It's up to President Buhari and APC

Boboye Olayemi Oyeyemi, Head of the Federal Road Safety Commission

In an interview granted on June 17, 2018 to the Sun newspaper in Nigeria, the Anglican Archbishop of Enugu, Emmanuel Chukwuma, His Excellency, said: "I think it is now absolutely necessary for us to put an end to military democracy in this country. With the military democracy we have now, no military should be allowed to go into politics and lead this country any further. We should have a pure democracy, which is a civil democracy. This will help this nation more than people who feel they can use their military might to intimidate others. For me, it's not democracy. Chukwuma advocated that the military army give democracy a chance to develop through its experience.

In the same vein, Matthew Hbadan Kukah, Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Sokoto, said that none of the Nigerian presidents since the return of democratic governance in 1999 has actually been engaged in service from the country. That's why, he explains, poverty has continued to ravage the country, even in the face of so much labor and mineral wealth. Bishop Kukah said that no country in the world would accept the level of injustice and corruption in Nigeria.

In a speech titled "Inspiring Leadership and Humanitarian Service," Kukah made it clear that Nigeria badly needed a president ready to serve the people. The bishop scholar spoke to Jos at District 9125's joint district conference and Rotary International's 10th Anniversary Celebration on the theme "A Decade of Consolidation: The Journey to Date". now".

Bishop Kukah noted that since 1999, Nigeria had been looking for a president who would be sincerely ready to serve the country. He explained that President Olusegun Obasanjo was arrested at the prison to become president. President Umaru Musa Yar 'Adua was preparing to return to university to give a lecture. He was picked up and he became president. Goodluck Jonathan was vice president. He became president thanks to a doctrine of necessity after the death of Yar 'Adua. He challenged and won. When he wanted to leave, he was invited to run for the second term. He lost to President Muhammadu Buhari who had vowed never to challenge the presidency after losing and losing three times. Buhari led his first term. He was asked not to challenge his candidacy for the second term and he won. Nigerians have not yet found a president who has contested the presidential election on the basis of his own conviction.

Kukah emphasized that the time would come when voluntary organizations would withdraw from the construction of hospitals, schools and other social facilities and allow the government to deal with the anger of the population. The Bishop of Sokoto deplored the fact that most Nigerians wore poverty clothing deeply rooted in the country and urged Nigerian political leaders to provide the kind of inspiring leadership that can save their people from poverty, corruption and social injustice. Indeed, it appeared that the spirit of true leadership had left the country and embarked on a long journey.

Kukah was not alone. It is not so long ago, the Hon. Dukku claimed that pastoralists gave more importance to the lives of their livestock than to their own lives and that all hell was unleashed in the National Assembly. Apparently she was badly judged by those who thought she understood her well. But when we take a closer look at his statement, we find that we can not so easily reject his request with a simple wave of the hand. She was right. And more importantly, it constitutes an indictment against all the heads of state who had previously ruled Nigeria.

Although we do not all belong to the Christian faith, there exists in the Bible a story about King David, considered the greatest king of Israel. We are told that he was a shepherd caring for his father's sheep. We are also told that at some point wild animals would come after the sheep and that at one point David killed a lion and at another time, a bear – apparently to defend his father's sheep. And if this story is true, as many Christians think, it means that David risked his life because of his father's sheep. As a shepherd, he risked his life to fight a lion and a bear, because he had to save his father's sheep from the destruction of these wild animals.

Similarly, it is easy to understand when the Hon. Dukku says that breeders place more importance on the life of their livestock than their own lives. We can understand exactly where it is supposed to be. If David and the other shepherds of his day cared less about their lives and their sheep, is not this how Fulani farmers place more importance on the lives of their livestock than they do? to their life? What could be the difference?

And it is precisely there that the leadership of Nigeria has miserably failed the people. A good leader is like a shepherd, a pastor who watches over his sheep or his cattle. For him, it is the comfort of his sheep or his cattle that counts the most. He sees that they are well fed. He sees that they are happy. He derives his own joy from the safety and happiness of his flock. And when they are in danger, he is there to protect them, just as the cattle rancher or shepherd is there to make sure nothing will harm his flock. It's the spirit of true leadership. And it is this spirit that the Nigerian people must seek, recognize, and endorse.

The recent events in Sudan should open the eyes of the Nigerian people, because Africa has indeed arrived. In Sudan, Omar Hbadan Ahmad al-Bashir led the government for 30 years as president. International observers were aware of the profound corruption of the lifestyle of the dictator and his badociates. All of Africa believed that dismantling the structures that concentrated political and economic power in the hands of Al-Bashir and his acolytes would be a Herculean task. But it was not to be. At the moment when the Sudanese people decided that "his mumu did not do it" and that this power belonged to him, they organized themselves.

Led by well-articulated professional badociations, they protested for weeks at the Army headquarters, refusing to leave. As a result, the army arrested and detained the president. They then arrested and detained his brother and some of his close badociates who they thought were deeply corrupt. But the civilians were not made. They rejected the army's offer to set up a two-year interim government to hand over to civilians. They gave the army a list of the civilians they wanted to train to form the transitional government. The coalition of protesters knew that they needed to consolidate the momentum that they had come to create. And they hung on it. Even the country's judges participated in the demand for total military disengagement in the democratic evolution of their country.

