on The NATION
IT
has been one momentous year for the Muhammadu Buhari presidency. In
line with the president’s promises to fight corruption before it killed
Nigeria and restore normality to the Boko Haram-ravaged Northeast, he
has been dogged, fearless and urgent. He has not affected substantially
the behaviour of the military to think and act inspiringly, but it has
done remarkably well fighting insurgency enthusiastically and restoring
ample peace to the blighted and restive region. The real corruption war
has not started, and such as can be properly described as a war that has
started has not always been fought within the expected judicial rules
of engagement, but the president has at least stirred a revolt against
the cankerworm, putting it on the defensive, attacking its symptoms, and
exposing the depth of the problem and its choking tentacles in
virtually all sectors of government and national life.
Concerning all other campaign promises, the record has been rather abysmal. The school feeding project has not begun, but even after the budget passage kick-starts it, its execution will not erase doubts in the minds of the economically astute as to the wisdom behind it and its undergirding principles. The promise of improved electricity supply has misfired badly; fuel price, which the president gave indication would decline when the magic wand of refinery restoration was waved, has proved a chimera; and the exchange rate parity he inscrutably lent support to during his campaigns has exploded in his face. With the economy receiving inexpert attention, not to say almost fitful response, the optimism of the early months has given way to deep-seated ennui.
Overall, given the scale of depredation superintended by the Goodluck Jonathan presidency, in addition to the appallingly clumsy and wobbly foundation laid by the Olusegun Obasanjo presidency for both democracy and the Fourth Republic, President Buhari has done substantially well to keep the country afloat. The citizens have egged him on with a lot of goodwill, even accepting fuel price hike with glacial resignation and puzzlingly embracing and applauding many of his unorthodox judicial methods. He should proceed in that euphoria to enunciate a few more realistic and populist measures to ameliorate the dire conditions his people face. After the passage of the budget, he has readied himself and his team to do battle with the declining economy, a decline his initially unsteady measures and nostalgic panaceas complicated.
Except perhaps a few Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders, most Nigerians agree that the electorate displayed wisdom to vote for President Buhari. His campaign promises were mostly Neanderthal, and he himself appears a throwback to the distant past, but Nigerians would have shuddered to have Dr Jonathan win re-election. Undoubtedly but surprisingly both Chief Obasanjo and Dr Jonathan have been better democrats than President Buhari. However, given the mood of the moment and the scale of destruction of the last five or six years, it is somewhat reassuring to have President Buhari, with his virtues of discipline and integrity, in office.
President Buhari has a vision for Nigeria, but that vision is amorphous and incapable of generating the momentum he envisages in his subconscious. He wants a society where corruption will be minimal, but he has neither enunciated how he hopes to bring it about nor taken any concrete step, no matter how awkwardly or tentatively, to bring it to reality. More appropriately, given his statements in the past few months, his attitude to the judiciary and legislature, his view on the opposition within and outside his party, his refusal to imbue his various social battles with elevating and magisterial detachment, and the limiting and limited rubrics of his ideas, not to talk of the composition of his kitchen and general cabinets, his hopes and ambitions for the country are bound to be stymied, if not miscarried altogether.
Indeed, if President Buhari has done quite well so far to arrest the
drift to financial and political chaos, it is because his predecessor
had done unusually worse in fighting corruption and insecurity. His
pessimism and constantly loud proclamations of impending disaster and
national weakness, especially at the attitudinal level, either resonate
with the public or are accepted with exasperating indifference and
equanimity. Meanwhile, for the nation to rise above the crises hobbling
it, and the president himself to record the kind of achievements he
pines after, he will have to rework his vision and align it with the
highest standards human history has exemplified. He will really and
urgently need to develop a comprehensive and breathtaking vision for the
country, one in which his piecemeal battles and campaigns must fit in.
President Buhari has spent one year in office, the 17th year of civil rule in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic. He cannot wait until he has ended the Boko Haram war and defeated corruption in order to develop an ideological master plan for Nigeria. He has enunciated desultory ideas about what he visualises for Nigeria, but he will not have the success he desires and deserves until he has made those ideas to achieve consistency and coherence with an overarching vision for Nigeria. What is missing precisely so far in the Buhari presidency is a far-reaching vision, the superstructure upon which to build his piecemeal edifices. Building roads, hospitals, schools, houses and power stations, as important as they are, will not substitute for the need for an overarching vision.
It is that vision that will dictate the kind of political restructuring, social engineering and economic reforms the country needs. The president has not said a word on these crucial needs. Yet, it is these political, economic and social changes that will also dictate success in other areas, such as anti-corruption and counterinsurgency, which the president is focusing on. Any achievement in those two areas will not only be temporary, they will also be severely limited. In addition, the vision will also dictate how far, wide and deep the country’s ambitions, character and identity will be within the global space. The vision will guide and circumscribe the president’s worldview, statements — whether of the critical or self-denigrating variety — and self-worth.
This column does not know any country that achieved greatness without first going through the defining moments stated above. If President Buhari cannot draw inspiration from Russia, United States, Britain, France, Germany and others, he can draw example from Askia (Muhammad Ture) the Great of the Songhai Empire, Mansa Kankan Musa of the Mali Empire, and closer home, the many empires and vibrant kingdoms that inhabited Nigeria’s geographical space. President Buhari will be making a huge mistake to think he can build a great and modernising society on the flimsy ideational foundations of his nostalgia and imagination. Nigeria is at the point where fundamental changes have to be adroitly introduced if the country is to survive, as the Niger Delta unrest is showing. In his first year, the president has not even giving any indication he knows the indispensability of the changes the country needs, or of how to formulate and implement them. And whether in his kitchen or wider cabinet, there is no one who has inspired confidence that rather than venerate the president they can coax him in the right direction, and away from his sometimes surprisingly constricted and bewildering statements and worldview.
