As expected, President Muhammadu Buhari's independence day speech is predictable as it completely ignores the root of the problem his government is claiming to address- political corruption,'hijacking by despotism'-domination and exploitation. The blame games continues, with Social Media now topping the list. The president was a great beneficiary of Social Media during the 2015 elections today he describes it as ''disruptive and corrosive forces'' that must be dealt with. The truth is that the politicians are yet to embrace the fact that today things have changed, they're simply out of touch with the reality, still dwelling in the past. Rather than confronting the real issues, the government is still peddling distorted views that deliver poverty instead of peace and prosperity. A good analysis of the president's independence day speech would reveal that he has failed to acknowledge the sorry state the country finds itself under his leadership-ineffective, inefficient and partial government; a ruthless autocracy violently repressing civil liberties and human rights, destroying institutions of the very democracy that empowered him, creating fear and terror in the country. The government always endorse itself making the public to look as if it has some more purpose to offer to the challenges we face, its mission is simply power grips. If things are working very well as the president wants us to believe people wouldn't have deserted his independence day anniversary nationwide. The Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ex-Presidents and other eminent Nigerians deserted this year's independence anniversary, in a democracy this is a bad omen. Unfortunately political parties primary elections coincided with this year's independence anniversary, the outcomes nation wide has revealed the mood of the nation. Meanwhile, the president didn't even mention restructuring in his independence speech; the only innovative solution to good governance, inclusiveness, trust and economic progress in the modern era. The president says INEC will be independent, this is not true, restructuring is one sure way to guarantee good governance, rule of law and human rights, build strong institutions that will guarantee transparency and accountability. There is urgent need to revisit effective devolution to pioneer inclusiveness, transparency and accountability that's crucial to the nation's development, the status-quo has nothing more to offer. Stupidity is still believing that the current system will provide jobs for the teaming young population, and achieve the much needed social reforms. As it stands, the implications of the government's desperation to retain power will be more instability, stalled investment , stagnation , more poverty and hardships and a return to full blown dictatorship made possible by useful idiots. We have a chance to avoid this damaging and miserable outcomes by rejecting authoritarian rule come next election. We have had enough of the routine rhetoric independence day broadcast which does not have any impact on the people's welfare and growth . We must reject authoritarian rule to achieve economic progress and join the rest of the world's free democratic societies where human rights, rule of law and good governance is the order of the day. There is no future in autocracy, so we must reject those who want to impose it on us. The truth is autocracy is 'incompatible with economic growth or political modernization', what it offers is ethnic, religious fragmentation as we have witnessed so far in this government.
Read more: http://www.theleadprojectfoundation.com/2018/09/growth-and-stability-is-not-too-complex.html
Uche Okeke is a Statistician, Social Entrepreneur, the Founder of The LEAD Project Foundation and the Author of Nigeria's Democracy And Its Crisis Deliberate, Avoidable-'Bribe & Bullet'. What Can Be Done About It.
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