It seems President Muhammadu Buhari is hell-bent on wrestling Nigeria from her enemies for the sake of the common man or simply said for the good of the majority. Nigeria is a country for which I always lack an apt descriptive narrative. But one thing I know is that our nation, Nigeria is a cesspool of corruption. Nuhu Ribadu once said that if you fight corruption, it will fight back with unprecedented salvo.
From the lenses of some optimists, it looks like GMB wants to dislodge the hardened criminals among us; and it is a fight that will be herculean in nature, but doable. I wonder if there is anybody in Nigeria that can do this kind of job, except our Katsina–born general.
A friend told me when I was in Nigeria two weeks ago that he had hope in Buhari for the simple reason that he refused to amass wealth when he was in responsible positions, as governor, as managing director of NNPC, as the head of PTF and as military head of state.
“This guy lives in a mere three bedroom bungalow in Katsina”, he quipped in exasperation.
And I said, I hear you brother; make we siddon de look as the late uncle Bola Ige would say.
When I slept, my friend’s thesis made sense to me and I wondered if GMB could not steal in those his early years would it be now that he is 72 years.
Anyway, this is not my major point of writing. I was at the Owerri Airport to catch a flight to Lagos for my onward journey back to USA and I was discussing the Buhari effect, the change mantra with someone. I introduced myself to my new found friend and at the end of our five minutes discussion, a lady walked to me and she also introduced herself to me. She said that she heard when I introduced my name to the guy I was discussing with, and she also said that she was an avid reader of my sharp commentaries on online media outfits like Sharareporters, Huhuonline and Pointblanknews. The sullen lady told me that she had a problem regarding the written test she had with NNPC. I cut her short because it was my time to board the flight, so I hurriedly gave her my email to forward her complaints to me.
Her name is Marypeace Alaefule, a chemical engineering graduate and her frustration struck a chord with me because, as a petrochemical engineering graduate in the late 80s, NNPC kicked me to the curb in preference to those who had Abraham as fathers. There has to be a change now that GMB and Dr. Ibe Kachikwu are in the saddles. Why should poor parents trained their children with the hope for a brighter future only to see the dark side of life? Is Nigeria not for all of us? Marypeace’s letter was too long, so I had to edit it without losing the important points therein. She wrote the following in italics:
A Plea to President Buhari on the 2012 NNPC Graduate Trainee Recruitment Exercise
Your Excellency Sir,
In the fourth quarter of 2012, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) invited applicants to submit applications for various positions in their website and I was among many that responded. After more than one year, mails were sent to applicants to update their profiles and I did. In December 6, 2014 recruitment test was scheduled and it was outsourced to Philips Consulting Limited after 2 years of the initial application for employment. Applicants travelled to different parts of Nigeria for the tests and some people lost their lives in accidents; I did travel to Lagos for my own test.
In February, 2015, mails were sent to successful candidates that the next stage would be oral interview and I was one of those successful candidates. Again, after some time, I received another mail that logistics were being put in place for a successful interview. That was all that we heard from NNPC till date, and the oral interview was put on hold with no explanation. Some of us who have no connections in the high places fear that some candidates may be called and some left out; the usual practice in Nigeria.
Sir, your election as the president of our great nation and the emergence of Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu have once again given us hope that it will not be business as usual whereby only the highly connected will be employed by the authorities in NNPC. I for one, nobody will vouch for me, except my brain and my God, and God has scooped you and Dr. Kachikwu up, so some of us can only dance and sing Alleluia since you are out to uproot corruption from the high places.
Please sir, our President, father and uncle, I beg for your intervention and I do also humbly ask Dr. Kachikwu to exhume the files of that put-on-hold process and see that justice is done.
Yours sincerely daughter,
Marypeace Alaefule.
My conclusion of this note to our able president is that the Nigerian youths deserve more than they are getting from the Nigerian state. My happiness is that GBM rode to power on three prong manifestoes: squelching insecurity, corruption and unemployment. Not only that Nigerians are watching but the international communities are also watching. I have never seen a country whereby few hold the majority to thralldom. Let it not be the case of the majority will have their say while the minority will have their way.
The arrow heads of corruption want the status quo; they can go at any length to discredit the president. As far as the president is appointing credible and qualified people, without any spring of tribal inclination, there is no problem. All he has to do is to explain to Nigerians his motives of appointments; and if his kinsmen from Katsina can get Nigeria to the path of rectitude, where the low and the high, the poor and the rich can be happy again, so be it. The warning is that he has to watch all because Nigerians are crooked; we are just like a goat on leash and even when the goat is unleashed, it will still be stationery and confused. Ask those who are new language learners; when they meet something they cannot express in the new language, they usually revert to the language they are comfortable with. Corruption has eaten the bones of Nigerians, and all they know is nothing other than co-rr-up-tion!!!!!!
Chukwuma Iwuanyanwu writes from Los Angeles.
