May 16, 2010
I want to first, categorically state that I have nothing on a personal basis, against Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. My observation borders on our expectations as a people of Rivers State, and by extension, Nigeria.
Our new President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, Dr Goodluck Jonathan recently visited Rivers State. This is a welcome development, and as a people, we love him and congratulate him. However, there are certain indications of entrenched irregularities in our system and idea of protocol, which are disputatious of people oriented governance.
A quick example is the road closure that characterized the President’s visit to Rivers State. The State was practically at a standstill, not because of direct public participation in hosting the President, but by the ill organisation that I described, as an amoral traffic protocol.
You can imagine a situation where a Bride is crying because she is unable to attend her own wedding reception. Consider a situation where funerals went into the night because of traffic, and there could no longer be any church service and other obsequies because of nightfall, and consequently, corpses were summarily and unceremoniously interred. Imagine business appointments and engagements, and private business obligations of which failure has consequences.
The primary consideration of every well-meaning government in decision-making should be how such a decision will affect the people. You don’t just inconsiderately halt the progression of human endeavour in order to score a political point.
Indeed the people of Rivers State were anxious about the visit of the President, who is a Son of the State in more than one way. Dr Goodluck Jonathan is a rear gem: he personifies grace, humility and geniality, and is profoundly considerate; hence, it is unimaginable that he was aware of such amoral traffic protocol that has left lifetime psychological scars on common citizens – indeed he could never have been. The President I know could never have opted to commemorate the event of his visit with indelible psychological scars on the people that love him and pray for him.
It is sad that in this 21th century, and in a Constitutional Democracy, people are psychologically subdued and physically subjected to untold agony because of a Presidential visit. In developed and civilized societies, a President’s convoy/motorcade is predominantly motorbikes. They go in advance to very temporarily, overrule and obstruct traffic before the principal convoy gets there, and not a total road closure for five to ten hours, and consequently inflicting untold immiseration and pain on the poor masses that have the democratic right to go about their respective businesses.
In order to personally comprehend the enormity of this ineptitude, I had to compare and contrast this event with that of the movements of the President of the United States of America, who is the most powerful man in the world.
When the President of the United State is onboard, the helicopter becomes the Marine 1. The Pilot would have to navigate an invisible maze through a tightly restricted airspace, because the security regulations and heavy traffic at the Reagan National Airport, confines the Marine 1 to a narrow low-level flight path. It is comparatively amazing that no airspace is closed. The Secret Service and the relevant Police Department classically control their game in road traffic protocol without much public attention.
Maybe there is something fundamentally wrong with the black race, because our ineptitude simply gives credence to the idiocy ascribed to us.
The Governor of Rivers State, Rt. Hon. CR Amaechi has in more than one occasion, demonstrated humility in consonance with firmness, hence may I use this medium to solicit his public apology to the people of Rivers State for the amoral traffic protocol that has been injurious to the poor mass. He may not be personally responsible, but a good leader takes responsibility. Moreover, it take a government of the people, for the people and by the people to be people oriented and people considerate.
Long live our resolve to survive this decadent era of Nigeria.
Our new President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, Dr Goodluck Jonathan recently visited Rivers State. This is a welcome development, and as a people, we love him and congratulate him. However, there are certain indications of entrenched irregularities in our system and idea of protocol, which are disputatious of people oriented governance.
A quick example is the road closure that characterized the President’s visit to Rivers State. The State was practically at a standstill, not because of direct public participation in hosting the President, but by the ill organisation that I described, as an amoral traffic protocol.
You can imagine a situation where a Bride is crying because she is unable to attend her own wedding reception. Consider a situation where funerals went into the night because of traffic, and there could no longer be any church service and other obsequies because of nightfall, and consequently, corpses were summarily and unceremoniously interred. Imagine business appointments and engagements, and private business obligations of which failure has consequences.
The primary consideration of every well-meaning government in decision-making should be how such a decision will affect the people. You don’t just inconsiderately halt the progression of human endeavour in order to score a political point.
Indeed the people of Rivers State were anxious about the visit of the President, who is a Son of the State in more than one way. Dr Goodluck Jonathan is a rear gem: he personifies grace, humility and geniality, and is profoundly considerate; hence, it is unimaginable that he was aware of such amoral traffic protocol that has left lifetime psychological scars on common citizens – indeed he could never have been. The President I know could never have opted to commemorate the event of his visit with indelible psychological scars on the people that love him and pray for him.
It is sad that in this 21th century, and in a Constitutional Democracy, people are psychologically subdued and physically subjected to untold agony because of a Presidential visit. In developed and civilized societies, a President’s convoy/motorcade is predominantly motorbikes. They go in advance to very temporarily, overrule and obstruct traffic before the principal convoy gets there, and not a total road closure for five to ten hours, and consequently inflicting untold immiseration and pain on the poor masses that have the democratic right to go about their respective businesses.
In order to personally comprehend the enormity of this ineptitude, I had to compare and contrast this event with that of the movements of the President of the United States of America, who is the most powerful man in the world.
When the President of the United State is onboard, the helicopter becomes the Marine 1. The Pilot would have to navigate an invisible maze through a tightly restricted airspace, because the security regulations and heavy traffic at the Reagan National Airport, confines the Marine 1 to a narrow low-level flight path. It is comparatively amazing that no airspace is closed. The Secret Service and the relevant Police Department classically control their game in road traffic protocol without much public attention.
Maybe there is something fundamentally wrong with the black race, because our ineptitude simply gives credence to the idiocy ascribed to us.
The Governor of Rivers State, Rt. Hon. CR Amaechi has in more than one occasion, demonstrated humility in consonance with firmness, hence may I use this medium to solicit his public apology to the people of Rivers State for the amoral traffic protocol that has been injurious to the poor mass. He may not be personally responsible, but a good leader takes responsibility. Moreover, it take a government of the people, for the people and by the people to be people oriented and people considerate.
Long live our resolve to survive this decadent era of Nigeria.
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