By Dele Momodu
Fellow Nigerians,
something major is happening in our dear beloved country and it is very
positive. Every disappointment they say is a blessing. While we are very sad
that our President, Muhammadu Buhari, has not been feeling too well for some
time now and needs treatment and recuperation abroad, I now believe that God
wants him to also have some time for sober and deep reflection. Someone asked
me about two weeks ago, on Twitter if I have given up on the Buhari government?
My answer was an emphatic NO! And the reason I gave was simple and
straight-forward enough: I believe in miracles.
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| *Buhari and Osinbajo |
What has happened in
Nigeria
in the past few weeks, even days, can only be a testimony to that miracle I
prophesised. When President Buhari left Nigeria he formally wrote to the
Senate putting his Vice-President in charge as Acting President until he
returns. That singular act which is merely a repetition of what was done during
previous extended personal visits abroad by the President is salutary as it is
stellar and itself heralded the transformation in this government that we are
witnessing. It seems to me that President Buhari knew that his government
needed some change in direction, some fillip, and in his infinite wisdom chose
a subtle way to initiate that change without seeming to jettison his kitchen
cabinet.
When I flew out of Lagos to Johannesburg
last Monday, February 20, 2017,
a US dollar was selling for about 520 naira in the
omnipotent black market. As at Thursday, it was selling at around 475 Naira. By
yesterday, Friday 24 February 2017 the Naira was exchanging at about 460 Naira
to the Dollar. What a difference a week makes. This
remarkable resurgence of the Naira is coming on the heels of new policies and
directives that the CBN has been mandated to put in place by the rejuvenated
economic team that the Acting President is the driving force.
Not just that, I
received a report from Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi that the Acting President,
Professor Yemi Osinbajo, paid an unscheduled visit to the Murtala Muhammed
International Airport
on Thursday, February 23, 2016, and caught the airport officials napping. My
joy knew no bounds. Only last Saturday, I had complained bitterly about that
unfortunate airport on this very page.
In the past seven
years, I must have written countless times about that that gory airport. It was
one of the reasons I disliked President Jonathan’s government because it had
done a wishy-washy renovation of the place and was celebrating it as if we can
now compete with some of the best airports in Africa (note that I did not
mention Dubai, Europe or America). I
took pictures of dead escalators, comatose elevators, jet bridges in blatant
darkness, leaking roofs, cranky conveyor belts, flooded and stinking toilets,
murky basements, potential structural deficiencies from a disused underground
car park and generally an airport in various stages of disrepair, dilapidation
and decay. We did what we could to alert our leaders to the monumental disgrace
at that airport.
