The rise in the number of registered voters suggests that the people had believed in the words and promises of the electoral umpire to be fair with the process and based on that had relied heavily on the intention of the umpire so as to elect a leader whom they had desired to turn things around for the good of the nation. The intended voters in Nigeria in the last general election had solely relied on the promises of transparency, integrity good intention offered to them by the electoral umpire through their words and conduct. Simon Sinek affirmed that “Integrity is when our words and deeds are consistent with our intentions.”
Meanwhile, the various political parties that contested in that elections had through their different manifestos promises among other things; change methods of governance, renewed hope, fight corruption to a standstill , accountability, and to continue from where the last government had stopped.
A critical analytical investigation has revealed that people would buy a renewed hope policy, accountability, fight corruption to a standstill, without asking how would it be realized .But to buy out of “where the last government had stopped” seems suicidal, knowing well the pains and impacts of the policies of, police brutality vis a vis end SARS saga, immediate enforcement of cashless economy, currency change without reasonable time and space for swap etc. According to Mr. Akinmade “no right-thinking people would in their right frame of mind imagine travelling that horrendous and dehumanizing paths by voting in a government that would continue from where oppression was the order of the day, not to think of it” He concluded by saying “this cannot be the true intentions of Nigerians. The Nigerian people want to take their destiny into their hands and be fully involved in the trust relationship. They intended to be seen as a stakeholders in the Nigerian project and not be treated as slaves. But what we are witnessing presently is short of what trust and equitable interests in governance connotes .
Arising from the current economic uncertainties in Nigeria, analysts are divided on what the intentions of the government are .While some opined and believes that Nigeria is going in the wrong direction as the government is turning and turning in the widening gyre.
The falcon cannot hear the falconer; the leaders are far from the lead. Things are fall apart; the centre cannot hold” Common food stuffs had turned into gold. The fear in the air is that there is no hope nor renewed hope in view.
Others suggest that, the exorbitant lifestyle of this government doesn’t suggest that the government has come to term and reality with the facts that there is untold economic hardship in the land. Evidently, two square meals is now impossible for millions of families in Nigeria. Even when they have the one meal, there is no hope where the next would come from.
However, pro-government pundits are still pushing their position that what we need (from you the citizens) at this challenging period of our national history is sacrifice, patients and support for the government, with time things would get better.
In comparison ,the cotemporally post elections soci- economic and political realities holds that while the United Kingdom have moved on better in terms of policy revamping and reversal to meet with the intention of the electorates and brought about peaceful environment for governance and normal economic activities , the Nigerian people are yet to witness an overall positive policy impacts but rather encouraging the people to engage in a nationwide protest to demand for up to ten points better service and better governance from their government. The Kenyan expenditure and results according to the social media handlers by now should have send a message to the leaders who believed that they are our landlords.
One thing that widely separated the two divides is the knowledge and usage of data and statistics. In UK any coming government no matter its political party has a data to study and based on that pursue its programs to meet the electorates intentions and interests. Planning and budgeting are made easier with these un-fabricated realistic data. In Nigerian there are data available for the government to rely upon to plan with, these sets of data might be misleading due to many factors such as data fabrication, half truth ,padding etc. The way out for all successful government in Nigeria was to test the waters first before swimming in it. But since this present Nigerian government dammed all consequences to off the light over subsidies without planning for the likely darkness it would bring on it’s people, Time is of the essence for it to mitigate the huzz that comes from the buzz follows its removal.
On every leader’s table are always two card to choose only but one at a time “since subsidy is the collective common wealth of the people, if it means reversing it to ease their suffering why not ? after all it is their inheritance. This might provide them with apple time to re-strategies on how best or when best to withdraw the subsidies ( if its holistically necessary).And by the way is management of subsidies bigger than Nigerian government? .Are the cabal running a cattle system of operations? or think outside the box fast, mind you , palliative can only help to enrich the opportunists in Nigeria so, its not an option, and never would it be .
The words of Oscar Wilde is always a reflective mirror for any meaningful leader who want to untangle itself from the ripples of political upheaval inherited from an uncertain predecessors.
It is always with the best intentions that the worst work is done ( better ).
By: Emenike Justine
@2024
