Amid widespread despair engendered by the Federal Government�s harsh economic reforms, there are strong indications that there may be a major crack in the public decision-making process. The signals have come more in the form of public utterances by the top brass of both the FG and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which conflict with the position of President Olusegun Obasanjo in the way the government is run. Not long ago, for instance, the PDP National Chairman, Chief Audu Ogbeh, was quoted as saying: �We have international agencies saying deregulate, and yet, as a political group, we are aware that if you surrender your country to the fierce forces of the market, you will crush many people to the dust. We are in a dilemma, what do we do? That was not the only voice of dissonance.
In a lecture he delivered on the eve of October 1 to mark the nation�s 44th independence anniversary, Special Adviser to the President on Legal and Constitutional Matters, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, declared that the country was predisposed to becoming a failed state. He said such images as the unresolved riddle of the assassination of former Attorney-General, Chief Bola Ige, revenue haemorrhage on coastal waters through the stealing of crude and petroleum products, systematic vandalisation of NEPA and NNPC installations, unrefuted allegations of looting of state treasuries by elected and appointed officials, capital flight, tardiness in foreign investment and MASSOB�s declaration of Biafra Day, suggest that �unless strategic moves both within and outside the polity and economy are undertaken in the months ahead, the nation is at risk of slipping back around 2007 to a failing state or even a failed state status with severe consequences.�
A failed state, Maduekwe added, is highly polarised along ethnic and linguistic lines with the prospects or reality of ethnic insurgencies. He said in addition: �In most failed states, government troops are kept perpetually busy by several armed revolts which they have been unable to decisively put down.�
On October 3, Information Minister, Chief Chukuemeka Chikelu, while commenting on the state of the nation�s refineries and the down stream oil sector, reportedly lamented that the ruling elite had failed the nation. �Yes, we have refineries in Nigeria but the reality is that they are not functioning. That is an acceptance of failure and we have accepted that we have failed in that respect. We have failed to manage the asset of the Nigerian people�.
Speaking on the recent fuel price hike, the Senate President, Chief Adolphus Wabara, claimed that he was not aware of the increase, while his deputy, Alhaji Ibrahim Mantu, reportedly said: �When we all agreed on deregulation in the petroleum industry, we thought an end had come to the crisis in the sector over fuel price increase...� Reports said last week that both the Senate and House of Representatives have rejected the new fuel price increase. Besides, despite the FG�s contempt for the convocation of a conference of ethnic nationalities, the Special Adviser to the President on Political Affairs, Prof. Jerry Gana, said recently that the FG would convene such a conference soon. Gana said the government would also carry out political and electoral reforms.
By singing discordant tunes, these highly placed party and public officials are simply exercising their democratic liberty. One can only hope, however, that the remarks were not mere opportunistic gimmicks meant to distance them from government and portray them as saints, ready for future political exploits. The tragic inference, nevertheless, is that a lot of so-called party leaders are not being carried along. The conflicting statements further indicate that there is no concord among the captains of the ship of state. That those in power can be as ignorant and helpless about major policies as the ordinary man, raises the fear that government�s decision making process may have been reduced to a one-man show. Yet, as the ultimate owners and beneficiaries of public policies, the people and not just the party, must always be consulted.
As the party that helped to produce this government, the challenge is for the PDP to publicly explain how the FG arrives at its major policies and decisions. More importantly, the present state of affairs provides a window of opportunity for the opposition parties to wake up and come up with alternative programmes to lighten the burden of the people and give them hope. The nation must not be presented with a fait accompli in 2007.
