Nigeria have never been such a huge joke

By Prof. Chris Mustapha Nwaokobia Jnr.

Must governance be reduced to a circus where cronyism and court-jesting become the qualifying credentials for appointments?

On my way back from the United States, where I have been on medicals since August, many issues about our dear country, Nigeria, weighed heavily on my mind. Chief among them is the issue of insecurity and the government’s continued denial of the intensity of the ogre that has grown monstrous, hydra-headed, drastic, and dangerous.

Second on the list are the names that the President has allegedly forwarded to the Senate for approval as Career and Non-Career Ambassadors. The names reveal how the President’s mind works. Dance and sing the President’s praise, and you get rewarded; it seemingly does not matter what your image contributes—positively or negatively—to the country.

I penned this piece aboard the Lufthansa flight that brought me home from Frankfurt to Abuja. I left the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas, on Saturday evening (American time) and was in Frankfurt, where we experienced a near four-hour delay before embarking on the last leg of my return to the fatherland. In Frankfurt, Germany, one thing was evident: Nigeria is not well regarded. Not only did we face a delay of almost four hours, we were moved from one boarding gate to another without courtesy.

As though that wasn’t enough, we were denied the common protocol of walking into the aircraft, as is regular with international flights; instead, we had to climb a tedious flight of stairs like passengers on local flights. You may draw your own conclusions as to why, out of about seven Lufthansa aircraft boarding around the same time, only the Abuja-bound flight was subjected to such shoddiness.

If we agree that this is not the best of times for Nigeria, and if we are unanimous that the times are ominous, must we not take bold, daring, and endearing steps to reposition our country?

Must we continue to play politics with everything? Should we not confront national security issues with premium commitment, knowing that the world is watching? Must we not select the best hands and minds to manage our foreign policy, our national image, and our diplomacy? And must we not end this reward system for court-jesting that diminishes leadership?

If Nigerians across partisan lines do not consider some of the names allegedly forwarded to the Senate for confirmation as ambassadors to be serious-minded, is it the international community that will give them—and the nation—any benefit of the doubt? Must everything be about “job for the boys”? When will leadership rise to the urgency of the moment?

Who advises the President on policy, programmes, and appointments? Recall the shameful exercise of the Prerogative of Mercy a few weeks ago, where the justified anger of Nigerians compelled a reversal. Leadership—particularly at the apex office of President—is serious business and must be treated as such. Shortlisting persons of questionable tendencies, masters of doublespeak, and experts in debauchery to man our foreign missions inadvertently raises questions about integrity and credibility.

It speaks to the fact that this government, and by extension the nation, is being reduced to a huge joke. If some of the names put forward as possible ambassador-designates are vetted and approved, we are telling the world that Nigeria cannot be trusted, that Nigeria is a nation of jokers.

As villainous non-state actors continue to pound the nation and undermine our once-revered Armed Forces, the government must rise to the challenge and show the world that we are not only committed to ending terrorism, but also to serious and forthright foreign engagement and diplomacy.

The only way to do this is to appoint serious-minded people as ambassadors—not jokers, not cronies, and not court jesters.

Compatriots, countrymen and women, I am not unaware that partisan obscurantists may call this the “song of a wailer.” I am, however, unbothered. What truly concerns me is that the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration appears to be its own greatest enemy. The bullet that may destroy the Tinubu administration is not from his foes but from his so-called friends and supporters. And if they do not change, the day of doom may be closer than imagined.

To those who think that I hate President Bola Ahmed Tinubu or despise his presidency, let it be known that when the threat of a possible US sanction emerged under President Donald J. Trump over allegations of Christian genocide in Nigeria, my team and I in the US offered our support for the country.

With access at the highest levels of US diplomacy, we reached out to agents of the Nigerian government. But, typical of this administration’s penchant for mediocrity, they opted for “jankara and janjaweed diplomacy,” choosing lobbyists who hired non-Nigerian protesters in New York, further embarrassing the nation.

The video of that show of shame has since gone viral. The government also sent a delegation led by the National Security Adviser—including the Inspector-General of Police, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, the Attorney-General/Minister of Justice, and others—on shuttle diplomacy.

They achieved far less than we had already offered the government and our country. More worrisome was the diplomatic faux pas of having a presidential adviser head a diplomatic delegation containing full-fledged cabinet ministers. Again, who advises the President?

Like one crying in the wilderness, I implore the present government to return to the drawing board, to make national security a top priority, and to treat our foreign missions and international diplomacy with seriousness.

Nigeria can no longer cope with the policy flip-flops and mediocrity that define the current administration. Let Aso Rock listen.

God bless Nigeria.

Nwaokobia Jnr.
Convener, COUNTRYFIRST Movement
A Good Governance Advocacy Group.