By Zik Gbemre

Sincerity, Integrity, Honesty, Transparency, People-oriented and Straightforwardness are sacred words and character traits of a Government that are alien to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during its governance of Nigeria in the last 16 years. It is in the light of this that we were not surprised when recently; the PDP camp was at it again with its ridiculous allegations that President Muhammadu Buhari was “demarketing the country” and dissuading foreign investments. The said allegations are not only laughable but also clearly shows that the new opposition seems to have run out of ideas so soon, hence, they have been coming up with one allegation or the other to paint the ruling Buhari Government bad and make themselves seem relevant in the scheme of things. But they should realize that majority of Nigerians now know better and cannot be deceived.

President Mohammadu Buhari

As usual, The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Olisa Metuh, had attacked the President’s claim in India that Nigeria was broke, saying that such claims at international fora tended to worsen the country’s investment climate. Metuh had, in his statement, alleged that such claims by the President were essentially because of his lack of a viable economic plan.

In response, President Muhammadu Buhari has vowed not to shy away from telling Nigerians how the immediate past administration allegedly plundered the economy, irrespective of anyone’s feelings. Responding to allegations by the PDP, that he was ‘demarketing the country’ and dissuading foreign investments, the President vowed that the relentless tackles of the opposition party would not in any way dissuade him from his obligations to the citizenry and the international community. Responding also, Presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, said that Metuh’s attempts to distract the President from focusing on his job would fail, maintaining that he was a broken record.

The statement read in part: “Our attention has been drawn to the latest statement by the PDP spokesman, Olisa Metuh, alleging that President Muhammadu Buhari is ‘demarketing Nigeria’. We restate for the umpteenth time to Mr. Metuh and his ilk that their attempts to distract President Buhari from the job he has been elected to do will fail. President Buhari will remain true to the virtues of honesty, integrity, sincerity, incorruptibility and plain-speaking, which endeared him to Nigerians and made them prefer his leadership to that of a lying and deceptive PDP administration. The President will not, in the guise of ‘marketing’ the country, refrain from telling Nigerians and the world, the emerging truths about the abject state in which years of plundering by a PDP leadership has left the Nigerian treasury and economy. President Buhari will not in the name of ‘marketing’ or ‘attracting’ investors, follow in the footsteps of the ousted PDP administration and its discredited officials, who shamelessly lied to Nigerians and the world about the buoyancy and vibrancy of an economy they had bled dry for personal gain, when it was very obvious to the discerning, that the Nigerian economy was headed for serious trouble.”

As rightly noted by Adesina: “Daily, we hear the same jaded, hackneyed allegations from them (the PDP). I think they really are to be pitied; they need help. A broken record that repeats itself ceaselessly is of no use than to be thrown away.” The PDP latest stunt of allegation against the Buhari Government is evidence of the fact that they have been a “Government of deception” – by creating a false impression to the outside world about Nigeria just to make themselves look good, whereas, all has not been well because they have plundered the nation’s resources with reckless abandon and impunity. It is sad that during the years of the PDP in government, we saw a government that displayed ‘gross insincerity’ in its dealings and activities with the public and the international community. Never have we seen or witnessed a government that loves to use all manner of ‘publicity stunts’ to make itself look good in the eyes of the world. Just like we had seen exhibited by the former Delta State PDP-led Government of Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan and his cousin James Ibori and now Ifeanyi Okowa. In fact, such publicity stunts by the then PDP at the Federal level and in States like Delta, were often coated with ‘sweet talks/write ups’ that pleased only the eyes and ears but all aimed at deceiving the public.

We do not subscribe to the idea of any Government, be it at the Federal and State level, to creating a ‘false’ impression about the Nigerian economy to the international community in the name of attracting investments. Such deception never pays off at the end because one of the indices that promote any business or partnership between countries or individuals is ‘integrity’ and ‘honesty.’ But because the PDP camp does not have these traits in their character and vocabulary, they find it strange when President Buhari visited India and expressed the true state affairs in Nigeria.

What the PDP camp do not understand is that foreign investors often have information and know more about the countries they intend to invest in, even more than the citizens of such countries. We are living in the ‘information age where the world is now a global village’, hence the access to information regarding any country is just a click away. Aside the advance in Information Technology that has made this possible, most of these foreign investors get information about everything going on in Nigeria from their partners and International Corporations that are already operating in Nigeria. For instance, International Oil Companies (IOCs) like Shell give adequate feedback to the home country about everything going on in Nigeria and its economic prospects. So any Government that would ‘lie’ to foreign investors about the true state of the Nigerian economy, especially whenever they travel abroad, will be doing so at their own peril and not in the interest of the country.

So if President Buhari had told ‘lies’ about the true state of the Nigerian economy, for fear of discouraging foreign investors form coming into the country, he would be seen as a ‘dishonest leader’ who cannot be trusted to go into any business or bilateral relationship with. This is something the immediate past PDP Government seriously lacked, hence, investors often look from a far because they considered the then Federal Government as one that cannot be trusted. There is nothing like a Government being honest with the international community concerning the true state of things in its country. Aside the fact that it breeds ‘trust’ amongst stakeholders, it also creates room for the underdeveloped country (in this case, Nigeria) to get the needed help and assistant to address their problems. The foreign investors are then better informed to adjust themselves, to know how and where to come in to invest in the country and get the benefits thereof.

