WHY JONATHAN FAILED


1 CORRUPTION WAS TAKING TO NEW HEIGHTS : exemplified by the amount spent on private jets and champagne during that era . Not to mention the current dasukigate . The profligacy has numbed the minds ,sprinkle in some diezani and we have a glimpse of the humoungous rot in the last administration .
Nobody is even so surprised about the audacity of the former first lady to lay claim to 15 million dollars ; claiming it is for medical bills- 10% of lagos state budget for health.
It was all about consumption , nobody was thinking about strategic production.


2.POOR MANAGEMENT OF THE ECONOMY :in a period of boom our foreign reserve went from 60 billion dollars to 32 billion dollars ; don't bring the Gov's aversion for saving : that applies to the excess crude account : we aint talking excess crude acct here.

His government left behind a legacy debt of 400 billion naira owed to contractors , 8 billion dollars in jv cash calls. Federal govt was owing workers salaries and so many more absurdities...

3 Security was @ its nadir reaching its magnus opus with the chibok girls debacle.

We were alwys entertained by that sadist that established caliphate on nigerian soil : that dude made me sad on a regular.

Same reason why revenue dropped in the face of boom : crude oil theft and vandalism even in the face of the large amounts of money spent on amnesty programme and oilpipes protection.

Empowering individuals to the extent That a guy could buy warships- maybe that is why he bears goverment - that the naval force couldn't even acquire ; does that ring a bell.

4 POOR COMMUNICATION : till it got to the election period ,we didn't really know what the govt was doing . The man that was in our face was the minister of agric - no wonder he is where he is now- and the central bank governor.

I Was always trying to convince my mum and friends that president Jonathan was trying,pointing out gains made in the agricultural ,transport and works sector.

I had to re-assess the presidency after that calamity of a media chat ,where the president was trying to differentiate between stealing and corruption. If 20 billion dollars is missing, AMERICA would know, because it is american money...holy jeez .

But only the blind would say that JONATHAN did nothing . He laid the foundation that APC were in a hurry to attribute to ' THE BODY LANGUAGE OF ....'. TSA ,BVN ,YOUWIN ,integrated personel and payroll information system, summoning the will to privatize Nepa , we started riding trains again in this country and ultimately empowered JEGA .

Regardless of his limitations GEJ bowed out in a blaze of glory by not sitting tight.

Anyway d last administration is gone we now should adress y this present one is failing.

AND BUHARI IS FAILING


1 NOT TAKING RESPONSIBILITY : think Nigerians have had enough of the cause of the hardship in the land. Mr garba shehu should stop inundating us with how bad the last government was , we know ; that is why the govt was voted out .


2 NOT REDUCING CONSUMPTION LEVEL @ the presidency : U 're not flying first class but you are maintaining about 9 jets .

We are still having allegations of an individual collecting over a billion naira just because one of the cabal went rogue .the feeling is that similar practise is still going out in the executive presently.

Like they say he who seeks equity must come to the table with clean hands ; how do we tell the suffering populace to swallow this bitter pill of suffering when we are still having unaccounted security votes and other inane pecks of political office still very much in play. Governors are busy buying cars for themselves , wives and hangers -on , even heard a governor bought coffins for his subjects ...smh .

Until we start seeing more transparency in the workings of the present government , we would find it hard convincing the masses that it is not business as usual in the presidency , in terms of expenditure on consumption .

3. SECTIONALISM/ PAROCHIALISM / TRIBALISM is very rife in this present administration giving cannon for fodders for fellows such as ffk who go about fanning embers of hate and division in the country because it pays him to do so at this point in time .

The 95% 5 % speech isn't going away, the pattern of appointments speaks volume ,the slowness in response to the malaise of the rogue herdsmen early in this administration tars the president with a brush of fulani supremacy.

In fairness , the presidency of recent has been trying to balance this inequality but it is not enough , if cattle rustlers are being caught definitely the killer herdsmen should be caught 2

4 the greatest legacy of this govt so far is about being tarnished with impartiality on account of it being a graveyard silence to the accusation being thrown around by 'honourable' jubrin , quickly exonerating some top officials of this administration of malfeasance.

The reason y I stood 4 over 5 hours to vote president buhari is on account of his incorruptible stance , in as much as other member of the political class are not on the same page with him,the least this presidency can do is to allow the law to take its course against those called out.


