Cardinal Anthony Olubunmi Okogie
Dear Mr. President,
Last year, when you assumed office, the chant of “Change”, your
campaign slogan, ushered you into the Presidential Villa. Today, cries
of “hunger” could be heard across the length and breadth of our vast
country. Nigerians hunger, not only for food, but also for good
leadership, for peace, security and justice. This letter is to appeal to
you to do something fast, and, if you are already doing something, to
redouble your effort.
May it not be written on the pages of history that Nigerians die of
starvation under your watch. As President, you are chief servant of the
nation. I therefore urge you to live up to the huge expectation of
millions of Nigerians. A stitch in time saves nine.
The Way Forward
This is the second year of your administration. You and your party
promised to lead the masses to the Promised Land. It is not an easy
task to lead. But by campaigning for this office, you offered to take
the enormous task of leadership upon yourself. Nigerians are waiting for
you to fulfill the promises you made during the campaign. They voted
you into office because of those promises.
The introduction of town hall meetings is a commendable idea. But
in practice, you, not just your ministers, must converse with Nigerians.
You are the President. You must be accountable to them. The buck stops
on your desk. Even if your administration has no magic wand at least
give some words of encouragement. On this same score, please instruct
your ministers, and insist that they be sincere and polite at those town
meetings. Their sophistry will neither serve you nor Nigerians.
Mr. President, if you want to leave a credible legacy come 2019, in
all sincerity, please retool your administration. Change is desirable.
But it must be a change for the better. Let this change be real. Change
is not real when old things that we ought to discard refuse to pass
away. You will need to take a critical look at your cabinet, at the
policies and programmes of your administration, and at those who help
you to formulate and execute them. You will need to take a critical look
at the manner of appointments you have been making. It is true that
commonsense dictates that you appoint men and women you can trust. But
if most of the people you trust are from one section of the country and
practice the same religion, then you and all of us are living in
insecurity.
The Nigerian economy has never been in a state as terrible as this.
You as President are like pilot of an aircraft flying in turbulence.
Turbulent times bring the best or the worst out of a pilot. We can no
longer blame the turbulence on past administrations. You know quite well
that some of the officials of your administration served in previous
dispensations. Blame for what we have been experiencing is in fact
bipartisan in character.
The entire political class needs to come together, irrespective of
party differences, to acknowledge its collective guilt and to seek ways
of saving the sinking ship that our country has become. This cannot be
done if some officials of your administration demonise and alienate
members of the opposition. If a large portion of the blame for the
present situation is to be laid on the doorsteps of the entire political
class, the search for solution must involve everyone. That is why no
one should be alienated. All hands must be on deck.
This is the time to revitalise moribund industries, reinvigorate
our agriculture, make our country tourist and investor friendly, and
enable our young men and women to find fulfillment by contributing to
the common good. None of these lofty goals can be achieved without good
education. On this particular issue, recent appointments you have made
in the education sector raise a question: have you really appointed the
best?
Still on education, it is important that our universities be
allowed to use their own criteria to admit students. It is a gross
violation of the principles of federalism and academic freedom for the
federal government to insist that only a federal parastatal can decide
on who gains admission into our universities. It is the role of the
university senate, not of government bureaucrats, to decide on who gets
admitted and who is awarded a certificate.
The War on Corruption
Mr. President, your desire to wage a war on corruption is just and
noble. But a just war must be waged with just means. Those who have
stolen the wealth of this country have broken the laws of our country.
They must be treated according to the law and not outside the law, and
the outcome of the judicial process must be respected by government.
Even accused persons have rights. Where those rights are violated, we
risk a descent to anarchy.
It is our candid opinion that corruption is not found in only one
party. No political party in Nigeria has a monopoly of looters. That is
why we need an EFCC that is thoroughly independent of the presidency,
and an Attorney General without party affiliation working in partnership
with various independent accounting institutes. This will ensure that
we come up with an objective list of those who plundered our treasury.
Mr. President, pardon me if I sound like a gratuitous counselor. I
owe you the truth and nothing but the truth. In my life as a public
figure and a religious leader, I have offered my counsel, for whatever
its worth, to quite a number of Presidents in this country. I do this
because I desire that you succeed. For the success of the leader is the
success of the citizens. If there is no solution to Nigeria’s problem
there may be endless war. You strike one town, you gain it, and you come
again to regain it. Remember that you cannot put a crown on your head.
It is the people who put it on you. Otherwise one day, you will get
tired of it. Please listen to the legitimate cries of your fellow
citizens.
-Cardinal Anthony Okogie, emeritus Archbishop of Lagos, wrote from Lagos.
About the Author:
Anthony Olubunmi Okogie is a Nigerian Cardinal Priest and formerly Archbishop of Lagos in the Roman Catholic Church.
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