Most people can hardly remember now, but on April 12 2010, few weeks after officially assuming the title of 'acting president', and about 3 weeks before the demise of President Yar Adua, Mr Goodluck Jonathan was in Washington DC at the invitation of the white house, and gave an address to the American Council for Foreign Relations.
Most people can hardly remember now, but on April 12 2010, few weeks after officially assuming the title of 'acting president', and about 3 weeks before the demise of President Yar Adua, Mr Goodluck Jonathan was in Washington DC at the invitation of the white house, and gave an address to the American Council for Foreign Relations.
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In his speech the then acting president said he recognized he was "confronted with the greatest test of his political career" and that it was with that recognition that his administration has chosen for itself "foundational responsibilities which, if well shouldered, will form a solid base for the development of Nigeria from this point onward". He expressed high hopes that the remaining period of the administration will not merely be "a transitional period but one which we hope will one day be viewed as a watershed, a transformational time in our young democracy".
Very inspiring words. Here was a leader who appeared to show remarkable insight, and with such clarity, into the heart of the problem bedeviling the Nigerian nation, and he was unequivocal in his declaration that "for us in Nigeria, this is our time. Either we continue with more of the same or we change the game". So what would be the defining priorities of this transformational government? Again Mr Jonathan was precise and to the point: "our domestic focus must be on electoral reform, delivering peace dividends to the Niger Delta and the rest of the country, and standing strong on our resolve against corruption".
Nigerian citizens home and abroad latched onto his every word, especially the younger generation who have had their future thrown into the mud. Indeed, his installation as acting president was not without the committed and sustained effort of civil society groups, who, against the machinations and plotting of the evil cabal, stood their ground that Jonathan must assume the presidency according to the provisions of the nation's constitution.
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Four months after the speech, and here we are. Make no mistake, no one expects President Jonathan to wave the magic wand and solve all the nation's problems in 4 months. No one expect him to deliver uninterrupted power supply in 4 months, or even double the power generation, say. No one expect him to get rid of corruption within a year, or fix the education system in a flash, or rid the streets of all hoodlums. We shall return to these later, but let us consider the 'foundational', priority areas identified by the man himself.
On electoral reform, the Niger Delta and anti-corruption, the choice, spelt out by the president, was to continue with "more of the same or change the game", and in each of these key areas the administration has not only persisted with the same game but has taken it to new heights of recklessness and callous indifference. On electoral reform, whatever we say of the previous administration- and there's much to say in terms of incompetence- it at least had the sense to constitute a committee to review and make recommendation on electoral reform. And this committee consulted very widely, painstakingly reviewed the problems, and made very strong and great recommendations that, by popular agreement, address most of the institutional faults that has led to monumental failures in the past elections. One thing that is certain, and Mr President recognised as much, is that the present electoral system as it is constituted can not work, and it is not about the personnel operating the system. In spite of this, president Jonathan has persisted with the game by continuing with "more of the same". He has, with the connivance of the national lawmakers, swept the electoral reform bill under the carpet. It is, of course, easy to say that the passage of the bill is the primary responsibility of the lawmakers, but we know it is but a partnership between the two arms of government. Indeed, we know that a budget has been passed by collaboration between the two, and more recently, and against the wave of public opinion, the two arms have speedily passed an emergency spending bill amounting to billions of Nigeria to "celebrate" Nigeria's 50th anniversary.
On the Niger Delta, the administration has done nothing new. It's "more of the same", giving the militants monetary bribes in exchange for temporal quiet, which has proved illusory, as the 'visit' of the militants to Abuja showed several weeks ago. The root causes of the problem, environmental and socio-economic, are not being addressed, not beyond mere rhetoric. Indeed, the new turn of the "game" now is such that the militants are being recruited into ethnic politics. You would think that the president, being form the region himself, will seize the moment and the opportunity to address the roots of the problems.
On anti-corruption, there is really nothing to say is there? For who would have taught that under the watch of President Jonathan, the federal government will unleash upon its hapless citizens the great fraud involving the billions approved for the nation's 50th anniversary? That the EFCC will remain as moribund as ever with absolutely nothing to show for tax-payer's investment? Indeed, if it has anything to show, it is in active connivance with looters of the nation's commonwealth.
Now with respect to the other issues of immediate concerns to citizens, what do the data show? On security, matters have gone much worse, and in the past week alone more than 4 political aspirants have lost their lives to the bullets, in broad day light. The same can be said of the educational system, of health care, and power supply, among others. There is no evidence of measurable progress. If anything, what we have is steady, where it is not speedy, deterioration.
In place of substantive progress, the Jonathan administration has chosen to sell us the dummy of sweet talks, and we should actually be inclined to give him good marks in the art of seduction. For right on the internet, on his facebook page especially, we see how citizens are presented with the cozy illusion of significance. Contributors are called by their first names, and the president himself is presented in the image of a down-to-earth “leveller” unusually humble and ready to engage ordinary citizens, and willing to take their opinions and counsels on board.
None of these is of course true. Or new. For we once had a gap-toothed , ever-similing general who presented himself as a friend of progressive intellectuals, and a great advocate of press freedom, among others. But right under our nose and on his watch, the brain drain attain a new height, and universities were left in shambles. As for the press, a promising editor was murdered under his watch, and the others he poisoned with the chalice of corruption.
President Jonathan set out, at the beginning, clear criteria by which he expected to be judged. By his own criteria, and no other, he has failed. Indeed, on the single most important issue of electoral reform, the failure cannot be more spectacular. The Nigerian citizens have for years been deprived of their basic rights to choose their own leaders, but right now there is a new twist to the sordid tale: For once we have a leader who openly identified the problem, a president who understand what to do to fix it, and yet, against his own better judgement and in defiance of public clamour, has chosen to persist with the old system of mass disenfranchisement. But will this horror show last?
For the full speech given in April 2010by President Jonathan to the Council on Foreign Relations, please visit http://www.cfr.org/publication/21888/conversation_with_goodluck_jonathan.html
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