Unic Press UK: “Nigerians, Electing Vile Political Leaders Is No Panacea” (2) By Kevin Udeinya Onovo.
Many innocents have been left for dead, horrifically slaughtered in Nigeria in recent times; making a number of Nigerians wager that the Nigerian state is undeniably averse to their security and welfare. It will suffice to say that the number of deaths, especially innocents who were gratuitously killed over the last few months’ has been, at the very least, doleful and ripping. #Kaduna killings #Enugu killings #Agatu massacre #Ogoni killings #Onitsha massacre.
I am profoundly fazed. It’s either: The guys advising President Buhari have an ulterior, vile motive – usher the President to an evil forest, and then leave him there for dead, or the President is antipathetic to good advice because the gods have made him damn crazy.
Nigerians should understand that the parlous situation has gone beyond being optimistic or pessimistic. This is about the Nigerian ship heading towards an iceberg that could wreck it… there is a serious problem. There has to be a pragmatic plan, unfortunately the APC-led government seems to believe that most problems could be solved per military forces. No.
The APC-led government appears to believe that ‘everything’ is about military force. This is absolutely wrong. The use of military forces could temporary suppress dissenting voices, but it will neither kill an idea, nor extinguish the spirit of the people. #NigerDeltaMilitant #IPOB (Biafra).
With this murderous disposition cum snail navigation on governance in Nigeria, it will take a miracle for Buhari’s government to set in stone one-third (33%) of APCs pre-election pledges, let alone have an average performance scorecard at the end of its four-year tenure (one year gone). For me, President Buhari is a one-term president, save they want to rig the 2019 general elections.
Nigeria trade is presently on deficit plank as reported by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). An extract from NBS “Foreign Trade Report Q1 2016” reads:
“The total value of Nigeria’s merchandise trade at the end of Q1, 2016 stood at ₦2,723.9 billion. From the preceding quarter value of ₦3,517.4 billion, this was ₦793.5billion or 22.6% less. This development arose due to a sharp decline in both imports and exports. Exports saw a decline of ₦671.1 billion or 34.6%, while imports declined by ₦122.4 billion or 7.8%. The steep decline in exports brought the country’s trade balance down to – ₦184.1 billion, or ₦548.7bilIion less than in the preceding quarter. The crude oil component of total trade decreased by ₦716.7 billion or 46.6% against the level recorded in Q4,2015″
Given the foregoing, there is enormous work to be done to save Nigeria from a full-blown economy and political crisis. The 2016 budget is in place, but a budget is not an economic plan, hence it is fair to assert that this government has yet to formulate a robust blueprint on how to swim or stay afloat in wave-ridden waters, much less commencing implementing of a credible plan.
The ‘puritanic’ ministers it took Buhari circa six months’ to appoint do not command or provoke confidence, or have overwhelming support of the Nigerian people given their antecedents. Many of these ministers are bereft of ingenuity required to avert or manage a full-blown economy crisis.
I’m no mystic, but it is not lost on me that given current happenings, there has to be a religious commitment by people of virtue to take power from leviathan monsters in 2019, otherwise Nigeria will reach a denouement.
The solution seems to lie on a radical shift, perhaps a fusion of the structures of the National Conscience Party (NCP) and the Kowa Party [two political parties that are clearly credible] to form a new political party that could wrestle power from the brutes who have been in control for eons.
Kevin Udeinya Onovo, an entrepreneur, politics analyst, accountant. He studied at the University of Nigeria and Kingston University, UK.
