Politicians have disappointed Nigerians —Ibechukwu, Ohanaeze spokesman

Deputy national publicity secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Mazi Chuks Ibegbu, spoke to JUDE OSSAI in Enugu on the level of progress made so far as Nigertia marks Democracy Day. Excerpts.

IT is another Democracy Day. What do you think is the level of progress in terms of governance in the country?

It has been a bag of mixed blessings. There have been successes in areas in some of states as some governors and ministers have performed creditably. But in general, the dividends of democracy have not been circulating as expected. We have witnessed alot of insecurity. We have witnessed alot of hunger and disappointments in the land. It is not yet Uhuru for Nigerians.

What do you think is responsible for the seemingly unimpressive situation?

Lack of credible leadership is our problem. Our leadership recruitment mechanism is faulty. In most cases, people who are very selfish and corruptly minded are given power in Nigeria, beginning from highest to the lowest levels. Until we get it right, we will not go anywhere; until the Independent National Electoral Electoral Commission (INEC) gets it right and everybody performing his or her role; the electorate and politicians playing according to the rule so that we can get credible leadership, it will be a Herculean task for the country to move forward. Our founding fathers: Michael Opkara transformed the Eastern Region to become the fastest growing economy in the world in 1960 with palm oil.  Chief Obafemi Awolowo transformed the Western Region, giving free education to his people with cocoa proceeds, while Ahmadu Bello changed the face of the North with groundnut pyramids. Today, the kind of leaders we have are self-centered and myopic. That has been our challenge. When we get it right in leadership, other things will take proper shape.

With the problem posed by coronavirus pandemic, how does the future of the country look like?

One thing is that COVID-19 is being politicised. Our politicians now use it to loot our commonwealth. So, whatever it is, COVID-19 has revealed so many things. For instance, going by the issue of Almajirai. by God’s grace, we have now seen the danger of unkempt children. The northern governors have now seen the danger of sustaining the Almajirai system. But the unfortunate thing is that they are trying to shift the burden to the East and the Southern parts of the country. We have seen that there is need for diversification of our economy. The North is full of mineral resources but they are not interested in exporting them. They are only interested in the oil and gas in Niger Delta. It is high time we focused on agriculture. Agriculture should be the nation’s priority. We should go back to the farm. Our hospitals and health institutions are in a shambles and our experience in COVID-19 has exposed how poor we are in the sector. We need to redress all these malaise because only Nigerians can save Nigeria.

Against this background, what will you suggest that the country do to redeem itself?

To redress the ills of the nation, we should be honest with leadership. We should go back to 1960s and ask ourselves questions. How did Michael Okpara make the Eastern Region the fastest growing economy in the world? How did Awolowo achieve free education? How did Ahmadu Bello develop North with groundnut pyramids. I am from Okpara’s community, he had no house of his own in his village throughout his lifetime. But today, many local government chairmen have more than  200 houses. Leadership is all about service. There should be transparency, honesty and sincerity in leadership. In Nigeria, leadership is all about looting of our commonwealth.

How do you assess today’s youths. Are they living up to expectation by your own estimation?

The youths of today are victims of misrule by their fathers. You should not blame them because when a she-goat is chewing the chord, the little ones are watching. So, the question is, who are their role model who are nurturing them? If you go to our universities, you will be amazed to discover that some of the lecturers are cultists. If you go our communities and villages, you will also find that some of our traditional rulers are fraudulent.  So, where do we go from here? The society in general is in a mess. What we need is a moral revolution.

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