Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, Nigeria’s embattled president, is running again on February 14 to retain his seat as leader of Africa’s biggest economy with the largest population, but with no real achievement in five years, Nigerians may simply reject him for anyone. Virtually everything seems to have gone wrong under this president and Nigeria seems to have tumbled to the abyss, going from bad to worse and from worse to catastrophic at virtually all levels. A five-year old insurgency in the North East has metastasised so much so that this year alone thousands of Nigerians have been gunned down and millions have been displaced by Boko Haram ruthless members. It is not just about the bloodshed by the terrorists in the north. What angers Nigerians the most is the body language of their president which has left much to be desired and has even made many to question his qualification as a leader. For instance, when over 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped by Boko Haram on 14 April in their secondary school in Chibok, Borno State, the president first dismissed it as a hoax, as an attempt by his enemies to blackmail his government. Even after it became clear to him following international outrage that the girls were actually kidnapped, the president never set foot there, rather he flew to Paris first for a meeting with France and some Nigerian neighbouring countries. Eight months have now passed and the president has not travelled to Chibok. Worse, he doesn’t even remember the girls in speeches or at official events. It seems the Chibok girls are gone, and they are gone for good. Since then, more girls have been kidnapped, many of them were abducted only last week. Since the latest mass abduction, there has been no strong word from the president. Nigerians are watching and wondering what has befallen the giant of Africa. While many watch in disbelief as suicide bombers blow themselves up across the nation and the terrorists capture territory after territory, many blame the president for not being decisive enough or acting fast enough or convincing enough, and for trying to politicise the insurgency even when the country is burning and the chaos, deaths and tears are ubiquitous. Beyond the insurgency, Nigeria is in serious financial crisis and while many do not blame the president for the crash of the price of crude oil in the international market, many argue that with depleted Excess Crude Oil Account under Jonathan, the President should explain why the ECA is now virtually empty. So severe is the financial crisis that some civil servants have not been paid for two months and the labour union in the country is threatening to go in strike. Workers want a pay rise because of the fear of inflation that will be triggered in some months because of the devalued naira, the Nigerian currency. Other sectors of the economy are not better off. In fact, many of them have also virtually collapsed or remain at the same level they were before Jonathan took over in 2010. While unemployment level has continued to climb, manufacturing has continued to collapse, especially because of lack of electricity, insecurity and multiple taxations. Many have continued under Jonathan to move jobs abroad and rampant corruption has undermined local manufacturers in the country. Many of them in the steel business for instance have sacked countless workers and reduced production due to corruption at the seaport that has allowed Chinese men to import finished products at virtually no cost. Corruption under Jonathan, many say, has skyrocketed so much so that the president said on national television that ‘mere theft’ (of billions of naira) does not qualify as corruption. Many say, the once vibrant Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is now similar to a toothless dog unable to bark. With no checks and balances, corruption is now so rampant that when a former central bank governor raised alarm about some missing money, he was sent out of the apex bank with the government trying to discredit him. Other officials accused of corruption have not been disturbed and an Ex-Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, a very corrupt woman who was indicted by the House of Representatives has now won her senatorial primary election in Anambra State and would be contesting under President Jonathan’s People’s Democratic Party, PDP. Nigerian could have forgiven Jonathan for all his flaws but his inability to improve electricity in the country seems to have left him with no defence ahead of the February election. Many had argued that if Jonathan could only fix electricity and corruption, two of Nigeria’s biggest headaches, he could be given a chance to continue in office. But six weeks to the Presidential election, even Jonathan’s diehard supporters find it hard to point to any concrete achievement. The coming election may be a verdict on his five- year presidency and not a contest against Muhammadu Buhari, the candidate of the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, who has not said how he intends to solve Nigeria’s pressing challenges if given the chance.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 22:02:26 +0000
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