Recalibrating The Agenda: A Diametric Hope? -By Femi Amosun

Government, by enlightened definition, is the political system by which a country is administered and regulated. In parallel thinking, specifically Cognitive psychology, “Calibration is a specific component of accuracy that measures how well a probabilistic prediction of an event matches the true underlying probability of the event” (Jiang, Osl, Kim, & Ohno-Machado, 2012).

In the context of the above premise, lets reinforce that after the monumental failure of Mr. Buhari-led government, any right-thinking Nigerian would expect the new Government of Bola Ahmed Tinubu to govern in the interest of Nigerians. So we do not need another lacklustre government equivalent to Buhari 2.0 (Two-Point-Zero).

It’s equally important to reiterate the fact that the reading of our current economic situation dictates that we need sound fiscal policy and coherent monetary policy to restore our economic credibility. The overwhelming opinion, therefore, is that the new Administration has a huge opportunity to tackle and address some of the historical anti-citizens’ policies that successive governments have failed to resolved. For the very first time in Nigeria political history, we have an economics and financial literate President, so we would expect the President to make stringent move and introduce hermetic Financial controls designed to prevent or detect fraud, theft, embezzlement and public funds misappropriation. These are some of the main dark factorial forces that have overwhelmingly hampered our economy to the detriment of millions of Nigerians. All Payment authorization processes must also be structured and airtight in order to significantly reduce the corruption level across the board. We do not need any Policy or Policies that would advertently improvised the citizenry. In essence, the Bola Tinubu-led Administration should, of course with due diligence, address fiscal, monetary, trade, and trade reforms to effectively increase our domestic production and curb inflation to ensure better macro-economic stability and prosperity for all.

The perilous situation whereby there is too much interference in citizen’s lives must be dealt with. If it not CBN or Banks implementing anti people policies, it is NNPC hiking fuel prices or Passport agency activating scarcity and abusing their position or EFFC harassing and intimidating some so-called Yahoo boys or State Security agencies (gun wielding mental attitude) or some government agencies acting dictatorial tendencies. These public organizations should not be allowed to wield any infused power which may inflict pains on Nigerians. The sole essence of these organizations should be to offer and deliver quality service in order to make life more meaningful for all Nigerians. This is the educated understanding anywhere in the World.

On the social-political front, the new Administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu should, as a matter of urgency, consider the glaring fact that we now have some generations (both Youths and confused Adults behaving like juvenile delinquent) who lack sheer discipline, civility and rectitude or moral uprightness. Shortly before the Presidential Inauguration, an impertinent Igbocentric woman (with her deluded British accent) appeared on Arise News TV station and boldly stated that when compared with late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Bola Tinubu is not an “Intellectual”. Would this woman describe Ex-President Buhari as an Intellectual, yet he ruled Nigeria for eight years? As an elderly woman, l would’ve thought she’d be more diplomatic and intelligent, and not a display of naivety, busybody and stupidly petty. Let’s hope this woman find peace, and at peace with herself.

The virulent behaviour is increasingly denigrating our social fabric and collective cultural identity. This is not who we are; we are a people of cultural heritage, culturally generous and we embrace moral and ethical values including the Omoluabi ideology. We now need a National Commission with powers to monitor, identify, investigate and promptly prosecute irresponsible social media activities including hateful comments; hate speech; incitement; name calling; bigotry; and religious fanaticism. As a consequence, Offenders should be sent down with maximum custodial sentences. If we fail to deal decisively with irresponsible social media activities, then we should be prepared to handle the long-term psychological and mental health issues associated with social media addiction and negativity. I’m certain that many parents wouldn’t want their children to become public liability. If China, Iran, Saudi Arabia can introduce punitive measures to crackdown on social media, there is absolutely nothing stopping us from achieving such national success. Anything short would amount to a dereliction of our government’s moral obligation to reinstate sanity and provide better environment for us all.
We should also be conscious of how the First lady conduct herself in public. The First Lady must not subject her fellow Nigerian citizens to invariably inferential alienation and infrahumanization, and treat them less than human. Such condescending and toxic culture must end so that our country can move forward. At the height of terminal ignorance and indignation (scornful anger) ever seen in Nigeria, a former First Lady melodramatically scolded the Principal of Chibok School where about 276 schoolgirls were kidnapped by Boko Haram insurgents in Chibok, Borno State. In the end, it emerged that this same First Lady, whilst playing a holier-than-thou-attitude, was actually busy peculating (stealing) millions of dollars meant for public good. So Nigerians would not accept another belligerent, egoistic, and toxic narcissist First Lady with sophomoric temper tantrums. In Nigeria, we deserve a rational, law abiding, altruistic, virtuous, moralistic, and God fearing First Lady with modicum of honour to help provide basic primordial needs of the masses. It is equally pertinent to note that, in Nigeria we do not have “Mrs. President” but rather a Constituted Authority known as ‘The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria’.

On assumption of Office in 2020, President Joe Biden of the United States of America hastily signed an ‘Executive Order’ that effectively banned any of his aides and officials from disrespecting or attempting to insult fellow American citizens. Today, many Americans are enjoying breath of fresh air, unhinged calmness, harmony and the whole essence of Democracy is reaffirmed after the disaster of the previous Administration, just like Nigerians experienced under the erstwhile Administration of Mr. Muhammadu Buhari.

In this context, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu must consciously or deliberately avoid appointing Aides that resonates the characteristics of the last Administration. The new Aides and Officials, especially those with the Public-facing roles, must be virtuous Nigerians who would not engage themselves in tirade of insults (in their quest for relevance or self-aggrandizement) against fellow Nigerians. Let them focus on communicating the government policies, programmes and reforms, and not engaging in combative and profanity social media postings that are often used to offend or insult or offensive to the senses and sensibilities. If they cannot add any meaningful value to Governance, then their appointments would’ve been another failure beyond uncluttered proportion.

In the context of the universally accepted definition of Government as highlighted above, lets conclude this discussion by accentuating that Governance is not about being flamboyant, making lousy bragging right, aimlessly boasting, seeking (or making) “juicy” Appointments, displaying infused arrogance and satanic ego, or exhibiting contemptuous attitude. A meaningful Government tend to make life better for it citizens otherwise it may just be another diametrical Hope in vain. How do you explain (or justify) the humongous salaries of our lawmakers? The minimum wage is set at N30,000 while a Senator earn N13 million plus Allowances every month. The same status quo is reflected in the so-called proposed Subsidy Palliative where 12 million Nigerians will be given N48,000 over a 6-month period while N70 billion is earmarked for Lawmakers, that is an average of N149.3 million per senator and Reps. This is one of the reasons why the International community and other countries treat us shabbily and prevent Nigerians from progressing or developing our potential. If you live abroad (esp. Europe, America, Asia), you’ll be cognizant of the bad image and negative perception of Nigeria, Nigerians, and anything ‘Nigerian’. As virtuous Nigerians, we need to find a way to improve our image and change the negative perception otherwise our children and generations yet to come will suffer the same fate.

Although it may be an upheaval task to measure how well the probability of the new Bola Tinubu Administration strength will match the true underlying probability of the recurrent events, but by the end of his four-year tenure, the true state of the Nation shall be known.

Femi Amosun is a strategic planning and finance expert and writer with distinctive zeal for sustainable development through responsible governance and accountability. abs.amosun@gmail.com