NATIONAL DISCOURSE ON STATE OF THE NATION: A SPEECH PRESENTED BY ZIK GBEMRE, JP, ON THURSDAY 12TH JUNE, 2014, AT THE OPENING CEREMONY OF NATIONAL REFORMER NEWSPAPER’S OFFICE IN WARRI, DELTA STATE

Without mincing words, I would like to start by saying that the current state of the Nigerian nation is one that reminds us of some of the phrases made popular by the late Afro beat musician, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, these phrases include: “Nigeria Jaga jaga everything scatter scatter”, “Suffering and Smiling” and “Upside down”; all of which describes the deplorable status of Nigeria where everything is going from bad to worse and often to the detriment of the poor masses. As sad as this may sound, that is the unfortunate ‘reality’ facing the Nigerian populace; where the standard of life and everything in the polity has been on a downward trend of deterioration. Aside the obvious insecurity in the land, which has become a persistent nightmare that has practically rendered our Nigerian government helpless and clueless, every sector of the Nigerian polity, is in a state of chaos. It is as if we are taking one step forward and two steps backward as a developing nation.

A cursory chronicle of Nigeria’s successive regimes till date would graphically show that the crucial problem facing the Nigerian masses since independence was, and still is, how to institute a truly democratic society where the citizens’ general interests and welfare are consistently catered for by the political class within a society that is free from rancour. We all would agree with the fact that Nigeria, despite being a supposed democratic entity that has adopted the Presidential System of government similar to that of the United States of America (USA), has however not been able to ensure that its citizens enjoys the dividends and benefits of a democratic system. It is even more frustrating and disturbing when we consider the fact that Nigeria as a nation is blessed with overwhelming natural and human resources, yet more than 70 percent of her citizen are living on less than a dollar per day. While the few that are in corridors of power and the elite class, are living in stupendous wealth. For me, the best way to describe the Nigerian political and socio-economic experiences since independence is that it has been abitter and sweet one; bitter for majority of us and sweet for some selected few that have tasted political power and have refused to leave that circle. And even within this privileged circle, there is still much bitterness, rivalry, and bad blood that are often attributed to “insatiable greed and quest for political power”. At the end of the day, it is the poor masses that bear the grunt.

One of the major issue that has contributed greatly to the present deplorable state of Nigeria is ’poverty’. Poverty amongst majority of the Nigerian populace, and of course, ‘insatiable greed’ amongst the privileged few in the corridors of power, is the contributing factors responsible for all the ills in our society today. We all would agree with the fact that when a man is able to earn a living to take care of himself and provide for his family, there is little or nothing for the society to worry about regarding such a man doing the unthinkable that can disrupt public peace and harmony. But when this is not the case, the society should be rest assured that its youthful population that are not gainfully employed or engaged in worthwhile economic activities, will continue to pose as threats to the sanctity and peace of such a society. Unfortunately, Nigeria is one country that has been battling with the cankerworm of ‘unemployment’ of its able-bodied youths for as long as we can remember. And the situation is getting worst by the day.

Like the say, “an idle mind/hand is the devils workshop.” When our graduate youths are left without jobs and the wealth and resources of the nation are daily misappropriated and recycled in the hands of few, then let us be rest assured that doomsday will soon behold us. We are already seeing and witnessing glimpse of this problem with the level of insecurity evident in the country. We are now faced with graduate youths that have gone ‘sophisticated’ in criminal activities from kidnapping, cyber-crime, armed robbery, assassins, fraudsters, drug pushers, militancy, terrorism, crude oil/condensate theft and all manner of crime you can think off.

There is no sector in Nigeria today that is not currently being overwhelmed with problems of varying degrees. Is it the Power sectorthat has been made worst with the Privatization process, the Agriculturalsector that is still mostly subsistent, the Transport sector that is bedeviled with bad and non-existing road networks plus an archaic and insufficient Railway system, etc. Even the Aviation sector that is supposed to portray the Nigerian Image in good light to foreigners who come visiting the country, is going from bad to worse.

