Facebook

Thursday 4 January 2018

And Change Still Did Not Come; The Hard Truth About Nigeria's Subverted Democracy

Innocent Civilians Flee the atrocities of the Fulani Herdsmen in Benue State, Nigeria.
'Terrorism and Deceitfulness has no future in a democracy'- Uche Okeke.  Photo: Facebook

Naturally Presidential New Year messages are meant to inspire hope to the nation, however what we have witnessed is a bit of "value failure ', leadership failure  which has generated a lot of mix -reactions among the citizens. This may not be a good electoral gain.
 From the most burning topics such as restructuring , unemployment, security , infrastructure, corruption, etc, the citizens seem very unhappy given the socio-economic and political challenges facing the country and the government response to the challenges.
The government simply seems to distance itself from the various challenges confronting the nation including unemployment and security which is the basic duty of government in a democracy. Similarly the government could not find any thing wrong with the national call for restructuring of the current political structure widely regarded as the sole reason for national stagnation and political instability. People are now beginning to wonder if they are in a democracy or autocracy.

 The emergence of a new security threat- the devastation of the herdsmen which now threatens the country's food security, the economy and national unity has received very little attention as if the security challenges is beyond the government. These herdsmen are tagged the 'fourth deadly terror group', now in the world. [See: 'Global Terrorism Index: Nigerian Fulani Millitants named as fourth deadliest terror group in world'- INDEPENDENT UK;  Wednesday 18 November, 2015.]
The daily murder of Innocent citizens by the herdsmen terrorists demand very assertive action not just a new normal as the President want us to believe in his new year's message. Some lives are not more important than others.
What marvels me is the 'by-stander' attitude of  the government. The government seems only interested in the next elections. I think it's time for the government to re-think their approach to governance if they truly want the best for the country. There must be increased determination to save lives and making the country safe for everyone.

Leadership comes with responsibility.
 Democracy is not just about elections only. What's the point of seeking for office if you lack urgency and ideas about democratic governance including declining responsibility in the face of national crisis, merely expressing shock when something goes wrong within your own government. We've also seen that  play out in corruption cases involving the current government officials. .
Recent events of the atrocities of the herdsmen has strenghtened the call for restructuring and more powers to states including the power to defend their citizens, since the federal government simply plays ''Bewildered Bystander" which simply worsens the situation.

The job of the President is to provide security for citizens. Nations go to war just for killing one of their citizens, but in our case our citizens are brutally murdered on a daily basis and we're simply told to treat it as a fact of life. Why are you the President? Why do you want to seek re-election?

Uche Okeke is a Social Entrepreneur,  the Founder of The LEAD Project Foundation.

1 comment:

  1. Recent events of the atrocities of the herdsmen has strenghtened the call for restructuring and more powers to states including the power to defend their citizens, since the federal government simply plays ''Bewildered Bystander".Read More: http://www.theleadprojectfoundation.com/2018/01/and-change-did-not-come-hard-truth.html

    ReplyDelete

The LEAD Project Foundation