Many Nigerians share the frustrations and palpable sense of despair expressed in the PCD report below. Many have heard the saying "nothing is new". That saying is as true about the practice of government in Nigeria as it has ever been. It has been said too that "the more things change, the more they remain the same". Nigeria is again a case in point. It does not have to be this way though. Jonathan was elected to change Nigeria for the better. So far, it has been business as usual.
A keen observer of Jonathan's transition from Vice President to Acting President and unelected President, and now his transformation into an elected President would have noticed that the man dislikes and avoids controversy, drama, and action. This should ordinarily be a good thing if the President's attitude, posture, and style are informed and driven by caution, thought, and ultimately optimal performance. When however the President's attitude, posture, and style are impelled by doubt, fear, and apparently sub-optimal performance, there is cause for real and enduring worry.
Nigeria is a country that is in dire need of rapid all round transformation. What she needs is a leader with an incisive mind, courage, candor, and steely determination. She needs a leader that will speak truth to both powerful political, economic, religious, and ethnic elites and jingoists, and the masses of suffering Nigerians. Jonathan's Federal cabinet is credible evidence that he (Jonathan) might be less than fully aware of the enormity and urgency of the tasks and responsibilities that he is charged with as President, the faith that long suffering Nigerian masses have invested in his presidency, and the results that they rightly expect him to deliver sooner than later. He is slowly but evidently looking like a master recycler of under-performers. He seems to be beholden to decadent class of professional exploiters of Nigeria's economic, political, and ethnic differences who have been allowed to always punch above their weight for years.
Politics is indeed the art of the possible but the politician (in this case the President) decides what is possible. Jonathan has the power. He should use it. He also has the purse strings. He should pull them. He should act constructively and transparently. He has not hit the ground running and this is mostly his choice. Jonathan cuts the impression of a negotiator and conciliator rather than a decider. His critics and detractors (he must know that he has many) are either sizing him up or have sized him up already. They seem to believe or have concluded that he may not have mettle even if he has guts. It is becoming evident that the man is not feared, respected, or loved. That is bad news for an Executive President of a country relentlessly plodding from one avoidable crisis to another and a citizenry that inching toward despair.
It is common knowledge that Jonathan's massive political party is part of his problem. Yes, he is a product of the party but he can change it for the better. Jonathan like Obasanjo before him, is now his party's leader. Obasanjo change that party for the worse. Change can therefore happen if the will is there. Jonathan must not forget that this is his presidency and that his performance will be evaluated without regard to the many recognized constraints that his party's elaborate form, structures, and rigidities presented to him. Success is usually achieved in spite of the odds. The greater the odds, the merrier the success. As president and leader of his party, he can reform, restructure, and reposition his party to serve Nigeria better, as a ruling party is always and rightly expected to do. He must know that his party is weaker now than it has ever been. Its hold on power is tethering and slowly but surely being whittled away by the success of other parties which success is predicated on the governance failures of Jonathan's party. His party is in evidently and measurable in progressive decline. Jonathan's failure as president may make it more difficult for his party to win the next presidential election. It is up to him whether or not, he turns out to be the last elected President of Nigeria from his party?
Jonathan must know that Nigeria operates a presidential and not a parliamentary system. In a parliamentary system, the leader's primary constituency is comprised of the leader's party parliamentary colleagues and party supporters. In a presidential system, the leader's constituency is the entire electorate. Jonathan seems to be paying too much attention to keeping his party members happy at the expense of the rest of the country. He promised to be a one-term president. He operates however as a President that will campaign one more time for re-election. He should govern like a president in his final term. He should put Nigeria first. If he does, he might even be pressured to run again for the office.
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From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Prince Dickson [pcdbooks@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 7:22 PM
To: Igbo kwenu
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Jonathan Now That You Have A Shoe, Where Are You Going?
