July 12, 2010
Either by divine arrangement or coordinated mischief by people who have imposed themselves on us, this country has not been very fortunate with people who emerge either by force or happenstance as leaders at all levels of governance even traditional rulers.
Either by divine arrangement or coordinated mischief by people who have imposed themselves on us, this country has not been very fortunate with people who emerge either by force or happenstance as leaders at all levels of governance even traditional rulers.
The becoming of Goodluck Jonathan as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under the circumstances that prevailed at the time brought renewed hope across the country that some level of dynamism, proactivity, and sincerity would at least be witnessed in governance of this great nation. But it is fast dawning on everybody that it would certainly not be so as this government has exhibited most of the attributes of the Yar’adua era minus the creativity and the well-meant intention to work and produce results.
It is an irony that a government that is supposed to be in dire hurry to correct or rather make-up for the lost period of Yar’adua’s dormancy is yet to wake up its ideas to address the dwindling fortunes of the nation for the benefit of the suffering and battered populace.
Pathetically, majority of the real Nigerian people now believe that Yar’Adua was far more proactive and genuinely concerned with the nation’s socio-economic development even that of the Niger Delta than the incumbent president, Goodluck Jonathan.
Truth be told: What has Jonathan done since he was helped to ascend office of the President? What value in tangible terms has he brought to the people of Nigeria or what is he doing to improve the quality of life? Without any bias, the answer is nothing.
So what is the yardstick for the current bandwagon “Jonathan must be 2011?” I am not interested in the alleged PDP’s zoning arrangement because that’s their internal party headache which can be handled if selfish and self-serving politicians or rather dissident and disgruntled exiled PDP members can forget about themselves and come together to form a formidable opposition coalition. Anyway, that’s not the issue now.
The real issue is that this man Jonathan has not done a single thing to touch the lives of the ordinary Nigerians. I stand to be challenged.
He started by assembling a congress of geriatrics as advisory committee and since then, how this committee has advised him or rather contributed to informed national discuss remains at best blurred and at worst obscured.
As was rightly captured by the Niger Delta JRC in its statement, spent forces (not limited to one section of the country) and ethnic warlords who still seek relevance have completely hijacked and are bent on ruining Jonathan and his Presidency.
Rather than correctly advise, guide and counsel Jonathan on how he can strengthen the course of development including the Niger Delta challenge, “these people have channeled all their energies into making noise and joining issues on whether Jonathan should run or whether zoning in PDP is real or not.”
Jonathan took over the power sector meaning he declared emergency in the sector and up till now, nothings has happened to show improvement in power supply either at the generating or availability end. Rather than revisit some of the power projects initiated by past administrations, the government is initiating fresh projects based on vacuous ideas.
Months after he assumed position as Acting President and then President of the country, Jonathan is yet to take any bold step towards infrastructural development apart from projects we hear only on NTA network news.
The dredging of River Niger is dead and I stand to be corrected especially from Lokoja through Onitsha to the entire stretch that covers the Niger Delta segment of the project. Is the President not aware of this? Ofcourse how could he, when all the music he now plays and wants to hear is “Jonathan for 2011.”
At least the late Yar’adua had a seven-point agenda, what is Jonathan’s agenda upon which he wants to continue as president come 2011?
The well-intended Petroleum Industry Bill which would have introduced some innovations in the nation’s oil and gas sector is still there waiting to be signed into law. Repented militants or arrangee criminals have now started coming to Abuja not to make trouble anyway, but to tell the President that he has failed to live up to the promises of the amnesty programmed as packaged by Late President Yar’adua.
Security of lives and property has completely collapsed as most of other infrastructures in this country. The Police, SSS and even DMI have proven to be impotent or maybe ‘dormant by choice’ in the matter. The government has only paid lip service to the spate of violent armed robberies and kidnappings all over the country not just the south east as some people would want us to believe though it’s worse in that region.
