The President, Governors and Assembly men of Our Dream. Is this Election Really Necessary? To begin with, we need to provide answers to some vital questions like; what are our national goals and aspirations? Is our democracy defined as the government of the rich (politicians), for the rich and by the rich?
The answers to the above question should be that our national goal is to create an egalitarian society with a level playing field where there are equal opportunities for every citizen to aspire and pursue his legitimate dreams for both national and personal fulfilment. Not a situation where a few and negligible percentage of our teeming population will plunder the absolute majority of our resources, in the name of governance, be it legislative, executive or otherwise.
Our national priority now, therefore, should rather be how to carry out rapid national reforms that will guarantee a better deal for the average Nigerian. At this critical stage of our nationhood we require more than an average person to be our president. He or she must have a demonstrable vision, will, carriage, wisdom, determination and courage to move things around and carry out the necessary reforms as explained above within his or her first One Hundred days in office. Should anyone be asking for our votes come April 2011, that individual must be ready to give us an un-interrupted electricity supply within the first hundred days in office.
He or she must be ready to declare and guarantee free and compulsory education for every child up to the end of junior school, with the provision for the indigent and disadvantaged child to enjoy free education up to graduate and post graduate levels. This must be accompanied with the provision of a minimum international standard welfare, health care and up-keep. Every Nigerian in need of health care and who cannot afford it must have access to free and international standard health care, be it woman, man, boy or girl, born or unborn.
Every young person or employable Nigerian must be given automatic opportunity to work and contribute his/her quota to the economy and earn a living. Please read details on how to make this possible in the All in One Programme of Action for Nigeria on this website – www.joint-heirs-reigningwithchrist.blogspot.com . Our in-coming president must not allow any of our senior citizens to go into the grave in shame or be treated with contempt or ignominy. They must not be allowed to queue up in the rain or sun, or travelling long distances to access their entitlements. These services must be taken to their doorsteps by special arrangements, as obtainable in civilised societies. See the All in One Action Programme for details.
He must be ready to correct the present injustice and gross in-equality as regards wealth distribution in the system with an immediate amendment of the constitution to cut the jumbo pay and allowances being paid to public servants at the expense of the teeming masses. To this effect, certain legislative and executive functions must be on part-time basis. It has been said in various quarters that it is more lucrative to be in politics than to peddle drugs.
Our political, economic and administrative (civil service) structures are very weak. We need to strengthen our institutions. Therefore, our incoming president must be ready to dismantle, first, and then, rebuild strong institutions. Otherwise, the present structure is so corruption pervasive, permissive and persuasive, such that no matter how well intentioned a leader is, he will be compromised or consumed by this all-time endemic system.
Provision of basic amenities such as portable water, good roads, standard health facilities, et cetera, all of which are taken for granted in civilised countries but are still evasive in our country. These must form a major part of the basis on which any aspiring politician should and could ask for our votes this time around.
All said and done we cannot run away from the basic truth on the enormity of the situation confronting our nation. The truth which is like a bombshell is that we should rather forget about wasting money on the forth coming elections but we should rather allow a representation of the major sector of the people to run an interim government with equal representation from all the six geo-political regions. There will be six co-chairpersons with an interim president elected from among them. The job of the interim government will be to restructure our constitution with a view to strengthen our union and all its component institutions such that governmental institutions and parastatals will be run in an open system that is accountable to Nigerians. The re-structured constitution must be made subject to the peoples’ ratification through a credible referendum.
We must make our leaders realise that since we sent them there, they can’t rule us in a master-servant relationship, but as servant leaders who must be responsive and responsible to the electorate that voted them there in the first place. They must be made to realise that the affairs of governance cannot be run as a secret cult. Every Nigerian should be free to ask how the taxpayer’s money is being spent. This fact gives high credence to the imperative of passing the Freedom of Information (FoI) bill As things are presently, any elected leader will be at the mercy of our weak and corruption permissive, persuasive and pervasive structures and may certainly not be able to do much regarding meeting, even, our minimum expectations. This, I believe has been the situation with the present government led by president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, in whom I see some level of sincerity and sensitivity to the yearnings of the people but who have been turned a lame-duck president by the structures and institutions of government as presently instituted by the constitution imposed on Nigerians by the General Abdul-Salam Administration. We need to build strong institutions rather than strong personalities as advised by one of our own, President Barack Obama, the man in the oval office sometimes in 2009.
