Nigeria’s State Of Hopelessness

 By Ohima Agans-Oliha

When you totter around, you eventually stumble in your objectives or constitutional responsibilities and so you have no one else but yourself to blame.  If the National Assembly had remained rigidly fixed on its assessments of the capabilities of ministerial candidates at the inception of the current regime, obvious competence and capability flaws would have been discovered, hence forcing the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari retd., to amend his ministerial choices. But now, an outmanoeuvred NASS finds itself grovelling and crawling to an empowered executive arm.

*Buhari 

The NASS is essentially now unable to exert its independence and unable to fulfil one of its more important constitutional obligations.  The political dilemma now becomes a matter of spectacular interest for everyone, if in fact, NASS can actually enforce its impeachment threat against the President under the longer standard process, or a quicker and shorter route.

The troubles aground are simply insurmountable for even the next generation to grasp; the extents of which has made the position of the presidency uninspiring for anyone and everyone.  Even the roster of presidential candidates for the next election induces cheerlessness; you have contestants with practically zero reputation in contributing convincing or successful solutions on national matters and those showing obvious signs of serious life-threatening illnesses.

So then, what are these insurmountable challenges making life hopeless and unbearable for many in this country?  Foremost, is the widespread irresponsibility of leadership by the respective arms of government; second is insecurity; third is widespread corruption; fourth is perceived economic difficulties.  Tackling each challenge offers respites, however, the country currently does not inspires hope nor does it also inspires anyone to act as a saviour.  

If for instance, we consider domestic challenges over recent weeks, from the Kuje prison break to the arraignment of the Accountant-General of the Federation to the flogging of kidnapped train passengers, do any of these issues emanate inspiration or confidence for the next generation that we live in a stable and harmonious society? Of course not. The preliminary investigation of the Kuje prison break has already highlighted the unavailability of a functioning security monitoring system in the prison complex.

Of what use is a prison system that can not observe and capture the inflow and outflow of visitors or persons within and around its complexes? How can a national prison which houses the most malevolent and violent criminals in society lack a closed-circuit camera system?  So, are the citizens to believe that the minister and the comptroller-general responsible for the management of the prison system had never visited or even conducted a perimeter assessment of that facility and others?  Then how does that minister encourage and inspire the next generation to serve the country diligently and at their utmost?  Of course, such only inspires a sense of hopelessness.

Another recent news was the bail granted to the arrested Accountant-General of the Federation, who stands accused of plundering at least N100bn from the national treasury.  There appear to be serious deficiencies with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s fizzled approach and also how the judge subsequently responded with a ruling.

It’s a matter of the utmost importance and seriousness.  Ekiti state, for instance, presented a budget of approximately N100.8bn for this financial year, identical amounts to what the Accountant-General is accused of siphoning.  Why has the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, maintained absolute silence on this matter?  And has any investigation been initiated to ascertain how a single individual breached and bypass the internal controls of the ministry of finance and laundered such staggering amounts, reminding us of the large-scale bank robberies? 

Of course, the nation also wonders if the ministry even has any functioning internal control mechanisms and the finance minister’s say on the circumstances surrounding the unbridled misappropriation of funds within her ministry.  Do you realise when a bank suffers similar breaches, the central bank must intervene to protect consumers, ensure stability and also sanction the bank for the security lapses?

So, the overall tacit and absolute silence from the federal legislators and senators, the presidency, the minister of finance and the Attorney-General, only further inspires widespread hopelessness.

Inspirational examples are not being promoted by the current leadership in every arm of government, which further damages the future prospects of the next generation and only inspires them to avoid any form of leadership office in the country.  Society’s ills have grown extremely rampant!

Only presidential contestants with relentless determination and unyielding character for law and order can revive hope for everyone and inspire the next generation!

*Ohima Agans-Oliha writes via agans.oliha@gmail.com