Dele Momodu: My kobo advise for Mr. President
Your Excellency, please permit me to commiserate with you on the
unfortunate and untimely death of your dearly beloved brother. I
sincerely join other Nigerians in mourning what must have been a sad
loss for you and your family in particular. As you travel back home to
your tranquil village to pay your last respects, I pray you ponder on
the free advice I’m about to offer you in good faith. Even if you’ve
already returned to the gilded cage of Aso Rock Presidential Villa in
Abuja, I wish to plead that you find the time to read this open letter
which I would have communicated directly if I had the privilege of a
private meeting with you.
Perhaps, I should quickly introduce myself as a journalist and
politician. Though I have seen you a few times at functions, we have
never properly met. The only time we ever shook hands was when I
joined
others to mourn the death of, and celebrate, your father in Otueke
village of Bayelsa State when you were still Vice President. I also saw
you briefly in South Africa in 2009 but did not approach your table
because your bodyguards didn’t look like they would appreciate any
lesser mortal disturbing your peace.
I was amazed because I had just left the official residence of
President Jacob Zuma in Pretoria and did not see more than a few guards
in the house. I had spent quality time with him without any other soul
than my South African friend I went with. I had gone there in a rented
taxi but no one had asked us to go through metal/bomb detectors; or to
drop our phones with members of the secret service. I did not see any
ADC, CSO, CSD or any other security aide with similar nomenclature only
known to, and made in, Nigeria. I think we just love big titles.
Anyway, I saw you again when you invited Presidential candidates, of
which I was one, to Aso Rock, last year to brief us on the need for
peace during the elections. I doubt if you saw me, though the invitation
came from your office. Most of the candidates snubbed you but I chose
to attend out of respect for your person and office. I remember seeing
Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, who sat close to me, and Mr John Dara and so
many politicians who I believed came because it was Aso Rock but really
had no roles to play. Unfortunately, that meeting was nothing but a
waste of time. You came and without even shaking hands with your
co-contestants delivered your homily, answered a few questions and
disappeared. There were no banters or interactions with us to cement a
bond of friendship even if we wanted to take over your office.
I was surprised that you or your aides could not persuade most of the
candidates to attend. Yet you went ahead to host an event that was
obviously doomed before it began. I can only imagine how much was
charged Nigeria for such hogwash. Ghana held a similar peace conference
about two weeks ago and it was a star studded event. Part of great
leadership quality is the ability to attract certified enemies and
convince them to rise above prejudices and pettiness. I believe you have
not reached out enough. Your aides have also not helped matters by
their paranoia and neurotic approach to issues. They see enemies where
none exist and fire all guns blazing at shadows. That is not how to
build a nation.
One more example should suffice. You went on an official visit to
Ghana. I was invited by the then Nigeria High Commissioner to Ghana,
Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, to attend the brief reception held for you at
our High Commission in Accra. Again, it was impossible for most of us
to have a simple handshake with you as your security aides practically
treated us like common criminals unworthy of communion with the
Almighty. I finally gave up.
Sir, let me say emphatically that the biggest problem with Nigerian
leaders is that once they attain power, they vacate this earth and
migrate to another planet far away from fellow citizens. Leaders are
elected to serve the people but in Nigeria we are compelled to serve our
leaders and if possible starve to death in the process. We are not
allowed to ask questions about how we are led or in reality, misled.
This is the reason it is difficult for most of you to know what goes on
in the real world. I suggest you borrow a leaf from Mr Babatunde Raji
Fashola whose style fascinates me to no end. He drives through Lagos
with no disruption to the lives of the people.
He responds promptly to reasonable text messages and emails. I know
you’re very busy, but take time to see how President Obama jogs down or
sprints up the Air Force One. It demonstrates a man on a mission. Feel
free to drive on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and see things for yourself. Go
into a pub and mix with the boys like President Clinton once did in
Ireland. Refrain from blocking the house of God because you are
attending a church service. Sir, no evil shall befall you. You are too
distant from the people you lead. Show them love and you shall reap
bountiful adoration. No massive security is necessary, once you make God
first and suffer not his people. Conversely total security is no
security where there is no Godliness. The love and prayers of Nigerians
will keep you going.
I have decided to adopt a new approach in my column. I will take it upon
myself to write this open letter as regularly as necessary and proffer
solutions to different issues, in the hope that you will get to read it.
I will tell you what your aides will never tell you. It is up to you to
carefully read what I write and take your own decision. Let it be said
that we told you but did nothing about it. I would have freed myself
from the burden of “siddon-look.” I’m reasonably convinced that if you
know the magnitude of problems confronting Nigerians you will work
harder and change your style of governance unless you’re determined to
fail spectacularly like others before you. I pray this will not be your
portion.
