A SEASON OF MIDTERM REPORTS: WHERE ARE THE STATES?

For the first time since the return to civil rule in 1999, a properly documented mid-term report which I will prefer to call “GEJ’s Big Green Book” was presented to the public on May 29, 2013. If I am not mistaking, the purpose of doing so was perhaps to set a precedence of transparency; expand the scope and quality of public discuss; establish a culture of scientific analysis; and deepen the horizon of political thought. This is consistent with the background of Mr President as an academic, and a scientist. I commend him and salute his courage for upholding the principles of “servant leadership” in line with the “social contract theory”.

However, I have not been able to grab a copy of “GEJ’s Big Green Book”. When I do, it will form the basis of my political discuss in the coming months. To make my job easier, I challenge the members of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) including those of the opposition political parties to furnish us with a detailed report of their mid-term performance.

Nonetheless, I have developed a template for the scientific analysis of all mid-term reports. It may take the following format:

1. Identify Nigeria’s needs and peculiar challenges

2. Identify factors militating against their resolution

3. What the government at Federal and States has done so far

4. Outcomes and results
5. My expectations; and
6. The way forward.
In recent times I have been inundated by comments that are lacking in scientific content on the state of nation being made by some individuals and group of individuals presenting themselves as intellectuals. They dismiss everything, take subjectivity to a new level and make it difficult for others to have a good debate with them.

This is not only barbaric but is capable of cultivating a society of despondent and unpatriotic elements. All patriotic intellectuals should rise up and play the role that their kinds in other climes played in advancing the cause of their country by confronting this dangerously ugly phenomenon.

According to a Nigerian political thinker, Paul Wagbafor Ph.D, “in a society where the culture of science is not consummated, oppression is sustained at all cost and illiterates are philosophers”. We need a revolution in the way we view things and form opinions. Let us bring forth the days of deep thinking and critical analysis. The days where institutions are built and they supersede personality. Let us encourage scholarship in public discuss and service for there lies one of the pillars of western civilisation – meritocracy.

Now that Mr President has set the standard by publishing his “Big Green Book”, it has become pertinent more than ever before, for all the state governors to publish their mid-term report. The era of cosmetically concealing the underperformance and undemocratic character of state governors by indulging in President bashing is over going by this presidential challenge. Self criticism is the word as we embark on the second half of this term.

Finally, let me say that Mr President may not have met my expectations but surely, he has relatively exceeded that of his predecessors since after the Civil War given the time frame in review. There is a transition going on in Nigeria, maybe it is part of what the Federal Government calls “The Transformation Agenda”. It is a transition from a Nigeria where for half a century; some elites got all they wanted because they were from a particular part of the country while the others were perpetually confined to the status of the internally colonized. Now that they can have a breath of fresh air, we should as intellectual, guide and protect the gains of the struggles of our heroes past and present.

Thank you.
Written By Mark Olise

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