The Secretary General of the umbrella Northern body, the Arewa Consultative Forum, Mr. Anthony Saani, has expressed disappointment in the ongoing political situation in Nigeria.
Sani in an exclusive chat with our correspondent, said the inability of the political leaders of the country to perform optimally had inhibited progress in all the sectors of the country.
He added that the citizens had failed to hold the country’s ruling political elite accountable for their actions.
‘’What is wrong with Nigeria politically is failure of leadership to provide purposeful governance. And this has been due to the fact that Nigeria has been a trust fund state that depends on oil wealth that has not been a result of hard work. As a result, leaders never bothered to tax the citizens for money needed for provision of goods and services to the people.
And this has been out of the fear by the leaders that any taxation of people would make them to ensure leaders account for their stewardship, a situation the leaders have never preferred,’’ he said.
Sani also bemoaned the negative effect of corruption on the citizens and their nonchalant attitude to happenings in the country, describing the government as a conduit pipe for embezzling funds.
‘’Consequently, such a situation of facile wealth has created unbridled corruption that has now stolen the people’s empowerment, stolen their opportunity and stolen their future in blithe disregard for the need for government to provide services to the people. And instead of the people to hold the leaders accountable, they have tended to regard the government as a gravy train while the people wait for their turn in order to have their own share of the national cake.
Government has become a vehicle for sharing the national cake without due regard for how to make the cake,” he
said.
The ACF secretary general further compared the current system of government with that of the former regional system, saying that the latter was
preferable.
Sani said, ‘’This may explain why the regional governments, when there was no oil, are rated as having performed better than the following governments, when there have been oil wealth that is not result of hard work.
That is also why politics of identity has supplanted politics of real issues, of real concern to real ordinary Nigerians. That is why elections are rigged and the concern of the politicians is about which political parties can win elections and not about which political parties can deliver on the promise of democracy.
“Yet, I dare say any tree that refuses to dance is often forced to dance by strong wings.
That is to say, now that the oil wealth is going South and Nigerians are forced to consume what they produce, nobody needs to tell them about the imperative of working hard for what they consume or need or even want.
“Difficult time often brings about national grandeur, brings about purposeful leader and the best in every one. More so that adversity is not only cathartic but constructive, as well. Our situation is not beyond redemption, considering the determination by the current regime to reverse the situation and chart the way forward.’’
On what could be done to take the country out of the current doldrums it had found itself, the ACF chieftain said that there was still hope for Nigeria.
‘’Again, our situation is not beyond redemption, especially if the leadership rewires the politics, reengineer our sense of justice, make mercy smarter, make hope more strategic and dare the rest of us to follow,’’ Sani
said.