Buhari: Limit Of Body Language
The 1929 American stock market crash left millions of people in Uncle Sam destitute with an astronomical rise in suicide cases as a result of the rude shock of poverty and helplessness it brought. This coincided with the time Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe then a student made a suicide attempt on a railroad track as his spirit proved too feeble to cope with the economic downturn. During the 1932 presidential campaign, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, then Governor of New York promised Americans a New Deal.
No one really knew what he meant by that vague term but Americans were willing to try daring and novel solutions to solve the nation’s terrible economic malaise and his election victory was sealed when both the Republicans and Democrats ensured he had 472 Electoral College votes compared with the incumbent Herbert Hoover’s 59. He acted swiftly with his inaugural address saying the nation needed ‘action and action now’. The day after his inauguration, he announced a bank holiday and pushed for Congress to give him broad powers over the banking sector through the passage of the Emergency Banking Act.
He started his radio fire chats barely a week later where he took out time to painstakingly explain public policies to Americans and was able to restore the confidence of the system. The New Deal was the thrust of his first hundred days which saw the creation of many government agencies to help the poor and fast track economic recovery. Millions of jobs were created within the speed of light and it culminated in his signing of the Social Security Act on August 15, 1935 which is still in place to this day and stands as an enduring legacy of his visionary leadership.
President Muhammadu Buhari came to power with the slogan of change. That vague term as he bluntly refused to turn up for the presidential debates preferring to do what Fela Anikulapo-Kuti called colonial mentality when he addressed Chatham House rather than Nigerians was the magic wand that saw him defeat the then incumbent Goodluck Jonathan, the first of its kind in the country. Ever since then, hapless Nigerians have been left guessing as we don’t really know what his agenda his even after close to six months of being in power. Nigerians battered by poor and inept leadership need both a combination of soothing words and matching action but PMB has failed to provide any.
He sold himself to abhor any form of corruption. We are inundated with statements like ‘We will fight corruption to a standstill’ but no identifiable policy document has been churned out on the matter. His frequent foreign trips have brought about no anti-corruption treaties and there is no policy thrust of a documented anti-corruption agenda which defines the direction of his government. All we are made to know is that his body language hates it. Did we vote for body language? The boko haram insurgency is even worse under his administration than that of his predecessor. Jonathan was accused of insensitivity by not paying visits to the victims of the blasts but has Buhari fared any better? Has he ever paid any visit to the victims in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe which rank highly among the troubled spots? Does he address the nation frequently on the precarious security issue taking into cognizance the recent rumours making the rounds that the insurgents have even infiltrated Lagos? Do we hear often from our President that our lives and properties are safe beyond a lame statement that boko haram would be defeated next month, a timeline that is sure to be extended given the realities on ground?
The alarming unemployment situation gives cause for concern and his campaign team sold the idea of a 5000 naira stipend to be paid to unemployed Nigerians without taking recourse to the parlous state of our finances in an era where prompt salary payment is almost now a mirage with as many as 27 states having to scramble for a federal government bailout. We are still in the dark on how that promise is going to be implemented and an economic agenda to make the malaise history or at least reduce it to the barest minimum. Close to six months is too long to still be groping in the dark as to how to revive the ailing economy. Body language has deterred investors from investing making the country lose billions of dollars as they are unsure of the public policy direction. Is it too much for Buhari to address the nation on a regular basis? His cabinet is even yet to be constituted; did this show any level of preparedness for the job even after twelve years of gunning for it? His labeling of ministers as noise makers casts doubts on his democratic credentials and his purported ploy to deploy some of them without portfolio shows he still has the toga of a sole administrator which is at variance with the tenets of participatory governance. He ought to have long sent economic relief packages to the National Assembly but alas we just finished the ministerial screening not too long ago. How sad!
Communication is the hallmark of democratic leaders. Winston Churchill was able to rally the apparently scared Britons to an effective partnership with the United States to ensure victory for the allies in World War 11, Nguyem Von Giap was able to inspire a rag tag Vietnamese army to two major victories against the French and Americans, John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s inaugural speech, one of the shortest in American history was sufficient to steer a new course for the world leader in the heady days of the 1960’s.
Buhari doesn’t necessarily need to possess the gift of the garb to let Nigerians in the know of his agenda thrusts and give hope to his beleaguered countrymen of the ability of his government to tackle the plethora of challenges. Silence means consent in many cases and his so called body language is implicit of his cluelessness and the fact that the challenges have already overwhelmed him so early in the day.
The constant blame of Jonathan for the nation’s woes even up to the lack of funds to run his cabinet is unacceptable. For how long will the blame game continue? Any buffoon can throw the blame card. We went to the polls to give our mandate to a solution provider and not a wailing whiner. One-eight of the time of his administration has already flown by so quickly without any firm roadmap to push us to the apogee of greatness as we have more than the potential. It is high time he got to work and make communication a cardinal objective of his policy agenda. Time waits for no man and he is not an exception.
Tony Ademiluyi