I listen to the ponderous wails of Miles Davis ‘Round Midnight’ and scour the Nigerian Guardian. The headlines are just as dire as the sad notes that leak through the speaker. Maybe like the notes, they will assume a muted joyous crescendo, but I doubt it.
This is what we have been taught to accept:
That although the ‘The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has finally approved the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), creating six new companies that will help Nigeria drive the nation’s efforts towards transforming the oil and gas sector,’ we would be plagued by fuel shortages, inconsistent electricity, bad roads, an inefficient bureaucracy, irresponsible legislature, and to crown it all, the constant piss of some of the elite.
That Governor Seriake Dickson has the audacity to insult the collective intelligence of the people of Bayelsa, and Nigeria by appointing Dame Patience Goodluck to the position of ‘Permanent Secretary of the state of Bayelsa’ - an oil rich state, floundering in poverty and violence, is instructive. The message is simple – ‘You, the people, do not matter, and are not a factor in the administration of your lives’.
Yet, kudos to the state, it has produced our president, Goodluck Jonathan, the husband of the Dame. A man who told us of his shoeless childhood. Yet whilst being driven by these barefoot ghosts to all manner of irresponsible governance, Jonathan has forgotten the poverty that foisted this on him. He must have or he would not support his wife’s endeavour.
I am sure she means well, and she has a bond with the people she has been called to serve. But it shows a misunderstanding of the ails that torment and stifle the nation. Yes, it is all good and well, to have an affable first lady that stumbles over the pronunciation of the word ‘umbrella’, but when you appoint her to lead an already inefficient bureaucracy, surely you are damning the citizens.
But this is what Jonathan does not seem to understand as he affably steers the country towards disaster. We need capable people in all facets of service because the country, while still a child, is creaking under the restraints of its stifled growth. It needs efficient, knowledgably, learned, incorruptible, and patriotic people to lead the country. And Nigeria is blessed to not have a shortage of such people.
