by Chinwe Okafor

Ex-CBN governor, Charles Soludo released an article recently saying neither presidential aspirants – Pres. Goodluck Jonathan and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) – would fulfill their promises citing the current economic status in the country and its continuous downfall…  not many people are happy about it.

Soludo has received a lot of responses from the likes of Femi Fani-Kayode to Finance Minister and Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Now the daughter of former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, Iyabo, has come out to say a few words.

In an article published on the Vanguard Newspapers titled, ‘Soludo, Fayemi and Fani-Kayode: My takeaway,’ she wrote: 

Professor Soludo’s article on the elections in Nigeria is the best writing I have read recently on the real situation politically and economically in Nigeria. The well-articulated response from Dr. Fayemi compared to the abuse infused response from Femi Fani-Kayode on the PDP side is a great example of the contrast of the status-quo compared to the alternative. 

Whatever the case and I don’t expect miracles from APC but right now they have more thinking people than the PDP.

As a Yoruba person, Dr. Fayemi’s response is how we expect our educated elite to take up issues and not the mad ranting’s of Fani-Kayode. I agree with most of his premise but I do not think they (APC) can take up a massive public works program in a period of “famine” i.e. low oil prices. During the great depression when Roosevelt used public works to help provide jobs, it was the stock market that failed i.e. Government revenue was affected from tax income but income from exportation which was then mainly agricultural goods was not affected.

The government could use money from its coffers to create jobs and provide skills and training, which people could then use in the private sector. The best part of Dr. Fayemi’s response is that it is not elite focused. Nigerian governance as I saw it was not a democracy but an elitocracy. Govt of the elite by the elite for the elite and even if you grew up in near death poverty once you left those circumstances you forgot where you came from and concentrated on your immediate family and matters affecting the well-being of the elite.

Changing this perspective to make the elite understand that their wellbeing was in fact dependent on the wellbeing of the masses will be APC’s challenge. They are sourcing from the same pool of elite talent that every Nigerian government has to source from and it is this pool that essentially has to be different or we will find ourselves again at precipice as usual.

Ada Igboanugo