Nigeria: The Needs For a Narrative of Accountability and Responsiveness.

In Nigeria, our penchant for citing and reciting the failure of the past administration to justify or excuse the inadequacies or failure of the present is legendary. Until we change the narrative from 'a Nigerian standard' to those of 'global standard', we will not experience the development that is commensurate with our natural resources. The benchmark is the emerging trends, not what the previous administration or President did or failed to do. 

The excuses in the past few days for President Buhari's "no show" at the just concluded Presidential debate, feed into that retrogressive mindset. We must move with time, and move forward. As we speak, some African countries, no longer the Western world, are moving ahead of us in terms of modern infrastructural facilities.

While Chinese Multinationals are building close to supersonic or modern Railway Transportation System in some African countries - countries that are not even at par with us in terms of available natural and human resources - we are busy celebrating the fact that the same Chinese Multinationals are building for us coaches of the 1970 era. 

It is the same story at the local level. A road contractor executes a road construction project in your community, without providing drainage (gutter) along the roadside. When you do that, you are sure to receive this comment from some dudes in your community:  OI'boy, take am easy na with these people, don't you know where we from dey come? I beg, make we dey thank them" And you're made to look like a fool. 

In less than two years, the road is washed away, because the asphalt on the ground is too shallow to withstand heavy downpour that has no escape route due to the absence of drainage. And once again, the people are back to square one. But not the contractor. He is richer and richer; having enough cash - your cash - to buy more influence and donate handsomely to the Governorship campaign fund in the next election.

To move forward, we must develop a coherent and consistent narrative for emerging trends and for a responsible government that thrives on accountability. The alleged inadequacies and failures of the past were rejected and voted out at the pool; otherwise, you would not have been in power.  Therefore, the benchmark on the assumption of office must be the emerging global standard or best practices. And not those of the predecessors.