5. The lowest point of this presidency so far has been the economic revival . All the metrics point to the economy in the worst shape in recent years ,accepted that the last administration laid foundation for this crisis the present administration has aided its plunge by some actions such as clinging to subsidy for too long ,trying to fix the naira against advice to the contrary and the present disjoint between the fiscal policy (stimulation) and monetary ( restriction: high interest rates ,mopping up money in circulation) . No serious government in the face of dwindling revenues and increase expenditure , why wait for 6 months to form his cabinet ; it is just not done .

No doubt that attemtps are being made to remedy this various maladies , but like they say the buck stops @ the table of the president. All those ministers ,senior special advisers re being paid to find solutions to the problem not just driving around with escorts and siren.

We need better communication fron the presidency ,we should be updated regularly by alhaji lai mohammed - he has been subpar so far, about situation in the country and steps being taken to solve them with time limit. A goal must be time bound .

The masses would like to know what the president is doing about the price of the bag of rice , the rising costs of food items , if not now when. There should be a regular timeline like we knowing for a fact that importation of fuel (pms) would likely cease when the dangote refinery come on stream fully in 2018/2019 ( God help that man to achieve this )

The president should pls !! Be more flexible .there should be no reason why restructuring canvased for in the last national convention should not be giving a look-in .we can't be mouthing diversification when mining rights are with the federal government - the concurrent list , so how would the states thrive.

I stand with buhari , because we can't have another president in the next 2 1/2 years and I constantly pray for the success of this presidency cos we may not get this sort of upright leaders: president buhari and pastor osibanjo and they should please allow visionaries(bold ministers) to shine through, because Nigerians are hungry and angry .

@op. Going thru your post I'd agree with most of what u said. However, I'd point out that all your 4 points are only part of a broader rationale for our, well....collective failure as a people and country.

Nigeria's failure goes beyond Buhari and Jonathan. To me, successive heads of state (some of them still alive) failed. The Judiciary failed. The NASS, key MDAs, key appointees and advisers, several ranks and file in parastatals (including military and paramilitary) - key institutions that outlast individual presidents, and ultimately many of we citizens have failed.

Tell me what some other person other than Buhari/Jonathan would do differently. We voted (I assume) for change. But we know nothing has fundamentally changed. Nigeria's elitist mindset hasn't changed. Deep rooted petty politics, tribalism, nepotism, indecisiveness, selfishness and self aggrandizement over matters and assets critical to national survival have cost Nigeria decades of growth and development.

For instance, I love d point u raised about 9 Presidential jets. To me, a serious president should've identified and disposed wasteful official assets. But our president just last week carried almost 120 people to New York City, in a recession!!! Often, I see news of some billionaire's or governor's daughter showing off some multi-million naira jewelry or their wardrobes. And our so-called mods here will carry such useless news to front page. I know some Nigerians will attack me now, but that reinforces my point -

The mentality of opulence and extravagance hasn't changed. The celebration and cheerleading of mediocrity and incompetence hasn't changed. Even among ordinary citizens.

And that, my friend @op, is fundamentally the reason for Nigeria's continued failure.

I heard that the other day, Akara was shared free in Edo State. Lolz.

Put another election today, people will still collect bags of rice and vote to recycle the same incompetent opportunists.

Unless that changes, forget it.

This is a well thought-out reply , and God knows you are right on every point . So how do we move on from here ; should we just throw up our hands and wait till the country collapse on us or our children's head .

The truth is that the best we can do is talk until we get to the level of making policies or become a policy influencer; till then we would keep holding those there accountable.

Really appreciate you taking time-out to read this lengthy article anyway .

J goodluck did not fail
It was nigerians that failed

Gej did not fail . It is clear now Gej did not fail . He gave us a stable economy and forex for 5 yrs and so many common people made money

iconaus:
Gej did not fail . It is clear now Gej did not fail . He gave us a stable economy and forex for 5 yrs and so many common people made dmoney

A success without a successor is a failure! Good leaders make their followers better. Great leaders LEAVE their followers empowered. Need I say more olodo!

drbashfx:
This is a well thought-out reply , and God knows you are right on every point . So how do we move on from here ; should we just throw up our hands and wait till the country collapse on us or our children's head .

The truth is that the best we can do is talk until we get to the level of making policies or become a policy influencer; till then we would keep holding those there accountable.

Really appreciate you taking time-out to read this lengthy article anyway .

I will show you the way out. Unfortunately, this way is very difficult for Nigerians (without true change) to endure. But for posterity's sake I will give it anyway.