In Nigeria, the case seems to be different. It is obvious that since that cursed day of January 15, 1966, when the Nigerian army interrupted the democratic evolution of his country, several heads of state who had the opportunity to rule the country have never seen each other. management positions such as people's shepherds or citizens like their sheep or cattle. This seemingly simple spirit of engagement has never existed among so-called Nigerian leaders.

When Nigerians voted overwhelmingly for new President Buhari to replace Dr. Jonathan in 2015, it's partly because they believed in him. During his years as head of the military state, they had learned how he had presented the monthly sanitation day and how he had instilled a significant level of discipline into Nigerian society. That's how they thought he would be the ideal candidate for plump work at a time when Nigerians seemed to be convinced of anyone other than Jonathan.

One of the most vital reasons is that during Jonathan's regime, attempts were made to negotiate with Boko Haram insurgents. They gave two conditions. First, the meeting was to be held outside of Nigeria, possibly in Saudi Arabia, and secondly, among those attending the meeting, Buhari should be included to negotiate with them. At that time, speculation was going well and Buhari probably knew more than he was saying about the insurgency. But he later clarifies the air denying any knowledge of the activities of the dreaded insurgents or never linking with them. So it was also believed that whatever the circumstances, if Buhari became president, the north would have some peace. But this hope has been revealed to be an illusion. In fact, the frequency and scope of killings throughout the country became increasingly threatening in Buhari's first term.

Until now, so many women have been suddenly widowed, and so many children have been dramatically orphaned, to the point that Nigerians drown themselves daily in the river with their own tears. Wherever you go, people cry their dead.

Given all this, what I mean may seem unimportant. But I know that restoring mental health on Nigeria's roads could be a way to restore peace and dignity in Nigerian society. In other words, once there is discipline on the Nigerian roads, there will be discipline in Nigerian society. And this might just as well be another place to start remodeling and repackaging the country so that it is better placed to walk with more confidence in its journey towards true democracy.

In February 1988, the military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, proposed, by Decree No. 45, the creation of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC). This organization was supposed to eliminate road accidents and create a safe automotive environment in Nigeria. . It was also a matter of regulating, enforcing and coordinating all road traffic management and security activities through sustained public awareness, the promotion of stakeholder cooperation, robust data management, and the administration of improved vehicles, rapid rescue services and an effective patrol operation. In particular, the commission had the following responsibilities:

• Prevent or minimize road accidents;
• Eliminate obstacles on any part of the roads;
• Inform motorists, motorists and other members of the general public about the proper use of roads.
• Design and produce a driver's license for use by different categories of vehicle drivers;
• Determine, from time to time, the requirements to be met by a driver's license applicant;
• Design and production of vehicle registration plates
• Standardization of the rules of the road;
• Give attention and prompt care to the victims of accidents
• Conduct research on the causes of road accidents and how to prevent them and use the results;
• Determine and enforce speed limits for all clbades of roads and vehicles and control the use of speed limiters;
• Cooperate with agencies, agencies or groups in the context of road safety activities or the prevention of road accidents;
• To make regulations in accordance with the functions badigned to the body by or under this Act.
• Regulate the use of sirens, turn signals and position lights on vehicles other than ambulances and vehicles belonging to the armed forces, the Nigerian police, fire and rescue services. other paramilitary organizations;
• Provide roadside clinics and mobile clinics for the free treatment of accident victims;
• Regulate the use of mobile phones by motorists;
• Regulate the use of seat belts and other safety devices;
• Regulate the use of motorcycles on motorways;
• Maintenance of the period of validity of the driving license which must be three years renewable at the expiry of the period of validity.

In the exercise of these functions, the members of the commission had the power to arrest and prosecute persons reasonably suspected of having committed a crime of the road.

For several years after its inauguration, the FRSC was active and was the only branch of government that the Nigerian people deeply respected. You have never heard of any of the members of the military asking for a "tip" to free a delinquent from the road. All members of the body were above corruption. They posed a great threat to the disordered habits of Nigerians. But little by little, the old system began to catch up with them and they began to lose their dignity and the respect that the country gave them because of their impeccability. Today, the organization is as unreliable as other government bodies with governmental authority. The problem could have come from the leadership at some point during the 16 years under the leadership of the People's Democratic Party.

The current Nigerian government can put pressure on the FRSC to focus its efforts on restoring its image and dignity. FRSC can become highly respected again among Nigerians if it works hard enough. It can once again restore mental health on Nigerian roads by arresting and quickly prosecuting offenders. Then most things happening in Nigeria today will be inevitable. Community conflict, kidnapping, armed robbery, sectarianism, waste of life and all the other evils that tarnished Nigeria and made it seem like it was ungovernable would be ready to find the right spirit for act, because light and darkness can not coexist. The absence of one is the presence of the other. But that depends on President Buhari and his APC government.

Chief Sir Asinugo is a London-based journalist, author of "The Presidential Years of Dr Jonathan to General Buhari" and editor of the Imo State Business Link magazine (imostateblm.com).