NIGERIA @ 53: WHO IS BAD, GOVERNMENT OR NIGERIANS?

It has become part of every Nigerian to blame the government for anything that is not right in this country, every day, people keep saying the Government is bad. I could remember a musician by name Africa China; channel one of his songs toward this same line. According to him ‘our government baaad ooo, dem no wan give ghetto man Jooob ooo, Oh my God oooo…’

Is our government bad? This is a question that needs an urgent answer from every citizen of this country. No doubt about it Government is an institution of the state empowered with the power and authority to make an enforce law and order within the state. It is the duty of government to provide basic infrastructural facilities such as good Roads, Electricity, Portable water, Security of life and Properties etc to enhance the standard of living of her citizens.

However, it is the duty of every citizen to make sure he/she safeguards what the government made available with tax payers money. My concern is that Nigeria is 53 years this 1^st October, 2013, how well have the two parties (government and citizen) been able to discharge their duties.

It is no more news that the government has failed the entire citizenry of the country in all ramifications ranging from:

Economic Development: The economy of the country is at the mercy of government. Government prepares the budget with few technocrats it surrounds itself with. This, if done well by the department and agencies saddled with the responsibility, leads to a prosperous nation that will have a meaningful impact on the poverty strike people of Nigeria.

Infrastructure: This is very important to the people, for example good roads, lacks of which results in roads accidents, good water; lack of which result in people having typhoid fever, dysentery, etc. The condition of power supply is more than erratic or epileptic.

Another important area where Government has failed woefully is the educational sector, despite the effort of religions organizations and private individuals to complement the effort of the government in providing qualitative education across board to Nigerians, the government has failed by not, first allocating  adequate percentage of the budget to the sector and secondly, there is no proper monitoring.

Security: It is one of the functions of government to protect the lives and properties of citizens. There is the state security service (SSS), The Armed forces, the Civil Defense Corps, the Nigerian Police etc. But despite the presence of all these agencies, innocent citizens lose their lives to one gang or the other on a daily basis. If police who should protect the citizen can kill them because they refuse to offer bribe, what else can we say?

I will say here that, all blames should not be put on government; an abstract entity or concept. Abraham Lincoln the former president of United States of America said it all when he defined democracy as the government of the people, by the people and for the people.

Nigerians voted for all the people in government, we are aware now that they perform below expectation except for few of them, and we shall vote for them again in the coming elections as soon as we are given N200 (two hundred naira). Let us also ask ourselves if all the people in Government from Mr. President to Honorable councilor at ward level; are not Nigerians? If they are, it means Nigerians are the one that is bad and not government.

The Chairman of my LCDA since he assume office about two years ago has done nothing in the entire LCDA, even to the road that leads to his House. Another Election is coming soon, he will go around with his people given us N200 each to vote him for the second term and will shall happily take the money and vote for him again.  What do you expect from an Office Holder that spent billions of Naira to win Election? He will pay back the loan with interest and want to have something to himself.

The Nigerian police is a government Agency with a share of 85 percent of the Nigerian corruption. Many innocent citizens and non citizens, young and old have been murdered by this agency all in the name of N20 to N50.

When the Lagos State government came up with the traffic law that Okadas should not Ply major roads in the state, the police will leave the major roads and enter into streets in rural areas Chasing Okadas, only to arrest them and collect between N10, 000 to N20, 000 from the poor men managing to survive with the Okada within the streets. I am very sure all the police men and women committing these atrocities are not from Ghana neither are they from Togo or Cotonou.

A Nigerian will be given money to give Nigerians in term of pension or relief, and this Nigerian will divert such money into his/ her own personal account and tell the pensioners that the government is yet to release their money, what a pity?

A lot of contracts have been awarded by the government to better the lives of the people; Nigerians take the money, execute the contract half way, or not execute at all and siphon the entire money. Yes! The government is bad.

Most part of Lagos is flood prone area with little or no drainage; despite our knowledge of the implications we all drink bottle water, lacasera, coke and throw the plastic or can in the available drainage which will definitely block it. When it rains and everywhere is water we started blaming the government for our shortcomings.

There was a day I boarded a Lag Bus from Leventis going to Eko Hotel in Victoria Island, Lagos. Starting from the ticketer to the bus Driver they were just insulting the commuters for reasons best known to them to the extent that the bus Driver even told one of the commuter not to board either BRT or Lag bus again that she should always board Danfo instead. Let me ask you, if Lagosians should stop patronizing the BRT or lag bus will this man’s salary be paid? Him, the ticketers , other drivers, and every other officers will surely lose their job. What happen, they will at the end put the blame on Government saying; the government is very bad for not providing them jobs.

Think about these and more time and space does not permit me to write down here in this article and judge it yourself.