NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT AND MISPLACED PRIORITIES.
Let me state right away that I am not a card carrying member of any political party in Nigeria. This is not to say that I am apolitical; my background as a political scientist predisposes me to making analysis and leaving my readers with the choice to make their judgments.

It has been agreed that the greatest challenge facing Nigeria and most African countries borders on leadership. There appears to be a mix-up in the way our political leaders articulate what should be of ‘national importance’ and what shouldn’t.

As a Nation, Nigeria is presently saddled and encumbered with hydra headed problems in every facets of our socio-economic and political lives. The masses have never had it this bad in terms of their welfare as most households barely survives on two square meals daily while hitherto budding entrepreneurs’ have had their businesses either crippled or in the process of packing up. Corporate bodies and organized private sectors; the acclaimed engine of economic growth and development have been rendered prostrate owing to the wrong choices of political leaders at all levels of government.

It seems we have jettisoned common sense in preference to manifestations which betray our inclinations to satisfy primordial sectional interests at the expense of the larger good. It appears the hard lessons from the worsening situation of things, which many agreed came as a result of accumulation of past misdeeds, are not taken seriously and are unfortunately being repeated over and over again.
Having taking time to try and understand how we found ourselves here; where we cannot even take care of our basic needs, I will like you to reason along with me as I bring some recent developments to the fore.

Religion and its practices right from time immemorial had always been a personal spiritual affair and this informs the expectations of the various religious doctrines on personal salvation and reconciliation with ones creator in order to enjoy eternal life hereafter or be reincarnated. It therefore beats ones imagination as to why a government with allegiance to secularity will be seen to be promoting religious activities of some groups at the expense of others. It is hard to believe that given the acute shortage of FX, pilgrimage exercises could still be subsidized at huge cost to the country! This is the height of priority misplacement as economic activities with proven value-addition potentials that should ordinarily get such concessions are denied, in preference to activities of individuals embarking on personal spiritual exercises with no measurable economic benefits to the nation. Even more baffling is the revelation that Non secular states like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Kuwait, UAE, Malaysia, Algeria and Jordan does not embark on this obvious wastage of scarce resources in the name of subsidizing ‘holy’ pilgrimages. Has it occurred to the Nigerian government that given the current exchange rate of our currency to the dollar, the country will be losing millions of the scarce greenback in the subsidy of BTA to =N=197/1$ as against the prevailing interbank rate of over =N=398! Just for a non-economic exercise.

Again, it was reported recently that the federal government plans to import grass from Saudi Arabia for the Fulani herdsmen whose activities had left in its trail, in the legendary Fela’s voice, tears, sorrows and blood. The defense for this warped initiative is that it will help in stemming the tide of violent killings being perpetuated by the rampaging herdsmen. And people had questioned the rationality of that decision, in that cattle rearing and husbandry, like every other private enterprise should be catered for by the people involved and that the government involvement in provision of grazing fields and grass is a misnomer, rather herdsmen should be encouraged to provide relevant utilities needed to carry on with their business. The governments’ sole responsibility should be to ensure that in doing this, they do not constitute themselves into societal menace and threat to lives and properties of others.

At the National assembly level, it is regrettable that decorum and decency had since taken flight and collective interests forcibly thrown out of their hallowed chambers in deference to their selfish interests. At a time when serious efforts should be made in coming up with people oriented bills and laws that will better the lots of the masses, our ‘distinguished honorables’ are seen fighting themselves over immunity for principal officers, provision of bullet-proof SUVs, budget padding and other perquisites of office. We are yet to see the relevance of bi-cameral legislature here given their wanton display of high level of insensitivity to the plight of the masses who stood under inclement weather conditions to ‘vote’ for them.

Nigerian masses, especially sports enthusiasts have been left speechless with the apparent government apathy towards training of athletes for major sporting tournaments like the ongoing Rio Olympics in Brazil. It was really strange that the same government who were finding it hard to release funds on time for training and camping activities could be seen releasing funds for Sports officials to travel ‘on time’ for supposed ‘moral’ boosting assignments for the same athletes they refused to train and prepare adequately for the event…… the list goes on and on. It was even reported that the minister of sports, Solomon Dalung, who did not play any major role in the athletes’ preparations, flew into Brazil ahead of the country’s contingent. It’s a shame. Where do we go from here?

We need to have a national scale of preference in critical areas of our life, infantile as this may seem, there is need for us, given what we have seen so far, to begin to codify our national priorities. The best way to do this will be to liaise with credible civil society organizations and other professional bodies to articulate what should be of paramount importance and interests to government. This will help in forestalling derailment and clipping the winds of persons with tendencies which seems to portray us as people without priorities.

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