Now, even lawmakers and government people fight openly over sharing of stolen monies while the EFCC looks the other way under the pretence that nobody has sent a formal petition to warrant investigation and possible prosecution.
From obvious indications, Jonathan’s problems sterns from the manner he came into office. For the sole reason that he wants acceptability from all kinds of groups, the President has in real terms outsourced almost all his executive powers to different quarters- governor’s forum, forum of northern and southern elders, advisory council, forum of native doctors, Imams and bishops and maybe forum of witches and wizards.
Until the President changes his current mindset of consulting everybody who poses as the emir, diokpa or oba of his village, before taking any decision, he will never get anything done, in tangible terms. And most of the people he runs to for advice truly have little or nothing to offer him or rather the country as workable and informed ideas including those he gets from the “one-man Niger Delta Abuja-based elders council who wants to turn the Nigerian President into a fishing port Amadanawei.” And some of these people rather than just shut up and allow the goodwill that brought Jonathan to office to carry him through; they have created so many enemies for him across the country.
I frankly agree with the Niger Delta JRC in its declaration that “The people of the Niger Delta are a deeply challenged people at the moment. While they know that their son is President, they are also agonized that their son cannot do anything for them because he is scared of making a wrong political move that could jeopardize his future political ambitions.”
Everything about Jonathan is by “chance” maybe because of his name, Luck- whether good or bad. But Nigeria is too precious and delicate to be run on luck (chance). We need hardwork, focus, and sincerity which will make abundant grace available for this nation and its people to move forward and occupy its rightful place in the committee of great nations rather than be contended with being the leader of a group of distress countries under the umbrella called D-8.
Let the President start from today to do things that have direct positive bearings on the lives of the real Nigerian people and who knows, he may win the hearts and minds of the masses for a continued stay at the Presidency. Otherwise, with his current demeanor, wallahi, he is not going anywhere even if PDP is the only party in the country. It is one thing to rule and have the support and prayers of the people but another thing to rule without peace and support of the people. A word is enough for a good- lucked person.
IFEANYI IZEZE IS AN ABUJA-BASED CONSULTANT OF STRATEGY AND COMMUNICATION ([email protected])
The becoming of Goodluck Jonathan as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under the circumstances that prevailed at the time brought renewed hope across the country that some level of dynamism, proactivity, and sincerity would at least be witnessed in governance of this great nation. But it is fast dawning on everybody that it would certainly not be so as this government has exhibited most of the attributes of the Yar’adua era minus the creativity and the well-meant intention to work and produce results.
It is an irony that a government that is supposed to be in dire hurry to correct or rather make-up for the lost period of Yar’adua’s dormancy is yet to wake up its ideas to address the dwindling fortunes of the nation for the benefit of the suffering and battered populace.
Pathetically, majority of the real Nigerian people now believe that Yar’Adua was far more proactive and genuinely concerned with the nation’s socio-economic development even that of the Niger Delta than the incumbent president, Goodluck Jonathan.
Truth be told: What has Jonathan done since he was helped to ascend office of the President? What value in tangible terms has he brought to the people of Nigeria or what is he doing to improve the quality of life? Without any bias, the answer is nothing.
So what is the yardstick for the current bandwagon “Jonathan must be 2011?” I am not interested in the alleged PDP’s zoning arrangement because that’s their internal party headache which can be handled if selfish and self-serving politicians or rather dissident and disgruntled exiled PDP members can forget about themselves and come together to form a formidable opposition coalition. Anyway, that’s not the issue now.
The real issue is that this man Jonathan has not done a single thing to touch the lives of the ordinary Nigerians. I stand to be challenged.
He started by assembling a congress of geriatrics as advisory committee and since then, how this committee has advised him or rather contributed to informed national discuss remains at best blurred and at worst obscured.
As was rightly captured by the Niger Delta JRC in its statement, spent forces (not limited to one section of the country) and ethnic warlords who still seek relevance have completely hijacked and are bent on ruining Jonathan and his Presidency.