Let me state categorically that I write this letter without any malice.
More importantly I expect no personal gratification other than to see
change in the lives of our people. I needed to make that clear since it
is now in our culture to read motives to every good intention.
I have no other reason than out of patriotic fervour. I have not been
to Abuja since last year because I’m dutifully engaged at home and
abroad, and really have no reason to run up and down the corridors of
power like the proverbial yo-yo. Every man must determine his needs in
life. I know mine and I am happy and content to manage whatever God in
his infinite kindness has given to me. We all have friends and families
who have nowhere to go. If Nigeria becomes the country of our dream and
there is a level playground for all of us, most citizens would thrive
without living like pathological beggars. You’re in a position to leave
Nigeria better than you met it. Look at most of the politicians and
businessmen around you today. They were the same faces you saw with your
predecessors. You are their new god today because of your position.
Tomorrow, when you have departed, as you surely must do, they will move
on again to the next person, without any qualms.
I have studied men and women of power at home and abroad and have
sympathy for their tragic flaws . My discovery is that most leaders
often fail to remember that whatever has a beginning must have an end.
Time also flies. And it waits for nobody. Who could have imagined PDP
in power since 1999 with nothing tangible to show for all the trillions
of naira spent by various administrations? Who would believe that
President Olusegun Obasanjo’s two terms came and disappeared within a
twinkle of an eye? Or that even you have spent two years already as
President and Commander-in-Chief? The question that will later haunt
you, as it is haunting others before you, for the rest of time is: what
did you do with all your time in office and all the resources under your
control?
I will say without any fear of contradiction that the money at your
disposal right now is enough to transform Nigeria into a true giant if
frugally managed. I will now go on to demonstrate what I mean.
Sir, for every one billion naira we waste on frivolous projects, the
dream of a fresh thousand millionaires would have perished. If you hand
me the N2.2 billion naira you are about to spend on building a new
banquet suite in Aso Rock, I will instantly create 2,200 brand-new
millionaire farmers from our large army of brilliant but unemployed
youths. Each of them would be able to employ 10 to 20 people in
production, preservation, processing and distribution. If you think I’m
joking, please hand me the money and I will urgently invite applications
from potential beneficiaries. I and my team pledge not to earn a kobo
from the project.
If I may ask, what is wrong with the banquet suite you presently have?
Is it not better to spend money on providing jobs than trying to show
off to visitors that we are prosperous in the midst of wanton poverty?
I’m writing this letter from Cambridge University, one of the oldest
surviving institutions of learning. The buildings of most Colleges here
are as ancient as history, yet there is no plan to demolish them and
build new ones. The problem with us is lack of a maintenance culture.
You can rehabilitate the old banquet suite with less than N100 million
and turn it into an architectural masterpiece. I’m sure you won’t spend
your personal money the way ours is being poured away like rain water.
Do you know how old Buckingham Palace is? If it was in Nigeria, we would
have demolished it many times over in order to award some horrendous
contracts.
I gather you want to build a new home for the Vice President at over N6
billion. This is sinful in a nation with over 12 generations of
unemployed, and unemployable, graduates. What is wrong with the current
Vice President’s home, Akinola Aguda House and wherever Alhaji Atiku
Abubakar once lived? It smacks of gross insensitivity to waste resources
in this manner. Please, give us that N6 billion and I will give you
6,000 productive millionaire entrepreneurs in Nigeria. Imagine each of
them employing 10 people within the first year or two, we would have
taken more than 60,000 youths off the streets. We’ve done it several
times through Goke Dokun’s creative Entrepreneur Series on television
and can do it even bigger in real life. As President, I would rather do
this than build a home for a family of less than 50 people.
Mr President, Nigerians are not difficult to lead. In fact, we get
carried away by little mercies. I know you have your sight on contesting
elections in 2015. Let me assure you that you won’t have to campaign
much, or spend billions to get re-elected if you listen to me. All you
have to do is demonstrate to Nigerians that you can resist those
carpetbaggers who see power only in terms of enjoyment. The world is
building monuments and creating new inventions everywhere but we are
busy wasting ours on flights of fancy like super jets, palaces, women
and champagnes. We can do a lot better because God has endowed us with
all we need to be among the greatest of the world. All it takes a little
bit of vision and discipline.
Sir, there is nothing you want in life that God has not given you on a
platter of gold. It is time for you to reciprocate by humbling yourself
like all Saints. I will tell you about them and great names in history
when I write my next epistle to you. If you hearken to the voice of
reason, you will etch your name in gold.
Truly, like Jesus Christ (apologies to Christians), you will ride triumphantly into your own Jerusalem.