Before the way out, we need to see where we came from and where we are. But relax, I won't bore u with excess history, just summaries.

First, there are several conspiracy theories about why the British chose to marry about three major inhomogenous peoples of different tongues, faiths and cultures at the time they did. Whatever their reason, this (I call it) apparent inhomogeneity was (and still is) a central, core, foundational challenge to the viability of the new country. So we saw ourselves together. Failure no. 1, we largely ignored the challenge. In fact we fed it by promoting our divisions (tribe, religion, etc) instead of our potentials in the ideals that unite us (hardwork, merit, mutual respect, etc). And so the challenge quickly morphed into a problem that saw the peoples killing each other in humongous pogroms and genocides.

Meanwhile, this new problem is complicated, or I should say, worsened by the discovery of an extremely powerful temptation and economic deception - OIL. The source easy slush funds without hassles. BOOM! Most hands left what they were doing and stretched for oil (the few hands that remained in agriculture and real sector looked like fools. Unfortunately the oil is not everywhere. It is milked from only a section of the country - a worse complication. Leaders quickly lost foresight. Followers became lazy and unproductive. Culture of hardwork and merit quickly eroded. Daubarchery, gluttony, wantonness and consequent vices became norm. Anyway, the rest is history.

Last summary is that we were ruled successively for decades by a bunch of generals who cared less about mathematics and economics than they did their AK-47. What do u expect @op? See, the problem isn't that we had dictators, the problem is we had shortsighted dictators who apparently didn't know thier left from their right.

roigr2012:

A success without a successor is a failure! Good leaders make their followers better. Great leaders LEAVE their followers empowered. Need I say more olodo!

Man blame ur incompetent idol Buhari who cant handlle the seat of presidency. No govt had ever interited excess Obl attested to that . Buhari lacks intellectual ability to lead a dynamic country like Nigeria .

We re now experiencing real failure not fake failure under gej orchestrated by yoruba media due to hate and tribalism

PontusPilate:

I will show you the way out. Unfortunately, this way is very difficult for Nigerians (without true change) to endure. But for posterity's sake I will give it anyway.
Before the way out, we need to see where we came from and where we are. But relax, I won't bore u with excess history, just summaries.
First, there are several conspiracy theories about why the British chose to marry about three major inhomogenous peoples of different tongues, faiths and cultures at the time they did. Whatever their reason, this (I call it) apparent inhomogeneity was (and still is) a central, core, foundational challenge to the viability of the new country. So we saw ourselves together. Failure no. 1, we largely ignored the challenge. In fact we fed it by promoting our divisions (tribe, religion, etc) instead of our potentials in the ideals that unite us (hardwork, merit, mutual respect, etc). And so the challenge quickly morphed into a problem that saw the peoples killing each other in humongous pogroms and genocides.
Meanwhile, this new problem is complicated, or I should say, worsened by the discovery of an extremely powerful temptation and economic deception - OIL. The source easy slush funds without hassles. BOOM! Most hands left what they were doing and stretched for oil (the few hands that remained in agriculture and real sector looked like fools. Unfortunately the oil is not everywhere. It is milked from only a section of the country - a worse complication. Leaders quickly lost foresight. Followers became lazy and unproductive. Culture of hardwork and merit quickly eroded. Daubarchery, gluttony, wantonness and consequent vices became norm. Anyway, the rest is history.
Last summary is that we were ruled successively for decades by a bunch of generals who cared less about mathematics and economics than they did their AK-47. What do u expect @op? See, the problem isn't that we had dictators, the problem is we had shortsighted dictators who apparently didn't know thier left from their right.

Actually friend you just stated the problems : nigerians are simple, we place more emphasis on consumption than production , we are inherently tribalistic , we have been unfortunate with our past leaders . u didn't even mention that nigerians have elevated corruption to a culture and we have lost moral values. But all these are still problems .

If we can get selfless leaders that preach oneness , have the sagacity to work through our problems and know how to find its way round the land mines in this complex entity called nigeria ...maybe,maybe . We are still back to the leaders , the followers can't reduce d price of rice, it is dependent on policies from the top .

Did you add the actions of the militant

GEJ never failed, stop these lies

Pidggin:
GEJ never failed, stop these lies

Please educate me as to the lies I wrote up there . We should learn to separate emotions from raw facts

Pidggin:
GEJ never failed, stop these lies

Please educate me as to the lies I wrote up there . We should learn to separate emotions from raw facts

Not even sure you read the epistle self

So the problem wasnt just d generals (anymore than it is wen we had Ph.D holder, and now a supposedly repented former general). The generals really delayed us as a country. To me, its quite a shame to see that most of them alive are still crucially relevant in the polity. They had their time. They had express, unbriddled power. They could do and undo (and to me they mostly chose to undo than do). They wasted extremely bright opportunities. And so were where we are now.

