The Sameness of Change
Eni-B, Email: eniola.bello@thisdaylive.com
Change! That was the magic campaign slogan of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the April elections. On campaign podiums and lecture circuits, in radio and TV commercials, in newspaper and billboard ads, at town hall meetings and village square gatherings, and at ward congresses and party convention, the APC screamed change. And the electorate, fed up with the years of failed promises from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), boarded the train of change and voted massively for the APC. Six months after, the large army of the converted is yet to see or touch or smell or feel the change. Some are beginning to question if the train they willingly boarded last April is not akin to boarding a one-chance commuter bus in Lagos with its attendant risks. Six months into the first year of a four-year term, a half-year report of the change administration cannot be said to be particularly flattering. I seek the readers’ indulgence to take a tour of five key areas where one expected the drivers of the change vehicle ought to have changed the course of the journey.
1) Fuel queues, unending subsidy: In the last 16 years of the nation’s
democracy, the removal of fuel subsidy has been a serial subject of
debate. Indeed fuel subsidy removal stole into national consciousness
when the military presidency of Ibrahim Babangida, in 1985, encouraged a
talk-shop to debate the desirability or otherwise of taking a loan from
the IMF (International Monetary Fund). Every administration since then
has toyed with the idea of removing subsidy from petroleum products. No
administration has, however, had the courage to go the full course
despite the incessant increases in fuel prices with attendant protests
from Labor and civil society groups. Subsidy payments have become a
major problem since 1999 resulting from broken down refineries and
subsequent importation of petroleum products. Subsidy payments rose
from, per annum, N250 billion under the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo,
to over N300 billion under Umar Yar’Adua, and N1.2 trillion under
Goodluck Jonathan.
The APC made a huge issue of the sharp increase on subsidy payments
under Jonathan, alleging fraud and promising to stop the distortions in
that sector. The economics of subsidy payments usually results in fuel
shortages and long queues at fuel stations. Marketers suspend the
importation of petroleum products wherever there are delays in payments
or disagreement over claims. Fuel shortages and queues have been
perennial problems in the last several years. Unfortunately, the higher
the percentage of subsidy supposedly removed, the more the amount of
payments made, and the heavier the subsequent subsidy claims. The
expectation was that an APC government, with all its campaign rhetoric
pre-April elections, would break this cycle. However, in the last three
weeks there have been fuel shortages and fuel queues arising from the
delay in the reconciliation and payment of N413 billion subsidy claims
to marketers. Yet breaking the cycle appears simple enough. Sell the
state-owned refineries which have been guzzling million of dollars in
annual maintenance cost and making huge losses, that is when production
is not at zero percent as happened in October. Then remove fuel subsidy,
so there would be no need for payments to marketers, nor suspension of
importation nor shortages nor queues. Why has the APC administration,
like the PDP’s before it, found it so difficult to do what is
economically sensible and socially liberating? See the sameness of
change!
2) Darkness, darkness everywhere: Nigeria has been experiencing chronic
electricity shortages for as long as one could recollect. From an
inherited slightly over 1000 megawatts of electricity, the PDP
administrations of Obasanjo through Yar’Adua to Jonathan increased total
generation to above 4000 megawatts, a far cry from the 10,000 megawatts
target. Even at that, electricity supply was in fits and starts. The
first power minister under Obasanjo, the late Bola Ige, promised to turn
stone to bread. He probably did not even find the stone before he was
redeployed to Justice Ministry. And under Jonathan, Professor Chinedu
Nebo vowed to tackle the witches and wizards in that sector. However,
the nation sank deeper into prolonged darkness. The situation suddenly
improved during the first three months of the Buhari administration in
what some presidential aides attributed to the president’s success at
blocking leakages and arresting sabotage. In the last two months or
thereabouts the electricity situation has again worsened. As happened
during the Jonathan administration, government officials have attributed
the almost 24-hour darkness to the usual culprits – unknown saboteurs.
Still the sameness of change.
3) The killing field: Since the Boko Haram insurgency the Northeast has
become a killing field. Daily scores of people are killed, communities
ravaged, hundreds displaced and many kidnapped. The Jonathan
administration was mostly helpless in tackling the menace as soldiers
ran away from battle, complaining of being poorly equipped. It was not
until some two months before the April polls that there were attempts at
some serious military operations to weaken the insurgents. Immediately
on assumption of office, Buhari made the Boko Haram insurgency his top
priority. He restructured the military, rallied the neighboring
countries, lobbied the West for support, procured needed arms and gave
the military high command December deadline to rout the insurgents or
considerably weaken them. Despite claims of military successes in
ridding Sambisa forest and other Boko Haram bases of sleeper cells,
killing or arresting some of the group’s wanted leaders, driving the
vermin out of occupied territories, and weakening the insurgents’
fighting capabilities, churches and mosques and markets and motor parks
are still regularly susceptible to suicide attacks, while young ladies
are still being kidnapped even as there is no progress on the rescue of
Chibok girls 19 months after their abduction. With Boko Haram, as it was
under Jonathan, so it is under Buhari. Oh, the sameness of change!
4) It’s business unusual: Our leaders enjoy deploying stock expressions
in their speeches and statements. Such stock expressions like “it will
not be business as usual” or “zero tolerance for corruption”
characterize statements of government officials. But they are hardly
marked by action. As it was in 1999 when Obasanjo became president, so
it has been in 2015 when Buhari emerged lord of the manor. When APC top
notch proclaimed shortly after Buhari’s inauguration that things would
not be business as usual, many believed because of the president’s
strength of character and integrity, particularly when placed against
the perception of widespread corruption under Jonathan. Many believed
there would be a sharp cut in the cost of running government. There was
the expectation that the presidential fleet would be slashed from 10
aircraft to about three. There was the speculation that the number of
MDAs (ministries, departments and agencies) would be drastically
reduced, with some merged and a few others scrapped in line with a
committee recommendation to so do. Even the Senate got caught in the
no-business-as-usual talk during the screening of ministerial nominees.
But then, the speculation and expectation have simply remained
speculation and expectation. The take-a-bow, no question asked culture
was pervasive in the Senate chambers. Six months on, it has been the
same of the same, the sameness of change.
5) It’s due process, stupid: Due process, a popular catchphrase in the
Obasanjo presidency, in its ordinary meaning is no more than fair
treatment through the normal judicial system. But many decisions of the
administration at the time so manifestly undermined the judicial process
of fair hearing that Yar’Adua decided to expand the catchphrase to
include rule of law. That, however, did not prevent some of his aides
and associates from exercising presidential powers, at the expense of
the then vice president, when Yar’Adua too ill to perform his duties.
Jonathan equally propagated due process and rule of law but not when,
particularly during election campaigns, opposition politicians had to
have their movements restricted or planes grounded. Officials of the
Buhari administration have also been mouthing respect for due process a
lot. Yet this has not prevented security agencies ignoring a court
order or the president ordering some people’s arrest. Some change!
If as they say, the morning shows the day, it is not too early to ask
for the evidence of the change we voted. We want to see it. We want to
feel it. And we want to touch it. We are beginning to get tired of
waiting.
THISDAY
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