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They want a magician as their leader. But Houdini is no more to pull tricks out of the bag for them. President Muhammadu Buhari is no magician and does not feast on illusions. He believes in the real world that takes form from natural order.
The inimitable Samuel Ogbemudia once asked whether six months were enough to process tender, move equipment to site, start construction and finish a major project? He has the experience as a performer and his judgement was in the negative.
Many Nigerians, supposedly lettered, are not better than ciphers in cognate thinking because they are non-plussed about economy and management on which they pronounce. There certainly has been an immense change in Nigeria in ideals and approach. Must Buhari run the wasteful and un-resourceful PDP’s scheme and style? You do not just shout abracadabra to make omelet without breaking eggs. No wise person casts pearls before the swine. Give $10billion to a gang of toughs and they will not be short of undesirables for which it will be wasted.
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The Nigerian Stock Exchange does not determine our economy; not with the collapse of manufacturing and agriculture.
PDP’s leaders had no idea on what an economy was. Someone wrote about Buhari not taking care of the economy. Does exchange rate parity determine a healthy economy? In some cases it is harmful because it affects the volume of sales of local produce. I read Buhari’s budget and found that we are of the same school of thought that bases the strength of an economy on its productive ability locally to meet the people’s needs. Could there be a viable economy without manufacturing, with a dilapidated public works system and that posts zero agricultural sector? That was the one Buhari inherited; a system that was for all-comers to loot. I have restrained myself from commenting on the on-going Central Bank pillage. It had precedents which were blown open by that irreplaceable reporter, Abidina Coomassie, one of which he was believed to have been chemically liquidated. It is a sad commentary and shows the quality of the press Nigeria has now that these things are just being revealed. Where were the newspapers, television and radio stations when these crimes were being committed? In our days we were alert to snoop into every business public or private. They never would have happened without a whiff to the press about such serious breaches, which will be leaked to the public. But where are the reporters and their proprietors?
Tony Momoh rightly said it is the job of the government to keep its business secret, but it is the constitutional duty of the press to watch and report all dealings. For what do those awarding prizes of excellence honour journalists nowadays? Not for scoops; not even for good writing as it daily becomes difficult to find any prose written by those who think English in Nigeria.
I will leave that for another day because there are pressing matters of state that should be dexterously addressed to avoid howlers and incoherent conclusions…
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