Toute nation a le gouvernement qu’elle mérite—(Joseph-Marie, comte de Maistre. Lettres et Opuscules Inédits vol. 1, letter 53, written on 15 August 1811)
“Every country has the government it deserves” and “In a democracy people get the leaders they deserve.”
The array of events in Nigeria political scenario has given colossal credence to this great quote without it passing through expected logical scrutiny, evidently by the passiveness shown by the average Nigerian despite the subjectivity of Goodluck Jonathan’s non-existent government.
That was just a parenthesis from the onus of this context. In the words of Williams Shakespeare, “uneasy lies the head that wears a crown”, we must commend the uneasiness of Governor Idris Wada ever since his ascension. But, in the words of Socrates, “the unexamined life is not worth living”, hence, an unscrutinised administration is not of worth living. Better the occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of listening than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference. (Franklin D. Roosevelt 1882 – 1945)
Moreover, being human makes us subject to erring and hence objects of criticism: which of course is the sinew of democracy. However, it is evident that the reaction of government aligned with the federal government is always binary: namely, 1. the dissident submission is an APC fraught intellection, 2. He is a cynic or scepticism-ist. But the good news is; my submission is devoid of any of these vertebrae. Dissent is what rescues democracy from a quiet death behind closed doors (Lewis H. Lapham)
The foofaraw cliché in 2 years was that the Idris Wada led administration was able to raise the internally generated revenue (IGR) from N180m, to N500m monthly. However, the ostensible percentage deserves applause, we do applaud. But this has demagogically roped this administration, Vis-a –Vis the refusal for payment of salary for well over 10months in some local government.
Moreover, we were never expecting any immediate fireworks from the Lord Luggard House, of course. At least, not from a man whose first taste of political office is for an entire State to be left at his mercy. His early days were propaedeutic period for a man who is still lost in the abyssal euphoria of him steering millions of people, ostensibly larger than the population he ever flew on an aircraft, which we do understand. He was however expected to grow into it; this is well over 800 days, but of lethargy despondence and lassitude.
But, of course he grew into it phenomenally. vehemently into the man the democratic constitution was out to avoid.
Success needs no media assistant to assist her voice. It has an indomitable aura that can be felt from far and wide, and such is the case of failure. Only abecedary aura could be felt so far from Gov. Wada’s administration. Abecedarian-ism, which is the loudest voice of this administration’s intellection should no longer be condoled: this is well over 800days. The credenda of this administration has axiomatically conjugated with so much frippery and crassitude which was evidently characterised by the developmental cretinism that has enveloped the state.
Driving through Kogi state, several question will criss-cross your mind, you won’t help but wonder if it is an independent State or just another vast land under the hegemony of another State in Nigeria. No aura or whiff of administrational epiphany can be felt, like what is evident in some states like Lagos state and the likes of it. No comparison is intended, in that both data- Kogi and Lagos cannot be brought under scientific comparison because of the alluding vast disparity. But albeit, seeking an utopian Eldorado in kogi state, an extent of developmental grandeur devoid of this axiomatic apathy and banality is ambled expected
My wits are devoid of myopism resulting from locational aloofness, but a function of the premises proportional to the fact that I spent the first 26 years of my life in Kogi State. I am not writing because I have pseudo-information, but because I have lived every atom of this content of discuss. I lived in my ancestral state when it was under Kwara and Benue state respectively. I still remember the rhapsody that followed the creation of our beloved State in 1991, before political brutishness became a seer on her brow. Also, before insipid granola became her plate of democracy dividend. I can tell the ebbing denigration between then and now. I can tell the developmental derelictions the state has witnessed between then and now.
The most sardonic of the satirical allegory is the refusal to pay salaries of the primary school education board and local government authorities for well over a long period time in some local governments within the state. The pseudo-benignity the governor has shown this working class is rather pathetic. This is now the predicament of people who endured long queues to register their votes for the sustenance of democracy. These are people whose thumb prints were registered for this present government. These are people whose families’ very existence is dependent of the token of their wages. But now they rather live in nostalgia, helplessly watching hope ebb away on the wings of administrational opprobrium. Now they suffer every extent of denigration in its very true creed.
But, Gov. Idris Wada increased the IGR from N180m to N500m monthly. Yeah, the very cliché that is everyday sang. The statutory allocation for Kogi State is also about N5bn monthly and the entire wages of kogi state hovers around about 2.5billion every month. The former government lived and sustained the state on that monthly N180m IGR. Wages were paid, even though epileptically. There was no consistent and vehement dereliction of salary payment. No extent of defence can be put up to this anomie will fly in the face of logic.
It is about time solicitude is given these poor workers. About time this wages ignominy is panegyrized to the world. About time the whole world knows about this administrative delinquency and developmental quiescence. We shall not denunciate the governor of Edo state for the amorphousity of Kogi state government. The Governor should responsibly accept the culpability of his state. We are leaving the future of our children in jeopardy if we amputate the felicity of the workers of the primary education board. The consistent inconsistency of this government has to stop. It is about time our beloved Governor stepped up to the plate.
Long Live Africa, Long Live Nigeria, Long Live Kogi State
Olukoya Obafemi. @arcfemi
Views Expressed are Solely Author’s.
