Oby Ezekwesili blasts politicians - Says ‘Nigerian masses are like abused wives’

Former Minister of Education and former World Bank Vice-President Africa Division, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, has said the relationship between Nigerian citizens and their political elite is like that between an ‘abused wife’ and her husband. But in what looks like a veiled call to action, the former minister seems to attribute Nigerians’ governance-induced suffering to their docility.

“The relationship between citizens of Nigeria and their political elites is like the one between an abused wife and her husband. A people that too quickly forget and move on to the next salacious exploits of their political elite are their own nemesis!” She said.

In separate tweets on her Twitter handle, Mrs. Ezekwesili expressed her disdain for how the present crop of leaders run the Nigerian economy, saying: “Not even grocery shops run their affairs like this… such vagrant public finance management is contemptuous of citizens.

“All those fellows that deceitfully reacted to my factual caution on the frittered 5th oil boom should get ready now. At least five years of high oil prices holding firm- no major productive investments, no increase or reserves/saving.”

Still on what she considers a slipshod economic management being run by Nigeria, Ezekwesili tweeted: “A structurally faulty public finance system zealous for spending on consumption rather than production DEMANDS BOLD action!

“Now, oil prices are on a downward slope. Imagine, we are asked to be comforted that we merely have ‘cash flow problem’. Ha!”

She also faulted what she described as Nigeria’s ‘consumption spending’ at the expense of capital spending, saying “We must BOLDLY discuss, agree and begin to REDUCE consumption spending (80 per cent) of budget and INCREASE capital spending (20 per cent).”

In what appears a subtle indictment of government officials, Ezekwesili added that the call for reduction in the unusually high cost of governance in Nigeria has never been supported by any member of the National Assembly because they are benefiting from the status quo. 

“The MUST HAVE debate on reducing cost of governance suffers a lack of champions among the ‘ruling elite’ because NASS is in too,” she tweeted.

But she is even angrier with the politicians, whom she accused of literally living on ‘public corruption and distortion of politics’.

She tweeted: “A true national dialogue should be between the citizens and the consumption-loving political elite in all capital parties, a pseudo-private sector creating nothing but making filthy profits from the public corruption and distortion of politics.”

On the N255 million armoured BMW car scam in the aviation sector and apparently faulting the policy that made such mind-boggling purchase scam possible, Ezekwesili recalled that the administration under which she served introduced monetisation policy in the civil service.

“We introduced monetisation policy. Ask why they canceled it. It will take a RADICAL RE-BALANCE of public spending for the budget to have any positive effect on the lives of the poor,” she wrote.

Generally, she blamed pervasive indiscipline for why the country is failing in all regards – especially its economy.

“I am immensely irritated by indiscipline. Cumulative indiscipline is the root of that failure that now stares us in the face as a people. Sadly, Nigeria slides from spot 138 in 2013 to 147 in the newly released 2014 World Bank Doing Business ranking,” she tweeted.

(Tribune)