Let
me ask a question: Is Nigeria not ashamed that when the BBC decided to
do a story on why South Africa's health minister feels that African
leaders should be ashamed for going outside the continent for health
care they used the picture of our President?
Think
about it for a minute. Our President is now (at least in the eyes of
the BBC) the poster boy for Presidential medical tourism.
This
is so sad particularly when you consider the fact (yes, a historical
fact) that in the late 50s and early 60s, the Saudi Royal Family use to
fly to Nigeria to receive medical care at the University College
Hospital Ibadan!
And
it is not as if Nigeria lacks the manpower to staff a vibrant health
sector. If we are really serious about it we can build our health care
system by repatriating our medical personnel abroad.
There
are 26,000 Nigerian medical doctors practicing in the United States
alone. 77% of ALL black doctors in America are of Nigerian origin. Fact.
And
this fact is replicated in several other Western and Middle Eastern
nation like the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia (where another former
Nigerian President went for health tourism).
And
the thing is that our government is not acting smart. We should be
working with Nigerian diaspora organizations like NIDO (Nigerians in
Diaspora Organization) to get a database of Nigerian professionals
abroad and working with them to provide them the enabling environment
that will entice them to return home.
But
rather than do this, the priority of our government is to order the
Nigerian military to monitor the social media accounts of Nigerian
citizens for "anti government" comments.
Can you imagine that!
A
President who access his healthcare in the U.K, who schools his
children in the U.K, whose wife shops in the U.K, is searching for anti
Nigerian comments on social media? Does he not know that he himself is
the epitome of anti Nigerianness?
The Shame of a nation is briefly summarized in these bullet points.
* a President treated in UK
* His kids schooling in UK
* His wife shopping in UK
* But the country he governs is NIGERIA!
But
look at me talking about shame when the person who should be ashamed or
not even ashamed and instead he was taunting Nigerians living in London
for having the audacity to demonstrate against him!
That
President Buhari asked them to also come home shows that he does not
understand the finer points of Presidential etiquette. You are asking
your citizens in the U.K. to come home when your own children are as we
speak schooling in that same U.K. How hypocritical, how petty can a
President get? First repatriate your own children before you tell other
people's children to return home!
And
it is quite evident that President Buhari has no shame because only a
shameless leader would have declared that he is 'satisfied with the
state of the Nigerian economy'!
We
are experiencing a third quarter of negative growth and are World
renowned to be in a recession and the man who should lead us out of it
declares to the nation that he is SATISFIED with the state of our
economy!
That's
just like bringing a report card of failure back home to your dad and
he tells you that he is satisfied with your performance! No wonder this
All Progressive Congress government of Muhammadu Buhari reduced the cut
off marks for admission into Nigerian universities! They are comfortable
with failure.
How did we get here?
Our
population is growing at 2.9%, by far faster than our economy which
grew at -1.5% last year and our President is 'satisfied' with the
economy'?
We
have an economy that is the largest grower of cassava in the whole
world yet we still spend over a billion dollars importing ethanol and
industrial starch, both of which can be made from cassava which is their
chief ingredient.
We
have an economy with 10.5 million out of school children with majority
of them roaming the streets of Northern Nigeria with their begging bowls
and the man who is tasked with changing that says he is satisfied with
the status quo!
Do you now see the reason why the BBC would make him their poster joy for shame!
And then we turn on the television and see that the President has gone home to Katsina to celebrate Eid-el-Kabir.
Well
nothing wrong with that only that If I were President Buhari, with the
massive flooding now ravaging Benue state, I would have made a stop over
there on my way to Daura!
The
ongoing flooding in Benue is of epic proportions. Lives have been lost,
property damaged and livelihoods disrupted. Can you imagine how
encouraged the people of Benue would have been if the President had only
made a stop over. I mean Benue is on his way and only 40 minutes by air
from Abuja.
America
is currently experiencing flooding in Texas as a result of the record
rainfalls unleashed by Hurricane Harvey and President Trump went there
as he should.
What
am I even talking about. Someone that cannot even visit the hundreds of
thousands of Internally Displaced Persons in Maiduguri, is it ordinary
flood victims he will visit?
And
the funny thing is that President Muhammadu Buhari's supporters would
go on social media to express outrage at a man like Trump who has given
America the lowest unemployment rate in sixteen years and the best stock market improvement ever. The Dow Jones industrial average crossed the 22,000 mark for the first time on August 2, 2017.
The
irony of it is that President Trump says he is still not satisfied with
the American economy which has just been announced to be enjoying a 3%
GDP growth rate in Trump's second quarter as President.
In
any case, while he is at Daura, I hope the President would take some
time to engage in some sober reflection and soul searching in order to
figure out why he is so acutely aware of the failings of others and
blind to his own failings.
For
one, it is an insult for a President Muhammadu Buhari, who addressed
the nation in Hausa, a sectional language, to lecture me on unity.
President Buhari lacks the moral authority! He is the most divisive
leader ever. How can a man who said "The constituents who gave me 97%
cannot in all honesty be treated on some issues with constituencies that
gave me 5%" be lecturing me on unity? I should be the one lecturing him
not vice versa. It is like satan lecturing me on salvation. If every
Nigerian is intimidated by President Buhari and cannot speak the truth
to his power, Reno Omokri will never ever be intimidated!
And finally, based on the above, if I were asked to rate President Buhari's two years in office, I would say it has been:
a. erRATic
b. gRATifying
c. Full of wRATh
d. RATher dull, or
e. oveRATed?
No comments:
Post a Comment