Dear President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan,
Firstly, a very warm welcome from your week long trip to Switzerland
and Ethiopia. How did your parley with the group of ‘Eminent Persons’
go? I hope the same you had with the leaders of Netherlands, Norway and
Costa Rica; as well bosses of Huawei, Total and Coca-Cola will yield
some interesting results.
My name is Wale Odunsi, male and a Nigerian. I am not a member of a
political party, neither am I affiliated with any civil society group. I
am one of the hundreds of thousands (elsewise millions) jobless youths
that have emerged under your administration. I say this for I was in my
final year in the university when the Legislature installed you as
acting President, via the now famous “doctrine of necessity”.
The title of this commentary might strike you as the rant of another
disgruntled citizen looking for attention; I appreciate such
exasperation. I personally sometimes get peeved at the reverberation of
the cobbler’s plank or the yell of “pure water” by the poor
out-of-school child peddling in traffic. But then, I expect that a scan
of the subsequent paragraphs will wipe out that thought.
As you know, the previous year is by far a period which many,
especially those who suffered its tragic times, would want to erase from
their minds, albeit impracticable. It was a phase we recorded both
natural and (particularly) human disasters. These adversities not only
claimed the lives of our fellow compatriots but also devastated goods,
property, farmland, crops and stocks worth billions of our legal tender.
We were further thumped by the horrid Kano co-ordinated attacks and
other myriad Boko Haram killings, Dana plane crash, the distraction
effected by your wife’s long sojourn to Germany, the needless concept of
N5000 note by our apex bank, road mishaps attributable to bad roads,
corruption – both in civil and public service – to mention but a few.
I am young national who believes that a sleeping giant that our
nation has grown into will one day return to its lost glory. But for
this to be achieved, you and your team will have to do more to convince
me, the opposition, the citizenry and in general the entire globe, that
you are indeed capable of effectively discharging the duties expected of
a democratically elected head of a federal state.
To a large degree, I am yet to greatly feel your presence in Aso
Rock. Save for the slightly improved power generation which may plummet
except more exertion is infused, the economy is not different from the
shape which you met it.
As I jot this dispatch, it crossed my mind that one of our Bretton
Woods friends recently proclaimed that our condition of penury has
dropped two per cent. I cannot argue with them since my university
gradation is beneath the esteemed first class, however, I opine that if
that deduction was reached without the consideration of the indigent
living in the slums of Taraba or Abia or Bayelsa or Oyo, it is
unreservedly fallacious.
On Sunday January 1, 2012, you forced down our spines a most bizarre
New Year gift. You dexterously presided over an economic team that
believes that an increase in the pump price of petrol by over 100 per
cent was the only available policy to achieving a better fiscal growth.
You preferred bundling up the masses to the knacker’s yard to
substantially cutting down the cost of your over bloated government.
My grouse and the reason I am writing this letter, is to call your
attention to the special intervention bureau set up to manage savings
from subsidy withdrawal: Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme,
SURE-P. The initiative which gradually is looking like a failed project
will go down as one of the greatest scam in history by a government
against its own people, unless it is wholly implemented. Already, the
Legislature is calling for its scrap (The PUNCH – Nov 29 2012).
I and colleagues had completed the mandatory National Youth Service
few weeks before SURE-P was announced. The wish was that better days
were nigh, we envisaged a grander prospect; we built our optimism on the
cusp that the system, if not much, had little to offer. All we yearn
for is a platform to harness our entrepreneurial skills; an avenue to
play a part in the development of our motherland and not necessarily a
white-collar job. Lest I forget, thank a lot for the increase in corps
members’ monthly allowance. Still, majority of us at that time held that
it was a well-thought out strategy solicit our votes.
In the heat of the opposition to the subsidy uproar, I remember
watching the Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, along with her
Information counterpart, Labaran Maku (who himself stood against similar
policy in his school days) on television stations as they flung a
booklet containing what SURE-P has in stock; as they went about
defending its content – from the weekly Federal Executive Council
briefings to town hall meetings and seminars in Lagos and the nation’s
capital.
I recall every bit of loudmouthed Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s argument as
he spoke in favour of the plan. I cannot forget Emeka Wogu’s
unconvincing speech as he listed goodies the regime would roll out, once
the striking action by a jittery NLC/TUC coalition was suspended; I
recollect Deziani Allison-Madueke’s assertion that the country will go
bankrupt if oil subvention continued. As she spoke, she struck me as
someone who pays more attention to her physical appearance than her
office or the government she was within.
Alas, in excess of 380 days after organized Labour – fronting threats
of treason indictment – called off protest, all I see are insufficient
‘subsidy buses’ plying roads in few states and Abuja; I see endless
queues at service stations; I see terrible rural electrical energy; I
see waning educational facilities; I see thousands of hectares of land
in the tight fist of the government and not farmers; I see people losing
faith in themselves and whatever around.
Addressing a joint sitting of the National Assembly, Chairman of the
SURE-P Committee, Dr. Christopher Kolade, disclosed his team had
received a whopping N135bn (about $880m) as at October 2012. According
him, N62bn ($400m) was paid to contractors and beneficiaries of the
scheme, while certificates worth N7.5bn ($48m) for contractors on the
Abuja-Lokoja and East-West roads are being processed for payment.
Sir, do you honestly think that those of us out here are pleased with
how these monies are being used? Do you call for detailed progress
report on the scheme? Have you even taken time to critically evaluate
your performance in office?
You hold a Ph.D. degree in Zoology and not Statistics but let us do a
simple arithmetic of what the people stand to gain if SURE-P pledge on a
“massive job creation” was fulfilled. We were told that 10, 000
unemployed persons from each of the 36 federating states and the Federal
Capital Territory would be engaged; this add up to a total of 370, 000.
We were also informed that an additional 100, 000 under the second
component of the programme, labeled Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS),
would be employed; this plus our initial sum gives 470, 000. Now assume
the persons that make up our new figure are generous enough to accept
the responsibility to support two or three other persons, the upshot is
food on the table for between 1, 410, 000 and 1, 880, 000 Nigerians.
What a significant feat this would be for you.
When I go out these days and come across some guys clad in SURE-P
T-shirts, they are either chasing street hawkers or road side traders.
So I ask myself: is this what we get after billions of Naira in fuel
subsidy cut? A job where a youth is expected to run after pitiable
peddlers?
The electorates did not beg for this. They covet quality governance,
one that is beset with downright honesty. Enough of the billboard and
“PR” style of service rendering. What the common man wants is to see his
water pipes running; he wants to ride his bicycle on a tarred road and
not on a clay surface; he is old and weak to fetch firewood to make hot
water for his pap and as such he favors electric kettle; he wants to
know the economy is buoyant so his children can have abundant from which
they can send money for his upkeep.
Sir, for the sake of posterity, (re)ignite the dimming fire of your
Transformation Agenda. I urge you not to let the opportunity of writing
your name in gold pass away. We want to remember you as a man who
matched his words with actions and not a man who talked because the
moment called for it. We want to remember you as a sensitive leader, not
one who tactically backed the construction of a N4 billion ($26m)
“mission house” for his wife.
I hope that you will promptly act on the issues raised. Perhaps, I and some others in my shoes can finally have a job.
With Regards,
‘Wale Odunsi
DailyPost
Mr.
Simmons, an exceedingly white man from Madison, Wisc., has no
comparable experience at the federal or familial level, but Obama
extolled his many virtues that suited him for the high-level position as
his intimate life partner. “I am proud to nominate Jeff as First Lady
and I expect he’ll be confirmed quickly,” said Mr. Obama.
