Politicians and their false assurances

L AST Tuesday, President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated a committee tasked with lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty. In a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, the president indicated that the inauguration of the National Steering Committee of the National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy (NPRGS) chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo re-echoed his commitment to lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years, with a well-researched framework for implementation and funding. According to the statement, the NPRGS had already proposed the establishment of a private equity fund, the Nigeria Investment and Growth Fund, to lead a resource mobilisation drive and manage the resources in a sustainable manner. The president said: “This journey began in January 2021 when I directed the chairman of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to collaboratively work together to articulate what will lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years. I am happy to note that the process of designing this inclusive poverty reduction strategy recognised and addressed past mistakes as well as laying the foundation for a sustainable poverty reduction through the wide range consultations held at all levels of government, development partners, the private sector, as well as the civil society.’’

But that was not the first time the president had inaugurated such a committee. He did so in September 2020. Before that, in June 2019, he had promised to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty. Reflecting on his re-election in February of that year, Buhari said his first term of office had been a huge success, citing Nigeria’s exit from recession, successes against Boko Haram militants, improved infrastructure, including road and railways construction, and disbursement of loans to farmers, among others. “In the last four years, we have made solid progress. We can lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years. When economic inequality rises, insecurity rises. But when we actively reduce inequality through investments in social and hard infrastructure, insecurity reduces,” he had said. He repeated the same promise at the United Nations in June 2020, but the poverty index remains miserable.

Nigerians are, of course, used to hollow promises. They currently inhabit the world’s poverty capital, and they are the world’s least electrified population and one of the most terrorised. Over the years, particularly since the return to civil rule, politicians, riding on the docility of the populace, have made highfalutin promises designed to appeal to emotions, excite passions, and project a false image of themselves. From presidents to governors, and from federal ministers to state commissioners, Nigerians have been consistently  and most unconscionably treated to a cocktail of false promises. Year after year, floods wreak untold damage across the country and terrorists of all hues make life nasty, short and brutish, but the public space remains suffused with “I assure you” lullabies by a criminally inept, morally bankrupt and intellectually vacuous and duplicitous leadership.

To be sure, the reason politicians at all levels make promises dressed in finery of falsehood is not hard to guess: they they know that there is no value for accountability in the country. And the implication is grave: if the country continues pretending that what it has now is what democracy is all about, then it would never move beyond the present parlous point. Politicians pay to rig elections because there are no consequences for their actions. And, what is more, what they say during campaigns does not count, since they will still buy votes using prepaid or postpaid methods. Nigeria’s politics has predetermined outcomes and, sadly,  even vice chancellors of universities are now issuing assurances like the politicians. A particular vice chancellor was reported to have a “Chief of Staff.” Such is the country’s comprehensive rot.

Christopher Okigbo, arguably Nigeria’s most cerebral poet, saw through the chicanery of politicians right from the First Republic. In Hurray for Thunder, Okigbo wrote: “Today-for tomorrow, tomorrow becomes yesterday/How many million promises can ever fill a basket…” Of course, the politicians are still making their hollow promises, in part because Nigerians are not Mexicans, who hardly suffer failed leaders gladly. In August 2019, angry residents of San Andrés Puerto Rico made their mayor to walk around in a long skirt and a white ruffled blouse. Mayor Javier Jimenez, from the Huixtán province, was made to walk around in a skirt for not fulfilling his campaign promises. According to the local newspaper, El Diario de Mexico, one of the key complaints of the residents was that the mayor did not allocate three million pesos (about $152,000) for the improvement of the town’s water system, which he had promised during the campaign season. Later, a video of the mayor talking to a reporter was also shared on social media. The mayor could be heard saying that he had been unable to keep his word because there was no money in the till.

The Nigerian populace must shelve its accustomed lethargy and demand what is rightfully its. It must cease tolerating felons in Government Houses. More fundamentally, the country requires a fundamental shift in the way its affairs are run. Enough of fake promises.

YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

We Have Not Had Water Supply In Months ― Abeokuta Residents

In spite of the huge investment in the water sector by the government and international organisations, water scarcity has grown to become a perennial nightmare for residents of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. This report x-rays the lives and experiences of residents in getting clean, potable and affordable water amidst the surge of COVID-19 cases in the state…

Selfies, video calls and Chinese documentaries: The things you’ll meet onboard Lagos-Ibadan train

The Lagos-Ibadan railway was inaugurated recently for a full paid operation by the Nigerian Railway Corporation after about a year of free test-run. Our reporter joined the train to and fro Lagos from Ibadan and tells his experience in this report…