CHANGE, Goodluck Jonathan and NIGERIA by Dr Ayomide Owoyemi

Yesterday, at about a few hours into the morning, I came across a picture on instagram that read vote GMB, vote change. And it led me to wonder sincerely if truly General Buhari is the change we need. I then put this up on my pm saying "I know GEJ is no good but is GMB truly the change we need? #IWantuLearn" people then began riding in messages, telling their opinions which I munched momentarily and made dps from them so my contacts can be a part of the convo. It was enlightening and Dr Ayomide Joe, one of the finest writers and lover of creative art in this part of the world sent this in and hopes sincerely that it educates and enlighten a few about his opinion on the forth coming poles. 

NOTE: I take a neutral stand but I insist that every youth be a part the election process via opinions and discussions and above all, every youth should COME OUT and VOTE. Remember, #YouArePowerful

But the horse was king, and almost everything grew around him...This was what we were born to, and all we knew at first. Then, to the scream of the horse, the change began. The brass-lamped motor-car came coughing up the road.

Laurie Lee (1914 - 1997)

British novelist and poet.

Cider With Rosie, "Last Days"... Continue reading

Goodluck Jonathan became acting president of the federal republic of Nigeria in February 9, 2010 after a resolution was passed by the National Assembly, after many court cases, protests and confusion on how the family of the erstwhile president Yar;adua was holding the country to ransom. Yar’adua was eventually declared dead on the 5^th of May and Jonathan was formally sworn on the 6^th of May as the 14^th Head of State of the federation.

He was seen as a breath of fresh air from the seemingly indecisive, slow years of the Yar’adua and also a change in the guard of dominant northerners, Jonathan is from a minority tribe, his ascension to the throne was viewed as a step in the progress of the country, and as he is from Niger-delta, his presence will help quell the insurgency in the Oil-rich region and help transform the region.

He cited anti-corruption, power and electoral reforms as the focus of his administration, and he has consistently worked in these regards for the past 6 years.

Since Jonathan assumed leadership Nigeria has faced diverse problems, these challenges Jonathan completely dwarf that of any of his predecessors, the sheer magnitude of these challenges, ranging from widespread corruption, declining power outputs, the unabating Boko haram insurgency and a host of others cannot be overemphasised. But truth be told the president has not sufficiently risen up to any of these challenges, and has in some cases seem to encourage some of these ills

In 2011 Jonathan’s government facilitated the payment of $1.1 billion to Malabu Oil and Gas a company floated by Dan Etete who was a convicted felon on money laundering in france at the time, The economist reported that only $800million of the money was remitted, till date no head has rolled for this debacle

On 13^th December 2011, the 2012 fiscal year removed any provision for fuel subsidy, a move that was opposed by over 80% of Nigerians, it was later revelead that some companies and persons had actually inflated amounts to be paid for subsidies and had been fleecing the country illegally of this amount, alist of these individuals was published, but a Farouk Lawan headed committee setup to investigate this was eclipsed by accusations of graft and till date no one has been prosecuted for the subsidy scam.

There are a long list of corruption cases perpetrated by the president’s men and women that have otherwise not been given the serious attention that seemed to be present under the tenure of Obasanjo, the Stella Oduah scandal, the Allison-Maduekwe Millions, NNPC recurrent shadiness and the reported 20 billion missing from the nation’s treasury. And recent pardons granted to some convicted felons e.g DSP Alamiyesegha and the recognition he has afforded to the Abacha family despite them being behind one of the worst money laundering in the country paints him in bad light. And till now he has refused to disclose his assets.

The situation of power in the country has steadily declined, while the president cannot be blamed for this, but despite his policies and rhetorics Nigerians still see stable power as an holy grail of sort, it was baffling when the president asserted in an interview with Christiane Amanpour that light is stable in the country, this made people wonder If the president was out of touch with reality or just a plain bad liar, the power sector was privatised and PHCN broken up and sold in a public bidding process, there have been accusations of cronyism in the process, and months after the sales, Nigerians can’t claim any improvement whatsoever despite steadily increasing electricity tariffs.

The president has shown some efforts at ensuring electoral freedom and transparency, we have had some free (though not fair) elections in recent times as opposed to the banana republic days of OBJ, but the president has also shown us that he only does right when it is comfortable, he famously recognised a minority over the majority in the Governors forum elections, he has used the SSS to harass opposition and selectively obeys court cases as he wishes, it is a frightening thing when the leader of a national security outfit poses as partisan as Marilyn Ogar has shown, yet the president has not called anyone to order.

The Boko Haram debacle predates the leadership of Jonathan, and while perpetual neglect, poverty and poor education can be blamed as some of the factors that engendered the rise and prominence of the secularist, the president has allowed the wound to fester under his watch, he was said to have initially shrugged it off as his detractors playing politics, the Islamists have murdered thousands and has captured large areas of the country, imposing their own rule, directly questioning the sovereignty of the country, bombings and kidnappings have become commonplace and few Nigerians can forget their president going from a political to a birthday party while news of the Chibok kidnap permeated the airwaves. The girls are not back, Boko haram still challenges us and Nigerians are more unsafe than they have ever been.

Nigerian economy has averaged an impressive 7% annual growth since 2010, budget deficit is under 3% and debt to GDP ratio is 18%, while the economy is booming, but the public debt is said to be nearing $100Billion most of which were accumulated in the last 6 years, over 20% of the budget is used to service the national debt as opposed to 10% in 2007, why has debt accumulation being so high despite the historically high oil prices recorded in this tenure. Nigerians can’t claim to be living better than they were 6 years ago, quality of life has not fared better, over 74% of the population lives below the economic empowerment line, though the per capita income has risen with GDP, it is well below that of Angola and Gabon who are fellow oil producing states, infrastructures are still poor, healthcare is still poorly delivered, and education is getting beyond what regular Nigerians can afford.

The President has some positives to his credit in his 6 years of leadership, the railway revival began under Obasanjo, the YOUWIN program and some others earlier mentioned, but holistically Nigeria has not fared better under his tenure, he has proven not to be up to the task of shepherding this country out of the doldrums, if the best is what he has offered us in those 6 years and in Nigeria leaders are known to be abysmal in their second term in charge, then a change of guard is required. The main option to Jonathan is General MuhammedBuhari from Katsina state who has reputation for his straightforwardness and honesty, he is not an excellent choice but in his 2 year stint he has proven to be decisive and sure of what he wants to do, Nigeria as blessed as we are should not be left with an underperforming former University don and an elderly former dictator. But at this juncture Jonathan has shown no sign at genuinely transforming this country.

The beauty of democracy is that masses can always change the government at the polls when they are unsatisfied with the spate of things, Buhari may not be the change we need but he is a change to what Jonathan has offered us in 6 years, it’s high time we tried someone else, if the next leader fails to perform to expectation, we throw them out at the polls.

Change is what we need, abina like this we go dey dey ?