Fellow Compatriots,
The year 2011 saw a peaceful transition of power between civilian regimes. Many had thought the elections would begin the disintegration of the nation that the American Government had predicted for 2015.
During the year a searchlight was beamed on the earnings of public servants, and the members of the National Assembly in particular. Corruption in NNPC and deregulation of the petroleum sector were and continue to be common headlines.
The return of Okonjo Iweala to government was seen by many as an infusion of fiscal discipline. While the allocation of 75% of the 2012 budget to recurrent expenditure has been criticised by many, some say the adjustment of the ratio to favour capital expenditure cannot be achieved overnight.
By far the highlight of 2011 was the evil menace of Boko Haram. Nigeria became home to suicide bombing, a phenomenon that two years back would have been beyond the imaginative mind of the Nigerian fiction writers. The Nigerian hospitality culture was dealt a devastating blow with the bombing of the United Nations Building in Abuja, ironically the seat of man’s quest for international peace.
Nigerians continue to debate the government’s handling of the Boko Haram terrorism challenge, with a few impressed at what government has done and is doing. The Christian Association of Nigeria told the president in Aso Rock, his office, a few days ago that Christians have lost confidence in the ability of government to defend that and would henceforth resort to self defence.
The President has declared a state of emergency in parts of four states and closed a section of Nigeria’s borders as a response to the security situation. We welcome these steps but believe they have not gone far enough. The government announced a few months back that they now know the backers of terrorism and have evidence of how money has been transferred to fund terrorist activities. No list of high profiled sponsors has been published despite the activities of these terrorists escalating. No bank has been prosecuted or sanctioned for aiding routing of terrorism funds. It is either the government has no nerve, no political will or simply lied to the nation that they have made inroads. The government needs to do more to convince the international community that Nigeria will not become a lawless state where the fittest alone survives, necessitating citizens to resort to self-defence.
It is preposterous to be talking about taxes, deregulation, subsidy removal, etc. in a state where even the most vulnerable citizens are responsible for their security, health, educational and energy needs. In 2012 the government should execute welfare programmes that will engage her with the citizens to justify talk of citizen obligations and duties.
Government is trying to increase transparency and accountability, but a lot more needs to be done in this area. In this day and age it is unacceptable that only Nigeria disputes oil earning published internationally for all oil countries. We want to be able to tell how many barrel of oil are produced, how many are utilised locally and how many are exported. We should be able to translate this to revenue. Non-oil revenues are also grossly unreported and not completely accounted for in the budget. Recoveries made by EFCC for example are all part of what we expect to see in the budget.
Inspire Nigeria will continue to engage governments at all levels with a view to promoting good governance and citizen development. Our approach shall largely remain quiet diplomacy. We will increase engagement with Nigerians at home and abroad for the betterment of our dear country. Nigeria will not break up in 2015, not in 2050. However, we must not just wish so, we have to walk the walk to keep her a fair and just country where every citizen has universal freedom and liberties irrespective of where they are from.
Nigeria is a country waiting to claim her greatness. Together we can take her there. Our diversity must become our strength.
God bless Nigeria
Evong Evong
President, Inspire Nigeria
