Nigerian government: When denial becomes a way of life
If you have been following investigations into the disputed events of the Lekki Toll Gate #ENDSARS protesters’ killings on October 20, 2020, you will be sad at the turn of events now. It has been disputed events, which sadly cast doubt on the authorities shifting, changing statements and living in denial of the reality. As CNN reported and many believed, the Nigerian government and military authorities have been economical with the truth over what really transpired at Lekki Toll Gate on that fateful day.
While the number of casualties is still disputed and sadly played down by the authorities, the reality is that the shooting of #ENDSARS protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos happened, it was a massacre, government is still making effort to distance itself from the event, yet the youths experienced another round of brutality, which the protests was meant to address.
But with the look of things, especially with recent events, it seems the government and authorities have failed to learn their lessons, instead they live in denial of reality. Going by the vehement rebuttal by the Nigerian military of the UN Report on the real figures of the farmers killed in Borno State by Boko Haram this December, it means government has truly not learn from the past. Whether government’s official figure of 43 or UN’S report of over 110 farmers, there is no denial that human lives, and innocent ones for that matter, were lost.
It would be recalled that on December 1, 2020, the Nigerian Senate asked President Muhammadu Buhari to sack all the military Service Chiefs and replace them with new ones with fresh ideas and solutions to the country’s worsening security challenge.
Sadly, the call, which was occasioned by the recent massacre of 43 rice farmers in Borno State, was the third time this year that the Senate will ask the president to sack the Service Chiefs, who they said are bereft of new ideas to tackle insurgency.
They did same in January and a similar call was made in July this year, amid earlier calls, all borne from debates on insecurity.
Regrettably, the Nigerian government, which seems to lack the will power to fight the insurgency, lives in denial, arguing number of casualties, still insisting that the Boko Haram sect has been technically defeated and are cowardly targeting soft spots to still remain relevant.
It is baffling to many that the government is claiming victory over the insurgency in the north east of the country when the sect is still sacking many villages, killing innocent people, including soldiers. For many, that is living in denial of the reality by the government, which should ordinarily resign for failure to protect its citizens.
While the government has always been defensive in the worsening insecurity challenge across the country, especially in the north east region, it has also been living in denial over many other pressing issues threatening the unity, progress and development of the country.
On January 17, 2019, The Cable published a story it entitled ‘Behold the 62 failed 2015 election campaign promises of Muhammadu Buhari and APC’.
The document, signed by Celestine Eronmosele of Mandate Protection Vanguard (MPV) c/o G. H Agoro Chambers Lagos, detailed how the promises were made and officially gazette in the party’s manifesto, yet both the party and the president keep denying, while some party members insisted that they were campaign promises; implying that they were not meant to be fulfilled.
One of such promises was the payment of N5, 000 each monthly to 25 million most vulnerable Nigerians. During one of his visits to the Middle East in 2016, the president reneged on the promise and the APC supported him, saying it would be better to use the total amount to create job opportunities than sharing it to the vulnerable.
"We all saw the controversy the proposed N5000 stipend created among the PDP and APC members at the National Assembly then, yet they denied that no such promise was made, forgetting it was made to the poor, who will not forget because of hunger. Who are they deceiving? I think the government should change its ways of always defending itself, it should admit sometime and the people will understand than always denying,” Tumise Akanji, a public affairs analyst, said.
Reviewing the recent massacre in Bornu State, Akanji decried that countering the number of casualties reported by the United Nations was the last thing a responsible government should have done because government should be ashamed it cannot protect lives of the citizens again, and should rather seek UN and other collaborations to tackle the challenge than the debate on whether more or less died from the attacks.
According to the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), which has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to resign, following what they described as the president’s inability to protect Nigerians, the attack on Edward Kallon, UN Resident Coordinator in Nigeria, for his statement last Sunday that the death toll from the attack could be as high as 110, was not necessary.
In a statement released by Hakeem Baba-ahmed, director of Publicity and Advocacy of NEF, the case in question was massacre no matter how low the government wants the number of casualties to be.
For the forum, the government has always been defensive of the poor handling of the security challenge, growing impact of the insurgence and sufferings in the north east, giving outsiders impression that things are under control when they are not.
Aside being defensive on the worsening insecurity, Kennedy Okwor, public affairs analyst, noted that the government pretends there is a ban on government officials from going abroad for medical treatment, yet the president and his family seems exempted and many others have been thronging overseas for medical treatment despite the billions spent in upgrading the Aso Rock medical facilities.
According to Price Waterhouse Coopers (2019) report, Nigerians spend over $1 billion annually on medical tourism with 60 percent of it on four key specialties: oncology, orthopedics, nephrology and cardiology. Regrettably, medical tourism is soaring more even with the ban.
“Government always budget for the health sector when its officials, even those who execute the budget will be flying out for medical checks abroad. Are we not living in denial of the pathetic condition of our health sector, you cannot place a ban when the facilities are not working here,” Okwor said.
Also weighing government’s sincerity over pressing issues, Bulus Yohanna, a lecturer at University of Jos, noted that the underlying cause of the recent protests in some parts of the country was unemployment.
The lecturer recalled that the present administration promised to create three million jobs per year during the 2015 presidential election campaign, which they knew was not possible and now they are living in denial of the reality of their failure to boost job opportunities across the country.
Moreover, instead of creating three million jobs per year, which could have culminated in a total of 12 million jobs in four years, the unemployment rate under the Buhari administration has risen from 18.8 percent in the first quarter of 2017 to 23.1 percent in the third quarter of 2018, reaching an all time high of 27.10 percent in the second quarter of 2020, according to report by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Proffering solution on how to handle national issues, Yohanna suggested that the government should change its method of communicating to Nigerians.
“There are issues you simple own up and apologise rather than been defensive. We are sorry over the Lekki killings and are working to bring the culprits to justice would have assuaged people’s anger than arguing the number of casualties”, Yohanna said.
He noted that the federal government’s denial of the report of $50 million ransom for the release of Chibok girls in April 2016 was not necessary as the girls were still in the captors net when the reports were filed. “Government should have kept quiet over the allegation or asked the parents of the kidnapped girls to confirm the release to the public. Many still believed that the ransom was paid”, he said.
But Mallam Kachala, a resident of Maidugiri, the Borno State capital, who is sad over government’s failure in protecting the citizens, noted that the government should own up to its failure, ask for help, give the helpers freedom to operate and flush all saboteurs in the fight against terrorism in the north east of Nigeria.
Elokanma Mgwube, a Uk-based Nigerian lawyer, suggested that Nigeria should learn from other thriving democracies on how to handle issues of national interest.
“A responsible government always comes clean on issues concerning its citizens in order to retain their trust and confidence. The Nigerian government should be sincere, admit failures, and apologize when necessary to gain people’s trust”, the lawyer said.
But Lai Mohammed, minister of Information and Culture, insisted that the government has not been living in denial, rather has done well so far, especially in handling the insecurity issues, as releasing some details to the public would amount to revealing its strategies to the insurgents, and other enemies of the country.
Critics of the government and many observers think the minister’s usual defense to score cheap political goal has not been working again as the citizens want solutions and not the usual blame on opposition.
They also argue that the government will not change in living in denial as the country enters another economic recession, amid other challenges that will force the citizens to demand answers from the government on its efforts to rescue the situations.