The pendulum swings of PDP & APC are comedic.
Most of the political attacks leveled against APC (or PMB personally) are similar attacks APC used against PDP (or GEJ personally).
These attacks ignore deep rotted systemic issues (that are as old as the country) & just focus on the person/personality of the president. Granted the constitution gives the Nigerian president god-like powers but if we keep playing politics of personality, we will always be distracted & miss the big picture – which is systemic & fundamental rot. Most of all we will just be used as tools in the game of Nigerian politics – enabling the comedians (politicians)…
APC hammered PDP using corruption & terrorism as weapons (yes these are legitimate problems in the country but are weaponized), it gave them enough political capital and momentum to bring down the GEJ government.
Now APC are in charge and these problems remain (and grow worse) and now PDP are shooting back with the same bullets – weaponizing the symptoms of deep-seated problems against PMB just like it was done to GEJ.
Example of a few attacks against GEJ (again is not like these are not problems – it is how they are framed and dealt with that is the issue):
On terrorism
The Chibok girls kidnapping is (present tense because they are still ‘missing’) a major scandal and was used to pressure the GEJ government. Today the pendulum swings the order way.
Note that almost all those screaming now and even back then do not even talk about internal displaced people (IDP). IDPs have no house, some no family, they are basically refugees on their own land. These people are living hell on earth, and suffer abuse and all kind of things within they camps they live in (there are people benefiting from this like NGOs for example but that is not a story for today). These attackers only care about winning and beating their opponents.
Internal displacement monitoring center has this chart (over 2 million people are displaced due to conflict) –
In my opinion boko haram is more than what the military can handle, some private military contractors (PMC) that used to be hired by the government have said so (granted they like to get that contract money but some of their claims make sense). One of them even said that the united states pressured the Nigerian government to get rid of the PMCs. This could be true or not but it suggests that the scourge of terrorism has some international factors to it. The government too has complained about not getting weapons they paid for (remember when PMB went to see Trump?), then consider the corruption within the military itself!
We do not talk about or consider these factors; we just want to weaponize/politicize the issue against the other side. These are issues that are on-going irrespective of the team player in the presidential chair.
On economy
LOL! Even PMB (when he had twitter) came for GEJ but look at him now.
Some real-life factors of the present day that add to the existing problem has made people more disillusioned than before –
Covid – has caused huge economic disaster world wide and the effect has been more economically devastating on countries like Nigeria.
Agriculture – which is approximately 18% of the GDP, has been affected by the pandemic as well – lock down protocols has affected activities in the sector. Nigeria has one of the highest cattle populations in west Africa, we may have more cattle than the population of Lagos state but this too is under pressure from climate change, farmer – herder wars and the present-day politics. Our lands are losing fertility, and as population increases and climate change rages on, there will be more pressure on the land available for agricultural activities.
Oil – Since the great dip in prices back in 2014, the oil sector prices have never gone back to their high levels. And in the midst of Covid there was another dip. This sector makes up about 80% of the GDP. Also consider that the country will have to divest from oil because of climate change! The pressures here are climate change, the usual corruption, dwindling prices… The country is strapped for cash, anyone who is looking knows this.
Services – transportation & tourism took a hit due to the pandemic, also consider that the country has spent (borrowed) lots of money on the rail networks.
Mining – is less than 1% of GDP, there has been less activity here due to factors like attacks by terrorist at mining sites. This cannot compensate for the other loses even if all cylinders were blasting.
Energy & data – prices keep rising, the quality of the service is not good, and people’s ability to pay is going away.
Overseas remittances – loved ones send money home but that alone cannot compensate & it is not a factor to analyze/plan around.
Labour force – unemployment is rising, I think by some metric (and depending on methodology) the unemployment is about 30%. This is a recipe for social instability. There is also a huge brain drain as people leave the country in high numbers, and those that remain in the country earn poverty wages.
Government policy – in my estimation I would say the policies are similar to other administrations, too bad the world around us is under pressure from the pandemic, rising poverty rates etc so the policies are ineffectual and will not even produce the sub-par results of the past. Some may rightly argue that the policies are a failure or that PMB has no policies at all. I would rather hear the thoughts behind the arguments instead of shrill rants.
Foreign relations – insecurity in the Sahel is rising, the countries are battling terrorism and the countries do not seem to be doing well. There has been several coups which African organizations have accepted in a de-facto fashion because of pressure from countries like France & America. Plus, as the quest for renewable source of energy progresses different countries rich is natural resources will be subject to more imperial exploitation, and geopolitics.
As we take sides with APC, PDP and /or big ego personalities, our real problems are not just waiting they are multiplying.
Ignore the politics and focus of how to get effectual policies.
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