Where does the government stand?

Reading the headlines of late and also having an ear to the ground, it would appear that there is very little certainty in the affairs of those currently administering Nigeria. I mean for instance what is the true story of deregulation? Is it happening or not. Today the government denies it and the next day another high government official confirms it. Is it that this government can not take a stance on an issue? We read that the CBN was against deregulation saying that it would lead further inflation and the next day the story changed. Why is it that we can not bank on what the government says?

This credibility crisis which began with the fraudulent elections of 2007 which brought in a fractured government is actually contaminating every arm of government. Take for instance matters concerning the judiciary. I was brought up to believe that the supreme court is infallible because it is final, however I had cause to have a reality check when of late politicians with influence in Abuja have been approaching the supreme court to over rule itself on issues that had already been decided. And as if this is not bad enough, how do you explain a politician going to an inferior court (The Court of Appeal) seeking to get a relief that had been denied him at the supreme court? These are really strange times!

And law enforcement is not left out. First we were told by the Attorney General that Nigeria will not accede to the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) request from Britain requesting Nigeria’s assistance in the prosecution of James Ibori and his associates for money laundering. According to the Attorney General, Nigeria was not a banana republic and would not help another country in prosecuting her citizens. As such he instructed EFCC officials not to testify in the Southwark Crown Court in London. Many had considered this statement odd especially considering that Nigeria had made request to other countries based on the same MLAT. However, this week, the story has changed and we are informed by the EFCC that they have now obtained permission from higher authorities and they WILL be testifying in the British courts in the matter concerning Ibori’s associates.

And the Legislator is not left out. At a time when the government has all but exhausted the huge reserves the Obasanjo administration left behind and has of late been complaining of dwindling resources, Nigerians were stunned to learn that the speaker of the House of Representatives and his principal officers have purchased 18 state of the art bullet proof vehicles for their convoys. After this news item hit the press, we were regaled with a series of denials from the speakers office. Predictably the next day, there was a further statement explaining the true state of things. Now we are told that the cars were actually bought, but they do not belong to the speaker but are the property of the public. This is like telling a child that a goat belongs to him. While the goat is hungry and in need of tending it may belong to the child, but as soon as it is slaughtered all will soon know the real owner of the goat. At the end of the day, what has been established is that the cars are actually being bought at tax payers expense for the benefit of the speaker and his principal officers who are already costing the public billions of naira in maintenance cost each year.

To say that this administration has contaminated Nigeria with its credibility crisis is indeed to say the obvious. I can ask ten government officials today what is going to happen to the banks recently shaken up by the CBN policy and I will likely get 10 different answers. We have been told that they would be sold to foreign investors, then that they would not. That it would be nationalized, and then that they would not. That they would be auctioned off and then so on and so forth. But still there is uncertainty. Borrowers are afraid to borrow and banks are afraid to lend because of the uncertainty and of course the economy suffers the pains.

In the area of power generation the same uncertainty reigns supreme. We were told that we would generate and transmit 6,000 MW by December and then just last month the minister in charge gave a press statement saying that we were currently able to generate 5,000 MW. The next day, Thisday newspapers revealed that we were actually generating less than 3,000 MW. Still the next day the minister’s chief press secretary released a statement that what the minister actually meant was that Nigeria could generate 5,000 MW if there was enough gas supply. I thought to myself that if the minister meant that, why did he not say that? So now 3 weeks to December were are currently generating less than half the target set for December which at the last time we heard from the government was 6,000 MW.

This uncertainty again reared its ugly head in the Malam Nasir El Rufai/Nuhu Ribadu passport saga. First Malam El Rufai alerted the nation that the government had ordered that he be denied consular services. The next day the government denied it and called him a liar. The next week it emerged that that a secret memo had been sent to all foreign missions ordering that the duo be denied consular services. That same week the government that had called Malam El Rufai a ‘liar’ was forced to eat its words and reverse its secret directive.

This same credibility crisis or double mindedness has also affected the constitution amendment exercise of the National Assembly. How many times have we read that there will be state creation and changes to the revenue policy and then read soon after wards that this is not the case. Same goes for the electoral reform exercise. Once the government pledged that it would reform our electoral practices and set up the Mohammed Uwais Electoral Reform Committee. However after the committee delivered its recommendations to the government it has been the usual case of motion without movement. The same government that had set up the committee picked holes in their findings (mainly because the committee did a thorough job that would actually lead to free and fair elections if implemented) and sent their recommendations to another committee headed by the attorney general to ‘fine tune’ its recommendations. I am still looking for someone in government who can give a concrete and equivocal statement on where this government stands on the issue of electoral reform. In fact, it was the Senate of the national assembly that issued a statement two months ago to the effect that the Uwais’ committee’s recommendations were not sacrosanct.

Even the recent amnesty granted militants has suffered from this credibility crisis. There is dispute in the number of arms and the number of militants who surrendered. Today we read that one militant leader has surrendered and embraced peace, the next day that he regrets doing so and wants to change its mind. Today the Niger Delta governors are in league with the Federal Government in the amnesty programme, tomorrow they are at logger heads. We hear of different sums appropriated for this project by the government and are not sure which is true. No one in Nigeria today can actually and with confidence issue a concrete statement on what the amnesty is about and what it has achieved. Everyone speaks in extremely ambiguous language on this vital issue.

It has been said that a double minded man is unstable in all his ways and nothing establishes this principle like the present administration in Nigeria. We have a government that reprobates than reverses itself giving the public the impression that it is unsure of itself. Like I have said on this page before, history has proven that it will forgive a leader that makes bad decisions, but what will history’s verdict be for a leader who makes no decisions? This administration may well go down in history as delivering so much activity without achieving any results as in the final analysis the fact remains that if you are unable to stand on something you will fall for anything and be moved and shoved by any wind.

Once again, God bless Nigeria.

PU.