A governorship aspirant for the November 18 gubernatorial election in Anambra State, Mr. Oseloka Obaze, has described the sole aim of governance as service to the people, saying that politics and governance can be accomplished in a seamless manner when political leaders remain focused and honest with the will to serve.

Obaze who made the statement yesterday at the Correspondents’ Chapel Forum of the Nigeria Union of Journalist (NUJ) Anambra State Chapter observed that when the three variables are ignored, economic and social development will suffer immeasurably.

In his words, “Nigeria remains in crisis mode, arrested development and indeed, economic recession, simply put, the country is not working optimally, neither at the federal level nor at the state level and governance is near non-existence at the local government level."

According to the former SSG, the state of the nation is not strong. Nigeria is not just in recession but in deep trouble.

Continuing, he said: “Primarily, Nigerians are hungry and that is not a good sign. The economy is under performing in almost all sectors. While we acknowledge the efforts underway through the Economic Growth and Recovery Plan (EGRP), it seems evident that te political leadership continues to struggle.

“Nigeria is presently ranked 152nd out of 188 countries in the UNDP Human Development Index (HDI). She thus retains a position she has held since 2014, which confirms that our country belongs to the Low Human Development (LDH) category. The political leadership does not know what to do.”

Obaze further cited the increasing restiveness in the country, as well as the clash of the demands of fiscal policies and governance as evidence of governance and policy failure.

“The wrong policies combined with warped fiscal policies and forex regime led to the recent drastic loss of the value of the Naira. Worse still, we refuse to officially devalue, which means that we refuse to confront reality. This development also made a mess of the disposable income and thus forcing the middle class to go into extinction in Nigeria.

The retired Diplomat, decried the practice of sectional governance in Nigeria, which he noted has discolored governance in the country.

Obaze added: “While there are representatives from non-oil producing areas on the Board of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), there are hardly any southerners on the North East Recovery Commission. Yet, the proposed North East Development Commission was billed to be funded by three percent of the federation value added tax over a ten year period.

“Public sector appointees with statutory appointments are being sacked daily with hardly any public umbrage over such violations of constitutional dictates. Closer home, we are witnesses to the intractable completion of the second Niger bridge project, the no utilisation of the Onitsha Inland port since it was built in 1982. These things have happened because politics has overtaken governance.”

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