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Every time you read about or discuss Nigeria, it is all about failure. Failure of the state to function; encumbered with a government that only knows how to spend on itself. Failure of leadership: impervious to good advice and always ready to do wrong. Failure of the Judiciary, to remain sacred and dispense blind justice: especially since they cannot even practice fairness within their own chambers. Failure of our law enforcement agencies to protect life and property; in some cases they could not even protect themselves! Failure of infrastructure (roads, power, water and transport): so that we may indulge in the performances of our daily business. Failure of our educational institutions to produce capable future Nigerians who can guarantee the continuous growth of the country. Failure of Employment – statistics aside, casual observation tells me that 80% of our youth between 18 and 25 are unemployed; and they constitute the single largest block of our population. Failure of etiquette and decorum in public places and on public thoroughfares; the notion of taking turns is criminal to our sensibilities. I note with shame that Nigerians now urinate and defecate in public. Failure of many parents to protect their children: now exposed to the uncertainties of daily survival. Failure of our agriculture; to produce and provide the food we need to feed ourselves. Failure of oil (curse of oil), those who own it cannot benefit from it and the rest who claim it are left wondering when the benefits will arrive. Failure of sanitation and cleanliness in our homes and environment, we are now clearly loosing the race between number of people and number of plastic bags on our streets. Failure of our buildings to keep us sheltered without collapsing on us plus the shame of poorly built drainage systems. Failure of our communities; to live together as brothers and sisters and one Nigerians.
Failure of faith, we flock to the church and the mosque, but we have not made the connection between preaching and practicing what we preach. No God will welcome a murderer under any name or from any faith. Yet we indulge in maiming and killing one another to satisfy our lust for blood in the name of religion or ethnicity. Failure of our own responsibility to our community, we are only interested in what we can or should get, and not in what we can or should give. “We thus put so much pressure on the people who we have chosen to manage our affairs, and we give them more powers than their little minds can contain.” Failure to love and take pride in our own; we love the way things are done in the US and the UK, but we are not prepared to pay the price and implement these systems in Nigeria! Failure of Engineering, we are now a country where the Engines and the Engineers do not work! Failure of Healthcare; we now fill up air ambulances to India and even war-zone Egypt. Egyptians at war can provide better healthcare than Nigeria at peace! Failure of communication; I still carry two phones for fear one will not work when I need it most, and I do not remember ever receiving a piece of mail at my home address!
Failures abound. But Jonathan felt the most important task he should begin with is constitutional amendment for a ‘Six year’ term! Babangida is now fighting Obasanjo over the huge sums spent on the power sector with nothing to show for the expenditure. Obasanjo took the money we had and squandered it during his years, and also presided over the cannibalization of our most valuable assets to his friends and cronies.
How about the Judiciary, why are we ‘bystanding’ while lofty jurists are destroying the principles of justice that are the pride of any civilized society? When judges disagree, it is expected that there are other impartial jurists who can be referees. We will not imagine that even our eldest and most learned Justices will be found wanting of fairness in their actions. It is now the shame of Nigeria! The outcome is no longer significant. Instead of fixing the system and ensuring justice for self, they have destroyed it. What a legacy for them and for Nigeria’s Judiciary! All their actions and those who will ultimately decide – is to protect self! The only question is can the President do the right thing?
Dauda wrote from Abuja
