AFRICAN ECON :: THE OPTIMIST VOICE

EDITORIAL

Historic Precursor to Nigerian Ordeal ...March 27, 2010

Much of the issue around ailing ‘Yar Adua should not have caused the uproar and hot exchange that heated up the polity unnecessarily. As a democratic government, as long as an elected President has not completed his term, that administration continues to bear his name and title. Regardless of who holds the reigns at present, the Administration will continue to bear the name Yar’Adua/Jonathan Administration. That is standard practice everywhere.

To learn from lessons such as this, I call to mind a similar occurrence during the Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32 President of the United States of America. Though during his Presidency, the nation was going through one of its most difficult times, World War II and The Great Depression, he contracted polio and was confined to a wheelchair. The country neither grounded to a halt, nor got itself wrapped up by the effect of the illness on the President.

Between his staff and his wife Eleanor Roosevelt, the job continued. In fact his wife played a major role in actualizing his policy in many ways by becoming his eyes, ears and legs literally. The World Encyclopedia of Biography had this to say about her activities then; “In short, Eleanor became a kind of go-between between the individual citizen and the government, as well as between the president and some members of his administration.”

“She traveled throughout the United States on fact-finding trips for Franklin. In particular, she became a voice for those in need, including working women, African Americans, youth, and tenant farmers. Such groups had been severely affected by the economic crisis known as the Great Depression.”

The difference, as I have mentioned in earlier articles, is that in the United States, the main goals that every citizen accepts is the success of the nation and its goals. Everyone contributes to the common public goals that allow for every activity to go on as planned without hitches. Everyone does his job to the best of his abilities, and by precise timing, so as not to burden someone else with his failures.

They may not like an administration, they may not even be from the party in power, but they will work hard with it, as long as it is the one occupying the seat of power at the moment. In short it is rarely the personality they see, but the office occupied, and the work the leader had to do for them.

In fact the case of the 32^nd President FDR and his encounter with polio helped boost the popularity of Eleanor Roosevelt who had been hitherto described as very shy initially. But when the job needed to be done, she stood by the side of her husband and gave him the support he needed to serve his people.

Everything in life is achievable, when one is serious enough to realize that challenges are inevitable to any success worth its name. It is not the challenges that discourage the determined, actually as the geniuses of our time have expressed; challenges are learning opportunities for the wise. When we surmount such difficulties we become stronger at the point of success, reaping a higher profit from our achievement using the wisdom so garnered.

The leadership situation Nigeria faces is one of such challenges. Rather than make issue out of what has already happened, one would expect those in leadership to still find the wherewithal to move on with the daily challenges of leadership unabated. An election is expected within one year, April 2011 to be precise. The government must prepare well enough for it, so do the politicians. It is good to see that the opposition has since started their preparations.

The only unfortunate thing however is that; Nigerian Politicians usually become active only months before elections. And once they lose the majority, pushing them into opposition, they let their guards down. In greed primarily, while forgetting their campaign promises and political ideology, they cease to continue in opposition providing checks to the government in power. They join the ruling party headlong, leaving the public to fend for themselves.

So the nation’s politics appear to be resuscitated at certain points (election times), then allowed to wallow down for years. We would have hoped to see that the opposition hold their ground for the long haul through the years, from one election to the other. Pointing at each and every activity they support and those they do not, including why. That will explicitly demonstrate to the general public what their ideology and principles are, in preparation for the next elections.

Incidents usually have a precursor in history, if people are honest enough to seek it and find how it was confronted and how it may apply to their case. But when people become blind and decide to cause unnecessary confusion for self-serving rather than real needs of the country, everyone suffers.

The party in power needs to continue to assure everyone that the administration is still bonded together and acting as one, working together. It will serve better both the PDP as a party, and the people in general.

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