Violence and insecurity continue to be problems.
Our public debt (Federal and State) continues to rise.
There hasn't really been any reform of our system or method of governance, nor restructuring of our administration (fewer states, fewer LGAs, fewer federal ministries, etc, etc).
Institutions (like the Nigerian Police Force) have not been reformed.
I could go on ... but let me conclude by saying there are no plans to do tackle any of these issues, nor any of the other issues I have not bothered to mention. Sure, all of the politicians are making a lot of promises, but you and I know where we are headed.
The "new constitution" will be like every other constitution. The Big Men and Women are already engaged in the usual loud-but-meaningless discourse that accompanies every constitution review process. Will there be new states? Who gets what share of the oil revenues?
And even if the entire fuel subsidy were removed, it would not be the first time that our three tiers of government have found themselves with more money to spend than they previously had, and as always happens the new revenues would just disappear into the gaping mouth of our inefficient, wasteful, over-expensive governance structures -- I daresay the deficit will remain the same (or grow) and the debt will definitely grow. Anyone remember the silly promises made when we paid $12 billion to cancel $18 billion in debt? What has happened since then?
We had an election last year. The campaigns had no substantive correlation to any of the priority issues we face. The candidates at all three tiers mostly repeated the same blandishments as usual. I don't know if to blame us for voting for people we know will not solve our problems, or if I should acknowledge that we share a problem with the rest of the world -- political systems that restrict us to choosing between people who we know will not solve our problems.
I know everyone is acting like the problem with violence started a couple of years ago. Some even claim it is instigated by people opposed to Goodluck Jonathan's electoral victory last year, as if his victory changed, is changing or will change anything substantive for any of the practitioners of our you-chop-I-chop politics.
Look, this problem has been building up for 13 years, starting in 1999! Somewhere out there on the internet, on the server archives of a website that no longer exists is an essay I wrote in 2003 warning of where we were heading. On that extinct site's servers, you will also find the response from a newspaper journalist who thought I was being overly pessimistic -- actually he said "nihilistic".
It is annoying that our leadership didn't see it.
No, I take that back.
It is enraging that our leadership caused it. They are the ones who recruit the militia, they are the ones who buy the weapons and see to it that weapons can be easily smuggled into the country, and they are the ones who eventually lose control of the militia they created.
Don't misunderstand me. I am NOT saying that all of the militia were created, sponsored and protected by politicians. What I am saying is, because the politicians do not want to be arrested and prosecuted for their own particular share of the militia problem, they have assiduously maintained a situation and set of circumstances where our security, law enforcement and judicial systems cannot properly deal with the problem....
.... which creates a HUGE problem in that anybody can exploit this gaping hole the politicians are keen to maintain for themselves.
Even now, the politicians think they can avoid reform and restructuring by inviting foreign armies and navies into our coastal waters, into our airspace and onto our land. It won't work.
It is frustrating to see problems, to see no one doing anything about the problems, and to be unable to do anything yourself. I cannot believe how fast our debts are rising. And for what?
I remain confident in our future. But we need to start making changes. NOW.
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