The question posed by the this write-up is raised countrywide and globally as Muhammadu Buhari is sworn in as President and Commander-in-Chief yesterday May 29 2015 at the Eagle Square, Abuja. That question assumed fresh urgency in the past one week as the nation, virtually shut down, reeled under the assaults of an all-time low in the generation of power and an uncommonly severe petrol scarcity. The hangover and scars of the nation’s recent leap into darkness and the memories of queues for fuel that looked like scenes of fresh riots, in the dying days of the Jonathan administration will remain with us for a long time. A wanton epitaph to another season of failed governance, the recent groaning of Nigerians, underlines the tragedy of a resplendently resourced nation jinxed by underperforming leaders and a corrupt elite.
There is a tiresome repetitiveness about the woes of the nation.
Browse through the inauguration speeches of Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan and you will find grandiloquent avowals to make life better for all by improving infrastructure; in particular electricity, tackle corruption and reduce transport deficits. Obasanjo told the nation in 1999 that he would “make significant changes within a year, curb corruption and restore public confidence in governance.” He repeated those promises in 2003 with a new emphasis on improving public services and infrastructure as well as healing the nation; most of those promises went unfulfilled.
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