5 Things Most Politician do not know

– President Muhammadu Buhari is at the
helms of the affairs of the country after
three other presidents have led the country
since the military left power on May 29, 1999
– The return of democracy to Nigeria after
years of military interregnum has still left
much ado about the level of growth and
development of the country since that time
– Nigerian politicians are known to repeat
the same mistakes times and over again
even if they are new breed politicians
– There is hardly any difference in terms of
the manner of administering the country
between old breed and new breed politicians
most times in Nigeria except for the period
in which both groups exist
Nigerian politicians are known for one thing.
They tend to repeat the same mistake over and
over again. They are often ill-prepared for the
task at hand, which is governance without
hitches or hiccups.
President Muhammadu Buhari. President Muhammadu Buhari
The citizens pass through hell almost every day
of their lives because those whom they call their
elected leaders, either do not have the technical
know how/expertise to turn around the
fortunes of the populace or they do not just
want to do anything.
It is rare and almost non-extant to see any
society move on without its own internal and
external challenges. Nigerian political leaders
appear not to know the problems bedeviling the
people and the country as a whole. They have
been applying the cure for an ailment, which its
medication should have been changed.
1. Issues of war and peace
Presently, there are different agitations and
crises in the country. From the remnants of the
Boko Haram insurgency to Biafra secessionists
agitation. From the marauding Fulani herdsmen
to the dreaded Niger Delta Avengers, all is not
okay with the country.
One of the reasons for some of these uprisings
is as a result of corruption and poor crisis
management skills on the part of those in
charge of ensuring the security of lives and
properties.
A politician who for instance was selected to
man the ministry of internal security will prefer
to peculate, rather than acquiring all military
firepower to stem what will lead to bigger crisis
in the bud, as witnessed in the Dasukigate
scandal.
To a great number of politicians who are in
position of authority, they do not care whose ox
is gored, as long as they have all the money
which was allocated for security in their pocket.
They attend tonnes of security summits with
little or nothing to show for it.
The citizens are slaughtered like fowls daily,
while the self-centered politicians do not care a
hoot.
2. Prosperity and welfare
A few days ago, the presumptive candidate of
the Republican party at the forthcoming US
presidential election made a damning
statement regarding African leaders, in which
Nigerian politicians are included.
Quoting Trump copiously and verbatim, he said:
“Africa should be recolonised because Africans
are still under slavery. Look at how those
African leaders change constitutions in their
favour so that they can be life presidents. They
are all greedy and do not care about the
common people. They can’t lead by example.
The only thing they are interested in is
accumulating wealth from poor tax payers.”
Why is it so difficult to make the common men
on the streets of Nigeria smile? It’s always the
same story over and over again by politicians.
They continue to dish out unending promises
regarding the social welfare of the people,
without doing 5% of what they vowed to do.In a country
blessed with natural and human
resources like Nigeria, it’s pathetic that at least
70% of the population still live below poverty
line.
3. Equity between the leaders and the led
Nigerians hardly have access to see eye to eye
with their leaders. The politicians see the poor
masses as filthy objects. They sleep in luxury
houses while the masses sleep in ghettos, and
they do not think of how they will assuage the
suffering the poor pass through. They move
around in porsche vehicles and are contented
that the rickety buses on the dilapidated roads
are okay for the citizens.
Even the three basic needs of life (food, shelter
and clothing) are like expensive treasures in
Nigeria. As the ministry of Agriculture is failing
to find a way of embarking on programmes to
make food easily affordable, so also is the
ministry of housing is failing to let the average
Nigerian secure an affordable accommodation.
Possibly, Nigeria is one of the few countries of
the world, where the gap between the leaders
and the led is like the distance between the sky
and the ground.
4. Sustainable environment development
When a person travels through some states in
Nigeria, one could ask the question if the
ecological challenges the country is facing is that
of the 17th century. There are some
communities in Nigeria where gully erosion has
caught them off entirely from other towns.
Desertification is continuously eating up a large
portion of the land in the Northern part of the
country. Huge amount of money is allocated for
ecology fund, with no tangible results to show.
Deforestation is done without the government
making laws and policies to checkmate all these
life threatening activities.
About four years ago, there was a torrential
rainfall that led to serious flooding which in turn
destroyed lives and properties. Just because the
politicians live in well-planned environments,
they leave the citizens to struggle on to live in
canals and other areas not fit as habita
5. Democracy under changing cultural
perspectives
One of the foremost monarchs who have
recognised that so many factors are to be
considered when talking about the way forward
for Nigeria is the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan
Adeyeye Ogunwusi, who advised the people in
the country at all levels to imbibe the spirit of
dialogue and compromise to tackle all the
problems facing the country.
The archaic methods of playing politics is still
rife in Nigeria. This leads to a situation where
governance deviates from what obtains in
advanced countries of the world. Since Nigerian
politicians see the people as sub-humans, they
rule with impunity and disregard respect for
cultural values.