The Buhari Govt’s Tower Of Babel

By Onuoha Ukeh

When President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated his cabinet,  six months after assuming office, many Nigerians did heave a sign of relief, believing that a government had eventually been formed. With ministers duly assigned portfolios and sworn in, all was set for government to roll and begin to address the myriad of  issues plaguing the country, with the view to catering to the needs of the people. It was a legitimate wish by a people who had high expectations from a government that promised heaven and earth.

*Buhari 

Sixteen months after the government was formed, and 22 months after President Buhari took over the reins of governance, I have often asked myself this question: Is this really a government or just an assemblage of people, who are just doing whatever please them, in the name of working for the good governance of Nigeria? I ask this question because what we have as a government appears mainly like a mere party, where those in office operate like islands, doing and saying what they like, while humanity suffers. There is no synergy  whatsoever.  In the government, there are discordant and cacophony of voices.

This week, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, issued a travel advisory on the United States (US). No doubt, feeling that as a presidential aide on foreign affairs, she could talk about foreign policy and issues related to her office, this former federal lawmaker advised Nigerians not to travel to the US for now, if they do not have any compelling business in the North American country. She said her advice became necessary, since Nigerians, who have valid US visas, had been denied entry into the US. In her wisdom, Dabiri-Erewa wanted Nigerians to freeze their trips to the US until the immigration policy of the Donald Trump administration was clear.

Why Osinbajo Can’t Undo APC’s Damage

By Paul Onomuakpokpo

With the emergence of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo as the Acting President, we seem to have suspended our disbelief. Against all logic, our hopes have soared to stratospheric heights. We wager that Osinbajo holds the magic wand to turn around the beleaguered fortunes of the nation and its citizens. But we need not sally forth at this moment of the nation’s life in exultation at the prospect of better times ahead. What we direly need is introspection. We need that to steel ourselves for the grim reality that would befall us at the end of the four years of the presidency under the All Progressives Congress (APC) – its abysmal failure to improve the citizens’ lot.

*Osinbajo 

To be sure, Osinbajo has the passion to turn things around. He seems to be conscious of the immiseration that the Buhari presidency that was hobbled by paranoia and parochialism inflicted on the citizens. This is why he has launched himself into a miniature shuttle diplomacy that has taken him to the much-disdained south east and south south. But as long as Osinbajo is the acting president, there is a limit to which he can do. Even if Buhari is no longer directly involved in daily governance, there are the power mongers in government who are deluded with the notion of power as their birthright who would drop his name and go to a direction that is different from that of Osinbajo. In fact, there could be cases of willful sabotage of the good plans of the acting president.

We do not deny that there could be genuine citizens in government who would see their service to the nation as paramount. Such people do not mind who their principal is – whether Buhari or Osinbajo. But we must note that most of the appointments were done by Buhari and a bulk of them not on merit but on cronyism and political and religious affiliations. For instance, most of the ministers are bereft of ideas of how to positively impact the citizens’ wellbeing. We are thus confronted with the danger that despite the good intentions of Osinbajo, those appointees who are incompetent cannot help to actualise his vision. Worse still, those corrupt officials who ought to have left the government under Buhari would still be in office. They would pretend to be serving the nation whereas they are busy stealing public funds meant to alleviate the suffering of the citizens. Yet, as only the acting president, Osinbajo cannot sack these appointees of Buhari.