Now my friend @op. The way out.

I took all this time to show how we deliberately brought this recession on ourselves, demonstrate that we have since laid the foundation for a potential collapse of the young country. And so where we are is expected. TO COME OUT OF IT WILL NEED A DELIBERATE FULL REVERSAL OF THE TREND I DESCRIBED. AND WE MUST ENDURE THE PAINS FOR AS LONG AS (POSSIBLY LONGER THAN) IT TOOK TO CREATE THE PROBLEM. THAT'S AT LEAST FIFTY YEARS FROM NOW!
That's the truth Nigerians need to hear.

First, we need a wilful leader to start with. One person. I believe in one capable individual prepared to lead the necessary sacrifice than a group of mixed multitudes. A political party is only a vehicle for strange bed fellows. There will always be corrupt infiltrates no matter how holy they profess to be. Unfortunately in our current system u need some of the fellows to reach the position. But once there, its ur choice - to serve the fellows or to make a difference. Great societies have always started with leaders who chose the latter. History is awash with examples.

Jesus Christ gave up his own very life at 33 years! To save billions of people. Mahatma Ghandi of India, Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther Jr., Nelson Mandela, y'all know their stories. It is only when such leader arrives in Nigeria, who thru not just his body language but his choices, decisions, utterances, policies, instil discipline, fairness, justice, hardwork, meritocracy, patriotism in every follower from his wife in Abuja to the beggar in Lagos, that FULL REVERSAL and thus true change could start. Such leader MUST use all his power to dethrone tribe (yes its possible), and unite the country. A constitutional earthquake to expunge nepotic clauses that feed indigeneship, clauses that crown governors and presidents overlords and pharaohs (like immunity, state control of LGAs, etc), that create electoral and criminal justice loopholes, and several other provisions is long overdue. In fact, I recommend a consideration for a strong, more representative unicameral legislature, an overhauled digitized judicial system, a deliberate effort reduce monetization and attractiveness of government to lazy hands looking for cheap money.

This is only the beginning of the foundation.

Second, recall that the progress these men started vastly outlived them. Therefore whoever takes over from such leader must continue the repair. We MUST deliberately remove our eyes from our biggest seduction - oil. I recommend searching for resources wherever we can find them (oil in the North is a fantastic idea to me), but with the mentality that it is for all, not for waste. However, agriculture and solid minerals should see increasingly more allocation cum attention than oil going forward.

I recommend a stupendous investment in education (@least 10% of GDP) and infrastructure for a long term, while simultaneously systematically reducing government recurrent costs. A NASS of 469 ppl paying over 2700 aides is simply outrageous. And that's NASS alone. Only in 9ja sha. We need to beef up anti corruption laws. But all that is nonsense without meaningful enforcement and swift judicial system. That's y someone will have effrontery to steal billions, knowing that if he ever got convicted, he'd just release a small fraction and go scot free. If there's a guarantee that someone who steals N5m today will find himself CONVICTED in prison by weekend, and we see ppl actually going to jail every weekend, trust me corruption will naturally die.

I recommend that we start pushing new frontiers. We can start to be bold to do RIGHT things our own way within international law, without necessarily depending on UK/US/UN nod in an awkward apprentice/master mentality we've been locked in for almost 60years. The world may hate Iranians and North Koreans (I'm not really their fan) but I learnt something from them. This ppl took their destinies in their hands, and they really answer to nobody. Today I read the North Koreans saying they r heading to the moon. North Korea!! Even if it takes them 50 years, I see them getting there.

What are we waiting for?

I rest my case.

drbashfx:


Actually friend you just stated the problems : nigerians are simple, we place more emphasis on consumption than production , we are inherently tribalistic , we have been unfortunate with our past leaders . u didn't even mention that nigerians have elevated corruption to a culture and we have lost moral values. But all these are still problems .

If we can get selfless leaders that preach oneness , have the sagacity to work through our problems and know how to find its way round the land mines in this complex entity called nigeria ...maybe,maybe . We are still back to the leaders , the followers can't reduce d price of rice, it is dependent on policies from the top .

