Greetings to you once again for this awesome opportunity to share with you yet another story in this platform, we are really making a positive difference I must admit, Thank you!.
Let me use this great opportunity to share with you another information about the current happenings in my country Nigeria, I believe you read my last post and you enjoyed it, today will not be different because I will be informing us in this article about the Nigerian system of government in this current dispensation.
Disclaimer: this article is not in any way standing as a deformation of character of any person or group of persons or the sovereignty of Nigerian state and those governing the state, this article is solely to educate and inform the readers about the current situations of the country I am part of and also proffer solutions through my writing. This is my personal view and opinion.
In Nigeria, the current system of governance introduced by those in authority in the country has really been a song in the mouth of every citizen of this country Nigeria. The method of one-sided selection of candidate for appointment, disobedience to the rule of law, inability to protect life and properties, excessive fund borrowing from foreign countries and non-granting of fair hearing and justice to the common man in this present administration have really not been fair and up to standard of federal character in a country as Nigeria.
Since the inception of this present adminstration led by Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and his cabinet members ( presidency) and those representing the citizens at the upper and lower chambers of the House (senate/legislative houses) respectively, the Nigerian state have really been in state of confusion and backwardness and these have made a lot of things in the country to go wrong, it's as if we are together by name Nigeria but by our very actions and decisions we are very far away from each other.
I will highlight some of the key factors that I can remember here and explain them so you will be aware with the happenings in the country called Nigeria. These factors are some of the decisions and actions taken by the present administration which divide us as a nation rather than uniting us together as one.
Some of these factors includes;
1. One-sided selection of candidate for appointment
2. Disobedience to the rule of law
3. Inability to protect life and properties
4. Excessive fund borrowing from foreign countries
5. Non-granting of fair hearing and justice to the common man
One-sided selection of candidate for appointment
This is one of the major issues we have come to notice from this present adminstration. The method of appointment of persons to occupy the important offices and positions in the country is one-sided. Nigeria is filled with people of diverse cultures, traditions, tribes, etc, In Nigeria we have three major ethnic tribes with other minority tribes which make up the Nigerian state, its very pertinent to say that almost all the top important positions in the country are held by a particular set of ethnic tribe and religion in a country where different tribes/ethnic background dwell. These key positions and offices includes; Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Airforce, Nigerian Police, Nigerian custom, the prisons, Nigerian immigration, Civil defence, the office of the Senate President, The office of the Speaker of House of Representatives, Chief of Defence Staff, Chief Justice of the Federation, Minister for Defence, etc. These offices mentioned above play a very vital role in the governance of this country and all of them are been held by a particular tribe and religion in Nigeria. This singular action has really divided the country because the present administration has failed to follow the federal character decision in selecting candidates for appointments.
Disobedience to the rule of law
In this current dispensation of governance, the people in authority have failed to obey the rule of law in the country, we could see some of these act displayed in the case of Dasuki who the court granted bail but the executive arm of the government refused to honour the court order, also in the case of indigenous people of Biafra(IPOB) leader Mazi. Nnamdi Kanu who was granted bail but it took the executive arm of the Nigerian government some weeks to honour the court order, these and many more incidents that happened in the past and present which I may not be able to write down because of time, I will not forget to add the recent event that happened last month where all the southern and eastern governors met and took a decision to ban open grazing and raring of cattles in their states respectively with court order due to attacks by killer herdsmen and farmers/herders communial clashes in the country, instead of the federal executives to honour the court order and decisions, they disobeyed the unanimous agreement taken by the governors of the regions/court order and gave the herders order to continue their open grazing activities around the regions of the country. In some cases they even accompanied them with security personnels which we all saw the video trending all over the internet two months ago.
Inability to protect life and properties
This has been another major challenge that the country has been facing in recent time, terrorism, banditry, kidnap and other crimes have really taken the centre stage in the country. The people in authority have really taken this activities as if it does not exist. They give deaf ears to the plight of the people they suppose to protect, they politicise the whole activities and allow these evil men to continue perpetuating their heinous crimes and activities, now in some part of the northern region, you can not travel to those areas even to travel in some other parts of the country by road is a risky journey to make because they are so volatile and unsafe, our villages and farms are under attack everyday and our family members killed and kidnapped on daily basis, everyday on the news you read the stories of killings and kidnap, attack by killer herdsmen and unknown gunmen, even from the security forces you will hear news that the Nigerian security agencies killed alot of bandits and boko haram members yet the insecurity continue to surge. The current news trending around the country is the ban of media agencies from broadcasting these killers activities to the public which I mentioned in my last post. Because of these nonchalant approach in tackling the current situations by government, a lot of agitators have emerged.
Excessive fund borrowing from foreign countries
The government of the day have been going about borrowing money from different countries to solve it's problems as they claim. All these funds that have been borrowed by this present administration can not be accounted for. We are yet to see where they put all these borrowed funds to, our oil refineries have been lying dead for centuries without any plan to revamp the oil sector with all these money borrowed, the second Niger bridge is yet to be completed for many years due to slow pace of work and other unforseen circumstances which might be hampering the project from completion. Now with all these funds been borrowed and Nigeria as a country not making any effort to revamp the companies and industries owed by government so that revenues can be derived from these revamped industries been set up, how are we going to pay back the loan when the need arises? That's the question I always ask myself when I hear the news of our government going out to borrow fund from other countries. If this is allowed to continue without been checked, I assure you that this present administration headed by Gen. Muhammadu Buhari will be mortgaging our future and that of our unborn children to these countries they are running to for financial assistance.
Non-granting of fair hearing and justice to the common man
Finally, the last but not the least is this factor where justice and fair hearing have been deprived the common man in the judiciary system in Nigeria. When a senator is indicted with corruption charges, before he can be convicted by a competent court in Nigeria, it will take years and more because of the connections and money he has for the case but it's not so for the common man. The common man on the street will be sentenced to 20yrs imprisonment and above for an offence of maximum of five hundred thousand naira(#500,000.00) he committed even in some cases jailed for life but on the other hand you see a government official who was caught embezzling public fund worth billions of dollars yet after years of court injunctions, delay in court proceedings and deliberations will receive a 10yrs imprisonment sentence. Like in the case of a sitting senator of the house of senate that just happened last year who was indicted of money laundering and other financial crime charges by the economic and financial crimes comission (EFCC).
With these and many more incidents which I may not be able to highlight here, you will understand that the present administration has really divided us than uniting us as one entity, and if they do not come to the round table to find out modalities on how this can be corrected so we can see ourselves as equal before the law, put more effort in tackling the current security situations in the country, selecting and appointing candidates based on the federal character regulation not by religion or ethnicity, devising means of generating funds rather than going to borrow excessive fund from other countries of the world and implementing other positive policies that will enhance economic growth of the country and personal development, etc. If they fail to come sort these issues out as quickly apossible then in no distant time, Nigeria will be remembered as a history story in the story book of our future generations. I have dropped my opinion.
Thank you for reading. 🙏 Rafd9828
