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By Prof Chris Mustapha Nwaokobia Jnr
On my way back from the United States where I have been on Medicals since August, many issues about our dear Country Nigeria beat so heavily on the carapace of my mind. The issues of insecurity and the continued denial by Government of the intensity of the ogre that has not only become monstrous but has become hydra-headed, drastic and dangerous was chief.
Second on the card are the names that The President has allegedly forwarded to the Senate for approval as Career and Non-Career Ambassadors. The names tell how the mind of the President works. Dance and sing the President’s praise and you get rewarded, it doesn’t really matter what premium or otherwise your image brings the Country.
I penned this piece aboard the Lufthansa Airline flight that brought me home from Frankfurt to Abuja. I left the George Bush International Airport, Houston Texas on Saturday evening American Time, and was in Frankfurt where we experienced a near 4 hours delay yesterday before embarking on the last leg of my return to Fatherland. In Frankfurt, Germany one thing was evident, Nigeria as a Country isn’t pretty well regarded. Not only was there a delay by almost 4 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 regular with International Flights, instead we had to go up a tedious flight of stairs like most local flights. You can also make your conjectures as to why of close to 7 Lufthansa Aircrafts that were boarding about the same time, it was only the Abuja bound flight that went through such shoddiness.
If we agree that this is not the best of times for Nigeria, if we are unanimous in the fact that the times are ominous, must we not take bold, daring and endearing steps to reposition our Country? Must we not stop playing politics with everything? Must we not confront issues of national security with premium and profuse commitment knowing that the world is watching? Must we not get the best hands and minds to manage our foreign policy, our image and diplomacy? And must we not stop this reward for Court-Jesting that diminishes leadership? If Nigerians across Partisan lines do not consider as Serious Minded some of the names allegedly forwarded to the Senate for Confirmation as Ambassadors, is it the International Community that will cut them and by Jove the nation some slack? Must everything be about ‘Job For The Boys’? When is leadership going to rise to the urgency of now.
Who are those responsible for Advising the President on Policy Programmatic and Appointments? Recall a few weeks ago the shameful exercise of the Prerogative of Mercy and Pardon by Mr. President where the just anger of Nigerians compelled a certain turnaround. Need I mention that leadership particularly at the level of the high office of President is very serious business and must be treated as such, therefore shortlisting persons of questionable tendencies, masters in double-speak and experts in debauchery to man our Foreign Missions inadvertently raises questions concerning integrity and credibility, and speaks to the fact that this Government and by extension the nation is a huge joke. If some of the names put out as possible Ambassador designates are vetted and passed, we are telling the World that Nigeria cannot be trusted, and we are shamelessly saying that Nigeria is a nation of jokers.
As villainous non-state actors continue to pound the nation and undermine the once revered Nigerian Armed Forces, government must rise up to the challenge and say to the World that we are not only committed to ending Terrorism, that we are committed to serious and forthright foreign engagement and diplomacy, and the only way to do so is to appoint serious minded people as Ambassadors not jokers, not cronies of Mr. President, and not Court-jesters.
Compatriots, Countrymen and women, I’m not unaware that partisan obscurantists may call this the ‘song of a wailer’ however, I am not in in anyway bothered, what bothers me truly is that the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration comes across as its own greatest enemy, the bullet that seeks to destroy the President Tinubu administration isn’t the making of his foes BUT his so-called friends and supporters. And if they do not change, the day of doom is closer than imagined.
To those who think that I hate President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and despise his Presidency, let it be known that at the wake of the threat from the US President Donald J. Trump regarding issues of Christian Genocide in Nigeria, my Team and I in the US reached out to lend a hand in defense and support of Country, blessed with access at the highest level of US diplomacy we reached out to Agents of the Government, but typical of the penchant of this government for the mediocre they opted for ‘jankara and janjaweed’ diplomacy choosing lobbyists who paid and put non-Nigerian protesters in the streets of New York further embarrassing the nation, the video of that show of shame has since gone viral. And the Government also had a Team led by The National Security Adviser with the I.G of Police, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, the Attorney General/Minister of Justice and a few others on a shuttle diplomacy, who achieved far less than we had offered the Government and our Country. More worrisome was the diplomatic faux pas ditto having a Presidential Adviser head a Diplomatic Delegation that had full-fledged Cabinet Ministers. Folks, please tell me who Advises Mr. President? Because I’m indeed curious.
Like one crying in the wilderness, I implore the present government to hasten to the drawing board, to make issues of national security one of primacy, to make our Foreign Missions and International Diplomacy a serious deal. And to learn at all times to put square pegs in square holes because Nigeria cannot cope any further with the many policy flip-flops and the mediocrity that underscores the present watch. May Aso Rock listen.
God Bless Nigeria.
Chris Mustapha Nwaokobia Jnr. is the Convener COUNTRYFIRST MOVEMENT,A Good Governance Advocacy Group.
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