You're probably looking the wrong place. The leaders you're talking about are the men in their 30s and 40s and 20s who have passed through the system and agree they've had enough.... Not the people who have lived their lives and have nothing to lose maintaining status quo. The Buharis and GEJs cannot make that change you desire, they instituted the nepotism and corruption we live in today. Even with their inexperience they know how the world works... But do you trust these young people?

PontusPilate:
So the problem wasnt just d generals (anymore than it is wen we had Ph.D holder, and now a supposedly repented former general). The generals really delayed us as a country. To me, its quite a shame to see that most of them alive are still crucially relevant in the polity. They had their time. They had express, unbriddled power. They could do and undo (and to me they mostly chose to undo than do). They wasted extremely bright opportunities. And so were where we are now.
Now my friend @op. The way out.
I took all this time to show how we deliberately brought this recession on ourselves, demonstrate that we have since laid the foundation for a potential collapse of the young country. And so where we are is expected. TO COME OUT OF IT WILL NEED A DELIBERATE FULL REVERSAL OF THE TREND I DESCRIBED. AND WE MUST ENDURE THE PAINS FOR AS LONG AS (POSSIBLY LONGER THAN) IT TOOK TO CREATE THE PROBLEM. THAT'S AT LEAST FIFTY YEARS FROM NOW!
That's the truth Nigerians need to hear.
First, we need a wilful leader to start with. One person. I believe in one capable individual prepared to lead the necessary sacrifice than a group of mixed multitudes. A political party is only a vehicle for strange bed fellows. There will always be corrupt infiltrates no matter how holy they profess to be. Unfortunately in our current system u need some of the fellows to reach the position. But once there, its ur choice - to serve the fellows or to make a difference. Great societies have always started with leaders who chose the latter. History is awash with examples.
Jesus Christ gave up his own very life at 33 years! To save billions of people. Mahatma Ghandi of India, Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther Jr., Nelson Mandela, y'all know their stories. It is only when such leader arrives in Nigeria, who thru not just his body language but his choices, decisions, utterances, policies, instil discipline, fairness, justice, hardwork, meritocracy, patriotism in every follower from his wife in Abuja to the beggar in Lagos, that FULL REVERSAL and thus true change could start. Such leader MUST use all his power to dethrone tribe (yes its possible), and unite the country. A constitutional earthquake to expunge nepotic clauses that feed indigeneship, clauses that crown governors and presidents overlords and pharaohs (like immunity, state control of LGAs, etc), that create electoral and criminal justice loopholes, and several other provisions is long overdue. In fact, I recommend a consideration for a strong, more representative unicameral legislature, an overhauled digitized judicial system, a deliberate effort reduce monetization and attractiveness of government to lazy hands looking for cheap money.
This is only the beginning of the foundation.
Second, recall that the progress these men started vastly outlived them. Therefore whoever takes over from such leader must continue the repair. We MUST deliberately remove our eyes from our biggest seduction - oil. I recommend searching for resources wherever we can find them (oil in the North is a fantastic idea to me), but with the mentality that it is for all, not for waste. However, agriculture and solid minerals should see increasingly more allocation cum attention than oil going forward.
I recommend a stupendous investment in education (@least 10% of GDP) and infrastructure for a long term, while simultaneously systematically reducing government recurrent costs. A NASS of 469 ppl paying over 2700 aides is simply outrageous. And that's NASS alone. Only in 9ja sha. We need to beef up anti corruption laws. But all that is nonsense without meaningful enforcement and swift judicial system. That's y someone will have effrontery to steal billions, knowing that if he ever got convicted, he'd just release a small fraction and go scot free. If there's a guarantee that someone who steals N5m today will find himself CONVICTED in prison by weekend, and we see ppl actually going to jail every weekend, trust me corruption will naturally die.
I recommend that we start pushing new frontiers. We can start to be bold to do RIGHT things our own way within international law, without necessarily depending on UK/US/UN nod in an awkward apprentice/master mentality we've been locked in for almost 60years. The world may hate Iranians and North Koreans (I'm not really their fan) but I learnt something from them. This ppl took their destinies in their hands, and they really answer to nobody. Today I read the North Koreans saying they r heading to the moon. North Korea!! Even if it takes them 50 years, I see them getting there.
What are we waiting for?
I rest my case.

We are definitely on the same wavelength . I like the fact about education , that is an albatross upon the neck of this nation . The country would act per time based on the level of knowledge @ its disposal . The knowledge currently flowing around now is abysmal, illiteracy level is shooting for the stratosphere .