Restructuring is for the rich, not the poor

By Tabia Princewill

EVERY so often in Nigeria, there comes along a trending topic used to divide and distract from the main issue keeping our people poor and the country as a whole vastly underdeveloped. This issue, simply put, is corruption. Nigeria has no business being a poor country. We are neither landlocked, nor poor in resources. We might not be tired of preaching about our potential, our young people’s capacity for innovation, entrepreneurship, etc., but some external observers grow weary of our inability to actualise said potential.

Nothing stops Nigeria from becoming the next India or China except for bad leadership, unimaginative governors, senators, etc., who use state resources for their personal needs rather than designing impactful policies through which, ironically, their own wealth could be multiplied if basic systems and structures existed that also carried the majority along with them. The European Union, EU, recognises that we are the architects of our own misfortunes: we keep scoring own goals and patting ourselves on the back for doing so which is why the EU announced last week that it would be cutting the aid released to Nigeria.

Given our inability to properly utilise money provided by foreign donors, this decision isn’t surprising (most of the money ends up in private pockets rather than serving to build infrastructure and social services for the majority). In fact, if the EU decides to channel those resources into countries where an impact cannot only be seen but measured. Only a fool might be surprised by this action which is only the logical conclusion of our own unserious behaviour over the years.

Like I said in my article last week, rather than coming together to speak truth to power and demand accountability from our elected representatives, particularly those in the Senate who have fought the EFCC and Ibrahim Magu to a standstill, we continue to lie and pretend, encouraging moral relativism, plural truths and dishonesty to prevail.

Another such way dishonesty and half-truths prevail is epitomised by the debate over restructuring Nigeria. Restructuring will not better the Nigerian economy, at least, not in ways which will be beneficial to the poor and the middle classes. It won’t put more food on the table for those who are struggling or as of now unable to guarantee one meal a day for themselves and their children. Restructuring is an elite debate of concern only to the rich and to those social commentators who are paid to support it and lead the undiscerning astray.

It is only of interest to those vying for public office in 2019 and seeking public relevance for much the same reason. Who will lead the restructured units if not the same morally dubious, tainted, corrupt individuals who currently run the system as presently constituted? What would honestly prompt them to run the system with more creativity, diligence or honesty if all we really mean when we talk about restructuring, are cosmetic changes with no real impact for the majority of Nigerians?

Let’s not allow anyone to fool us, the crux of the restructuring agitation is resource control. But one must ask, what have the so-called marginalised regions done with the funds they had? Where is the money now? The Niger Delta isn’t poor, neither is the East; they simply have not had the privilege of good leadership. State governors have not utilised their budgets to benefit the masses. Instead, many have built mansions in Abuja and bought properties abroad using state funds.

To put things very simply, if you gave a member of your staff (make no mistake, governors, senators, etc., work for the people or are supposed to, in saner climes) N5000 to buy you some things from the market and he or she was unable to provide you with goods worth that amount, would you entrust this same ineffectual person with N10,000 and simply hope that by some miracle he or she would magically manage your money better? What the elite are thinking of when it comes to restructuring isn’t how to make governance cheaper by merging states, etc., but new ways to allocate overbloated contracts and create more opportunities for looting. In fact, with the marginalisation phenomenon being encouraged rather than curtailed, every sub-group in Nigeria now believes it should have its own state rather than owning up to the fact that poor leadership rather than state creation is the issue.

Many of the so-called “social questions” in Nigeria are simply symptoms of corruption. I have said many times in this column that Federal character has been a disastrous policy which has done more harm than good, making us slaves to ethnicity and religion rather than upholding talent, merit and competence as the standard by which one is judged.

Politicians fund agitation based on their own marginalisation: they aren’t talking about development for the poor but rather opportunities for themselves to join government and partake in whatever looting they can. We must be every wary of those pushing for marginalisation and interrogate their agenda, more often than not, it isn’t for our benefit but theirs.

When we have adequately tackled corruption and therefore made sure that households have basic amenities such as running water, good roads and education, then we can face the lofty question of restructuring. The poor in Nigeria need real impact in their lives, not still- born ideas from the unproductive imaginations of bandits and their accomplices in both the media and the legal arena who terrorise Nigerians with senseless excuses for wrongdoing.

 

IBB

FORMER Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida, was quite vocal on the subject of restructuring, which is moral relativism, revisionism in fact, at its best.

The media unfortunately treats all political speeches the same way – unquestioningly.

The Babangida years were the beginning of Nigeria’s downward spiral. In fact, it is most ironic that he talks about ethno-religious strife when it is a known fact that the annulment of June 12 precipitated much of the distrust which exists today.

Christians voted for a Muslim-Muslim ticket, a Southerner defeated a Northerner in his home state. Babangida single-handedly truncated democracy: what lessons can he still give?

 

Femi Okunnu, SAN

THE former Federal Commissioner for Works and Housing recently made some comments on Nigeria’s obsession with ethno-religious politics. He simply asked, like I have done many times in this column, what has stopped the different ethnic groups in Nigeria from developing their regions using the funds at their disposal?

He also stated that the parties which have governed Nigeria at the federal level have members from all faiths and ethnic groups who operate in all the states, local governments of the Federation. Therefore, how can the South-East, for example, claim marginalisation when it has been governed by members of the PDP, the same party which was also in power at the centre?

If the President and the state governor are of the same party, what better arrangement can there be to guarantee the state governor has the ear of the Presidency and the relevant arms of the federal executive to partner with and execute meaningful projects?

If not for egos, greed and a total lack of imagination, the 16 years the PDP was in power in at least 26 to 30 states should have seen huge progress as all arms of government should have co-operated (the President was a PDP member, the Senate President, the Speaker, the Governors, the state houses were led by PDP members, etc.). Corruption is our common enemy, it is the reason the common man feels marginalised. I’ve always said ethnicity becomes irrelevant if you remove corruption.

To quote Femi Okunnu: “Federal roads were abandoned all over the country, most of them since I built them as a federal commissioner. In my time, I started the construction of most of the roads. Most of the roads constructed 40 years ago have not been reconstructed, repaired or rehabilitated.”

This has nothing to do with marginalisation but everything to do with inefficiency.

 

Tabia Princewill is a strategic communications consultant and public policy analyst. She is also the co-host and executive producer of a talk show, WALK THE TALK which airs on Channels TV.

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