The PDP camp should be reminded that the Nigerian economy did not just get bad within the five months running of the APC-led President Buhari Government. The Nigerian economy has suffered more damage in the last 16 years of the PDP-led Government than we have seen with the present Government so far. In fact, the present deplorable state of the Nigerian economy is due to the lack of planning and honest implementation of laudable policies and programs by the PDP-led Government. The high level of corruption with impunity exhibited by the PDP-led Government, especially in the immediate past administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, has left the Nigerian economy in dire state which the present administration is trying to remedy. The PDP-led Government had the opportunity to ‘diversify the Nigerian economy’, especially with the good revenues from oil it enjoyed in the last 16 years, but they blew that opportunity with their self-centered interest and corrupt tendencies. If the PDP-led Government had succeeded in diversifying the Nigerian economy and using the oil wealth to invest in improving the economy, we would not be where we are today with the adverse effect of falling oil revenues.

Agreed that there is need for the Private sector (both foreign and domestic) to partner more with the public sector in the actualization of desired developmental objectives in a nation, but it is the government (public sector) that should ‘oil the system’ for any economic investment by the Private sector to thrive. In fact, the Organized Private Sector is regarded as the ‘drivers of an economy’ while the Federal and State Governments are seen as the ‘enablers of the economy.’ It is not enough for Nigerian Governors to just be urging private foreign investors to come and invest in the country due to the numerous benefits derivable from such, when they have done little or nothing on their own part as Governments, to attract these investors in the first place. All the so called economic forums investments summits, and abroad trips often embarked by Nigerian Governments  amount to funfairs, jamboree of a gathering and nothing because they were not backed by ‘concrete incentives’ to attract  investors to invest in the country.

Investors within and outside the country will always respond to ‘incentives’ when provided by the Governments. Such incentives would obviously include creating a more conducive business environment, reducing taxes, rates, demands by State and Local government agencies and officials and host communities, improving security and engaging in massive social and basic infrastructural development like steady power supply and good roads in the State, etc, all of which should be in place before anything. In other words, the Nigerian Government have to show some element of seriousness, by addressing pressing insecurity issues like terrorism, kidnapping, armed robbery, community youths violence/restiveness and demands, decayed and non-existing basic amenities and infrastructure etc. These are issues the PDP-led Government could not address in their 16 years of being in power. They should also not expect Buhari of the APC to perform magic within five months. The present Government would have to first address the ills left behind by the immediate past PDP-led administration. In fact, the present insecurity we see today in Nigeria started and aggravated during the 16 years of the PD-led Government. So they should relax.

Speaking of foreign investors, we do not see Governments of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for instance going about the globe looking for investors to come and invest in places like Dubai, Qatar etc. They focus on developing their economies, basic infrastructure and security assurance and by extension, automatically attract foreign investors to come and invest in their cities. That is what is expected of any serious-minded Government. The PDP never did much in this area in the 16 years of governance. Rather, they were only good at painting a ‘false picture’ of the Nigerian economy and what they were doing, hence they were never really taken seriously by foreign investors who knew better. So the PDP should stop their deceptive tendencies.

Like we have often emphasized, we are not saying that the political party in the opposition does not have the right to criticize the ruling government of the day. What we are saying here is that such criticism should not only be ‘constructive and objective’, but also with the primary intent to project/protect the interest of the Nigerian people; without necessarily making the ruling government look bad while the new opposition is painted as the saint that can only lead the nation. This politics of ‘bitterness’ being by the PDP camp within the polity is not in the best interest of the Nigerian citizenry.

The PDP should be advised to always focus on ‘issues of national interest’ rather than attacking every action (even when the action is noble), of President Buhari as a person. President Buhari is already well-known as a very principled and disciplined leader who not only portrays a life of modesty and high moral standards, but has also demonstrated that he frowns against corruption and impunity. Perhaps, it is this reality that has instilled fear in the hearts of past political leaders of the PDP, which have now made them to be crying and making so much fuss against the actions of the present government. But regardless of one’s political party, we believe what makes a political leader to perform differently from another is in their character, integrity, moral standards and personal principles. This is what has separated President Buahri from the past political leaders we have had in the last 16 years of the country’s democracy. It is the individual that primarily makes all the difference between ‘good governance’ and ‘bad governance’, not necessarily the political party. The political party, especially in Nigeria where most of them do not have clear cut ‘ideologies’ for the nation, is just a platform through which political leaders are elected into public office.

So at the end of the day, it is the person that occupies the seat that makes all the needed change and difference in the polity, even though the political party will always be echoed at the front of events. We therefore ask the PDP to sheath their swords of a smear campaign against the ruling APC government under President Bahari. What should matter most to all are the “general interest of Nigerians” and not the interest of any political party. For the Presidency, we strongly advise that they must remain focused and refuse to be distracted in the provision of democracy dividends to the masses despite all efforts by the opposition to paint this administration in a bad light. Nigerians must also support President Buhari in his efforts to make Nigeria great again. We believe the President is doing his best for this country; many years of decay will take also many years to repair or fix. Running of government is not ‘bread and butter’. Let us be patient with the President and stop unnecessary criticisms and name calling. When criticisms are logic-based and objective, it is good, and part of any progressive entity.

Zik Gbemre, JP.

National Coordinator

Niger Delta Peace Coalition (NDPC)