Majority of Nigerians are now very certainthat Goodluck Jonathan is clueless about what it takes to run a nation, sustain it, uplift it and develop it; he does not know what to do deal to with major and minor issues, and he is clearly bereft of ideas and has failed woefully. The nation has to move forward. Going forward and getting it right has to be done without Jonathan; the memory of the bad luck, ineptitude, indecision, poor decision, self-oriented/self-benefitting decision, blatant abuse of office, endless inaction, faltered and failed steps, lovey-dovey romance with corruption and looting, weakness and failure to deal with insecurity and the Boko Haram scourge, the albatross of Goodluck Jonathan, must bequickly forgotten. Collective action and concerted efforts must now be taken to deliver the Nigerian people from any further pains and hardship. We must move forward as a people with zeal and determination to help our people find pragmatic solutions to the myriads of problems facing the nation and its people. The direction Nigeria has to go must be in the opposite direction of where Jonathan has taken us.The top issue is corruption and how to deal with it. Corruption accounts for the disappearance and looting of over fifty percent (some haveput the figure at nearly eightypercent!) of the nation's funds. There are too many corruption scandals to fill a register and billions of dollarsdisappearing and walking away from national and state coffers. Major national establishments are so rotten and heavily looted that Jonathan and his errand hands refer to what is taking place as transformation! Can we call what is going on at theNigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) transformation?
If we agree that corruption has now reached an alarming proportion and it is being done with impunity and chest-beating recklessness, then we know the time has come to find a leader who hates corruption, someone who cannot stand it and who is seething and boiling at what isgoing on and taking place in Nigeria today. Nigeria needs an anti-corruption leader whois ready to fight corruption, expose and prosecute corrupt office holders and who is also prepared to be transparent. Transparency is key to making changes in the way the nation is governed, and this is a time that we crave a leader who will be open and transparent to lead the nation on the path to openness, hard work and progress. We need a leader who will ensure that the nation's income from crude oil and gas are reported weekly and on the websites of NNPC, the NLNG and other oil and gas corporations owned by government.
Income from oil and gas account for more than 70% of the nation's annual budget and it is very important to have a comprehensive recordof income from this major source. The nation is at a crossroad and this is one major chance to instill sanity and decorum into the way we do things as a nation and as a people. It is crucial at this stage to begin to develop a new national culture of hard work, value-added, work-reward combo, direct contribution and input, value-for-money mindset, effort-based orientation to work andlife, fair work for fair pay, diligence of work and productivity, and result-oriented attitude. We have been on a downward slope and rapidly descending since 1985 when Ibrahim Babangida imposed himself as an unelected president. Babangida's net worth is today put at $12 billion.
His co-traveler and conspirator, Sani Abacha's networth is put at $4 billion. We all know for a fact that IbrahimBabangida and Sani Abacha never earned $1 million each throughout their military careers in the Nigeria Army. We also know that nearly all the senior civil servants (directors and permanent secretaries in particular) in the federal and state governments, who own several houses/properties/businesses around Nigeria and overseas and fat bank accounts here and there, are stealing or have stolen from government. We know we have a problem that must be confronted now.
Nigeria is a rich nation and can be even richer and very self-sustaining but for corruption. 2015 presidential election should be a search for that credible and worthy leader who has all it takes to confront corruption and the corrupt elements among us, who are less than 1% of the population yet responsible forthe theft of more than 50% of the nation's funds! The leaderwe are searching for must be bold and prepared to put in place the machinery necessary to recover stolen wealth and loot, put on trial and jail all suspects, their fronts and sidekicks, and collaborate with the Western nations to recover stolen wealth from Switzerland, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Bahrain, United Kingdom, Bahamas, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and several others. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has become the new sanctuary for many Nigerian looters; some who used to wire their stolen funds to the United States have now relocated their activities to the UAE.
CORRUPTION HAS TO STOP IN NIGERIA.