Monday 31 December 2012

Moving Nigeria at the speed of Jonathan by Jude Egbas


Moving Nigeria At The Speed Of Jonathan–By Jude Egbas



Given Nigeria’s precarious state, at what speed do you draw upon to pull her from the brink? The speed of light, sound, the tortoise, the snail or the speed of Jonathan? ( SI Unit =Jon; where 1 Jon=any period of time from three years to eternity).
Hunched over a bowl of ice cream on Christmas night and flipping through the TV Channels for any sign of good cheer from the seat of power, I stumbled across the most depressing Christmas message I have ever heard from the pulpit since the fourth grade:
“Sometimes, people say this government is slow. Yes, by human thinking, we are slow, but I can say that we are not slow.
“Government must think things properly before it acts. When you don’t think through things properly, or when you rush, you will make mistakes.It is more difficult to correct errors. You can ask those who build houses.“Government will not, because of the perception, begin to rush. But where we are required to act very fast, we will do so, just like we did during the recent flood disasters….”
Coming from President Jonathan, who should be rallying the troops heading into the New Year, the above homily from the Cathedral Church of the Advent, Gwarinpa, Abuja, first sounded shocking, thenhollow and will subsequently gnaw at me as plain insouciant.
It wasn’t the characteristic infantile candor of the President that disgusted, it was the blithe and carefree manner he uttered the words, that riled; as though we should all go to sleep as he takes slow, tentative steps towards re-building Nigeria.
“ But where we are required to act very fast…”, the President cooed.
Isn’t it obvious that we are required to act very FAST, NOW? No, I wasn’t even shocked: I was embarrassed for the President.
As Nigerians trooped to the polls to elect Jonathan President in the spring of 2011, what no one told them was that they were entrusting their destiny in the hands of a man who will take two years to “think things properly before he acts”. Against the backdrop of the biting poverty in the land and the several socio-economic woes sapping the citizenry, moving Nigeria at the speed of Jonathan would not do anymore. As the President dithers and foot-drags daily in Aso Rock, terrorists strike at the heart of the Nation, sending hapless Nigerians to their untimely graves. As Aso Rock hobbles along, Nigerians lose their lives daily on deplorable road surfaces. As the President and his team take forever to articulate what it really means to implement a ‘transformation agenda’ not worth the paper it was written on, scores of Nigerians are losing faith in the Union. The nation however hobbles on, at the suicidal speed of Jonathan.
At the speed of Jonathan, no one fights corruption. At the speed of Jonathan, stacks of files on several probe committees litter the corridors of power, none of them touched. At the speed of Jonathan, cronies of the Government rape the people mindlessly without any fear of being brought to justice. When a man you elected President publicly declares that corruption is not Nigeria’s problem (in the face of all the evidence to the contrary), you just learn to cut your losses and accept you have ‘entered one chance’.
As we amble along into the New Year with President Jonathan still “thinking through every process to avoid making mistakes”, it will be worth reminding the President that at this period in Nigeria’s history, speed in tackling our myriad woes was exactly what the doctor recommended. Two more years into a four year term thus far littered with inaction, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan may have to swap his slow moving pair of loafers for the spikes of Usain Bolt, because he will need them to put Nigeria back on track.
This country has suffered long enough at the feet of Presidents who will rather go about the business of governance at the ‘speed of Jonathan’.
Your favorite column, ‘Beehive’, Insha Allah, will make a return next year. Best of the year in prospect
The writer is on Twitter @egbas

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