NIGERIA: A NEED TO CREATE PERCEPTION WEALTH by VICTOR OLADOKUN

As Nigerians, we have a terrible penchant for denigrating national political leadership. For as long as I know, we have not had one leader since Independence that we have collectively spoken well of while in office. More than any other nation I’ve been to, Nigerians may be the world’s leading ‘bellyachers.’

Consequently, our perception of ourselves and our leaders has rubbed off on our neighbors and the international community. No wonder Nigerians have been treated as pariahs for decades.

I’ve been engaged today on fb with a group of Nigerians, whose political biases get in the way of condemning General Muhammadu Buhari’s supporters in Northern Nigeria who are currently engaged in pre-election intimidation and violence. Their logic is, well, President Jonathan created the climate for the political backlash. Really?

Let’s think this through.

1. Successive Hausa/Fulani leaders from Shehu Shagari, Ibrahim Babangida, Abdusalam, and for that matter Yar Adua have done more to impoverish the whole of Nigeria, and especially Northern Nigeria. I make bold to say that more has been done infrastructure wise in Northern Nigeria by President Jonathan than all of the above Northern leaders combined.

2. Of the 14 brand new Federal Universities built in the last four years by President Jonathan (the largest number ever by any Nigerian President), 80% of them are in Northern Nigeria. This is the first President in the history of Nigeria that has built Almajiri Schools for institutionalized Hausa / Fulani beggar children. More than 400 really beautiful schools of this kind have been built in Northern Nigeria, at last count. Of the 14.5 million Farmers registered under a GES scheme that provides free high yielding seeds to ALL farmers, and fertilizer at a 50% discount, more than 60% of the farmers are in Northern Nigeria. For the first time ever in the history of Nigeria, millions of farmers now plant in the rainy and dry seasons. The compound effect is not lost on Hausa farmers. Finally, thanks to this Government, for the first time in 25 years, traders and passengers can now travel in air conditioned trains from Lagos to Kano and Zaria and back.

Please when denigrating this Government’s accomplishments let’s come to the table armed with facts on the ground and not bogus political sentiments.

For the information of anyone who cares to know, I am not a card carrying supporter of the PDP. I am just sick and tired of our penchant to rubbish our leaders regardless of what they do or don’t do.

BTW, political leaders are not the panacea for all that ails us as a nation. Sometimes, all we need to do is simply look in the mirror.

May I just suggest that regardless of the outcome of this election, that we make a commitment to create Sovereign Perception Wealth. What we say of ourselves is what the rest of the world will.

Selah