Tuesday with Abdulazeez Abdullahi
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One of the reasons Barack Obama enjoyed a huge followership including outside the United States in the run up to the elections in 2008 was not so much his youthfulness or the fact that he was a black man seeking the most powerful job on earth for the first time in the history of that country, it was essentially because he campaigned on the platform of change with the promise of a departure from the old ways and to take the country on a new direction.
Back then there was so much disgust with the way the Bush administration was handling the economic meltdown that saw America record its worst unemployment rate in decades in addition to the sub prime mortgage mess. The war in Afghanistan and especially Iraq that many thought the country had no business going into in the first place was also another factor why Obama’s candidature was seen as a breath of fresh air that had the potential to change things for the better. Whether all those expectations have been met is to be seen in the fullness of time.
The same also can be said of the David Cameron/Nick Clegg coalition government in the United Kingdom which came to power as a result of voters disenchantment with the 13 – year old Labour government first under Tony Blair and subsequently Gordon Brown who was recently adjudged one of the worst Prime Ministers Britain has ever had. While on the campaign trail for the Conservative and Liberal Democrats respectively, both David Cameron and Nick Clegg promised radical shifts from the Labour Party’s policies with promises of far reaching reform that will bring about a better Britain. It was this platform of change that swayed voters to hand Labour its worst election defeat in decades with outcome being the hung parliament that necessitated the coalition government now in place.
Nigeria is on the verge of a possible change of government with elections due in a few months but non of the candidates that have so far declared their intention to run for the exalted position has offered any worth while alternative that will see the country out of the doldrums. About a week ago, both former military President General Ibrahim Babangida and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar formally signified their intention to contest the presidency. A week before them, the Kano state Governor, Ibrahim Shekarau also made a formal declaration to vie under the opposition All Nigeria Peoples Party.
To the disappointment of many observers, however, neither of the three has proffered new directions which he intends to take the country when given the mandate. Both Ibrahim Babangida and Atiku Abubakar only succeeded in foisting a campaign that from all indication is going to be centered around their personality not necessarily what they have to offer. The theme of their messages dwelt more on the so called experience they have gained as a result of the high positions they held in past governments.
Atiku Abubakar’s declaration came the closest to offering something new but it fell short on details of how change is actually going to come about. With the punch line “Making good things happen” he outlined five areas he said needed urgent intervention namely; employment generation and wealth creation, power generation and infrastructural development, security, good governance and war against corruption, education, health and social services and lastly the Niger Delta {Are these not all captured in the present government’s Seven – Point Agenda?] The former vice president however did not articulate how these problems are going to be solved other than to promise that given the chance we shall tackle together them. These are the same old problems that successive governments have pledged to solve but here we are fifty years after independence, someone is still making those same promises.
Babangida’s speech at his interactive session with journalists in Minna where he reaffirmed his commitment to go the whole hug this time around, in my view, was laden with more rhetoric that substance. It dwelt more on his record of service - for which he deserves some credit - and an attempt to clear the air on those nagging issues that have dogged him since leaving office such as the Okigbo Report in which his critics allege he was indicted over the misuse of proceeds of the Gulf War oil windfall, the Dele Giwa murder and the annulled June 12 elections. There was nothing in it to let us know the new direction the former General intends to lead the country.
Poor leadership has long been identified as the singular reason why the country has remained in the league of underdeveloped nations of the world and to my mind it has basically been for the particular fact that those we have had the misfortune of leading us have not come up with clear cut solutions for solving our problems. We lack steady power supply, our road are still in bad condition as are our hospitals, naturally anyone seeking a political office will promise to solve these problems but the question we must always ask them and insist they answer convincingly is; how are they going to solve them? The present government, for instance, promised to deliver 4,000 megawatts of electricity by December last year but failed, what we now would like to hear from presidential contenders is why the target was impossible to achieve, what did the government do wrongly and what a new government will do to achieve and even surpass it.
If we fail to put them to task on these, then we will be saddled with the same old approach to issues where government throws money at problems in the hope of a quick fix instead of identifying root causes of the problems and solving them for good.
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