Let’s put govt on its toes

THRICE since the advent of his administration, President Muhammadu Buhari has come to the financial rescue of state governments with a view to facilitating the payment of workers’ salaries at the state level. However, in spite of what the President has done, quite a number of states still owe workers salaries. The governors are always quick to remind everybody that there has been a slide in their allocations from the central purse. While that is true and germane, the dwindled allocation has not affected the governors’ lifestyle in any form. They still get their full salaries, security allowances as well as other perks of office. They still go about with their kilometer-long convoys, they still throw their lavish parties, they still embark on needless foreign trips. They still conduct their affairs as if nothing has changed.

What this points to is that the nation will not change until the average citizen rises to make demands on the ruling class. The governors are comfortable to continue with their lifestyle because they have cowed the Labour movement into silence. Labour leaders can no longer look the governors in the face and tell them the home truth. Labour leaders no longer insist that those in government do what is right.

The change that we crave in our polity and the society at large will continuously elude us unless we resolve to take up the challenge of always insisting that those who lead us do the right things.

The system we currently run is criminally skewed in favour of those in leadership and that suits them no end. Therefore, expecting them to change the order is akin to asking for the moon. It is against the nature of man to act contrary to his own interest. Therefore, looking up to those benefitting from a warped system to champion its change would be expecting too much.

I am aware that the world has seen a few transformational leaders, those willing to champion a positive change even if such would erode their own influence and powers, those determined to do all and sacrifice all for the good of their people, those who understand that the essence of leadership is the improvement it offers the led. Transformational leaders always leave their people better than they met them; they leave their footprints on the sand of time. To state that the present crop of political leaders the country parades has no understanding of what transformational leadership is about is to state the obvious. What we have in the country are transitional leaders; those who see their occupation of leadership position as a means to personal aggrandisement. They do not promote any significant change in the lives of the people; their primary preoccupation is holding on to power; their chief consideration is what they get in and out of power. They just go through office without making any positive impact. Transitional leaders always hurt their people; they leave pangs of pain in their trail.

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But transitional leaders are not exclusive to Nigeria, other countries also have them. The difference, however, is the citizenship. With enlightened and active citizenship, a transitional leadership can transmute into a transformational one. In a clime where the citizens do not only know their rights but place a demand on the leadership to deliver on promises made and expect minimum acceptable standards from those in leadership positions, no leader can afford to be transitional. It is for that reason that Justice Louis Brandeis said “the most important office in the land is that of the private citizen.” What that means is that the country does not belong to the leader alone; it belongs to the leader as well as the citizen. Much more than that, it means that the citizen is the boss and must demand accountability from the public office holder. Where the office holder is not forthcoming with expected action, the citizen must act.

The onus is on us to put our leaders continuously on their toes. We do not clothe, house and feed them so that they can ride roughshod over us. If we are dissatisfied with any aspect of our nation we have to voice it out and demand a change. If we are not satisfied with those who steal us blind being jailed for just two years, we have to say it and prevail on the National Assembly to amend our laws to reflect our desire. If we are discontent with poor budget implementation, we prevail on the executive to do the right thing. If we are not pleased with 70 per cent of our revenue being expended on wages and emoluments, we insist that the government should change it and we refuse to relent until the change is effected.

This is not a venture to get into once in a while; it is a project to prosecute all the time. Governance cannot be abandoned to the ruling class or else they will make a mess of the whole thing. Being actively involved in the management of our affairs is the price we have to pay to have the country of our dream.