[size=18pt]Umaru and the well-digger [/size]
By Salisu Suleiman

Digging a well is a difficult and dangerous activity. By extension, professional well-digging is a hazardous profession. One has to dig a tubular canal straight into the earth. Air is scant, breathing difficult and sunlight dim.

Sometimes you have to dig through hard rocks. At other times, the soil is either too loose or too muddy. People on the surface cannot see what you are doing nor appreciate your difficulties. Yet in the midst of all these, you have to continue to dig down in the belief that you will strike water.

That is exactly the conundrum Umaru is caught in. He believes (or seems to think) that he is digging a well of development. But after two years of waiting, Nigerians are tired. When, in the aftermath of the most rigged election in the history of democracy, Umaru, the Recluse was sworn-in as President, it was a resigned nation that watched the charade as it unfolded.

Umaru promised to do away with the culture of impunity and to declare a state of emergency in the power sector. He promised to improve education, agriculture and transportation. He promised to tackle corruption. He publicly declared his assets. As politicians come, Nigerians believed he was a lesser evil. So against our better judgment, we gave him a chance.

Now, the cautious optimism has given way to despair, and a state of resignation. What Nigerians see today is the picture of a president that is shattered and defeated. His much taunted performance as governor has wilted in the face of real challenges. If he is a ‘performer', he is yet to get his acts together. If he is against corruption, he is yet to look in-house.

Today, the impression one gets is that this well-digger has been overwhelmed by the task at hand. Accepted, he came in with a deeply provincial outlook; his health is even at the best of times, fragile; he was staggered by the enormity of power at his disposal and he was haunted by the crises of legitimacy over his election. But these are no excuses.

After all, he was not forced to accept the job. Nigerians are yet to see water from the well he is digging. He has dug so deep that we cannot see him anymore, or even hear him. A huge quantity of debris has been thrown up. Billions of dollars have been thrown down. But we are yet to see a drop of water.

Despite his election pledge, the power situation is worse. Buying, selling and servicing of generators is big business. Today, the public university system has shut down and education is not better off, despite the hopes of many that the former teacher would understand the challenges of the sector.

There have been no meaningful developments in agriculture, except the N200 billion being ‘loaned' to ‘big time' farmers. In what ways would this create employment for the millions of jobless Nigerians? It does not require a genius to surmise that these so-called big farmers are politicians taking their share of the cake.

So it is business as usual in Nigeria. The hope and anticipation have faded. The Niger Delta issue is unresolved. The pogroms and subsequent cold blooded murder of Boko Haram members are indicative that human life is cheaper than ever. In the name of the rule of law, Nigerians are being slaughtered.

Hundreds of Nigerians die every day on our so-called highways; the same ‘fox' who refused to ‘fix' our roads has been sent to ‘fix' our ports. Our refineries are still comatose. NITEL is still a major public embarrassment. Is it to be sold or not? Even ‘go-slow' dey move!

President Obama's visit Ghana is indicative that no one takes us seriously. It has taken Hilary Clinton to tell some bitter truths. Ghana has had four presidential elections, with the party in office losing power twice without loss of lives and property. Conversely, elections in Ekiti, one of Nigeria's smallest states were an unmitigated disaster.

Every day in the news, it is the story of one corrupt practice or another. The economy is drifting without direction. The public sector is as usual clueless, except when it comes to devising novel ways of diverting public resources. The stock market has well and truly collapsed. The banking industry has been proven to be another fraternity of bandits. Moral authority is fundamentally fractured.

Despite all these, our Well-Digger in Chief wants us to believe that all is well. Mallam Umaru has been at this task for more than two years. But we are yet to see a drop of water; just junk and detritus. But it is not the amount of debris that a well-digger churns out that measure success. It is how quickly he strikes water.

Nigerians have been waiting for two years, but we are also beginning to get that sickening feeling again that in our country, the more things change, the more they remain the same. Maybe the man has fallen asleep in the well!

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Opinion/Blogs/5447167-182/Umaru_and_the_well-digger__.csp

the guy is sleeping