Building a nation is easy

Our bumbling elite (across the spectrum – political, economic, judicial, professional, etc.,) should not — they have no right to — expect sympathy from the masses excluded from the privileges and benefits of citizenship. Yet the harms their greed, impunity, and life of entitlement impose on the country are both real and important.

The unremitting criticism of how corruption and nepotism hurt the Nigerian state kindles hope for a cure. It springs from a deep and broad well of despondency shared by all although badly articulated, except in action.

Check the institutions attacked during the End SARS crises!

We are here because history does not present any clear-cut case of an orderly recovery from concentrated nepotism and entrenched, systemic corruption, underscored by absence of genuine opportunity for hardworking outsiders.

Thus, even now, we are forced to question if Tinubu, the new head boy, will more likely be a cure than a curse. And for good reasons arising from past experiences:

1. Our government is accustomed to thinking that burdening the masses is a substitute for economic planning, fiscal discipline, provision of security, stability, infrastructure and other things needed to run a sensible and viable economy. That’s what underpinned the infamous remark “fuel subsidy is gone.”
2. Our government frames rule of law as an inconvenience for the elites — infractions and crimes can be negotiated, unless the culprit has completely fallen out of favour. Even Sen. Kalu’s prison sentence was not final.
3. That not having a seat at this unholy table (exclusion) is a failure to measure up (read, join the mainstream of corruption) — whatever your tribe or achievements in life — thus adding a moral insult to economic, legal and political injury.

This is where Tinubu, a man who has his eyes on history, can write a brilliant chapter for himself despite his past. Any stockbroker will tell you that past performance is not a perfect predictor of the future performance. Anything is possible in street parlance.

He can and should quickly allay our fears by showing that eight years of nepotism will not be replaced by eight years of nepotism.

Can he demonstrate that everyone is subject to same rules! Where to start:

I expect Tinubu’s DSS to stage a manhunt similar to Emefiele’s spectacle with and for the sacked NNPC boss and others.

Handcuffs and disgraceful spectacles should not be staged with and for southern elites alone. I can’t immediately think of any man or woman from SW, SE and SS that the government will not hunt down at the snap of the finger. But I can produce a lengthy list of Fulani elites it dare not.

Doing the right thing, levelling the playing field, is key to restoration of law and order.

That was Gen. Tunde Idiagbon’s legacy that Bubu appropriated. See what happened. If it is not Panadol, it is not Panadol. Simple.

Rebuilding a nation is difficult job. But the benefits a successful effort brings—to everyone—justify the effort. The implications of a violent collapse that will likely follow from doing nothing – business-as-usual path – leaves us with no good alternative but to try.