Reflections on ‘change’

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, has just served Nigerians notice of an impending hardship. While speaking during the consideration of the 2016, 2017 and 2018 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) at the Senate, Udoma said that there was need for substantial reductions in the expenditure pattern so as to usher in the change that the new government promised Nigerians.

We need not over-emphasise the fact that the word ‘change’ as alluded to here by Udoma resonates with pulsating familiarity. It is the mantra that brought the government of the day into being. So much fetish was made of it during the electioneering campaigns that it has become the byword that defines the essence of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

What did Udoma make of it here? Apparently because the APC government must, compulsively, talk about change, Udoma forced this into his presentation. Rather than tell Nigerians in clear terms what the coming economic hardship would entail, Udoma, in the bid to infuse the gospel of change into the analysis, ended up sounding academic. He said in part. “In preparing the MTEF, we seek a dramatic shift from spending on recurrent to spending on capital aspect of the budget. It is going to be tighter for everybody…. We are beginning a journey of change and change has to begin with the clarity of purpose of where we are going.”

This general statement on change does not say much. It does not provide us with the specifics that should explain or justify the impending hard times. Is the economic crunch Nigerians are facing and will still face in the years ahead a product of change? Is it really the case that change must translate into hardship? If that is the case, could Nigerians have voted for a change that will throw them into a paroxysm of economic hiccups? This is very doubtful.

In the face of this lack of clarity from the minister, we cannot but wonder why Nigerians have to suffer for the simple fact that a new government assumed the mantle of leadership. What then do we make of this gospel of change as popularised by APC? We must point out from the outset that the change that was advertised by APC was done for the sake of it. It had no content. There was no philosophy behind it. It also had no ideological backing. It was a mere fanciful declaration, a magic lantern show, full of atmospherics but lacking in substance.

Having ridden to power on the wings of pretentious posturing, the APC was hardly prepared for the task ahead. Besides, the party did not quite imagine that it would displace the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In fact, the party was surprised at most of the actions of President Goodluck Jonathan that ultimately cost him his seat at the presidency. For instance, the APC did not imagine that Jonathan would allow Attahiru Jega, the then chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to conduct the elections given that it was known to everyone that Jega was working for the opposition party. The common wisdom in political circles is that no sitting president allows an electoral umpire who is not properly disposed to his reelection bid to conduct an election for him. For this reason, APC took it for granted that Jonathan would remove Jega. In order to forestall such an occurrence, APC engaged in a number of preemptive strikes. It accused the president of plotting to remove Jega even when there was nothing about Jonathan’s actions or inactions that suggested that. The APC merely wanted to blackmail Jonathan so that he would take no action against Jega. In fact, the party was so protective of Jega that discerning observers began to wonder why.

But the matter was made worse by the fact that while all this was going on, the ruling PDP which ought to be in charge of the situation looked on morosely. The PDP was much of a lame duck in its own government. It was so strange that the ruling party to which the president belonged was complaining about an appointee of the president while the opposition party was so protective of that appointee. Everything was wrong with that development. Tongues wagged. But the president did nothing. He surprised even his most virulent critics by allowing Jega to conduct the elections. It was a case of an APC INEC chairman conducting election for a PDP president. The outcome was quite predictable. The complacency of Jonathan and his party in this matter was at the root of his loss of power. Indeed, it was this indiscretion that gave birth to the change that APC is talking about today.

In this wise, it can be said that the change we have today was an accident. It was not really meant to be. It came about through the collective inertia of the Jonathan presidency and the leadership of the PDP.

As we noted earlier, APC is ill at ease with the responsibility thrust on it because it was not prepared to take over from PDP. It was merely testing the waters. But somehow, chance came its way. Because the present government is a product of chance, it has no policy direction. It did not, for instance, have a plan on what to do with and about the economy. While the campaigns were going on, Muhammadu Buhari, the APC torch bearer, told Nigerians that he would crash the pump price of petrol far below the prevailing rate if voted into power. That sounded so laughable that people wondered whether the APC candidate was OPEC.

Some seven months after taking over power, Buhari has no clear idea of what to do with the prices of petroleum products. Today, petrol is grossly scarce and Nigerians spend valuable man-hours in order to have fuel in their vehicles. The confusion over non availability of fuel has been on for long. Yet, government appears to have no answer to it.

Another handy example of Buhari’s absolute lack of grasp of economic issues is the declining value of the Naira. Again, during the campaigns, Buhari said that he would get the Nigerian currency to be of equal or near equal value with the United States Dollar. Today, one dollar exchanges for about N260 and our government is looking on. It has no response to the free fall of the Naira. It was never as bad as this in the entire lifespan of the former administration.

In fact, the economic space has been so badly messed up that Nigerians can hardly meet their basic needs. Cash crunch has crippled the people’s daily activities. Nigerians hardly know why. Rather, what they are being fed with is the lie that the last administration squandered the wealth of the nation. This escapism is nauseating. A government worth its name cannot blame its failure on the administration before it. Having taken over the reins of governance, the government of the day has the responsibility to get it right. That is the trust reposed on it by the electorate. Governments come into being not to lament the maladministration of their predecessors, but to make a positive difference in the lives of the people and the affairs of country. That is the least we expect of the present administration. Unending jeremiad and finger-pointing will lead to nowhere. They cannot bring about the much touted ‘change.’

•This piece column originally appeared in today’s edition of Daily Sun. Amanze Obi can be reached via amaobi@yahoo.co.uk

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