After watching the senate screening exercise on Tuesday and Wednesday, two different feelings assailed me. The first of the feelings was of joy and the second was sadness. The joy was in the potentials I saw in these men. They come with intimidating credentials that would be the envy of any nation that has such people. I listened to Dr Kayode Fayemi, former Ekiti state governor.
He was eloquent. He knows the problem of the nation and he no doubt knows what could be done.
He equally has the intellectual capacity to drive his conviction.
He has degrees in history, politics and international relations with a higher degree in war studies with special interest in civil-military relations.
He was the director of the Centre for Democracy and Development, an institution dedicated to the study and promotion of democratic development, before he ventured into full politics and emerged the governor of Ekiti state.
I equally listened to the soldier-scholar, Lt. General Abdulrahman Dambazzau, former Chief of Army Staff, like me, most Nigerians are unaware that he is an accomplished scholar with a Ph.D in Criminology.
He holds a B.Sc. in Criminal Justice. Two masters degree. The first in International Relations and the second in Higher Educational Administration. He was Registrar, Academic Branch, Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA) and Part Time Lecturer of Criminology at the Faculty of Law, Ahmadu Bello University. He is the author of five books and several journal articles.
He is a member of several international professional organizations, including World Society of Criminology, World Society of Victimology, Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, American Society of Criminology, British Society of Criminology, and International Police Executive Symposium. He is the founder and Chairman Board of Trustees, Nigerian Society of Victomology, the Foundation for the Victims of Child Abuse.
Chief Audu Ogbeh at 68 is believed to be quite old and considering the fact that he had always been part of nearly most of the administrations in the country, playing one role or the other, his nomination came with more condemnation than accolade. But the deed is done. He is today, again, a minsterial nominee. He comes with years of experience. He spoke about what could be done in agriculture. He was also very eloquent, as expected.
Former Lagos Governor, Raji Fashola(SAN), Abubakar Malami (SAN), Amina Mohammed whose elocution was a delight and the others who had all been cleared, all spoke well. They seem to know what ails our dear country having analysed the problems in the hallowed chambers of the senate.
But I am sad. I am sad because all these hardly ever translate into great performance that would touch the man on the street, that would translate into jobs for the teeming population of youths walking and ‘working’ the streets in illegitimate exercises. Youths who have nothing to do but resort to criminal activites, to engage in kidnapping, robbery, cultism, yahooing and whatever illegitimate thing they can lay their hands on to do.
I am convinced that the nominees’ lofty ideals did not leave the senate chambers with them. It was a garb they donned for that exercise and they had removed and dropped it by the entrance as they were leaving the chambers. I am not being unnecessarily pessimistic. But after having listened to such eloquence over the years, I am yet to see how it has been able to transform our country or make the country a better place. We have always listened to the story of Nigeria’s great potentials, where has that taken us over the years? I have been hearing of corruption over the years. Corruption in Nigeria is ageless and has continued to live on. I am not sure it would die any time soon.
We have some of the best economists in the continent, this has not translated into economic eldorado. There is widespread poverty in the land. We are a country of natural endowment, with different mineral resources. This has not helped our country as the gap between the super rich and ‘super poor’ continues to widen.
The country has not made the best use of its opportunities. In the words of Mrs Hillary Clinton, Nigeria (at every point) has made bad choices and not hard choices. That is why we are where we are today. Most of our states cannot bear the burden of ‘statehood’. They owe salary for months. Projects are abandoned. The existing infrastructure are decaying. So if I’m a bit pessimistic, I should be pardoned.
But for how long are we going to continue? There is the saying that if a man is pushed to the wall, he would turn against his pursuer. Are we not gradually getting there?
It is thus imperative for the present crop of would-be ministers to effect a change. They should act differently, work differently and live up to the expectation of Nigerians. There is no more room for excuses.
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