Waist Deep

Those of us who reside in the United States may be familiar with a TV commercial featuring a man caught in a quicksand. His teammates, instead of springing to action to rescue him, began a conversation to identify the situation before they could plan a course of action. All along, the poor guy sank deeper and deeper into the quicksand.
This is a scenario which I liken to the state of the Nigerian government. In the past, I have blogged about negative things going on in that country. My blogs were well intended, as every Nigerian wishing the best for our homeland would. BUT, I soon realized that lamenting on the Nigerian fiasco is similar to one who cries over spilled milk. I made a secret vow to offer solutions in any little way that I could rather than blemish the image of our dear nation, Nigeria.
But, that when a president and his vice president put matters of national interest aside for their personal finger-pointing, one is left to wonder what the fate of Nigeria would become. EFCC indicting Atiku is long overdue but I bet there are Nigerians who wait anxiously to see if the likes of Obasanjo and other corrupt public officials would face the same fate.
Democracy is a wonderful form of government. But has it really worked in Nigeria? If you assess the economy, you’d see that its on a downward spiral. Foreign investors are apprehensive of doing business in that country. Its not because we don’t have the resources of qualifies manpower. Much of it depends on those investors who are willing to pay bribes here and there in order to do business in that country. Only those companies from whom they could gain personal benefits can do business in Nigeria.
So dare I ask if military leadership is what would help our country? It appears to me that after seven years of democratic rule in Nigeria, our leaders, especially Obasanjo are waist deep in what I call ‘The Nigerian Hot Mess’. They are still engaged in preemptive stance on how to run that country while Nigeria has morphed into a cannon ball waiting to explode on impact.
Until this point, there isn’t a definitive plan for major issues in that country. Thus far, the whole nation is set ablaze with calls for impeachment of one governor or the other. I must admit that Nigeria has made steady progress on one front – the lines baring us into ethnic groups are becoming blurry. However, the rush to loot government funds has intensified in the wake of sprawling violence in local areas.
It is a crying shame that a president and a vice president of a nation, as eminent as Nigeria, would engage in such shameful bickering. Where does that leave the fate of the nation? I wonder what Obasanjo’s legacy would be at the end of his time in office? Is his legacy one which has left Nigeria more fragile than it was before the civilian regime? Only time would tell. At the moment, we are all caught waist deep in our political and economic uncertainty.