On a daily basis, it is increasingly becoming clear that most of our political leaders at all levels do not have the ‘will,’ ‘commitment,’ the heart of ‘service,’ the integrity, the Charismatic and patriotic spirit and theresponsiveness to judiciously use the abundant available resources in their domain for the overall benefit of all citizen. The obvious ‘insincerity’evident in the government’s response towards addressing the insecurity situation in the country is evidence of this fact. At one moment it looks as if we are making a positive headway in terms of development as a nation, at other times everything seems like we are on a retrogressive course, moving backwards or remaining stagnant. Rather than things get better, they are getting worst by the day and the unfortunate thing is that in the midst of this chaos, some highly placed persons are ‘benefiting’ from the woes of others.

When we consider the ‘do-or-die’ atmosphere that are usually noticed before, during and after general elections in Nigeria, we would then understand that the ‘motives’ of most Nigerian politicians who have made up their minds to become political leaders; is never about ‘service’; neither is it about bringing any ground vision of rapid development of one’s community and country to square up with its counterpart anywhere in the world. If it were; and if the ‘motives’ were right, Nigeria would have undergone tremendous transformation in our supposed Democratic dispensation. Nigerian politicians have over the years, succeeded in making the country’s electoral system and the process to be ridden withfraudulent electoral malpractices of the highest order. So much so that, the issues of thuggery, electoral violence and godfatherism have become synonymous with Nigeria’s electoral process; that Nigerians no longer have an idea of what it means to witness a ‘free and fair’ election in the country. Sadly, the Nigerian Judiciary that is supposed to be the “last hope of the common man”, has been rubbished by the compromising tendencies of some Judges assigned to hear sensitive civil and criminal cases (involving high profile government officials) in the country. In fact, a lot of Nigerians have completely lost hope/faith in the judicial process, in ensuring that the voice of the masses are heard and given true justice; especially in the delivery of court judgments on sensitive election petition matters and corruption cases. This has left Nigerians in a perpetual state of hopelessness; as past court judgments on electoral and corruption cases had clearly indicated

On the other side of the coin, the “followers”, as the citizen, are seriously not helping matters because they have been encouraging those at government circles as political leaders to brazenly misappropriate/stealpublic funds with reckless abandon and impunity. It is only in Nigeria that ‘thieves’ in political circles are celebrated and exulted. People tend to ‘worship’ and respect those that are in government circles who obviously, from their lavish lifestyle and affluence in wealth, indicate that they have been misappropriating public funds under their care. Imagine a situation where someone, who some few months back, was struggling to fend for himself and family. All of a sudden finds himself in government circles and within months, the person has fleet of state of the art luxury cars and different mansions all over the country. Nobody cares to ask questions and find out the sudden change of financial status. Rather, people tend to worship and adore such a criminal in government. As one that steals in government circles, you tend to have more followers in Nigeria.

When, on the other hand, one decides to be upright at all cost and refuse to compromise standards in the appropriation of public funds, one is often tamed as a ‘fool’. And since the show of wealth will not be there, one is termed as “money miss road.” In fact, in some communities, such an individual whose integrity is intact in the management of public resources, is written off as a ‘nobody’. As someone who does not know how to ‘take advantage of his position in government to amass publicfunds, better his/her life and that of his/her family, friends andfollowers/supporters. In other words, majority of Nigerians as followers, respect and give more value to riches (no matter the means one acquires it), than moral values like honesty, integrity, accountability, hardwork,selfless services in public office and so on. It is rather unfortunate that those who have stolen and misappropriated our public wealth are worshipped and adorned with all manner of nicknames and chieftaincytitles with which they are praised by their followers. Traditional rulers and supposed Ministers of the Gospel/Church Pastors, have equally joined the band-wagon of praise–singers, as long as their hands are constantly greased with generous gifts and offerings as the case may be. They are more than ready to compromise the traditional system and Biblical principles/standards of doing things. The level of corruption andmediocrity over the years in circles of government is amongst the reasons we believe, that is fueling the level of insecurity in the country.

