The
long awaited 29th May 2015 is finally upon us. The Christian Bible says weeping
may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning.
Nigeria went down into the abyss of despair, hope became a
forlorn exercise in futility. Terrorism and insurgency ravaged our land like
wildfire. Women, children, the old and the young became preys and targets. Life
in Nigeria had degenerated into the Hobbesian circus of that which is so short,
nasty and brutish.
The Nigerian economy was touted as the largest in Africa but the
country is also home to millions of poor folks living on less than two dollars
a day. Over 10 million children of primary school age currently out of school.
Universities and Polytechnic students spend more time on forced, strike-induced
holidays than they spend on their various campuses.
A huge population of Nigerian youths are either unemployed or
underemployed. Transformation agenda messages were daily blared on radios and
television sets, but such agendas were only heard on air but nobody can point
at anything transformational in their daily existence. Food became plenty and
inflation was minimal but we could only see and hear about it all on radio, TV
and newspaper pages. Hunger, starvation and hopelessness assailed the people as
if they were related.
At the height of the oil boom, our government officials became
rich and fat at the expense of the people they purportedly serve.
Private jets littered our skies while the bulk of the people
were left to struggle with decrepit commercials planes that were not only old
and in bad shape, but are also poorly managed with most canceling and
rescheduling flights at the drop of a hat to the detriment of travelers who
continually miss business appointments and valuable time waiting endlessly for
flights that were simply unavailable.
Nigeria was on a brink…
Then
cometh the hour, cometh the man. General Muhamamdu Buhari, a man once touted as
a serial loser and perpetually unelectable breezed into the scene.
This gap toothed retired army general was not new to the
Nigerian political landscape but the time was ripe for a change.
The ruling oligarchs were
too blinded in their delusion to see the pains and agony of the ordinary
people. They underrated the resolve of the commoners who had all made their
minds up and taken their destinies into their own hands.
The elites were adamant in
their resolves to force their way back in, using a most familiar route of
rigging but Nigerians were ready to defend their votes. Elections were
postponed and scaremongering became the order of the day. Damaging adverts and
irresponsible documentaries started appearing left, right and center. Some
media houses lost every commonsense and joined in the melee. Dollar started to
rain like it was going out of fashion.
In all these, the
commitment of the masses was unwavering. Religious and ethnic card, their usual
trump card, was thrown into the ring, certificates went missing but Nigerians
were going to vote even if bread wrappings were all they could find instead of
school certificates.
Card readers and PVC that
ordinarily ought to aid the electoral process suddenly became subjects of
discourse. The erstwhile ruling party would have none of it. But the ordinary Nigerians
stood steadfast, unwavering in their quests to bring about change.
The elections were
eventually held amidst lots of apprehensions. At the tail end of concluding the
process of collation and declaration of result, the last dice was thrown-in, in
the form of an unblushing ex-minister Orubebe. But Jega was ice cool…the rest,
as they say, is history.
Today the presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria finally
change hands from the former President Jonathan to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Nigeria has many reason to
celebrate yet we must be circumspect in our ways. Many states are yet to pay
the salary of civil servants, we have a huge debt stock of over $60 billion
dollars, our external reserves is at a low ebb while the budget deficit of over
N3 trillion is a huge challenge for our dear country.
The incoming new
administration of Muhammadu Buhari won’t be a cake walk, neither a tea party
but with a steadfast focus and responsible prudence, we may yet get it right.
We asked for a change and
we got the change, now is not the time to gloat and boast. The government must
hit the ground running. But as a people we must also support and give the
government some time to show they are the change we want. While we must also
realise that we must be the change we want.
It can’t work like magic
but with sincerity and honesty from the government, plus cooperation from the
governed, Nigeria stands a chance to stabilise, to proceed on a journey of true
development and finally reassert ourselves as the true leader and giant of
Africa.
It will not be a walk in the park but Muhammadu Buhari and his vice,
Yemi Osinbajo are well poised to lay a foundation for true growth for Nigeria.
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