Paradigm of the Nigerian Paradise -By Tony Osakpamwan Agbons

The current uproar over the foreign trip for a ‘routine medical check-up’ by President Muhammadu Buhari in a London hospital has once again pitch Nigeria on the negative meridian of the global map. Not for the second or third time such a trip is happening. It has been done repeatedly. A country of close to 200 million people with vast human and natural resources has become a laughingstock in the comity of nations. Nigeria has become a land of motion without movement. Ours has become a citadel of abnormalities, impunity, and insanity which has defied all forms of logic and sense of human reasoning. What a shame!

Here is a ‘messianic’ President that ascended the highest position in the land with so much gusto and guile.  Before us is a President who promised heaven on earth for the Nigerian people prior to ascending the ‘throne’ in Abuja.  Our history is jotted with both textual, visual, audio and video documentation of his utopian promises for generations unborn. The reality today is we are singing a different tune and Nigerians across the divide are wondering exactly what hit them. This writer was one of many Nigerians who got carried away by the tidal waves that blew across the country between 2014 and early 2015 (albeit not in 2019). I have since apologized at every opportunity for that mortal error of judgment.

The question on the lips of majority of Nigerians is how did the cookies crumble? How did we get here after all the hype that swept the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to power six years ago? An understanding of the foregoing puzzle and proffering of solutions therein is a sine-qua-non to preventing a future reoccurrence. In searching for a simple conceptualisation, it will be proper to look at some of the `angelic promises`. The best of empirical evidence is the much heralded Chatham House speech of Mr President (paradoxically in London, United Kingdom) in February 2015. This revolutionary speech at that time endeared the then General Muhammadu Buhari to many Nigerians. He presented as a man on a mission. This was a man not known for `Obamaic` oratory or eloquence but who stood tall with panache and razzmatazz on that fateful day dissecting the topic: Prospects for Democratic Consolidation in Africa: Nigeria`s Transition.

The key indices underlying the Chatham House `pseudo-academic` delivery and performance were unarguably some of the core challenges facing our nation – insecurity, economic and social stress, poverty, unemployment, happiness for the majority of citizens, gross mismanagement of resources, profligacy, corruption, high inequalities, performance on governance and development indicators (Mo Ibrahim Index on African Governance and UNDP Human Development Index), social investment programmes in education, health, power and other safety nets. The mic of the General (Muhammadu Buhari) went loud as he said inter alia, “As a progressive party, we must reform our political economy to unleash the pent-up ingenuity and productivity of the Nigerian people thus freeing them from the curse of poverty”.

Rewind to 2014, the Nigerian people expected a change of the status quo from a supposedly spartan disciplined leader in the person of President Buhari particularly after reeling from the perceived gross inefficiencies of the government of then sitting President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan and the octopus self-acclaimed largest political party in Africa, the People`s Democratic Party, PDP which at that time was on self-destruct. The new kid on the block was the brand new, All Progressive Congress, APC which was a merger of Nigeria’s three biggest opposition parties – the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the new PDP – a faction of then ruling People’s Democratic Party.

Fast-forward to 2021, the image of the Spartan, puritan President flying to London for medical tourism batters the collective imagination of Nigerians. This is a President that promised Nigerians a departure from the old order prior to getting into office. The media space has been awash with condemnation of this current trip of the President of the most populous black nation on the planet, the 11^th oil producing country (indexmundi.com) in the world and ranked 8^th within the OPEC block (Statista.com).  How come the President cannot undergo his `routine medical check-up at the Presidential Aso rock clinic or any other Nigerian hospital for that matter. How did we get here?

The scale of maladministration in Nigeria is unfathomable. Truth be told, six years is a long time in governance and enough to turn things around! High time, those in position of authority and responsibility in our clime, fold their sleeves up and tackle head-on the myriads of problems bedevilling the nation. Election campaigns every four years cannot continue to be mere rhetoric by politicians of; “we will provide good roads, schools, power, hospitals et al.”  Each cycle of politicians says it and leave office without consequences. Many even get re-elected by the same impoverished citizens who sadly seem to be suffering from amnesia. The solution to all this nonsense is the Nigerian people. I think `our mumu` (stupidity, foolishness) don do` in the words of famed musician and social crusader, Charly Boy Oputa.

The abysmal failure of the government of a President who has gone to London, United Kingdom in fixing the Nigeria healthcare system and that of successive governments is a disaster. More so, it is sad that Mr. President flew out of Nigeria on the eve of the start of the indefinite strike action called by the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) to press home their demands for better conditions of service and the provision of basic healthcare facilities for the generality of the Nigerian people. Millions of Nigerians die daily due to inadequate healthcare facilities but the President, and other politically exposed individuals in the society can access state-of-the-art healthcare and look after themselves and their families at the expense of the public purse. This is an injustice of the highest order!

Suffice it to say and not for the umpteenth time that the entire Nigerian system needs to be fixed – insecurity, economic and social stress, poverty, unemployment, and happiness for majority of citizens. A stoppage needs to put on the gross mismanagement of resources, profligacy, and corruption. The onus also lies on the Nigerian people to wake up from sleep and slumber and take the destiny of our country in our own hands. The next general elections in 2023 (if we get there as a nation considering the high level of insecurity in the land) beckons and permutations are beginning to tick off. The political arena has again been loaded by the same old brigade. Are the Nigerian people going to just watch with hands akimbo, sit down, say nothing, or do nothing and allow this same crop of recycled politicians continue the ride? To reach its full potentials, our country requires a total paradigm shift. The Nigeria people must come together irrespective of tribe or creed. There is no harm if we the people change our narrative and make a conscious decision to bring on board a new set of leadership capable of leading Nigeria to its paradise.

Dr Agbons writes from the United Kingdom