Cardinal Anthony Okogie, emeritus Archbishop of
Lagos.
Last year, when you assumed office, the chant of
“Change”, your campaign slogan, ushered you into
the Presidential Villa. Today, cries of “hunger”
could be heard across the length and breadth of
our vast country. Nigerians hunger, not only for
food, but also for good leadership, for peace,
security and justice. This letter is to appeal to
you to do something fast, and, if you are already
doing something, to redouble your effort.
May it not be written on the pages of history that
Nigerians die of starvation under your watch. As
President, you are chief servant of the nation. I
therefore urge you to live up to the huge
expectation of millions of Nigerians. A stitch in
time saves nine.
The way forward
This is the second year of your administration.
You and your party promised to lead the masses
to the Promised Land. It is not an easy task to
lead. But by campaigning for this office, you
offered to take the enormous task of leadership
upon yourself. Nigerians are waiting for you to
fulfill the promises you made during the
campaign. They voted you into office because of
those promises.
The introduction of town hall meetings is a
commendable idea. But in practice, you, not just
your ministers, must converse with Nigerians.
You are the President. You must be accountable
to them. The buck stops on your desk. Even if
your administration has no magic wand at least
give some words of encouragement. On this
same score, please instruct your ministers, and
insist that they be sincere and polite at those
town meetings. Their sophistry will neither serve
you nor Nigerians.
Mr. President, if you want to leave a credible
legacy come 2019, in all sincerity, please retool
your administration. Change is desirable. But it
must be a change for the better. Let this change
be real. Change is not real when old things that
we ought to discard refuse to pass away. You
will need to take a critical look at your cabinet, at
the policies and programmes of your
administration, and at those who help you to
formulate and execute them. You will need to
take a critical look at the manner of appointments
you have been making. It is true that
commonsense dictates that you appoint men and
women you can trust. But if most of the people
you trust are from one section of the country and
practice the same religion, then you and all of us
are living in insecurity.
The Nigerian economy has never been in a state
as terrible as this. You as President are like pilot
of an aircraft flying in turbulence. Turbulent times
bring the best or the worst out of a pilot. We can
no longer blame the turbulence on past
administrations. You know quite well that some
of the officials of your administration served in
previous dispensations. Blame for what we have
been experiencing is in fact bipartisan in
character. The entire political class needs to
come together, irrespective of party differences, to
acknowledge its collective guilt and to seek ways
of saving the sinking ship that our country has
become. This cannot be done if some officials of
your administration demonise and alienate
members of the opposition. If a large portion of
the blame for the present situation is to be laid
on the doorsteps of the entire political class, the
search for solution must involve everyone. That
is why no one should be alienated. All hands
must be on deck.
This is the time to revitalise moribund industries,
reinvigorate our agriculture, make our country
tourist and investor friendly, and enable our
young men and women to find fulfillment by
contributing to the common good. None of these
lofty goals can be achieved without good
education. On this particular issue, recent
appointments you have made in the education
sector raise a question: have you really appointed
the best?
Still on education, it is important that our
universities be allowed to use their own criteria to
admit students. It is a gross violation of the
principles of federalism and academic freedom for
the federal government to insist that only a
federal parastatal can decide on who gains
admission into our universities. It is the role of
the university senate, not of government
bureaucrats, to decide on who gets admitted and
who is awarded a certificate.
The war on corruption
Mr. President, your desire to wage a war on
corruption is just and noble. But a just war must
be waged with just means. Those who have
stolen the wealth of this country have broken the
laws of our country. They must be treated
according to the law and not outside the law, and
the outcome of the judicial process must be
respected by government. Even accused persons
have rights. Where those rights are violated, we
risk a descent to anarchy.
It is our candid opinion that corruption is not
found in only one party. No political party in
Nigeria has a monopoly of looters. That is why
we need an EFCC that is thoroughly independent
of the presidency, and an Attorney General
without party affiliation working in partnership
with various independent accounting institutes.
This will ensure that we come up with an
objective list of those who plundered our treasury.
Mr. President, pardon me if I sound like a
gratuitous counselor. I owe you the truth and
nothing but the truth. In my life as a public figure
and a religious leader, I have offered my counsel,
for whatever its worth, to quite a number of
Presidents in this country. I do this because I
desire that you succeed. For the success of the
leader is the success of the citizens. If there is no
solution to Nigeria’s problem there may be
endless war. You strike one town, you gain it, and
you come again to regain it. Remember that you
cannot put a crown on your head. It is the people
who put it on you. Otherwise one day, you will get
tired of it. Please listen to the legitimate cries of
your fellow citizens.
Cardinal Anthony Okogie, emeritus Archbishop of
Lagos, wrote from Lag
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