"Dídà lo da ti omo fi d'egbe, ègbé kii se ile omo"
That we are left with a 72-yr old man as the only creditable option to wrestle power from the hands of this noxious government is lugubrious. I know we settled for this choice because majority of the people can no longer endure the fetid air coming from the direction of the fedora hat-wearing auto-pilot president and his gang, and demand a change ANYHOW.
"Amukun eru e wo, o ni oke le nwo, e o wo isale"
As much as i appreciate the fact that we need a change, i do not support a change ANYHOW.
A change anyhow is a change that is just allowing someone else to give it a try. That is not what we need at this time. We have had so many people try in the past and we get tired of them before 4 years.
What we need to find is what brought us to where we are. We will get nowhere as long as we keep ignoring the thing that keep bringing us back to the same spot all the time. It is not corruption. It is the SYSTEM. Corruption is only a product of the faulty system. What some of those who have ruled us in the past (including the the gap-toothed General) have tried to do is to fight corruption, whereas what we actually need is a RESTRUCTURING. To kill a tree you must tackle it from the root not trying to cut off the branches.
We have been talking about corruption for donkey years, and the sad truth is there'll always be corrupt elements but we must set up a system that'll make it difficult for them to operate or survive.
This present system breeds them. This present climate is perfect for them to thrive.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PRESENT SYSTEM?
This present system concentrates too much power and wealth at the central government while state and local governments which are the closest to the people are starved of developmental powers and resources. This is the major reason for our under-development.
Back in the days when we had the regional governments, these regional heads were left to execute policies which would help develop their regions. They were able to harness their resources- people, natural resources, land etc to develop their various regions. As a whole, Nigeria witnessed a better nation than what is it now. Some of the developmental gains of those periods are still benefitting us today. It was not that the people of that time were saints or that there were no corrupt individuals exisiting then, it was just that the system then allowed for accountability and power was closer to the people.
What we have today is the free money of Abuja. The state and local goverments are waiting for money from Abuja. When this money comes, they are misused. When these lawmakers get money to develop their various constituents, they are converterd for personal use and nobody can ask questions. Some locals do not even get to see their local chairmen talkless of them undertaking developmental projects. The money in Abuja is insane and everybody wants to go to Abuja. The money we use in running our federal system of goverment is too much, leaving little or nothing to develop the nation. Our Senators earn more than the President of the United States of America yet they contribute little or nothing to the growth of the nation.
This is why some individuals with fading carreers in the entertainment industry can just wake up one day and print posters to contest for seats at the national assembly, without any record of involvement in grassroot politics. What do you think they going there to look for? Abuja free money.
Things will even get harder now that the oil price has dropped and we'll be hard-hit by this because of our over-reliance on oil.
We have earned as much from oil as UAE but why is Dubai like a heaven on earth while we live in abject poverty? The system we operate!
This system allowed some individuals within the corridor of power and friends of the government to take money that is meant for the welfare of the state to buy properties in Dubai. One individual owned 28 houses in Dubai and she is still moving freely about under this system.
20% of the budget goes into the pocket of about 400 people under this system.
Money get missing anyhow under this system
We only pretend to be practising federalism but until we weaken the power and resource control at the centre to make it unattractive, and encourage states and local governments towards self-sustenance we are only deceiving ourselves. Give them power to decide thier fates. Let the people elect a governor which they think can help them grow and if he does not perform compared to other states let them remove him or forever remain poor.
Hardly can any state boast of functioning industries, they have all been converted to churches.
Government-funded schools are dead.
Goverment Hospitals are dead.
Nothing works again! Everything has grinded to a halt.
Corruption is not our problem but the system we operate.
Changing heads of State or Presidents is not our problem but the system we operate.
Our problem started since the time we adopted the unitary system of government and left the continuous leadership of it in the hands of some clueless and greedy elements at the centre.
Not even Jesus can operate effectively under this system.
It is not about who you vote for now but the system.
AV
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