The Democracy Day commemoration speech by President Goodluck Jonathan was disappointing for failing to accurately capture the state of the nation. It was obvious that the President wanted to paint a rosy picture over an otherwise gloomy state of affairs, and in the end, succeeded only in wasting a golden opportunity to initiate a frank and honest national conversation with the citizens. What Nigerians need most urgently is a president who has clear ideas on how to resolve the country’s myriad of socio-economic and political problems and the courage to pursue those ideas and rally Nigerians behind them.
President Jonathan missed the opportunity to do so, as his speech was at once an anticlimax and the butt of cynicism by ordinary citizens. The claims of the president were so glaringly hollow that they failed to reflect the prevailing conditions in the country. Taking stock of the achievements of his administration in the last two years, Jonathan declared that he and his team had fulfilled their electoral promises in 2011 and in some cases surpassed them; insisting that the nation would remain indivisible despite its myriad of challenges. The president’s position was anchored on earlier presentations of the administration’s scorecard by key members of his cabinet including the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and her National Planning counterpart, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, who gave overviews of the performance of the economic sector.
The president used the occasion to present the mid-term report of the 2011-2013 transformation agenda and also to mark the two years of his administration in office. Jonathan largely summarized the achievement of his administration, which included the economy recording an impressive Gross Domestic Growth (GDP) and “we have surpassed our annual targets in eight out of the 14 broad areas of transformation agenda. Consequently, Nigeria’s global ranking by GDP has improved from the 44th position in 2010 to 36th. Today, we can proudly speak of such achievements as the reduction of our fiscal reserves to $9.5 billion and our external reserves to $48.8 billion as at first quarter of 2013. These are in addition to financial sector and external validation of our macro-economic achievements by the key international rating agencies.”
The fundamental point about the president’s muddled speech goes to underline the profundity of the dearth of value in the country as well as the lack of strength of character on the part of our public officials. The grievous error is indicative of leadership dysfunction and a pointer to the manner in which the country is run. The president needs to get his act together and seriously address nagging problems facing the country, not run away from them. Or put a gloss over an appalling situation.
If anything, most of the president’s “achievements” are debatable and ring hollow. Gross violation of the right to life has been ascendant due to the Boko Haram insurgency, kidnapping for ransom and general criminality in the country; a reality to which Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is allergic. Unemployment is above 50% and is constantly rising. Despite the poor performance of serving ministers, none has been sacked. Rather, the president put a spin and showed apparent displeasure about a recent opinion poll by a national daily newspaper, which rated some of his cabinet members merely above average, questioning the criteria used by the newspaper in arriving at its conclusion.
The president’s speech sought to present a different reality from the current situation in the country. Nigeria might have witnessed 6.5 % GDP growth, but its fiscal productivity is amongst the lowest in the world and the country’s investment climate remains hostile. It is a shame that the sixth largest oil producing country has the wellbeing of its citizens ranked among the lowest in the world on all indicators of human development. When international organizations like Transparency International make undisputable assertions about corruption in Nigeria, typically, the government’s reaction is one of denial of the patently obvious. An exemplary leadership can breathe life into the sinews of government, and declare a zero tolerance to corruption, with the president leading by example.
Does anyone need to remind Jonathan that under his watch, Nigeria has become a theatre of woes, impunity and heart-rending social injustice? The promises of democracy remain ephemeral as leaders and other state actors have daily multiplied the misery of Nigerians by their actions. If the longest stretch of civil rule in Nigeria’s history calls for jubilation, the trouble with Nigeria, which the late Chinua Achebe identified simply and squarely as the failure of leadership, particularly at the centre, has resulted in numerous missed opportunities, shattered hopes, broken promises and unfulfilled aspirations for a majority of Nigerians.
The widespread euphoria and hope for change that accompanied the return to democracy after many years of military dictatorship has turned out into mass disenchantment and disappointment as little or nothing has changed from the absolute disregard for the rule of law, large-scale violation of human rights, monumental corruption; mismanagement of the nation’s economy and decay of infrastructure. All our yearnings for change have turned out to be a mere luxurious desire. Clearly, what obtains among Nigerian politicians is a lack of character. They have demonstrated this trait for too long to be suddenly trusted with promoting the destiny of the people and the country.
The true measure of Jonathan’s failure as a self-styled transformational president is not only in his inability to rescue Nigeria from economic dysfunction and restoring her leadership in Africa and on the wider global stage. It is also, perhaps especially, in his absolute obsession with hanging onto power just for the sake of it. His doggedness in staying the course in the face of intense public outrage has put him on a collision course with the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) and its chairman, Rivers Governor, Rotimi Amaechi.
In point of fact though, the president’s good qualities have been almost equally matched by his character flaws. In standing up so fiercely against Amaechi, he has come across as power-crazy, petty vengeful and cantankerous; yet he remains blinded to the damage he is doing to his office, and his domestic and international standing. And therefrom, the president has exhibited a narrow-mindedness that continues to confound and embarrass even his most ardent supporters. Aso Rock insiders say in his private conversations, Jonathan likes to boast confidently that he is a conviction rather than a consensus politician. This wrong-headed self-confidence has grown into an erroneous belief in his own infallibility. He never aims to convince his opponents like Amaechi. He aims to defeat them and make enemies of people who don’t share his obsession to go down in history as a transformational president.
There are leaders who are unforgettable for being grossly inept or corrupt; there are those largely ordinary types who manage their nation’s affairs with neither vision nor passion, thereby ending up as mere footnotes to history. And there are the ones who stamp their presence on an era, change the spirit of the age and transform their countries for the better. Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan; the current president of Nigeria belongs in the second category.
