QUITE naturally, Nigerians rue today, as the beginning of a new year Two Thousand and Twelve A.D., as a time to dream new dreams and hope new hopes. It is an opportune moment to take a critical look at one's life, or the life of the group during the passing year, and make necessary resolutions for a more successful, more peaceful and more prosperous new year. Sadly, Nigerians are welcoming the year 2012 amid heightened insecurity and pronounced uncertainty.It is time again to wonder just what it is that has held this country in the throes of poverty, corruption, and social insecurity; forces that have conspired to stultify and stunt its growth across many key fronts. Nigerians are however a very hopeful people, even though the events that shaped the expired year are hardly a good enough basis for such hopes.In the forefront of our national malady are those who emerged leaders through a convoluted democratic process. Nigeria's partisan politics, by and large, continued in the year 2011 to orchestrate the 'do-or-die' syndrome ' a self-destructive element that continuously heated up the polity. Our politics is still infested here and there with actors that show very poor leadership credentials, actors that are plagued by selfishness and greed, who find no relevance in the people's aspirations, who routinely manipulate, exploit and abuse the people they are supposed to serve; actors who accept failure and non-performance as the norm. Central to our national conundrum therefore is a recurring leadership class that largely demonstrates an utter lack of vision and purpose; and shows neither zeal nor commitment toward prosecuting a genuine national development ethos.In the year 2011, social services continued to stagnate. Roads rehabilitation was patchy and many lives were lost due to poor maintenance or total neglect of our roads. The transformation campaign of the present administration remained rhetoric, with neither motion nor movement. In the year, government at all levels pussyfooted on the determination and implementation of a national minimum wage and its fallout, an issue that, even now, is yet to be fully rested in many states. With government now bent on implementing what it calls 'fuel subsidy removal,' the indications are that the Nigerian masses, already stretched to their limits by grinding poverty, are in for harder times.Commonplace in the year 2011 was the regular occurrence of armed robbery, kidnapping and the rash of deadly bank raids. But by far the most troubling development in the country during the period is the emergence of the full-blown terrorist script that emblazoned the social horizon in a spate of bomb attacks. The Boko Haram religious fundamentalist sect announced its gruesome presence in the country, Al-Qaeda style, with orchestrated launch of serial bombing incidents, the high points of which were the suicide bombing at the Police Force Headquarters building in Abuja, the United Nations building in Abuja, and the bombing of innocent worshippers at St. Theresa's Church, Madalla, at the outskirts of Abuja on Christmas day. And all the posturing of official agents notwithstanding, government seems lost on how to contain the amorphous group that has so far effectively exposed the soft underbelly of our security apparatus.The country was mercifully spared the after-effects of any major natural disasters during the year. Still, an ill-prepared administration without strategic plans for dealing with emergencies failed to mobilize adequately against such predictable occurrences as erosion and floods that are otherwise manageable, with the resultant collateral damage in the attendant loss of lives and property.Nigerians will celebrate the New Year in hope that a better future is not only possible but must be the bottom line for a country at its lowest ebb of a national disorientation that has been worsening for a long time. Failure to secure the nation in peace and security this year could be a frightening signal towards the dismal predictions for the future of Nigeria that only a few years ago we all dismissed as baseless.The aggregate of governance and developmental problems today call for a purposeful, visionary and self-sacrificing leadership at all levels in our country. The challenges that face us today call for sensitivity and commitment to the common good in an environment of peace, which is a precondition for sustainable development. It is very well acknowledged that justice and fair play are vital ingredients for the pursuit of peace and security. With 2011ending on a tragic note for some and palpable anxiety for others, Nigerians who have survived the preceding years now yearn for a leadership that would steer the nation out of troubled waters.On this note The Guardian wishes our readers and all Nigerians a very happy new year!
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