NIGERIANS can hardly be impressed with President Goodluck Jonathan's proclamation the other day that the country's problems predate his presidency, in Udi, Enugu State. Indeed every democratic leader must expect to come to office with a baggage of inherited troubles. However, the role of a leader is not to lament the complexities of a job, which he willingly vied for, but to spearhead the search for enduring solutions to the problems. Even more, a president ought to be proactive, and to arm himself with specific agenda by Nigerians to stem existing issues, and to lift the country to a level higher than what he met.President Jonathan appears to be irked by the less than salutary assessment of his performance by Nigerians. Hence, his exasperated submission at the funeral mass for Mrs. Theresa Ekpeluchi Chime, mother of Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State, that the problems of Nigeria did not start with his regime. 'Something must have gone wrong along the line from 1914 when the Southern and Northern Protectorates were amalgamated till date', he reportedly remarked.He then called on Nigerians to make a change and reassess their journey since independence, for the development of the country.It is no longer a matter of debate that Nigerian democracy is not delivering the returns that the people had hoped for. First there were eight years of the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, which in consonance with his military antecedents was more of an autocracy than democracy.The promise that he made on assumption of office that Nigeria would have full and uninterrupted electricity in six months, later revised to 18 months and finally abandoned at his exit in 2007 (after eight years, and $10 billion expenditure) is typical of the sort of unfulfilled promises that Nigerians have come to expect from their leaders.Former President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua who succeeded Obasanjo achieved little owing to ill health. Yar'Adua died in office while the remainder of his term was completed by Jonathan, then Vice-President.In 2011, Nigerians went to the polls and voted overwhelmingly for Jonathan as substantive President of Nigeria. He seemed to have all the aces: an indigene of the oil-bearing but deprived Niger Delta region, a PhD in Zoology. At 54, he was deemed young and blessed with a pleasant countenance. He seemed the right man for the job.Upon assuming power, he swore not to let down the Nigerian people and promised to 'transform' the country. Two years into his presidency, doubts have arisen as to his capability as a leader.He came as a man of promise but has now turned into a maker of many promises. And the promises keep coming while actual achievements are few and far between.Nigerians assumed that Dr. Jonathan knew what he was doing when he asked to be president. Every modern leader sees his or her role as a problem-solver.The moment an issue arises, the leader must be seen to be on top of it, doing whatever it takes to resolve the matter.Many people are disappointed that President Jonathan's words and gesture convey the impression that he is as mystified as other citizens about the country's problems.So far, his notion of governance appears to be based on the making of mostly sinecure appointments to appease every conceivable group and a penchant for inaugurating committees whose reports are not made public, let alone put to good use.But the real problems remain untouched or at best tepidly interrogated. The issue of corruption is waxing stronger under this administration than at any time before it.There has been no improvement in infrastructure, from the notorious Lagos-Benin expressway to a necessary and vital second bridge across the Niger.The supply of electricity has plummeted to an all-time low despite daily assurances about its improvement and stark warnings of an imminent increase in tariffs. The country is not building quickly enough a modern railway, or a new refinery; while it continues to import refined petroleum products in a scheme that recently witnessed a monumental fraud of almost N3 trillion. The industrial sector is nearly dead from cheap imports from just about everywhere. Unemployment and underemployment are everywhere. Education, as the judiciary, is in crisis. Poverty has remained a constant companion. Security has become the most nightmarish of Nigeria's problems with a bomb a day and many killed or injured.Jonathan has admitted that the structure of Nigeria is defective.What is he doing about it' Will he stay on the sideline and allow that structure to deteriorate further, or will he explore new initiatives like sponsoring a dialogue of the Nigerian peoples on the way forward' That is what he should do if he would truly be a transformational leader. He needs to start dreaming big dreams; he needs a truly national agenda to galvanize all Nigerians to give hope to the people.The problem with the Jonathan presidency is not so much that there are myriads of social, economic and political problems facing this nation; but that all of them have been allowed to fester. In the remaining three years of this presidency, Nigerians expect their president to wake up to his duties and demonstrate, beyond all reasonable doubt, that he is the transformational leader they thought they voted for.
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