Telling Campaign Spokesmen That Reviving Nigeria’s Economy Is Serious Business, And Beyond ‘Stomach Infrastructure’ -By Isaac Asabor

Sometime, early this year precisely, I chanced upon a Ghanaian professional colleague at an event who in a mocking manner shared with me an anecdote that best describes the situation in which Nigerians find themselves.  Abam Kojo, as his name goes said Nigerians’ collective situation was comparable to the children of a father that works in a notable oil company but begs for crumbs from families that he is far better off economically, resourcefully, and financially.  Dispassionately analyzing his anecdote, there is no denying the fact that he aptly captured the collective level of harrowing experiences that Nigerians pass through with each passing day, particularly since 2015 when Muhammadu Buhari’s led government took charge of the affairs of Nigeria as a nation.

In fact, while his narration cannot be dismissed with a mere wave of the hands, it is expedient to recall that the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in one of its statistical reports has it that 40% of people in Nigeria live in poverty; highlighting the low levels of wealth in a country that has Africa’s biggest economy.

It will be recalled in this context that the NBS in the report about poverty and inequality from September 2018 to October 2019, said 40% of people in the continent’s most populous country lived below its poverty line of 137,430 naira ($381.75) per year; as at the time, the report was obtained but worst at the moment.  It said that represents 82.9 million people. Surprisingly, recent Statistics have not shown indices of improvement as the exchange of the naira to the dollar is almost at N1, 000.00.

Paradoxically, Nigeria as a top oil exporter in Africa has helped to create wealth related to crude sales that account for more than half of government revenue. But a failure to diversify the economy and let the nation’s wealth impact the collective well-being of the people has remained questionable.

Against the foregoing backdrop, it is not an exaggeration to conjecture in this context that more than other nationals in countries across the world’s seven continents that Nigerians badly need a society where leaders must bridge the divides and work together to thrive. It is even not surprising that not a few Nigerians pray; day and night, that the next president after the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, must strive to leave Nigeria as a safer, more peaceful, and more prosperous country than the one that is presently giving them harrowing experiences by each passing day since 2015. In terms of good governance, Nigerians need a better Nigeria, and February 2023 will definitely be the defining moment. After all, the late Dr. Nelson Mandela said that “There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children”.

In fact, as the groundswell of the 2023 general elections becomes more pronounced, not a few characters have thrown their hats into the ring. Even members of the political class and statesmen could not but be shocked by the quality of aspirants shoving for the driver’s seat. Puzzlingly, campaign spokesmen have been notoriously partisan in selling the candidacies of their principals to Nigerians; even when there are strong allegations leveled against them. Curiously enough, the somewhat political merchants are not sincerely in support of the dirty past of their paymasters pretending to be in his support all because of how well their stomachs could be fed by defensively telling lies to the electorates.

Without resorting to ridiculing anyone in this context, it is not out of place to say that Nigerians, ahead of the 2013 elections, are almost on daily basis being entertained by a once respected legal luminary who once pilloried his now paymaster in his days in the active legal profession over drug issues but is surprisingly today seen to be defending him, and portraying him to be innocent by virtue of being his drummer boy ahead of his presidential ambition. The once legal luminary, ostensibly for the sake of stomach infrastructure has today become deaf to the sound of reasons, thus developing blind ambition and being overwhelmed by primitive sentiments of party politics.

In fact, at this point in Nigeria’s political history, political campaign spokesmen need to be told that they should not compromise the expediency of the primacy of leadership qualities, stellar antecedents, commitment, and capacity to turn the corner in their campaign for their paymasters. The reason for the foregoing cannot be farfetched as in reality, the country is in dire straits across the board. Therefore, there is an urgent need, more than ever before, for competent aspirants to emerge as a crop of leaders in the next political dispensation.

That Nigeria is richly blessed by God is incontrovertible.  It will be recalled that former head of state, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, sometime back in Ibadan prayed that God should uproot all the leaders with evil intentions against the country so that the polity could move forward. In fact, it is ostensibly due to the blessings that Nigeria is blessed with that he prayed during his visit to Gethsemane Prayer Ministries Cathedral, Eleyele, Ibadan presided over by National Coordinator, Nigeria Prays, Rev. Moses Aransiola, thus; “I want God to uproot bad leaders from Nigeria as a way of moving the country forward from the present situation,”

The ex-military ruler who has been involved in ministration work at the time under reference fervently prayed for peace and progress in Nigeria, and also faulted the prediction that the country would break up by 2015, saying that a similar prediction by France had already failed.

Without sounding “More-Patriotic-Than-Thou” in this piece, it is expedient to tell campaign spokesmen that reviving Nigeria’s Economy is serious business and that it goes beyond ‘Stomach Infrastructure’, and that they should desist from “packaging” and defending clueless leaders who are even overwhelmed with the baggage of damaging allegations that any leader should not have.