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.
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
