And Four Other Things...

Now that President Muhammadu Buhari has decided to go on medical leave, may we now focus the national debate on how the country can move forward as we play catch-up with other developing countries? Politicians must, of needs, politick, but everything cannot be politics and politics cannot be everything. We all seem to have been sucked into the everlasting intrigues of elections, forgetting other issues that should be a welcome distraction — issues such as epileptic power, epidemics and unemployment, as well as general infrastructure that aids economic growth and development. And what about hundreds of unfilled vacancies in key federal agencies? Agenda.

There was one hell of a controversy over the letter sent to the national assembly by President Buhari on his medical vacation last week. Invoking section 145 (1) of the 1999 constitution, Buhari said “the vicepresident will coordinate the activities of the government”. The wording is different from that of a similar letter in January in which he said “the vice-president will perform the functions of my office”. The insinuation is that he did not want the VP to be “acting president” this time around but “co-ordinator”. The language of the latest letter may be suspicious, but since it is section 145(1) that has been invoked, anything else is irrelevant. Osinbajo is acting president. QED.

The recent release of 82 Chibok schoolgirls, rather than elicit all-round excitement, has led to allegations that the Buhari administration is only playing games and creating a diversion for its failings. There is even this fantastic conspiracy theory that the girls (by the way, they are now women, going by Nigerian laws) were kidnapped in 2014 by APC as part of the strategies to win the 2015 elections, and they are now being released in batches anytime the government is running low on popularity. I do not believe this theory; I think we’re taking politics too far. More importantly, though, the parents of the released abductees are not complaining. Perspectives.

Nicholas Ossai, a member of the house of representatives, says the N125 billion appropriated to the national assembly in the 2017 budget is inadequate — despite the addition of N10 billion by the lawmakers to their own budget. According to him, the legislature requires more money to carry out its “oversight” function effectively. He lamented: “The committees are carrying out national functions in line with section 88 of the constitution to expose corruption. Committees not only expose corruption, but block leakages. Definitely, we need a lot of money to address these issues,” Can somebody help us beg the lawmakers to “manage” the chicken feed? Times are hard. Please