If it is meant to be a joke, then someone should tell the yamheads at the Mo Ibrahim Foundation that it’s one joke carried too far. How can they rub our face on granite and expect us to smile? Even a blind man here knows that there is a ‘transformation agenda’ on stream. It is moving at a frenetic pace and the fever is catching fast. Its impact can be felt in all areas of our economy, sports, politics, and social life and even, in all our homes. When President Goodluck Jonathan assumed power some years back, he took time to outline his vision and even though Nigerians have less than vague perceptions of it, those who are close to him would tell you that he has never wavered on any of those visions. A democrat par excellence, Jonathan, unlike others before him, has allowed the opposition to thrive. He is not one to hound critics out of town, send security forces after them, revoke their plots of land or silence them with subtle threat. You can hardly come across a gentleman with nobler intentions than the Otuoke-born leader of Africa’s largest gathering of the black race.
In case members of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation’s Independence Prize Committee don’t know, they do the continent no good in the yearly ritual of foraging for former African leaders worthy of its $5 million Prize for Excellence in Leadership. What is a mere $5 million to the leader of a country where crude oil worth billions of dollars routinely disappear every week? What is the point when there is an abundance of living legends in government houses scattered across the continent? Okay, maybe it would be difficult to push an argument that the legendary wizard of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, who recently won a moon slide election that may see him die in office, should be given the prize. Of course, he may not have been a success story in terms of changing the fortunes of his people. But no one can deny his first class grade in excelling in all elections he participated in. What riles Knucklehead is the MIF’s statement on the Nigerian nation. It is shocking, to say the least, that in spite of the unprecedented transformation and silent revolution going on in Nigeria, all that the MIF could come up with was a warped rating which places us in 41st position out of the 52 countries it claimed to have rated. If we may ask, what were the parameters used in this assessment? Who sponsored it? Which of the political parties did the members belong to? Was there any ulterior motive to play politics since 2015 is fast approaching? How were the members selected? What marking scheme, if any, did they use? And how truly ‘independent’ were the members of the MIF committee? As usual, Nigerian government must have seen the hands of the opposition in this rating.
If these guys were not specially selected to denigrate the highly respected and infallible office of the Nigerian President, they would have taken time to visit Nigeria in order to have a fair assessment of what is on the ground. Such visit would have afforded them the opportunity to meet one-on-one with our amiable President and experience our rare hospitality. We are a grateful nation and we do not mind doling out huge gifts that will enable assessors see our truly good side.I have no doubt that the story would have been different if they had allowed our Minister of Information to take them on a two-day good governance tour of this construction jungle. In a country where the citizenry’s adrenaline daily gets pumped with excitement about the uncommon leadership acumen of President Jonathan and his team, it is befuddling that the MIF would rather see an infinitesimal increase of 0.8 per cent in governance impact since year 2000 as the only cheering news in that damning report. And as if that was not bad enough, we were ranked 13th out of 16 in the West African region with a score of 43.4 per cent which is even lower than the regional average of 52.5 per cent!
The MIF buried its teeth deeper into the bones by insisting that its 2013 Ibrahim Index for African Governance (IIAG) indicated that Nigeria performed woefully in three out of the four categories of governance which included safety and rule of law, participation and human rights, sustainable economic opportunity and human development. Thankfully and in spite of the burgeoning youth unemployment, the country was ranked 33 out of the 52 countries rated. It was 42nd in safety and rule of law and 49th in personal safety. Be that as it may, I assume the implication of our rating in the personal safety sub-category is not lost on us. Does it mean that we are still sitting on a tinderbox sans the ‘achievements’ that have been recorded by this administration in the fight against terror? Is that all that we could get from the billions of dollars invested on security in the last three years?
Curiously, those who should speak against this callous, damaging and politically-motivated MIF’s rating appear to have grown cold feet since it was released. Truth is, we have fistfuls of bad news already. So, an additional one can be met with unreserved indifference. Or, could it be that these characters are simply tired of reeling out the President’s achievements to a deaf audience? Or, maybe they have chosen to ignore the snarl of the enemies of the state from outside? Whatever it is, I believe that they need to counter this foul smell oozing out of the chambers of the MIF with the sweet-scented fragrance of those uncommon achievements being baked in President Jonathan’s kitchen. By now, they should be tired of throwing umbrage and launching a rash of abusive languages on local politicians at every drop of a critique of Jonathan’s presumed cluelessness in power. Sometimes, they need to export their atrocious arrogance and atavistic brashness to the backyards of interloping busy-bodies like the MIF and its ilk.
