty interment as a nation if he
had stayed longer. My response was that why
did President Muhammadu Buhari offer to be the
lamb of God by allowing a danger that could not
be averted to collapse on his own head? Or why
could he not stabilise the nation at the state and
stage he met it without the country running
dangerously amuck the way it is doing right
now? There is a Yoruba saying that: orisa boo le
gbemi, se mi boo se ba mi (if the gods can’t
make our lives better, they should simply leave
us the way they met us! That is the cry of those
who feel Buhari has failed on his promise to save
Nigeria from the perfidious reign of PDP. What is
most galling to most observers is the endless
accusations and counter allegations from the
past and the present governments. I had advised
the APC government to stop the blame game
long ago so as to save itself the barrage of
attacks from those who are only interested in
results and not excuses. Such people do not
care if Buhari decides to hang Jonathan and all
past operatives of PDP combined as long as our
economy stops this kamikaze plunge.
I’m certain the situation won’t improve until the
government wakes up to its responsibilities. The
government cannot retain the old style of
governance and expect a drastic and
monumental change in our lives. The cost of
governance is still atrociously high. Our style is
still ostensibly ceremonial and definitely
ostentatious. We can’t continue to practise
capitalism without capital.
For starters, and to demonstrate his seriousness
and resolve to tackle our almost comatose state,
President Buhari needs to butcher the
presidential fleet and the lavish protocol and
fanfare that seems to attend every departure
from Abuja and subsequent return. That is the
beginning of our salvation. Jesus Christ
demonstrated he could float on water before
asking his disciples to join him. That is the way
to go.
Our State houses are over-funded and one
cannot justify the level of expenditure required to
maintain them. Political aides are too many.
Their roles duplicated and sometimes triplicated.
They have become major drainpipes for a
bleeding economy. The end result is that they
confuse and obfuscate rather than bring clarity
and discernment to a system that is already in
the throes of death.
Our parastatals are too many, too large and too
unwieldy. Our airports, both international and
domestic, which serve as the first advertisement
of our country to that much sought after
potential investor that the government that the
government craves are an eyesore and remain
most useless despite the many agencies
directing and controlling affairs there and the
vast sums of money supposedly spent in trying
to transform them. I do not know of any nation
with such a propensity for self-destruction. This
cannot continue.
Fellow Nigerians, the biggest story everywhere at
this moment is that Nigeria is broke, as poor as
a church rat. The frustration of our citizens is
boldly written on many faces. Even the rich are
crying. Depending on who you talk to, Nigeria is
broke because of the profligacy of the PDP-led
government in 16 years of the current democratic
dispensation. According to these persons, the
worst victim and our ubiquitous scapegoat is Dr.
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, who reigned fully as
President for five years out of the 16 fabulous
years of PDP misrule.
For my part, I sometimes wonder if the
politicians under Jonathan stole more money
than under his predecessors. And then, what of
the PDP politicians who absconded over to APC
in the gale of unprecedented desertions that
rocked and ravaged that inglorious political
party? What happened to all the traced loot and
recovered cash at home and abroad, not just
under President Buhari but also under Presidents
Obasanjo and Jonathan? Others profess that
Nigeria is broke simply because, since
independence, we have not put together a
coherent economic and social policy capable of
harnessing the abundant human and material
resources that God has deemed fit to endow us
with. We have embarked on disastrous
development plan after disastrous development
plan and never been able to put together a
creditable and veritable team of individuals that
could make some sense of those plans and
salvage them. In short we have lacked
competent hands at the helm of our affairs. The
problem is not therefore with Jonathan and his
ilk of seeming merry bandits but with all those
that have led us to date although some have
clearly been more culpable than others.
Whichever view you subscribe to, the question
now on every lip is: could Nigeria be broke? It is
difficult to imagine that a country that was
declared the biggest economy in Nigeria barely
three years ago has suddenly transfigured into a
miserable apparition and a laughing stock in the
comity of nations. But I personally refuse to
believe Nigeria is as broke as our leaders now
make out. I have listened to series of arguments
on why the Nigerian economy has plummeted
from the pinnacle of the temple to the deepest
depth of the abyss. The most constant and
plausible prognosis is that Nigeria was a
disaster waiting to happen and that Jonathan as
the undertaker had only succeeded in embalming
the dead body in order to keep it looking fresh
while the soul was already gone.
As a Minister assured me, it was only a matter of
time; Nigeria would have collapsed on Jonathan
and led to our hasty interment as a nation if he
had stayed longer. My response was that why
did President Muhammadu Buhari offer to be the
lamb of God by allowing a danger that could not
be averted to collapse on his own head? Or why
could he not stabilise the nation at the state and
stage he met it without the country running
dangerously amuck the way it is doing right
now? There is a Yoruba saying that: orisa boo le
gbemi, se mi boo se ba mi (if the gods can’t
make our lives better, they should simply leave
us the way they met us! That is the cry of those
who feel Buhari has failed on his promise to save
Nigeria from the perfidious reign of PDP. What is
most galling to most observers is the endless
accusations and counter allegations from the
past and the present governments. I had advised
the APC government to stop the blame game
long ago so as to save itself the barrage of
attacks from those who are only interested in
results and not excuses. Such people do not
care if Buhari decides to hang Jonathan and all
past operatives of PDP combined as long as our
economy stops this kamikaze plunge.
I’m certain the situation won’t improve until the
government wakes up to its responsibilities. The
government cannot retain the old style of
governance and expect a drastic and
monumental change in our lives. The cost of
governance is still atrociously high. Our style is
still ostensibly ceremonial and definitely
ostentatious. We can’t continue to practise
capitalism without capital.
For starters, and to demonstrate his seriousness
and resolve to tackle our almost comatose state,
President Buhari needs to butcher the
presidential fleet and the lavish protocol and
fanfare that seems to attend every departure
from Abuja and subsequent return. That is the
beginning of our salvation. Jesus Christ
demonstrated he could float on water before
asking his disciples to join him. That is the way
to go.
Our State houses are over-funded and one
cannot justify the level of expenditure required to
maintain them. Political aides are too many.
Their roles duplicated and sometimes triplicated.
They have become major drainpipes for a
bleeding economy. The end result is that they
confuse and obfuscate rather than bring clarity
and discernment to a system that is already in
the throes of death.
Our parastatals are too many, too large and too
unwieldy. Our airports, both international and
domestic, which serve as the first advertisement
of our country to that much sought after
potential investor that the government that the
government craves are an eyesore and remain
most useless despite the many agencies
directing and controlling affairs there and the
vast sums of money supposedly spent in trying
to transform them. I do not know of any nation
with such a propensity for self-destruction. This
cannot continue.
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