Yuletide: The people think 2013, their leaders think 2015

 Culled from BusinessDay Newspaper of 29/12/012

Thank God Christmas has come and gone again and in a few days, the New Year. But there’s a tug between the leaders and the led. For the led, it’s surviving the next year, nay the next day. On the 31st. there’ll be CROSS-OVER and you’ll see what I mean.

Why not when jobs are lost and family roles twisted, why not when it’s not sure parents can afford to send their wards back to school, when the roads aren’t safe anymore, when one figure is kidnapped and hundreds of millions called forth from a rat-hole, why not when queuing hours for fuel isn’t strange yet again and other why nots? All these make the people wonder what 2013 will bring. They’ve not forgotten Boko and its mindless acts. The cry remains, ‘who’ll save us?

The politicians reply with,  ‘go and dance’. So, it’s carnival all the way. I watched this in Port-Harcourt recently and what came out of me was a mixture of ‘cry and laugh’. I don’t know its name. Poor-looking people in ancient masquerades; costumes that looked Brazilian –Ikwere,  dance-steps that missed reality; the reality being that after the dance, not enough money is available to transport self home and by month-end, landlord will chase out dancer. In the end, dancer is drunk and some smart guys had made money out of his stupor. It’s not only in PH, every other place: Calabar, Lagos, even in poorer states owing salary arrears. They call it, ‘promoting our cultural heritage’ and further still, ‘showcasing our tourism potentials’.

The gullibility in us is our undoing. We accept a day’s glee at the expense of our extended well-being. The same happens before and in election years. We do not put our leaders to task; they come as masters, we submit just to obtain lucre and disperse quickly after, to give them way ‘to do their thing’ but return to say, ‘the leader isn’t doing anything’. In our duty to keep guard however, we’ve failed. Result is, we settle for short-term pleasure due to an attitude that’s screwed to the immediate. So it’s about next week, next month, next year. With this attitude, it’s only a leader with conscience and sense of mission that can drive things. The input from the people is out.

Why should a leader worry about 2013 when 2015 is the in-year? The people who should peel him are already filing behind to be recognised. What he has done leading to 2015 isn’t much an issue. His only palpable threat could come from a fellow contestant, not because he’s better, rather because he can play too. Sitting leaders therefore take more interest in knowing who their opponents are and plotting to undo them early enough, than keep eye on  their campaign promises. That’s why our roads have remained the embarrassment they’ve been, that’s why till now, the proposed Second Niger Bridge is still on paper; then you wonder how fast it can be built before 2015? In place of this are plots to unseat office-holders and their revenge responses. Some retired ones returning to act as President-makers and no one asking, who told you to choose for us?

Watching from the ropes, Nigeria’s democratic development is full of sell-outs. The vital role of the people has turned to Isau’s Porridge. Rights sold for naught. In 2013, the people should be forthcoming with a quarterly report-card for their leaders. Give Jonathan one credit, he won’t condone people being shot demonstrating for their rights. That opportunity is good for the people’s voice. It mustn’t be demonstrations alone anyway, communities should begin a conscious assessment of their leaders and take to the press, churches, schools and market places to voice their concern. That’s the sit-up call our leaders need. Without it, we will welcome 2014 just as we are 2013 with nothing palpable to hope for. If you want to know what bad governance can cost, go to Aba. Getting the right leaders in 2015 should begin in 2013 and from the people. All these missing billions should concern us as a people. One billion stolen is many futures lost and why we let go is another miss.

For the politician, it’s winning again because he has little or nothing to account for. In countries where national service can be probed 20 years after, they ask themselves, should I submit myself for service or not? That question takes cognisance of the cost of failed service. In our clime, where one’s case file is made public only when he offends the powers-that-be, accountability is merely mouthed.   
I think we are a docile people, a docile people, a docile people. May 2013 wake us up. Prayer is good but it should not replace duty.