Is government dead, in coma or on strike?

ON January 1, 2018, criminal elements took over various parts of the country and unleashed terror on law-abiding citizens. Scores were killed around the country from Benue State to Kwara, Rivers and other states. After those mindless killings there have been many others in Taraba, Zamfara and others. On Tuesday last week, 94 schoolgirls were abducted by Boko Haram in Dapchi, Yobe State. The whereabouts of the girls are still unknown. Yet, the government claims to have decimated the insurgents. Insecurity is so high in the country that Nigerians can no longer sleep with their two eyes closed. From the North to the South, fear rules. Nigerians are afraid of Boko Haram insurgents, rampaging herdsmen, bloodletting ritualists, merciless armed robbers and ruthless kidnappers. But the primary task of government is securing lives and property. A government that is alive to its responsibility will protect its citizens with its own life. When a government cannot protect its citizens from marauders, what else can it do? But if citizens are killed wantonly without the President or the Governor being able to rise in their defence, is the government dead, in coma or on strike?

The education system has gone to the dogs. Public schools have almost collapsed. In many states of the country, students sit on the floor or congregate under a tree to learn because the classrooms are either roofless or wall-less. Chairs are scarce, tables are a rarity, learning aids belong in the past. Curricular are not updated, teachers are not motivated, students are not inspired. Is it then any surprise that drugs hold more appeal to our students than science? Is it a wonder that students are taking more to crime than arts or commerce? Time was in this country when anyone who had the mental capacity could access scholarships without having a godfather anywhere. What happened to the government scholarship scheme? What happened to bursary awards? What happened to our education system? If Nigerians are languishing to get education, is the government dead, in coma or on strike?

Public hospitals have been turned into morgues. The chances of the sick getting better in public hospitals are getting narrower by the day. Hospitals are neither funded nor equipped. Good hands are frustrated out of public hospitals for lack of working tools. Lanterns and candles are resorted to for illumination when electricity goes off. In Nigeria, the poor go to the public hospitals to die, the middle class go to private hospitals to delay dying, the rich travel abroad to get healed. Why are the hospitals sick? Is the government dead? Is it in coma? Or is it on strike?

On February 13, 2018, 23 students of Government Secondary School, Misau, Bauchi State, who were on excursion, died in an auto crash along Bauch-Kano road. The disaster was avoidable had the road been in a good state. But just as it is with Bauchi-Kano road, so it is with almost every road in the country. Roads are becoming more deplorable by the day because there is no concerted effort to rescue them. The East-West road was conceived in 1972 by Alfred Diete-Spiff, then military governor of Rivers State, as a way of opening up the Niger Delta area, over 45 years later, the expanded road is still under construction. The Ogbomoso-Oyo road which is less than 50kilometres is taking forever to construct.Why are roads going from bad to worse in Nigeria? Is the government dead? Is it in coma or is it on strike?

The poor are forlorn; the sick are abandoned; the weak are left to bear their back-breaking burden all alone. The orphan is left at the mercies of the environment; the widows are left to lick their wounds; and old soldiers abandoned to nurse gangrenous wounds. There is no succor from the right, no support from the left. No help from afar, none from around. No governor to help out, no council chairman to lean on. No commissioner, no legislator, nobody. Yet billions of naira is voted for welfare every year. Where flies the welfare fund? Why doesn’t welfare help anybody? Who spends the welfare money? Then, what it is the meaning of communality? What is the purpose of society? Is the government on strike, in coma or dead?

Squalour is everywhere in Nigeria. Mounting dirt litters the streets. The byways are an eyesore; the highways are not any better, everywhere you turn, fetid sights glare at you. If you run from the boulevard to the barracks, scum will be your companion. If you flee the hinterland because of filth, you will have a rendezvous with it in the city. There is no escaping scum, except you live in the State House. Filth is so familiar that it no longer turns the stomach. Grime is so commonplace that it no longer rankles. Putrid odour is so natural that it goes well with amala, akpu or tuwo. Nigerians are so used to squalour that they no longer avoid them. Natural air has been replaced with muck-generated stench. Yet the governor goes about gleefully in his air-conditioned limousine. The commissioner mocks the pedestrians from the comfort of his shielded sedan. But if we may ask, what happens to the billions voted to keep the cities clean? Where goes the money meant for urban renewal? If money budgeted for projects fails to deliver expected value is the government dead, in coma or on strike?

What has happened to our country? What happened to the sweet tales that old people usually regale the youth with about how things once worked in the country? What has happened to the country over the years? What happened to the leadership of our country? Is government dead in Nigeria? If government was alive, would things be this bad? How can we rescue Nigeria from degeneration? How can we save the country from heartless leadership? How can we have the Nigeria of our dreams? Nigerians, how?