Advanced democracies are not necessarily run by men who are holier than Nigerians nay Africans but by men who operate within strong institutions that are so open to public scrutiny such that there is zero tolerance for corruption or leadership abuses as we tolerate here. A public servant must live up to the billings of public expectations or must be prepared to resign or be kicked out once caught under the grid -light of the press as watch dog.
The Truth must be told. It is patriotic and God-fearing to so do. The obvious truth, therefore, is that by the present constitution and operation of our democracy, the welfare of the average Nigerian cannot be guaranteed or served. Only our fat and greedy politicians stand to benefit. We must call it quits with the present arrangement and quickly begin the building of an egalitarian society. A society that throws-up her best, not on the basis of the size of their pockets, ability to manipulate through the employment of violence, cunning and other forms of anti-social practices, which presently characterise our polity.
The present arrangement only gives room for the emergence of crooks, mainly, and not honest men and women. It is the survival of the fittest. Ayikwe Amah, commenting on the post Nkrumah era and the ensuing corruption, in his book, The Beautiful Ones are not yet Born describes them as those who can travel on the fast lane. In that book, we read about the stench and magnitude of the putrefying decay produced by the magnitude of corruption perpetrated by strong personalities, heroes of socialism, under a porous constitutional framework and weak institutions that literally turned its operators to demi-gods who were not accountable to the people in their self-righteousness. But God used Jerry Rawlings to clean-up the messy affair and the result is there for everyone to see. Anyone who is not prepared to carry out a shake-up of that magnitude may not achieve much. Those who are holding our nation to ransom by the jugular must be forced out of the system so that Nigerians can experience the true political, financial and spiritual/moral freedom. Here, I rest my case.
Pastor Ayo Akintayo,
Chairman, Justice Party,
Lagos State, Secretary,
Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, (CNPP),
Lagos State.
+234 803 347 5035
+234 807 731 7028
+234 808 218 7145
+234 809 888 7755
ayoakins@yahoo.com
ayowole.akintayo@gmail.com
www.joint-heirs-reigningwithchrist.blogspot.com
http://www.ayowoleakintayo.blogspot.com/
Monday, March 28, 2011
The President, Governors and Assembly men of Our Dream. Is this Election Really Necessary? To begin with, we need to provide answers to some vital questions like; what are our national goals and aspirations? Is our democracy defined as the government of the rich (politicians), for the rich and by the rich? The answers to the above question should be that our national goal is to create an egalitarian society with a level playing field where there are equal opportunities for every citizen to aspire and pursue his legitimate dreams for both national and personal fulfilment. Not a situation where a few and negligible percentage of our teeming population will plunder the absolute majority of our resources, in the name of governance, be it legislative, executive or otherwise. Our national priority now, therefore, should rather be how to carry out rapid national reforms that will guarantee a better deal for the average Nigerian. At this critical stage of our nationhood we require more than an average person to be our president. He or she must have a demonstrable vision, will, carriage, wisdom, determination and courage to move things around and carry out the necessary reforms as explained above within his or her first One Hundred days in office. Should anyone be asking for our votes come April 2011, that individual must be ready to give us an un-interrupted electricity supply within the first hundred days in office. He or she must be ready to declare and guarantee free and compulsory education for every child up to the end of junior school, with the provision for the indigent and disadvantaged child to enjoy free education up to graduate and post graduate levels. This must be accompanied with the provision of a minimum international standard welfare, health care and up-keep. Every Nigerian in need of health care and who cannot afford it must have access to free and international standard health care, be it woman, man, boy or girl, born or unborn. Every young person or employable Nigerian must be given automatic opportunity to work and contribute his/her quota to the economy and earn a living. Please read details on how to make this possible in the All in One Programme of Action for Nigeria on this website – www.joint-heirs-reigningwithchrist.blogspot.com . Our in-coming president must not allow any of our senior citizens to go into the grave in shame or be treated with contempt or ignominy. They must not be allowed to queue up in the rain or sun, or travelling long distances to access their entitlements. These services must be taken to their doorsteps by special arrangements, as obtainable in civilised societies. See the All in One Action Programme for details. He must be ready to correct the present injustice and gross in-equality as regards wealth distribution in the system with an immediate amendment of the constitution to cut the jumbo pay and allowances being paid to public servants at the expense of the teeming masses. To this effect, certain legislative and executive functions must be on part-time basis. It has been said