Nigeria’s war against indiscipline
Behave or be whipped
A former dictator dredges up old social policies
Sep 24th 2016 | LAGOS

The frog jump—a national sport

NIGERIANS might be forgiven for thinking they have travelled back in time. Their president, Muhammadu Buhari, has revived some of the economic policies he favoured when he was last in power, as a military dictator in the 1980s, such as restricting imports and propping up the currency. Such retro thinking has failed to rescue Nigeria from its first recession in 20 years; indeed, it has probably made it worse. And now social policy is going back in time, too.

Under a new “national reorientation” campaign called “Change Begins with Me” Mr Buhari wants to tame Nigerians. Moral “degeneration”, he says, is the reason that drivers run red lights and militants blow up pipelines. “Our value system has been badly eroded,” the president lamented in a speech that plagiarised Barack Obama’s 2008 victory address. A presidential spokesman blamed an “overzealous” speech-writer who will face “appropriate sanction”.

Others may face the same fate. A “War Against Indiscipline” brigade, first drafted by Mr Buhari in 1984, was relaunched last month and is hunting for funds for its 150,000 volunteers, who are patriotically clad in green and white. According to the National Orientation Agency (whose Orwellian departments include one for “Behaviour Modification”), their job is to restore order and “inculcate the spirit of nationalism in all Nigerians”.
Nigeria’s public services have been hollowed out by years of corruption, and some locals remember the era of military rule as more orderly. Others remember it as brutal. During Mr Buhari’s first War Against Indiscipline soldiers used horse whips to beat those who littered or jumped queues and punished others by making them jump like frogs. “It became totally arbitrary,” says Clement Nwankwo, a human-rights campaigner. One of his friends, he recalls, was jailed for owning an unlicensed telex machine.

The dangers of unleashing the moral police are manifest. One man has been arrested for naming his dog after the president. In Kano, a mostly Muslim northern state, an Islamic unit called the Hisbah has long terrorised people accused of committing adultery.
Mr Buhari’s critics gripe that, if he wants to make Nigeria a more moral country, he should start by cleaning up the government. Police officers regularly extort bribes with menaces. The army is accused of killing and torturing civilians. In Lagos the state government’s “Kick Against Indiscipline” enforcement team demands weekly bribes from long-suffering roadside vendors.

Matthew Kukah, a bishop in the northern city of Sokoto, doubts that Mr Buhari’s campaign will work. “Chaos is a function of scarcity,” he argues. “You cannot expect hungry people to line up for a few bags of rice.”

http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21707549-former-dictator-dredges-up-old-social-policies-behave-or-be-whipped?frsc=dg%7Cc

Good observation but those policies are still relevant today.

Tolu Ogunlesi, The President's PA on new media, used to have great rapport with The Economist, wonder what happened? They couldn't have posted this report without his knowledge no?

Relevant in what way? So you want to be whipped before you queue up in a bank, are you a donkey?

Standing5:
Good observation but those policies are still relevant today.

once a dictator always a dictator.

The dangers of unleashing the moral police are manifest. One man has been arrested for naming his dog after the president. In Kano, a mostly Muslim northern state, an Islamic unit called the Hisbah has long terrorised people accused of committing adultery.
Mr Buhari’s critics gripe that, if he wants to make Nigeria a more moral country, he should start by cleaning up the government. Police officers regularly extort bribes with menaces. The army is accused of killing and torturing civilians. In Lagos the state government’s “Kick Against Indiscipline” enforcement team demands weekly bribes from long-suffering roadside vendors.

d above is a graphic detailed description of tyranism n dictatorship in nigeria today.

tawa89:
Relevant in what way? So you want to be whipped before you queue up in a bank, are you a donkey?

Being a donkey starts from the head. Are you planning not to queue up properly?

Just imagine the millions of taxpayers money that was invested on such a hypocritical campaign, in a recession year Our President is wasting our money on inanities like ' Change begins with me' while living off an annual feeding budget of 1.7b naira while millions of its people should 'change' on empty stomachs while himself and his family live like royalties.

drss2:

d above is a graphic detailed description of tyranism n dictatorship in nigeria today.

I have been queuing since i was born without the help of whips and WAI, now kindly answer me, are you a donkey?

Standing5:
Being a donkey starts from the head. Are you planning not to queue up properly?

Standing5:
Good observation but those policies are still relevant today.

Very very relevant policies. Nigerians are the most expected Nationality to be embarrassed at an airport or suspected of a crime. This is because we have exported a traits that are not native to us in our individual ethnic national characters but we somehow adopted willy nilly over the years .
The ECONOMIST should shut up and let us target morality and ethics anew at a new generation . At least we can start from Junior Secondary Schools to start getting things right.

tawa89:
I have been queuing since i was born without the help of whips and WAI, now kindly answer me, are you a donkey?

Has any flogged you for queuing up since you were born?

So change begins with the average Olu, Ibrahim and Emeka out there, what happens to our leaders? You think most people will commit these crimes and rsik jail time and possibly death if they had any hope that things would get better? If you conduct a research, you will observe that crimes are on the rise this year more than the previous years. Great economic policies churns out stronger middleclass and happier citizens and Nonsense policies like WAI because one day the people will get tired of being whipped and hungry, they will fight back, no one will save y'all then. Ask Ghadaffi, his elite bodyguard couldn't save him when the people came for him, stay in Aso Rock and be eating 1.7b naira worth of food.

Adminisher:


Very very relevant policies. Nigerians are the most expected Nationality to be embarrassed at an airport or suspected of a crime. This is because we have exported a traits that are not native to us in our individual ethnic national characters but we somehow adopted willy nilly over the years .
The ECONOMIST should shut up and let us target morality and ethics anew at a new generation . At least we can start from Junior Secondary Schools to start getting things right.

Adminisher:


Very very relevant policies. Nigerians are the most expected Nationality to be embarrassed at an airport or suspected of a crime. This is because we have exported a traits that are not native to us in our individual ethnic national characters but we somehow adopted willy nilly over the years .
The ECONOMIST should shut up and let us target morality and ethics anew at a new generation . At least we can start from Junior Secondary Schools to start getting things right.

Morality and ethics my axx.
Morality and ethics should start in ASO Rock.

Like someone before me posted, the sheer hypocrisy of Buhari , who is a bold and unabashed NEPOTIST, a leader who increased his household feeding allowance by 50% to N1.9b, has the arrogance to talk about morality and ethics to the rest of 180m hungry Nigerians.
What about the stench of corruption from the principal members of his government?