The President in his Independence Day speech on Sunday 1st October, painted the picture of a nation bent in the knee by the weight of its challenges but one nonetheless, that remains unbowed and undeterred from the task of building a virile nation worthy of its destiny. The president delivered a balanced, sobering yet hopeful message that Nigerians expect from their president.
He reiterated his commitment to his reform agenda. He rightfully acknowledged the excruciating pain it is imposing on the citizenry, and announced new palliatives to ease it, principally due to fuel subsidy removal and the mind-numbing, wealth-devouring currency devaluation associated with ongoing effort to rejig the foreign exchange mechanism.
The president therefore deserves our commendation for delivering a speech which is aimed at giving us a much-needed shot in the arm to bear the pain a little longer, with the hope for a future payoff in a better Nigeria. It is obvious that the speech writers did a lot of research into past U.S. Presidential state of the union speech particularly JFK and Reagan if one critically examines its tonality, inflection and substance.
However, the President missed a great opportunity to prepare Nigerians for the long haul. He should have emphasized that given the gargantuan project of rebuilding a badly dilapidated house that his government is taking on, that diligence, patience and long forbearance, not speed must be the watchwords.
The president who was a key player in installing his predecessor who did so much damage to the country might have been uncomfortable to acknowledge that the damage to our country has been long, systemic and all-encompassing.
It would have amounted to accepting his own culpability (directly or indirectly) had the had the courage to admit that neither the political system, the civil service, the civil society, the clergy, religious nor our traditional institutions have been spared from our national rot and decadence.
It would have taken tremendous courage for the president to tell the nation that what the country is embarking on is not the kind of patch work that can be done in days. Politicians by their trade after all, are often short term focussed, looking as the clock speeds up to another looming election.
Telling the electorate to expect long term pain in the hope of a better future is not a speech that is often associated with practicing politicians. It is the reason, the “I have a dream speech” was given by Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and not be a JFK.
No savvy politician will tell the electorate he has gone to the mountaintop and seen a brighter future but that he might not get there with them like King prophetically said in his speech. For politicians, pain is a dish served in small bites and intermittently.
But if truth be told, Nigerians must face the reality that the road to Nirvana will not be easy nor quick.
We didn’t get to this Hobbesian state of existence by leapfrogging and neither will we get out by it. Our suffering and pain might endure a long while but without it we have no chance. What we must do is to hold this government’s feet to fire to ensure that it stays focussed, on track and committed to its promises.
This government must also take on this difficult task of holding accountable those who have egregiously plundered our country and pauperized the most vulnerable of us. There can be no way forward without the atonement for, at the minimum the most egregious sin.
The president himself laid down the marker by singling out in his speech, the ongoing investigation into the CBN and the egregious criminality that was perpetrated by its previous governor.
Yes, it is true that very few if any in the political class can be absolved of culpability in the decimation of our country. However, the abuses that have been revealed in the management of the CBN are so egregious that they cannot and must not be swept under the carpet.
There must be severe consequences for their criminality even if it amounts to scapegoating. The many Nigerians whose lives were destroyed and the many who literally lost theirs due to the action of the former governor, deserve and demand it.
Happy 63rd Independence Day to us all.
