To say that the politicians in Nigeria actually understand the gravity of the situation confronting the average Nigerian is highly debatable. Or else, in the middle of all the problems the country is in, one wonder why there is always time to push the blame back and forth between past and present administrations. There is hardly a day that will go by without the ruling party blaming past administrations and as usual, a reply is always quickly given.
President Buhari, as usual, kept up with this pattern in his Sallah message to Nigerians, blaming past administrations and a global economic downturn for Nigeria’s woes. As expected, a quick retort came from the PDP spokesperson Dayo Adeyeye who said the President should remember that ‘it took a smart and experienced world-class economic team in 2010 to lead Nigerians through a cushioned global financial meltdown and beyond… and it is, therefore, high time they stopped this unnecessary grumbling’.
And that has been the pattern. The dailies have been littered with accusations, counter-accusations as politicians pointing at each other, while the masses continue to suffer. One wonders how much better Nigeria would have fared if all the time, energy and other resources put into this verbal blaming game was actually channeled into constructive areas.
It is time for the Nigerian polity to stop talking and start acting. We no longer care whose fault it is that the problem is here. The problem is here and what we care about is a practical solution to the problem so that we can have a better future.