Within the confines of the limited ambition of many Nigerians disenchanted with the Jonathan government, President Buhari has done remarkably well to arrest the drift begun especially by his predecessor. But for those highly knowledgeable about world history, the president has not even started, let alone done well. For a country that is not yet a nation, riven as it were by ethnic and religious distrust, and its elite so dissolute and ignorant, there is a crying need for real and substantial change outside the dogmatic confines of partisan politics. To midwife this new system calls for a new elite and leadership able to visualise a constitution that will endure for centuries, and a country where religiosity, ethnocentrism and other forms of intrinsic and acquired parochialisms will not be their hallmarks.
Concerning all other campaign promises, the record has been rather abysmal. The school feeding project has not begun, but even after the budget passage kick-starts it, its execution will not erase doubts in the minds of the economically astute as to the wisdom behind it and its undergirding principles. The promise of improved electricity supply has misfired badly; fuel price, which the president gave indication would decline when the magic wand of refinery restoration was waved, has proved a chimera; and the exchange rate parity he inscrutably lent support to during his campaigns has exploded in his face. With the economy receiving inexpert attention, not to say almost fitful response, the optimism of the early months has given way to deep-seated ennui.
Overall, given the scale of depredation superintended by the Goodluck Jonathan presidency, in addition to the appallingly clumsy and wobbly foundation laid by the Olusegun Obasanjo presidency for both democracy and the Fourth Republic, President Buhari has done substantially well to keep the country afloat. The citizens have egged him on with a lot of goodwill, even accepting fuel price hike with glacial resignation and puzzlingly embracing and applauding many of his unorthodox judicial methods. He should proceed in that euphoria to enunciate a few more realistic and populist measures to ameliorate the dire conditions his people face. After the passage of the budget, he has readied himself and his team to do battle with the declining economy, a decline his initially unsteady measures and nostalgic panaceas complicated.
Except perhaps a few Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders, most Nigerians agree that the electorate displayed wisdom to vote for President Buhari. His campaign promises were mostly Neanderthal, and he himself appears a throwback to the distant past, but Nigerians would have shuddered to have Dr Jonathan win re-election. Undoubtedly but surprisingly both Chief Obasanjo and Dr Jonathan have been better democrats than President Buhari. However, given the mood of the moment and the scale of destruction of the last five or six years, it is somewhat reassuring to have President Buhari, with his virtues of discipline and integrity, in office.
President Buhari has a vision for Nigeria, but that vision is amorphous and incapable of generating the momentum he envisages in his subconscious. He wants a society where corruption will be minimal, but he has neither enunciated how he hopes to bring it about nor taken any concrete step, no matter how awkwardly or tentatively, to bring it to reality. More appropriately, given his statements in the past few months, his attitude to the judiciary and legislature, his view on the opposition within and outside his party, his refusal to imbue his various social battles with elevating and magisterial detachment, and the limiting and limited rubrics of his ideas, not to talk of the composition of his kitchen and general cabinets, his hopes and ambitions for the country are bound to be stymied, if not miscarried altogether.
President Buhari has spent one year in office, the 17th year of civil rule in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic. He cannot wait until he has ended the Boko Haram war and defeated corruption in order to develop an ideological master plan for Nigeria. He has enunciated desultory ideas about what he visualises for Nigeria, but he will not have the success he desires and deserves until he has made those ideas to achieve consistency and coherence with an overarching vision for Nigeria. What is missing precisely so far in the Buhari presidency is a far-reaching vision, the superstructure upon which to build his piecemeal edifices. Building roads, hospitals, schools, houses and power stations, as important as they are, will not substitute for the need for an overarching vision.
It is that vision that will dictate the kind of political restructuring, social engineering and economic reforms the country needs. The president has not said a word on these crucial needs. Yet, it is these political, economic and social changes that will also dictate success in other areas, such as anti-corruption and counterinsurgency, which the president is focusing on. Any achievement in those two areas will not only be temporary, they will also be severely limited. In addition, the vision will also dictate how far, wide and deep the country’s ambitions, character and identity will be within the global space. The vision will guide and circumscribe the president’s worldview, statements — whether of the critical or self-denigrating variety — and self-worth.
This column does not know any country that achieved greatness without first going through the defining moments stated above. If President Buhari cannot draw inspiration from Russia, United States, Britain, France, Germany and others, he can draw example from Askia (Muhammad Ture) the Great of the Songhai Empire, Mansa Kankan Musa of the Mali Empire, and closer home, the many empires and vibrant kingdoms that inhabited Nigeria’s geographical space. President Buhari will be making a huge mistake to think he can build a great and modernising society on the flimsy ideational foundations of his nostalgia and imagination. Nigeria is at the point where fundamental changes have to be adroitly introduced if the country is to survive, as the Niger Delta unrest is showing. In his first year, the president has not even giving any indication he knows the indispensability of the changes the country needs, or of how to formulate and implement them. And whether in his kitchen or wider cabinet, there is no one who has inspired confidence that rather than venerate the president they can coax him in the right direction, and away from his sometimes surprisingly constricted and bewildering statements and worldview.
Within the confines of the limited ambition of many Nigerians disenchanted with the Jonathan government, President Buhari has done remarkably well to arrest the drift begun especially by his predecessor. But for those highly knowledgeable about world history, the president has not even started, let alone done well. For a country that is not yet a nation, riven as it were by ethnic and religious distrust, and its elite so dissolute and ignorant, there is a crying need for real and substantial change outside the dogmatic confines of partisan politics. To midwife this new system calls for a new elite and leadership able to visualise a constitution that will endure for centuries, and a country where religiosity, ethnocentrism and other forms of intrinsic and acquired parochialisms will not be their hallmarks.
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