| Jonathan Now That You Have A Shoe, Where Are You Going? By Prince Charles Dickson This is a second instalment of an essay I wrote some weeks back...in that admonishment, I had asked that President Jonathan should start walking with or without shoes. Apparently we all are witnesses to how far the President has walked and worked. In the few weeks since Jonathan's swearing-in, the most he has done is the very peculiar smile that we do not understand. He smiles while at the HIV/AIDS function in New York, he was smiling while at the Police headquarters after the blast. Infact the only time I recall Mr. President not smiling and with was at the PDP primary convention, early in the year with Atiku blasting him. I am sure that a visit to Borno would put away the smile, but I know that even the President would not dare the firepower of Boko Haram. It's funny that now that the President has a shoe, only a visit by Britain's David Cameron is enough to make him visit Lagos, the world's most expensive slum (after the flood). Now that Jonathan has in his collection some Brazilian crocodile skin sandals, the best we can see from the Ministerial assemblage is a cabinet of two halves. Yet Nigerians are impatiently waiting for that luck that may never come. All the pronouncements made by the current administration in practical terms translate to economic voodoo. While the president's collections of shoes are on the increase, Nigerians by flood, by Boko Haram, by preventable accidents are losing their feet and legs and the few that have slippers are tired of repairs. With all the powers, it is obvious that our low expectations may again be dashed. Campaign promises are nowhere being fulfilled and more promises are being made. At a close look, it's a case of antonyms and synonyms, saying one thing, doing another. With shoes, the Jonathan's administration has stirred more controversies, too many conspiracy theories and a seeming lack of how to handle the issues bedevilling the country. A whole lot of these problems started when Jonathan had no shoes, not his fault but now that he has shoes because of his insistence of being the man that the shoe fits. The question is where are we going? That these are trying times, is no longer news, what may be news is where we would be as a nation after these four years that has commenced in the most difficult circumstances. The eternal optimist and Jonathanian will tell you that we are on track. They tell you that when Nigeria nears a whirlwind, there is good news around the horizon. They say that Jonathan and his team are going somewhere, the problem for the other bulk of us, is where exactly is these train going. The Boko Haram scourge, a faint and wake power sector, a directionless, clueless ruling party, flood in Lagos, Islamic banking, Christian schools, and a Northern conspiracy cannot be worse places to go compared to June 12, Civil war and other nation-breaking threats of the past. With all sorts of secessionists talk, a southern Sudan, all the hue and cry for true federalism, theories of the Oduas planning something big in regards leaving us in Nigeria, or the unholy silence of the likes MASSOB, the sharia drama for 12 states according to one arm of Boko Haram. Against these and many dozens of tough problems, where exactly is Jonathan heading to? What if Jonathan still had no shoes, I mean if, he lost the April polls, would Boko Haram be this active and an issue, it's another proposition but for me and many, is he expected to tackle it? Yes! Has he? No! Jonathan has not even made pretence that he may visit Borno. The President is a busy man, busy office, a busy nation but suffice to say, it may well be a case of busy at nothing four years from now. We could not get a point out of the 7 pointer, now it's a 9 pointer in terms of agendas. I recall that old school axiom that you would have a feel of a nice weekend from Friday, at best; Nigerians are torn in between love for a President for all the wrong reasons and primordial attachments. I have a host of friends of Mr. President who have told me, spare him, and give him time, some more months. I just smile and say, lets continue the dialogue, we are watching, how much time is enough time. It's not getting any better, on the contrary some of us already know that someone in the Villa wants a seven or six year run to finish the good works he has not started. I think the President is battling hard to fit into the shoes having been without one for too long, that is why with or without his consent, opposition is being stifled, (although the quality of opposition remains in doubt). But only a man afraid of his direction is so concerned about another's lack of direction. We see a government led by Jonathan moving in different directions at the same time, at loss on how to deal with issues, be it NYSC and its review or the matter of corruption. While others call for dialogue and caution on Boko Haram, others call for crush them, and wipe them all out. No doubt we can see some form of change, though it remains debatable what kind, but we are still towing the same line. Government talking with no action, making comments that show almost complete lack of logic, that it cannot for example fully implement the labour demands until January 2012 and at same time request National Assembly to increase the wages of Mr. President's Special Advisers and Assistants. A case of where are we going really is one pertinent question that we must seek answers for, Jonathan, is a nice man, he smiles at everything and nothing, my admonishment, all the good intention with no action to back them is like getting dressed with nowhere to go in mind. Kùtù-kùtù kì í jíni l????mejì; kùtù-kùtù ní ?j?? òwúr??; biri ní ?j?? al?? is how the Yoruba's put it. Early dawn does not wake one twice; early dawn is the morning; deep darkness is night. (The morning comes only once; whoever wastes it will discover too late that night has fallen). Prince Charles Dickson Nigeria's 1st Online Newspaper Visit http://burningpot.com What Exactly Is The Problem With Nigeria? We... Let's Work At Solving It |
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