Rather than correctly advise, guide and counsel Jonathan on how he can strengthen the course of development including the Niger Delta challenge, “these people have channeled all their energies into making noise and joining issues on whether Jonathan should run or whether zoning in PDP is real or not.”
Jonathan took over the power sector meaning he declared emergency in the sector and up till now, nothings has happened to show improvement in power supply either at the generating or availability end. Rather than revisit some of the power projects initiated by past administrations, the government is initiating fresh projects based on vacuous ideas.
Months after he assumed position as Acting President and then President of the country, Jonathan is yet to take any bold step towards infrastructural development apart from projects we hear only on NTA network news.
The dredging of River Niger is dead and I stand to be corrected especially from Lokoja through Onitsha to the entire stretch that covers the Niger Delta segment of the project. Is the President not aware of this? Ofcourse how could he, when all the music he now plays and wants to hear is “Jonathan for 2011.”
At least the late Yar’adua had a seven-point agenda, what is Jonathan’s agenda upon which he wants to continue as president come 2011?
The well-intended Petroleum Industry Bill which would have introduced some innovations in the nation’s oil and gas sector is still there waiting to be signed into law. Repented militants or arrangee criminals have now started coming to Abuja not to make trouble anyway, but to tell the President that he has failed to live up to the promises of the amnesty programmed as packaged by Late President Yar’adua.
Security of lives and property has completely collapsed as most of other infrastructures in this country. The Police, SSS and even DMI have proven to be impotent or maybe ‘dormant by choice’ in the matter. The government has only paid lip service to the spate of violent armed robberies and kidnappings all over the country not just the south east as some people would want us to believe though it’s worse in that region.
Now, even lawmakers and government people fight openly over sharing of stolen monies while the EFCC looks the other way under the pretence that nobody has sent a formal petition to warrant investigation and possible prosecution.
From obvious indications, Jonathan’s problems sterns from the manner he came into office. For the sole reason that he wants acceptability from all kinds of groups, the President has in real terms outsourced almost all his executive powers to different quarters- governor’s forum, forum of northern and southern elders, advisory council, forum of native doctors, Imams and bishops and maybe forum of witches and wizards.
Until the President changes his current mindset of consulting everybody who poses as the emir, diokpa or oba of his village, before taking any decision, he will never get anything done, in tangible terms. And most of the people he runs to for advice truly have little or nothing to offer him or rather the country as workable and informed ideas including those he gets from the “one-man Niger Delta Abuja-based elders council who wants to turn the Nigerian President into a fishing port Amadanawei.” And some of these people rather than just shut up and allow the goodwill that brought Jonathan to office to carry him through; they have created so many enemies for him across the country.
I frankly agree with the Niger Delta JRC in its declaration that “The people of the Niger Delta are a deeply challenged people at the moment. While they know that their son is President, they are also agonized that their son cannot do anything for them because he is scared of making a wrong political move that could jeopardize his future political ambitions.”
Everything about Jonathan is by “chance” maybe because of his name, Luck- whether good or bad. But Nigeria is too precious and delicate to be run on luck (chance). We need hardwork, focus, and sincerity which will make abundant grace available for this nation and its people to move forward and occupy its rightful place in the committee of great nations rather than be contended with being the leader of a group of distress countries under the umbrella called D-8.
Let the President start from today to do things that have direct positive bearings on the lives of the real Nigerian people and who knows, he may win the hearts and minds of the masses for a continued stay at the Presidency. Otherwise, with his current demeanor, wallahi, he is not going anywhere even if PDP is the only party in the country. It is one thing to rule and have the support and prayers of the people but another thing to rule without peace and support of the people. A word is enough for a good- lucked person.
IFEANYI IZEZE IS AN ABUJA-BASED CONSULTANT OF STRATEGY AND COMMUNICATION ([email protected])
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