in various quarters that it is more lucrative to be in politics than to peddle drugs. Our political, economic and administrative (civil service) structures are very weak. We need to strengthen our institutions. Therefore, our incoming president must be ready to dismantle, first, and then, rebuild strong institutions. Otherwise, the present structure is so corruption pervasive, permissive and persuasive, such that no matter how well intentioned a leader is, he will be compromised or consumed by this all-time endemic system. Provision of basic amenities such as portable water, good roads, standard health facilities, et cetera, all of which are taken for granted in civilised countries but are still evasive in our country. These must form a major part of the basis on which any aspiring politician should and could ask for our votes this time around. All said and done we cannot run away from the basic truth on the enormity of the situation confronting our nation. The truth which is like a bombshell is that we should rather forget about wasting money on the forth coming elections but we should rather allow a representation of the major sector of the people to run an interim government with equal representation from all the six geo-political regions. There will be six co-chairpersons with an interim president elected from among them. The job of the interim government will be to restructure our constitution with a view to strengthen our union and all its component institutions such that governmental institutions and parastatals will be run in an open system that is accountable to Nigerians. The re-structured constitution must be made subject to the peoples’ ratification through a credible referendum. We must make our leaders realise that since we sent them there, they can’t rule us in a master-servant relationship, but as servant leaders who must be responsive and responsible to the electorate that voted them there in the first place. They must be made to realise that the affairs of governance cannot be run as a secret cult. Every Nigerian should be free to ask how the taxpayer’s money is being spent. This fact gives high credence to the imperative of passing the Freedom of Information (FoI) bill As things are presently, any elected leader will be at the mercy of our weak and corruption permissive, persuasive and pervasive structures and may certainly not be able to do much regarding meeting, even, our minimum expectations. This, I believe has been the situation with the present government led by president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, in whom I see some level of sincerity and sensitivity to the yearnings of the people but who have been turned a lame-duck president by the structures and institutions of government as presently instituted by the constitution imposed on Nigerians by the General Abdul-Salam Administration. We need to build strong institutions rather than strong personalities as advised by one of our own, President Barack Obama, the man in the oval office sometimes in 2009. Advanced democracies are not necessarily run by men who are holier than Nigerians nay Africans but by men who operate within strong institutions that are so open to public scrutiny such that there is zero tolerance for corruption or leadership abuses as we tolerate here. A public servant must live up to the billings of public expectations or must be prepared to resign or be kicked out once caught under the grid -light of the press as watch dog. The Truth must be told. It is patriotic and God-fearing to so do. The obvious truth, therefore, is that by the present constitution and operation of our democracy, the welfare of the average Nigerian cannot be guaranteed or served. Only our fat and greedy politicians stand to benefit. We must call it quits with the present arrangement and quickly begin the building of an egalitarian society. A society that throws-up her best, not on the basis of the size of their pockets, ability to manipulate through the employment of violence, cunning and other forms of anti-social practices, which presently characterise our polity. The present arrangement only gives room for the emergence of crooks, mainly, and not honest men and women. It is the survival of the fittest. Ayikwe Amah, commenting on the post Nkrumah era and the ensuing corruption, in his book, The Beautiful Ones are not yet Born describes them as those who can travel on the fast lane. In that book, we read about the stench and magnitude of the putrefying decay produced by the magnitude of corruption perpetrated by strong personalities, heroes of socialism, under a porous constitutional framework and weak institutions that literally turned its operators to demi-gods who were not accountable to the people in their self-righteousness. But God used Jerry Rawlings to clean-up the messy affair and the result is there for everyone to see. Anyone who is not prepared to carry out a shake-up of that magnitude may not achieve much. Those who are holding our nation to ransom by the jugular must be forced out of the system so that Nigerians can experience the true political, financial and spiritual/moral freedom. Here, I rest my case. Pastor Ayo Akintayo, Chairman, Justice Party, Lagos State, Secretary, Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, (CNPP), Lagos State. +234 803 347 5035 +234 807 731 7028 +234 808 218 7145 +234 809 888 7755 ayoakins@yahoo.com ayowole.akintayo@gmail.com www.joint-heirs-reigningwithchrist.blogspot.com www.ayowoleakintayo.blogspot.com
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