President Olusegun Obasanjo was on the Cable News Network a few days ago. Among other things, he told the world that the biggest achievement of his administration is that there is hope for every Nigerian today, unlike eight years ago when there was disillusionment. If I did not personally watch that interview, I would have said he was quoted out of context. It is difficult to believe, but our President indeed made that statement. What is not certain is whether or not he actually meant it.

Since President Obasanjo decided to use the situation in 1999 as a benchmark, maybe we should look a little closely at some fundamental issues. When his government came to power eight years ago, the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) was at its lowest ebb. There was hardly any day there was power supply and a lot of industries and small scale businesses were fast going under. Today, I really do not know what has changed. We have only recently been told that power generation has increased from about 2,000 megawatts to about 3,300. This is against the national requirement of about 10,000 or so megawatts.

Some of the industries and other businesses that have managed to stay afloat today owe their resilience to the ability to buy heavy duty generators which can power their machines. And some of them have as many as three or four which have to be fuelled. When you consider that the cost of generating its own power is automatically added to the production cost by every industry, you will understand why the prices of goods and services are hitting the roof. I do not think that this situation is different from what operated in 1999.

Of course, generator distributors are smiling to the banks, as this is one industry that has been booming. These are the people who will look at you scornfully every time you complain that this government is not doing well. That industry is doing so well that generator manufacturers are estimating their profits for the year 2020. Even some Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) top officials have resorted selling generators. That means they do not expect anything to change; their organisation must not work so that they can keep making money from this lucrative business. And that is what is giving a lot of us hope, according to our President.

If you live in Lagos , you know too well that the only time you remember the water corporation is when they send you a bill for the water you have not seen or used in the past five years. Almost every compound has a borehole, so nobody bothers about the government anymore. Those who do not have boreholes buy water on a daily basis for domestic use and for drinking. And the people who sell water on a large scale basis are smiling to the banks. These are the people who will forever be grateful to this government. At least, they have hope that they will continue to make a decent living, selling water.

It is true that Nigerians have stopped asking for good roads because every time they asked all they got was a trail of dust as to whose road it is: federal or state? Yet we hear and read that billions of naira has been spent on road construction and maintenance. People who bring farm produce from the interiors or other states complain that they are not able to do so regularly because of the bad roads. When they are able to do so, they spend several days on road. That is why most of the products that get to the market are sold at ridiculous prices. This, of course, is one of the many things that have given us hope.

Whenever we raise some of these fundamental issues, all we are told is that a lot has happened in the realm of macroeconomics. Ordinarily, that should give us hope. But of what use is macroeconomics to a man who cannot work or sleep well because there is no power supply? Of what use is macroeconomics to the woman who cannot bring her goods to the market because of bad roads? Of what use is macroeconomics to the millions of Nigerians who cannot afford three square mills a day? It is true that some people have done very well for themselves under this government, but what about the vast majority of Nigerians, who are still toiling and hoping that things will get better, not today, but tomorrow?

I stand to be corrected, but I do not think the disillusionment that enveloped the nation in 1999 has by any means abated. What with the injustice that has become the hallmark of our polity? What with the politically motivated killings we have witnessed over the years? What with the manipulations and rigging that have characterised every election since we entered this democratic dispensation? What with the magnitude of unexposed or un-investigated allegations of corruption against some people in high places? What with the millions of Nigerians who want to work but cannot find jobs? We will indeed have hope when our leaders become less self-conceited and seriously think of the large majority of Nigerians first. Every Nigerian will be proud of this country when our politicians begin to place national interests above their personal or party interests. And until then, we can only hope against hope.

Robot  Villager

# 1 President Olusegun Obasanjo was on the Cable News Network a few days ago. Among other things, he ...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 26.04.2007 11:53

peterclaver2006  Villager

# 2 I watched the interview my dear brother. We all should by now, know the tortoise that pretends to play the ostrich with Nigeria for the past eight years. He boasted he had done so well in the area of corruption. However, I am reading a newspaper report that says that over N15.83trillion had been shared between the federal, state and local governments since 1999. This is the report from the Finance Minister. What was not disclosed is far higher than this figure. Every month, hundreds of millions of Naira are shared between these three tiers of government and Obasanjo’s party, the PDP that had committed a terrible electoral heist for which Obasanjo rushed to the CNN, controls over 90 per cent of these governments. What happens is that this monies are shared right there at Abuja. It got to a time the present finance minister alleged that governors quickly convert their state allocations to foreign currency and stash them overseas. Many challenged her to state what happens to the allocations to the federal government, which takes 52 per cent of these monies but she is yet to tell us. The local governments ensure they finish the money at Abuja before making brief stops at their local governments and disappear to await the next sharing period. The Obasanjo’s embark on primitive acquisition, which sees them acquiring companies through deaf and dumb shares, build up multi-billion Naira farms, multi-billion Naira schools and so many other concerns. Meanwhile, the country wallows in pitch darkness because the power sector has been buried while Obasanjo’s phantom power stations generate millions of megawatts of darkness, our roads have completely collapsed while trillions of Naira have disappeared down an indiscernible maze, the refineries Obasanjo met in half-fit position have all ran down and a cartel of philistines given license to import petroleum products at killing prices to the final consumers. Joblessness of the most acute genre disparage the country’s youths, hunger, want and destitution maul millions of citizens with unceasing gusto. The worst state of insecurity where robbers now seize such roads like Lagos-Ibadan expressway in broad daylight and operate unhindered for hours while policemen are now either placed as bodyguards to PDP men or turned to hunt pro-democracy campaigners. Lawlessness and brazen illegality are committed at every level while the brutalization of the citizens and diverting their rights tickle the fun of Obasanjo and his minions. State resources are impudently deployed to the whims of the PDP while the EFCC approves of any act of corruption so long as the person committing such act is an anointed of Aso Rock. A cult of untouchable godfathers and criminals are unleashed on us and our president celebrates them as the role models that would surely give us hope for the future. Registration machines were commandeered by Obasanjo’s godfathers and got heroic kudos from Obasanjo. The electoral body was twisted and turned to honor the whims and caprices of Obasanjo and his Phantom reforms and the concocted stories of reform benefits are all the famished people get from their self-mortified leaders and the land reels of anger and despair in the face of the gluttony of Ali, Baba and the 40 thieves. This is the land Obasanjo created for us in the past eight years for which we would look up to when he makes his shameful exit after permanentizing the culture of vote stealing and electoral brigandage. Obasanjo is a curse on Nigeria and I believe it will take centuries to right the wreck he visited on Nigeria these past eight years. Posted by peterclaver2006| 26.04.2007 12:54

britroyal1  Villager

# 3 You hit the nail right on the head sir. Where in God's name are we going? We are now at a situation where we are replacing flagrant corruption with utter incompetence. Hope he says, if Nigerians hope for anything, it the hope of getting out of Nigeria. I was amazed at how he said that with a straight face. The only thing that made sense to me in that interview was the beauty and poise of the lady that interviewd him. That at least was worth it. Posted by britroyal1| 26.04.2007 13:40