WHAT IF BUHARI IS WHO NIGERIA NEEDS?

The heights of national development has no peak. It is a relentless strife to learn from past errors, consolidate past successes, uncover new benchmarks and tackle emerging challenges. It is best when there is a roadmap to guide and a bound to keep things together. That gives foresight and registers a reference for future operations so that the present consult the antecedent before an elaboration of future plans. But where there is neither a plan nor a strong bound, it does not necessarily dissolve into nonexistence, not if there is a strong will for its survival. Plans can be drawn and bounds unveiled to establish its paths to great heights but there must be a vision and then stability.
Buhari’s second coming was predictably accompanied by a backlash. Though he is constitutionally eligible and has support of friends and family who regard his health than any average Nigerian, he had promised just a term in office and the opposition are projecting the dark horizon in security to buttress their positions. While the fact of insecurity cannot be jettisoned, the Nigerian people must consider carefully what viable alternatives are available. An ex-convict, youths or statesmen soiled in corruption allegation? A more comprehensive list will emerge with time but the state of our nation will remain unchanged if we don’t learn from past errors and consolidate past successes; if we do not leap for stability in governance.
One problem that permeates political and public terrains in Nigeria is the lack of absolution. There is always a problem in leadership which in effect create a vacuum that successive administrations widen, contributing their quota to an endless vicious cycle. The thirst to replace the incumbent does not bring annihilation but an extension of the cycle’s longevity. So Buhari has chosen an internationally acclaimed course of action to tackle corruption and we owe our union the benefit of a doubt to allow him to run it through. In this light, we cannot disparage his administration as one without a gleam of hope. The introduction of BVN and TSA policy implementation are good innovations, the Nigerian foreign reserve has since boomed, inflation is at its lowest in 4 years, recession is bygone and agriculture is yielding. These are inescapable doubts for any judge/jury to acquit an accused.
As Nigerians we must understand that our situation is an accumulation of 104 years of mistakes that cannot all be rectified in 4 years. A particular mistake is in leadership and it is totally unacceptable when the likes of Obasanjo, Babangida and Falae feign patriotism and erect a stumbling block against someone trying undo their misdeeds. Their charade begs the question of what particular sacrifice they’ve made for Nigeria. Nigerians have indulged their lifestyles and furnished their coffers, but on matters such as this, they do not deserve an audience. And if Buhari is risking his health for stability in in governance, we must at least reckon his efforts as laudable.
The Americans, who preconditioned our democratic destiny, maintain a conventional 8 years term of office for their presidents. The rationale is not farfetched, with new administrations there are set benchmarks and unforeseen setbacks. The dignity in representation is according a tackling chance for these challenges. Until all is expended, a government cannot be tainted a failure. The mechanics of democracy vest much not all power in the President, so even with a strong will there is only little to compel the compliance of other organs in governance. Except there is a total overhaul of the system, procedures will occasion delays; these delays are not necessarily denials.
On restructuring, the president is right. Restructuring is the dark loom that will herald a shattered Nigeria and we must expel it. The idea of having three nations in one country is the prelude to the dissolution of that country. Regional governments served their purposes in the 1st & 2nd republics. The Nigerian identity was not fully crystallized so the three regions worked effectively at different fronts to integrate the country. To a degree it served its purpose but we cannot revert to that system without risking dissolution. The problem of governance cannot be solved by complicating government but by right apportionment of power to the existing ones (tiers of government). The scopes of both concurrent and residual lists should be elaborated to entrench state and local government autonomy. Issues such as state policing will suffice in this regard but essentially a more accountable grassroot government should be empowered. The bound that binds Nigeria is the Federal government but if it is stifled, the Nigeria spirit will be utterly quenched. It is for this the constitution has affirmed the indissolubility of the Nigerian state, a problem that has in contemporary times plagued European and African countries.
Nigeria comes first and our fate rests not on stratifying our regions but on entrenching a common sense of purpose and enlivening the Nigerian spirit. This national identity must soar high beyond any ethnic inclinations, it must permeate both public and political institutions or our union will unravel like the Western powers predicted. But it must start from the foundations, as Nigerians we must decide our fate from effective grassroot representation and work it up. Many of our problems are within the purview of the state and local government. These are the proper fronts from which to channel our grievances and a champion our national destiny.
Undoubtedly, it behooves on the Federal government to empower both state and local government, preserve its identity and entrench its character and democracy in its true sense. Any democratic nation thrives on the strength of its law and law givers. Nigeria, in this case, is still a farcry from effective law enforceability, the national assembly is ignorant of its true purpose and the end is an unsteady judiciary. But there is hope if our bound is unbroken, there is hope if the electorate unseat all self-serving legislators, there is hope if we leap for stability.