For us to move forward as a nation, firstly, we seriously need to address the anomalies with our Electoral System and make the peoples’ votes to really count in elections; be it at the Local Government Council levels, State Government or the Federal Government level. We are made to believe that Democracy is based on the principles of the government of the people, by the people and for the people. But in Nigeria, it is “government of the few, by the few and for the few”.This has to change. We must put aside ‘self-centered’ interests’ and ‘godfatherism’ for the ‘general interest’ of ‘all’ to take center stage. We should always seek and elect those that can deliver in public service, irrespective of where they are from. What should matter most to us is the person’s integrity and competency to deliver. To this end, we should not sale our votes for ephemeral benefits or allowed to be used by greedy politicians to compromise our future and that of our children. The Nigerian Judiciary, through the Election Tribunals, should also stand by delivering elections cases that would be seen to be fair and just.

Secondly, there is need for us to make government positions/public offices “unattractive”, so that politicians who are interested in one public office of the other, will go into public service to ‘serve’ and not to amass public funds. And one of the best ways for us to do this is to adopt the Parliamentary System of Government like we have in the United Kingdom (UK). With this in place, our lawmakers at the National and State levels will be on ‘part time’ basis. While Political Parties, will not only be seen to have ‘internal democracy’ but will also be the ‘regulating agent’ that would determine the political future of its members and checkmate their ‘excesses’ in vying for political positions. In the UK for instance, Councilors and Members of Parliament (MPs), which is equivalent of Nigeria’s Lawmakers, are seen using ‘public transports’ like Trains to go to work. They are only seen once in a while driving themselves (and maybe with family members), to functions. UK Councilors only get an allowance because the United Kingdom discourages people that venture into politics as a career rather than serving people. Politics is all about ‘serving’, and that is what we have to make it become in this country.   Politics is about serving, it is about being able to play vital roles in bringing better lives to people, in making things better. But the Nigerian politicians do not think that way; there perception of politics is about career. If you want to become a career politician, then you can become a political journalist, you can join a think-tank and you can become a policy adviser. Those are ways to make politics a career, but when you are putting yourself forward for an election, what you telling people is, “I want to represent you”, I want to make things better for you’, but our Nigerian politicians do the opposite. This has to change.

Thirdly, and most importantly, we seriously need to re-think, re-evaluate and change our ‘value system’. Today, we respect and give more value to riches (no matter the means one acquires it), than moral values like honesty, integrity, accountability, hard work, selfless service in public office and so on. These were the values upon which the Nigeria of yesteryears was built. But today, all that is meaningless. And that is why we have Electoral laws and Anti–graft laws that are constantly being flouted and not followed, especially within the political circles, but no one has been sent to jail or made to face the full wrath of the law. The fuel subsidy scam, the Police Pension scam, the many high-profile corruption cases and fraudulent electoral judgments’, are clear good examples of what we are saying.

Today, we have a situation where our political class ‘select’ the laws they want to implement and respect the ones they want to obey. Even in the enactment and amendment of laws, we see our lawmakers and political leaders selectively expunge, block or unnecessarily delay the passage of bills and sections of laws that do not suit their selfish needs and pursuits. This has left us with lawmakers and political leaders who are not willing or readily predisposed to use, practice, and implement laws that will not favour them. And of course, when the political class as ‘leaders’ are ‘disrespectful’ to the rule of law and are making  mockery of the Judiciary with their ‘manipulative’ and ‘infiltrating’ tendencies, then we should not expect anything different from the ‘followers’, who are always at the ‘receiving end’. This has to change.

Nigeria is a nation where lofty and admirable “plans” are constantly made “without execution”. A nation where ‘good laws’ are regularly enacted, reviewed and amended but hardly “followed” in all sincerity of purpose. Some say “It is in our character,” others call it “the Nigerian factor,” but whatever it is, it did not just spring-up all of sudden. It started from our political leaders not being ‘good examples’ nor ‘fulfilling promises made’ to the citizen; who in turn have decided to follow suit. Where does that leave our future children; practical hopeless nation without the “right foundation” will always be replete with problems. I am not being pessimist here, but only being blunt by stating the hard truth as it is. And that is why I believe the media has a great role to play in re-shaping the Nigeria society with the right values. As such, reports on issues in the polity should only be the ‘truth’ and nothing but the ‘truth’. It is my prayer that the National Reformer Newspaper, as a media outlet in this part of the country, will rightly inform the Nigerian public with proper investigative reporting that is built on the truth without compromising standards.

Thank You.