We should be concerned that Africa's largest economy is walking on a slippery path. This is not the time to allow prejudice, self-interests, outdated knowledge, etc, to overtake good sense. We must free ourselves from being 'prisoners of the map'; the distorted views of the politicians who exploit the collective ignorance of the masses, for selfish gains. Everything seems deadlocked and the government is simply interested in power grips. They said election of a dictator is a bad omen, we are just witnessing that. If things continue like this no one knows what the future holds as the government seems to be at war with everyone especially the leading opposition leaders branded as 'thieves' who destroyed the economy in the past. The government has increased its denial and misinformation campaign insisting that corruption not the restructuring of the dysfunctional political system which is the root of the nation's problem is its priority. Meanwhile there is abundant evidence of the government's complicity in looting the country's resources in its very short term in government. Its recent attack is the global banking giant HSBC Bank. Sadly a government seeking global partnership has resorted to open confrontation with experts and global investors whose voices carry more weight in international circles. We learnt HSBC said they will ''expose all the secret President Buhari and his cronies are using to launder money abroad", this is just a tip of the iceberg. According to Channels TV, both the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research unit of The Economist Magazine and HSBC Bank, UK had predicted in a report that a second term for President Buhari would "greatly stunt the economic development of the country". This is a common knowledge to any Political Economy student because politics and economics are interconnected. Dictator rule does not result in economic development. It's worst with a unitary-centralised political system designed by ruthless power grabs for their self-interests only, which the government has refused to restructure, so the future under Buhari is very gloomy for Nigeria. In their own words ; a second term for Mr Buhari raises the risk of limited economic progress and further fiscal deterioration". Denying and distorting information is an age long authoritarian tool which has no future in the modern era. The time has come to save democracy in Nigeria, because there's no future in autocracy, 'permanent fear and terror'. A populist government that claims every other person is corrupt except them is not the future we want. We must be honest and stop pretending that all is well. Everything history tells us about authoritarianism now stare us in the face, so we must learn from it. Today we have the 'solutions for yesterday's problems', only when we are ready. In the words of Michael Voisin; "the question is whether we are ready for what might come next". A small minority holding the rest of the society to ransome and the people do nothing. If we want a society that is fair, inclusive and prosperous , certainly autocracy is not the answer, rather restructuring of this monstrous political structure that have enabled autocracy/authoritarian rule in Nigeria. Unless we stop looking at the map designed by strangers we will be stuck in this 'anarchic state' whose prime object is to preserve its own existence by maintaining absolute power over its own citizens. This unwelcome situation could be avoided. In the words of Professor Richard Griffiths; "in a state of almost permanent fear and terror, life as we know would grind to a halt". We can do something about it.
Read More: http://www.theleadprojectfoundation.com/2018/09/restructuring-nigeria-is-one-sure-way.html
Uche Okeke is a Statistician, Social Entrepreneur, the Founder of The LEAD Project Foundation. He lives in London.
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