The other day, those poor folks at the Transparency International attempted to cry more than the bereaved by claiming a total failure in the fight against corruption. But we shouted them down that we were on top of the situation. Today, the MIF, frustrated that no African leader (dead, living or even serving) is working towards winning its miserly prize of $5 million, has turned its focus on Nigeria. Does the MIF think anyone gives a hoot about that ‘princely’ prize when it is what most domestic aides in some government houses package as birthday gift to their paramours? It rates us low on safety, rule of law, economic development, participation and human rights. It says that Liberia (a country that we saved from the ravages of war and poverty) and Angola have improved rapidly since 2000. Do they expect us to swallow this bitter, demeaning pill and pretend that all is well?
Don’t get it wrong. I have lived in this country long enough to understand that things are not that rosy. I know that, as I write this, government tertiary institutions have been under lock and key for 110 days due to lecturers’ strike. I know that the uncommon and gargantuan corruption in Nigeria has been wrestled into submission by largely indifferent government officials who claimed to have entered the ring with it. I know that the standards of medical facilities have improved tremendously, now that we spend a meagre N250bn on medical tourism annually. I know medical doctors are on strike, seeking improved pay package. I am also conversant with the billions of dollars that have been spent on the provision of megawatts of darkness across the nation. How could I have forgotten how the more than 70 per cent of our poor citizens forage for faith in the most agonising circumstances? I have heard countless stories of deferred dreams and broken promises in the face of uncommon existential challenges. I read about the millions who are out of school and the millions who have certificates but couldn’t get jobs anywhere. Everywhere you turn, there is always that large image of the stupendously rich trampling on the poor. All this has become the routine of daily living in Nigeria.
But, it is not all bad news. If it were that bad, then saintly people like Dr.DoyinOkupe would not be sticking out their necks for Jonathan or any other ‘leader’ for that matter. This is why their silence on this MIF’s killer punch is deleterious to the wellbeing of all of us. Okupe and all those who hold the many files of the President’s countless achievements would be doing him a world of good by barking back at the MIF people now! The attack should be swift and rash! They need to show them that this latest report may jeopardise the works of a man who, in less than three years in government, has done more than what the past winners did in their respective countries. They include the likes of President JoaquimChissano of Mozambique (2007), President Festus Mogae of Botswana (2008), President Pedro Pires of Cape Verde (2011) and President Nelson Mandela of South Africa. These men were, no doubt, icons of good governance. We do not begrudge them. But we insist that what we have in Nigeria is an extraordinary leader that deserves praises from the MIF not such knocks and questionable governance index that pushes him down under!
Thankfully, Okupe has the facts at his fingertips. It is his responsibility to make those facts available to the MIF’s committee in order to stave off this national embarrassment. Were they aware that this government has spent over N453.8 billion from the Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SURE-P) on the complete turnaround of roads? Did they have the figures of our humongous spending on education, health, housing, welfare and youth empowerment, amnesty programme for Niger Delta youth, power, energy and infrastructures? Have they been told about how all parts of the country now enjoy a minimum of 20-hour electricity supply daily? Were they kept abreast of the valiant fight against corruption and the engagement of incorruptible aides, ministers and hangers-on by the President? Lest I forget, we should also remind these Mo Ibrahim Foundation jokers that all the ministers in charge of various sectors of our economy have acquitted themselves creditably well in the eyes of the common citizen that they now spend millions of naira buying bullet proof vehicles, flying in private jets or living in heavily-fortified mansions! By the time we bombard the MIF’s office with these and many other monumental achievements too numerous to mention here, those guys would indeed feel the impact of a choking breath of fresh air that has turned otherwise right-thinking persons into high-decibel praise-singers! Will the president’s accredited official megaphones take up the challenge now?
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