The 2015 New Year speech by President Goodluck Jonathan was disappointing for failing to accurately capture the state of the nation. It was obvious the President wanted to paint a rosy picture over an otherwise gloomy state of affairs, but in the end, succeeded only in wasting a golden opportunity to initiate a frank and honest national conversation with the citizens, whose votes he needs to keep his job. The tragic events around the nation in 2014 clearly made nonsense of the President’s declarations. For Nigerians have been the worst hit by the ravages of multi-faceted violence, mostly in the northeastern parts of the country. The Boko Haram insurgency is a tragedy that should tug at the conscience of the nation and one that must stop. Therefore, what Nigerians urgently desire is a president with clear ideas to resolve the country’s myriad of socio-economic and security challenges and the courage to pursue those ideas and rally Nigerians behind them. Jonathan missed the opportunity to do so, as his speech was so out of touch with reality; hence the butt of cynicism by ordinary citizens.
The president’s speech was wide-ranging and long on the achievements of his administration – new power plants, rehabilitation and expansion rail transportation network, successful privatized power generation and distribution, significant increase of local participation in oil and gas sector, improved nationwide access to potable water from 57% in 2010, to 70% at present; significant improvement in access to primary, secondary and tertiary education, including special Almajiri schools, and additional universities to ensure each state now has at least one Federal University. With these “success stories” including an economic growth rate of about 7%, the President boasted: “the progress we have made in priority areas bears us testimony.”
The president also cited the recent launch of the “Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme (YEAP) and the $100 million Government and Donor Fund for Agriculture Finance in Nigeria (FAFIN) to fast-track the positive transformation of our agricultural sector. Both funds will become fully operational this year. Policies and programs such as these to boost agricultural production remain topmost on the agenda of this administration.”
The claims of the president were so glaringly hollow because if anything, most of the president’s “achievements” are debatable. Gross violation of the right to life has been ascendant due to the Boko Haram insurgency and general criminality in the country; unemployment is above 50% and constantly rising. If the security and welfare of the people is the primary responsibility of government, there are no transformational achievements to point to. The President did not even mention the Chibok girls who remain missing after their kidnap by Boko Haram. Rather, he put a spin with another empty promise to defeat the insurgency; insisting the nation would remain indivisible despite its myriad of challenges. “I want to assure you that the terrorists will not get away with their atrocities: they will not win; they will be routed. As President, I feel the pain of all affected communities and families. I hear their cries and share their sorrow and pain. We will not forget; we will not look the other way. We have done a lot of painstaking planning and work to resolve the current security challenge. We will bring justice to the savage terrorists known as Boko Haram. They will be defeated. That is the solemn commitment I make today as President of the Federal Republic, and Commander-in-Chief of our Armed Forces.”
It is regretful that the PDP candidate missed so crucial an opportunity to outline the way forward, even as he is preparing to ask Nigerians to renew their confidence in his ability to lead the nation. Too much was made of what has been done, many of which are, just works in progress and can only be considered as work begun but certainly not work done. The president’s speech sought to present a different reality from the current situation in the country. Nigeria might have witnessed about 7% 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 its citizens ranked among the lowest in the world on all indicators of human development. The speech of a presidential incumbent on the eve of a general election ought to be an outline of the vision and the mission of a better tomorrow, as well as how it will be attained. Instead, Jonathan harped on experiences of a sordid past better forgotten, that continue to define the Nigerian condition. No one can deny that the quality of Nigeria’s roads are bad and unbefitting of Africa’s biggest economy; no one can deny that Nigeria is not yet able to feed itself, that is has no functional petrochemical and iron and steel industries, and that it imports even toothpick and pins. And, 15 years into democracy, elections are still not adjudged free and fair.
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 Nigerian leaders. This 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 put a gloss over an appalling situation. Does anyone need to remind Jonathan that under his watch, part of Nigeria has become a caliphate run by a group that seeks to destroy the country? The failure of the government to defeat the insurgency is a monumental shame an embarrassment to the nation, for which Jonathan as president and commander-in-chief should be held accountable. It is this failure of leadership that has resulted in missed opportunities, shattered hopes, broken promises and unfulfilled aspirations for a majority of Nigerians.
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. The true measure of Jonathan’s failure as a self-styled transformational president is not only in his inability to rescue Nigeria from insurgents and economic dysfunction and restoring her leadership in Africa and on the wider global stage. It is his doggedness in staying the course in the face of one unmitigated disaster after another. And therefrom, the president has exhibited a narrow-mindedness that continues to confound and embarrass even his most ardent supporters. Jonathan likes to boast confidently that he is a conviction politician. This wrong-headed self-confidence has grown into an erroneous belief in his own infallibility. But if anything, the speech dealt a severe blow to efforts to justify his re-election. As an incumbent, the President ought to have dwelled less on where Nigeria is, which is already well and widely known, and more on where he wants to take the country and how.
