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A TIME FOR EVERYTHING


Related to country: Nigeria
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The Holy book for those of us Christians makes us to know that “there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven”. This is a statement of wisdom from the great teacher. It also connotes a principle of wisdom.

In a modern representative state, leaders are chosen or better put; representatives are chosen by the people to form machinery called government and to represent the people’s interest. This is to avoid mobocracy because everyone cannot be in government at the same time. It is also expected in a modern state that representatives are people of credible track records, people of integrity, people with sound intellectual capacity and capability and above all, technocrats.

However, this is lacking in our ‘modern state’ as we all know, even a day old child knows that our representatives are not the people’s choice. They got there through Godfatherism, moneybags and rigging. So they represent themselves, friends and family rather than the masses.

‘A time for everything’ is a wisdom principle suggesting that there is a time to talk, and a time to keep quiet; a time to fight and a time to dialogue; a time to strike and time to pull back; a time to plan and a time to executive the plan, etc. However, in our leaders and representatives, this wisdom seems to be lacking. Even when they were renowned and acclaimed professionals and experts in their different fields, when they get into government, they become fools!

Since the return to democracy in Nigeria when people like us are able to follow events and not reading them as history, Nigeria’s leaders have been displaying this lack of wisdom in dealing with issues of public interest. During the second term of OBJ’s administration when Nigerians were calling for a Sovereign National Conference to discuss contentious issues bothering on the Nigeria’s entity, our leader refused. Instead he put up a National Political Conference where most of us know was a political jamboree. Even at that Nigerians tried to make do with what was given – ‘a bird in the land is worth a thousand in the bush”; to see if some of the issues could be addressed. In the middle of this crossroad, there came a report from well meaning Nigerians that there was an agenda from the Presidency called Third Term Agenda seeking to elongate the tenure of the incumbent president. Immediately this report got into public domain, our ministers, advisers and special advisers and the entire presidency went to the national media to counter the report, calling Nigerians names and insulting people’s intelligence. But at the end, we all know who became fools and what became of the so called conference.

In recent time, Nigeria is experiencing series of crises especially security crisis in the Nigeria Delta region which is a big threat the nation. Efforts are being made to disarm the boys from the creeks through the Amnesty Programme. What would inform a right thinking person that in the midst of the problem in the Niger Delta when all hands suppose to be on deck, the right advice is to move out the only federal presence in the area – The Federal University of Petroleum, former PTI Effurun to a distant North? What a highhandedness!
In defending the government against the report, the Minister of State for Petroleum was quoted in one of the National Dailies that there’s no plans to move the University out of the area. But I want to tell the Honourable Minister that there’s no smoke without fire. If he wants he should go ahead and deceive himself but he cannot deceive Nigerians. Our elders say “what an elderly person would see sitting down, a child cannot see even if he stands up”. The elders of the region have seen the handwriting on the wall and have raised alarm. Report like this comes as rumour but at the end becomes the truth – third term agenda.

This is not the good time for this advice Mr. Honourable Advisers. This definitely demonstrates that our leaders do not understand the time and season principle of wisdom. It is only in Nigeria that we take action before thinking of the consequences of the action.

The President may have good plans, but his ministers, advisers and executioners do not fit into the plans. If the president does not act fast, the effort towards solving Niger Delta problem would be seen as being hypocritical, insincere and suspicious. It is high time the President looked into his cabinet and fish out the Judas in order to avert the imminent collapse of the Amnesty Programme.

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